Edward and Jaycel

FYI - Unless you are active duty military, you have to exceed 125% of the poverty guidelines, not 100%

We got Jaycel's SSN about a week after she arrived (In her maiden name). This allowed us to add her as a joint account holder on my bank account and credit cards. Then when we filed the I-485 and I-765, we filled in her SSN where it asks on the forms, checked all the yes boxes (i.e.: "Do you want the SSA to send a new cad?) and used the forms to do her name change by putting her new, married name in the "Legal Name" section of each form. When her I-765 got approved, 7 days later she received her new SSN in the mail with her married name on it. (It still has the disclaimer, "Not Valid for Employment Without DHS Authorization", which is fine because she now has her EAD Card. We also did the SSN part on the I-485 so that, when approved, the SSA will send her a new card with that disclaimer removed.

This is from the official website for the US Consulate in Ciudad Juarez If your visa is approved, we will keep your passport at the Consulate while we prepare your immigration packet and print a visa for your passport. We will return your passport and complete visa packet to you by DHL courier at a later date (see Step 1). If you have to travel within Mexico while your passport is still with us, please make sure you have a valid picture ID other than your passport. Here is their website regarding visa processing if you want to become an "A" student on the process.... I highly recommend learning as much as possible well beforehand so that you can be fully prepared https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/CDJ-Ciudad-Juarez.html

This is what we've done for all of our applications with USCIS so far

What country are you coming from? Maybe we can provide some specifics.... Once you file your case, please fill out your timeline so that your experience can help others

This is no longer true in many cases - When you get to the point where you will be scheduling your interview with the embassy, most embassies will have you register with a website that they use to gather your beneficiary's info, pay the visa fee and schedule the interview. At that time you will also give them the address where you want the passport with the visa in it delivered. For Jaycel's interview in Manila, we actually selected the option to pick up her passport at the courier's office in the Mall of Asia there in Manila.

Glad to help in any way.... We are all on this maddening journey together so we may as well help each other out right? Just pay it forward and help out the ones that come after you and we will continue to keep this site a refuge for others (I know, so dramatic but we really feel like we couldn't have done all this ourselves without the resources and of course the amazing people here on VJ 😁)

Anytime! No we did not file the I-131 but I would say that a cover letter detailing the contents of that application's package would be a good idea

This is what we put in Jaycel's I-485 application on top of her DS-3025 to draw attention to the fact she had a medical exam abroad within 1 year of applying for the AOS and should therefore be exempt from the I-693 requirement.

You just have to wait for them to be adjudicated. You should get scheduled for a biometrics appointment in 4-8 weeks that you will have to attend before they will start adjudicating these. Once you set up your online account, you will see the biometrics exam scheduled status on your I-485 and the appointment notice will appear in your "Documents" tab on the I-485 case in the portal.

The online access code will be mailed in a separate notice to you. If you don't get in in a week or so, go onto uscis.gov and do the "Ask Emma" chat. Ask to chat to a live agent and ask them for the code. Make sure you have your receipt number for the I-485 handy and be aware that some agents will give it to you, some won't so you might have to try a couple of times. That's how we got our code.

Each case is it's own animal.... we saw lots of December filers approved before us. And our "My Progress" tab was all over the place, even went to 40 months until decision after the biometrics. Just hang tight.... your officer may have a bunch of backlogged applications, etc.

Ours was approved 01/08/2025 and card received 01/18/2025

I call it "front-loading". The I-129F and its supporting documents is all going to be sent to the embassy for the Consular Officer to review upon the interview. The better your evidence in that packet, the more smoothly the interview will go. Our packet was 109 pages.... Jaycel's interview was less than 3 minutes before it was verbally approved and she was let go.

WOO HOO!! Almost done with USCIS 😁🎉

Yeah... we didn't even try to open anything in Jaycel's name until she had her SSN

I would wait until NVC gives you an interview schedule for your parents and then schedule the medical exam to happen 7-14 days before the interview

You have one and only one chance to satisfy this RFE - Get it officially translated and notarized. Don't let cost be the determinate factor in how you respond

We did the same but I think ours was like 20 pages (I'm OCD Like that LOL) Ours was 2 pages also Ours was 109 pages.... Like I said OCD. LOL

Your parents will need to do a medical exam locally at the medical facility that is authorized to do them by the US Embassy. Their medical report will either be sent directly to the Embassy by the medical facility or your parents will each be given a sealed envelope to hand carry to their interview appointment. It will not be uploaded to NVC.

We included a letter from Jaycel's Mother and her sister detailing their knowledge and support of our relationship, our excitement to start our lives together as husband and wife and their knowledge of our plans to build a life together in the US as a married couple.

I can't share it here but you can pretty easily Google it

We use USAA Bank which is used to seeing foreign passports of wives, fiancees, etc., so that may have made the difference. For those that don't know, USAA is for military members and their families.

Looks like over the past week they have started approving several I-485s submitted in September

We were able to get Jaycel added as a joint account holder on my bank account with her Philippine Passport and SSN