VisagirlNJ

WHy do they have to take the biometrics again for the permanent green card? We were wondering what they are going to investigate again when they just made him do it two years ago.

DO they do a worldwide check again or is it a check in the USA only to see if you've had any bad activity while here?

Just wondering why they do it again?

My husband is waiting to have the conditions removed. Can we travel in the mean time?? We wanted to go somewhere in the USA but not sure if he needs his British passport, which is expired.

Can he travel in the US by just showing his green card and ID?

We would liek to go to Mexico next year. My husband has his 2 year greencard already and it won't expire until april 2009.

HIs British passport will expire in a few months. Does he need this to travel out of the country or does he just need his green card and some other document ?

Thanks for any help

Hello,

I recently immigrated from the UK and I have a High School Diploma from the UK (CSE certificate).

My certificate was not accepted by any college, I have no chance of getting any form of transcript as my school doesn`t exist anymore.I have presented my certificate of achievement to employers and colleges and it is not accepted.I was told by an international education evaluator that my certificate doesn`t transfer as education credits here and is not equivalent to the *sacred* High School Diploma.

I looked at the GED but it is SEVEN hours long and BORING AS HELL! If you fail a section you have to keep taking it again and again untill you pass; even if you ace the other sections and fail just one, you still have to retake.

I found a good online High School called PENN FOSTER;they provide a very interesting and study friendly course.It is quite long but MUCH better in my opinion, than the GED. You will get a real high school diploma on completion. They will also provide proof of attendance via written communication

Not having a H.School Diploma has prevented me from gaining employment here in the US;even though I have 18 years experience in my field.

Is he employed?

Good Luck.

Still looking after seven months.. this sucks!

I found some places online where the GED can be taken. Has anyone done that? is it valid?

OKay, Hubby graduated from high school in UK back in 1983 (he's almost 40 now). Now that he has relocated here we need to get his diploma

evaluated for a high school diploma equivalency. The requirements to graduate from secondary education in 2007 were different from the requirements in 1983.

Do you think WES (world education services) takes into account the year you graduated from or are they going to compare his diploma by the standards of 2007. If they don't, then he's going to have to take the GED test here , which actually will suck being that they have a math test and he hasn't done all this in 24 years so he's finding it difficult. We don't want to spend the $100 to get evaluated if they are going to flat out say no.

It really sucks that a lot of jobs don't want him just because he doesn't have a GED, but he was worked successfully in the mental health field for 15 years in England. It's not right to hold people back just because of a stupid diploma. Really though, when the hell is he ever going to use algebra or geometry again while taking care of mentally ill people or at any job?

Just wondering if anyone else has had problems getting their education evaluated.

Thanks

Have most of you found jobs or are going to school, etc?

Hubby has been job searching with no luck. he is quite angry because his high school diploma from 1983 doesn't qualify here as a high school graduate so he has to study for his GED.

THe GED is quite difficult. Lots to study for someone who hasn't been in school for over 20 years. Hopefully he can pass it the first or second time.. It's a 7hr test!.. crazy.

We were just wondering if anyone in the NJ/NYC area has been having any difficulty adjusting

That number has been dubbed the "misinformation line" by many on here. I'm glad you've had such a helpful person but for the most part, that doesn't happen too often. It's quite possible that we are on FBI namecheck. There hasn't been any rhyme or reason for the approvals lately either...the ones who file and get fast approvals as opposed to those still waiting, regardless of being transferred. IF one is in FBI namecheck hell, then one should be notified of this so at least you'd know what's going on with the case.

I'm holding on....we both are. It's still frustrating, but at least we can share the frustration together instead of apart.

Hopefully you will soon get word on your green card before you reapply for the EAD. We applied in early July 2006 for the AOS and just got approved 2 days ago so it was almost an 8 month wait. Lots of luck.

Thanks all. I hope everyone else gets approved soon!

We've been waiting since July 2006 and finally 7 months later we got the email about the card being produced. Funny thing is that we had an infopass appointment for March 1 to see what was going on with the case.

Thanks everyone for your help

Anyone else that filed in July 2006 you might be soon.

My husband has been looking for mental health care work for the past few months with no luck. He is from UK and has over 18 years experience in the field but no degree. He went to one interview and they couldn't even bother to check up on his references even though they seemed very interested in him. Does anyone know of any companies or hospitals or forensic facilities that hire mental health care workers from abroad?

IS anyone else running into this problem with finding a job? ONce employers see he is from England they quickly dismiss him for the job because they can't be bothered or don't even call him back for even retail jobs. That is definitely discrimination for national origin. We live in the NJ/NYC area and there are tons of jobs availabe, just notwilling to give him a chance. It's pissing us both off.

don't know why some people get approved faster, but I hope that at least we are soon since we're both from July

Don't know why some people are getting their AOS package processed faster. Maybe they are giving certain countries preferential treatment to process faster. It wouldn't surprise me since it happens in our area within the communities.

Ok, I just tried my luck at calling the misinformation line and for once had a relatively pleasant experience with a nice lady on the other end (it takes FOREVER to get to a real person, by the way ). My whole reason for calling was just to see if I could get any tidbit of information on why there were no processing dates for family based I-485 applications at CSC. She told me that the reason they don't post them is because they (at CSC) are supposed to be working on them first, or as they get there. So, while this isn't much help to those of us who have been waiting there awhile, at least we have some vague idea on what is going on there. She also put in a service request for my case to see if we can find out what is happening but as well all know, those often do no good and get no response, but I will hassle them once again if I don't hear anything in 45 days. Seeing as how some people get approved so fast from CSC it seems that the actual processing of the cases must not take long, so namechecks are still my only guess as to why some sit there longer than others. Just wanted to pass on the info

processing time for Atlanta I-485 is still on July 17, 2006 and they received yours on July 30th. They should start processing it within the next two days. Ours is dated as received on July 5th, but Newark is only on June 27th so we have about 9 days before they even start processing ours as well. Do not follow the CSC processing times because they are not correct. you must follow your local office processing time even if the file has been transferred to California.

Ok, I just tried my luck at calling the misinformation line and for once had a relatively pleasant experience with a nice lady on the other end (it takes FOREVER to get to a real person, by the way ). My whole reason for calling was just to see if I could get any tidbit of information on why there were no processing dates for family based I-485 applications at CSC. She told me that the reason they don't post them is because they (at CSC) are supposed to be working on them first, or as they get there. So, while this isn't much help to those of us who have been waiting there awhile, at least we have some vague idea on what is going on there. She also put in a service request for my case to see if we can find out what is happening but as well all know, those often do no good and get no response, but I will hassle them once again if I don't hear anything in 45 days. Seeing as how some people get approved so fast from CSC it seems that the actual processing of the cases must not take long, so namechecks are still my only guess as to why some sit there longer than others. Just wanted to pass on the info

Sorry, I mean they should start processing yours in about two weeks.

We sent our AOS package back in July and have received no info related to the I-485. I would always look at the processing time for the California service center because it said it was transferred there already. The lady on the phone told me that I need to look at the processing time for Newark, even though it says it was transferred to California. Then it made sense because the Newark processing for the I-485 is upto June 27 2006, so we are still almost two weeks away from even having ours looked at.

ALl this time I was worried about why our package hadn't been "touched" and it turns out it's not our turn yet. So if anyone else has been looking at the CSC processing time because it has been transferred, look at your local office processing time instead. That is the correct processing time , as I was told earlier today from customer service. Last time I called a month ago the lady never told me that info.

I would've opened it in case the card inside was correct and if it wasn't then I'd put it in a nother envelope and mail it to the person without a return addy. whether it was legal or not. no harm done. I wouldn't take the chance of the correct GC being in there and I let it go.

Would it be a waste of time to make an infopass appointment while waiting for transfer to CSC? I don't even know when our case was transferred. All it says is that is was transferred. I won't know when the 180 days are up.

Thanks for clearing that up.. I hadn't noticed it was employment based. Sometimes all this info just gets jumbled into our heads.

I was just looking at the processing date for the I-485 and it said Sept 25, 2005? I hope that is wrong because many people have already received their greencard and filed after us in JUly 2006.

I hate this process

Just noticed we are the only ones with a NOA1 date from July left waiting. What's more important to look at though, the NOA1 date or the date of transfer? Just wondering.

We sent ours off in early July and have no interview date either, even though we've been transferred. I don't know when ours was transferred because they didnt say by email, but I was told on the 1800.

You are from the UK as well. Seems we are in the same date range and from same country. Hope we hear something soon

Just noticed we are the only ones with a NOA1 date from July left waiting. What's more important to look at though, the NOA1 date or the date of transfer? Just wondering.

We sent ours off in early July and have no interview date either, even though we've been transferred. I don't know when ours was transferred because they didnt say by email, but I was told on the 1800.

You are from the UK as well. Seems we are in the same date range and from same country. Hope we hear something soon

oops no you're not from UK.. you're from Canada. HOw the heck did I mix that up?

Hi, this is actually my first year in college in the states but i too attended what you call a comunity college in the UK. I got a national diploma in electrical engineering along with an A level in I.T. and a bunch of city and guilds stuff for electrical installation. None of those transfer as credits or qualifications to my current school. I was given the oppurtunity to test out of whatever classes i wanted to but there is a fee of i think $70 per class. If its just a high school diploma equivalency you need to be accepted into a school here then it doesn't really matter as long as you have something to show that you did finish high school in the UK. Community colleges dont really care because you have to take the placement tests anyways. Hope this helps somewhat.

Thank you very much...I know CSE qualifications are not worth much anymore but that is what I have to prove I completed High School in the UK...Pity about my other qualifications though seems a waste.

What Im looking to do is core studies at community college and then transfer to a four year college to attain a degree.

Thanks for your help.

I want to go to Community College here in the USA ...I have CSE certification from school as well as City and Guilds and a Certificate in Drug Abuse Awareness which is supposedly equivalent to an A level.

Does anyone know if this can be certified as a High School Diploma and if so by whom or where?

Thanks

I thought I was signed up for receiving email info , but I guess not. Says our file was transferred to CSC on the website and on the phone, but not when. HOw can I find out when? Seems there is no direct contact to a person with this stupid 1-800 #.

Okay I'm confused as to what this means. SInce Sept when Fiance received the EAD we've heard nothing about any interview or a request for anymore info.

I called the 800 number today and it said that the case has been transferred to California and is awaiting a decision and if any info is needed they will let us know.

Maybe someone can shed some light as to what are they waiting for now. Are we still just waiting for the interview date or the biometrics for the green card (or is it just one biometric appt. for the EAD and I-485), Does this mean he could probably get the card without an interview as others have or are they just pending with the FBI check.

This whole process makes us so crazy that now we're confused as to what the heck we should be waiting for or what we should do next. Our NOA1 for I-485 was back in July. AP and EAD are done.