Yagisama

I once had a dream that we had gotten our K1 visa. I woke up and realized it was all a dream.

Then a couple months later, we got the visa. I waited at least 8 hours after the interview to really accept the news, just in case it was a dream.

Even though I was present in the interview in the Tokyo embassy and was there when the interviewer told us "congratulations you got the visa."

I am a nationalized Belizean living in Belize, and a dual UK citizen. I enter the USA with my UK passport on the Visa waiver program with an ESTA number, and have never had a problem. My old expired h1-B is still in there. Last week I went to visit my fiance in Florida, and there seemed to be a problem. The immigration officer asked why I had listed my country of residence as Belize, but handed him a UK passport. I explained to him my situation. He carefully scrutinized my passport and asked many questions in regard to how I was born in the UK, etc. He then took both my passports and left the booth for about 20 minutes, returning with another officer. They both asked me several questions as to how I obtained the UK passport, and why I lived in Belize. I told them the truth as I had nothing to hide. The other officer then told me that I could not enter on the Visa waiver. I was told I would need to get a B-1 Visa in my Belize passport and enter with that, because my country of residence is Belize, and that was where I permanently lived. I didnt want to argue, but felt like I was being treated unfairly, as I noticed that other UK citizens ahead of me with their ESTA print outs going through with no trouble. I am a UK citizen, so that qualifies me to enter the USA on the Visa waiver. I have a valid ESTA number, so I don't see the problem. Is this right?

I'm curious. Where you born in the UK?

A bit about our Advance Parole experience. First of all, it's not going to compare to some of the experiences shared above (yikes!).

I think the main issue for me was that my wife had to deal with the secondary intergoation by herself. After a 10 hour flight we were exhausted and I really wished she didn't have to go through that. Not to mention, they criticized her English pronunciation, which is a somewhat touchy subject subject for us.

It all started in Tokyo (Narita Airport). When we tried to check in, the airline staff had never heard of Advance Parole. I knew this was a common occurrence in some cases, but I had hoped that since this was a major airport (the main airport of Japan for frackin sake) and the fact that the combo card has been around since early 2011, someone would know about it.

Apparently not. All the airline workers were stumped. They called a supervisor who came along and she was stumped too. Then she ended up calling "immigration" and finally we got the green light. This call was apparently to LAX.

Once we were ready to actually board the plane, we got questioned again. We showed the combo card. The guy had no clue what it was. He asked someone else, who starred at the card and eventually made the slightest affirmative head motion. Finally we were on the plane.

Fast forward around 10 hours and we were waiting in the immigration line. I noticed an elderly couple in front of us who were told by the immigration officer to "wait here for a moment." So we finally reached the IO. I showed him our passports and then the EAD/AP. "What's this????" He asked. My heart sank. I knew it was going to be a long day at that point. I told him about the K-1 visa and he asked if we had married during the allotted time frame. I said yes and showed him our original marriage certificate.

This card has been around what, almost a year? Maybe not that long, but at least 6 months. You'd think that even if it was a couple months old, there'd be some memos passed around to employees telling them about the existence of such a card.

Then he compared me with my passport photo and commented about how I've gained lots of weight. "The married life eh?" he said. I joke with him a bit hoping that somehow we could just skip the secondary. No such luck. Some guy came around and collected passports, from us, the elderly couple and a some others. Then the guy carrying our passports led us like cattle to another guy. They started doing some high five thing and the other guy took all the passports.

I figured I could go to secondary with my wife. But they give me my passport and tell me to wait outside. I tried to take a look inside a few times but they tell me to scram. I waited about 30 minutes but nothing. I couldn't see inside so I had no idea what was going on.

So I went to pick up our 4 checked in luggages. It took me a long time to get them all, since they were using two luggage carousals for our flight. Eventually I came back and waited some more. It was over an hour already, but finally she came out. Apparently they had replicated the K-1 interview (asked how me met, when we met), asked when we married, where we were living, who she was traveling with. They also asked about the call from Narita to immigration in LAX. We finally got the parole stamped I-94 and got out of the airport as soon as we could.

The whole time I was waiting there I was thinking how difficult it must be for those form high fraud countries who do everything correctly and still end up in interrogation.

Anyhow, I know many others have experienced much worse with CBP, but for someone who'se experience pretty much consisted of hearing "welcome back home" this whole ordeal was a bit much.

I don't know how useful all this was, but hey, there's the wall of text.

EAD/AP memo Posted: 02-11-2011:

http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Outreach/Interim%20Guidance%20for%20Comment/Adv-parole-ead-12-21-10.pdf

I'll try to write about the AP later tonight.

Right now I wanted to stay positive, since compared to CBP, USCIS are saints.

Here is a quick overview of how the interview went. This applies to the downtown Los Angeles office (300 N Los Angeles Street) though I can imagine it'd be similar in other places.

Our interview was at 8am. We got there at 7:30am. There was already a huge line formed outside. I then remembered that the time of the appointment means very little since everyone there had an 8am appointment. We waited there for probably about 45 minutes.

Once we got in, we went through the metal detectors and then up to the 8th floor. We put the appointment notice in a box in front of the window. The lady there asked us whether we had a lawyer. We said no and waited to be called.

One hour later, we got called in. The immigration officer called us in. At the time I wasn't sure if she would be interviewing us or not. But honestly, the first thought I had was that if she was in fact the interviewer, I would be very relieved.

As expected, we started the interview with an oath. She asked for our passports, the EAD card, our California ID/License cards.Then she went over the I-485. Name, place of birth, etc and then all the "no" parts of the I-485.

For preparation of the interview, we had gone over the example questions listed on this site. And even though many posts here had explained that their interview questions were very simple and basic, we went ahead and reviewed a bunch of useless facts "what is the shade of our carpet," "what day is the trash picked up." what side of the closet is my and her clothes," etc.

All of that was useless.

Now the only bit of advice I can give, and it may seem like common sense, is to know all the data that you included in all the forms. We had some minor issues here. We were so mired with the aforementioned useless trivia, that we got stumped on some questions.

- What was the date of her first visit to the US. I immediately thought of the K1 related POE date. Then she realized that it was when she visited Hawaii for the first time. She had also visited the US several other times. So we were then trying to calculate the date of the first Hawaii trip. "Early 90s" was our best answer. This info was in one of the forms (G-325A maybe).

- What was the date of her last entry in the US. I though about the K1 related POE date again! Of course we had just come back from Tokyo 3 days before using the advance parole!

- She asked her SS number. We had to look it up. She told us that the number is something that she should memorize.

Anyhow, the moral here is to not worry about the color of the drapes, etc and know all the information that is contained in the forms. Seems obvious, but we focused too much on the silly trivia questions.

Once that was over, she asked for pictures. I told her I'd show her my favorite picture. It was a picture of our wedding ceremony that included both our families. She was really surprised that her parents and brother( and best friend's family) visited California for our wedding. We had a bunch of other photos and she chose 5 or 6 of them to keep in our file.

Now, I'm going to try to not break my arm patting myself in the back, but she was also very surprised that I visited Japan 11 times in the last three years.

She then asked for joint bank information, medical/insurance beneficiary information, birth certificate and updated Japanese registrar containing our marriage information. She also asked what my job is and where I work. She left to make photocopies of our IDs and some other stuff.

She came back, took the EAD, and the I-94 (parole version, a remembrance of the blight of advance parole) that I was happy to never see again.

She gave us a paper detailing that if need to go out of the country before we got the green card, we should make an infopass appointment in order to get the I-551 stamp. I had already asked about this in our infopass appointment last month so it wasn't a surprise. She also told us about the removal of conditions.

Then we thanked her. She asked if I had to go back to work, I said yes and we left the interview and went to celebrate by eating a pancake breakfast!

Summary: Know the details of what you put in the forms (325A, 485,etc) and don't worry about the color of your toothbrushes. The latter may be relevant for the removal of conditions interview, but it sure isn't for this interview.

First of all, I am very sorry for your situation. It truly is unbelievable.

If I were you, no matter what, I would try to stay here for at least a year or two. This would at least make the entire experience of coming here not go to waste.

If a divorce is inevitable, then I would file the I-751 form by myself. I have not seen the source of the oft mentioned requirement that removal of conditions must be filed right after a divorce, though I have admittedly not searched thoroughly.

I-751

Part 2

d. "I entered into the marriage in good faith.."

What's keeping the OP from visiting her in Mexico?

And "grammar-correcting" is hyphenated (as is "#######-retentive"), si man.

No, it is not hyphenated. So, no man. Or should that be no hombre?

Oh dear, rather harsh there, especially as a real grammar pedant would not pick up someone else after such an error.

Similar to.... "I have a job interview, do I have to go, or can I just send someone to take my place"?

No period is required.

Question mark is required after quotation mark.

Just sayin' like

Edit - Even the use of quotation marks at all could be argued

Everyone's a stickler for the facts. Give me a break! I'm just a pedant in training.

Thanks for the spell check.

It was a grammar check. You're welcome all the same.

Didnt I say that? Look you dont have to repeat everything I say! I dont need a echo.

Didn't I say that? Look, you don't have to repeat everything I say! I dont need an echo.

(A new and improved, grammar correcting echo!)

im sorry but it made me laugh

It made me laugh too. And really, to be honest, it IS a pretty silly question.

Similar to.... "I have a job interview, do I have to go, or can I just send someone to take my place."

"Angus beef" is just a marketing term. The Kobe restaurant had a long description of their cattle lineage proving the authenticity of their Kobe beef.

But at the end, the steak tasted great because of the (marbled) fat.

You're 34 and you're paying for school? You don't need your parent's approval anymore. Man up, and they'll respect you too.

This has nothing to do with "manning up." It's about choosing the course of action that is more favorable for the long term.

I guess I'm just used to it, but I never had any issue with the quality of meat here in the US.

Sure, the really cheap stuff in the supermarket (Ralphs, Vons, etc) isn't going to be winning any awards, but it's not hard to find quality meat from specialty shops (butchers).

Of course the quality of meat in Japan is excellent and the steak I had at my in-laws was amazing but the price is comparable with the quality meat mentioned above.

However, nothing compares to the steak we had in Kobe Japan. Of course that was a once in a life dinner for an anniversary. We even had a chef grill the steak bit by bit for us in the restaurant. Of course at 600 bucks for two small steaks, it's not like we're going to be back anytime soon (if ever).

I would really take the time to sit down and think things over before making any rash decisions. I would not settle down unless I am ready. I know you miss her, but will you be able to provide for her once she gets here, and can you handle all the expenses for immigration. Can you sponsor her even without your family's support? These are things you need to consider. How much longer do you have left for school? I would definitely finish school first, if that would mean a better future for you both. If she really loves you, she would be able to wait as long as it takes. This is how I see it anyway. Goodluck

Agreed. I would certainly finish school first.

Congrats!!!!

Than you!!

And, it's on it's way !!!

Application Type: I485 , APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Your Case Status: Decision

On January 11, 2012, we mailed you a notice that we had registered this customer's new permanent resident status. Please follow any instructions on the notice. Your new permanent resident card should be mailed within 60 days following this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later. If you move before receiving your card, please call our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.

Success!!!!!!!

We waited about an hour before the interview started but the interview itself only lasted around 15 minutes!

Very easy and quick! Looking forward to getting the actual greencard. I will write more about it later!

Thanks for the wishes tokyobelle and Gabbi !! Interview in 8 hours!

My two super secret weapons are pictures of both our families at the wedding ceremony and the fact that she updated her family register to reflect our marriage. (We got copies from the city hall in Tokyo. It includes my name and everything!)

Well, hope that's enough!

Well, we're back from Tokyo and the interview is finally here tomorrow!

I'm excited but also a little nervous!

I knew Advance Parole wasn't going to be very easy but it was a bit more painful than I had hoped. More on this in a couple days.

It's time for us to finally use that Advance Parole! Off to Tokyo we go!

Happy New Year to all!

EAD in hand along with welcome letter for greencard

Told you 12/26 at the latest!

It took 5 days. I'm sure you'll get yours on 12/26 at the latest.

Yahisama, how long did it take you to receive EaD from your approval date?

While it would suck to work at Walmart and have to deal with these kinds of individuals, I am having trouble conjuring up much outrage.

I have seen much much worse offenders in the financial industry and private government contractors. I have seen individuals get salaries of 150k+ without a lot of difference when compared to a welfare check. Half of them have even been conservatives riling up against the illegal boogymen. It's like waving your arms and pointing to someone stealing form a cookie jar while you help yourself to some gold bars. That's when some can really bring out their inner outrage that would make a high school drama teacher proud.

So yeah I'm not sure I can get hell bent over someone buying a kit cat bar with EBT instead of corn flakes. And in this day and age, information acess disparity is growing and for many people a smart-phone is their only access to the web and/or email. So yeah I'm not going to be outraged about that either. And we should be grateful that we live in a society that having net access is considered a bare necessity.

Is the system perfect? Of course not. Are there many people taking advantage of the system. Definitely. But I can't really find any outrage when there are so many Enron and Haliburton class offenders running around.

interview notice in Atlanta on jan 23rd arrived. I'll be sure to come and post a review! Wish me luck

Congratulations! I was nervous too but from what I'm read the interviews are very short and simple.