missouriviaperu

They may have been under the family category, I'm guessing F3 or F4. Or under a working visa.

Parent petitions may take a year so compute that and the oldest child's 21st birthday.

...I'm still waiting to hear exactly what method was used but there's no way it's F3 or F4 as they don't apply in this particular situation.

yeah the computation is not looking good....even if we turn in all the paperwork asap her sister turns 21 in February 2016 ...I think we need a miracle for things to work out before then.

thanks, yeah I knew that as a parent of a USC she could come but was not allowed to bring children...which is why I was so confused/frustrated to hear about my wife's friend's family all coming at the same time. What other category could our friend have used do you think? (we have asked, i am only half-sure that she knows, she works for an immigration attorney...we'll be asking again i guess) ....also, i thought that CSPA might apply for the oldest sibling?

So my wife became a US citizen last week and now we are faced with bringing her mom to the US. We would like for her mom (ideally mom in law + minor children) to come and live with us in the US but the catch is that her mom has three minor children (ages 17,18, and 20). I was under the impression, from the limited amount I have read, that her mom would need to come first, and then send in paperwork for her minor children. Separating my mother in law from her kids in Peru is not our preference but I think we're prepared to do it if we have to. However, one of my wife's friends is in a similar situation and her mom, dad and younger brother all came together to the US as LPRs at the same time. This would be preferable for us, but I just want to not screw it up...does this have anything with the follow-to-join benefit? Also, I am worried about her oldest child being "aged-out" of the process by the time the paperwork gets accepted. I deeply appreciate any help or suggestions whatsoever, thank you.

No.

All she needs to enter the U.S. again is her Green Card.

But she will need her old passport and any and all travel data since becoming a resident when filing for naturalization.

Thank you for the info ...the issue has been bugging us for a little while.

....so she's going to be renewing it soon before she returns from our vacation in Peru...she received the GC back in August. I know the process in Peru for passport renewal is fairly straightforward... but will this affect re-entry to the US at all? I was wondering if anyone has been through this. Will she need to bring her old passport around with her just in case?

Here's an interesting thing.. you said you called the DMV and THEY told you THEY don't recognise an international licence... that doesn't mean she can't drive on it, it just means she can't have her foreign licence taken into account when getting their licence. For instance had I been underage here with a full licence in Australia then I would STILL get whatever sort of licence i'm eligible for here after doing all the testing... not what i had there. Canadian's licences ARE accepted so they can just do a switch (no tests).

Why is an expired ID an issue for bars etc? She can't drive of course but why is it a problem for ID?

The question I posed to the DMV was if she could legally drive on an international DL in our state, not if they would recognize it. It's probably worth a follow-up for clarification, but it's sort of pointless for us considering what's done is done.

I'm really not sure why exactly an expired ID is an issue for bars around here. I guess perhaps they get a lot of minors posing as adults with expired ID's...my wife is fairly young-looking so I wouldn't be surprised if that's working against her. Basically it's about 50/50 between the ID being accepted or turned down.

Did you send away for EAD as well with your AOS? Because by rights she should be able to get DL with that. And yeah I had to wait till they got the clearance my GC was approved as the DDS rang me and said I could come and take my test now and then 2 weeks later I got GC. Yep and we all go through legally but there is a time of limbo and it felt like ####### but it all sorts itself out in the end.

Yeah I sent the EAD as well, but from the timelines i've seen it seems to take ~3 months so we're looking at another 5 weeks of waiting. I remember people griping about the waiting in limbo, but talking to my immigration attorney confused me a little. Sounds like we may just have to wait until the beginning of august.

Part of the issue is that she never really had a DL in her home country of Peru. She was on her way to getting one down there in the months preceding her move, but after calling the state DMV I was informed, several times, that our state would not recognize an international DL.

She does have a Peruvian ID called a "DNI," which is the equivalent of a non-driver's license, but she has had it rejected by several bars in the Columbia & St Louis areas. We have also been let in to several...just seems to be at the discretion of the bouncer and how strict they wanna be. We live in the St. Louis area and the casinos have been the absolute worst about taking her ID...first we brought her State IDs, but it happened to be a week after the expiration date, so they wouldn't accept it because they don't accept expired IDs from people under 30 years of age. Even when we brought her passport it took about 20 minutes for them to run a scan/computerized check on it before they let us in.

Well to start with the K1 expired the minute she landed on US soil it is the I-94 that expired not the K1. What is a non -drivers license? Never heard of it. :blink:Not sure about your state but most can't get a DL until they have and EAD card for proof of ID. In my state of Georgis here in Augusta I could not get my license till my GC was approved in the system as when I went for my DL they told me my ID was still pending and I had to wait a month. I drove on my international license till I got my GC as most of us have to. We are pending AOS when we file that so we wait in limbo for that period. You don't need to see USCIS what for you just wait for GC as you don't have time line for AOS I have no idea when you submitted AOS.

.....so what, basically the answer is to wait in limbo. We had to start the process from scratch in my state with the DL - driver's permit first(written test), then the driver's exam (driving test for the full DL), so it just sucks to have to put that process on hold because the I-94 expired. It's frustrating considering everyone in this situation went through the system completely legally and then are left without a valid state ID for several months.

Well to start with the K1 expired the minute she landed on US soil it is the I-94 that expired not the K1. What is a non -drivers license? Never heard of it. :blink:Not sure about your state but most can't get a DL until they have and EAD card for proof of ID. In my state of Georgis here in Augusta I could not get my license till my GC was approved in the system as when I went for my DL they told me my ID was still pending and I had to wait a month. I drove on my international license till I got my GC as most of us have to. We are pending AOS when we file that so we wait in limbo for that period. You don't need to see USCIS what for you just wait for GC as you don't have time line for AOS I have no idea when you submitted AOS.

Non drivers license is what you get if you have not taken the driver's test. This is a state to state issue apparently. I don't know about Georgia, but Missouri does not recognize an "international license" so this was never an option. I actually have updated my timeline, so if you look at my profile you should see that I filed the AOS on 5/3/2011. We got a transfer notice a few weeks ago but haven't updated the timeline yet.

So my lovely (thick sarcasm) state of Missouri has made things pretty confusing for us for getting my wife a state ID. Long story short, we first got a non-driver's license, then she got a driver's permit in late april, only a few weeks before the K1 expired. So both ID's have an expiration date of 5/11/2011. That leaves us in limbo as far as her having a state ID until we actually get the green card. I contacted my immigration attorney (who did a doc review for us 14 months ago), and he advised my to go back and ask for a supervisor because we should not have any issues. If that doesn't work he said to make an appointment with our local USCIS office and take it from there. ... anybody else have any experience with this?

I had no idea it was going to be such a pain in the #### between the K1 expiring and the green card being issued. I mean this is just for simple things like ordering a beer at a bar or taking it to the airport without having to bring the passport.

So does present and past membership w/ every organization include gym memberships...and high school academic memberships? Or is this more of a reference to political affiliations & societies? I was just struck by the vagueness of the wording.

Hello visa journey friends,

Where, who and when should we get my fiance's birth certificate translated for the AOS?

Thanks!

...I used these people: www.aaatranslation.com ...it was a referral from an immigration attorney here in St. Louis. It's convenient for me because I live in the area so I can also pick it up quickly. I get the impression that any professional translation service would work...they also notarize the document, which makes the translation seem very official.

My fiance is arriving on his K-1 this week. I want to get him some health insurance just to be safe. My insurance doesn't cover spouses or domestic partners.

The main hiccup is that he has chronic asthma. He has not been treated for it since August 2009 when he was hospitalized with pneumonia. since then he only has an inhaler that he uses in emergencies, which is rarely.

Anyways, I found a travel insurance that will possibly cover his asthma if he has an "acute onset" of his condition up to $15,000. Has anyone found a health insurance that will cover someone with asthma? The insurance I'm looking at is called Atlas America. It's a travel insurance, so I pay one rate for the amount of time I want, not a monthly rate. It's significantly cheaper than if we bought something like, blue shield, but i don't think it covers doctor's visits. We are mainly worried that the change in climate will somehow affect him and he will be hospitalized, so hospitals are the biggest worry anyways.

Any suggestions or advice? I'm new to the world of health insurance anyway, and now adding in immigrant health insurance. eek! any help is appreciated!

...by no means am I a health care expert, but from what I remember from Personal Finance 101 a "catastrophic health insurance" coverage is relatively inexpensive and will cover someone for the most expensive of medical problems (I believe the deductible is very high, something into the thousands of dollars). Otherwise it could get pretty expensive ...all i know is that if I didn't have a job our plan with United Health Care would cost us roughly $820 a month.

They will need the long form birth certificate (extensa) for the AOS application. Make sure its translated from Spanish to English. By copy, they mean "a photocopy of the original". But since its translated it will be a duplicate anyway and not the original, since the original is in Spanish. I hope this is clear.

...I was about to post a topic on this very subject. The birth certificate we have is in Spanish. Looks like we're going to have to go to a translator for this....ugh, thought I was done.

My fiance is going to take his medical exam this week. If you don't mind me asking, which doctor did you see, how long was the visit, and would you recommend him? Also, did they take just blood or urine too? My fiance has had health problems in the past so is slightly freaked out by the whole process. I'm trying to calm him down so any information on the medical exam part would be extremely helpful. I apologize if any of my questions seem intrusive and I would understand if you do not wish to share the medical experience.

My fiancee saw Dra. Nora Lari ...seemed to work out just fine and she was happy with the visit. I can get try to get more details some time if you need it. I don't recall her mentioning anything about a drug/urine test.

On a side note I thought I read something about how they would no longer deny immigrants based on their HIV status.

I agree don't use USPS. None of the smaller things letters and post cards arrived. Most of my larger packages arrived, but sometimes my relatives had to go to inquire about the package at serpost. Use DHL or UPS its more expensive but you can track your packages and personally I would rather pay more and be sure the documents got where I needed them to go.

...come to think of it. Only a small fraction of my letters/postcards ever arrived using USPS, 25-30% at best. The one time I paid more (~$30) for some docs (for my mother in law's tourist visa interview). USPS delivered it, but because no adults were home to sign for the package it was sent back to the airport. I ended up just sending her scanned copies of the docs..but if it's very important I would agree to send it using Fedex or DHL.

I've always used USPS to send docs to Peru..worked out perfectly well! Much cheaper than the alternatives. Whenever she sent stuff to me it was FedEx.

Thanks everybody for all the good advise and names of competent attorneys. My uncle-in-law is long-time friends with his attorney and he's going to stick it out with him (with the waiver process). It's a long story but basically I was prodded into helping out. It's been about a year since the 10 yr ban was doled out and....well, it just has to be gut-wrenching to be in this position. I'll be sure to pass along the recommendations.

I just wish the process weren't so shrouded in mystery (and expensive). I mean really, it costs the feds $140 for a less than 5 minute denial "interview?" If they're going to deny 95% of applicants, surely it can be done over the mail, internet or phone.

GO over to this site http://immigrate2us.net/forum/search.php?searchid=286016

wow, nice, the "I-601 General Waiver Information" forum of this website has been quite helpful..is there something more specific I should be looking for?

So this post is on behalf of someone else (my wife's aunt and her USC husband to be exact)..the details are a little fuzzy but I'll provide what I know and much more if need be.

She entered the US illegally in 2001, got married ~2007. Around late 2009/early 2010 they began the legal immigration process for her and was given an appointment at the US embassy in Lima, Peru in April/May 2010. So she left the US for Lima and received a 10 year ban.

I was wondering what her options are at this point? I've had a handful of conversations with my (now) uncle and he's very frustrated but hasn't made much progress. I've gathered that an appeal of the ban could take a very long time. He spoke to another lawyer (supposedly working pro bono) who offered to help with the waiver process. It is my understanding that this an uphill, time-consuming and very expensive process that will require a great lawyer.

So is it the I-601 Waiver she will need in order to return to the US? Please give whatever helpful advice you can, it would be much appreciated. thanks in advance

Turns out it's not very easy. They turned down her tourist visa on the same day my wife departed for the states (2/16). They also turned down my mom's best friend just a week or two before this.

Bank account is only of minor importance. It is not really a "tie" - money can easily be moved. Since she does not own property, family and social ties are very important. Career also. Supporting the 3 young children is a very strong tie.

Thanks for the advice...so what's a good way to show/document family and social ties for the B2 visa? We have docs that prove her career (recent pay stub, letter of employment dated in 1986) but I was wondering if/how we should attempt to document the other ties.

US govt cannot just go by your word (OP) they cannot just let her in the country and hold you responsible for her return. So if she jumps her visa, then its additional headache for US govt to search and hunt u.

If she has no strong ties to her home country, like not married, no property, retired etc - then why would she want to go back to her home country after her tourist visa expires?

Ohh and sorry Senator or a congresman neither cannot do anything, you cannot complain to anyone. Coz for tourist it is not their right to visit us as tourist.

Thats the job of ppl working in consulate to evaluate the situation and make the call to grant tourist visa or not to grant tourist visa.

....damn. oh well, may as well try to get the visa, multiple times if need be.