LeaAndBen

I need some advice. What did you girls do with your last name? Did you change it? Will you change it after getting the green card?

I would love to carry my husband's last name and keep my maiden name as a middle name but since I already had a social security number, I don't want to delay everything with changing it. and changing all the other kind of papers too...

I can't proove either that I was about to go back home. Maybe I can show them my flight ticket and the cancellation I made a week before flying. But all my family was so happy to see me again. But there's really no real proof...

what if I decide to use my married name. does it mean I have to change my passport too?

I have a feeling it is going to be a pain if I go through this now, before even sending the paperwork.

can I change my last name after? once I have the green card in hand?

I don't think you should worry too much as long as you knew you wouldn't get married when you came. A proposal can happen without even knowing about it.

I arrived as a J1 and I met my husband during that time and I was about to go home but he asked me to stay. I had no intention at first to get married.

And I personnaly think you should get married now that you are on a J1 since it will be a long process while back in your country if you ask for a fiance visa. You will be away from each other for a long time.

ma mere ecrit bonbons, chocolats et ca arrive toujours sans probleme. par contre pour le fromage ou charcuterie elle n'ecrit rien.

Hi everybody,

I have been working more on the paperwork (I-130 and I-485) today and it seems like it could actually be done before the end of the month so hopefully my husband and I will be january filers!

I don't really know how to write the cover letter though. Do I need to make proper sentences? an introduction?

it seems like I have a rush of questions to ask before getting ready to send out the paperwork.

now i have a doubt. who files i- 485a and should I file it?

i need to adjust my status from j1 visa to married.

great! thanks

Hi all,

I have a question about the birth certificate that we need to give to prove US citizenship. My husband asked for copies of his birth certificate.

What is written on it says that this is a "true copy of a record on file in the division of vital records".

Now when they say that we can provide a copy of the birth certificate, does it mean we can provide a copy of the "copy"? or do we need to give them the original copy?

Hi,

I have a question. Now that I am married I don't really know which name to chose. What is going to be written on the green card? my maiden name and married name or just maden name? or just married name?

what do you people use? I would like to use both names. use my maiden name as if it was my middle name. how do i do that? do i need to fill something out to make the change and get it recognized? i guess i would have to change my passport as well... it would be a pain.

I didn't know you guys had meetings?? where is it going to be? Seattle?

thanks guys for the welcome!

Lili, I live in Tacoma. about 45 minutes south of Seattle. We should meet sometime!! I am feeling a little lonely since I moved from Virginia after 2 years as an au pair... no more friends.

There is a VJ MENA meet-up coming up in April. You should come. I couldn't make it to the last one but I heard it was oodles of fun!

im sure you can. i mean why not.

just a D/S. does that make a difference?

but there is also a date which is when i returned to visit france during my first year as an au pair when i was allowed to come back in the usa since i had a visa.

thanks guys for the welcome!

Lili, I live in Tacoma. about 45 minutes south of Seattle. We should meet sometime!! I am feeling a little lonely since I moved from Virginia after 2 years as an au pair... no more friends.

I forgot to ask. Since I was in the USA for my travel month that means my I- 94 was expired for a month. I know that they allow au pairs to travel for one more month after their visa expires but since I didn't have a visa it really worries me. Was I illegal?

I am going through the same process. I was on a 2year au pair visa too. Except that our change of status file and I-130 isn't sent yet.

To be able to visit her grandmother she needs to file an advance parole document to be able to come back in the USA and wait for the paper to come to be able to do anything.

Hi everybody,

I had a J1 visa too. I was an au pair. But am I the only one with a 2year extension program? That worries me a little because I didn't have another visa for my second year. I only had a DS 2019 renewed. That's what they give anyway. But still... I didn't have a visa. And my husband and I got married during my travel month so during the 25th month, one week before flying back to France for good. I think we took the right decisision though because when I see how long the K1 visa would have taken...

So now we are filling out the application. Got married on the 29th of november 2008. It is taking too long. I wish we could mail it as soon as possible. It worries me. But we are still missing some things. Especially the translation of the criminal record.

How did you guys make it? Did you have it translated by a certified translator? or yourself? I want to do it myself so that I don't have to pay something. But I want to be sure of what I write. And also my husband is still looking for a job so it's hard right now.

wow that was pretty cheap if they included the vaccines! I paid way more than that. 280 for the medical check-up and 295 for three vaccines!

Bonjour,

d'abord je vous explique ma situation. Je suis francaise. Je suis venue aux USA avec un visa J1 d'au pair pour deux ans. Ben et moi nous sommes maries une semaine avant la date d'expiration de mon visa.

Maintenant on rempli la demande de changement de statut et dans les documents a fournir, il faut y mettre un extrait de casier judiciaire. Le mien est vierge. Mais comme tout document fourni, il faut le traduire. Je n'ai pas l'argent pour payer un traducteur officiel et je sais que je peux le faire moi meme et certifier que je suis bilingue dans les deux langues.

J'aimerai avoir une confirmation que c'est possible. Et je me demande aussi si j'ai besoin de donner mon casier judiciaire puisqu'il est vierge.

Quelqu'un parmi vous a t-il ete dans cette situation? et comment l'avez vous fait traduire? j'aimerai trouver un modele quelque part.

Hi,

I am new to the forum and want to introduce myself. I am the French one and I was born in Tours and I have lived there until I was 21. Then I moved to Virginia to be an au pair for 2 years and that's where I met my husband. We dated for 2 years and we got married just a week before my visa expired. It wasn't planned since I was about to go back home and spend Xmas with my family that I hadn't seen for a year.

So now we live in Washington state. He moved from Maryland to Washington where his mom and brother live and that was actually a good thing since he realized he missed me!

I am teaching him some french and he picks up especially the bad words! lol

Now we are filling out I 485 and I 130 for him. and also advance parole, EAD and affidavit of support. All of this is really stressful. Sometimes I wish I had the money to pay an attorney and do the work for me.

If you are out of status, legally you have no right to be in the US. That means you can be detained if ICE happens to come across your path. (Knock wood this doesn't happen.)

Your out of status will be forgiven (or at least that is the general practice but you never know) but the longer you wait the worse it looks.

Do you have a 2 year return home requirement?

Get the paperwork in ASAP.

I don't have a two year return home requirement. I did my homework and I did everything in order to be lawful

well I am out of status right now since we got married a week before my visa expired. It wasn't planned at all. So you think I should really rush it?

Hello,

My husband and I got married on November 29th 2008 and we are still working on the application. It seems like it is taking forever to gather everything and it also seems like I am the only one working on it

I was already in the USA under a J1 visa when we got married. Now we are filling for adjustment of status.

Anyway I am all stressed out and would love to finally send the paperwork before the end of January because I am worried we have a deadline after the marriage to send everything. Is that right? Do we have less chance of getting everything accepted if we send the application so long after the wedding?

I had a J1 visa as an au pair and we are no authorized to work, we are authorized to be in an exchange program. It is different. I don't know if your type of visa was different than mine but I answered that I never asked for an authorization of employment since I was not employed. I only received pocket money for my work. Hope it can help

nobody can help?