For all of us with an Interview date in June-July

Hi all,
people who r having problems to get documents in their name due to lack of social sec can apply for tax ID,which is much easier to get.I have used that for myself in last 5 yrs and have joint acc.,health ins,car ins,income tax papers etc.Try to get a tax ID though it might take longer for people who have interview in jun/july but can help those who have in later months.
juno
 
Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN):

It’s VERY important to know that the sole purpose of ITIN is just for filing/processing taxes. That is. By law, it should not be used for any other purpose. That being said, if someone is using this number for any other purpose, then s/he could face trouble with govt. if govt. would find out.

IRS issue this number. And it is issued to those who don’t have SSN and cannot obtain it either.

Until 2-3 yrs ago, IRS used to issue this number to everyone who asked for it, but not anymore. Why? Because they have found that people are misusing it for another purposes which is not intended for, like opening a bank account, applying for insurances, seeking credit lines and etc.

As per US govt.-it is a misuse of this number because this number is not designed for any other purpose than tax purposes. That said, if ever govt. would find out that somebody is using it for another purposes, then s/he would get into trouble. One can read the reports/cases by IRS investigator on this wherein they have prosecuted some people.

It should also be known that one and half year ago, the Inspector General of IRS has started investigating each person’s immigration status who has filed taxes on ITIN. According to them, 95% of them have no legal status in this country. That means, if someone is without an status here, s/he would risk to be detained. It’s just a matter of time when they would come after that person. Filing an application for adjustment of status (I-485) or having an approval on I-130 or having a US citizen relative/spouse, doesn’t mean someone automatically has a legal status here. So, don’t ever think that INS won’t detain you just because you have a pending I-485 or a US citizen spouse if you have no status here.

There is nothing in the law that states that INS cannot detain a person who has a pending I-485; rather immigration laws say very clearly that they can detain anyone who has no legal status here. It’s just INS has made its own policy as a general rule not to detain those who has a pending I-485, but they can if they want to. Just to refresh, INS did detain hundred of individuals in Los Angles office when these people went there for a fingerprinting 2-3 yrs ago. They all had pending I-485 and most of them were married to US citizen. They were released only when Immigration Judge used its discretionary authority to allow them to proceed on their pending applications but not every Immigration judge could be like that judge.

Anyway, ITIN takes 4-6 weeks to get after applying for it. Application goes to IRS office in Pennsylvania. Now, they require an applicant to submit tax return forms to get this ID unlike before when they used to issue it to everyone.

For more and detailed information, read these links:

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96287,00.html#valid
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1915.pdf
http://www.cac.washington.edu/admin/payables/tax/itin2.html
 
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Johnny Cash,
thanks for your detailed explanation. :)
I guess I won't bother applying for it then. I just wish I would get my EAD soon so I can apply for my Social...
 
patty579 said:
Johnny Cash,
thanks for your detailed explanation. :)
I guess I won't bother applying for it then. I just wish I would get my EAD soon so I can apply for my Social...
Click to expand...


You're very much welcome. :)

Forget about EAD and ITIN now because I see you are going to have your interview next month. If everything would go well in your AOS interview, you will become a LPR at the same day. You can then go to SSA to apply for SSN with your passport that would have a stamp of your temporary status in this country.

Besides, even if you decide to file for ITIN, you are not going to get it by the end of next month. That means, you will be done with your interview before you get ITIN if you choose to apply for it.

I also see that you are fussing about not being having some joint bills, then just don't worry so much about them. Do your best. There is no law/rule that you have to have ALL the bills or things jointly. Sometimes people just cannot have EVERYTHING together with their spouse. Adjudication officers know that. My family members are adjudication officers, so I know this very well. Plus, I am a former immigration attorney who also worked for State sponsored Immigration Advocacy agency at one time wherein I was specialized in VAWA cases. So much for a 30 yrs old, eh?

However, you have to have something jointly so that officer could write down on your application before approving it to save his/her job in the future. Just try your best to get as many as jointly things you could. If there is no big age difference between you and your spouse, you will be fine, with or without enough joint bills/documents. The main documents are-tax returns, life insurance policy, Wills, Health Insurance, and bank/credit account.

There is something that got my attention while reading some of your posts on this thread. You said that you came here on B-2 visa, then I wonder why you needed B-2 visa? Aren’t you a German? Or you were just living in Germany when you met your husband? Germans don’t need visa to come to US for a visit as Germany is under US Visa Waiver Program. That means, Germans don't need visa to visit to US for 90 days.

Just a piece of advice, don’t ever mention to Adjudication officer during your interview that you were your husband's girlfriend from Germany; otherwise your AOS will be denied for having pre-intent to immigrate to US and for using B-2 visa to come here for immigrant intent which is against immigration laws. This is one of the areas that adjudication officers look into it to deny an AOS.

I cannot tell you much on this on a public forum (and you know why) but in short-just tell them that you met him in Germany but you guys were just friends. Or you may say that you met him here while visiting one of your friends(his sister) and later fell in love with him. That is. Officer most probably will ask you about how and when you met your husband. So, be careful before telling/disclosing anything on it since it could be a deal breaker in your case.

Gutes Glück in Ihrem AOS Interview folgender Monat.
 
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JohnnyCash... long time no see. Good to see you back. As usual, you come with a truck-load of useful information. Thanks for enlightening us
 
i'm still worried over my lack of evidences to show them. my husband thinks we're okay. but reading that almost all of you have utility bills to show makes me want to cry.

i'm 25. my husband's 22. and we're still living with my mother in law. she was kind enough to take us in since we're recently jsut got married. she told us to just save our money and then think about moving out once i'm working so that we'll be more ready for an apartment. so all of the utitlities are under her name. even the car that my husband is driving is still under her name. and since we're both on our early 20's, we don't have life insurance or retirement plans. =( my husband also just started on his new job early this year, so we're really saving a lot with the help of my in laws.

maybe i should get a handwritten letter from my mother in law stating that we are living with her. i don't know if that would help.

we're got 2 albums or pictures and bank statements. letters and phone cards.

i'm getting more and more anxious as july comes. my husband's so patient in trying to calm me down though. he tells me that as long as we answer the questions honestly, then we should be okay.

my lawyer said we should be okay ---- but then again, until we get to hear it from the interviewer himself/herself, then i'd still be anxious.
 
ari4u said:
JohnnyCash... long time no see. Good to see you back. As usual, you come with a truck-load of useful information. Thanks for enlightening us
Click to expand...

You're welcome, ari.

Yeah, I've been away from this site for a long time. I guess too much fishing. ;).

However, I don't visit this site that often since January of this year except making few postings here and there in a few months gap depending upon the availability of my time.

I'm sure you are enjoying having your American "Green Cash", I mean Green Card. :)

You have been a kind soul who deserves all the appreciation and blessing.

Wish you the best.
 
8 Days left

Hi there,

8 days to go, I am doing my final prep,

So far I have,

Interview Letter,
EAD Card,
My Passport, Her Passport, our daughter's passport
My BC, her BC, our daughter's BC
Utilities bills in our name, joint saving account, joint credit card account
Pictures of trips, us together

we didn't have a wedding ceremony as my family is half a world away and her family is 4 states away. (Any problem there ? I hope not)
We are planning on taking some wedding pictures when all this is said and done and when we go visit my parents.

Tax Transcript for 3 years,
My paystub for the past 3 pay period, her paystub for the past 3 pay period.
Both of our employment letter.

Can you guys think of anything else I might need ?
Please advise.
Thanks
 
Welcome back Johnny Cash, thanks for the information. I do have a question and hoping you would be able to shed some light on this. I am not sure if you recall but i had asked about this before, i had filed I-130 as an LPR for my wife back in December 2001 and it was finely approved in April of 2005. We did not file for her I-485 as the priority date was not current, it finely became current in September 2005 but we didn't file until Januray of 2006. I was still an LPR at the time when we filed for my wifes I-485.

The problem we have is that my wife ended up overstaying her Visa Waiver, she is from England. I become a citizen in March of 2006, and sent everything like you had mentioned to local office, service center and lock box with the reciept notice for I-485 and also approval notice for I-130. I am not sure if they matched the right file with what i had sent but am hoping that they did.
We never received any RFE's for anything during the whole process.

Anyway, finely we got an interview notice for I-485 on July 24th 2006. My Question is since i was still an LPR when we filed for my wifes I-485 with an approved I-130 and her priority date being current, but the fact that she had overstayed her visa wavier will they deny her I-485?

I know am a US citizen now but was not when we filed the I-485. I am hoping that they did put my naturalization certificate with the right file. I am just worried that they might deny her I-485 because at the time of filing techanicaly she was not eligible to file as she had overstayed her visa and i was still at an LPR at the time when we did file. Of course at the time of the interview she will be there as a spouse of a US citizen. I am just worried about the timing of the filing thing. Thanks again for your help. It,s nice to see you back, your information has always been very helpfull.

Regards

HRH
 
Johnny Cash,

Thanks for your nice and personal reply. You really seem to have a lot of experience. Which is why you got me worried again!!
See, I really don't want to invent any stories about my husband and me.
The reason why I applied for a B2 Visa was that I wanted to really get to know the US before I decided anything. The Visa Waiver is just for 3 months. I didn't know about AOS, and was prepared to leave after 6 months. After that, my husband would have filed I-129 for me. That was the plan.
Now, I appreciate your post, it was very informative. But are you sure that they would instantly deny me if I told them the truth? My husband was stationed in Germany while he was in the Airforce. We were dating for over a year and even living together: it's on our G-325As!! So basically there is not much of a different story I could tell them!!

I came to the US in October 2005. January 2006 we had an Infopass to ask about K1. The IO was the one who introduced us to AOS and she said there wouldn't be any problems! She saw my B2 Visa, too! She basically said that we would be circumventing the law, but we wouldn't be in trouble.
I am obviously very unsettled by your post and would like to know what you think about my case now I gave you more info.

Danke!! :)

P.S. Danke also for your reassuring info about joint documents. :)
 
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toro168 said:
Hi there,

8 days to go, I am doing my final prep,

So far I have,

Interview Letter,
EAD Card,
My Passport, Her Passport, our daughter's passport
My BC, her BC, our daughter's BC
Utilities bills in our name, joint saving account, joint credit card account
Pictures of trips, us together

we didn't have a wedding ceremony as my family is half a world away and her family is 4 states away. (Any problem there ? I hope not)
We are planning on taking some wedding pictures when all this is said and done and when we go visit my parents.

Tax Transcript for 3 years,
My paystub for the past 3 pay period, her paystub for the past 3 pay period.
Both of our employment letter.

Can you guys think of anything else I might need ?
Please advise.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Toro,

you sound very well prepared. Also, since you guys have a child together, you have all the proof they will need!! :)
Don't worry about the wedding ceremony. We only have one months after our interview. I don't think it's gonna be a problem.

Good luck to you and keep us posted, ok? :)
 
babybunny said:
i'm still worried over my lack of evidences to show them. my husband thinks we're okay. but reading that almost all of you have utility bills to show makes me want to cry.
Click to expand...
Babybunny, I understand your anxiety. But with your explanation that you are living at his mom's house, they will surely understand that there is just n way for you to have all those joint documents.
Remember, they are not after the documents itself, but after proof of your relationship. In my opinion, your mom letting you guys stay at hers is already a good piece of proof. That's why I think it would be very helpful if you have an affidavit signed by her that you guys live with her and that she approves of your marriage.

I don't think we are going to be able to get all the utility bills in time either. By the way, don't you guys think it's weird that utility bills are considered proof? As long as the address is right, you can add anyone to your utility bill! I think joint bank accounts and insurances are much better proof.

Babybunny, don't worry, you'll be fine. :)
 
Thought I'd join in too seeing as my interview is coming up.

I actually went over the stuff I have and it doesn't seem like alot, so naturally I came on here looking at what everyone else has.

I have the following so far:

I-94 (mine)
Passport (mine)
Driving License (Wife)
Bank Statements (both names)
Car Insurance (both names)
Car title (both names)
Letter from Landlord
Marriage Certificate
Divorce Certificate (mine)
Paystubs (Wife)
Employment Letter (Wife)
Wedding Photos (we actually made a scrapbook of our wedding pics)
Birth Certificates (both)
Tax Printouts (2005,2004)

Although that looks like a long list I'm still worried it isn't enough. I don't have alot of photos of us just hanging out which I really wish we had :cool:

Anyway good luck to everyone!
 
UnionJax,

don't worry. JohnnyCash posted earlier in this thread that most interviewers are aware that couples can't get everything on the list. Joint car insurance and bank statements rank among the most important documents. As long as you have those, they will be happy and you will be fine. :)

Maybe you can work on getting health insurance together, too.
I will need a Social for that, but as soon as I get it (hopefully before the interview), we will get that too.

BTW, I just added you to our EAD after RFE Timeline table. Even though you e-filed, your RFE might have a small impact on your EAD too. You haven't got it yet, have you?

I wish you all best and good luck for everything! :)
 
Hey Patty, Thanks for your words of encouragement, I can see all of us are worrying about how much evidence we have to take with us. I've been married before and filed for immigration benefits, so I already know I've got an uphill struggle next Monday.

I can't get joint health insurance as its just too expensive with only one of us working. Its a shame as its kinda handy being able to go to the doctor whenever you need too =o). Hope you're able to get yours.

No I still don't have my EAD either, I posted yesterday my I-130, I-485 LUD changed. Im hoping my FBI name check came in and I wont even need the EAD. USCIS hadn't done anything with my I-130 until yesterday, fingers crossed.
 
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