Edward and Jaycel

Yes we found it the same for ours! The magistrate's clerk was ear-to-ear grinning the whole time and even said that our ceremony was the highlight of their month (We got married on Oct. 25th) LOL

We did ours in our county court officiated by one of the magistrates. The license cost us $35 and the court fee was $100. We had 8 guests and it was a really nice ceremony. The magistrate was thoughtful in his words and made us feel really special. All-in-all the mechanics of getting the appointment for the license and the time scheduled for the ceremony took just a couple of hours of calling and emails.

Hey all - FYI USCIS has dropped a new I-485 Form edition that is effective as of yesterday, 03/03/2025 and it looks like they provided no grace period 01/20/25. As of March 3, 2025, the currently effective version is the 01/20/25 edition. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions. Dates are listed in mm/dd/yy format. If you complete and print this form to mail it, make sure that the form edition date and page numbers are visible at the bottom of all pages and that all pages are from the same form edition. If any of the form’s pages are missing or are from a different form edition, we may reject your form

Yes definitely - It you leave the Current Household Income blank or don't provide the proof of citizenship you'll definitely get an RFE and it seems you did both. As far as the paystubs, some on this site say you really don't need to send 6 months worth of them because most paystubs have a YTD field with the income earned so far but the instructions for the I-864 specifically state 6 months and I would not take any chances on an RFE response by not following the instructions. You have one chance to respond and satisfy their request. Make sure that when you multiply the gross earnings on the paystub by the number of pay periods per year, that is the number you put into Current Household Income.

This is mandatory to be filled out. Take his gross earnings from his paystub and multiply it by the number of pay periods per year and put that number here. He should have ticked “No” and in the box for 2021 put N/A The instructions state to include 6 months of paystubs to support the answer in Part 6. Item 12. That’s what we did. If available then include it… the more evidence the better You need to submit a new, complete form. You can tell them in your cover letter on the RFE response that is one of the items you are including YES Proof of citizenship should have been included with the original submission and should be included in the RFE response

Woo hoo!! Congratulations! 🎉🎉😁

I was... It just spanned August 2022 - August 2023. I had to wait until I had hit the 1 year abroad in August of 2023 to file the 2022 return which included 4 months of that year abroad and when I filed my 2023 return i got to use the other 8 months of that year abroad in that tax year. That's how you have to do it if your year abroad doesn't go Jan 1st to December 31st.

I actually did file for it in 2022 & 2023 as my time abroad spanned the 2 tax years - I claimed it for 4 months in 2022 and for 8 months in 2023 I had to get an extension and couldn't file my taxes for 2022 until I had spent the full year abroad

Today's stats: November 2024 Filed I-485 Stats • Approved: 216 • Denied: 95 • FingerprintScheduled: 307 • InterviewCancelled: 15 • InterviewScheduled: 112 • Processing: 38,404 • Received: 830 • Rejected: 109 • RFE: 1,979 • Terminated: 99 • Others: 94

For the purposes of the stats, it's what shows on the "Received Date" section on your NOA1 Heck yeah we are

Yes so lets's say (just as an example - not using my real income here Mods ) my total wages from W-2 work in 2023 was $110,000 and in my case I was able to take the FEIE for January through August. What the IRS does is take that FEIE as an "Additional Income" entry on the Tax Return Transcript in a negative amount and subtract it from the total wages. In my hypothetical case for those 8 months, they would have subtracted $74,609 from my $110,000 wages, leaving me with a total income of $35,391 (which is what they then tax). But that did take a big chunk out of my "Total Income" bringing me down closer to the minimum amount that I would have liked. And yes, for a 2 person household, 125% is about $26.5K/year. The big thing is, proving current income is just as important (with paystubs, employment verification letter). That's the amount you put for the "My current individual annual income" part.

The only other risk I can see (Aside from @OldUser's concern above) is if it takes the "Total Income" on your tax return transcript below the income required for the I-864. I took the FEIE in the 2023 tax year and it significantly reduced my total income, which is the amount you have to report on the I-864. Fortunately, I was still a good bit over the 125% of poverty level when I filed the I-864 for Jaycel's AOS.

Definitely!! RFEs had a pretty noticeable jump too

There's a thread here on VJ for folks in this batch

You figured it out... This is the reason for the RFE. This is correct. USCIS highly prefers the Tax Return Transcripts over the 1040 + W-2s/1099s

Today's stats: Looks like USCIS did some work yesterday November 2024 Filed I-485 Stats • Approved: 202 • Denied: 91 • FingerprintScheduled: 329 • InterviewCancelled: 14 • InterviewScheduled: 112 • Processing: 38,304 • Received: 840 • Rejected: 109 • RFE: 2,067 • Terminated: 98 • Others: 96

This is not true.... Jaycel was not required to have an SSN to get our marriage license nor for us to get married using the license or to have it recorded

Today's stats: Some more movement today November 2024 Filed I-485 Stats • Approved: 182 • Denied: 89 • FingerprintScheduled: 343 • InterviewCancelled: 10 • InterviewScheduled: 11 • Processing: 38,139 • Received: 843 • Rejected: 110 • RFE: 2,237 • Terminated: 96 • Others: 97

Today's stats: A bit more movement today November 2024 Filed I-485 Stats • Approved: 176 • Denied: 86 • FingerprintScheduled: 353 • InterviewCancelled: 6 • InterviewScheduled: 116 • Processing: 38,078 • Received: 844 • Rejected: 110 • RFE: 2,299 • Terminated: 96 • Others: 97

Yes... I-765 fee is $260 when filed concurrently with the I-485

Great news!! 🎉🎉

Today's stats: Again not a lot of movement November 2024 Filed I-485 Stats • Approved: 171 • Denied: 86 • FingerprintScheduled: 357 • InterviewCancelled: 5 • InterviewScheduled: 115 • Processing: 38,064 • Received: 845 • Rejected: 110 • RFE: 2,314 • Terminated: 96 • Others: 97

That one I do not have any information about.... I assume @maryaaaaaaaaaaa knows of some Facebook Messenger group chats that let people know when others see appointments available?

Local time at the embassy - Manila Time

That's a reasonable assumption (sadly)