yankeedave

My wife's two year Green Card will expire on 12/21/2019, so it is time for me to prepare her application for removal of conditions.

Here at the VisaJourney website, I found the Step-by-Step Guide on Removing of Conditions (Form I-751), but I have run into a phrase that puzzles me and I dare not ignore anything or make assumptions while following directions involving bureaucratic procedures.

In the "When to File" section, it says: "If you are filing jointly, the I-751 form must be filed within the 90 days just preceding the expiration date on your permanent residence card."

My question is, why is the qualifier "If you are filing jointly" included in this sentence? My wife is the one with a conditional Green Card. I am a U.S. citizen, and I am not also filing for a removal of conditions, since I do not have or need a Green Card. This qualifier also seems to imply that if you are not filing jointly, there is a different time window within which to file. Otherwise, why the qualifier?

I am 99% sure that if I just file for removal of conditions within 90 days, we will be fine. But I want to be absolutely sure. Ignoring uncertainties is not a good idea when it comes to filing government documents.

Did the writer of these instructions simply make a mistake by adding this qualifier?
Am I missing something here? Is the qualifier actually relevant and important?
 

An I-134 filed during 2017 must show income records (federal income tax files) for the years 2014, 2015, and 2016. Your 2017 income is irrelevant. Whether you earned the money by salary or by self-employment is also irrelevant. What counts is the net profit line on your federal tax returns. You need to show that you earned at least 125% of the US poverty level income guideline levels for the above mentioned years.

If you are currently a household of one person, calculate your number using a household size of two (you and your sponsee). If you currently have a household size of two, then calculate for three, etc.

Are biometric services required in association with an I-765 or any other aspect of AOS for a K1 visa holder?

The USCIS seems to be saying that biometric services are not required for K1 Visa holders:
"The filing fee for Form I-765 is $410. You must also pay an $85 biometric services fee, for a total of $495, if you are: 

• Requesting consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA);
• A beneficiary of an approved employment-based immigrant petition and you are facing compelling circumstances; or
• A spouse or unmarried dependent child of a beneficiary of an employment-based immigrant petition who is facing compelling circumstances.

There is no biometric services fee for any other eligibility category."

What puzzles me is that this excerpt seems to be implying that if you are "facing compelling circumstances", they will pour salt on your wound by imposing an additional financial burden.

Not that the government is above such behavior, but they are usually not so transparent about it. This makes me wonder if I am misunderstanding something here.

Your income level qualification is based on your federal tax filings for the past three years (as of 2017, that means 2014, 2015, and 2016). Just include copies of your federal tax "returns" for these years with your I-864 Affidavit of Support and you should have no problem. 

FYI, for petitioners whose current incomes fall short of the requirement, but who have assets that qualify them financially as sponsors, there is a section in the I-864 that provides for the disclosure of those assets. But from what you said, you don't even need to disclose those assets.

Good luck with your Visa-Journey. I'm sure you will do just fine.

My Philippine Fiance came to the U.S. on March 18th with a K1 visa. We were married on March 27th, and she successfully applied for a SS# on May 11th.

I have a few questions:
1) Because she now has a SS# on the way, I am assuming that she does not need an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) in order to legally work for wages. Is my assumption correct?

2) My understanding is that once she enters the U.S, her K1 visa is no longer the operational document with regard to her legal status in the U.S. Does this mean that her I-94 is now the operational document? If so, what is the significance of this with regard to time limits and responsibilities?

3) We have gotten married, and we have applied for her SS# within the 90 day deadline. Are there now any deadlines that we should be aware of? Specifically, is there a deadline for filing an I-485 (AOS) application?

4) Are there any other deadlines or cautions that we should be aware of at this time?

On 1/11/2017 at 1:53 PM, ShanghaiSurfer said:

I remember the angry poster in Bangkok faced a similar situation as the OP and got not approved due to domicile. Obviously if OP has a new lease or other proof it would alleviate this doubt.

I just did a search of "the angry poster", and it only brought me back to this thread. Can somebody give me a link to anything that will allow me to review the case that was not approved due to domicile?

As far as " a new lease or other proof it would alleviate this doubt", I do not have a lease on the property at the address I gave as my domicile. It is my Sister's house. But her willingness to forward documents from that address for me should at least provide evidence that she agrees with my claim to be living there.

After reading the responses to my OP, I reviewed my affidavit of support. In that document, I gave my place of employment as the same Montana address (my Sister's house) that I gave as my home address in other application documents. I did this because my official residence, as established by my most recent change of address form submission to the USPS declares this to be my current mailing address. The fact is, my place of employment is wherever I open my laptop (Online Marketing and Sales). 

Anyway, back to my original question: Can somebody give me a link to anything that will allow me to review the case that was not approved due to domicile?

The USCIS has approved our K-1 visa application. Now we are focusing on the upcoming consular interview.

Just in case it is important, here is some peripheral information:
Since receiving my passport, and just before flying to the Philippines to physically meet my Fiance, I have changed my official address (by filing a change of address with the US Postal Service) from one Montana town, to another address in a nearby Montana town.

I visited my Fiance for the first time in late September, and I have been here ever since (4 months as of this writing). In my K-1 visa application, I declared my residence to be in Montana, and I forwarded my application package to my Sister there so that she could send it to the USCIS and thereby validate my claim to maintaining a US domicile (my understanding is that this is something I am required to do). My Fiance and I will be living at that residence when I return with her to the US, so this is true information.

Although my intention is to remain in the Philippines with my Fiance until I can return with her to the US, I did not give a Philippine address for myself in the visa application because I am only here temporarily, and I did not want a Philippine postmark or a Philippine address in my application to trigger an automatic rejection or even any unnecessary delays.

But as the time for my Fiance's consular interview approaches, I am having some concerns. I expect that the interviewing officer will know that I have been in the Philippines during the application process (an investigation of my passport history would reveal this). I am just hoping that my forwarding of my application package to my Sister is not perceived as an attempted deception. I can explain that it was a strategy to establish evidence of US domicile (there was someone at that address who was willing to forward the package, thus validating my claim to that address), but I feel vulnerable, even at that.

If anyone has any experience and/or insight into this matter, I would be happy to hear from you. I want to be a s prepared as possible as my Fiance and I move into this next phase of our Visa Journey.

 

I received an RFE today regarding my K-1 visa application, and this is what it says:

"...You stated that you met the beneficiary through dateinasia.com. This website is considered to be an International Marriage Broker as it is a business that charges fees for providing dating, matrimonial, matchmaking services, or social referrals between United States Citizens and foreign nationals. Therefore you are required to submit a copy of the signed written consent form that the International Marriage Broker obtained from your beneficiary, Nida xxxxxx xxxx, authorizing the release of her personal contact information to you."

The problem with this request is that it is based on a false premise. Date-In-Asia is a website that is completely free to all registrants. Apparently, it derives its income from advertisements on the site. And there is no release of information authorization feature included during registration, or at any other point in the process (I re-created an account on the website to confirm this).

How can I provide a document that does not exist? I cannot even send a screenshot of a feature that says "By creating an account, you authorize the sharing of your profile information..."

I am posting this message to seek advice on how to respond to an impossible request from someone who can deny my application just because their breakfast was cold.

Has anyone else encountered a problem like this? If so, how did you handle it?

W T H is an R F E?

Thanks, Scott and Mhay. I will check out that website right now.

I live in western Washington (state). I am looking for the least expensive way to communicate by cell phone or land line with my girlfriend who lives near Tampilisan, on Mindanao. If anyone can give me information on this topic, I would be most grateful.

I do not know where to begin...this is a major breakthrough for me...just finding a way to actually post a message. I am saying this on the assumption that I will actually be posting something that others can read when I hit the post icon.

The first few times I tried to click on the introduction icon, I was told that the page was down for updates or upgrades, or whatever. Evidently it has been down for a few days.Today, however, I must have done something different, because I managed to open that page. While reading it, I exited the page to check out a process I had just learned (clicking the "control" icon on the forums page to manage my profile). Not only was that icon absent from the indicated location, I could not get back to the introduction page to continue reading it. So I gave up on that and attempted to use the "search" feature to get information on the topic of sponsorship. This led me to a list of visa journey posts whose titles contained my search word, I clicked on several of these titles, but in each case, I was brought to the entry point of a topical forum. I guess my search word was in one of the thousands of posts inside, but that was as close as I got.

If I was not so intensely focused on doing whatever it takes to get my girlfriend to the US, I would have abandoned this website after the first ten minutes of head-shaking frustration. But I need this site. I have no doubt that the information here is necessary for the attainment of my goal. Until I find a better source of information, or until I sort this system out, I will continue groping here in the dark for those precious nuggets of guidance that I must have.

Like I indicated earlier, this note may be as private as a diary page for all I know. But on the chance that someone, somewhere on this site will find my message-in-a-bottle, there are two souls an ocean apart out here, who need your help to bring them together.