I wanted to share my wiered story and get advice of people.
I entered USA in Aug 2000 on student visa. I applied for change of status based on my marriage to a US citizen in Dec 2002. I was fingerprinted and interviewed in sept 2003. My passport was stamped for conditional permenent resident status for one year.
The immigration officer never told me about welcome notice and just mentioned that I will get a green card in coming 6 months. I never received any of them. As I approached one year expiry, I went to Washington DC field office and asked for advice. During that period I had moved and informed the vermont center and BCIS by filing the AR-11. Since I never had a welcome letter I did not have the receipt no so the national customer service could not help me. The officer at the field office asked me to fill out some form and told me that they will investigate. He also stamped my passport for another year. And boy they did investigate!! Another 9 months passed and I did not hear anything. So I called their customer care no for 5-6 times. Finally last month I spoke to an Immigration officer who game my my receipt no. He also told me for some reason on their record it was still showing my old address. Moreover, i also have to remove the condition on the greencard as second year is about to get over from the date I was granted the perm. resident status. He asked me to use the photocopy of stamped passport as evidence of green card in absence of physical green card. I filed that form 3 days ago.
Meanwhile a strange thing happened. A kind soul in my old apt found the bcis letter in trash can of mail room. His family had endured BCIS devils for sometime so he immediately retrived them and started searching for me on yahoo and google. He found me from my university web site and emailed me that he had something from BCIS. I went running, thanked him a million and opened those covers. They were welcome letter, two of them just like copies of each other, both of my name, strange!!!!
I came home and called BCIS again, and was told that my address on the record is actually a new one. I was also told that May 24th "approval letters" were sent out. I assume that approval letters and the welcome notice are same. Are they? The date on the letter is May 20th but the postal mark is of 24th.
Now I have few quesitons...
1) Has anybody filed for I-751 with the copy of passport stamp page. Can you share your experience and provide advise.
2) The welcome letter said that I should get greencard in 3 weeks. I have already talked to individual who occupies my old apt and gave him my contact info if he gets some thing. I have also asked postman in the apt to help. Is there anything else I can do?
3) If I am understanding correctly, even if I get this greencard, it will expire in sep 2005 (2yrs from the first stamp). I-751 can take upton 9months. So should I go and get another stamp on the passport anyways.
4) I included my house mortgage and bank account statement in the I-751. I did not include photographs or affidivits as some have mentioned in these forums. Should I send another letter with them? Shoud these evidense be distributed over these two years or most recent copies are best (bank statement and tax returns?) Should I send a copy of green card when I get one?
5) I should be eligible for N-400 filing (based on marriage 3 yrs of stay) in June 2006 (90 days prior to Sept 2006). Is my understanding correct?
Your help is appreciated.
Thanks
I entered USA in Aug 2000 on student visa. I applied for change of status based on my marriage to a US citizen in Dec 2002. I was fingerprinted and interviewed in sept 2003. My passport was stamped for conditional permenent resident status for one year.
The immigration officer never told me about welcome notice and just mentioned that I will get a green card in coming 6 months. I never received any of them. As I approached one year expiry, I went to Washington DC field office and asked for advice. During that period I had moved and informed the vermont center and BCIS by filing the AR-11. Since I never had a welcome letter I did not have the receipt no so the national customer service could not help me. The officer at the field office asked me to fill out some form and told me that they will investigate. He also stamped my passport for another year. And boy they did investigate!! Another 9 months passed and I did not hear anything. So I called their customer care no for 5-6 times. Finally last month I spoke to an Immigration officer who game my my receipt no. He also told me for some reason on their record it was still showing my old address. Moreover, i also have to remove the condition on the greencard as second year is about to get over from the date I was granted the perm. resident status. He asked me to use the photocopy of stamped passport as evidence of green card in absence of physical green card. I filed that form 3 days ago.
Meanwhile a strange thing happened. A kind soul in my old apt found the bcis letter in trash can of mail room. His family had endured BCIS devils for sometime so he immediately retrived them and started searching for me on yahoo and google. He found me from my university web site and emailed me that he had something from BCIS. I went running, thanked him a million and opened those covers. They were welcome letter, two of them just like copies of each other, both of my name, strange!!!!
I came home and called BCIS again, and was told that my address on the record is actually a new one. I was also told that May 24th "approval letters" were sent out. I assume that approval letters and the welcome notice are same. Are they? The date on the letter is May 20th but the postal mark is of 24th.
Now I have few quesitons...
1) Has anybody filed for I-751 with the copy of passport stamp page. Can you share your experience and provide advise.
2) The welcome letter said that I should get greencard in 3 weeks. I have already talked to individual who occupies my old apt and gave him my contact info if he gets some thing. I have also asked postman in the apt to help. Is there anything else I can do?
3) If I am understanding correctly, even if I get this greencard, it will expire in sep 2005 (2yrs from the first stamp). I-751 can take upton 9months. So should I go and get another stamp on the passport anyways.
4) I included my house mortgage and bank account statement in the I-751. I did not include photographs or affidivits as some have mentioned in these forums. Should I send another letter with them? Shoud these evidense be distributed over these two years or most recent copies are best (bank statement and tax returns?) Should I send a copy of green card when I get one?
5) I should be eligible for N-400 filing (based on marriage 3 yrs of stay) in June 2006 (90 days prior to Sept 2006). Is my understanding correct?
Your help is appreciated.
Thanks