evilmonkee

I am not eligible to file for citizenship until late October, but I'm trying to get ahead of the game and assemble my package now so I can just send it out in October. From the instructions, it looks like all I have to send is

1. copy (front and back) of my green card

2. copy of DH's passport or birth certificate

3. copy of our marriage license

4. IRS certified transcripts

5. 2 pictures

6. the form itself

7. check

It doesn't say anything about sending other documents to prove the bona fides of our marriage (it says tax transcripts OR the other documents), so I'm inclined not to send them, and just to bring them to the interview. Does this make sense, or should I preload the application and bring the documents to the interview?

Thanks Wifetobe....can you please check your status on INS website and see whether the biometrics was logged in?

Thats part of my concern..all it says is Petition to Remove received...and nothing else.

Why doesnt it mention that 2 weeks later, I took my wife for her biometrics..nothing about that...why is that?

I would feel better if your biometrics was also not logged into the status page on INS.

In many cases nothing shows up after the biometrics (there is a discussion from late December- early January somewhere around here). Nothing was updated when I got my biometrics done- no reviews, no "touches", nothing. The website was stuck on initial review for 6 months, and then it changed to card production.

Just received my new card. I'm leaving town for an international trip late tonight, so I'm really excited that I won't have to carry the extension letter around.

Got the card production e-mail yesterday! I am traveling out of the country for work on Tuesday, so I will probably have to travel with the old card and the extension letter, which makes me kind of nervous, but at least I know the new card was ordered.

Got my biometrics done today.

It was originally scheduled for 12/14, but I will be out of the country for work, so I decided to try a walk-in.

I work about 5 minutes away from the USCIS ASC, so even if they had turned me down it wouldn't have been a big deal.

I was in and out in less than 15 minutes because I was the only person there, and the employees were super nice.

Now I can relax and just wait couple months until I get my card.

Got my biometrics letter today. It's scheduled for 12/14, but I'm out of the country for work that week. I'll try to do a walk-in tomorrow. If they don't take walk-ins, I guess I'll have to reschedule.

I got my NOA today. It's dated 11/09.

They cashed my check today, so the NOA should be on its way. I'll update my timeline once it gets here.

I sent the petition yesterday 11/07 (California Service Center), so now it's back to waiting.

After some deliberation, I decided to also include the random evidence like the race registration confirmations and programs, and the charity stuff that I mentioned above. Once I'm done with the immigration journey, I should probably plant a tree or two to offset the amount of paper I've used for immigration forms.

Heatdeath- can you please add my name to the CSC applicants? My computer at work will not let me format it properly and it keeps showing up as random characters.

Hello all.

Long time no see (not that I'm complaining about getting a break from doing paperwork). I'm putting together the ROC package, and it should go out either tomorrow or on Monday.

This is what I plan to include:

1. Signed form & check

2. Quarterly statements for the joint checking and savings account

3. Copy of joint cc's for another account

4. Tax forms: Fed and state for 2009,2010, copies of estimated tax payments for 2011 (we have to pay estimated taxes b/c my school stipend is processed as a fellowship)

5. Copy of the paperwork for the loan we took out for a car (both the approval form and the current statement)

6. Titles for both cars

7. Insurance for both cars

8. Renter's insurance

9. Rent contracts 2009-through 2011-2012

10. copies of driver's licenses showing the same address

11. Affidavits from friends and couple random pictures

12. Copies of our living wills

Is there anything else I should include? I think what I have so far is sufficient, but I have a lot of other stuff I could include. We've got more pictures, joint gym membership, Sam's club membership, and we've participated in couple 5k races and charity events together so both of our names are on the official programs next to each other and we have subsequent registration numbers(the programs are also available online on the organizers' sites).

I hate wasting paper, so I'm leaning towards only including the financial and legal documents, but I'm a worrywart and I am still on the fence about including all the other random stuff we have.

I haven't taken an accelerated class, but I taught an accelerated statistics class last summer and I'll be teaching one this summer, so maybe I can give some useful insight. I'm a grad student who is about to go on the job market next year, so I had to take the class seriously because I needed good reviews both from the students and from the prof who was teaching the next class in the sequence.

My class was pretty much a boot camp class. I didn't skip any topics and the students really needed to learn everything or they would have failed the next class. I felt like a zombie by the end of the day, and I was teaching material that I already knew really well, so I can't imagine how the students must have felt.

My 2 cents: only take summer classes if they are very easy, or if you are really excited about the class and don't mind doing a lot of independent work.

You can easily read 100 pages of gen ed 101 BS every day, ace a multiple choice exam, and forget everything you learned as soon as you walk out of the exam room. If you need to actually learn stuff, but you aren't terribly thrilled about the subject, I would strongly advise you against taking science and math classes during the summer.

I am not saying that cannot learn a lot in an accelerated class. You can probably learn more than you would in a regular class, if you spend your whole summer completely focusing on one subject, but you have to be 100% dedicated. There is very little leeway, so you can't miss classes or labs. An average student will have to spend about 3 hours doing homework/studying for every hour in a summer class, so be prepared to put your social life on the back burner for awhile. If you don't care about the subject, it's very easy to start slacking off.

If you are actually excited about doing a lot of work in that field, an advantage of accelerated summer classes is that you can completely focus on one class and you will learn a lot. Plus you can kind of get a taste of what working in that field would be like, because you will only be doing chemistry-related stuff for 3 months.

As already pointed out, the national benefits center is in Lee's Summit. The EAD and the AP documents are adjudicated only by the NBC, so all I-765 and I-131 forms are sent there. For AOS filers, they cannot be approved if the AOS is not filed properly, they are usually sent together with the I-485 to check for completeness. My guess would be that they'll recheck the file for completeness, send an RFE if they find that something is missing, or simply approve the EAD/AP if the file is complete. In most cases, once the work permit and the advance parole is approved, the I-485 is forwarded to a local office or to California.

If you read through the AOS forum signatures, you will notice that all EAD and AP documents are mailed from Lee's Summit, and almost all RFE's that are mailed prior to the EAD approval are mailed from Lee's Summit (also, almost all RFE responses have to be sent there). Sometimes the California Service Center or the local office sends an RFE, but in 90% of AOS cases, the RFE is sent from the NBC because that is probably the first time they check the entire file and supporting documents before it's sent to a local office or to the CSC.

All of the correspondence I got from USCIS was either from the NBC or from my local office. I have a friend who lives in San Francisco who adjusted his status about 3 months before I did, and he also got his first NOAs from NBC.

They also frequently shift cases from center to center if there is a significant backlog at one location, even after they approve the EAD/ AP. With the bad weather affecting Vermont, and the CSC processing additional Haitian petitions, there might be backlogs at both centers.

Im just doing this post for a friend of mine who will also be filing her AOS. She wants to asked regarding the unpaid income return of her husband of 2008 in which need to be attached on 1-864 affidavit of support. Does her husband need to pay for the unpaid income tax? Any advice is highly appreciated...

Yes, the sponsor (and any joint sponsors, if applicable) have to have filed income taxes the most recent tax year.It's explained in item 25 on page 9 on the I-864 form. Her husband would have to file, and pay the unpaid tax he owns.

I hope you don't mind if I ask a related question so I don't have to open a whole new topic for it.

Our lease (for the house we live in) is under my name because I moved when we were dating (only 2 months into it) so it was not a good idea to sign a joint contract. It has since been expired, meaning that we are not under contract anymore and we are going to move out to an apartment as soon as I get EAD and a job. I am afraid that if the interview is before that we will not be able to show a joint lease. Do you think this will be a big problem? I am going to add him to all the bills as they are also under my name currently. We are going to have a joint checking and maybe savings accounts. We also have the same address on driver's licences. Is this sufficient?

Val Marty,

I had a relatively easy interview, but some of the October filers got grilled, so IMHO it's always best to have too much evidence than too little. I only got asked for my rent contract and the life insurance, but some IOs asked for everything but the kitchen sink.

What you have sounds good (especially the driver's licenses).

Here are some more ideas :

1. In your signature you mention an expedite. Is your husband in the military? If yes, call and get USAA life insurance for him or for you. It's one of the few insurance companies that allows non-residents to buy life insurance, and military members get excellent rates. Having each other listed as beneficiaries is considered good evidence, and having life insurance that will cover at least funeral expenses is something that everybody should have.

2. You may be able to get joint car insurance, either through your current insurer or through USAA (if your husband is in the military). I actually switched to the joint insurance after the interview, but feel so stupid for not doing it sooner and for wasting so much money- the total cost for the joint insurance is less than my husband's previous premium alone.

3. Do you have renter's insurance? It's very easy to add both names to it, and it's something you should have anyways.

4. Have you made any major purchases out of the joint account (furniture, electronics, something with warranty)? Bring the receipts and the bank statements to show that the joint account is used for day-to-day expenses and for normal life expenses.

5. Affidavits from friends/family and pictures are secondary, but it doesn't hurt to have them.

We rent, so we didn't have joint mortgage/loans, and we're waiting for our tax refund to buy a new car, so we didn't have much joint property. I also didn't put my name on the utilities since it was a PITA to add it, and I kept my student insurance since it was much cheaper than paying into my husband's HSA. If you have any joint property or joint health insurance, that's great, if not, don't sweat it. They understand that you're a newly-wed and that you can't accumulate much joint stuff in couple months.

If you have time, skim through the October/Sept/etc threads to see what evidence the IOs usually want to see.

I also found this thread very helpful:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=220440

It's for removal of conditions, but a lot of it is applicable for AOS.

Last, but definitely not least, don't freak out, and don't forget that IOs are trained to read body language. You can fake evidence and add anybody to your rent contract, but you it's almost impossible to fake body language and chemistry between you and your husband. You should definitely go to the interview prepared, but if your marriage is real, you shouldn't worry too much.

Thanks I will talk to my adviser. My interview is in 3 wks so, I will just not use my EAD or advance Parole...

How was your interview experience??

Neha,

My interview was very easy. The IO asked me the yes/no questions from the I-485 form, then she asked us to give her a copy of our rent contract, insurance, and photos. Then she took out an approval form that was pre-stamped, explained that I will have to remove conditions in 2 years because I'm adjusting through marriage, had us sign it, and wished us a good day. The IO was very polite, and the interview lasted a total of 5 or 6 minutes.My interview was in the St Louis office.

If you are adjusting through a sibling or a parent, your interview will probably be slightly different. Make sure you you have a birth certificate or affidavits that show that you are related to your sister or mother. They might ask you questions about your childhood, any criminal history, your relationship with your parents/siblings, and their contact info, but this is just a wild guess.

Since you fully disclosed that you have pending I-130 petitions at your F1 interview, and you don't have to prove a bona fide relationship, I don't think you will have any problems. Make sure you bring everything that they ask for on the check list.

There is a poster in the August or September thread who petitioned for her parents who were already in the US, and she (he?) is from India, so they might give you more information about adjusting through a family member who is not a spouse. The poster's name is richa.

Neha,

I strongly encourage you to talk to an international student adviser. I was also F1, I AOS-ed through marriage without any issues, and I am still in school full time. When I talked to the advisers at my school, they told me that I can continue as F-1 until the adjustment is approved, and that I will be considered F1 during the adjustment process unless:

1-I use the advance parole to leave the country and return, in which case I would have been considered as "applicant for AOS" only

2-use the EAD to work for an employer other than the school

I work as a research assistant at my school, and I talked to the HR person who handles international student's paperwork. She made a copy of my EAD for her records, but told me that she will keep me as F1 student/ employee until the AOS is approved. I checked with the international student office and with a friend who also AOS-ed though marriage, and they both told me that that's standard practice for my school.

If you work for an employer other than your school (or your OPT employer) you will lose your F1 status.

3- Drop below full-time (i.e. not maintain my F1 status)

The area between F1 and AOS is somewhat muddy and different schools handle it differently. Some schools let you become a part-time student and charge you resident fees as soon as you get your EAD or your NOA1. My school only accepts copies of the approval notice or the actual card. Please talk to the advisers before you talk to anybody in HR or payroll. The international student advisers can tell you how your school handles situations like yours, and advise you how to proceed.

I am 34DD/E and it sucks. I am only 5'1" and sometimes I feel like a cartoon character. Even when I weighted about 90 pounds in HS, I was still a D cup. I totally hate the fact that I always have to wear a bra, that I can't wear strapless tops, and that I am looking forward to doing hundreds of push-ups and always keeping my weight in a very narrow range to hopefully prevent sagging. Right now I am training for my first marathon , and I have to wear sports bras that resemble medieval body armor.

I have considered getting a reduction, but I'm deathly afraid of anesthesia, and I'd much rather spend the money on a vacation.

On the bright side, I totally channeled Dolly Parton for Halloween last year, and my husband loves them. All I have to do to convince him to do the housework is show some cleavage.

We got the approval notices for I-130 and I-485 on Monday, and I got my GC in the mail today

I can't believe I am done until Oct 22nd 2011!

Do I need to go to the SSA to get an unrestricted card or can I just keep using the restricted one?

I tried calling their 1-800 number, but after listening to the auto attendant read the same recording about Medicaid for the fifth time I gave up.

Mariya:

I am sorry if I misunderstood your post, but I got the impression that you were a condtional permanent resident that got her residence through marriage.

If you got your green card through marriage, and it was a 2-year card, you shouldn't use form I-90. You need to use form I-751.

I-90 is used to renew an unconditional10-year card, I-751 is used to remove conditions on a 2-year card that was obtained through marriage. There are instructions for form I-751 and the supporting docs in the guides above. I believe that there is also a pinned topic about what kind of evidence to send in the "Removing Conditions" tread. Make sure that USCIS receives your application before your conditional card expires.

Once you send your application, they will schedule biometrics. Depending on your local center, it is usually scheduled anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months after NOA1. Some offices will let you do an early walk-in, but you will need your biometrics letter to do a walk-in. That is, if your office allows walk-ins, you can go in any time after you receive your biometrics letter. You will need an ID and the appointment letter .

I am so glad that I am not the only person who hates American bread. I converted my husband into a bread snob, so he agrees with me, but my in-laws and most of my friends think I am crazy when I say that American bread tastes like sponge cake.

This is my 6th year in the US (got my undergrad here, in grad school now), and I am still repulsed by Wonder Sponge. At first I thought that it was just the bread in the dining halls, but it's US bread in general. I find the phrase "best thing since sliced bread" very ironic.Even the artisan breads they sell in most grocery stores are sweet, almost crustless, and mushy.

It is not that hard to find good bread from small local bakeries, but it costs $7/ small loaf where I live, so I have been making my own ever since I moved out of the dorms.

Bread makers are great for making oatmeal bread , breads with fruit, and they make excellent soft sandwich bread, but they don't make good crusty bread.

I highly recommend the 5 minute a day artisan bread. It takes some initial time investment, but it's totally worth it.

I have also used Alton Brown's recipes and several recipes from the Joy of Cooking, all with good results. Even the flops were better than grocery store bread.

If you prefer crusty bread, invest in a pizza stone or an unglazed ceramic tile. Make sure it's unglazed, because the fumes from some glazes can be very toxic. Just put the stone/tile in the oven when it preheats, and put the bread in about 20 minutes after the oven reaches the desired temperature. The stone will retain heat and it will prevent the oven temperature from dropping when your first open the oven door to put the bread in. Don't open the oven door for at least 15 minutes after you put the bread in.

If you can't find a pizza stone or don't want to use it, you can use a French egg wash, or brush the bread with milk about 5 minutes before it's done.

My name is evilmonkee, and I am a bread snob.

Thanks for the congrats everybody, and congratulations on receiving your card hudons.

Got the "card production ordered" e-mail.

Yesterday started so bad it was almost like a bad comedy. The interview was actually the best part of the day.

I was going to wear a pant suit, but my dog left muddy paw prints on my pants. Then I put on a skirt that was part of the same set with the jacket and the pants and my pantyhose began to run, so I ended up putting on cords that I pulled out of a pile of laundry and febreezed just because we were already running late. My husband was trying to iron his suit, but the fuse blew, so he ended up wearing wrinkled pants.

As soon as we pulled out the driveway our tire blew up. Fortunately, we have two cars, so we scrambled to switch cars and took my husband's car. Next we went to Walgreens because we had to print out some extra pictures to take to the interview. Well, guess what! All four of their picture machines were broken. We went to Walmart next- their picture printing machine was also broken.

By that point, we decided to just give up and drive to the USCIS office and mail the extra pictures if they ask us to show them more pictures. As soon as we got on the highway, the fuel light came on (my husband's fuel gauge is broken so we have to keep track of miles). Fortunately, we ran out of gas when we pulled into the parking lot next to the uscis building. Walking in the rain wouldn't have been fun.

We got there 30 seconds before our appointment time, and then we had to wait 90 minutes to be called in.

On the list of the possible interview questions I found here there were several about the morning of the interview and the trip to the interview. I kind of wished the IO had asked us about it- you can't make stuff like this up even if you wanted to.

Well, all is well that ends well. Resuming normal life in 3,2,1...

I've been putting off school work because I was freaking out about the interview, so now I have about 5000 papers to read, a syllabus to write, and a ton of exams that need to be graded.

At least I am USCIS-free for 21 months. See you all in October/November 2011.

Good luck next week luckykaren. Let me know if you have any questions about the stl office and the area around the uscis building.

We got approved !

We waited for about 90 minutes, and the actual interview was about 5 minutes. I got really worried while we were waiting, because I saw several couples being separated, and a woman who left crying. Fortunately, we got called in right before I was about to freak out.

The lady who interviewed us was very nice and professional. She asked both of us the usual "are you a spy, do you intend to engage in espionage" questions, and then she asked us three more questions.

She asked how and when we met, is our mailing address still the same, and if we brought any additional proof of our marriage. When we pulled out our alphabetically organized and tabbed files, she started laughing and said she can see that she is dealing with people who have background in accounting (obviously, she had read our files because she never asked us about our education) .

Then she took several of the copies that we had brought, made an additional copy of our licenses, our rent contract, our bank statements, and several of the pictures that we brought. Finally, she pulled out a pre-stamped form explaining what conditional residence is, told us that we'd have to apply to remove conditions in 21 months, and had us sign it.

Right before we left, she said she'll work on finalizing all of her cases tonight and tomorrow, so I probably won't get an online update until tomorrow or Thursday, and that I should get the card in the mail in the next 30 days.

We were in an out in less than 10 minutes, and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience (except for the waiting and the getting freaked out part).

I only wear mine when I am out-almost never at home. I am am left-handed and it gets in the way when I am doing stuff. I bake from scratch almost every day, and I cook a lot in general, so I don't want dough or raw chicken trapped in my ring.

Sometimes I also have to take it off at school if I'm taking notes by hand or if I'm typing a long paper.

I do like wearing both rings when I am in public.

My husband (the USC) wears his all the time, except when he's showering, handling raw chicken/food , or cleaning the bunny's cage.

Got my interview letter- My interview is on 01/19/2010

I also received my EAD couple weeks ago- I don't know the exact date, since we were visiting my husband's parents for Thanksgiving, and all of our mail for the week was delivered the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

My EAD card is being produced.

I got three messages from CRIS last night- one at 11 pm, stating that my petition was approved on 11/18, then I got another one at 11:30 pm stating that card production has been ordered, and then another one at 4 am also stating that card production has been ordered.