Brother Hesekiel

1) not a problem, as in almost all cases spouses are not allowed inside the torture chamber during the interview. Having the spouse there, holding hands and looking at each other, is just a sign for the I.O. that the marriage is still okay. That matters if the N-400 has been filed before the 5-year residency threshold.

2) can potentially be a problem. You need to be on good terms with the tax man, and the I.O. wants to have that in writing. If you show up empty-handed, you potentially delaying the adjudication for an unknown amount of time.

No,

as none of this is relevant.

My educated guess is that the I.O. may be mostly interested in why you waited so long with all of this.

You only list violations from the past 5 years to the best of your knowledge. It's not as scary as it appears.

Strangely, you'll never find conservatives trying to create chaos at a liberal candidate's rally, only the other way around. Plus, there were lots of Mexican flags. I'm not surprised that illegal aliens are against a President Trump.

There's no plan in place, even less a law, to give any illegal alien permanent residency. If, and I must emphasize this, if the GOP-controlled Congress really feels that giving a little will gain them votes in November of 2016, you can expect the President to sign such a bill into law at the end of 2016. The first illegal aliens will then get a work permit early in 2017 and would be eligible for AoS around 2027. Maybe you guys should chill a bit . . .

Good news: the US doesn't require Jews to wear a Star of David on their clothing, and neither are tourists required to have a notarized account of their life at hand.

If CBP asks you, tell 'em you are an art director and you are traveling alone because your spouse is a neuro-surgeon and has to stay home with your lovely twin girls. That'll cover it.

The school is correct.

The K-1 is a single entry, NON-immigrant visa. Until you have either received your EAD (assuming you filed an I-765 with your AoS package), or successfully have adjusted status to that of a resident, you are not authorized to work and you are authorized to study on US taxpayers' dime.

Having a child is proof of insufficient birth control. It can be a token of love . . . or an accident. There's no general yes or no answer to your question.

If you are a in loving relationship, the child is just the icing on the cake. If you file your I-751 with a waiver, because the marriage went downhill fast and you got divorced, the child is not going to make much of a difference.

So, yes, RoC can be denied even if the couple has a child together, but it will only be denied, if the USCIS feels that something is not kosher, and has . . . um . . . evidence to that fact.

There are two kinds of those scary letters: the one you received and the one where they're asking to bring all kinds of court papers regarding the criminal conviction(s). General consens is that those letters are triggered by a intellectually challenged drone in the mail room reading a word he or she misinterpretes and then it's off to the applicant. Many N-400 patients are first shocked as they have no criminal history, and -- like in your case -- feel their absence may have triggered a suspicion of abandonment of their US residency.

Don't ya worry . . . it's all just smoke and mirrors, minus the mirror, or, as the Germans say "totaler Schwachsinn." Bring your passport to the interview, and perhaps documentation what hubby and you did in Germany, and it's all gonna be fine.

Sonja,

short answer, it's not an issue at all. Not even by a wide shot.

I hope you have file for -- and received -- your Beibehaltungsgenehmigung from the BVA in Köln already. I don't assume you're okay with losing your German citizenship for good when naturalizing in the US.

On a more personal note, there's no dual citizenship. There would have been a dual citizen, two people in one body, named Clark Kent and Superman, but since he was an illegal alien from Krypton, guilty of false claim of citizenship and several cases of document fraud, aside from the fact that he didn't really exist, it's not a good example at all. Your kids are Krauts in Germany and Yanks in the US. No dual nuttin'.

I don't see any problem. As long as you just "moved" to your school and didn't establish "residency" there, didn't get a driver's license from that state, you're still residing at the same place you resided in before, the same place your wife resides in.

If you can, bring your wife with you to the interview appointment.

None,

unless she wants to spend $450 on this.

I'd take care of this at the naturalization stage, free of charge.

She will NEVER have to show the Green Card to anybody, except (1) if she travels internationally or (2) goes straight to the USCIS. And if one of these situations occur, nobody cares about the name on the card. It only becomes an issue once she has a face transplant and gets 10 new fingers.

No.

The condition for the conditional residency, being happily married to the petitioning US citizen spouse, no longer exists, and you are not even a conditional Green Card holder yet. It's theoretically possible that your spouse didn't notify the USCIS and -- assuming you already had your interview -- that they'll mail you the first Green Card, but once the divorce is final you'd have to file for Removal of Conditions, and there's no way for you to pull that off.

Your wife filed for divorce in absentia. It doesn't really matter if she served you or not, 'cause based on the duration of your marriage and the fact that she will state suspected fraud as a reason to dissolve the marriage it will be a smooth ride all theway. You can claim all kinds of stuff, but in the end you'll be going home. My advise to you: accept that your marriage didn't work out, and go home without much fuss. Wisdom is knowing when you can't win a fight, and cut your losses. It's really that simple.

There is no new immigration reform.

No,

none of that is possible.

Your wife's residency was deemed abandoned in 2002, after she'd been outside the US for a year. It rendered her Green Card invalid after the fact and it cannot be resurrected. She'd have to qualify for immigration once again on her own merits.

In addition know that entering the United States on a non-immigrant visa (or in case of the UK, as a visitor under the VWP) and the intent to immigrate is a felony and could get her barred for life.

You'll have to file and I-130 petition in her behalf and . . . voila . . . about 12 months later the good people in the US consulate in London will interview her and issue her an immigrant visa afterward.

If your wife leaves the US without AP, AoS is considered abandoned by default and she'll need a CR-1/IR-1 in order to return. Takes about a year.

She won't get a B2 again because she has immigrant intent. That aside, entering the US with a non-immigrant visa and the intent to adjust status is a felony and would get her barred from the US for life. It's one thing to get married on a vacation "out of the blue" and then, surprise!, wanting to stay, but leaving as a married woman and returning as a tourist and then trying to adjust is immigration suicide and an easy feather on the hat of an I.O.

I'd try to get emergency AP. If that doesn't work, and your wife is not a world-renown neuro surgeon needed to save her parent's life, I'd postpone that trip. Life is all about choices, and here you guys have a choice.

A "lawful permanent resident" of the United States abandons their residency in the United States which renders the Green Card invalid if he or she stays out of the US for a year or longer or -- alternatively -- if he or she established residency outside the United States. If you work for a US company in Europe, you'll be fine. But if you work in Sweden, you can't possibly be there on a work visa, being a Swedish citizen, so you'd have to establish residency there, pay income taxes there, have health insurance there. That would be immigration suicide if a CBP officer were to dig into this.

The I-130 needs proof that the petitioner is a US citizen. This proof can be established by submitting a copy of every page of the US passport, cover pages included.

Yes, that's confusing indeed.

2

Yes,

if you apply for (you wouldn't even get it, as you would not be able to meet the very stringuent document requirements) any means-tested benefit, even health care benefits under the ACA, which are subsided by US taxpayer money, you won't get another visa again. It would pop up in the federal database that the consulates access.

I haven't been on VJ for a long time and then I see this post, want to read the gossip about the young Morrocan guy and his rather old, mentally retarded US fiance and you guys don't even talk about them.

Very disappointing . . .

If you mail either copies of your income tax returns, or, better, tax transcripts with your N-400, you have fulfilled the document requirements for a bona fide marriage. That doesnt' mean that an I.O. doesn't have the right to ask for other documents, but that would be rather unusual, a sign that he or she is not entirely convinced that all if kosher here.

The child will be listed in the N-400, but the child will not naturalize because the minimum age for naturalization is 18.

Instead, the child will become a US citizen by act of law, the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, at the moment his mom naturalizes. Once that has happened, mom and child will go to the nearest passport office, ideally the next day, and apply for a US passport.

The child cannot change his name. If the mother wants to change his name, she has to apply for a name change in his behalf at the registrar's office, after the child has become an American. For that reason I would only get a passport card for the child, and then a passport book in the new name later.

The reentry permit only prevents a Green Card holder from losing her residency automatically when being out of the country for a year or longer. Once she returns, she'll have to prove that she did not abandon her US residency. However, the US residency is automatically abandoned when a Green Card holder establishes or re-establishes residency outside the US. If Dutchiee moves back the Holland she'll establish residency there. That would be the end of it, reentry permit or not.

Dutchiee, unless you absolutley have to, I suggest you ride the train for 3 years until you can become a US citizen. At that time you can come and go as you please.