AtariBaby

I have two suggestions for you.

1) Can you save up enough to buy the car outright? I have heard (but have never actually tried it) that if you go into a dealer and offer to pay cash for a car, but you want them to set you up with a car loan of at least one remaining payment, they'll make it happen. Make sense? Then you have credit. EDIT: my mistake; I thought you were looking to establish credit, but it appears you actually don't want to go ahead and pay for the car.

2) Go to yelp and find the highest rated credit union in your area. A credit union is like a bank, but it's a non-profit. They used to only represent certain groups, like firemen or teachers, but now most (though perhaps not all) are open to the public. A credit union, like I said, is a NON-PROFIT. They work for you. They will give you a clear path to getting a car loan. Don't take my word for it; talk to them on the phone or in person. It may not be immediate, but they will probably tell you basically that if you keep a positive balance or prove you are good with a secured credit card for a short period of time, they will give you a loan.

thank you I hope so cuz we apply for the fee waiver i912 lest see how it go

Oh, I should point out that I don't know how the waiver process affects things. you might want to ask in the main forum instead of this thread.

I send mine today

how long take after u send you package to get you noa? I just send my package today

You'll probably get something in 5 business days, give or take.

Good luck and update us with your experiences!

It all boils down to the specific office, not the state. Scroll back through this thread and I posted a link to another thread with early walk-in reports. You might also want to search the forums, being that los angeles area probably has a lot of posts related to it.

Early Walk-ins are permitted at some offices, not at others. It is good for when you can't make a scheduled appointment. The consensus is that it doesn't make the process go any faster.

OP just as an FYI, I have found the FlyerTalk forums a good source of discussion when it comes to dealing with customs and all. I got a lot of help there when CBP was over the top with someone near and dear to me, regarding an unrelated matter. Just FYI.

nvm. i updated but it seems not going thru

did you try here? http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/intro.php?

Urgent question for June filers: How long (how many days) after you received your NOA-1 did it take you to receive NOTICE of your appointment for your Biometrics (not the actual Biometrics appointment date.

I am VERY grateful for any responses.

I had mine from California within 5 days.

We didn't have wedding pictures. But start getting some photos together now, visiting relatives, or having a romantic dinner or going places. Follow the guides here and put together as much evidence as you can, and of course you'll have the legal marriage docs. A lot of stuff on that list is more important. Co-mingling of finances and responsibilities, proof of living at the same address, filing taxes as married, those are really important.

And yes, depending on the interviewer, you might get grilled on questions. Just answer honestly, like you did just now. It will probably be fine. They will mainly just be trying to catch people who really don't live together, or bluffing them into confessing.

Hi all,

I have had my conditional Green Card since the end of February but so far have had no luck with finding a job. My background in the UK is in I.T. to management level and since here I have applied for a variety of I.T. and business analyst roles.

Here in California companies are giving IT people the moon and the stars. We are practically blackmailing silicon valley. I'm surprised to hear this. In fact, on Highway 101, recruiters are posting billboards offering visas to immigrants.

I don't know if you are aiming too high or not looking in the right places. But the IT field has been the most recession proof field I know of, at least here. Something isn't right, but I can't tell what that is.

EDIT: re-reading your post it seems to me your heart isn't in it. I think if you were determined to get good work, you'd get it, but in your heart this isn't what you want. Though I'm sure that's oversimplifying, so please forgive me. I'm only speculating but I think you need to consider making a big change in your career direction.

One more thing. You might want to update your profile/timeline. It says you're still pending on AOS.

Will do it, thanks!!annnd I just did something dumb...in the usps money order, in the field " from" I wrote my husband's name, instead of mine...will that be a problem??

I can't imagine that's an issue. It is however important that it was made out to "US Department of Homeland Security" and not an abbreviation, or so we're told. I used a USPS money order both times and I don't even recall what I put in "From".

Since the USCIS web site doesn't mention that it has to be downloaded from the irs website, I am sending copies of the tax returns, exactly as I received from my accountant, all the pages.

Hey friend, I urge you to get the official transcripts from the IRS website or from your accountant. You can also call and get them faxed to you. It's worth waiting for.

I read where one member said he sent in returns and a pretty flimsy package and made it through and got approved. But the consensus here is if you sent in just printed tax returns, you will get an RFE (Request For Evidence). Don't take my word for it, ask in the main thread. If I was you, I would get that before you send. But good luck and please come back and post the results, either way.

The tax returns need to be tax transcripts downloaded from the irs website or other means. Is that what you have? Be sure the Green card is scanned on both sides.

Also apologies to the management for my earlier post. I didn't realize, and I understand the reasoning behind deleting/editing some parts of the discussion.

Saddened by the news of your loss.

AtariBaby - Just to clarify, is the letter/document you are referring to that shows an extension of the status for one year that also states it's okay to work and travel - is it the NOA1? Or is it the biometrics appointment letter?

My husband and I wish to travel to Toronto, Canada at end of Sept for my sister in law's wedding but we are not sure if it's safe for my husband to travel since his green card expires beginning of Sept and we may or may not get the approval of the removal of conditions on residency by then.

Thanks in advance for clarifying! Appreciate it!

Hi yes, it's the "NOA1". The Biometrics letter is a second letter that you get commanding you to the appointment. The first "Notice of Action" states in one of the paragraphs that your green card is extended for an additional year, and that you may work and travel. It says to keep the letter with your green card. I would urge making a photocopy or scan for records, just in case it gets lost.

Yelp is another resource for this kind of thing.

To those new to VJ, here is a list of all these infernal acronyms: http://www.visajourney.com/content/us-immigration-abbreviations

To be fair, I think these are universally used on the internet, and in official circles, not just here!

Sounds like it was more a question that they found incriminating documents.

Fair point!

You can't go wrong following the guides here and asking questions, or for hiring a lawyer with a great reputation, if you don't think you can do it yourself. Unless there are things you're not revealing here, IMO you would be a fool to try and scam the USCIS and risk fines, prosecution, and your loved one never being allowed to live here legally. It sounds like you have a straight path to doing this the right way.

I think you're also misinformed about how it would be so easy to make this happen illegally, but I wouldn't know. You'd have to google that elsewhere. Such folly.

Here, a great many awesome people help each other do this legally, and that has many benefits I don't even have time to go into.

I don't care what the government says. That's why we're so screwed up in this country now economically. If people want to help somebody out and don't want to charge for it, who is the government to tell them they can't? Whatever happened to FREEDOM and allowing people to make their own choices in life?

I would rather not have countries, and everyone in the world just helped each other, but that's not reality right now.

This is not about a US citizen helping someone out for free, it's someone from another country helping someone out here for free. A government official told a Canadian they didn't have freedom to help someone free, not a US citizen.

Since legislators accept the notion that giving jobs to non-citizens is bad for the country, true or not, this falls into this category, fair or not. Canadian IT consultant may not have been paid for helping US business, but it was an opportunity: it's a reference, it's resume material, it's a selling point, it can lead to referrals and more work, etc. An aspiring US IT consultant or college student, for example, may not have missed a check, but they missed an opportunity. The rule of thumb, as was explained to me regarding foreigners volunteering is, you can volunteer at a charity function but you can't volunteer at someone's business. Otherwise, you have two choices: get the proper paperwork, as another poster explained, or you keep your friend-visiting activities sufficiently vague at the border.

It's unfortunate that an honest, naive person invariably gets harassed at the border, but people who know to keep their mouths shut and answer questions a certain way when crossing a border do not. But that is how it is.

Turns out my theory may have been half-baked, now that more dates are in.

Islandlady, just curious: You and I are the only 7/1 biometrics dates so far. Did you pay with Money order or means other than check? Just hazarding a guess as to why we got such early dates. Could be irrelevant.