Gringo-Expat

My wife got 2-year permanent residency in 2012. Her middle name is Inmaculada. We just noticed that, on her Permanent Resident card, it's spelled Immaculada (mm instead of nm).

We verified that the name was spelled correctly on all the paperwork. According to USCIS, we just need to fill out an I90, send back the card with supporting documentation, and we can get a new card for free.

The problem is: USCIS says it will take 3 to 5 months. , and that's before the sequester kicks in. We figure it might be 6 months or even longer.

Now we're thinking, screw this. We already went through hell getting her K1. Then we went through hell again getting her permanent residency. Next year we have to go through hell one more time to get 10-year green card. We're not going through special sequester hell just to change "mm" to "nm". We'll fix the typo next year when we get the 10-year card. She still has her EAD card with the name spelled correctly.

Our local license branch were the ones who found the error, and they worked with us on it. They issued her a learner's permit with the typo. They'll probably issue her a driver's license with the typo again. THe only other people who worry us are immigration officials in the airport. If her passport and her green card differ by a single letter, are they likely to refuse her re-entry? Or will they just remind us to fix it and let her back in?

Hello Conch! We live in Key West as well and had to drive to Kendall twice. Once for my wife's biometrics, and a second time because the national office made us a duplicate appointment.

No, they don't have any storage. They don't permit cell phones, and they won't hold your cell phone for you. So, you'll have to leave your cell at home. You can carry all the usual other items (just no firearms and no phones).

The Kendall office is very new, very bright and organized. The people are really nice, and they move pretty quickly. It's pretty far from the Greyhound office, so you'll have to navigate Miami's bus system to get there (don't even think about getting a taxi).

My wife's application was transferred to CSC in mid-April. The last "touch" was April 30. Thanks for making this thread. I didn't realize that the California Center was so slow. I'll be a bit more patient. My wife already has EAD and AP, so we're not in a rush to get permanent residence.

I didn't realize you could get a green card without an interview. Did they just send you a green card in the mail?

My wife entered the US on a K-1 Visa in October 2011. We filed for AOS in January of 2012. The latest status is that the AOS application wsa transferred to the California Service Center on April 8.

Yesterday my wife got her Advanced Parole papers. Two identical sheets stating that the holder could be paroled into the Unisted States. There was an odd bit of verbage that said the holder could resume their application after returning to the US. Does that mean the application is put on hold while she's out of the country?

My wife wants to visit family in Nicaragua for a month, but she doesn't want to put off her residency for a month. While she's out of the country, will the California Service Center keep doing wahtever they're doing with her application? Or will they push it to the bottom of the stack until she gets back home?

Actually the AOS application mentions a COPY, not the original. See the I-485 instructions, section "Initial Evidence" specifically 12B. "Based on Admission as the K1 fiance(e) of a U.S. citizen and subsequent marriage to that citizen... Attach a copy of the fiance(e) petition approval notice..."

Well actually it doesn't show she has a case "pending" it shows she applied. She can still encounter issues because the NOA1 only proves you APPLIED doesn't prove you are still processing, or show that you haven't since been denied.

Thanks for the advice. I'm happy to hear confirmation that a copy of NOA2 will be sufficient.

I'm in Key West, where the police don't hassle immigrants. My family is from Indiana, however. Speaking from experience, Indiana is not the most tolerant place in the world. Plus they passed an Arizon-style immigration law that requires police officers to verify the status of every suspected illegal they find. It would really suck if my fiancee gets arrested the first time she visits her new in-laws. I'll make sure she keeps her passport, marriage license, NOA2 and a mini American flag in her purse.

I spent the lsat few hours going over my apartment and can't find it anywhere. Thankfully, I found a scanned copy (front and back) in an old e-mail. Although the AOS application specifies the original NOA2, the concesus here is that USCIS will accept a copy.

I'm happy to know that, had I really lost the NOA2, my fiancee wouldn't be at risk of deportation. We can accept delayed processing for residency, but not being seperated again. On that note, how do we prove she's legal after the I-94 expires? Once USCIS starts the residency process, do they give us a temporary residency card she can carry with her? Say a policeman accuses her of being an illegal alien. Between the expiration of the I-94 and the granting of residency, what could we show to the angry cop?

My fiancee finally arrived on a K1 visa. We're getting married next week and everything is going smoothly. There's one big problem: I can't find my NOA2!!!!!

I called USCIS to request a new copy. There's a $405 fee, but I can handle that. The lady on the phone told me that there is a 3-month wait to get a duplicate copy of an NOA2. How on earhte can that be? It doesn't require any new processing; it's just a new copy of a letter.

In any event, my fiancee's visa expires in 10 weeks. What can we do? Can we send in the AOS applicaiton with everything except the NOA2, with a letter explaining that a new copy is coming?

I understand that lacking an NOA2 will cause a delay in getting residency. I can handle that. What I'm worried is her visa expiring and getting deported because we don't have an NOA2. If I file for an AOS without the NOA2, will the send me back an RFE and just slow things down? Or will they refuse to start processing and let her visa expire?

Thanks for the advice and the primary sources. My fiancee is currently getting the exact names of the medicines she uses. We'll confirm through a local doctor whether these medicines can be brought into the US with or without a prescription.

Worst case scenario: If we bring in something we think is permitted but actually isn't (say, a painkiller that's OTC in Nicaragua but prescription-required here). As long as we declare on the Customs form and present it to CBP, they'll see that we weren't hiding it. Will they simply confiscate it, or can they actually press charges even if we declare it and surrender it when asked?

My Nicaraguan fiancee finally got her K-1 visa to come to the US. She'll arrive next month. She takes anti-allergy medicine regularly, and she's on birth control pills. These are medicines that require a prescription in the US but not in Nicaragua. She can get a doctor to write her a prescription for the medicines. How many month's supply can she bring into the US when she flies here? It will take us a few months to set her up on my medical insurance and find her a good doctor, so we'd like to bring 3- or 4-month supply. If we keep all pills in their original containers and bring a copy of the prescriptions with us, will Customs let us through with the mdeicine?

I'm not married yet. I'm engaged to my fiancee. In any event, I'm torn on whether to fly down for the interview. On the one hand, it might improve the chances to get the visa approved. On the other had, I just started a new job and only have two days of vacation. If I fly down for the interview, I won't be able to visit her and her family before she arrives. She'll have to fly to the US alone.

I lived in Honduras form 2005 to 2009. Like Managua, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula only have flights to Miami, Houston, and Atlanta. I've never entered with a foreigner, but I've spent way too much in the international arrivals section of each airport.

Avoid Atlanta. Though they have a shiny new customs and immigration area, they're slow as molasses. Whether it's two days to Christmas or a Tuesday in July, I've never gotten through customs in less than an hour. And that's coming through the short US citizens line.

I agree with other folks that you should avoid Miami. It has too much traffic for an airport that size. Oddly it's still more efficient than Atlanta, but I still don't recommed it. Plus, American Airlines is the worst of the three airlines you can choose (the others being Continental and Delta).

Houston is one of the best airports I've ever been too. I've flown through there on three seperate Christmas seasons and many other times throughout the year. I've always gotten through passport checks in less then half an hour, and I got past customs in just a few minutes (after waiting for the baggage carousel). Inside the airport is clean and efficient and nice to wander around on long layovers. On top of all that, Continental offers the best service (though higher prices) than Delta or American.

Unfortunately I live in Key West now, so I'll be fighting through Miami airport once my fiancee's visa is approved.

Thanks for the tip. I don't know if my limited vacation balance (only 2 days at the moment) or the price of a flight ($600 round-trip) will allow me to fly to Managua soon.

If she gets denied this second time, do they give her a third chance to gather evidence? Or do they reject it for good after the second try?

And I'm really regretting my wife's awful shyness right now. She only says romantic things in person, never in e-mail or chat or even over the phone. It would have been really nice if we had a romantic conversation in writing right now.

Adding to the list: We found a string of e-mails that we exchanged in 2009 while I was in Afghanistan. They're nothing sweet or romantic, just updates on what's happening. About 20 e-mails of me writing "Today was boring but at least there aren't any rockets" and her writing "Tomorrow I'm going to the free clinic to do some volunteer work." We're going to print it and bring it anyway. It at least shows contact.

That's a lot of good information. One of our Honduran friends is a lawyer. He has copies of my fiancee's Honduran and Nicaraguan cedulas, and he's going to get a copy of her police report this week (or at least he'll try!).

Today I got to see the from they gave her. It said that her visa was denied under section 221(g) due to not having required materials. The marked materials were "Police Record: Honduras" and "Proof of Relationship." Hopefully our Honduran friend will take care of the first. I don't know if we can get enough of the second.

The embassy asked me to send reciepts of money I'd sent her. I replied that I've never sent her money. They asked me to send phone bills from phone calls I'd made. I replied that I only have the last 6 months of Skype call-out calls. Prior to late 2010, I lived outside the US and used a variety of pre-paid phones that don't keep records of calls. I'm not sure how much different types of evidence I can send. The new list of evidence---what she'll bring back to the embassy--is below. Do you think it will be sufficient?

-Receipt for a plane ticket from San Pedro Sula, Honduras to Cairo in March 2010. She and I visited Egypt and Jordan together.

-16 photos dated from November 2005 (when we frist met) to September 2010 (when we last saw each other).

-Several photos are from my birthday party last year. It was at her house and all her extended family is present. Does it help that I have a photo of my future father-n-law giving me a bear hug? Or a family photo with 20 Nicaraguans and one gringo?

-Phone list from Skype showing calls made from my number to a Nicaragua cell once a day for six months. They're short calls, but they were just to ask her to hop on the computer. Skype doesn't keep records older than 6 months.

That's what we've got. Will it be enough? Will it help if I fly down to Managua and attend the interview with her? Thanks for all your advice.

My Nicaraguan fiancee had her visa interview in Managua today. She brought about 30 pages of various documentation: my old 1040, my last few pay stubs, 6 months of phone records showing that I called her every day, her medical exam, her Nicaraguan police record, a copy of her diploma, and about a dozen other items. They turned her down for two reasons: Not enough evidence of a relationship and no police record from Honduras. Let me start with first one; it's easiest to explain.

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My fiancee and I have been best friends since 2005. We started a romantic relationship toward the end of 2009. I spent three months of Summer 2010 living next door to her in Nicaragua. She's from a conservative family; they wouldn't let us live together. That Summer we decided to get married.

So today, 8 long months after sending in an I-130, my fiancee had her interview. The interviewer asked her why all the photos are dated from 2009 and 2010. She explained that before 2009, we were only friends. We have photos of us from 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, but nothing kissing or hugging; just standing next to each other smiling. Apparently a two year long courtship in which we lived on the same street for three months and have spoken on video chat every day since isn't enough for the embassy.

I don't have many financial records to send. I paid my rent in Nicaragua in cash. There's no written proof that I lived in my apartment. All I have is my old Nicaragua visa. I'll send her that along with a hundred old "friendly" photos and hope that works.

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The second part is more difficult, maybe impossible. My fiancee and I met while we both lived in Honduras. I was working as a military contractor at a US base there. She was wrapping up a DDS that she earned at a Honduran university. She lived in Honduras from 2004 to 2007.

The US embassy in Nicaragua wanted a copy of her criminal record from the Nicaraguan National Police. She got that. Of course, it's empty. She's never gotten so much as a speeding ticket. At the interview she told them we had met in Honduras. They asked for her criminal record from Honduras. That's just about impossible. Anybody's who's ever been to Central America knows that the bureacracy there is a mess. It's hard enough for a native-born citizen of Honduras to get anything from the Honduran police. It will be almost impossible (probably truly not possible at all) for a foreign woman who left 4 years ago and never committed a crime to get a police report.

This may be a show stopper. If the Honduran police act like their usual worthless selves, and if the embassy staff in Managua stay stubborn, my fiancee might not get her visa. How do I convince them that my future wife is a law-abiding dentist who just wants to get married and live happily ever after?

And is it always this hard?

I got my NOA1 on January 12 and haven't seen an update since. Visa Journey has been very handy in showing me that other people are waiting just as long. Without this site, I would have gone nuts wondering about the delay. Now I know it's just our incredibly inefficient government bureaucracy.

Hello all. I'm a US citizen engaged to a Nicaraguan citizen. I can't decide whether we should apply for the K-1 fiance visa and get married in the US or get married in Nicaragua and apply for permanent residence later. Here are some factors affecting our decision. Based on these factors, what do you think would be the best option for us?

--Neither of us have children or have been married before.

--She has never visited the US. She has a valid passport.

--I'm currently in Nicaragua on a tourist visa. In Nicaragua, you can live on tourist visas indefinitely. Get a 90-day visa at the border. Three months later go to the States for a few days. Come back and get a new 90-day visa. Rinse, repeat.

--I'm unemployed, but I'm looking for work in the US. Once I get job, we want to move to the US together.

--We want to get married this year.

--We've been best friends for years and have photos and friends' testimonies to show it. However, we've never lived together nor have we integrated our finances.

1) As I understand it, the K-1 fiancee visa will take up to 6 months to process. Is this correct?

2) It may be denied because I can't prove that I can support her while she's in the States. My bank account is big enough to support us both for about 6 months while I look for a job. Will they accept a large bank balance as proof of support, or will I need to get a job first?

3) USCIS web site says that, once the K-1 visa is approved, we can go to the US and get married there. Once we are married, she can file the I-130. She can stay in the US legally while the I-130 is being processed. Is this true? Or does she have to go back to Nicaragua after we get married? What happens if she flies to Nicaragua on vacation while the I-130 is in process?

4) We don't want to wait 6 months to get married. We could get married here in Nicaragua and then file the I-130 afterward. That would mean that she would have to stay in Nicaragua for the 12 to 18 months it takes to finish processing.

5) While we're waiting for either of those visas, could she apply for a tourist visa? If she has to stay in Nicaragua while I live in the States, it would be nice if she could visit me for, say, three weeks a year, and I could visit her for three weeks a year.

I know similar questions have been answered, and I'm doing research as best I can. I'd appreciate some advice about my particular situation. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.