SophWeb

***** Moving from K3 to General immigration... as K3 is dead *****

Could the kids stay with relatives of yours in the USA, or maybe boarding school? Your wife could apply for a tourist visa, which allows a 6 months stay, but with a US husband and kids, likelyhood of her getting it is low.

That's what I would do...especially since the OP is saying that the kids are just going to move back to Japan after a year or so. IMHO, there's no point going through the lengthy and expensive immigration process for the wife if you only intend to be there for a year.

Yes, if it is saying your card has been produced, it means you were approved.

Congrats!!

Married couples don't claim their spouses as dependents. They file a joint tax return. SophWeb, while you are not required to file taxes for 2010 because you didn't work, your husband should file his taxes as married. If he files "married filing separately" then you won't file taxes (or you could with an income of zero if you wanted). A better plan is to file "married filing jointly" and then your husband can claim the exemption tion for being married, which is worth a few thousand bucks! Then you will also both have a tax return which is good evidence for ROC and beyond. SO yes, I'd file taxes jointly with your husband, it will count for both of you. Good luck.

Thank you! We will file jointly!

Do I need to file 2010 taxes?

I arrived in the US in July 2010 and received my GC March 2011.

I did not work until April 2011.

When my husband files his taxes, does he list me as a dependent? Or do we file jointly?

Thanks! I tried to do a search but couldn't find anything

Hmmm she had to type mine in. I remember cause I was snooping haha.

It's worth a shot though. Worse answer you'll get is a no.

OP - ask to speak to a supervisor and explain the situation.

Bring the NOA you have for both the EAD and the AOS and ask if you can do biometrics for both. When they take your fingerprints, they enter your case numbers in the computer manually so it shouldn't be a big deal for them to add on the EAD number too.

Good luck with the walk in!

Do you not meet the income minimum with your income alone?

From the personal examples above, it still seems like an IO will push for a new interview so that you can both be there.

I would reschedule, because it seems likely they will tell you to reschedule anyway.

If you decide to do cash instead of transfer, make sure you get Travelers Checks so that is they get lost/stolen, you can replace them and you won't up out of pocket.

That's what I did - brought over about $7000 in Travelers Checks and then deposited them into my husband's American account when I arrived.

Travelers Checks are also good cause you can go get them when the dollar is in your favor...so even if they dollar drops by the time your visa gets approved, if you have purchased the checks previously while the dollar was good, you'll get more bang for your buck.

You probably have had the Chicken Pox injection as a child, but the immunity wore off, which is why it came up negative on your test. It's actually more common than you think. Many parents will get vaccinated again when their young children get their shots done, for this very reason.

I did the same thing for my vaccinations - I gave my doctor the list of vaccinations I needed to have, she checked my immunity to them all and then gave me the shots I was missing. When I went into my visa medical, I showed them baby book that had my childhood immunizations and the printout from the doctors of what immunities I had. The doctor accepted them both with no problems.

As previously mentioned in this post, your application will get sent back to you and you will told to send it to the correct address. Just wait for it to come back to you and then send it off to Texas.

So once i do get the GC, might the overstay (between the expiry of the I-94 and filing of AOS) be dismissed or forgiven because i did continue with the process and had the AOS approved and a GC issued?

Yes, exactly.

If you get your GC, you will not have to worry about that overstay coming back to haunt you.

P.S. Just my two cents - I agree what Bob said about keeping the GC and getting the re-entry permit. Then you can keep your options open

Sorry to say but the answer is no - pregnancy is not a valid reason for expediting any stage of the immigration process.

If it was, we'd all be knocked up by now

Here in CA, I just signed my husband up for school using his green card. We have a residency requirement, and tuition is much more for people who have not lived her for a year, so we waited to meet that requirement. You should check on those kind of rules too so that you don't end up paying extra.

Agreed, often it's well worth the wait for the money saved.

My fiance would like to study once we are married. We called the school and they say he needs a student visa to study there. I'm not sure they are understanding our situation. I told them he is coming on a K1 Fiance Visa. They told us he would have to change his status to a student visa. Our K1 visa has already been approved...we are not going to apply for a student visa now. Then we asked if they accepted an EAD (employment authorization document). They said no to that as well. Does anyone know what we need to do in order for him to study?

It really depends on the schools as to their admission requirements, but every school should take a greencard as proof of residency and therefore allow you to enroll in college.

Wait until you get your greencard, and then you should be able to study.

That being said if she ever wants to be a citizen she has to show a record of living in the US for a good period of time. I would have her become a citizen and then start your plan.

Agree.

Any extended visits outside of the US can be held against you. Especially if you have the full intention of permanently resided outside the US for such a period of time. This could result in your greencard being revoked.

Your safest bet is get the greencard, then apply for citizenship (because you are married, you can apply for citizenship after 3 years of being married and holding a greencard), have that granted, and then you welcome to enter and exit the US as many times as you like, for whatever period of time, with no hassles whatsoever.

Start gathering up the proof of your relationship - photos, letters, emails etc etc. I found that that was by far the most time consuming and difficult part of gathering documents for the interview.

it was already corrected directly after me. I cannot edit my post. I realised after I wrote it that it implied I meant biometrics for the AP when I was referring to biometrics for the AOS/EAD part but someone else clarified that directly after me.. I didn't realsie i was required to update it myself to stop being repeatedly rehashing the same thing.

If she misses the biometrics appointment she can be denied. It's likely she would need to do biometrics before leaving but they aren't required for AP. I didn't check her timeline and I suppose I should have first.

Well at least the OP knows for sure what the facts are now

You said the KEY work.. I'm certain Vanessa was speaking on normal processing ..hello - no one mentioned about expediting anything. Also I was already corrected.. so back that up and just move on with it. .. and this is for the people that will follow.. enough of the on going quotes on something that was already addressed.

Thanks,

Ricardo.

Geez. No need to bite my head off.

Actually, Vanessa specifically said "The OP can also apply for an expedite due to emergent circumstances BUT still needs biometrics and will still take roughly 2 weeks to get in hand"

So my point is valid. First, Vanessa did mention expedite and second, the correction still stand as expedited APs do not need biometrics.

Obviously the OP needs to get back home ASAP so an expedite is the way to go. So I was just informing her that she will not be slowed down in the expedite process by having to get her biometrics done.

Sorry to hear about this.. you cannot get an in-person approval... it's a process that includes biometrics etc. It takes 2-3 months to be completed. You can APPLY for it and then go home and the approved AP document can be sent to the consulate of choice.

The OP can also apply for an expedite due to emergent circumstances BUT still needs biometrics and will still take roughly 2 weeks to get in hand.

Your comments regarding the biometrics are incorrect.

An AP can be issued without biometrics. I had my AP expedited without doing biometrics. They just used the photo from my AOS application on the AP document.

By putting both addresses as the UK one, she isn't hiding anything. She's clearly lived in the UK for a while now, and intends to continue to do so for some time given that her visitor's visa is for 2 years...she obviously currently considers the UK 'home'.

You are over thinking it

Just put down the UK address.

Because uscis discriminates against brown people of all countries =(

I don't think its discrimination, but it sure does seem that people from low risk countries (generally white - Australia, UK etc) seem to get processed faster at the AOS than those from high risk countries (Philippines, China etc). At the same time, I can understand that, the probability of a fraudulent marriage is more likely at one of these high risk countries, and therefore they'll take more time looking at the documents.

It still sucks though - to be adjusted more harshly just because you come from a high risk country, even though your relationship is completely legitimate. Another case of a few people ruining it for the rest of us

Get Travelers Checks - not cash. If you lose cash it's gone, but if your Traveler's Checks are lost or stolen, they can be re-issued and you're not out of pocket.

I mean, I´m entering The USA under the K1. Once we get married we´ll start the change of status. Do I have to wait til I receive the Green Card in order to enroll at university? Or once we´ve applied, Can I enroll?

Each state is different, but you should be able to enroll immediately. I enrolled in College and I did not have my Green Card yet. Unfortunately you cannot apply for Federal Student Loans until you have your greencard.

The only issue you may run into is what tuition you'll end up paying - depending on the College, you may not qualify for in-state or out-of-state tuition until you can establish your permanent residency (get your greencard).

Just inquire with the College you want to enroll in and they should be able to help you out with more information in terms of fees. But yes, you should be able to enroll immediately.