sjoefl01

My sister in law has an appointment in Montgomery soon. Are they still doing same day ceremonies? The last report I got was a year ago from a friend. With this getting closer and closer to the holidays it would be nice to know if this will be completed in one day, or if we will need to go back.

I was hoping that there was something I missed. He is a great guy. I really like him. Of course, I know everybody feels that way about their family.

We are studying what it would take to bring my wife's brother here from Colombia. He is a recently retired doctor 63 years old with a tourist Visa. He came here once and liked it. I am reading here and it looks like minimum 13 years wait time. That's a long time. The wife thinks that because he has the tourist visa already that she needs to file an I485 along with the I130. Is this true? Does his being a doctor open any kinds of special categories?

Thanks in advance for any information. I know this is a little hopeless. I am just making sure there isn't something that I missed.

The lawyer said she would have to renew the green card before she could file for citizenship. I did a search her and it appeared to be slightly controversial.

My sister in law is suffering from dementia. She is elderly and has lived in the US legally (LPR) for about 25 years. She is about 70 and speaks only Spanish. The family is trying to help her. She has a lot of medical problems. Right now the best plan is to get her to Colombia where she has more family members to help with her care. While my wife was helping to make arrangements she discovered that her sisters green card expired about a year ago. She doesn't work or anything.

Chances are that she will be in Colombia for more than 6 months. It is entirely possible that she may never return but we want to keep that option open. If nothing else but to come see her friends and move her stuff. For now we re keeping her apartment.

It seems that she can't file for citizenship on this expired card and there may be problems with her return if she stays longer than 6 months. We also wanted to bring her from California to Florida to stay with us for now so there may be issues with where to file.

Any advice will be appreciated in advance.We are all trying to help this poor woman finish her life without a lot of stress and frustration. She has a loving family that wants to help. we jsu tneed to know the best way to proceed.

PS

My wife called a Palm Springs Ca lawyer and he said green card renewal was taking about a year. Is this true, or was he trying to scare us so we would pay him to help?

My sister in law is LPR. She is 84 and has the early stages of memory loss. She is diabetic and is having a hard time with her meds. My wife and I are in Florida and her sister is in California. She doesn't really think she could make the trip her breathing is not great. The wife works and at some point she will need to get back.

They have a step sister in Colombia that would love to come and help. She is really poor and I am guessing it would be difficult for her to get a visa. Any ideas? What kind of visa would that even be?

1. The child care was for her grandbaby. Surely that isn't viewed as employment.

2. She applied properly for an extension for a perfectly good and understandable reason. There was no unauthorized overstay. There is nothing illegal about helping your son and grandbaby overcome the loss of your daughter.

3. If it was my mother in law I would take a shot with another consular officer. I'd write a letter explaining exactly what you have told us.

4. There is nothing about wanting to come to the US to visit with your grandaughter that violates the intent of the tourist visa.

5. It would be great if your MIL could get a letter from her employer stating that she could return to her job after a leave of absence.

I see no harm in giving it a shot. If you can't afford to lose the application fee then you can't afford the airfare.

You have my condolences on the loss of your wife. Your story is heartbreaking. I must say that I am shocked at the flavor of VJ these days. This site was my life for a couple of years. It used to be a great place where people supported each other and shared each others joys and frustrations. It smells a little hostile and angry to me now. I think Ill go back to the auto repair forums. They are nice people.

There are also security clearance levels that aren't available to non citizens as well as difficulty with depolyments traveling on a foreign passport. I'm not sure how the visa deal works in other countries for US military members that have foreign passports.

If she is not able to gain citizenship under her Mom she will have to wait two more years to qualify.

I guess it doesn't seem unfair if you are not in the same position. Perhaps you could understand that it is frustrating that if the JAX office did same day oath she would be home free (assuming her mom passes the interview. Even if we were in an area where the ceremonies were more frequent it wouldn't be a problem.

It still seems to me that the date should be the receipt date on the application. After that you are at the mercy of processing times from various offices.

This doesn't seem fair. We live in a small town and the they wait until they get quite a few people before they have a ceremony. It took us a while. There is really no way to know after taking the test where you fit in the ceremony cycle. Early March after aan end of January test will probably not happen.

The little girl has been wanting to join the Air Force and was told that she should wait for citizenship for more opportunity. As an LPR there were limits on career fields.

It made more sense to me that the receipt date of the application wold be the cutoff due to various processing times. I had forgotten that fairness and good sense has nothing to do with USCIS.

I Think I probably worded the question improperly. The mom and daughter are both legal permanent residents.

The daughter turns 18 in March. It's doubtful that the ceremony for her Mom will happen before then.

The mom is worried that the daughter will lose here elligibilty for citizenship under her Mom's application and will have to file on her own if she turns 18 before the ceremony. I am guessing that the daughter simply needed to be under 18 years old at the time that her Mom's application was received.

I have a neighbor that has filed for citizenship. She has an appointment on 25 January for the test. She has a daughter that will be 18 years old soon. I think the cutoff for coming under her Mom's citizenship is the receipt date of the application. Her mom is worried that it might be the date of the oath. I doubt that would be the case so I am asking the question before I tell her something incorrect.

Is it the receipt date, the passing of the test, or the date of the oath that allows the daughter to sneak through on her mom's citizenship?

Thanks folks. I hate to give bad information.

Lucero had her oath ceremony this morning. The people that planned it did a really great job. There were 59 people from all over the world. Several people made excellent speeches. We thoroughly enjoyed it. They also had a liove feed of the ceremony streaming on the internet for people who couldn't come. A guy recorded ti and sold DVDs for 10 bucks.

It was a nice ceremony.

How many years do representatives serve?

Who was the first president?

Name one war from the 1900's.

In what month do we elect the president?

Lucero went for her interview yesterday. It went really well.

The reading and writing questions were about George Washington.

1. They asked how many in the house of reps.

2. Who was the top supreme court guy.

I'll have to get the other questions when she gets out of school.

The lady was really nice. She actually had a sense of humor. The only thing she wanted to see were 2009 tax forms. That seemed strange since we sent those with the application in April.

The lady looked over the oath ceremonies in Pensacola and said it would probably be in September. She gave Lucero the option of going to Panama City which would be sooner but Lucero decided to wait for Pensacola. That should still give her time to vote in November.

Overall, Jacksonville was great. We have never had a problem over there. It is the complete opposite of New Orleans.

I'll post the other questions when Lucero gets home.

I haven't heard of anyone doing same day oaths in Jacksonville. They seem to have ceremonies once per month or even less frequently. And, they fill up. So even if you're eligible to do the oath on the next oath ceremony date, it could be full already and you'd need to wait for the next one.

My husband passed his interview on 4/28, and is now scheduled for the oath ceremony in Jacksonville on 6/29.

However, I've heard that they do oath ceremonies elsewhere: for example, another VJer had the interview in Jacksonville but the oath ceremony in Tallahassee. So, that could happen for you.... There's a great IO in Jacksonville if you have any possibility of making an infopass if you happen to be in Jacksonville. Got lots of good info that way.

Thanks,

I agree about that Jacksonville office. We have been there a lot of times and they have always been great. Even the security guards were nice to us. We always get bio in New Orleans and those folks are always rude and just plain mean. It's like they are mad about something. The last time it was so bad we laughed the whole time just watching them make everybody that came in mad.

One more question. Don't I remember having read somewhere that Lucero could arrange for a US passport? I was thinking that she cold file this maybe at the oath ceremony.

PS: I am pretty sure we will be taking the oath in Pensacola.

We got the letter today and the appointment is July 7 at 10:10. I don't know for sure what is going on this July 4th but I do know it is common to have big ceremonies on the 4th where politicians show up to do the oath. Last year they seemed to slow down on the letters to buffer some up for the 4th.

I sure wish I had an idea about the oath. My sister wanted to come if possible but we are about 6 hours from the office in Jacksonville and she is about an hour and a half. If they don't do it on the same day we will be going to Pensacola and that is a whole different story.

I shouldn't be complaining though. So far this has gone much better than anything we ever did with USCIS.

Lucero is waiting to get the letter for her Citizenship interview in Jacksonville. So far this has all gone much easier than the rest of our dealings with USCIS.

We are wondering what the deal is about taking the oath in the office. We were really hoping to get a July 4th ceremony but I don't see the cards falling for that. She is well past any borderline for eligibility so that is no a concern.

Should we expect to take the oath on the same day? That is, of course pending passing the test.

I think 13 and 14 actually aren't necessary. Does anyone else know for sure? I would like to find out - don't want to send things I don't have to, but also don't want to leave things out and get RFE. Are those things needed for the interview? Oh wait - maybe they're just not necessary if you send tax transcripts...?

Anyway, as far as I can tell, it looks like a good list.

Best of luck!

venusfire

From the VJ guides:

If you are applying for naturalization on the basis of marriage to a U.S. citizen, send the following four items: 1. Evidence that your spouse has been a U.S. citizen for the last three years: Birth certificate (if your spouse never lost citizenship since birth), or

Naturalization certificate, or

Certificate of Citizenship, or

The inside of the front cover and signature page of your spouse’s current U.S. passport, or

Form FS-240, “Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America,†and

2. Your current marriage certificate; and

3. Proof of termination of all prior marriages of your spouse-divorce decree(s), annulment(s), or death certificate(s); and

4. Documents referring to you and your spouse:

Tax returns, bank accounts, leases, mortgages, or birth certificates of children, or

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-certified copies of the income tax forms that you both filed for the past three years, or

An IRS tax return transcript for the last three years.

Photocopy of Naturalization card = copy of green card (front and back)

We are filing after three years for citizenship based on my wifes marriage to a US citizen (which would be me). According to the instructions we need to show proof that I am a citizen. We did that with a copy of my birth certificate and US passport.

The following are the contents of the package:

1.Form G-1145 Application/Petition Acceptance

2.Form N-400

3.Attachment to add to line 6B Employment

4.Attachment to add to Line 8G prior marriages US spouse

5.Photocopy of Naturalization Card

6.(2 each) Passport style photographs

7.Check for $675.00 N400 filing fee + biometrics

8.Spouses US Birth Certificate

9.Photocopy of spouses US passport

10.Copy of Marriage License

11.Evidence of prior spousal marriage termination

12.Copies of 3 years federal income tax returns

13.Copies of mortgages and taxes for two joint owned properties purchased since the marriage

14.Documents regarding several joint bank accounts

We were putting together info for my wife's citizenship application. I see in the guides that there is a lot of marriage and tax information that is not included in the instructions for the N400.

My wife is filing after 4 years based on our marriage:

All I see at USCIS is N400/check/passport photos/ and copy of green card.

Has anybody gotten an RFE that sent the package without this info?

Tax info is a bit of a hassle for us for a few reasons. (Yes we have paid the taxes)

I would prefer add to the complication of UCIS unless it is absolutely necessary.

This was all really well documented for the visa,the CPR, and the LPR steps. Do we really need to go through all that again?

The web site says that my daughter was approved on Nov 3. We haven't gotten anything in the mail yet.

My wife finally got her card after 18 months. We still have nothing for our daughter. We have until December then we will have to go to Jacksonville again. The 1 year letter expired several months ago and she will need something to register for another term in college.

It sounds like there may be some allegations of abuse in this case. That changes the deal quite a bit. It also doesn't sound like this girl has the funds to go after the lawyer, or hire another one. Perhaps she should slow down and find out why the case hasn't been filed. Maybe the lawyer will feel bad and press on.

I wouldn't get carried away too quickly here. The lawyer has been paid and the husband isn't going to fill new papers. I don't think she needs to end up with this stack of old forms trying to go it alone with advice from VJ.

BE PATIENT, find out what happened, and see what the lawyer suggests as a path forward..

Residency expired. Separated from husband but not divorced yet. How would her lawyer file for her? Sue the lawyer?

Residency expired. Separated from husband but not divorced yet.

A: They still live together with the miserable life... He doesn't offer the financial support at all. She has to go out to work with friend (though visa expired) in order to save some money to pay the cheating lawyer and to spend for her own...waiting for the 10 yrs GC. Her husband helped to prepare all document to file for 10 yrs GC. Threw all doc at last mins after buying the time til it's expired! But it's already late to file anyway. He helped her with the condition that he will divorce her after her 10 GC arrives.

How would her lawyer file for her?

A: The lawyer said it's fine with this case and prepared many evidence to show why they will file late (police report, hospital record, friends and neighbours notes etc as their marriage is not smooth as a silk before...) The lawyer cash was paid. Everything seemed to go well except the lawyer didn't file it for her.

Sue the lawyer?

A: No idea...Any advice?

We feel your pain. We are at 16 months now with no end in sight.