DainandVicky

I'll admit the first couple times out were scary but I just tried to stay calm and not raise my voice even if I was scared.

If I had it to do over, I would hire an instructor for the first couple of times behind the wheel (where they have a brake on their side of the car too!! lol), then start instructing her after she's a bit practiced.

Now she's just too cautious, I need to teach her to be a little more aggressive (but happy it's too cautious than too aggressive), but I hardly ever feel like there might be an accident anymore.

Now she's pregnant though, and I'm not sure how much longer I want her to drive, for the safety of her and the baby.

Congrats to those recently approved and good luck to those with interviews soon.

That is so cool !!! I'm big fan of 'learning together' with that little device. I hope you are changing up the kitchen, cooking all the healthy food for future stuff. Yay !

She cooks very healthy meals for us already while she was waiting on work authorization.

She's going to miss her coffee, but she doesn't smoke and we don't drink much/ often so that's about it. She started pre-natal vitamins on Monday after a visit to the doc.

In our bathroom... it says "we" hehe

Actually we were both in our bathroom expecting 3 minutes wait for the little hourglass and it popped up in about 15 seconds saying pregnant.

Where was Vicky when you learned the news of her pregnancy ?

In our bathroom... it says "we" hehe

We received Vicky's greencard in the mail on Friday 6-11-10, found out we were expecting on Saturday 6-12-10. Some weekend!

We received Vicky's greencard in the mail on Friday, 6-11. We originally mailed our packet in early march, so just a hair over 3 months start to finish. NO complaints.

Saturday we did an EPT test because she's a week late, and we're expecting!

Talk about a big weekend haha.

USCIS must be monitoring!! I got touch on EAD and it was in mail box when I got home!!! Instant mail!!

Right out of Star Trek!

One of those vacuum tubes like they have at the bank lol

I never realized how slow US mail is at least according to USCIS mail dates!!

Our EAD came 2 days after the last touch. Card production does not mean sent (well, maybe the third time they tell you it's at card production it does... lol).

Vicky's first U.S. job interview today at 4:30.

Wish her luck!

I forgot to report Vicky got her EAD on Saturday. Now just waiting on the greencard to be mailed, but she can already drive, has a SSN, can work; pretty much anything except leave the country and we don't plan to do that until February when we go visit her family and have our renewal of vows ceremony there.

Hello guys,

We are AOS march fillers as well.

I'm completely anxious about all this process because I want to start to work and be able to travel and see my family in my country.

On may 28th they touched my case in the website.

Today I received a mail about my I-131 travel document application that worried me more than I'm actually worried.

It says,

After review we have decided to treat the appeal filed in the above case (I131) as a Service motion to reopen or

Service motion to reconsider. You will receive a notice under separate cover once all action has been completed.

Does anyone know what it means??

Thank you!

I'm not sure, by appeal I'm assuming there was an RFE on your case previously?

You should open a new topic on this forum and some of the longer-term/ admins may have more info for you. Make sure to give as much info. about what has occured so far with your case as possible. If there was an RFE, for what, and what was sent to correct it.

They may advise you to open an info-pass appt., not sure.

Congratulations!!!

btw, I noticed you got married last Feb 14, I also got married that day!

Everyone celebrates our anniversary!! hehe

DainandVicky,

Congratulations on your approval.

Thanks, hopefully the same news arrives for you in a couple of weeks.

We received Vicky's "Welcome to the United States" letter yesterday. Thanks to VisaJourney our total spent on lawyers from K1 filing to g/c approval $0.

Thanks all of you for your advice and help.

We received THE letter in the mail yesterday. "Welcome to the United States". Our permanent resident application is approved. There was no text, email, or update to status on USCIS; so a happy surprise. I was checking the mail hoping for the EAD to arrive, and got this instead. I wonder which one we'll receive first haha.

Looks like our journey is over, no more Immigration for 2 years until removal of conditional status.

I really can't complain though, our process was simple and speedy, and $0 spent on lawyers thanks to VisaJourney.

Thank you CSC for fast approvals on K1 and g/c.

Best of luck to everyone still waiting!

Done with my biometrics yesterday..!!

Also my husband is leaving this June 6th to work in Philippines again..

My problem is what uf I get my interview letter and he wasn't here????

And his job is permanently, I mean he can only travel back here to US every once in a year..!!

Ugh!! But since they transfer my case to CSC im hoping I won't have interview anymore..

WIsh me luck all VJ's filers..

The interview can be rescheduled. I'm not sure of the legality of leaving 1 year at a time on a conditional greencard though, might want to check on that.

do you have to surrender your passport when one gets naturalized?

No, but you cannot renew it until you do the oath ceremony to re-acquire your philippine citizinship. It's a simple ceremony that can be done at the Philippines embassies here in the U.S. or on a return trip to the Philippines. From what I've read here and online doing my own research it is a requirement to re-obtain your Philippines citizinship once you have naturalized to the U.S. It's something to do with the wording of the oath when becoming a U.S. citizen, I can't remember the specifics.

While there is no specific law in the U.S. barring dual citizenship, one can be found to have renounced their citizenship if they become a citizen of a foreign country after being a citizen of the U.S. This rarely happens, but has in the (fairly distant) past. Therefore, it is also possible for the original U.S. spouse to become a dual citizen of the U.S. and Philippines as well. I plan to do that as well as have Vicky being a dual citizen, I plan to also do the same later in life.

Congrats on all the recent approvals!

Hi everybody!

We got the approval letter on Friday so starting 14th of May I am a US resident. :-) No interview was required in our case. EAD is taking longer though but I am sure it's on it's way too. I should receive the green card in the mail in the next few weeks. So fast!!!!

Oh, I was worried that we will get a RFE because I didn't include the I-693 form in the package. I only send the vaccination record. However, it seems that it wasn't necessary. :-) It may be because my age waivers me from further vaccinations though.

Good luck to those still waiting for their approval!

You won't need, and may never receive an EAD after you have your green card. The EAD is supposed to serve as a temporary authorization to work until the green card is issued. You're authorized to work with your green card.

Congrats!

Received the "Welcome to America" letter Saturday, 5/22, five days after the text/email notification. On the letter, it says that she should receive her green card in 3 weeks.

Strange enough, I received another pair of text/email Friday, 5/21, notifying us that the green card was approved. We had already received such notice on 5/17.

When I just went online and check the case status, the I-485 was last updated on 5/21, the date the second notification was sent. I believed this is the date the green card was mailed. I have the reason to believe this, because I received one text/email for the approval of the EAD, another text/email notification for the mailing of the actual card, although the second notification did not specify that the card was mailed. Rather, it simply repeat the first approval message.

I hope everyone gets a speedy approval on this process!

Congrats!

Congrats! Best of luck on removal of conditions soon and on your test for citizenship soon after your next anniversary!

I called the USCIS number to check on my (husband's) case. The operator read in a robot voice this spiel about how I'm not supposed to call him back for another 21 days. haha so basically NOTHING SINCE APRIL 19th!!!!

Jewel-8 that's a nice spreadsheet. I'm hopeless with Excel so I find it really impressive whenever anyone makes one.. My husband has been just a tinge stir crazy and blue too. Someone wanted to offer him a job, but freaked out when told we are waiting for the EAD.

I think it's irritating for immigrants to be stuck in this gray area where they're not quite illegal but not quite legal. It's irritating for the USC too, since we've been waiting all this time to live like normal married people. Hopefully it will all be over soon, for a while anyway. I'm sick of immigration, honestly

I really don't agree. The system is in place for the EAD so the non-USC doesn't have to wait (years!) like they used to. 90 days (usually closer to 60) is a nice amount of time for the non-USC to get used to his/ her new surroundings without the pressure and stress of finding work/ not finding work/ working.

For us it's been like a long honeymoon. Yes, money can get a bit tight with all the major changes and only one spouse working, but it's really nice having a nice clean place, warm fresh cooked meals, and actually HAVE time to spend with one another, instead of we both just got off work, you clean, I'll cook, and maybe we'll see each other when we go to bed.

I guess it's the half-cup thing. It's all in how you look at it.

I get to teach Gen on a manual transmission!!!!!!!!

I started teaching Vicky on my car, which is a 5 speed. She was doing o.k. with it but advanced much faster once we found an inexpensive 2nd hand Corolla with an automatic.

The child can use the US passport leaving the US, and the Philippines passport entering the Philippines (so no need to renew visitor visa for the long stay). Bring both, but only present one at whichever spot to avoid confusion. The U.S. one at U.S. customs, the Philippine one at Philippines customs.

The greencard and Philippines passports for the Philippines citizens are all they will need.

Enjoy your trip!