sciencenerd

Since immigration is federal, does it matter what the state he lives in recognizes in terms of marriage? Just question as I am curious. You can move to a state that recognizes same-sex marriage, doesn't mean USCIS will approve the petition.

Anyway, OP - how closely are you two cousins? 1st? or like 6th twice removed?

Good luck

Same-sex marriage is the only instance where a state-recognized marriage won't be recognized by USCIS because legislators singled it out in the Defense of Marriage Act. Every other federal benefit of marriage (including immigration) is granted if the person lives in a state where their marriage is recognized. Cousin marriages are recognized in some states and not others, but my understanding is that you can get married in a state recognizing cousin marriages and that every other state has to honor that. So, you don't necessarily have to move, but just get married in state where the marriage is legal. Differences between federal and state definitions of marriage doesn't apply here since it's not a same-sex couple.

Will my applying and receiving citizenship in my wife's country prior to sponsoring my wife for US citizenship complicate or have an impact on her application for US citizenship.

It shouldn't be an issue at all - if anything, it seems like more evidence that you have a legitimate marriage not for purposes of immigrating to the US. Americans can naturalize in other countries without losing their US citizenship. I don't feel like digging up the link, but the policy says something like you will only lose your US citizenship if you are naturalizing with the purpose of renouncing your US citizenship and it is presumed that you are not. In reality, you'll only lose your US citizenship if you renounce it. So, you should have no problem getting another citizenship and then sponsoring your wife for permanent residency (and she will then be eligible to apply for citizenship in 3 years provided you remain married and living in the US).

It would be great to beef up the timeline a bit more so you can look at the data in more ways. It would also be good if it was easy to filter and sort (ex: only look at CSC filers and sort by biometrics date). It would be good to add a way for people to document that they did a walk-in biometrics so people would know which offices allow it and also more easily be able to tell if it actually makes any difference with processing times. Lastly, it would be great to be able to filter out abandoned timelines - obviously, it's impossible to know for sure if it's abandoned or just pending for a longer than usual time, but if they were far outside typical processing times and had not logged into the site for a long time, maybe they could at least be marked as potentially abandoned so you can just look at timelines that have been updated. Just a few thoughts.

hi there,

this is long, but can you offer me help or suggestions?? cheers.......here we go: in the beginning of april we filed the i-751 for my husband's condition removal, his GC expires june 3rd. i sent 30 or so pages of evidence including our daughter's copy of birth certificate, pictures from the delivery roon, etc. on may 10 i received a single paged letter with a rejection notice saying i filed the wrong fee. I wrote a check for $675... $505 for the form fee, and $85 for my husband and $85 for our daughter... all on one check.e i called the service center asking for help as i believe i sent the correct fee, and where was all my evidence peper work that was mentioned on that single pice of paper that it was included in the envelope??? the agent said i DID send the correct fee, and one check was correct, and they must have been mistaken and they regret to tell me ALL my evidence was shredded and i would have to resend everything. i was very upset. 2 days later, all my evidence shows up in the mail, in one piece. i call again and they say again, i did send the correct amount and they made a mistake... they even had me speak to a higher level of customer service who confirmed they made an error and to resend everything. i of course wrote down everyone's names and badge numbers. the lady at the higher level of customer service actually told me to print out the directions from the internet and use an orange highlighter and highlight the directions of the form filing fee for whoever gets my package of evidence!!! aren't they supposed to know this??? anyways, this is our lives we are talking about here so i was kind and grateful and resubmitted all my paperwork, as is, with an acccompanying letter. this was may 15. now, i have not heard back from anyone, my check has not been cashed, and my husband's card expires tomorrow. i know i could have sent this out in march, but there was evidence we were waiting on that came in april, plus we were on an overseas trip visiting his family. i called the office and they said i would have to wait 30 days to find out what is going on. i am scared that their error is going to make us suffer. we have had so far a fairly smoothe and easy process since we got married and my husband got his GC in less than 6 months. now i worry that their error will cause us to be rejected. what do you think??? thank you so much for reading this story, i am grateful for your input and this website. cheers, jill

This sounds like a huge hassle, but nothing you really need to be concerned about. There is a ton of documentation that you submitted the paperwork on time and have followed up appropriately. Even if they somehow mark it as you filing late, late filings can still be approved if there is a valid reason for the late filing - this is a valid reason in every sense. USCIS is unorganized and slow, but they're not going to arbitrarily deny your application for something like this - if they do, follow up the same you followed up when they rejected your application for the wrong filing fee. Just be patient and have faith that you've done all you can and it sounds like more than enough. Good luck.

Dear friends -

I filed in Jan as well. I was just wondering if USCIS changes anything online to let you know that they sent you a RFE/notice of interview..

I ask because Im on a national road trip and my house is locked with noone to scan my mail.... Ive been away for a few months actually...

My thing just says "initial review" on the status page... any 1 got completed in Vermont Service Centre?

Don't expect the online status to change for a long time, if it even does - it is notoriously inaccurate. Also, the Vermont Service Center has just been making some progress on August applicants, so you probably won't hear anything until the fall, unfortunately.

Wow, I dont know where to start but I really appreciate if you can share some thoughts on this.

Situation: I have a pending F2A for my wife and daughter with a priority date of MAY 2010. 1 month movement per month would make their visa's available in September. Now, I just came home from a month vacation in the Philippines, and right inside the plane when I landed in LAX, I recieved an email of a pregnancy test with two lines in it. I am very excited but of course I also got nervous about other issues that would directly be involved with this. Due will be around February 2013.

Issue 1: If she arrives in the U.S before she gives birth I dont think any health insurance would accept her with her being pregnant. I am not sure with medi-cal but I read that immigrants with less than 5 yrs of being a resident is not eligible for this except for emergency medicaid in which I assume would be if she is already in labor and I called 911. Her first pregnancy was via CS method and that makes this even more complicated with cost and stuff. I have an individual health insurance and I am not sure that I can just add her.

Issue 2: If she gives birth in the Philippines after the interview, I think there is a 6 month time frame where you have to leave or else the visa will be revoked? Issues here would be that I think getting the new born's birth certificate to be NSO certified takes 6 months? Plus the fact that you need to add the baby also to the petition after you get the NSO copy takes time.

Please let me know of anything., any information.

Thanks in advance

Emergency medicaid typically includes pregnancy. Medicaid is a state-run program, but I know in my state the only people who are eligible for it anymore (due to budget cuts) are people under 18 and pregnant people (both regardless of citizenship status). Pregnancy coverage on Medicaid in my state lasts from proof of pregnancy (a doctor signing a form) until 6 weeks after the birth. The child is automatically covered.

That said, if you have insurance through an employer, she should be able to get covered right away since you won't have to worry about pregnancy being a "pre-existing condition". That would be the best way to go if it is an option.

A lawsuit was filed in April with five couples as plaintiffs. It will take a long time for it to go through, but I'm optimistic that it will ultimately be successful (although I think it's also likely DOMA will be repealed or struck down before this case makes it up to the supreme court). There are many anti-DOMA lawsuits in the pipeline and one of them will make it to the Supreme Court so they can finally verify that "all men are created equal" actually includes everyone. Immigration Equality is the organization helping with the lawsuit and they have a page dedicated to updates: http://www.immigrationequality.org/lawsuit/. Good luck.

I just wanted to update here if the OP checks it or when others refer to it, but there is a new policy being implemented that will no longer require trans people to have sex reassignment surgery in many cases. You have to get married in a state that recognizes the current gender, sees your marriage as heterosexual, and does not bar trans people from marrying - USCIS used to have an additional requirement that the trans person had sex reassignment surgery, but have moved away from that. See Immigration Equality for more info. I hope you are now able to move forward now that your marriage would likely be recognized by USCIS.

We used a lawyer for AOS, but not for ROC (granted, we haven't been approved yet, but I don't see why we wouldn't be). Our lawyer called us at the beginning of February as a courtesy reminder and she was totally supportive of us proceeding without her. I would think that she would have told us we needed to stick with her if it would have been detrimental to our case to go it alone (or if she was unethical, which she's not, but it's safe to assume many people are). Good luck!

I didn't expect this to be so quick, but we received notice yesterday that our daughter's citizenship has been approved! We are just now waiting for the actual certificate, but I'm so glad that we have the approval and know that she will have the ability to move freely between Canada and the US for life. I thought it would take a lot longer than it did! One thing to note for anyone else that ends up going through this process is that the online tracking system did not really track Step 2. Apparently, it's set up to track stuff within Canada (like Step 1), but Step 2 is through the Canadian embassy in the US and none of the info shows up.

Our timeline:

10/4/11 - sent in Step 1 application

10/25/11 - received letter of receipt

12/15/11 - approval date for Step 1

3/1/12 - sent in Step 2 application

4/11/12 - received approval

That is not needed on the letter. Never included it on mine.

My wife entered as a visitor without a visa (Canadian), so we didn't include a visa type, either. We just said she was approved for conditional permanent residency on xx/xx/xxxx.

My daughter was also 4 months old when we got her a passport. We would have got it sooner, but it took that long for us to get her birth certificate, which we needed to apply for her passport. The hardest part about getting a passport for a 1 week old is that you need to get a picture of them head on with eyes open - they don't do that too much at that age!

We ended up not doing walk-in biometrics since we read a few instances of Portland not allowing it in the recent past and we didn't want to have to go twice. My wife's appt had her appt today and everything went well. It took less than 10 minutes. Now I guess all we can do is wait. Hopefully the next we hear from them is our approval!

In reality, how often does USCIS catch that stuff after someone is given USC? In just curious.

I've personally never seen it and I bet it's pretty close to never, but it's not a chance I personally would want to take. I wouldn't want it hanging over my head for life that there is just cause to revoke my citizenship and ban me forever, no matter how remote the possibility. If you pissed off the right person who knew about it, and they reported you to someone who thought it worth investigating, you'd be screwed. Or, if there was some other reason for them to review your immigration records (maybe for security clearance?), it wouldn't be hard to figure out.

You will be asked that but just be honest. In the meantime stop worrying. You would only be penalized if you lie. Everything will be okay. Just make a check list of everything that you should take with you and know the answers to the one hundred questions although you will only be asked 10. Once you get 6 right though, that's it. The officers are really nice and respectful. Try not to worry so much. All the best.

While it would be nice if this was true, there's a very good chance it will not be okay. The OP does need to be honest, but this is a very serious matter. It may do no good to worry about it at this point assuming a lawyer is now on board, but to tell the OP that everything will be okay is probably not the way to go. A lie about it (including a lie by omission) would be very, very bad - even if they don't catch it now, that's the kind of thing that gets citizenship revoked when they do discover it (remember, they already have it in their files since the OP discussed it at their AOS interview). However, being honest won't make it a non-issue - it will need to be addressed.

Hi- New to the forum. I am going in for my naturalization interview next week and I am nervous about one of the questions which I assume is asked for everyone. During my green card interview, I was asked if I had ever claimed to be a US citizen and I admitted that I had for employment purposes with a private company. The officer castigated me but approved the application. Now, if the question comes up again during the naturalization interview, will it complicate my application if I once again inform a different officer of the same information? I am assuming they have my answer recorded from the prior interview and perhaps that means that the issue is behind me but since I'll be under oath I do intend to tell the truth and hope that there are no consequences. I am curious if anyone in the forum has any experience or information on this. I seem to have read some horror stories on some other forums about this and it's making me a little nervous. Thanks!

I'm honestly shocked that it wasn't an issue for your green card interview. It can be a huge issue for your naturalization interview and one that may not be able to be overcome. I would definitely talk to a lawyer ASAP. You must be truthful, especially given that you've already informed them of the fact you've claimed to be a US citizen. Did you answer the question on the N-400 application truthfully?

It works to your benefit that your fiance is not a US Citizen and, furthermore, is a citizen of the same country as you. If you married a US Citizen, immigrant intent is often assumed, but marrying another citizen of your home country may not be taken that way. As far as whether to mark married or not, this is something that has come up numerous times at POE at least. Do you say "no" since USCIS doesn't recognize your marriage regardless or "yes" because you are, in fact, married? Also, as immigration is a long road, laws may change in time for you to eventually be able to get immigration benefits through your marriage and you certainly don't want to look like you were not forthright. I would recommend contacting Immigration Equality and asking them what they'd recommend. They are the experts in issues like this and will be aware of potential consequences either way. Good luck with your immigration journey as well and congrats on your upcoming marriage.

I just poked around the Immigration Equality website to a link: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=5a87338dc3d19210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=994f81c52aa38210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

Here is the relevant quote:

Q. When marital status is not relevant to the benefit being sought, how should same sex married couples complete USCIS forms (i.e. should they mark married or single)?

A. USCIS is looking into this issue and will provide a response as soon as possible.

Well, that's helpful, isn't it? /sarcasm

It works to your benefit that your fiance is not a US Citizen and, furthermore, is a citizen of the same country as you. If you married a US Citizen, immigrant intent is often assumed, but marrying another citizen of your home country may not be taken that way. As far as whether to mark married or not, this is something that has come up numerous times at POE at least. Do you say "no" since USCIS doesn't recognize your marriage regardless or "yes" because you are, in fact, married? Also, as immigration is a long road, laws may change in time for you to eventually be able to get immigration benefits through your marriage and you certainly don't want to look like you were not forthright. I would recommend contacting Immigration Equality and asking them what they'd recommend. They are the experts in issues like this and will be aware of potential consequences either way. Good luck with your immigration journey as well and congrats on your upcoming marriage.

Again - just updating for sake of future reference.

We got the letter approving Step 1 in the mail just before Christmas (it was dated 12/15/11), so it didn't take nearly as long as they had estimated.

It took us a while to get all the paperwork needed for step 2 (adoption judgment and certificate, both original and post-adoption birth certificates, US passport), but we finally have everything and have an appt with a notary today to finish up. The packages are all ready minus the notarizing, so it should be out in the mail today.

We'll see how long this part of the process takes, but I'm just excited since it's the very last bit of paperwork that was on our list to do after the adoption. Our daughter turns 6 months old in a few days. The only kind of sad thing is that Canada started issuing new citizenship certificates just as of 2/1/12 and they no longer have photos on them - we thought it'd be so cute to have her citizenship document have a baby photo on it. I'm not sure why they still require you to send citizenship photos when they don't use them anymore, but maybe they just haven't updated the application process to match the new certificates yet.

For reference-sake, here's our timeline for this process:

10/4/11 - sent in Step 1 application

10/25/11 - received letter of receipt

12/15/11 - approval date for Step 1

3/1/12 - send it Step 2 application

Does one service center seem to move faster than the other one? Or does it seem everything just moves slow????

both. everything moves slowly and Vermont is much, much slower than California (at least in the last year or so). Currently, it seems CSC filers from October are getting approved whereas VSC filers from June/July are getting approved, so there's a close to 4 month difference on average. I'm glad we're with CSC!

Hello everybody!

I was about to send my adjustment package in a couple weeks, but if I hold on to it for another month, me and my husband would be married for two years.

Would I be eligible for a ten year green card then or would I still only be eligible for the two year green card?

I would just send it in now. There's no way you'll be approved in a month and it goes by the date of approval so regardless you'll get a 10 year card. Good luck!

"Your case can not be found at this time in My Case Status. Please check your receipt number and try again. If you need further assistance, please call the National Customer Service Center at 1.800.375.5283."

Does anybody else receive this message when you look for your receipt number on the uscis website?

You have to use the number from your biometrics letter instead of the NOA. Once we got the biometrics letter, I looked it up right away and our case was found.

I do think folks in successful long-term marriages aren't generally on here since they no longer have a need to be. That said, I know someone who was on here 7 or so years ago who is in a happy, loving marriage of 17 years (they lived in Canada for a decade before coming to the states).

My wife and I have been together 8 1/2 years and going stronger than ever. Immigration was a huge stress in our life and the uncertainty made it so hard for us to plan for our future (we knew we'd be together, but didn't know where or how). Now that she's a permanent resident, we were finally able to feel really stable and start our family (we now have a 6 month old daughter). Honestly, I think our marriage is stronger because of having to go through immigration - it kind of weeds out many couples who are less committed to each other or relationships that simply can't withstand some of the bigger stresses of life. We don't take each other for granted because there were so many years where we didn't know if we would be torn apart due to immigration (our story is not typical, but let's just say immigration laws were not in our favor). If you let it, this process can bring you closer together. It's a hardship for sure, but then you start your marriage knowing you can get through tough things together.

This is very small, but it'd be great for the ROC guide to be edited to say that USCIS may or may not send a letter reminding you to file (rather than *will* not). It seems every month or so, there's a new thread from someone concerned that they received a letter when they weren't expecting it.

yay! we got the biometrics letter today! wife's appt is 3/20, but we're going to try to do a walk-in since I have to be at work that day and I don't think she can bring our 6 month old daughter to the appt. we'll give it a shot next friday since I have the day off then.

California Service Center (15 applicants)

VJName.............Date of I-751.....NOA1 Date......Biometrics......Approved....

JUSTFORU...........01/31/12..........02/03/12.......03/09/12........--/--/--....

SCIENCENERD........02/04/12..........02/06/12.......03/20/12........--/--/--....

SMORESANDBOB.......02/06/12..........--/--/12.......02/24/12........--/--/--....(No NOA yet/got I-551 Stamp during Biometrics appointment! )

MSG................02/06/12..........--/--/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

STEVIEG2123........02/07/12..........02/09/12.......03/08/12........--/--/--....

MIRANDA&JOHN.......02/09/12..........02/13/12.......03/08/12........--/--/--....

JAJO08.............02/10/12..........02/13/12.......03/14/12........--/--/--....

ANN MARIE AND LEO..02/10/12..........02/15/12.......03/09/12........--/--/--....

AKOCHI.............02/11/12..........02/13/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

MAE232.............02/11/12..........02/13/12.......03/08/12........--/--/--....

JEWEL-8............02/12/12..........--/--/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

NIGERIAORBUST......02/13/12..........02/16/12.......03/02/12........--/--/--....

GARY_UK............02/13/12..........02/15/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

RYAN_AND_PRISCY....02/14/12..........02/16/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

ZAHRASALEM.........02/15/12..........02/16/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

Vermont Service Center (14 applicants)

VJName.............Date of I-751.....NOA1 Date......Biometrics......Approved....

DONEWAITING........01/31/12..........02/02/12.......03/09/12........--/--/--....

MINAADI............02/01/12..........02/06/12.......02/24/12........--/--/--....

PLATANOKING........02/01/12..........02/03/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

THINK~PINK.........02/02/12..........02/06/12.......02/27/12........--/--/--....

JOSHUE.............02/10/12..........02/14/12.......03/16/12........--/--/--....

MFORD019...........02/11/12..........02/15/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

MSSHEKA............02/11/12..........02/??/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

BERN...............02/13/12..........--/--/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

DIRTYWEEBESOM......02/13/12..........02/15/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

ROYALET............02/13/12..........02/16/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

DSMIAMI............02/14/12..........02/21/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

AND_SAM............02/16/12..........--/--/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

ELGHAZI2008........02/17/12..........--/--/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

LAURA_AND_KYLE.....02/25/12..........--/--/12.......--/--/12........--/--/--....

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