milkfish

In my wife's case, we did select the option on the application to have a SSN and card sent after entry.

However, a few weeks after she entered the country, we still did not receive the card yet, so we went to the local Social Security office to find out. The representative told us that we never had an application filed, and asked if we checked with their office after she entered. We replied that we did not, and we filed for a new card there. Got the Social Security card in about a week after that (or roughly 3 weeks after entry).

As for the Green Card, we were told it was to take 30-60 days after entry, so we were a little more patient with that one. In any case, the Virginia DMV, Social Security Administration, the community college, and the SFO CBP (after we made one trip to Japan while waiting for it) all took the endorsed CR-1 visa without any issues as it was valid for one year (while waiting for the green card). Depending on who you ask, the Green Card could take anywhere from 30 days (if you follow the DHS website) to six months (as was explained by the SFO CBP officer when we returned to USA in early December, saying that the card production was '...backed up.')

But we did make an InfoPass appointment with DHS to find out the status of the wife's Green Card, and found out that they had it produced in mid-October (two weeks after arrival) but it was sent to our old address (we moved to a new house after she arrived). So hopefully it will arrive before the end of the year (or roughly three months after entry).

In our case Social Security Card arrived first; however if you are lucky Green Card is not too far behind...

You will have to get an original marriage certificate and submit that with the translation.

In our case, we first tried to submit a copy of the original marriage certificate to the NVC with the translation but had that rejected, saying the original document is needed.

So we had to get a second 'original' marriage certificate and submit that.

The translation does not need to be certified or notarized (my wife did it herself) but next to her signature we had to put a statement certifying that the translation is a true, exact, and complete translation of the original foreign-language document. But that can be done without a notary or other third party.

In any case, the original documents submitted to the NVC get forwarded to the embassy, where you get them back after the interview is done...

Hope this helps!

My wife just had her interview today at the US Embassy Tokyo, and everything went well until they saw the Canadian certificate of no conviction that we applied for at the Toronto Police Headquarters. We ordered that certificate of no conviction when we visited Canada earlier this year (she lived in Canada twice, each for periods of more than one year, so she needed the certificate).

Anyway, the Embassy told her at her interview that she needed the fingerprint version, even though the Tornoto Police Service said that their certificate was fine for USA immigration purposes. Also, the National Visa Center where we submitted the Canadian certificate of no conviction also did not have any problems with this document before they forwarded it to the US Embassy Tokyo.

However, the Embassy called her at home later that same afternoon to tell her that the Canadian certificate of no conviction was OK for them, so she will make another trip to the Embassy tomorrow to resubmit the passport and the certificate. Hopefully this goes well...

So the long and short of this story is that it all depends on the situation - we should be OK with the no conviction certificate, but if you are visiting Canada to get the certificate, be prepared to get the fingerprint version just in case, as the State Department does post on this page that the Embassy reserves the right to request the fingerprint version from certain individuals:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/fees/fees_5455.html?cid=9013