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

hrh said:
Hi,

One other thing when we filled out the I-130 and I-485 etc we used my wifes married name but my wifes passport is in her madain name, will this be an issue as to why the name was not changed on the passport over the past five years? Do you think it would be better to go and get a new passport made in her married name. Also if am missing something from this list please let me know


HRH
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I have the same situation but had no problems about it. All the forms we submitted were under my married name and now I basically have everything under that name except my passport and old documents such as my I-94, I-20, etc. I don't think it matters since they have her maiden name in file too since you had to give it for some applications (I dont remember exactly which ones). In my case the officer didn't seem to care, I gave him my expired passport (with my visa) and my new passport and explained to him that I always carry both of them and he said that's a good idea. My mom is finding out at home what I need to get a new passport with my married name so I won't have to explain in customs/immigration why my green card has one last name and my passport another one. For now I think I'm going to carry a copy of my marriage certificate every time I travel outside the US. Maybe I'll just go to the embassy of my country in the US to try to get one...who knows...
ANYWAYS...in my case it didn't matter and I don't think it would matter in any situation.

Goodluck!
 
hrh said:
If i need a copy of then he just prints it out of his computer from paychex website. Then again am wondering if they will say thats not the original and its just a copy.


HRH
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It was the same thing for my husband, he doesn't get paystubs, everything is online but they didn't even mention anything wrong with his paystubs. I remember that when the officer was going through all our application documents he went over the paystubs (he was basically going through everything to make sure everything was there) and when my husband offered to give him the most recent ones he didn't even want them. I do think you should print them out, I don't think you should worry about it.
 
a_usc said:
Payala and Jax - waiting to hear from you guys...
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I haven't had a chance to congratulate you!!! It's great that your card is on its way to you. I remember reading your other post where you said that you weren't sure if you were aproved or not. That online status is really working for you!!!
congrats again!
 
A BIG thank you to everyone!!!
I do think we all worry too much about it but there's no way to really realize it till after the interview. I've read so many terror stories in this forum but I think that some of us do our little research and worry about things without even getting stuck in the process but many more people only start doing their research and posting in the forum AFTER their case got complicated or if it was complicated since the beginning. You know what I mean? I found this forum and stayed here but I bet if I was having multiple problems I would have found 10 more forums to ask exactly the same question, just for a little peace of mind. You know what I'm trying to say?

Well, goodluck to everyone!! I'll keep you guys posted whenever I receive the card and then in 2 years about removing the conditions. I really don't think this is over until I have that card in my hands.
 
payala said:
A BIG thank you to everyone!!!
I do think we all worry too much about it but there's no way to really realize it till after the interview. I've read so many terror stories in this forum but I think that some of us do our little research and worry about things without even getting stuck in the process but many more people only start doing their research and posting in the forum AFTER their case got complicated or if it was complicated since the beginning. You know what I mean? I found this forum and stayed here but I bet if I was having multiple problems I would have found 10 more forums to ask exactly the same question, just for a little peace of mind. You know what I'm trying to say?

Well, goodluck to everyone!! I'll keep you guys posted whenever I receive the card and then in 2 years about removing the conditions. I really don't think this is over until I have that card in my hands.
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cece said:
I thought my experience may provide a bit information to some of you.

I am a F1 married to USC in Feb. 2006. Before becoming F1, I was under H1B1. I have been in the US for more than 6 years.

DO: Houston, TX
Received date: 4/2/06
Notice date: 4/6/06
Finger print: 4/28/06
Interview notice: 5/1/06
Interview date: 6/22/06 --approved and got stamped on the passport

I was very surprised that the whole process only took them less than 3 months. I filed I-131 and I-765 with I-485 and I-130 at the same time, but never heard anything about my I-131 and I-765. I guess they were expecting to give me GC shortly, so they didn't even bother to process my I-131 and I-765.

My husband and I took a lot of documents with us and prepared questions they may ask the night before. However, during the interview, we were only asked questions like "what is your name", "what is your address", "what is your birthday", "do you have any children", "have you been married before". I was asked "when was the last time you entered US" and my husband was asked "have you sponsed any other people to the US before". Basically, she just compared our answers to the application we sumitted. The officer did not ask us anything about "us". Not even how we met.

Besides my passport and my previous visa document, the officer also asked for things we had together and documented them. We only had health insurance, checking and saving account together. I am my husband's IRA account beneficiary. She was pretty ok with it i guess, since she didn't say any words, but just wrote them down.

We consulted a lawyer in Houston before we submitted the application and she told us that the fastest processing time she experienced recently was 4 months. It usually takes 6 to 12 months. Maybe I was just lucky. However, my husband and I are the same race, similar age (late 20s), have not been married before, and both have professional degrees and stable income. I don't know if those are also reasons that our processing time and interview time are so short.

BTW, I highly recommend consulting a decent lawyer before submitting the application. Ask the lawyer everything you are not certain regarding the application. We paid $100 for one hour consultation and the lawyer also allow us to e-mail her for any additional questions. The lawyer helped us to fill everything right on the application and submitted all required documents to the right place. Actually she also told us to attach photocopies of bank accounts, bills, photos we had together with the application. She told us that immigration officers processes many applications everyday, so you want your application stands out and make them have no doubt that the marriage is real.

Good luck to everyone of you who are still waiting for the GC.
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this timeline looks great! we just filed AOS last week and our DO is Houston. we both have prefessional degree as well. Hope we get everything this quick as well.
 
payala said:
I haven't had a chance to congratulate you!!! It's great that your card is on its way to you. I remember reading your other post where you said that you weren't sure if you were aproved or not. That online status is really working for you!!!
congrats again!
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Thanks Payala. Time for you too to change your signature :D
 
cece said:
I thought my experience may provide a bit information to some of you.

I am a F1 married to USC in Feb. 2006. Before becoming F1, I was under H1B1. I have been in the US for more than 6 years.

DO: Houston, TX
Received date: 4/2/06
Notice date: 4/6/06
Finger print: 4/28/06
Interview notice: 5/1/06
Interview date: 6/22/06 --approved and got stamped on the passport

I was very surprised that the whole process only took them less than 3 months. I filed I-131 and I-765 with I-485 and I-130 at the same time, but never heard anything about my I-131 and I-765. I guess they were expecting to give me GC shortly, so they didn't even bother to process my I-131 and I-765.

My husband and I took a lot of documents with us and prepared questions they may ask the night before. However, during the interview, we were only asked questions like "what is your name", "what is your address", "what is your birthday", "do you have any children", "have you been married before". I was asked "when was the last time you entered US" and my husband was asked "have you sponsed any other people to the US before". Basically, she just compared our answers to the application we sumitted. The officer did not ask us anything about "us". Not even how we met.

Besides my passport and my previous visa document, the officer also asked for things we had together and documented them. We only had health insurance, checking and saving account together. I am my husband's IRA account beneficiary. She was pretty ok with it i guess, since she didn't say any words, but just wrote them down.

We consulted a lawyer in Houston before we submitted the application and she told us that the fastest processing time she experienced recently was 4 months. It usually takes 6 to 12 months. Maybe I was just lucky. However, my husband and I are the same race, similar age (late 20s), have not been married before, and both have professional degrees and stable income. I don't know if those are also reasons that our processing time and interview time are so short.

BTW, I highly recommend consulting a decent lawyer before submitting the application. Ask the lawyer everything you are not certain regarding the application. We paid $100 for one hour consultation and the lawyer also allow us to e-mail her for any additional questions. The lawyer helped us to fill everything right on the application and submitted all required documents to the right place. Actually she also told us to attach photocopies of bank accounts, bills, photos we had together with the application. She told us that immigration officers processes many applications everyday, so you want your application stands out and make them have no doubt that the marriage is real.

Good luck to everyone of you who are still waiting for the GC.
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Congrats :) Sounds very much like our interview - except that I wasn't even asked if I had sponsored anyone in the past and that we didn't consult a lawyer. I believe - with the process is fairly straight forward it is and invaluable help from this forum - hiring a lawyer just a matter of personal satisfaction.
 
hrh said:
Also, i read that there is a new form and new requirments for affidavit of support even for those that have already filed but will have there interview after July 21st 2006. Does this mean i will need to fill out the affidavit of support
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HRH,

I just called the service number about an iEAD and also asked the lady about the new I-864. She said that because our interview is after the 21st, to be on the safe side, we should fill out the I-864EZ and bring it to the interview. We only have paystubs from the last 4 months and we'll bring those. We'll also bring 3 tax returns, so we really should be on the safe side!

Just wanted to share the info.
Good luck! :)
 
Thanks Patty,

I was also thinking about doing that just to be safe. I also don't have 6 months worth of paystubs. I think i will print my bank statement since that shows payment going into my account from my employer along with whatever paystubs i can get together. I will also take W2's and tax transcripts for the past three years.

Thanks again for your help, and good luck with your interview am sure you will be fine.

Regards


HRH
 
payala said:
I GOT IT!!!

By the end it turned out that we were waaaaay overprepared. We did our final preparations last night, the only thing we were worried about were those 3 months that we didn't live together after we got married so my husband even printed out a calendar and made references to receipts for every single weekend that he went to visit me while I was up in school.

Our interview was at 9 but we got there at 8. They didn't take us in till 9:30 but that wasn't bad I don't think. We got this really nice officer. He first asked us to swear in before we even sat down. Then he said he was gonna go over the forms to make sure all the info that they have was correct. He noticed we had a change of address so he crossed out our old address from every form and wrote the current one. He said that that was very important so I would get any future documents they might send. He asked the typical questions "have you ever..." but he skipped a bunch. He went over the biographic info and I told him that everything was correct, then he said that I'm a student and I told him that I graduated last May so he crossed that out and put Engineer instead. He made a joke saying that now the flow of money is coming in instead of out. He asked for my passport, I-94 and the EAD, I gave him my new passport and my expired one since my student visa was there. I don't even think he checked my visa, or asked for my I-20 or anything. Oh the only think that was missing (even though we sent it TWICE) was my husband's letter of employment, so we gave it to him...again. Then he said he's required to ask for any proof of the relationship so we gave him the lease and our joing bank account statements. Then my husband told me to show him some pictures too so we gave him some pictures from our trip to the Dominican Republic last year, he said that he needs to put that in his list of countries to visit because it looks very beautiful. He didn't even keep the pictures. Then my husband asked him how long it should take for us to receive the GC or if we should apply for an AP since we want to fly home to have our Catholic wedding. He asked when we needed to leave and we told him that on December so he asked if late July sounded OK. At that point I realized we were approved!!! He stamped my passport and wished us good luck. Oh and he told us about the 2-year conditional residency law. That stamp looks so pretty. Hopefully in 3 weeks or so I'll receive they actual card.

Overall I would say the process wasn't bad for us. We seriously expected to have to wait for at least a year, it turned out to be half that much. A laywer we talked to said even 18 months. Oh and about lawyers.... we saw a bunch of lawyers when we were waiting and they were running from client to client. One of them was even asking the couple if they had made photocopies of everything (they hadn't) ...AT THE INTERVIEW!!! Just not worth it!

Goodluck everyone!!!
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Heyyy Congratulations!!!! Im so happy for you. :)
 
Hello,
Next week I have an interview and I think we have an adequate amount of supporting letters, pictures, bills, etc...
I have only one concern. Two years ago, my wife and I, filled the taxes separately as singles even though we were married in that time. Her layer told her that she would get more money back, and I couldn’t do anything to stop her. Last year we did takes together.
Am I in trouble? What should I say if officer ask me about that year when we filled taxes separately? Is it anything else that I can do now?
Thanks
 
smith227 said:
Hello,
Next week I have an interview and I think we have an adequate amount of supporting letters, pictures, bills, etc...
I have only one concern. Two years ago, my wife and I, filled the taxes separately as singles even though we were married in that time. Her layer told her that she would get more money back, and I couldn’t do anything to stop her. Last year we did takes together.
Am I in trouble? What should I say if officer ask me about that year when we filled taxes separately? Is it anything else that I can do now?
Thanks
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Well,
If married you could file either jointly or separately, but you have to check the "married" box.
Otherwise you're declaring the false.
It shouldn't be a concern for USCIS, but it could be for IRS....
And I would change your tax guy....unless both incomes are huge, you pay less taxes if you're married (your standard deduction is much higher).
 
payala said:
A BIG thank you to everyone!!!
I do think we all worry too much about it but there's no way to really realize it till after the interview. I've read so many terror stories in this forum but I think that some of us do our little research and worry about things without even getting stuck in the process but many more people only start doing their research and posting in the forum AFTER their case got complicated or if it was complicated since the beginning. You know what I mean? I found this forum and stayed here but I bet if I was having multiple problems I would have found 10 more forums to ask exactly the same question, just for a little peace of mind. You know what I'm trying to say?

Well, goodluck to everyone!! I'll keep you guys posted whenever I receive the card and then in 2 years about removing the conditions. I really don't think this is over until I have that card in my hands.
Click to expand...


Congrads Payala . You should have the card on hand soon .
 
HI Everyone, I've been so busy lately....I haven't posted in a couple of months but I wanted to update you on what's been going on. I married in Dec 05, but our big ceremony was in the end of May, then I used my AP to travel on our honeymoon. Now I am working like a dog to pay for the wedding and trip!
While I was on my honeymoon, I also got my interview notice for Aug 11. It's been about 2 weeks or so now that I am making a pretty binder with copies of documents. I'll lie what I have so far and I'd love to hear suggestions :)

-Some junk mail in the binder's pocket (to prove that we live on the same address)
All these documents below are copies, I have one of those expandable filing folders with all of the originals:
-interview notice and all other previous USCIS mail
-marriage cert.
-id page of our passports
-his birth certif.
-my birth certif. + translation
-I-94 (very recent as I traveled abroad for my honeymoon), the old one was surrended
-EAD
-AP
-His employer's letter
-boarding passes of trips we made together (including honeymoon) and my flights back and fourth from NJ to come see him in OH. He drove to Nj everytime he went, so I have no proof :(
-Car rental agreement when we went to Cali together last year
-Visa stamps on both our passport while we were on our honeymoon
-statements for joing bank account
-auto loan on both our names
-utility bills
-auto insurance
-car title
-Catering bill (wedding)
-Wedding venue invoice
-joint 05 tax
-my taxes from 04 and 03
-his taxes from 04 and 03 (transcrips fro the IRS)
-his paychecks from june and july (I'll finish compiling July when we get them)

The folder with the original stuff also has wedding invitation, wedding program and a stack of cards sent by our friends and family with the wedding gifts.

I am in the process of selecting pictures to take to walgreens and print them :)

So far that is what I have, like everyone here, we want to have a fast and easy interview, I'd rather bring extra stuff.

Good luck to everyone who has an interview coming.

-lakelady
 
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I had LUDs for all of my three cases on 07/02, last Sunday. Anyone else have that experience, "mass LUDs" shortly before the interview?
 
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