sjoefl01

This doesn't sound like an immigration issue. It sounds like a moral issue to me.

1. I was looking at your recent posts. What a curious group of unhappy immigrant friends you have. Is it just a coincidence that you have run across such a group of people in such dire straights? Your questions seem always be about protecting benifits after divorce.

2. Your friends husband would not qualify for unemployment compensation if he was fired for cause.

3. If you are really a friend you should suggest to your friend that she get her advice from Alanon. They are more qualified to help with problems involving alcoholism and drug dependency. There is a lot of help available for this guy if he truly has a problem and he desires a better way of life. If she really loved or (loves) this guy she should try to help him instead of just leaving him with his problem.

4. It sounds to me like it is likely that his job loss, legal problems, and marriage problems are all a consequence of his drug/ alcohol problem. If she can help him fix that then she has a good marriage again. You should steer them to Alanon and Alcoholics Anonomous. Your advice, however well intentioned, may be exacerbating their marital problems. I doubt that you are qualified to help with decisions that involve such serious consequences. I don't think you want this on your conscience.

Thank you very much. I was hoping it was something like that. I just wanted to make sure this was normal.

It sure is great to have a place like VJ to share experiences. I can't even imagine how bad all of this would have been if we had to depend on that telephone number for information. The closest office we have is 6 hours drive so we don't even think about infopass.

His petition is completley separate from yours. You will still need to file to remove the conditions at the proper time regardless of his status. By the same token he will need to file the 485 to attain permenent residency.

wanna ask here if you can help me my Q? is soon i need to apply my 10 years green card but my son dont have any green card yet .( im single mother ) and married to US citizen ,,NOW what do i need to do? file for my son first change status or just include my son for my I-175 remove conditions permanent resident status ??? THank's alot to this website help alot

thank's so i need to get his change status first before i apply my I-175 ??? even my 2 years green card expired in december 2009 ???

The I751 is to remove the 2 year conditional residency from your green card. To incluse your son on this petition he would have to have a green card with the same 2 year restriction.

I think you will need to start the process of getting his own green card. There isn't enough specific information here to determine if that could be done based on your marriage or not.

I was worried that the paperwork had been lost in the mail and the USCIS had never gotten it. That changed now. We got NOA's in the mail today. This brings about another question.

The application was for my wife and her daughter. I sent a singlew check for $625. That would be $545+2 X $80. The first NOA was addressed to my wife. In the receipt notice column there was "amount received $625" and details of the check.

The second NOA was exactly the same. The only difference was that the amount was $545 and it had a different receipt number. Neither NOA mentioned my stepdaughter in any way.

Is this normal?

We filed the petition to remove conditions about 3 weeks ago. We are in Florida and filed to Vermont. I know we should have sent it certified but we didn't. It's too late now so I'm not gonna beat myself up too bad about that.

Now it's been about 3 weeks and the check still hasn't cleared the bank. We have till the 17th before the cards expire.

Plan B

Rather than freaking out about all of this or possibly having a major problem, I am thinking we should just throw together another quicky package and send it to them ASAP certified. I'll write a letter to go with the package and explain what happened.

Expected consequences:

They will probably cash both checks.

We will probably get fingerprint paperwork twice.

Questions:

Does anybody think this is a bad idea?

Does anybody have a better idea?

Are there consequences that we missed?

It's great to know that VJ is still such a great place and that some of our good friends are still here. I hope that the others are doing great also. This renewal seems fairly painless if you have patience. Surely all of us have gained some degree of patience with them after having gone through this for so many years.

We have gardes for Lucero from the local community college that I will add. They are mailed to the house and cover the duration of her time here.

Utilities pretty much come to me and don't show much.

I read the guides and formed an opinion that may be incorrect. Let me throw it out here.

The girls are here legally and can only be removed by an immigration court. The burden to prove that this arrangement was fraudulant falls on the government.

Does anybody know of a single case of removal where the I 751 was filed before the expiration?

Are these true statements?

Most of the complaining I have read in this forum seems to be about the long wait. It would really surprise me if it did NOT take them forever to renew this card. I have watched the USCIS for a long time.

Here is the cycle:

1.Everything you need from them takes forever

2.Folks like us complain to their representatives about the long waits and incompetence.

3.The USCIS says that if they had a huge fee increase they could hire more folks and eliminate the backlog.

4.They get the money and go just as slow, so that they can get another rate increase down the road.

It is the closest thing I have ever seen to perpetual motion.

I think if the congress would make a law that if the USCIS couldn't eliminate the backlog within a year that the whole business would be turned over to a contractor the cycle could be broken. A business could run this much more quickly, and still maintain the same level of security with half the people.

Well the time has come to lift conditions on the green cards for Lucero (wife K1) and Angelica (step K2). The marriage has been better than I ever dreamed.

We are fixing to send of the packet and wanted to run it through here first. I think we are in good shape. We are pretty strong on legal papers and such. We really didn't want to ask friends to do the affidavits. The way I read it they are not required. Am I correct?

What we have:

I751

Copies of the green cards and SS

Mortgage papers for the house

Address information since we moved (yes we filed the AR11)

Current auto insurance paers that show all of us on one policy

Joint tax returns

Deed on house (both names)

Joint title on car

Checking and savings account info (both names)

If I am looking at this correct the fee will be $465 with $80 X 2ea bio fees

What do you smart people think?

Lucho,

We translated the birth certificate ourselves and had no problem. I used word and tried to keep everything lined up in a similar fashion.

It doesn't hurt to put a line at the end stating that the translation is accurate. We forgot to put that line on there and flew right through the AOS with no questions.

There is a myth that the translation has to be done by some sort of "certified " translator but that is not true.

Who would ever have thought this would be such a stressful journey. In the US, you can pretty much count on what is said and what will be done. In Colombia....................you have to pursue all and figure that nothing will be done

Buck,

I think you will change your mind about 5 minutes into SS, DL, and AOS.

I have a buddy whose Colombian fiance got a K1 visa today. She went alone. They were pretty tough on her. They claimed that his divorce papers were not in the papers although they actually were. This through her off gaurd since. At this point they had the papers, so she couldn't show them. Then they slammed her with questions.

What was his birthday

How many kids did he have ( a bunch )

How many grandkids did he have ( even more )

Where did they all live and what were their names.

One of his wives died of cancer. They asked what kind of cancer she had and what her name was.

They asked about Spanish / English communication.

There may be more that I can add later. This is hot off the wire report. I will try to post again when I know a little more.

God Bless all of you, I know what you are going through. I was there a long time ago and VisaJourney was an incredible source of information.

I don't really think it was this couple's attire that cost them the visa. I think it was the fact that they were obviously not speaking to each other. We waited with a full blown biker couple with tattoos, piercings and the guy had a vulgar tee shirt. The girl was wearing very few clothes at all and they were approved in about 10 seconds. We were dressed reasonably well and got the third degree. I don't think they are there to judge fashion. They are trying to determine if the relationship is real. The suit only says that you have money. They will be much more interested in the I134 about that.

The NVC is a top notch organization. They turn things around quickly and they are great on the telephone. After we got the NOA2 I waited a little while and called late at night to find out if they had received the approval. It didn't take long and the lady was very nice. She told me the package had been sent to Bogota the day before and she gave me the number.

Based on a lot of VJ info I suspect that CSC saves these approvals for a week or so and mails them together. If the NVC doesn't have it then I am sure that the CSC hasn't sent it.

The cutoff date for the Colombian Embassy is a VJ thing, not of DOS thing. That is based on the date that they post new dates on the web site. If you get your packet 3 returned to them on the day after this date you will be scheduled at the beginning of the following month as opposed to the end of the preceeding one. It is still first come, first served. If you live in Bogota everything moves quickly anyway. You will barely have time to assemble everything in time to make it happen. The packet 3 will most likely arrive before you have assembled everything. If you don't live in Bogota the mail can not be trusted. The embassy knows that and tries to give you time to get the letter for the interview and make travel arrangements.

I would never FAX back the packet 3 if I didn't KNOW that I was going to have everything together. I can not imagine what they would do if you showed up at the interview without the I134, police clearance. DAS certificate, or some other important step

I have a buddy that had a receipt date of January 29 for K1. It was filed to Texas and transferred to CSC. He got approved late last night. He doesn't show up on VJ. I just wanted to let you all know that there is hope!!!

I have been watching this thread for a while now for a friend that filed late in January. Try not to let this wait get you down. I know it seems like forever but in the grand scheme of things it is nothing. If you look at our timeline we waited a long time for the approval. At the time it seemed like forever. Now that it is all behind it was nothing.

On the bright side, the process moves very quickly after this step.

Try to find some patience in your heart. Think ahead!.

Does your foreign love speak English well? You may want to find ESL classes for them.

Are there children involved? You should talk to the school.

Do you have tax records for the I 134?

Do you know where your local health department is so that you can complete the immunizations?

Do you understand the DS 3025, the I 94, and the I 693A?

When you get the NOA2 it is very important to protect it. Make a lot of copies. If you lose this document it will cost you 200 bucks to get a copy.

Have you read about work authorization? This takes a while and frustrates most people down the line

Only the I134 needs to be notarized.

Send everything you have.

We made the mistake of taking originals to the interview. I never dreamed they would want to keep my tax records. I thought they would look at them and give them back. I did not realize until days after we left that they had kept them. This turned out to be a problem for the last 2 years.

Transcripts are fine. Returns are fine also. Yodrak has been here a long time. If I had the W2's I would file them also ( copies )

Some people here seem to have taken offense to this mistaken post. I really don't see what harm has been done. Why are people so disturbed that you accidentally posted something in the forum that is not pertinent to the subject? I really don't see why people have left ugly messages for you. It was a mistake. This is the internet!! These folks don't own it. I think you are free to post anything you want. If somebody takes offense they should simply click the "X" at the top right of the screen!!!

Bogota is a really nice place. If you can see past this visa ####### it makes a great vacation. Unless you are seriously under pressure take a few extra days and enjoy the city. It is sad to see people run in and out that never know how great the city is.

I still keep an eye on this post. I agree that the old info is obsolete. The useful part is the actual experience at the consulate. Having watched this for a long time I see a pattern where they seem to be pretty hard on Colombian men. When we went everybody got approved. There was almost no risk. Now it seems that you should probably take more care if you are male Colombian.

The consulate is still the same cold miserable place that it has been since it has been there.

Congratulations to those that have been approved, and good luck to those that are waiting!!!

You are all in our thoughts and our prayers.

Call the cops. Nobody is allowed to beat on anybody in Flordida, or anywhere else in America. Although it is uncommon for women to beat on men there is no difference in the law.

Like DM says get all of the evidence you have and put it somewhere off site.

Don't put up with this #######. It will only get worse. You don't say where you come from but surely it can't be worse than living in America getting worked over by some insane woman.

Not enough people ask this question. I posted advice on POE in the consulate forum and it quickly went to the end of the list.

Yes there are very important things to watch at the POE that bite many people down the road.

First:

Check your I 94 carefully. It is your lifeline to the rest of this process. Make sure the dates are correct and the visa type. It is such a cheesy little form that a lot of people throw it away thinking it is nothing.

Next:

Make sure that you leave with a copy of your DS 3025 shot record. It should be given to you from the " do not open " package.

We did not get the photos back. The next time I saw the photos was at the AOS interview in Jacksonville. I think your photos probably should have been on the inside of the " do not open " package. I wouldn't worry about it though. You might want to take some pics to the AOS interview just in case I am correct.

I think that the IRS knows that a spouse that is not working cost a lot more than a dependent. You can say "no" to the dependent, but if you say "no" to the spouse your life becomes unbearable!! The government feels sorry for you!!!

I don't think you will find anything written with a hard rule. I have never seen anybody denied AOS because they waited too long.

I think if you get right down to it your friend became illegal when the K1 expired. The thing that redeems legal status in the US is the filing of the AOS ( note filing and not approval ).

Having said that, I don't think that any government agency is going to track you down and remove you from the country because the K1 expired before you filed for AOS. If you were happy not working, driving, or traveling you could probably stay for 25 years easily with no problems. Most people are not happy in those conditions and file long before any kind of deadline might be necessary.

This process takes a little while. It is good to start soon so that you can get it over and get all of the rights that are granted to legal immigrants in America. I don't know how much you read but the USCIS is in Congress right now begging for tremendous rate increases. If your friend waits too long they might find an extremely higher cost associated with the process. Remember that the first card is only good for 2 years and you have to wait at least 3 to file for citizenship you could incurr some serious experience for dragging ### through this whole thing.

The MSC processes the work authorization. I think they do some preliminary work on the AOS but it will be forwarded to your local service center for the final interview and approval.