grateful

Does my husband have to be at the biometrics appointment?

In July, 2005 I married a USC. It took almost a year to get my travel document and 2-year green card because they would not tell us that the mail lost a medical paper. I was threatened with being sent home to Canada, so I had to contact a senator. So then my children got their green card over two weeks after I did.

Now we applied for the lifting of conditions in March. Last week I received two letters for myself, extending the green card for a year while they process me. My name is Cornelia. One letter was addressed to Cormelia, and one was addressed to Comelia. The children then received their letters, on plain paper, on which their names were spelled correctly, but not mine.

Yesterday I received an appointment for biometrics, addressed to Comelia. Two of the children each received another letter, this one looking official, NOA1's, telling them to wait for biometrics appointments.

Do I need to inform them of the duplicate letters and misspelled name? If so, how do I do that?

Is there a way to get biometrics appointments for the children on the same day as mine? The office is several hours from here. I'm thinking the NOA1 for the third child is still on the way......I hope.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows whether my daughter can receive her 10-year green card if she is in school in England at the time. We need to apply in Feb. 2008 for lifting of conditions. Does she need to be here in the US for this part of the process?

My daughter wants to become a US (dual) citizen yet live in Canada for the next few years, much of the time. Is that possible, and, if so, do we need to provide her with medical insurance here in the US or can she go back on Canadian medical? Thanks.

congrats. and grateful, i'm curious, what plan do you have for 5$ unlimited to canada? you can say on here or email me at tamablestar@hotmail.com

Thanks

Qwest: You have to have the $20/month unlimited in the US, then add the $5 for Canada.

For anyone interested, the children's AOS was approved May 3/06.

We received the three letters in the mail, and they stated that if you were not approved at the interview, you had to go back to the office and get a stamp in your passport, or your temporary green card. I did not get a stamp in my passport, and the green card arrived in the mail 9 days later.My husband thinks that the children were "approved pending the waivers" and so we should just wait for the green cards to arrive in the mail. I'm not sure. Has anyone else had a similar experience where they needed one more paper? We have already made 4 trips to Spokane, and don't really want to have to go for nothing.

The cost for filing the I-690 is $95. My wife had to file one....$95.

I just checked the website......$95.

So, I have no idea who told you $265.

Fill it on-line, download it from the USCIS site and file it....$95.

Good luck.

Some people tend to over-exaggerate things and/or situations in order to make them bigger/worse than what they truly are.

The OP should've done her research on waiver pricing BEFORE coming here to bash the 'CIS.

I'm sorry, the forms we needed to send in are I-601, not I- 690, and they are $265. You're right, yours are $95. The name of the form is similar, and when I went on the site to check the number, I got it wrong. The officer in Spokane handed us the forms, crossed out $195, and wrote in $265.

grateful,

Did you discuss this concern with a Civil Surgeon to see if a 'medically inappropriate' determination was called for when filling out the Vaccination Supplement for the other children?

Yodrak

...

An older daughter had an adverse reaction to the immunizations, that is why we chose not to have the rest done. I think most people would be careful after experiencing that. See www.thinktwice.com .

Yes I discussed this with both the Canadian and US surgeons, but they weren't interested. I asked them for waivers, and they led me to believe it was all taken care of by checking the box on the bottom of their forms. Perhaps they didn't know I needed those forms, either. Like I said, it's a rare need, and it must be hard for them to keep up with everything.

At our interview in Spokane last week, the officer repeated very strongly several times about carrying the green card with us at all times. She said we probably would not be deported, but we could be charged the deportation fee. Yes, I'm wondering too, how that will work with the kids. Duct tape? It didn't sound as though a copy would do, either, as she said that we should not carry the SS card, just a copy, but the green card, yes. I would think that the huge magnetic strip on the back has something to do with that?

By the way, at the top of the magnetic strip, what looks like tiny dots, are actually pictures of all the presidents, and at the bottom, flags of all the states, I think. My son noticed that, I needed a magnifying glass.

Thanks for the support, I do appreciate that. The new paperwork went in the mail Monday, so now we wait to see what happens. The children have been left out of several things here in the US because although K-1s can get a temporary SS number, K-2s cannot. e.g. they took a hunter's training course for young people, passed with 95% and 100%, but were not issued the license. However, they have been able to take riding lessons, have good violin teachers, etc., so in many ways it has been a good year as well. Lots of new experiences, and a phone plan for $5/month unlimited to Canada has helped too.

After having lived near the US border all my life, and crossing it dozens of times without problems, just a smile and a "Have a good time!!" this just all took me by surprise.

The cost for filing the I-690 is $265 each. Until recently it was $195.

And yes, I asked on here several times about whether and where to find a waiver form. But I can also understand that very few on this site bring children with them, and fewer still would need waivers. I simply thought that it may come up again, and so if I say something, someone else might be helped and saved extra time. I'm sorry if it seemed that I was blasting this site, that is not the case.

It took 9 months for the USCIS to get around to sending me the AP ( my father is 94 and I have children and grandchildren in Canada), and that only with the help of the Senator (they were about to kick us out of the country because they misplaced one of our papers and wouldn't tell us what the problem was) so yes, I am frustrated. And it HAS cost a LOT of money and 4 trips to Spokane. Remember, there are 4 of us. And this is only part of the story.

An older daughter had an adverse reaction to the immunizations, that is why we chose not to have the rest done. I think most people would be careful after experiencing that. See www.thinktwice.com .

Hey,

I understand the frustration of it all and the feeling of a never ending process...

Just curious though. Do you remember who was your interviewing officer? We have our interview at the Spokane office on May 16th so just curious.

Her name was Quarterman. She had a good sense of humour, which helped. She didn't ask for any of the evidence except the marriage license, didn't look at photos or anything.

Well we had our AOS interview in Spokane April 18th. The officer called us all in at once, My husband, myself, and 3 children. And we were in there for 3 hours. She only asked 2 of the usual questions, "How did you meet?" and "WHat day were you married?" The rest of the time she shuffled papers and talked about them, destroying some, giving us back some (old tax papers), and correcting some. With 4 sets of papers, she seemed to find it a bit confusing. And she was training a new person.

However, although I had asked both doctors, in Canada and the civil surgeon in the US, about waivers, as well as a few times on this site, I got no answers. Well at the interview I sure did. the children were refused on the grounds of not having immunizations, and we were given waiver forms I-690 to fill out and send in, along with $265 EACH!!!! And we thought we were all through with this process.

I'm wondering if this I-690 could be added to this site in the forms section, so other people could have it ready when they go to the interview. And the waivers have to be applied for because of religious or moral conviction, NOT because one of your children had adverse reaction, or any other scientific reason. This is what I had written in my earlier requests, and it does not fly, because that is blaming them, whereas religious or moral reasons puts the onus on us. Good enough, but one has to know that.

So I received the Welcome to the US letter and my green card, but sure don't feel real welcome!!!

I don't get it. Do we need ANOTHER medical appointment and more medical forms for the AOS Interview? Our interview is next Tuesday and I thought that having sent all that in with the application forms would suffice. Not to mention having to have all that for the original K1 interview in Vancouver last year.......

I'm wondering if anyone knows how much time out of each year a person has to spend in the US to receive their citizenship. My daughter, 16, wishes to spend a part of next year back in Canada, yet wants to get her citizenship here, to be a dual citizen. Our 2-year anniversary would be July of 2007, when we should have it. She arrived in the US in September of 2005. She also wants to get her driver's license here.

Thanks so much. I also discovered the answer to my second question. Since my husband and I are filing jointly, and the children have lived with me more than six months, even though part of that time was in Canada, we can claim them as dependents.

A few questions about children:

They arrived in the US in September. I understand that they cannot receive their SSN until the AOS is through, but that we can file for a tax number. Is this correct?

Can they be listed in my husband's income tax as dependents? He does his own, and it seems that they would have had to be here for 6 months out of 2005, but it is not clear. And, if not, do they have to be listed on the tax return?

Thank you.