rick313

Hi all. We finally received our I-797 Approval Notice for my wife's father in Thailand / petition for parent of US citizen. The received date was 04/05/2019, and the date of the notice is 02/26/2020. This was from the Nebraska service center. 

I was expecting this maybe 6 months ago! 

Anyway, hope all get notices soon! 

On 11/16/2019 at 11:07 AM, igrant said:

 

 

The ones whose applications ended up in Nebraska are the unluckiest ones. It is not taking less than 12 months for Nebraska, while other service centers are taking as less as 4 months. It is such a shame there is no equality. 

Our parents' applications just got approved after 12 months from NSC. In 2016 it used to take 4 months for NSC but since the new administration took place, it has been taking forever!

HI all. We filed for our father's petition way back in late March too, to the Nebraska service center. We got an NOA in early April saying it had been received but since then its been dead as a rock. We were expecting to have gotten additional movement by now, but I guess not. Good luck to all! 

On 10/31/2019 at 11:33 AM, artcodex said:

yes until the court rules this will go into effect, hopefully the case moves forward quickly.

 

Technically parents are exempty for "having" to show insurance but this is guidance the embassy/consulates are being given:

Hi. Do you have a full source for these instructions to consular offices? My father in law is applying under an IR5, and we anticipate an interview soon. Thanks

FYI - Here is a recent article that just came out about the healthcare requirement and how many people are scrambling at the moment:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-insurance/trump-rule-on-health-insurance-leaves-immigrants-companies-scrambling-for-answers-idUSKBN1XA1G6

Trump rule on health insurance leaves immigrants, companies scrambling for answers

OCTOBER 31, 2019 / 6:10 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Kristina Cooke, Mica Rosenberg

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly a decade after receiving U.S. citizenship, Guatemalan-born Mayra Lopez thought she had cleared all the hurdles for her parents to join her in the United States.

Then on Oct. 4 U.S. President Donald Trump changed the rules she and others had been complying with: Trump signed a proclamation requiring all prospective immigrants to prove they will have U.S. health insurance within 30 days of their arrival or enough money to pay for “reasonably foreseeable medical costs.”

The new requirement, part of Republican Trump’s hard-line policies on immigration, goes into effect on Nov. 3 and prospective immigrants are scrambling to figure out how to get the necessary coverage, navigating a complex healthcare bureaucracy that has, for the most part, not previously catered to those who are not yet in the country.

The administration gave scant detail about how the new requirements would be implemented beyond a bullet-point list of the types of insurance plans that would be accepted.

A State Department notice on Oct. 29 said consular officers will verbally ask immigrant visa applicants to identify a specific health insurance plan, the date coverage will begin, and “other information related to the insurance plan as the consular officer deems necessary,” but gave the public only two days to comment on that plan instead of the usual several months.

Lopez, 40, who works as a family assistant in California, and many others are finding few options exist for them.

Lopez received a letter for her parents’ appointment to be interviewed on Nov. 25 at the U.S. embassy in Guatemala. Near the top it read: “inability to meet this requirement will result in the denial of the visa application,” according to the letter seen by Reuters.

She immediately called her own insurer, Kaiser Permanente, but she said she was told her parents, both in their 60s with no serious health problems, would not be eligible because they did not have U.S. social security numbers and even if they did, it would cost more than $1,600 a month to cover both of them, according to interviews with Lopez and her attorney.

Lopez then called five other insurers and began to panic when they all told her variations on the same thing, she said.

Tony Barrueta, a Senior Vice President at Kaiser Permanente, said in a statement that a social security number is not required to apply for Kaiser Permanente coverage, but the company may request that information.

Barrueta said the company acknowledges the complexity of the proclamation and other recent actions “and the confusion they may have created for many immigrants and their families.” He said they were continuing to educate their front-line staff on how to address questions.

California’s health insurance marketplace, Covered California, said “consumers must be lawfully present in order to apply for coverage.”

Many prospective immigrants seeking to enter the country legally, including those who do not have lawyers, may not be aware of the new requirements and could end up being denied, immigration advocates said.

When asked about the concerns, a State Department official repeated the guidelines in the proclamation, which are posted on the department’s website.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

COVERAGE GAPS

Long term-plans on the state insurance marketplaces are not available to immigrants before they are in the country lawfully, according to the eligibility requirements outlined in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature health care legislation.

The proclamation does not accept subsidized health plans, meaning immigrant applicants would be barred from using income-based subsidies for the purchase of individual coverage, a main tenet of the ACA.

Short-term insurance plans are banned in four states and 20 others limit their duration to less than 364 days, the amount of time required by the proclamation, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group.

Even where they are available, short-term plans often have large gaps in coverage and can have exclusions for pre-existing conditions, said Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman.

Trump has tested the boundaries of established policy, aiming to fulfill his 2016 campaign pledge to curb both legal and illegal immigration, including a yet to be constructed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Immigration rights lawyers and civil liberties groups have challenged his policies in court, sometimes with success.

“This order overrides about 100 years of law that has always promoted the ability to live with your immediate family members and targets people in a way that Congress didn’t intend,” said Jesse Bless from the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

“Congress has made rules that has allowed people to come in based on self sufficiency not wealth or health.”

On Wednesday, seven U.S. citizens petitioning for their family members and immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit in Oregon seeking to halt the proclamation.

The proclamation appears squarely focused at limiting family-based migration, which the President has repeatedly derided as “chain migration,” said Xiao Wang, co-founder of the immigration firm Boundless.

The administration issued a rule earlier this year that would limit legal immigration by expanding who could be found to be a “public charge” and barred from residency. The measure has been temporarily halted by federal courts.

FAMILY REUNIFICATION DELAYS

Some immigration lawyers are telling their clients to consider rescheduling their visa interviews until there is more clarity about how the new health insurance rules would be implemented – potentially delaying family reunification.

Some other wealthy countries, such as Germany, require people applying for visas and residency to provide proof of health insurance. But those countries do not have the same healthcare costs and insurance system as the United States.

The Trump proclamation said it aims to stop healthcare providers and taxpayers from bearing “substantial costs in paying for medical expenses incurred by people who lack health insurance or the ability to pay for their healthcare.” It cited data that “lawful immigrants are about three times more likely than United States citizens to lack health insurance.”

Healthcare policy experts say immigrants use the U.S. system less often than Americans. According to an analysis by Leighton Ku, Director of the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University, recent immigrants without insurance accounted for less than one-tenth of 1% of U.S. medical expenditures in 2017.

Sometimes having short-term plans that provide only limited coverage can be as costly to the healthcare system as not having insurance at all, Pennsylvania’s Altman said.

The Trump administration has expanded short-term health plans and made them renewable, which experts say undermines the ACA.

Rajeev Shrivastava, the chief executive of VisitorsCoverage, which sells travel insurance policies to U.S. visitors and immigrants, said online search traffic for immigrant plans on his website increased by 150% after the proclamation.

He said the new policy “creates an opportunity” for insurance companies to develop plans for incoming immigrants, though some are waiting for more clarity from the government.

For U.S. citizens married to immigrants who have been living in the country without legal status there are additional considerations. Jorge, 45, has been in the United States for almost 20 years and is married to a U.S. citizen. He has been granted a so-called unlawful presence waiver that would allow him to leave and apply to become a legal resident without facing a multi-year bar.

His visa interview in Colombia is scheduled for later this year. At least 10 insurers have told him he cannot apply unless he can prove he is in the country legally, Jorge said. He also does not qualify for travel insurance, he said, because he is currently in the United States.

“This has been very stressful,” said Jorge, who spoke to Reuters on the condition that his last name not be used.

One option available to him, a short-term health insurance plan that offers limited coverage, is only available for six months in Illinois and the proclamation requires coverage for 364 days. He bought it anyway.

Reporting by Kristina Cooke in Los Angeles and Mica Rosenberg in New York; Editing by Grant McCool

On 10/15/2019 at 1:57 AM, crbabelgium said:

Apologies in advance if I am posting on the wrong thread but this thread seemed appropriate for my current situation.  I am U.S Citizen.  My parents who are currently in the U.S visiting me on a 5 year B2 visa have decided to relocate to the U.S permanently.  They saw their grand children for the first time and are smitten by them and decided they want to be part of their lives.  They had no intention on staying in the U.S and were visiting us for 3 months leaving in Jan but now I am exploring filing an AOS for them while they are already here.  I went through this process years ago for my spouse whom is a U.S citizen now and did AOS for them while they were already here on B2 and we fell in love and got married.  I was able to add my spouse to my employer provided health insurance w/out SSN back then but my coverage doesn't apply to parents.  My question is what type of health insurance should they purchase?  They have traveler's insurance that they purchased for their trip but reading the forum it doesn't appear that qualifies in their case with this new rule.  Can someone guide me if they or I can purchase insurance for them via the ACA marketplace?  Any insurance vendors you recommend?  Plz keep in mind they are already in the U.S on B2 visa doing AOS.  They and I have the financial means to purchase insurance.  Both are over 65 years of age.  It hasn't been 30 days since they arrived in the U.S. 

 

P.S They are former GC holders who got GC in the 90s but never chose to settle in the U.S due to their careers and surrendered their GCs while receiving their B2 visas. 

 

P.S.S Their 5 year B2 visa expires next year in Feb and they have return ticket to leave country before then.  Do you recommend they return to their country and we apply for their GC from there?  Even then it seems with this new rule we should get their health insurance in U.S sorted out for that.

 

Bump. And also good luck - 

I'm also looking for health insurance options for my wife's father. He is a widower and citizen of Thailand. He has obtained a 10 year B2 tourist visa already, but we recently applied for him to come on an IR-5 family based visa for parent. He does have assets in Thailand (property, savings), and of course we have ours (home, savings, both working and salaried full time). Unfortunately, my employer doesn't seem to have an option to add a parent to our insurance until after 12 months since they make you prove he/she has lived with you for at least 12 months prior to applying. 

Hello all. Does anyone have any experience with the processing time for the IR-5 (Immediate Relative visa) for a Thai-based parent? I sent in our I-130 Petition for Alien Relative in April of 2019, received the NOA/Receipt for that, and we are still waiting. Thank you. 

On ‎3‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 10:50 AM, Junior11 said:

I had to look into this long and hard a while back. I applied on March 2018 for my mother and we had my daughter’s wedding here in October in USA, that she wouldn’t miss for the world.

I’ve explained to her that there is a CHANCE she might be sent back home from the airport. 

She decided not to take the chance, not for the financial risk, but for the long round trip on the same day, two continents forth and two continents back. (She has motion sickness)

 

Please let your father in law know about the possibility, and let him decide.

 

(My mom also has 10 years B2 visa 2014-2024)

Thank you I appreciate the advice! Given you looked into this before, I am wondering: How did you arrive at the conclusion that visiting on a tourist visa (after applying for the IR-5) posed a risk that the foreign visitor would be turned away at the airport? Is there a stated policy somewhere indicating this was not allowed or frowned upon? Have a lot of visajourney posters reported such experiences? I'm trying to get a sense of how "real" the risk is and how likely foreign nationals might be turned away. Thanks again.  

Many thanks for the replies and advice, I appreciate it!

Hello all. I have a question that hopefully someone knows about. My wife and I are soon applying for an IR-5 (immediate relative visa) for my wife's father to become a US citizen (he is currently a Thai citizen and living in Thailand). However, he previously applied for and received a 10 year B1/B2 tourist visa in 2014 and visited us a few years ago. While we apply for the IR-5 (which takes about a year), we would like him to visit us as a tourist for a month or two on his B1/B2 visa. Has anyone had experience with this? We are wondering if it is problematic if he applies for an IR-5 and at the same time visits the US as a tourist.

Thank you in advance for any insight.

Thanks guys for the replies. Just for clarification, if my wife is using her Thai passport with maiden name AND her plane ticket with her maiden name, will she encounter any problems when she re-enters the USA with her US passport and married name? We hope not!

The reason she is using her maiden name and Thai passport for the plane ticket is because she gets a really cheap plane ticket from a family member who works for an airline company.

Anyone know about this specific situation?

Hi. We finally made it all the way through, and my wife (Thai) has finally earned her US citizenship just a couple months ago. She currently retains her Thai passport using her maiden name, and now has her US passport with her new surname (mine). We travel frequently back to Thailand, but up until now she has always used her US greencard to enter and leave the US with her American name, and Thai passport with her Thai name to enter and leave Thailand.

I am just wondering if anyone would like to chime in with any thoughts or experiences with using one or both passports for travel to and from Thailand/US, and any plusses or minuses, particularly if she changed her maiden name in her Thai passport to her new surname. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone. Thank you for your replies and the helpful information. We do feel relieved! Her Thai passport has a US entry stamp on it, and we will also bring a copy of our travel itinerary and the USCIS interview test result letter as well. That should confirm that she was only out of the country for a few weeks.

Hello all. We are finally nearing the end of this process! My wife took and passed her N400 citizenship interview late last fall. We then traveled to Thailand for about 3 weeks during the winter so she could visit her sick mother and family in Thailand. She traveled using her Thai passport and re-entered with her green card.

Her oath ceremony is scheduled for early March, in Lincoln, NE.

Since we traveled internationally after her interview, she will need to mark "Yes" on the second question of the N-455 form ("Have you traveled outside the United States?").

Has anyone had this experience? We are wondering, do we need to bring any documentation related to her travel to Thailand? If so, what? Any problems or questions to prepare or plan for?

Thank you in advance!

Hi guys. My wife (Thai citizen) just successfully passed her exam this last week. She was told that DHS will send her information in the mail soon about the oath ceremony, such as date and location (apparently in our area there is a backlog/waiting list for the oath ceremony until as late as next year). We are also scheduled to travel back to Thailand this winter over the holidays for about 3 weeks.

The time we are away will not jeopardize her application for being out of the country more than 6 months. She has a Thai passport and her US green card. She will obviously be able to leave the US and enter Thailand. But, I just wonder if there will also be any problems with her coming back to the US. Can anyone confirm that she will be able to travel to and enter the US from Thailand post-interview/pre-ceremony with just her green card?

Quick question for posters here:

I am a naturalized US citizen, and married my wife in December of 2011. She received her conditional green card on August 16, 2012. Does this mean we are eligible to apply now as 90 day early filers? Just wanted to confirm. Thanks in advance.

Apartment lease co-signed for the duration of her time in America.

Joint financial accounts

Proof of medical insurance under my company's plan

Driver's licenses showing same address

Car title with both of our names

Joint tax returns

That's about all, except for the form, marriage certificate, and whatever else they asked for.

Thanks! I was thinking along those same lines. I'll let you guys know how our application goes. Hope to work on it this weekend.

All the advice has been sound.

We too had no children nor owned a house, but had no issues.

All the best

Thanks ThaitoUSA! Out of curiosity, what evidence did you send in?

I just became an american citizen yesterday. I filed under the 3 year rule. We do not have Children either. We do own a house, but I didn't submit this with my original package. I did bring it with me to my interview though and they filed it but I think a copy for an apartment lease is just as good.

I didn't send any evidence with my application, other than the Tax returns, filed jointly for the last 3 years.

The Officer had all my paperwork there at the interview from all the years before so keep in mind they still have everything you had submitted for you AOS and ROC.

I wouldn't worry too much and send off the application, and then you can prep a few more forms and bring to your Interview and in case they ask for it you can hand them some more things.

Good luck and keep us posted

Thankj MayoKy! That is very helpful.

And...congratulations!

Thank you for the suggestions folks!

TboneTX - That's great advice. Definitely something I need to get working on.

Hi. I am wondering what sort of additional evidence you suggest for applicants applying for naturalization on the basis of marriage to a US citizen for 3 years. My wife (Thai national) is the applicant, and she has been married to me (US citizen) for 3 years and has legally resided with me here since then. She meets all the tests of good moral character, etc., so I don't see any major problems. The only potential issue is A) we don't have kids, and B) we don't own a home (we rent an apartment).

Any thoughts on what we should be sending as evidence of our marriage in good standing, and anything else we should send that should help? I already have our tax transcripts for the past 3 years ready to go.

Thanks in advance.

Congrats!! And thanks for sharing!

But you never was interviewed for the ROC?

Thank you! No, no interview for us. In fact, we have never been interviewed. Its just been a really smooth process for us for the most part. A couple times I did contact our local senators and asked them for "help" though. Not sure if that had any sort of impact.

Congrats! So you filed for AOS but got approved for ROC?

Hi. Yes. What I meant is, I filed for ROC in May, and the approval letter came yesterday.

Hi all - I am very happy (and surprised) to report that yesterday we received a letter from USCIS stating: "Congratulations! Your request for the removal of the conditional basis of your permanent resident status has been approved. You are deemed to be a lawful Permanent Resident of the United States as of the date of your original admission or adjustment of status."

The letter came on plain while paper (not the usual) USCIS letterhead and was from our local USCIS office in Omaha. The letter goes on to state that we should receive the I-551 green card and some other documentation within 60 days.

I am very pleased to receive this and quite surprised it took so fast! Also, we never had to do any sort of interview at all, we just sent in our AOS packet in May, did biometrics, and that's all. I hope this is FINALLY over for us!

Good luck to all!

Hi guys, since this last post, I called USCIS. They told me that they were going to send a service request to my service center and I should sit tight for 15-30 days. I also contacted my senator's constituent services and they said they would "look into it as well". Finally, I also made an infopass appointment for this coming Monday and will raise the issue there, hopefully they will be more responsive.

Anyone had an infopass appointment before? I am wondering what to expect.

Most recent update:

My wife and I went to the service center today (July 14) for our infopass appointment. The officer was really nice, and explained to us that their office is really backlogged, which is why we hadn't received our biometrics notice yet. He then asked my wife for her passport, and he stamped in a green card renewal stamp for another year, and just told us to hold tight.

When we got home, lo and behold, we found the NOA/biometrics appointment letter for us (processed July 9), along with a letter noting that it was issued pursuant to our earlier service request. Thus, from the time our I-751 was processed (May 21) to then (July 9) it took us about 7 weeks just to get biometrics!

My wife's biometrics appointment is July 23. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly from here on out.

Hi all. I haven't posted on VJ for a long time. My wife and I are May filers for AOS. We did receive our NOA (I-797) receipt shortly after sending in our materials. The receipt date was 5.21.2014.

Well, I was expecting our biometrics appointment letter shortly thereafter, and it simply hasn't come yet. Anyone else having experience with this? I'm a bit worried since it seems like most of the other May filers have received and already completed biometrics by now!

Yes, there is always a chance that the biometrics appointment notice got lost in the mail, etc.

Anyway, anyone have any insight? Thanks in advance.

Hi guys, since this last post, I called USCIS. They told me that they were going to send a service request to my service center and I should sit tight for 15-30 days. I also contacted my senator's constituent services and they said they would "look into it as well". Finally, I also made an infopass appointment for this coming Monday and will raise the issue there, hopefully they will be more responsive.

Anyone had an infopass appointment before? I am wondering what to expect.