metaxas

21 minutes ago, ChrisJay11 said:

Consular officers know a lot of people didn't turn in their I-94s for various reasons, lost it etc. You'll be fine. It's not really relevant to this CRBA adjudication anyways.

Ok, thanks!!

Hi,

Just filling out DS2029 question 24 on US entry  exit. On two of my trips outside the US (one in 2001 and one in 2002), both to India, I am not sure of my exact departure date since the US does not have an exit stamp, however I am sure of my India arrival date based on my entry stamp (so the US departure was most likely 1 or 2 days before my arrival date in India, I am not sure), do I need to put a note stating that I am not sure of the exact departure date from the US or something on those lines,or will a date with an error likelihood of -1 or -2 of my actual departure do?

15 minutes ago, Alabamak1 said:

the only thing that i-94 can state is that you entered the us in 2006, nothing else. it does not proof you have been residing for 5 years in the US. A better proof is multiple tax returns or w-2's IMO  

Yes of course I have W-2's, tax returns, bank statements, employer letters, lease agreements etc..as part of my set of proofs.  I was just wondering if it presenting the I-94 ( in addition to all the other pieces of evidence ) will cause any kind of question or problem as to why I did not return it when traveling out of the US.

5 minutes ago, Alabamak1 said:

if you are a us citizen and hold a us passport, why would you need to provide a stamp that says you entered the US in 2006 and for that matter? what need do you have for a original  i-94 anyways anymore? 

As part of the consular report of birth abroad (CRBA), you have to prove cumulative stay in the US of 5 years. One of the proofs required for this is old passports and US entry/exit passport stamps. I was asking if I can also submit my old I-94 as evidence along with my old passport.

Hello!,

I am a US citizen, previously an Indian citizen. I entered the US on Apr 1 2006 and the homeland security stamp of my entry is half-faded, and kind of semi-illegible. I never exited (traveled outside) the US until I got citizenship, so I still have the I-94 that was also stamped when I entered the US. 

Fast forward to today, I have to go to the US consulate for a CRBA (Report of Birth Abroad) interview for my newborn daughter. Just in case the officer has trouble reading my US immigration entry stamp in my passport, is it ok to present the original I-94 that was stamped on my entry in 2006 as well, or would I run into any trouble as to why I did not hand it in when I traveled outside the US (even though the first time I traveled outside the US was as a US citizen).

Apologies if this is a silly or wierd question, in advance.

Thanks!

Okay, thank you so much ! Really appreciate the response.

Hi I am a naturalized US citizen. I completed my naturalization last year. Prior to that I was living and working in the US first on an H1 visa and then on a green card since 2006.

EDIT: Just wanted to mention that I got married last year in India and my wife is an Indian citizen. We were blessed with a baby girl last month and I want to apply for the CRBA for her.

To prove cumulative physical presence, I have the following documents currently:

1) Social Security statement which mentions my annual earnings record from 2006 to 2017

2) W-2's I have received while employed in the US since 2006

3) IRS Tax transcripts from 2011 to 2017

4) Salary slips for 2015-2017

5) All my passports with entry-exit stamps (I have been living in the US continuously since 2006 and only traveled outside after I became a citizen last year).

6) Bank statements from 2011 onwards showing regular salary deposits and rent payments

7) I have various immigration documents such as I-94s recieved when I changed employers while on H1, and my green card approval documents.

Do I need more evidence of physical presence? I am especially concerned if I need to contact previous employers to get letters of employment since I am not able to locate salary slips older than 2015  (they were all online and have been purged from ADPs database, or if they were paper, I may have discarded them).

Makes sense... so essentially everywhere I should use the current legal name except where it is specified to mention the previous names?

Hi,

I am a US citizen, married to an Indian citizen. I have two step children from my marriage, and will be applying for the I-130 for them as well as my wife. I am creating a template for an affidavit of birth for my step children from various relatives, and got a small doubt.. given a statement in the affidavit such as

" I have personal knowledge that XYZ ABC was born on 25^th of October 2000 in XXX, XXX, India to <My Wife's first name> <Wife's last name> and <First Husband's first name> <Last name> "

Since my wife's last name at the time of birth of my step child was the same as her first' husband's last name, and of course now her last name is the same as mine (she has also updated her passport), should I be putting her last name at the time of birth of the child, or her last name as it is now in the affidavit? Can it cause confusion if I put her last name as it was then - which I think is the right thing to do -, or will USCIS figure it out?

Thanks!

4 hours ago, MsCompE said:

Agree. Courtship isn't a requirement especially in India where arranged marriage is a custom. Anyways, do you got red flags? 

Religion etc? I'm not an expert but having lived in India myself I see two major cultural things involving marriage - family and religion. 

I think you may add up affidavits from her parents and your parents stating they are fully aware of your marriage. This additional documents can be brought during her interview. 

The society's culture is most of the time taken into account when accessing a bonafide relationship per embassy.

No We have the same religion, so no issues there. Families are both very much in favor, infact both my parents and hers will attend our wedding in India. We will definitely take care to add the parents affidavits. Thank you so much for the advice !!

8 hours ago, KierenHby said:

Courtship is not a requirement for a wedding, provided it is a bonafide relationship and not a marriage for a GC. Evidence of communications over time helps. Are you of similar ages?  

Preferable if she acquired a court-ordered written judgement of sole custody. 

Yes indeed, we are six months apart in age. Her divorce judgement does have a court ordered written judgement of sole custody. Thanks !

My girlfriend does have legal sole custody of the children as per the divorce order... will we still need the biological father's permission? He is an alcoholic and very unlikely to be cooperative in any way...

Hi,

I am a recently naturalized US citizen. I have been courting my girlfriend (divorced) and communicating via whatsapp, skype, phone calls etc for over two years, my mother (also a US citizen) has visited them a year ago as well and we are now ready to get married. I would like to go to India, get married to her as soon as possible and then sponsor her and her two children aged 16 and 4  (from the previous marriage ) to come to the United States. Would there be a problem if I just went and got married immediately, or do we need to have some kind of in-person courtship as well (from the perspective of her and the kids getting their I-130 immigration green cards)? We have all kinds of proof of our courtship including call records, whatsapp and social media chats, pictures of my mother visiting the girl and the kids etc. I really just want to get married to her in India, start a child of our own (too much information?!) and start the sponsorship process, just want to make sure we take the right steps. Can anyone please help. 

On 2/2/2017 at 3:20 PM, metaxas said:

Thanks , I will try that .. Would it be better for me to wait until I get the paper mail, since the PDF has only 1 page out of the 2 that are supposed to be in the letter (questionnaire is missing), or do you think they will be able to take care of that there...

Man STIG, You are a genius! I was able to go and get my Oath ceremony done today thanks so much man, if you weren't wearing that helmet I'd literally kiss you !! 

I am kind of in a bind right now because the online system shows an old date of 31 Jan for my oath ceremony (oath letter was mailed on 31 Jan). I am waiting for the physical letter to see if there is a glitch in the system where the dates are wrong. 

6 hours ago, STIG said:

Seeing that your FO, Newark offers same day oath ceremonies, print-out the PDF, and just go there tomorrow, show the letter, and ask if they can schedule you for a same day oath ceremony. Should not be a problem at all

Thanks , I will try that .. Would it be better for me to wait until I get the paper mail, since the PDF has only 1 page out of the 2 that are supposed to be in the letter (questionnaire is missing), or do you think they will be able to take care of that there...

Hi All, My n-400 was filed in June 2016. I had my interview on Jan 30 2017 and was approved. However did not get the oath ceremony on the same day due to some systems fault. After two days (Feb 1), I see the online status update as oath ceremony scheduled, but the scheduled oath ceremony date (at least on the online PDF copy of the oath letter) is Jan 31...I am still waiting for the paper mail to see if there is an error on the online PDF, but what are my options.. how do I bring this error to USCIS's notice and get my oath scheduled correctly. Should I take a print out of the online notice and go to the local office, or wait for the paper letter to come in the mail. Worried as heck! Did anyone else face this issue before?

Hi Guys

I had my interview on 30 Jan and was approved. 

I just saw an online notice on the mydhs system that my oath ceremony was scheduled for yesterday (31 Jan). What should I do? Could this be a system glitch and would it be better to wait for the paper mail? What to do if the ceremony was indeed yesterday and I missed it?

Got it.. thank you so much!

Hasheesha, could you please let us know exactly what to ask the court for? I plan on calling the courts regarding my tickets as well. Should I be asking for "court certified proof of ticket payment", or "court certified record of the ticket" -- is there a legal term for exactly what paperwork is required from the courts as evidence of ticket payment? Any info would be great.. thanks!

Awesome! Many congratulations!!

Alright-- mine arrived today, 4 days after the approval notice sent!! Thanks all for the responses, all who are waiting, hope you get your cards soon!

And today June 1, the GC just came. :-)

Hope yours will come soon, too!!!!

Awesome! Many congratulations!!

Ok.. so far, status changed a few days ago (3 days I think) to "Approval Notice Sent". Checking mailbox daily in the hope that something is on its way, nothing so far... oooh the wait!

Got approved May 4th, same day got email card production, May 11th got 2nd email of card production, Thursday got email approval notice was sent; no card yet. So glad that I'm not the only one waiting.

Looks like quite a number of people are waiting / just got their third emails judging from all the responses here..

I just got mine! Today! After a month..it finally came..I had my Interview last May 27..got an approval email the same day..Got a production ordered email May 11 and then another email on May 25th..So today it finally came. I think everyone of you will get it by next week. Keep the faith!

Cool... I guesss you mean interview & approval April 27.. agree that we gotta keep it cool and keep the faith!