A long time coming...

[jstatus330]

Well after almost 2 years of my wife being a conditional permanent resident, we will be sending off her paperwork to remove conditions of her permanent residency. My wife's 90 day window opens up Tuesday. Monday or Tuesday we will be shipping her paperwork off overnight to USCIS. I've went above and beyond the requirements for their proof. The list is below.

Notarized Letters - 4 from my family, 2 from her family.

Letters - 11 from my co-workers/friends/Commander (LTC), 2 from wife's family.

Birth Certificates - Wife's, 2 sons, mine.

Passport - Wife's, 1 son, mine, receipt of newborn's passport payment.

Social Security Card - Wife's, 2 sons, mine.

Residency - Proof of where we live, bills.

Marriage License and Marriage Certificate.

Wife's Drivers License, Military Dependent ID Card, Permanent Residency Card.

Pictures of the family.

All the items above are scanned into the computer and will be printed off and sent in a packet for USCIS. There are a couple other miscellaneous documents as well. I've heard horror stories before about people's paperwork being sent back due to not enough documents being sent to them so I figured if I send in a ton of stuff what can they say? I'm also going to save the receipt of it being sent overnight, print off and scan the tracking information page once they've signed for it for further proof.

I am deploying in October. I had co-workers and my Battalion Commander, a LTC, write letters asking for USCIS to please expedite the process for my wife. Hopefully they help us and do that. My wife doesn't want to be stuck here by herself on Christmas. Also, her drivers license expires at the end of Nov. like her permanent residency does, and we were told she cannot renew her license until she gets her new permanent residency card.

In any case, I'm covering all my angles on this one. I had a lot of trouble with USCIS in the past, had to contact BBB and all for help. Not only are all the documents saved on our computer, but it's all saved on an external hard drive, and will be saved to multiple USB drives for my wife and myself. This way while deployed I'll have the files, and when my wife goes to travel home she will also have the documents.

If there is any other help anyone here can think of, anything else to possibly send it, let me know. Does all this sound good?

 

[Jackolantern]

Notarized Letters - 4 from my family, 2 from her family.

Letters - 11 from my co-workers/friends/Commander (LTC), 2 from wife's family.

Don't send those. Keep those as a last resort for the interview (if there is an interview). And for those you're bringing to the interview, get them notarized.

Those letters don't have much credibility with USCIS and are considered secondary evidence to be used only if the other evidence doesn't pass muster. By sending these up front, you're almost admitting that you have a fake or weak case.

I had co-workers and my Battalion Commander, a LTC, write letters asking for USCIS to please expedite the process for my wife.

They won't expedite it, because there is no need to, at least not for now. Under the normal process, they will immediately give her a one-year extension of her green card which she can use while the process is pending.

However, if you are going to be deployed for at least a year, and your wife will accompany you, she may be able to qualify for expedited citizenship under section 319(b). So once this set of immigration paperwork is sent in, the expedited citizenship is something to explore ASAP (if she wants to become a citizen ASAP).

 

[Jackolantern]

My wife's 90 day window opens up Tuesday.

Don't aim for the exact 90th day. Remember that some months have 31 days, so 90 days is not exactly 3 months, and sometimes USCIS (or the applicants) makes date-counting mistakes and rejects the application. Save yourself some potential trouble by waiting 2-3 days extra, day 88 or 87. Because of the one-year extension, there is no need to rush to apply on the earliest possible day.