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Hi everyone,

We received a RFE today for police clearances because my wife's fingerprints were unreadable... The same thing happened at AOS.

I anticipated this already, so we got a police clearance in April from the city police department of where we live now as well as the California state department of justice. I also had a police clearance letter from 2011 from the two other cities we lived in California. We never lived or returned there since the date on those letters.

Can we go ahead and submit these documents or is there going to be an issue because the date of the police clearances isn't current?

Thans for your help!

Hi everyone,

When do you think the CSC will start handling the Dec applications?

The reason I ask is because we'll be travelling abroad from May 23-June 16th and I was wondering if they could send us a RFE during that time frame while we're gone. It seems to me like even if that happens, it would most likely be later in June since they haven't even processed the Nov applications. Either way, we'll have a friend checking our mail.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

So do you know if my wife can go to the interview alone? And if we have to reschedule, do we typically have to send the notice back or call them?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I am the US Citizen and my wife filed ROC in December. I will be traveling to Europe for three weeks starting late may. Including one week where I will work from Europe.

I just wanted to know how this impacts the ROC process if we get an interview notice for a date when I'm abroad. Can they interview her alone? My wife typically works during the Infopass hours. Is it possible to reschedule by sending the notice back or by calling the 1800 number?

Thanks!

Like the other posters mentioned, you can wait until you move to file ROC.

If you want to file it now, just make sure you do the online change of address and get mail forwarding once you move. To be extra safe, you can always go see the new people who will live at your address and give them 3-4 self addressed stamped envelopes and ask them to forward anything from USCIS that goes to them by error. You should be all set!

I will also be traveling out of the country in June and in July. I'm sure it will be fine but since you are traveling next week, please make sure you post your experience here so we can all be informed.

Thanks and safe travels!

My wife has a removal of conditions case pending filed in December as well and we'll be traveling out of the country for 3 weeks until June 15th. I'm not worried about her not getting back in at the border with the extension notice. What I'm worried about is missing a RFE or interview notice while we're out! Do you guys know what's the best thing to do?

Hi everyone,

My wife and I will be traveling to Europe while my wife's I-751 is pending. We filed in December so I expect to get an approval in July or so.

We'll be traveling for three weeks and we have the extension letter so we should be good. I wanted to know if you guys had any ideas to make sure nothing happens to our case while we're gone?

We thought about having a friend check our mail once a week to make sure we don't miss any notices. Any other recommendations?

I'm worried that we may miss a RFE or interview while we're out. Is it easy to reschedule?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

My wife filed the I751 in December, received the green card extension in January.

Did the first biometrics on Jan 24. Fingerprints were rejected so she redid them on Feb 5th. And since then, we haven't heard of anything. I saw that the last "touch" was in December when the application was received.

We called the 1-800 support but they just give us the same status then what's online.

Why is this taking so long? It's been 3 months (we were done with AOS in that time frame already).

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for your awesome advice!

In terms of tax returns, 2010 and 2011 were the only years we had income and had to file, which are the returns we incluuded. Also, before that we both lived abroad so didn't have to file. Regarding the passports, do you recommend copying the visa section with the entry stamps? We do have trips overseas together so we can definitely do that! I know I'm terrible but I haven't enrolled in any life insurance yet, and our drivers license doesn't show the same address (mine shows our previous address and my wife's shows the current address). Same for car titles, since I applied for financing for the car alone (since my wife didn't have a drivers license at that time and the bank didn't let her join me in the application) it wouldn't show both our names

What we do have is car registrations one with her name for her car and one with my name for my car showing the same address. Would that help?

No kids so far, although we should be able to have that evidence for naturalization As far as affidavits, I remember seeing that they were not needed as long as there was a lot of primary evidence as well. Based on the documents we're including, do you think we should add? It would delay the filing so we might want to skip if that's OK?

Once again, thank you so much for your help!

Hi All,

About ready to send the package off!

Could you please let me know if the cover letter and contents look good:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11/21/2012

USCIS California Service Center

P.O. Box 10751

Laguna Niguel, CA 92607-1075

RE: I-751 JOINT PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS ON RESIDENCE OF:

Name, xxxxxx

To whom it may concern,

Enclosed please find a JOINT I-751 petition for removal of conditions of permanent resident status regarding Name. Name was awarded Adjustment of Status to Conditional Permanent Residence on xxxxxx.

We are happily living together and jointly request that this petition be accepted for removal of conditions on the residence of Name.

Contents include the following documents, constituting a petition for the Removal of Conditions on the Residence of Name.

• Completed I-751 JOINT Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence.

• Check for $590 to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

• Photocopy of both sides of Names’s Permanent Resident Card.

Enclosed please also find the following documents to verify the status of our marriage and ongoing relationship:

• Copies or our renewal lease agreement and original agreement for our current address. Copies of our lease agreement from our previous address

• Copies of our renter’s insurance summary for current and previous address

• Copy or our IRS return transcripts for 2010 and 2011

• Copy of our joint debit and credit cards from Chase. Copy of our credit cards from Bank Of America

• Copies of the summary of our Chase joint checking account statements

• Copies of current and previous car insurance, health insurance, dental insurance cards

• Copies of gas/electric bills

• Copies of Verizon bills for our family plan

• Copies of pictures taken with our families and during vacation

• Copy of our change of address confirmation from USPS

• Copy of flight itineraries for our trips back to France to see our families and from our vacation

• Copy of our Costco membership card

Please advise me if you have any further questions or problems related to this petition.

Sincerely,

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I've checked the accuracy of all docs, signed everything so if you think it's all good, I'll include all this in an envelope and send off via USPS Express mail with delivery confirmation and waive the signature requirement. Is that the best way.

Thanks all and happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hi All,

Thanks so much for your help on this.

I will have my grand parents mail the application for us so that it's not mailed too early and not too close to the deadline though.

Considering that we leave on December 7th, return on Jan 1st and that the green card expiration is Jan 13th, when do you think would be the best time to send it?

I feel like the week of Dec 3rd or 10 would be too soon since we may receive a biometrics appointment while we're still gone. It looks like the beginning of the week of Dec 17 would be best. It's nearly a month before expiration and not likely that we would be schedule for a biometric appointment on a date before Jan 1. What do you think?

Thanks again for your great help!

Hi All,

Thanks a lot for your input! I'm still a little scared to send the application as early as possible because in the end, we'll be gone during 3 weeks total.

I've seen people receive a biometrics letter for appointments two weeks after that. So I'm afraid we could receive one of those when we're gone at get denied.

I know the chances are slim since there's only one biometric appointment normally, but my wife's fingerprints are extremely difficult to read so we received 2 biometrics appointments for AOS and had to send police records to prove that she didn't have any criminal record.

I expect the biometrics to go down the same way this time, that's why it's even more difficult to project for us.

Do you know if there are any mail services that will delay the delivery of our package if we ask? Ie: we drop it off on December 7th, the day we leave but ask them if they can deliver it around the 14th, so we have a month before the GC expiration but no risk of missing anything since we would be back 2 weeks after that?

Thanks!

Hi All,

My wife's green card expires on Jan 13th 2013. Since we can file during the 90 day window prior to expiration, we can file as early as Oct 13th 2013.

However, we will be traveling to Europe from December 7th to January 1st and feel like it's risky to send the documents before we travel since we don't want to miss any biometrics appointments and want to be able to answer RFEs or anything that comes up.

Is it safe for us to prepare everything in advance and file the documents on January 2nd when we get back? The expiration is the 13th. Can anything go wrong because of the timing?

Based on average time to receive biometrics, is it risky to send the application right when we leave for vacation? What would you do?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Hi,

I am a US citizen. My wife was a non resident alien (J1 student then J1 trainee) in 2010. She became a permanent resident mid January of 2011.

I am currently filling out our taxes (we are filing jointly) but I want to know if she has to fill out a 1040 just like me, or does she have to fill out the 1040 NR (US non resident alien income tax return). As a J1 trainee, she was paid by her employer.

Thanks for your help!

Hi everybody. I wonder if some of my old friends are still around. I am sure many are already done worrying and moved on. Here is my situation.

I am still a few months away from my ROC but have started preparing for the documents. One of my major issues is that when I applied for I-485,

my wife was working full time and she had sponsored me. Right after I got my conditional green card, we had our baby and she had to quit her job.

Since then both of us are studying full time while I am supporting our family from my savings from my Home-country. We will be filing for Taxes

this year and since neither of us is working, our tax returns will show a balance of 0(Zero). Do I need another sponsor when I am filing for ROC,

since my wife doesn't have an income. I have not been a burden of the Government in any way till now, nor do I have any intentions of being so. In my case, My in-laws are unable to help since they are not financially sound to do so. Finances are not my problem. Handling the legal aspect of sponsorship is my concern.

Any suggestions or ideas?

Thank You.

No worries at all. The USCIS basically just wanted a financial sponsor when you did the AOS to sign the I-864 to make sure you wouldn't use federal funds to stay above poverty line after getting the card. The AOS was accepted which means that USCIS was satisfied with your sponsor's I-864 and at that time, your wife earned more than the requirement. Once you get your green card after AOS, they don't care if your joint Adjusted Gross Income is below the requirement, as long as you are respecting the contract you signed with the I-864 (not using federal funds to stay above the poverty line). You are using the money you saved up which is completely acceptable.

What they want to see for the removal of conditions, is that you are filing your taxes jointly, this shows them that you are acting as a married couple.

If you attach your joint tax returns, USCIS will be satisfied with that. You can even attach a short cover letter explaining your situation and they will likely be even more satisfied if they see that you are looking after everyone with your savings acct.

Thanks everyone for your answers,

If we move I will do the change of address procedure and also double check before sending the docs to see if they have the new updated address in their system, since some people reported that they had sent the change of address form and the letters still got lost.

I will not use the services of a lawyer, you're right. While the AOS was possibly difficult enough to explain the use of a lawyer (we got approved without one), the ROC seems fairly easy.

Hi,

My wife's I485 and my I130 just got approved. She will be receiving her conditional green card in a few days. We will have to file for removal of conditions in a little less than 2 years. Out of curiosity, I am reading about the I751 removal of conditions process and found out that a pretty large number of cases are considered to be abandoned because the applicants never received the biometrics appointment letter, a RFE or the interview letter.

Why are so many letters lost? How can this be avoided by applicants? If applicants choose to go with a lawyer, are all notices sent to both the applicants AND their lawyers?

How did everything pan out for you?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Hi everyone,

Well yes I did indeed worry for no reason, I just received the email update indicating the card production order!

Hi everyone,

Let me start off by thanking everyone here for their valuable advice and kind words of reassurance during this process.

I am the petitioner (US citizen).

My wife and I had the interview yesterday for marriage based AOS. The immigration officer asked my wife some questions about our first date, how we met, where we both went to school. He then asked for joint financial documents and other documents showing we had a true marriage. We gave him a lot, after that he asked my wife the questions that are also on the I485, she answered no to all of them. He told me " You work in marketing right", I answered yes. He looked at my wife's passport and visas, took her I94 and EAD. He was very nice and courteous.

After that, he said our case had no problems, we were approved, and told us how and when to file I-751. Gave us a form concerning the removal of conditions process and congratulated my wife on becoming a permanent resident. He said she would receive the card within 2 weeks.

He never asked for an employment verification letter from me, of pay stubs, or tax returns. He didn't ask to see birth certificates. A lot of documents were asked for on the interview notice but he almost didn't ask for any.

Is that normal? Do you think he forgot to ask for all of those documents and we will get a RFE? Am I just worrying for no reason?

Thanks a lot for your help.

Hi everyone,

Just got back from the interview. It went really well, the immigration officer was very nice ,friendly and professional. He was pleased to see all our docs proving our bonafide marriage. On the other hand, he did not ask for an updated employment letter, my passport, tax returns ... I had all of those however.

He said our case was going to be approved, congratulated my wife saying she is now a permanent resident and gave us an instruction form for the removal of conditions. He said we should receive the green card within two weeks. He also said that our I-751 should be adjudicated without the need for an interview if we submit the same amount of docs we did this time.

Overall, very good experience, I admit I may have worried too much!!! Typical me.

Thanks everyone for all your tips and advice, and reassurance of course

Hi everyone,

My wife and I have our AOS interview next Thursday. Do you have any tips on how to prepare the best way possible? Any questions that are asked frequently during interviews. Documents that are very good to bring...

Thanks for your help!

bump

Hi, I am the US Citizen, my wife is French. We have our interview in January and would like to know if everything is fine with our case. I am a US and French dual citizen, and I met my wife in France. Here is our story:

- March 2008 in France: met and started dating, we met in France and were going to the same university and were enrolled in the same program.

-September 2009: We were both accepted for an university exchange program in the U.S. She entered the US on a J1 exchange visa (no 2 year requirement), we started living together in the US.

-March 2010: The exchange program ended, she went back to France.

-Early April 2010: She came back to the US, on a J1 trainee Visa she obtained at the French consulate in Paris, France. The J1 trainee Visa is based on an internship offer she received in the US. Our university requires us to do a 3 month internship which explains the choice of the J1 trainee visa. No 2yr requirement for this Visa either. She entered and did her internship.

-Early July 2010: We decided to get married. Marriage took place mid July. She stopped her internship at the end of July.

-August 2010: We filed for AOS

This March, it's going to be three years since we started going out together. Our marriage is bona fide and we have all the required documents. Our interview will be in January 2011. Is there anything we have to worry about? Is there anything we could do to help our case?

Thanks for your help!

A tourist visa is a B2

Boy, do I fell bullsh*tted!

In post 1 it's a tourist visa; in post 2 it's no visa at all plus overstay plus secondary.

Not even the Allmighty could give proper advice under such conditions.

My bad! Yes she entered on the VWP. Until earlier this afternoon, I wasn't even aware of the difference between the visa waiver and tourist visa, I thought both terms were synonymous! I thought overstays were forgiven for marriage based AOS, but it's true adding up all the negative factors it's pretty difficult to approve their case.

On a different note, what are the main factors to consider when adjusting from J1 to AOS, other than 2 year requirements in order to have a clean case?

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replies! Our friend came to the US on the visa waiver program from France. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure she overstayed that visa and additionally, she had to go through secondary inspection I believe at the place of arrival.

My wife came into the US on a J1 visa for an internship, we were already dating when she applied for the J1 Visa but she entered the US to do and complete that internship. When she entered, she just filled out the document on the plane where you basically have to answer no to all questions. My wife didn't overstay her J1 either.