DV 2015 AOS Only

[EURO2014]

Okay I understand. I'll just send my I485 first and submit my wife I824 at the interview (I hope they take it there). Thanks for your good advice.

I'd certainly would be most glad for this approach to work out for you, yet somehow have doubts that it actually will. If so, you still have an subsequent F2A application open to you, presuming your personal DV process closes successfully. All the best!

 

[Sue Ali]

Dear Mom,
I'm a sponsored student. I got my MSs then my sponsor which is the embassy of my country of origin decided to give me an extension to get my PhD. Between the time I finished my MSs and trying to enroll in a PhD program the sponsor cut my benefits and that lasted only for three months. In that time I was pregnant and felling terrible and I was expecting bleeding as that happened to me before. People told me that I can get insouranc for emergency cases and I know that type of public assistance in not supposed to be reported when filling for AOS for DV winners. However, at that time they gave me a piece of paper that lists number of discounts when I visit the clinic where I filled the application for emergency insouranc. Then they sent me a letter in which they said my application was denied. I went to the emergency room once and the health insurance for emergency cases covered the visit and I went to a follow up visit in that clinic and paid only $7. Right after that my health insouranc through my sponsor was activated and I never used such benefits again.
My question is, when answering the question (have ever received public assistance other than for emergency treatment) should I answer yes or no? How bad that might impact my application?
Thank you in advance.

 

[2015SACCS]

Hello all,

Quick question. I'm filling form I-485 and I'm not sure what to write in the first page, when it asks for Current USCIS status expires on date. I'm a F1 student, I just finished my masters in May and I applied for OPT but I haven't received my EAD card. My new I-20 says that my OPT, once I get it, will expire on July 2016. Should I put this July 2016 date as expiration date of my current USCIS status even though I haven't received my EAD card? If not, what date should I put? My drivers's license will expire this week (I'm assuming that's the last day I could remain here legally if I hadn't applied for OPT).

Thanks!

 

[samc_1988]

Hi everyone

I just want to say thank you to everyone on this forum - it has been such an amazing resource and far more help than any lawyer could ever be. I have a question regarding the affidavit of support as due to my own mistakes I did not handle this ideally. To give some background:

When I won the DV lottery I was very unprepared for what to do as I did not expect to win at all. As I knew almost nothing about the process I thought it would be best to hire a lawyer who would know "more" than me to help me through things - how wrong I was!

Even though my CN was current in June I had followed my lawyers (bad) advice to "wait until at least late June maybe even July to send in my AOS forms" and missed the opportunity to file early. It was around this time I began to be very skeptical about the advice I was receiving and started doing my own research where I found this forum - after a weekend of reading through the wealth of material here I ditched my lawyer (who I now realized had done nothing but feed me misinformation) and began putting together my AOS package immediately following the spreadsheet's instructions.

I mailed my AOS package near the end of June and so far things seem to be processing smoothly - hopefully it keeps that way! I thankfully had filled out my DS-260 and paid the DV fee so I did not have too much trouble putting together the package. I followed the details in the spreadsheet almost religiously and have gotten all the correct correspondence since - my notice of action came in the last week of June and my biometrics letter yesterday (scheduled roughly 3 weeks from now in latesh July). As there seems to be reasonable number of successes with similar timelines in the spreadsheet I hold out some hope that even after wasting so much time with a lawyer I still have a decent chance of getting a GC before the Sept 30 deadline!!

When I submitted my AOS package, I included everything on the spreadsheet except for the affidavit of support as I was not able to get anyone to sign it at all (almost everyone I asked was hesitant to give a copy of their W-2s which I suppose is understandable). I understand based on previous advice here that as I am a student on an F1 visa, immigration officers greatly prefer to see an affidavit of support - but after 2 weeks of trying to obtain one to no avail I decided to send my AOS package without one rather than end up sending my AOS package with one in July or even August as my ex-lawyer had told me that an affidavit of support is never used in these cases so I had not sourced for one earlier . As I had worked for a long time before going back to college, I included 6 months of bank statements showing my savings (USD$80,000+ in a US bank) in its place in my AOS package but I am aware that this may not be strong enough to prove my financials.

While my AOS package has been processing I nevertheless continued looking for someone to agree to provide the affidavit of support and finally found someone this week! As I am now starting to prepare for my hopeful interview my question is that since I will have an affidavit of support in time for the interview even though it was not included in my AOS package how should I approach the interviewer with this information?

Do you think I Should directly tell the officer that I obtained it after the AOS package was sent and wish to submit it as additional proof or would this be bad along the lines of providing unneeded information? My fear is of course getting a RFE after the interview based on insufficient financials which some people have reported as having happened to them here (unless I'm misunderstanding?) as I know only providing bank statements showing the 80k+ in savings in my AOS package may not be enough. As my interview (if I can hopefully get one) will of course be very near the end of the FY this makes me worried that something like this may be enough to cause things to not be finished before the Sept 30 deadline.

Would anyone have advice on what to do? Am I stressing excessively for no reason? I admit that without a lawyer it has been much more stressful doing this by myself - without this forum and the wonderful people who post I doubt I would have even been able to assemble my AOS package!

Thank you in advance!

 

[Asia174]

Hello all,

Quick question. I'm filling form I-485 and I'm not sure what to write in the first page, when it asks for Current USCIS status expires on date. I'm a F1 student, I just finished my masters in May and I applied for OPT but I haven't received my EAD card. My new I-20 says that my OPT, once I get it, will expire on July 2016. Should I put this July 2016 date as expiration date of my current USCIS status even though I haven't received my EAD card? If not, what date should I put? My drivers's license will expire this week (I'm assuming that's the last day I could remain here legally if I hadn't applied for OPT).

Thanks!

I used the date on my opt i20.. july 2016 in your case. It should be fine.

 

[Asia174]

Hello all,

Quick question. I'm filling form I-485 and I'm not sure what to write in the first page, when it asks for Current USCIS status expires on date. I'm a F1 student, I just finished my masters in May and I applied for OPT but I haven't received my EAD card. My new I-20 says that my OPT, once I get it, will expire on July 2016. Should I put this July 2016 date as expiration date of my current USCIS status even though I haven't received my EAD card? If not, what date should I put? My drivers's license will expire this week (I'm assuming that's the last day I could remain here legally if I hadn't applied for OPT).

Thanks!

I used the date on my opt i20.. july 2016 in your case. It should be fine. My EAD was pending too. YOu can talk to the international office in your school, there is 60 or 90 days grace period to stay in the US depending on different things. The international office atyour university can tell you better. It has nothing to do with your drivers license. Alos, you can renew your drivers license with your new i-20 if you want.

 

[Sm1smom]

Dear Mom,
I'm a sponsored student. I got my MSs then my sponsor which is the embassy of my country of origin decided to give me an extension to get my PhD. Between the time I finished my MSs and trying to enroll in a PhD program the sponsor cut my benefits and that lasted only for three months. In that time I was pregnant and felling terrible and I was expecting bleeding as that happened to me before. People told me that I can get insouranc for emergency cases and I know that type of public assistance in not supposed to be reported when filling for AOS for DV winners. However, at that time they gave me a piece of paper that lists number of discounts when I visit the clinic where I filled the application for emergency insouranc. Then they sent me a letter in which they said my application was denied. I went to the emergency room once and the health insurance for emergency cases covered the visit and I went to a follow up visit in that clinic and paid only $7. Right after that my health insouranc through my sponsor was activated and I never used such benefits again.
My question is, when answering the question (have ever received public assistance other than for emergency treatment) should I answer yes or no? How bad that might impact my application?
Thank you in advance.

I'm really not quite sure as to what sort of discounted medical insurance you're referring to, are you talking about Medicaid? If the benefit you received is Medicaid, you have to answer "Yes" to the question as to whether or not you've ever received public assistance. However answering "Yes" to this will not subject you to the public charge consideration (it will not lead to a denial). The important thing is to have full disclosure on your form.

 

[Sm1smom]

Hello all,

Quick question. I'm filling form I-485 and I'm not sure what to write in the first page, when it asks for Current USCIS status expires on date. I'm a F1 student, I just finished my masters in May and I applied for OPT but I haven't received my EAD card. My new I-20 says that my OPT, once I get it, will expire on July 2016. Should I put this July 2016 date as expiration date of my current USCIS status even though I haven't received my EAD card? If not, what date should I put? My drivers's license will expire this week (I'm assuming that's the last day I could remain here legally if I hadn't applied for OPT).

Thanks!

Use the date on your I-20.

 

[Sm1smom]

Hi everyone

I just want to say thank you to everyone on this forum - it has been such an amazing resource and far more help than any lawyer could ever be. I have a question regarding the affidavit of support as due to my own mistakes I did not handle this ideally. To give some background:

When I won the DV lottery I was very unprepared for what to do as I did not expect to win at all. As I knew almost nothing about the process I thought it would be best to hire a lawyer who would know "more" than me to help me through things - how wrong I was!

Even though my CN was current in June I had followed my lawyers (bad) advice to "wait until at least late June maybe even July to send in my AOS forms" and missed the opportunity to file early. It was around this time I began to be very skeptical about the advice I was receiving and started doing my own research where I found this forum - after a weekend of reading through the wealth of material here I ditched my lawyer (who I now realized had done nothing but feed me misinformation) and began putting together my AOS package immediately following the spreadsheet's instructions.

I mailed my AOS package near the end of June and so far things seem to be processing smoothly - hopefully it keeps that way! I thankfully had filled out my DS-260 and paid the DV fee so I did not have too much trouble putting together the package. I followed the details in the spreadsheet almost religiously and have gotten all the correct correspondence since - my notice of action came in the last week of June and my biometrics letter yesterday (scheduled roughly 3 weeks from now in latesh July). As there seems to be reasonable number of successes with similar timelines in the spreadsheet I hold out some hope that even after wasting so much time with a lawyer I still have a decent chance of getting a GC before the Sept 30 deadline!!

When I submitted my AOS package, I included everything on the spreadsheet except for the affidavit of support as I was not able to get anyone to sign it at all (almost everyone I asked was hesitant to give a copy of their W-2s which I suppose is understandable). I understand based on previous advice here that as I am a student on an F1 visa, immigration officers greatly prefer to see an affidavit of support - but after 2 weeks of trying to obtain one to no avail I decided to send my AOS package without one rather than end up sending my AOS package with one in July or even August as my ex-lawyer had told me that an affidavit of support is never used in these cases so I had not sourced for one earlier . As I had worked for a long time before going back to college, I included 6 months of bank statements showing my savings (USD$80,000+ in a US bank) in its place in my AOS package but I am aware that this may not be strong enough to prove my financials.

While my AOS package has been processing I nevertheless continued looking for someone to agree to provide the affidavit of support and finally found someone this week! As I am now starting to prepare for my hopeful interview my question is that since I will have an affidavit of support in time for the interview even though it was not included in my AOS package how should I approach the interviewer with this information?

Do you think I Should directly tell the officer that I obtained it after the AOS package was sent and wish to submit it as additional proof or would this be bad along the lines of providing unneeded information? My fear is of course getting a RFE after the interview based on insufficient financials which some people have reported as having happened to them here (unless I'm misunderstanding?) as I know only providing bank statements showing the 80k+ in savings in my AOS package may not be enough. As my interview (if I can hopefully get one) will of course be very near the end of the FY this makes me worried that something like this may be enough to cause things to not be finished before the Sept 30 deadline.

Would anyone have advice on what to do? Am I stressing excessively for no reason? I admit that without a lawyer it has been much more stressful doing this by myself - without this forum and the wonderful people who post I doubt I would have even been able to assemble my AOS package!

Thank you in advance!

With a personal account balance of $80K+, I think you should be fine without an affidavit, even with you being on F1. However, having the form on hand at the time of your interview is not a bad idea. You only present it if requested, don't preempt the IO by bringing it up.

 

[Sue Ali]

I'm really not quite sure as to what sort of discounted medical insurance you're referring to, are you talking about Medicaid? If the benefit you received is Medicaid, you have to answer "Yes" to the question as to whether or not you've ever received public assistance. However answering "Yes" to this will not subject you to the public charge consideration (it will not lead to a denial). The important thing is to have full disclosure on your form.

I received Medicaid for emergency cases only. The other thing I think is Tenaf..... Each time I attend the facility were I applied I have to pay $7. I didn't receive insurance card for that purpose. It was a piece of paper that included number of discounts. Do you think answering yes will delay the decision regarding my application? Also, do you think that the letter from my sponsor that lists my benefits including monthly allowances, health insurance and tuition will be sufficient prove of my ability to depend on myself? I will enjoy these benefits for additional 3 years.

 

[samc_1988]

With a personal account balance of $80K+, I think you should be fine without an affidavit, even with you being on F1. However, having the form on hand at the time of your interview is not a bad idea. You only present it if requested, don't preempt the IO by bringing it up.

Thank you so much for your kind response . As you recommended, I will get the affidavit of support done and take it along with me just in case but not bring it up unless specifically asked by the IO.

I guess all I can do now is wait until my biometrics appointment, then wait until I hopefully get an interview letter, which is the worst part!

 

[Karimm]

Hello,

The I-485 asks for the "place of last admission in the USA". My wife came from Paris to New York via Toronto. As a result she was inspected in Toronto by the US customs and it appears as "YYZ Toronto Pearson International" on her I-94. There was no inspection in New York. Should she write "Toronto" or New York ? In addition do you think a continuation sheet to further explain her situation would be needed ?
thank you very much.

 

[2015SACCS]

Thank you Asia174 and Mom!

 

[boyrt]

I have a question, I will appreciate if someone answer me, there is two question in the I-485 that I don't know what I should answer. I am from IRAN and in my country serving in military service is mandatory for men. the first two month is for military education and the rest about 20 month we should be in the military and doing a job related to our education. Now I have no idea I should answer "YES" or "NO" for the following questions, could someone help me.
*******************************************
15. Have you EVER:
A. served in, been a member of, assisted in, or participated in any military unit, paramilitary unit, police unit, self sefense unit, vigilante unit, rebel group, guerrilla group, militia, or insurgent organization?

I SHOULD SAY YES OR NO ???

*******************************************
18- have you EVER received any type of military, paramilitary, or weapons training?

I SHOULD SAY YES OR NO ???

 

[Britsimon]

I have a question, I will appreciate if someone answer me, there is two question in the I-485 that I don't know what I should answer. I am from IRAN and in my country serving in military service is mandatory for men. the first two month is for military education and the rest about 20 month we should be in the military and doing a job related to our education. Now I have no idea I should answer "YES" or "NO" for the following questions, could someone help me.
*******************************************
15. Have you EVER:
A. served in, been a member of, assisted in, or participated in any military unit, paramilitary unit, police unit, self sefense unit, vigilante unit, rebel group, guerrilla group, militia, or insurgent organization?

I SHOULD SAY YES OR NO ???

*******************************************
18- have you EVER received any type of military, paramilitary, or weapons training?

I SHOULD SAY YES OR NO ???

Well you listed the questions, you explained about military service, but you did not say if you attended the military service. If you did - then obviously your answers would be yes and yes.

 

[boyrt]

thank you very much for your quick answer, I served military services in my country. even for question 15 I should say yes, because question No. 15 followed by this question. please note the section part of question 15, still I should say "YES" to part one???

15. Have you EVER:
a. Served in, been a member of, assisted in, or participated in any military unit, paramilitary unit, police unit, self-defense unit, vigilante unit, rebel group, guerrilla group, militia, or insurgent organization?

b. Served in any prison, jail, prison camp, detention facility, labor camp, or any other situation that involved detaining persons?

 

[SusieQQQ]

thank you very much for your quick answer, I served military services in my country. even for question 15 I should say yes, because question No. 15 followed by this question. please note the section part of question 15, still I should say "YES" to part one???

15. Have you EVER:
a. Served in, been a member of, assisted in, or participated in any military unit, paramilitary unit, police unit, self-defense unit, vigilante unit, rebel group, guerrilla group, militia, or insurgent organization?

b. Served in any prison, jail, prison camp, detention facility, labor camp, or any other situation that involved detaining persons?

If "yes" is the truth then put "yes".
(They are clearly trying to cover all bases and not have people say "oh yes I did X but it wasn't official that's why I put "no".)

 

[Sm1smom]

thank you very much for your quick answer, I served military services in my country. even for question 15 I should say yes, because question No. 15 followed by this question. please note the section part of question 15, still I should say "YES" to part one???

15. Have you EVER:
a. Served in, been a member of, assisted in, or participated in any military unit, paramilitary unit, police unit, self-defense unit, vigilante unit, rebel group, guerrilla group, militia, or insurgent organization?

b. Served in any prison, jail, prison camp, detention facility, labor camp, or any other situation that involved detaining persons?

You answer "Yes" if any of it is applicable to you. Attach an explanation of what's applicable to you and precisely what you did just like the form says.

 

[boyrt]

I know the answer of this question depends to lot of parameters, just based on your experience in previous years, did you see anybody to get current in September and get his/her green card successfully, my CN is around Asia 8050 ?

 

[Sm1smom]

I received Medicaid for emergency cases only. The other thing I think is Tenaf..... Each time I attend the facility were I applied I have to pay $7. I didn't receive insurance card for that purpose. It was a piece of paper that included number of discounts. Do you think answering yes will delay the decision regarding my application? Also, do you think that the letter from my sponsor that lists my benefits including monthly allowances, health insurance and tuition will be sufficient prove of my ability to depend on myself? I will enjoy these benefits for additional 3 years.

Like I said, receiving MedicAid is not subject to public charge consideration. Now, I'm not sure what you mean by "Tenaf" - if you mean TANF, that is the other benefit/assistance you received is under TANF, then that is subject to the public charge consideration. Now I know the temptation will be to not declare it on your I-485 form since its subject to public charge consideration, however withholding that information will be a grave mistake. One is required to be truthful and upfront when it comes to immigration matters, my suggestion is to declare it and let the IO make the final call as to deny or approve your petition.

Presenting the letter from your sponsor could be of help, however there's the fact that your sponsor isn't actually based in the U.S. So in addition to that, you might want to look into someone actually filling out an I-134 for you.