Lorenzoid

Does a delay in doing the biometrics typically cause a corresponding delay in processing? We're still waiting. Have heard nothing since biometrics appointment on June 25, 2012.

Never mind. I should have checked the status on uscis.gov before I posted. Card production ordered yesterday. Yay.

Does a delay in doing the biometrics typically cause a corresponding delay in processing? We're still waiting. Have heard nothing since biometrics appointment on June 25, 2012.

The airlines have asked to see my wife's extension letter along with her expired GC every time we have returned to the US in recent months. The airline in Belgium asked to see the extension letter and expired GC, and they understood what it meant and let her board the flight. Same for the airline in Mexico and the airline in Korea. All international airlines that fly to the US are apparently familiar with the concept of the extension letter. If you encounter an airline agent who does not know what an extension letter is, ask to speak with the agent's supervisor.

If I recall, when my then-fiancee and I returned to the US with her K-1 in hand, the agent directed her off to Secondary Inspection where they took a look at her packet, and I had to wait for her. (And unlike NeonRed they shooed me away and wouldn't let me go into Secondary with her, so I just went down to Baggage Claim to wait.) So there wasn't much point in us standing in the same line together. But if it makes you or her feel better, then stand in line together. You can ask one of the people directing traffic which line you should use--they are there to help with just such questions.

As for not speaking English, they have translators who are called over when needed. No need for you to help. In fact, when I've tried to answer a question directed at my (now) wife, the agent reminded me that he was speaking to HER, not me.

Mitt Romney famously put his dog in a crate on the top of his car, and he just might be our next president. Don't worry.

The thing is, I downloaded the I-129F instructions, and also the Fiance help pdf. None of them say I need to submit evidence of anything with the I-129F form. . . .

It's there. See sections 5A and 5B of what you downloaded: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-129finstr.pdf

Sounds like to just need to re-file.

I don't have any suggestions other than standard travel insurance, but I do remember being confronted with the question when my then-fiancee arrived. We laughed to ourselves that she had better just spend as much time in the house as possible so she's not exposed to germs or the possibility of getting hit by a bus! But in reality, since she was not yet a US resident, her Belgian insurance covered her. She did actually have to go to the hospital emergency room once, and her Belgian insurance reimbursed us for the out-of-pocket cost (many months later, of course).

On my then-girlfriend's arrival in the us on her second trip to visit me, the CBP agent asked her what she was here for, and when she replied she was visiting her boyfriend, the agent said something like "That's so nice--maybe next time I'll see you here with a K1 visa!" On her arrival in the US on her fourth or fifth trip, the CBP agent was not so nice and for some inexplicable reason apparently became concerned that she was not going to return home, so he gave her a mere 2 weeks on her I94 and told her that she had been spending too much time in the US. At that point, I asked her to marry me. She went home, and we applied for a K1. But the CBP agent did not make any notation of her saying she was here to visit her boyfriend or anything else--I know that for a fact.

It will be no problem. It is unlikely that anyone will inquire about her plane ticket. Moreover, even if someone asked, it is a perfectly reasonable explanation to reply that a roundtrip ticket cost less than a one-way ticket. It's well known that roundtrip tickets often cost less than one-way tickets. Nothing odd or suspicious about it.

Thanks for everyone's info! I have one additional question.

Is it okay to travel with my passport in the old name (which will likely not get changed in time), the marriage certificate showing the old and new name, and the AP travel document with the new name?

My wife did exactly that with no problem whatsoever while her AOS was pending. I don't think they even asked her to show the marriage certificate, but she had it with her just in case.

. . .

You could always have a small wedding in front of a justice of the peace and then plan for a big celebration later. That's what a lot of couples do to save some stress.

We did it the other way around: While waiting for a K1 visa, we had the fancy affair in front of a real minister, with all of our families present, but stopped short of signing any documents like a marriage license, so it wasn't a legal marriage. Of course, this meant that I, the USC, had to travel to her country, but that wasn't a problem. Then we had a quickie legal ceremony a couple of days after she arrived in the US and got the AOS process started the next day.

Hi guys,

So our story in brief: met my (British) husband in Wales three years ago, married in Wales a year later. We've been married two years now, and have spent that time in Europe and the last year in China teaching English. We've just returned to the States - him on a three month visitor's visa/tourist visa. . . .

. . .

I don't have anything to add to what others have said, but your story reminds me how the whole immigration issue can quite innocently slip people's minds. These days, couples travel together, live in various countries around the world in which neither is a citizen, at some point get married in one country or another, and then only when they are thinking of moving to the US--or as this thread shows, after having entered the US--with the idea (I'll refrain from using the loaded word "intent") that they are more or less going to remain in the US--only at that point do they start thinking about the whole "immigration" issue, green cards, etc. I can completely understand how people who travel a lot and have lived in multiple countries might not think about the immigration issue at all until after arriving in the US with the idea that you're going to make it your new home. It's so easy to travel about the world these days, especially if you're from a VWP country (as my own wife is), and even remain for extended periods to work in various places. And then you find yourself in the US and thinking "wait a minute--I guess I should look into that green card thing if we're going to live here for a while." You may not have had the foresight to look into it before your husband entered the US this time, but it is hardly surprising to me that you didn't think of it. I hope USCIS sees it similarly. Good luck.

Based on my experience, Social Security Office clerks are some of the least competent civil servants in the government's employ. Compared with SS office clerks, USCIS personnel look like rocket scientists. Sorry you had to endure this.

We would have loved to attend, but we're going to Asheville this weekend. Keep us on the list for the next one. Have fun.

Yes, her Green Card is in her married name, so that was not the problem.

So my wife returned to the SSA office yesterday, waited 45 minutes, and was able to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor looked at my wife's Green Card, Belgian passport, and marriage certificate, and admitted an error had been made. The supervisor assured my wife that she would receive confirmation of her updated status shortly.

Sheesh! Nothing is easy when dealing with the government. But anyone who is here on VJ already knows that.

Just venting (and warning) about the incompetence of the Social Security Administration bureaucracy. My wife already had a Social Security card because she was once a student in the U.S., but now that she has adjusted status and changed her name as a result of our marriage, she needed to have the SSA update her status to work-authorized and to reflect the name change. So she made a trip down to our local SSA office here in Atlanta. She had the following with her: Green Card, Georgia driver's license, Belgian passport, and certified copy of marriage certificate reflecting the name change. She filled out whatever form they asked her to fill out, and the clerk who helped her said everything was in order for her to receive the updated work-authorized status and name change. A few days later she receives in the mail a notification from SSA that she did not provide the required documentation. Specifically, they need two forms of identification. What a joke! I believe that she had with her all the documentation she was required to show, and that she showed it, and that the clerk confirmed that all was in order. Incredibly, the letter from SSA included a copy of the form that she had filled out, including an attached photocopy of her Green Card and passport ID page! Total incompetence! She is going back there today to speak with a supervisor.

Yes, transferred to CSC. Local Office: Atlanta

Thousands of people who have visited the Visa Journey site here have filled out and filed their own forms successfully.

Your timeline doesn't show a delay that's out of the ordinary. Give it some more time. I believe USCIS sets their goal as 6 months and they're not likely to look into it for you until it's been at least six months.

Ours took 186 days.

Plus postage/FedEx and photocopying (with evidence attachments, mine was an inch thick) charges for the USCIS filings, translations of foreign-language documents, requests for certified copies, travel to see your fiancee while she's waiting for that K-1, cost of being away from work, maybe a trip to a lawyer to get some special question answered. We spent a few thousand dollars on top of the USCIS filing fees to get through this past two years.

If you're serious about going through the likely multi-year, not inexpensive process of applying for a K-1 visa, bringing her to the US, getting married, attending to all the things that married couples have to do as they merge their lives, applying for Adjustment of Status so she can get her Green Card, etc., it seems to me that a trip for you to the Philippines would not be your greatest hurdle. Why not just take a trip there and see her again? Yes, it costs a lot of money and takes some time. But compared with the thousands you are about to spend if you go through with all of this, and the time it takes to do all of this, one trip to see her is nothing.

Of course, if you prefer to marry her there in the Philippines and then go the CR-1 route, that's certainly another option. Nothing will be quick, though. It all takes a lot of patience, expense, and dedication.

"Replying" to myself, today, Day 177, we received a Card Production Ordered text message and e-mail. Seems like someone at USCIS noticed the 180 day processing goal date approaching, too, and decided it was time to get this one off their desk.

Green Card received in the mail! I hope lizandpat and the other remaining February filers get theirs soon.

You're not alone. (See our timeline below.) From what we've been told, the USCIS will not listen seriously to status inquiries until about the 6-month (180 day) mark. We're right there now and will be giving USCIS a call in the next day or two. I'll post the result here.

"Replying" to myself, today, Day 177, we received a Card Production Ordered text message and e-mail. Seems like someone at USCIS noticed the 180 day processing goal date approaching, too, and decided it was time to get this one off their desk.

Hi all, my wife and I filed the AOS paperwork in February, she

had her biometrics taken in late March, and we haven't heard

anything since. Our case was transfered to the CSC. Should we

be worried, or just keep waiting patiently? Thanks,

Steven Mikes

You're not alone. (See our timeline below.) From what we've

been told, the USCIS will not listen seriously to status inquiries

until about the 6-month (180 day) mark. We're right there now

and will be giving USCIS a call in the next day or two. I'll

post the result here.