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DV 2023 AOS (Adjustment of Status) Only

AzarUmudov said:
Hi,

I have started collecting my adjustment of status documents. I am an international student. Some documents need to be translated into English and notarized. In my country, translation and notarial certification are stapling to the copy of the document. I read on some websites that stapling the documents for the AOS package is not recommended. Also, my i-20 is stapled by the university. Indeed, I can remove it or print my new i-20 but I can't remove staples from the documents that came from my country because they were kind of sewn with thread and there is a certification stamp on them. If I do that, I will damage the notary's approval. Do you think that sending these documents with staples might be a problem?

Besides, my birth certificate isn't in the same alphabet we have now in my country. When I was born, the transition to the Latin alphabet was newly approved and some organizations still used the old one. Therefore, the document is not in the Latin alphabet but it should have been in Latin. I have translated it into English and notarized it. In that period, because of inadequate government resources, the paper works weren't good. The birth certificates were printed in dark colors. That's why the photocopy of them is not too readable. Can these lead to a problem in my application?

Thanks a lot for your time and your assistance!
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1. The documents you send in with your AOS package should not be stapled together.
2. You should not be submitting the original version of your documents. You submit clear legible copies and plan on taking the original along to your interview when you get to that stage.
3. Check the reciprocity page (link below) to confirm your birth certificate is the long form version required for US immigration and that it is issued by the official custodian of birth records in your country of birth. What you have may probably not meet the US immigration requirement.

U.S. Visa: Reciprocity and Civil Documents by Country

travel.state.gov travel.state.gov
 
Sm1smom said:
How critical is visiting your family in December vs sending in your AOS package in October in order to get the AOS process rolling and hopefully get your GC ASAP?


If your wife's J1 is subject to a 2YHRR, she should already know about it. If she does not know that for a fact by now, she needs to follow up with her J1 employer right away to figure that out, because if she is, she needs to be working on the waiver right away - the waiver approval process can take a while.
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Sm1smom said:
How critical is visiting your family in December vs sending in your AOS package in October in order to get the AOS process rolling and hopefully get your GC ASAP?


If your wife's J1 is subject to a 2YHRR, she should already know about it. If she does not know that for a fact by now, she needs to follow up with her J1 employer right away to figure that out, because if she is, she needs to be working on the waiver right away - the waiver approval process can take a while.
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Thank you Mom for the reply. The first question is a very big one, and I am still in debate with myself (I will probably go for AOS ASAP). Consider that I found out to be selected only 2 days ago (I even forgot to have done the application)...

My wife does not have 2YHRR so she should be fine without the waiver.

Do you have an roughly estimate on how long generally takes between sending an AOS package and the interview? I know is very dependent from office and time of the year etc etc...

Thank you again,
Nic
 
Nicdep said:
Thank you Mom for the reply. The first question is a very big one, and I am still in debate with myself (I will probably go for AOS ASAP). Consider that I found out to be selected only 2 days ago (I even forgot to have done the application)...

My wife does not have 2YHRR so she should be fine without the waiver.

Do you have an roughly estimate on how long generally takes between sending an AOS package and the interview? I know is very dependent from office and time of the year etc etc...

Thank you again,
Nic
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Good to know your wife is not subject to a 2YHRR.

As for how long the process may take, you already nailed it. It is indeed very independent, could be anywhere between 2 to 4 months or much longer. There are several factors at play such as the applicable FO and their policy surrounding DV based AOS cases (some FOs prefer waiting and bunching DV cases till towards the end of the FY, some approve without an interview); the applicants background (chargeability country, places they've been to in the past, their work history); the FOs workload as at when the AOS application is received, etc. I suggest you look at the current FY's (2022) Timeline spreadsheet and some of the previous years to get an idea of how long your process may take based on previous cases from your FO.
 
Sm1smom said:
Good to know your wife is not subject to a 2YHRR.

As for how long the process may take, you already nailed it. It is indeed very independent, could be anywhere between 2 to 4 months or much longer. There are several factors at play such as the applicable FO and their policy surrounding DV based AOS cases (some FOs prefer waiting and bunching DV cases till towards the end of the FY, some approve without an interview); the applicants background (chargeability country, places they've been to in the past, their work history); the FOs workload as at when the AOS application is received, etc. I suggest you look at the current FY's (2022) Timeline spreadsheet and some of the previous years to get an idea of how long your process may take based on previous cases from your FO.
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Thank you very much, I really appreciate your help and clarity.
I have one last question: How do I find what will be my FO? I am located in the NYC area, if this can help.

Thanks again,
Nic
 
Nicdep said:
Thank you very much, I really appreciate your help and clarity.
I have one last question: How do I find what will be my FO? I am located in the NYC area, if this can help.

Thanks again,
Nic
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www.uscis.gov

Find A USCIS Office | USCIS

Before visiting a USCIS office, you must have an appointment. Bring your printed appointment notice. See our
www.uscis.gov

By the way, I suggest you spend sometime going over the AOS Process document too. That spreadsheet already contain most of the answers to the questions you'll have with regards to DV bases AOS processing.
 
I don't know why but the forum doesn't allow me to reply. Therefore, I post the following questions as a new post. Sorry about that.

First of all, thank you very much for the answers. Maybe I explained it wrong. Different documents weren't stapled. The government staples a copy of a document, its English translation, and the notary's approval. For example, the copy of a high school diploma was stapled with the translation and notary's approval. Even if in that case it is a problem, I can remove staples. Besides, as I mentioned in the first post, there is also a thread to fasten them together. The government does it for making sure that the copy of the document would not be changed in the future (I added a sample image of it that I found on Google search). What do you recommend? Should I remove it as well? I have originals, I can translate them into English here but in that case, I will not be able to notarize them. Do the documents need to be notarized or translations are enough?

I checked the reciprocity page to confirm whether the birth certificate is the long-form version. I didn't find information about it. The website doesn't mention anything about the long-form version for my country. The only thing it mentions about the birth certificate is that it is available and can be got from the specified organization of the country.

Thanks a lot for your help
 

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AzarUmudov said:
I don't know why but the forum doesn't allow me to reply. Therefore, I post the following questions as a new post. Sorry about that.

First of all, thank you very much for the answers. Maybe I explained it wrong. Different documents weren't stapled. The government staples a copy of a document, its English translation, and the notary's approval. For example, the copy of a high school diploma was stapled with the translation and notary's approval. Even if in that case it is a problem, I can remove staples. Besides, as I mentioned in the first post, there is also a thread to fasten them together. The government does it for making sure that the copy of the document would not be changed in the future (I added a sample image of it that I found on Google search). What do you recommend? Should I remove it as well? I have originals, I can translate them into English here but in that case, I will not be able to notarize them. Do the documents need to be notarized or translations are enough?

I checked the reciprocity page to confirm whether the birth certificate is the long-form version. I didn't find information about it. The website doesn't mention anything about the long-form version for my country. The only thing it mentions about the birth certificate is that it is available and can be got from the specified organization of the country.

Thanks a lot for your help
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Notarization is not needed. The translator needs to certify they are competent, there’s probably an example of the required wording on the spreadsheet.



The part of the DoS website that deals with civil documents states that all birth certificates (regardless of country of origin) must be long form. If there had been any issues with birth certificates from your country not being acceptable for this reason (or any other), then the reciprocity tables would have stated that. So you must assume you will have to show a long form birth certificate, and if your old one does not meet the requirements listed below you’ll need to get a new one.

Prepare Supporting Documents

travel.state.gov travel.state.gov

Each applicant must submit a birth certificate issued by the official custodian of birth records in the country of birth, showing the date and place of birth and the parentage of the applicant, based upon the original registration of birth. Important Notice: You must submit a long form original birth certificate. Short form birth certificates will not be accepted.

The certificate must contain the:

  • Person's date of birth;
  • Person's place of birth;
  • Names of both parents; and,
  • Annotation by the appropriate authority indicating that it is an extract from the official records.
 
AzarUmudov said:
I don't know why but the forum doesn't allow me to reply. Therefore, I post the following questions as a new post. Sorry about that.

First of all, thank you very much for the answers. Maybe I explained it wrong. Different documents weren't stapled. The government staples a copy of a document, its English translation, and the notary's approval. For example, the copy of a high school diploma was stapled with the translation and notary's approval. Even if in that case it is a problem, I can remove staples. Besides, as I mentioned in the first post, there is also a thread to fasten them together. The government does it for making sure that the copy of the document would not be changed in the future (I added a sample image of it that I found on Google search). What do you recommend? Should I remove it as well? I have originals, I can translate them into English here but in that case, I will not be able to notarize them. Do the documents need to be notarized or translations are enough?

I checked the reciprocity page to confirm whether the birth certificate is the long-form version. I didn't find information about it. The website doesn't mention anything about the long-form version for my country. The only thing it mentions about the birth certificate is that it is available and can be got from the specified organization of the country.

Thanks a lot for your help
Click to expand...
1. You can get a new translation, or use the version you already have, your call. The translated version does not need to be notarized. The translator just needs to sign and attest to their fluency in English and the language the document is being translated from.
2. Is your current b/c issued by the the same issuing authority listed on the link I previously provided? That and the explanation provided by Susie above is how you figure out if you have an acceptable long form b/c or not. And even if your current b/c is a long form version, you should look into getting a new version considering you already stated the photocopy version is not quite legible.
 
Sm1smom said:
Yes, quite normal. You’ll see a couple of folks on the Timeline spreadsheet have had to wait 100+ days from DS260 submission to 2NL received date. Meanwhile be sure to check your spam box also, it sometimes goes in there.
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thanks for your response. I will come keep checking my spam as well.
 
Hello !
I have a question about the I-134 Affidavit of Support.
Can someone sponsor me if he still has a mortgage debt to pay? Does that matter? Or the income only matters ?
 
Hi everyone

I understand that the waiting time for a 2nl can be pretty long, but I'd like to ask you a question if the high CN can be the reason that 2NL is still not issued by KCC? I don't know if there were cases in the past where AOSers didn't get their 2NL and proceeded without it when their CN became current.

I filed DS260 at the beginning of June (115 days) and I can see that others received theirs 2NL, even filing a long time after me.

Thanks for your replies
 
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SebastianNY said:
Hi everyone

I understand that the waiting time for a 2nl can be pretty long, but I'd like to ask you a question if the high CN can be the reason that 2NL is still not issued by KCC? I don't know if there were cases in the past where AOSers didn't get their 2NL and proceeded without it when their CN became current.

I filed DS260 at the beginning of June (115 days) and I can see that others received theirs 2NL, even filing a long time after me.

Thanks for your replies
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1. Not necessarily. If you take another look at the Timeline spreadsheet, you'll see there are folks with high CNs who already received the 2NL.
2. Take a look at the AOS FAQ tab of the AOS Process spreadsheet for additional information on 2NL related issues.
 
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