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Hello all,

I have been married for 3 years.. got the 10yr Green Card. Things are not going well and we decided to file for a divorce (haven't done it yet).. I WAS going to apply for a citizenship after 3rd year marriage anniversary back when things between us were OK but now that we know we are gonna file for a divorce, should I just wait a couple more years until I've lived here for 5 years or can I file for citizenship now anyway since we have not started the divorce process yet? I just don't wanna pay all these fees for applying for citizeship just to be told "wait another 2 years because you are now legally divorced" at the time of the interview?

Advice, anyone? Thank you all so much.

Hello everybody!

Has anyone who filed for ROC in December 2012 heard any news?? My status on USCIS web-site still says "initial review" and hasn't been touched since January 3rd... It's going to be June in a week!

Thanks!

Hi everyone! I arrived to the US on a K-1 visa in 2010. I received my 2 yr green card and am now in the process of removing the conditions and getting a 10 yr card. I am planning on applying for citizenship. I was wondering when will I be able to apply for a citizenship and how to do that? Do we have to be married for a specific period of time?

Thanks everyone!

Hi guys!

I also filed for ROC in December 2012 and had my fingerprints taken in the beginning of February 2012 and still nothing.. At the time of fingerprinting the officer told me that I should now be expecting my 10 yr card in mail.. I didn't realize it actually takes so long (6-9 mnths) to receive it! I have a question though, when I mailed the paperwork in (in December) they send me a letter of extending my status for a year and then only an invitation for fingerprints.. so all i have is that letter and my expired 2 yr green card .. so my question is, I would like to plan a trip overseas, do i have to wait to receive my 10 yr card in mail or is that letter sufficient enough to be able to return to the US? Thanks so much everyone!!

It also depends on your case. It may take 2-3 months, it may take 6 months and longer! Don't sweat it and good luck!

Hello everybody!

I am in the process of removing conditions on a 2 yr green card. So I had my biometrics appnt on February 7th, and the officer said "your card will come in mail now".. So today is March 26th and I haven;t received anything. No updates online either.. How long did it take for you to get yours? Thanks everyone for your help!

Congrats on your approval! You don't necessarily need to contact the NVC (we never did), cause the Romanian/Moldovan Embassy will contact you guys when they receive the paperwork from the U.S. Good luck!

Congratulations!!! I know the feeling!! Good luck!

Thanks for all the advice, still not 100% sure which way to go.

And the only reason I mention the Transnistria issue is because most of my family and friends had no idea what it was about before I meet her. They ask what it's like to date a Moldovan girl, and I always have to say she is Russian! You better not call her Moldovan or you'll be in big trouble!

Well, although she likes to call herself "Russian" she is "Moldovan" as well, cause she is FROM MOLDOVA and she was born in Moldova and she is a citizen of MOLDOVA so shame on her to say she is NOT, in my opinion. I lot of people who come from the former Soviet Union countries like to call themselves "Russians" (myself included) because Russian is their native language (mine as well), but I bet a lot of people think she is FROM Russia when you say she is "Russian", right? I always say "I am from Moldova but my native language is Russian" to make it easier for people to understand when they ask about my accent and where I am originally from So all Russian speaking people of Moldova should technically be called "Moldovan Russians" I think When they say they are NOT Moldovan I just wanna say "shame on you, of course you ARE! You were BORN and raised there. It's a shame to say you are not". They seem like they don't have any respect whatsoever for their home country of Moldova. Sorry I don't want offend anybody, it's just my personal opinion.

I guess we'll go with the name that's on her passport, but I might make a few calls and see if I can find out any additional information. What makes it all the more complicated is that she is from the Transnistria region in Moldova, so every and all of her documents is in Cyrillic, the one and only "Moldovan" document she has is her passport, which she just got this week. I know this can be a little confusing if you are not familar with the region and its conflicts over the last 20 years.

I know exactly what you are talking about cause I am from Moldova and I went through the entire process already The ID documents or pretty much any documents that they get in Transnistrian region can only be used locally, this is why in order for her (or anyone from that part of Moldova) to travel abroad they will need to get a real Moldovan passport which is issued in the official language of the country - Romanian that uses Latin characters (which like you said she just got). Things are a lot less complicated than you think

Hello VJ family!

I'm thinking of getting a 2nd job that would be on weekends (since I work from Monday to Friday at my 1st job).. but how do I find a weekend job? And is there such thing as a "weekend job"? Would there be anyone willing to hire for work on weekends only? I tried looking for a weekend job on web-sites like Indeed.com but haven't seen not one job posting for something like that. It'll probably be hard to find a job on weekends only.. Any ideas/suggestions?

Thank you everyone for your answers in advance!

Don't get me wrong it makes sense that we should fill out the paper work with whatever is on her passport. However, isn't the bulk of the processing a background check, and so they'll do a background check on her with a spelling of her first and last name that she's never used? I just see more problems there too.

Hi Dave! If she has never been to the U.S., they won't have any records about her, so the only background check that they would be able to perform would be the one in Moldova (by Moldovan Police dept. and this is why she will have to provide this background check certificate for her interview) and the Moldovan Police dept. would then use her legal Moldovan name as it appears in her Moldovan passport to run this check on her. If she has been to the U.S. before, then they would do a background check in the name she used when she was here and if she really has been here in the States before then she would go by her legal Moldovan name (Aliona Gotco) anyways cause her visa and all the paperwork would have been issued in her legal Moldovan name (as in her passport). Where has she ever used it spelled as "Alyona Gotko"?? This is not her legal name, I don't imagine her being able to use this name ANYWHERE legally. Good luck!

So two responses and two different answers. Any other opinions. The guys over at Rapid Visa suggested to use whatever translation spelling she uses regardless of what her passport says. It makes sense to me, but I would hate to have such a simple thing to fix be a problem down the road. She spells her name Alyona Gotko and on her passport its spelled Aliona Gotco. So I'm still not sure how to handle this.

You can't use "whatever translation spelling" as they said. She's got a Moldovan passport that has her name on it spelled in Romanian and this is exactly how it needs to be spelled in your petition. This is what I suggest you do, but it's up to you. Not to mention that you are supposed to include the copy of her passport page along with your petition so why confuse them by spelling her name in different ways. Good luck!

As far as her employment, it's definitely YES. If she worked and was employed officially, then you gotta put this information on file, even though it was a few months like you said. If it wasn't official, then I wouldn't worry about putting this info.

Yes, it may take up to 8 months, it all depends on your particular case (age difference, how you guys met, how long you both have known each other, and many other factors that the immigration officers take into consideration). I know it's a long time, but it's a part of the process. I would suggest that you keep yourself busy and then 8 months will be here before you know it Good luck!

I have a quick question about how to spell my fiancee's name on the K1 papers. She's Russian so on her birth records everything is Cyrillic. When using the Roman alphabet she always uses a direct translation of her name, Alyona. She lives in Moldova and just got her passport which is in Romanian. They spelled her name Aliona. They also chnged the spelling of her last name, also by one letter. Should I change all the k1 paper so they match her name on her passport or should I countinue to use the translation that she has always gone by?

You need to spell it as it's spelled in her passport cause it's an official document!

Three months no touches/updates on AOS process until today! Got an email from the USCIS web-site this morning that the interview date is set up for March! Omg, I'm nervous!!!

Hi! I would suggest to wait until you get your NOA2. That police certificate is gonna be valid for 3 months only and it needs to be of a recent date when you actually bring it to the interview. No need to get in it much advance cause there is no problem of getting it anytime, she just needs to go there and apply and she can get it either on the next day (it's more expensive) or in 10 days. Hope this helps! Good luck!

My husband got a great job in his field after looking for about a month. I told him that looking for work sucks... it's hard to send out your information and never know what is going on. You will get rejected. It also only takes one employer to be interested to get a position. I encouraged him to apply to 5 jobs a day, mostly online (he probably did one or two a day). It's hard to tell if the jobs are even real or not - a lot are for recruiters who put up fake job postings (or old job postings) to try to get a resume pool. I taught him to look for clues in the ads - for instance, do they mention a real workplace, or just "high-profile XYZ office" or something. Do they offer a salary that is unrealistic compared to other ads for similar work? He looked through monster.com and craigslist (craigslist in particular needs extra screening).

If you are looking for office work, you could also try your local temp agency and work week-long jobs and hope that one would lead to a full-time position. You could also look for a local recruiter to try to match you to a position.

If you've only sent out 4 resumes, I'd send some more!!

Also, make sure your resume is US-standard. A temp agency or recruiter will let you know if it looks bad, so it's good to try them out at least for the resume help.

Good luck!

Thank you for your time and advice! I appreciate it! I am sure planning on sending more applications I haven't tried any recruiting agencies yet, do you know how much they charge?

Hello VJ family!

I got my EAD in the end of January and started looking for a job. I applied online for 4 job openings so far (office jobs) but 2 of them weren't even forwarded to the interview (I've been already notified). I try to stay optimistic, and I know I just gotta have faith and keep applying and looking. So, I was wondering HOW did you find your job after relocating to the United Sates and what was it? (if it was any relevant to your education and experience). If it was online, what web-site exactly did you use?

Thanks for all replies in advance and good luck everyone looking for a job like me!

Thanks CQ & CS and esoj

Another weird thing...just got another text message...same message and when I went to the website my EAD is in card production mode!

So, the one thing I was sitting and watching for the past few weeks - the AP - is the last thing to get approved anyways. LOL

I guess the AOS is even better, and yup - no interview. At first, from reading on here, I thought it would be nice that it was transferred to CSC because of the no interview aspect, but then realized that most with interviews were getting their interviews scheduled. I had also read that cases transferred to CSC can take months longer to get approved.

Wow, I'm still in shock - just like when our K-1 was approved in 1.5 months - I was expecting at least 3 at the time due to all the timelines I had seen back then.

Hope everyone gets good news quickly!

Amy & Michael

I have a question, maybe anyone on here knows.. If you get your AOS approved without the interview, what are you supposed to do with your I-94 (departure/arrival) form? Are you supposed to keep it, cause as far as I know you give it away at the interview.. Thanks!

FINALLY!!!!! Whooo-hooo!!! After long 2 months with NO updates from the USCIS web-site I've got an email this morning that the EAD's status is "card production ordered", then logged in on the USCIS site and saw that the AP's status is "Approved" as well! Thank you Lord! It's been actually over 2 months with NO updates from the USCIS, I am very glad to find out that they did work on my case they just never updated their web-site (made me worry!).. Wishing good luck to all November filers who have yet to receive their cards!

Congrats for your EAD and AP :)Multumim

Oh no, I wish! I have received 3 NOA1 for AOS, EAD and AP, but I have not received neither EAD document or AP yet and no touches since November.

Hey! Another early November filer here.. Had my biometrics done on December 17th, but already received another biometrics appointment notice to come and have my fingerprints re-taken. Since the day I received NOA1 for AOS, EAD and AP, I have not had ANY touches on the USCIS site (hopefully that still means that somebody IS working on my case). Oh well, we just gotta be patient.

Hey! Another early November filer here.. Had my biometrics done on December 17th, but already received another biometrics appointment notice to come and have my fingerprints re-taken. Since the day I received NOA1 for AOS, EAD and AP, I have not had ANY touches on the USCIS site (hopefully that means somebody IS working on my case). Oh well, we just gotta be patient.

Hello VJ family!

I did my biometrics for EAD and AOS on December 17. Two weeks later I received another Biometrics

appointment for AOS only stating that "FBI was unable to process my fingerprints blah-blah and they need to be re-taken".

So, my question is, since the 2nd Biometrics appointment says "Case type: AOS" ,

does that mean I may still receive my EAD on time, or will my EAD be delayed too?

Thanks so much!