Betti

That's awesome, congratulations!

No, in total you will need 3 G-325 A. 2 will be filled out, dated and signed by you (attach 1 to the I-130 and attach 1 to the I-485) and 1 will be filled out, signed and dated by your husband (attach this to the I-130). They can not use the same for both forms.

Confirmed.

You will need one G-325 A for yourself and one for your spouse for the I-130. Also, you will need one G-325 A for yourself in addition for the I-485.

Yay Inna, I am happy for you!

Just start getting together all the documents they listed on the interview letter as soon as possible and there will be no need to worry! When and where does your interview take place?

For all of those who have Interview dates set, has your online USCIS case been updated? I received my letter over a week ago and it still says my I-485 is under initial review and has not been updated since 9/11/09.

Only my EAD and AP are up to date, the I-130 and I-485 are in the system but have not been touched. Don't worry about it, everybody says that the online-thing is not reliable when it comes to updates! :-)

You have had a very fast process so far, congratulations!

http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M-623_red.pdf

page 35

I got my interview letter in the mail today....woohoo! I am scheduled for November 9th at 10.30 am in San Antonio.

One question though: on the letter it says to bring the birth certificate and evidence of United States citizenship (passport) for my husband. Do y'all know if the birth certificate can be substituted with the passport? He doesn't know where it's at and I am not sure if we can get a new one in time. For the application it asked for either or, I am a bit confused now.

Got this here: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

If you are filing under one of the following categories:

Spouse, parent, unmarried son/daughter under age 21 of a U.S. citizen with an approved or concurrently filed Form I-130;

(....)

File at:

USCIS

P.O. Box 805887

Chicago, IL 60680-4120

For courier/express delivery:

USCIS

Attn: AOS

131 South Dearborn - 3rd Floor

Chicago, IL 60603-5520

Congratulations!!!

To me it looks perfect! All complete and good to go. Don't forget to make a copy of the whole package that you send in. Good luck!

Wow, this was a really exciting topic to follow and I am glad to here that she made it and wasn't turned away at the POE.

Gary and Alla, great advices you've given and bravo to all the information you found out for the OP!

I sent pictures of our wedding and time in Germany together along with the AOS application as well as his life insurance showing me as the beneficiary, our car insurance with our names, joint bank accounts etc. I don't know what you can get without a SSN, but maybe you can be added to your utility bills, have a library account together, have mail-envelopes with both your names on it and so on. I would send whatever you can get!

I got my J-1 for my internship at a hotel, the 2 year rule did not apply to me. Now I am adjusting my status, since I got married to my then husband during the year on the J-1 visa. A turkish colleague of mine had the 2 year rule, but filed a waiver and it got approved. So he returned to turkey and applied for K-1 from there right away. He will be back in the US very soon to be with his american fiancee. I am not sure how to file a waiver or when the 2 year rule applies to you ( I know that it does apply when the government pays for you while in US. In my case I guess it didn't count because the hotel paid me). Maybe this helps a bit. Good luck!

Betti, did you meet your fiance whilst on the J1 visa?

I was with my boyfriend before I got the J-1 visa.

I was an Au Pair in 2003 and had a 12-month J-1 visa, which did not have the 2 year rule.

I met my boyfriend (now husband) in 2007, when he worked in Germany. He had to return to the USA just before christmas and we had a long distance relationship for 9 months. During this time we were looking for a way to be together without having to get married right away, as it was too soon and both of us didn't want to rush anything. So I found this possibility of a paid internship on a J-1 visa, applied for it and got it, again without the 2 year rule. At that point I didn't even know to pay attention to that. I never mentioned my boyfriend anywhere in the whole visa process, nobody ever asked. They only ask you if you have relatives in the US and a boyfriend is not a relative. In April this year we decided to get married, did so in August and applied for AOS right away. My J-1 visa expired in September. So at the point of entry into the US, my intention was not to get married and stay, but to do my internship at the hotel and spend some time with my boyfriend. Hope this helps!

I got my J-1 for my internship at a hotel, the 2 year rule did not apply to me. Now I am adjusting my status, since I got married to my then husband during the year on the J-1 visa. A turkish colleague of mine had the 2 year rule, but filed a waiver and it got approved. So he returned to turkey and applied for K-1 from there right away. He will be back in the US very soon to be with his american fiancee. I am not sure how to file a waiver or when the 2 year rule applies to you ( I know that it does apply when the government pays for you while in US. In my case I guess it didn't count because the hotel paid me). Maybe this helps a bit. Good luck!

You can sign up on uscis.gov and create an account where you enter your case numbers. You can see updates there and everytime someone works on it, you see a new date, which is the touch.

It's actually your case that gets touches, not your package...but thanks for a smile here!

I needed more space for my husbands residence history.

I started writing the places in the lines on the form itself and in the last line I put"See supplement page attached". On the supplement page itself, I put his name and address as well as "Form G-325A Continuation of "Applicant's residence last five Years"". then I created a table similar to the one on the form and had my husband sign and date the extra page. I printed 4 copies of it, each signed and dated and put it behind each page of the G-325A. I just put it loose behind it, didn't staple or anything like that.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

I was here on a J-1 visa as well and am now in the middle of my AOS.

I sent off my paperwork for AOS on 08/12 this year and kept working on my J-1 until 09/19, the date it expired. I was told that as long as your employer is okay with that, you are good to go. It is a grey zone, that's not really 100% defined anywhere. I just received my EAD a few days ago, so between 09/19 (end of J-1 visa) and then I was not allowed to work.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Congratulations, pinayangelus! That is awesome!

Congratulations! That sounds like a great interview experience! Happy weekend! :-)

Congratulations! That's awesome!

I received an email on 9/30 that the EAD app has been approved and card production was ordered. Then today I received another email saying the same thing (also for the EAD). Strange. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

rsn, I received my first e-mail for the AED approval on 09/25. On 10/01 I received a second e-mail saying the same thing. Today I had the card in the mail and just a few minutes ago I received another e-mail that says again that my EAD was approved and card production ordered. I have no clue why that would happen, but am happy, that somebody works on my case :-)

I received my travel permit in the mail on Saturday and today I got the work permit. I didn't know they take the picture from the biometrics appointment...I thought they take one of the pictures that you send in with your application. Should have brushed my hair one more time before taking that picture...LOL! I am happy to have both now and hope for the interview appointment soon!

]Hi VJers, Our interview was on Monday 28th by 11.00am, In the first place, the GPS took us to a wrong place and we had to find out the hard way, but we finally made it like 5 mins late. We got in and the officer at the desk was really nice and took our letter while directing us to sit down. We sat down for like 5 mins and I noticed a certain woman going up and down the lobby and looking at us with the side of her eyes, my wife and her kinda suspected she was gonna be our IO and guess what? She was!

The interview played out mainly as a mini-stokes interview where we got separated right from the start with my wife going in first with all the documents and pics. She was asked the following questions;

My name, how we met, how many bedrooms, how many brothers and sisters, favorite sports team, favorite movies, how much I earn, how much she earns, what kinda graduate program I am studying, what my research interest is, what kinda sports I play and position, what kinda medications she uses, her daughter from a previous relationships name and birthday. After that, their conversation was like a friendly one spanning from football (they both have the same favorite team) to dancing with the stars(funny ain’t it?). We showed her joint bank docs, joint insurance docs, joint cell phone bills, e.t.c At the end of the interview, she took my I-90 and said everything looked alright and she was gonna have to review the case, that made me disappointed because I hoped we were gonna be approved on the spot because all of our answers matched except that I didn’t mention all 3 medications( I mentioned just 1) and my wife didn’t know what position I play. Its been 4 days after the interview now. I pray she makes a decision quick cos the wait is so not cool

That sounds like an ok interview. Good that there was some friendly chat after the questions, I think that is a good sign.

I hope for a quick decision for you, I can only imagine how it must feel for you now to wait!

Good luck!

I am sorry to hear you have trouble entering your cases. Mine work fine, but I had a few problems with this system as well. For example did I have an error at one point that said I would have a double ID. I jsut signed up again with a different username and now everything is good again.

Did you make sure to enter MSC and then the numbers without any dashes? I hope you can solve it soon!

Once you file for AOS, you have to wait for your Advanced Parole in order to reenter the counrty after you left (while waiting for the Greencard). You apply for the AP with the AOS. In my case it took under 2 months to receive it, but it can take longer, the normal processing time is 3 months. It is also meant to be for emergency travel. If you leave without the AP after filing AOS, your application is considered abandoned and you cannot follow through with it.

I think that the K-3 is the better route here, but I don't know much about the K-3. People usually prefer the CR-1 over the K-3, because it is faster and allows your wife to work right after entering the US with it, you don't have to do the AOS (which you have to do when choosing the K-3 route).

Sorry for not being able to answer all of your questions, but I thought I'll make the start with the J-1 stuff :-)