july2009

Hi VJers,

Just got my EAD, but it's not a Combo card - categorically states "NOT VALID FOR REENTRY TO US", and does not say anywhere "Serves as 512L Advanced Parole".

We applied for AOS, EAD and AP at the same time - should I be worried about the status of my AP application?

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone for your replies, although the consensus seems to be 'it should be OK but it might not be allowed', which is a little too ambiguous for comfort (cue nightmare scenario of having my TPR status invalidated, being deported and having to start a K-3 application from scratch - nooooo).

Does anyone know who I should ask to find out a definite answer? USCIS? US Embassy in London? etc

Thank you!

Alien Fiance elect posting through my fiancee's profile...

I now have my K1 visa and am all (nearly) ready to go. Hooray! My question to the good people of VJ is: before I get my EAD, is it just the case that I can't work in the US for a US company, or is it that I can't do any work for anyone anywhere at all?

A bit of context: a British company that I've done a lot of freelance work for has asked me if I want to continue working remotely online for them in the near future while I'm in the US. So I'd be working for a UK company and getting paid in sterling into my UK bank account, but living in the States. Is this allowed? I would obviously declare everything in a timely fashion to both HMRC and the IRS (I am self-employed and a tax return veteran).

Have done a search and found conflicting advice in different places on VJ - if anyone has any ideas about an authority/oracle I could consult to get a definitive answer on this, that would also be brilliant.

Thanks to everyone in advance!

Thanks so much!

Hi to anyone in MA, do you have advice on where to locate a relatively inexpensive civil surgeon in the Boston area to certify the I-693? No need for another medical exam or any vaccinations, we just need it certified. Thanks so much!

Hello everyone! Our address changed between completing the K-1 application and the upcoming AOS application. Do we need to submit a change-of-address form to USCIS, or can we just put our new address on the AOS application since it's a new application process? Thanks for any guidance!

Thanks so much for the replies. I've tried it on internet explorer as well but with no success. Hopefully the links on either the US embassy site or the DOS site will be working tomorrow.

Thanks!

Hello! We're trying to access to up to date DS 156 form for packet 3, and this page doesn't seem to have a live link:

http://london.usembassy.gov/iv_15.html

DOS site isn't working either.

Could someone point us in the right direction?

Thanks, that is very helpful. He'll state the request clearly in the cover letter that goes with the readiness form. Your guidance on everything has been unbelievably great- we've literally printed out posts that you've written to help us with our planning! Thanks so much.

Hi all,

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has shared their experiences, I'm not sure what I would have done without the guidance on this site...actually, I probably would have gotten lots of RFEs by now:) Thankfully we received our NOA2 on April 12, and are now just waiting on getting the LDN case number so that my fiance can schedule the medical.

The only thing we're a little worried about is when to submit our Packet 3 documents. He will be out of the country between May 22 and June 17. I've seen wait times vary from anywhere between 2 weeks to 2 months. If we mail in the packet 3 forms on May 21, what are the odds that he would be assigned an interview date before June 17? I'm not looking for a guarantee here, just an estimate.

If he is somehow assigned an interview date really quickly, before June 17, do we then just call the extortion line to re-schedule? What have people's experiences been like with re-scheduling interviews- do they tend to slot you in a few days later, or a few weeks?

Thanks for any advice!!

Just got NOA2 yesterday! Looks like the UK passport size in our K1 application definitely did not matter:)

Thanks so much for the replies! Fingers crossed the UK size will go through ok...

I can't believe I'm writing this, given all the reading on VJ we did before we put together our K1 application, but my British fiance submitted UK style passport photos with our petition. On the I-129F directions they just state "passport style" without specific dimensions for length and width of the actual photo, just guidelines for white background etc. Has anyone actually gotten an RFE for the UK style passport photo in the K1 application? It's been over 5 months now since NOA 1, and I can't believe we might be waiting for an RFE for something so stupid instead of waiting for NOA2!

I can't believe I'm writing this, given all the reading I did before we put together our K1 application, but my British fiance submitted UK style passport photos with our petition. On the I-129F directions they just state "passport style" without specific dimensions for length and width of the actual photo, just guidelines for white background etc. Has anyone actually gotten an RFE for the UK style passport photo in the K1 application? It's been over 5 months now since NOA 1, and I can't believe we might be waiting for an RFE for something so stupid instead of waiting for NOA2!

Thanks everyone!!

Sorry,one more question on the police certificate- is there a time limit on it? If he orders it now, but doesn't submit packet 3 material until May and have the interview until July, will a certificate dated December 2010 be valid? Or should we wait until later to order it?

Thank you!

Thanks! Sorry, I should have been able to find that on my own:)

In terms of preparing things early, could someone point us in the right direction re. police certificates? How does he go about requesting and getting them? My fiance has lived in about six different cities in the UK, so will he need to get six different police certificates? He has never committed any kind of crime, so everything should just show up "no trace".

Thanks!!

Thanks so much to everyone who responded, I really appreciate the help.

Hello everyone,

I'll start by saying thank you to anyone who shares their experience, my British fiance and I are not sure what we'd do without this site and all the helpful people who post! We received NOA 1 on November 8th, and I understand we're going to be waiting several more months for NOA 2, but wanted to start planning for next steps now in order to save some time.

- Once we receive NOA 2, we can call NVC 2 weeks later to receive our LND number, correct?

- Does he need to wait to actually receive packet 3 in the mail before he can schedule the medical interview and mail in the necessary documents? Once we have the LND number, he can just go ahead and schedule the medical, print off the necessary forms and mail in, right? Or is there something in the physical packet 3 that he needs to wait for?

- Once the US embassy receives the packet 3 forms and the results of his medical, that's when they will mail him an interview date? And that date is usually about 2 months later?

Thank you so much for clarifying!

Oh, ok! I thought that you had to receive packet 3 before being allowed to schedule the medical exam, I assumed it would contain a special ID reference that would be needed to make the appointment. What's the LND case number and when did you get it?

Also, congratulations on the recent NOA2!! That's so exciting.

p.s. Your picture looks similar to those I've taken with my fiance when we were in Oxford:)

I'm doing this as well. We jumped the gun a bit, but we went ahead and scheduled his medical for this week even though our petition only just arrived in London. We decided not to wait for packet 3. It takes 4-5 business days for the results to be sent to the embassy, and they should have received our petition last week so I'm hoping it lines up in the system. My fiance asked Knightsbridge about it and they said it shouldn't matter as long as we have our LND case number, and that they save records of the results in case it is lost.

Just in case something happens with our results, you should wait a few weeks. They were able to get him in almost instantly so you shouldn't have much of a lag. We were impatient. It's up to you!

Hello everyone and thanks in advance for sharing your experiences. My fiance is British, and we're trying to figure out how long it should take between the time that he receives packet 3 in the mail and when he can get the medical exam scheduled? He can't schedule the actual visa interview until he has the medical exam, so my second question is how long it usually takes between having the medical results sent over and receiving the actual visa interview date. Finally, is the final interview date usually about 10 to 12 weeks after the medical exam results are sent over, or 10 to 12 weeks from his receipt of packet 3? Thanks you for shedding any light on this!!

Hey, thanks for the replies. I wouldn't worry too much about writing in the number- if you included the copy of the certificate, whoever reviews the documents will see that it matches up, and it should be fine.

The only reason why I'm going to send in the certified copy (the state of GA still has the original, and just mailed me the certified copy with the raised stamp) is because at the bottom of the certificate are disclaimers like "do not accept copy without raised seal, etc. etc.". I have another certified copy that I'll keep with me. Is there something wrong with mailing in the official certified copy, or is it just unnecessary? Thanks!!

Hello again! Hopefully someone can help me out with this:

On the 129F form, question #10 asks "My citizenship was acquired through....

And I am checking "Birth in the US". I am also including the copy of my birth certificate that the state of Georgia mailed to me (with the raised seal).

1) It says to include a copy, front and back, of the certificate. Since I'm mailing in the copy that the state mailed to me, which has a raised seal on it that's obvious when you look and touch the front and back of the certificate, that's fine right?

2) More importantly, the 129F form asks: "Give number of certificate, date and place it was issued". I know that the city where it was issued, but am not sure which number it's asking for. On the certificate I see both a 6 digit "local file number" and an 11 digit "state file number". For the date that it was issued, that would be the date the state issued this copy to me, correct? That date would be 10/20/2010.

If anyone who has used an American birth certificate to verify citizenship could help me out I would be really grateful. Thank you!

Hey, so sorry to hear about this. When you mailed it in, was it regular mail or through an Express service/courier? The former goes to a lockbox in Dallas, while the latter goes to Lewisville. If you mailed it regular mail to Lewisville, maybe there was confusion on the part of USCIS? Good luck sorting this out- fingers crossed for you. I'm mailing my own 129F off in about a week.