URGENT: How to delay my I-485? Need Help

[SweatyPalm]

Hi all,
I've just received the 2nd fingerprint notice a couple weeks ago. The assigned appointment is 08/26. Here's my problem:

My girlfriend and I are planning to get married in early Sept this year. She's in Taiwan so I need to file the "follow-to-join" I-485 for her afterward. Since we have a very tight schedule, I am wondering is there any way to delay the I-485 process? Perhaps re-scheduling my fp appointment to 1-2 months later? Can I do that?

Here's the plan:
Get married, I'll bring back the certificate of marriage and her marital status declaration for I-485 application. Meanwhile, she will be applying for her H-4 visa in Taiwan (so, she will come to the US a bit later). Does she have to be in the US to file the paperwork? I can't travel to Taiwan now because I'm still waiting for my AP (it will probably be here by the end of August).

Any inputs will be highly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Joe

 

[pralay]

Postone your 2nd FP. Do not go for FP until your wife comes to USA and apply for her I-485.

 

[max2k1]

Hi all,
I've just received the 2nd fingerprint notice a couple weeks ago. The assigned appointment is 08/26. Here's my problem:

My girlfriend and I are planning to get married in early Sept this year. She's in Taiwan so I need to file the "follow-to-join" I-485 for her afterward. Since we have a very tight schedule, I am wondering is there any way to delay the I-485 process? Perhaps re-scheduling my fp appointment to 1-2 months later? Can I do that?

Here's the plan:
Get married, I'll bring back the certificate of marriage and her marital status declaration for I-485 application. Meanwhile, she will be applying for her H-4 visa in Taiwan (so, she will come to the US a bit later). Does she have to be in the US to file the paperwork? I can't travel to Taiwan now because I'm still waiting for my AP (it will probably be here by the end of August).

Any inputs will be highly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Joe

If you search this forum, there was one other thread about someone wanting to postpone their FP.
EDIT: See this thread http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=135839

Its generally not advisable to postpone FP appts -- there is no guarantee that USCIS would look at your case file the next time around !

Best is for her to drop whatever she's doing ( assuming its not critical) and get her H4 and come here asap.
Get married here, file for her 485 and after getting the receipt and doing your FP, you can go back home and have a traditional wedding.

Postponing FP is really not very advisable.

 

[mygcwaiter100]

upgrading GirlFriend 1.0 to Wife 1.0 is generally not a good idea.....r u sure u are ready for commitment...? are u ready to leave bachlors parties, bars, dance clubs, going out with friends....

dude 2FP is the only chance u have ....cash on it....

Hi all,
I've just received the 2nd fingerprint notice a couple weeks ago. The assigned appointment is 08/26. Here's my problem:

My girlfriend and I are planning to get married in early Sept this year. She's in Taiwan so I need to file the "follow-to-join" I-485 for her afterward. Since we have a very tight schedule, I am wondering is there any way to delay the I-485 process? Perhaps re-scheduling my fp appointment to 1-2 months later? Can I do that?

Here's the plan:
Get married, I'll bring back the certificate of marriage and her marital status declaration for I-485 application. Meanwhile, she will be applying for her H-4 visa in Taiwan (so, she will come to the US a bit later). Does she have to be in the US to file the paperwork? I can't travel to Taiwan now because I'm still waiting for my AP (it will probably be here by the end of August).

Any inputs will be highly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Joe

 

[SweatyPalm]

Hi Pralay,
Thanks but some people do not recommend to ignore the FP notice. Have you or you friend(s) been thru this route? I guess I would like to hear some successful stories to be convinced that it will not cause denial.

Has anyone called the USCIS office to postpone the FP date? Can I tell them that I'll be away for the next 1or2 months?

Any advise will be helpful.

 

[golumolu]

It is really not advisable to postpone FP, you would be better of the first time so that unnecessary future trouble could be avoided.

Why can't you get your fiance here on a H4. Well you could consider doing a registered marriage and get her H4 and do the needful to add her to I-485.

Then you can go whereever you need to on a valid AP for both of you and celebrate the traditional wedding.

As far my knowledge goes I have not seen anyone posting a happy postponing experience yet.

Hence consider alternatives and have Plan B or C or D. I know marriage is sacred and traditional etc. USCIS do not give a damn for our traditional beliefs, they go with the " DON'T MESS WITH US " attitude.

hence do not postpone.

 

[SweatyPalm]

If you search this forum, there was one other thread about someone wanting to postpone their FP.
EDIT: See this thread http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=135839

Its generally not advisable to postpone FP appts -- there is no guarantee that USCIS would look at your case file the next time around !

Best is for her to drop whatever she's doing ( assuming its not critical) and get her H4 and come here asap.
Get married here, file for her 485 and after getting the receipt and doing your FP, you can go back home and have a traditional wedding.

Postponing FP is really not very advisable.

Thanks, Max2k1.
She cannot get her H4 visa until we are officially married. She can come to the US with her valid tourist (B) visa but I was told that there's risk involved. Tourist visa cannot have immigration intent which means it might cause her I-485 to be denied. To get around it, we are planning to get married in Taiwan.

 

[140_takes_4ever]

A little difficult to give valid advice without knowing the complete scenario, but here goes anyway:
1. Have you ever used your EAD to work? (If no then that is good)
2. Do you have a valid H1 stamp on your passport?
3. Can you go to Taiwan at short notice, even if it is for a couple of days?

If 1. is no and 2. is yes, then I would advice you to go to Taiwan ASAP, without waiting for your AP to come. In which case, you will be travelling on your H1. (it requires a different set of documents), but it is the best alternative. Since you can go to Taiwan, get married in court, on the same day go to the US consulate, make an appointment for a H4 visa/interview for your fiancee/wife. You can then fly back to the US for your fingerprinting, and get all the paperwork ready for your wife. As soon as your wife gets her H4 visa, she should be on the next flight out of Taiwan to the US. The moment she lands, you file for follow to join.

Technically, you can postpone your FP once, you can reschedule it by a month or two. But if the above goes off like clock work then there is no need for that. While it is not considered to be a good thing to postpone FP notices, this is a genuine situation that requires a lot of clear and deep thinking on your part.

You need to decide whether a green card is the most important thing in your life or your fiancee. In case you get your green card before she can file a follow to join, what will be your next move? After answering these questions, you will be in a much better position to decide on what to do.

Good luck and god bless for both the marriage (more important) and the INS situation. Do post again here in case you have any further questions.

 

[SweatyPalm]

It is really not advisable to postpone FP, you would be better of the first time so that unnecessary future trouble could be avoided.

Why can't you get your fiance here on a H4. Well you could consider doing a registered marriage and get her H4 and do the needful to add her to I-485.

Then you can go whereever you need to on a valid AP for both of you and celebrate the traditional wedding.

As far my knowledge goes I have not seen anyone posting a happy postponing experience yet.

Hence consider alternatives and have Plan B or C or D. I know marriage is sacred and traditional etc. USCIS do not give a damn for our traditional beliefs, they go with the " DON'T MESS WITH US " attitude.

hence do not postpone.

Thanks, Golumolu.
She's just my girlfriend for now. When I say marriage, I actually meant registered marriage. That's what we are planning to do in Taiwan. Is there any way to get H4 visa b4 that? We are not worried about AP or traditional wedding after everything is settled. We need to buy ourselves time!!

 

[max2k1]

You need to decide whether a green card is the most important thing in your life or your fiancee.

Heh heh .... If you have a GC, you can always get a fiancee .... you get the GC chance only once (well almost)

Hey - just kidding - no flames

 

[SweatyPalm]

A little difficult to give valid advice without knowing the complete scenario, but here goes anyway:
1. Have you ever used your EAD to work? (If no then that is good)
2. Do you have a valid H1 stamp on your passport?
3. Can you go to Taiwan at short notice, even if it is for a couple of days?

If 1. is no and 2. is yes, then I would advice you to go to Taiwan ASAP, without waiting for your AP to come. In which case, you will be travelling on your H1. (it requires a different set of documents), but it is the best alternative. Since you can go to Taiwan, get married in court, on the same day go to the US consulate, make an appointment for a H4 visa/interview for your fiancee/wife. You can then fly back to the US for your fingerprinting, and get all the paperwork ready for your wife. As soon as your wife gets her H4 visa, she should be on the next flight out of Taiwan to the US. The moment she lands, you file for follow to join.

Technically, you can postpone your FP once, you can reschedule it by a month or two. But if the above goes off like clock work then there is no need for that. While it is not considered to be a good thing to postpone FP notices, this is a genuine situation that requires a lot of clear and deep thinking on your part.

You need to decide whether a green card is the most important thing in your life or your fiancee. In case you get your green card before she can file a follow to join, what will be your next move? After answering these questions, you will be in a much better position to decide on what to do.

Good luck and god bless for both the marriage (more important) and the INS situation. Do post again here in case you have any further questions.

140_takes_4ever, I'm glad that I can get you to help out.
I've had EAD before (OPT and working permit) and my H1 stamp on passport has already expired. (bummer huh?)
As soon as I received my AP, I will go to Taiwan, get married, apply for her H4 and come back for I-485 follow-to-join. If I can re-schedule my FP for at least a month or 2 later, it definitely will cut us alot of slack time.

Assigned 2nd fp appointment: 08/26
Registered marriage: Early sept. (may be 09/07)
Expect to receive H4 by: 09/12
Expect to arrive in US by 09/14
Expect to submit I-485 papaerwork by 09/16.

Is this going to work? If I can postponse the fp to 09/26, everything will be perfect.

 

[max2k1]

Thanks, Max2k1.
She cannot get her H4 visa until we are officially married. She can come to the US with her valid tourist (B) visa but I was told that there's risk involved. Tourist visa cannot have immigration intent which means it might cause her I-485 to be denied. To get around it, we are planning to get married in Taiwan.

Edit: Awww...tough luck - Fiance(e) visas are only for citizens ...

Anyways, do you have a valid H1 stamped ( and are you still on H1 status ?? ).
If so, what's stopping you from taking the next plane out to Taiwan, get married and file for H4 ?

Do that - if its possible at all.

Postponing is definitely going to mess up your case -- the only question is how much !

 

[SweatyPalm]

Heh heh .... If you have a GC, you can always get a fiancee .... you get the GC chance only once (well almost)

Hey - just kidding - no flames

True. To me, the odds of getting the GC and finding the perfect half of me are the same. My judgement: Regret losing her in my life >>>> (way greater than) Regret losing my GC

 

[max2k1]

True. To me, the odds of getting the GC and finding the perfect half of me are the same. My judgement: Regret losing her in my life >>>> (way greater than) Regret losing my GC

Then why even worry ???
Just go ahead, postpone your FP -- the FP notice has all the instructions on how to do this....
Go get married and see what USCIS holds out for you after a while.

Worst case, you still will have the one thing that matters to you most in life

Simple, uh ?

 

[pralay]

Regret losing her in my life >>>> (way greater than) Regret losing my GC

Well...that's your personal viewpoint. Lots of people don't think that way. Atleast the original poster (SweatyPalm) does not think that way and that's why he is trying to postpone his I-485.

 

[SweatyPalm]

Edit: Awww...tough luck - Fiance(e) visas are only for citizens ...

Anyways, do you have a valid H1 stamped ( and are you still on H1 status ?? ).
If so, what's stopping you from taking the next plane out to Taiwan, get married and file for H4 ?

Do that - if its possible at all.

Postponing is definitely going to mess up your case -- the only question is how much !

My H1 visa is still valid throughout 2006 but my H1 visa stamp has already expired. To get my H1 stamped, I will have to go back to US embassy in Malaysia (wait time is unknown/unpredictable -- my friend lost his job due to 5-months of wait time!!) Besides, I'll need a week or 2 to prepare Marital Status Declaration to prove that I've not married to anyone before (since i'm not Taiwan citizen), get the consulate general of Taiwan in US to review and notorize it.

It sucks to be racing against time.........

 

[max2k1]

My H1 visa is still valid throughout 2006 but my H1 visa stamp has already expired. To get my H1 stamped, I will have to go back to US embassy in Malaysia (wait time is unknown/unpredictable -- my friend lost his job due to 5-months of wait time!!) Besides, I'll need a week or 2 to prepare Marital Status Declaration to prove that I've not married to anyone before (since i'm not Taiwan citizen), get the consulate general of Taiwan in US to review and notorize it.

It sucks to be racing against time.........

Can your fiancee get her own separate H1 ??
If so, she can use that to come here and you can get married here in the US and file her 485.

I would say, prepare for the worst ... get your paperwork ready and see how quicky u can do it.
Hope for the best (either AP comes soon or your wait for H1 stamp would not be bad).
Can you take an online appt for H1 stamp in Malaysia -- if so do it right now.

 

[pralay]

Hi Pralay,
Thanks but some people do not recommend to ignore the FP notice.

You are not ignoring FP. You are just postponing FP. Fill the FP notice (bottom section) and request for reschedule.

Have you or you friend(s) been thru this route? I guess I would like to hear some successful stories to be convinced that it will not cause denial.

Let me assure you - your case won't denied due to FP reschedule. In the worst case, it will be delayed for longer time than "expected" (well, there is no "expected" word in USCIS dictionary).
Yes, one of my friends rescheduled his FP for diffrent reason in different time (four years back). His FP just got rescheduled after 2 months. USCIS behavior changes with time. So it does not gaurantee that you will be rescheduled after 2 months. It can be less than 2 months or more than 2 months.
Bottomline is that - follow three steps:

Step 1: If you need time to accomplish following two steps (step 2 and 3), postpone FP.
Step 2. Get married ASAP.
Step 3. Apply for her I-485 ASAP.

Bottomline is that, FP delay can delay your I-485 processing (that's what you need, right??), but it won't have any adverse effect on your I-485 (like denial).

 

[pralay]

My H1 visa is still valid throughout 2006 but my H1 visa stamp has already expired. ...

One issue here. If you don't have valid H1 visa-stamp on passport (H1 petition approval I-129 does not count), your wife won't be eligible for H4 visa stamp. Therefore, you both have to apply for H1 + H4 visa stamps together.

 

[SweatyPalm]

Can your fiancee get her own separate H1 ??
If so, she can use that to come here and you can get married here in the US and file her 485.

I would say, prepare for the worst ... get your paperwork ready and see how quicky u can do it.
Hope for the best (either AP comes soon or your wait for H1 stamp would not be bad).
Can you take an online appt for H1 stamp in Malaysia -- if so do it right now.

I'm afraid getting a H1 visa during this time of the year is impossible (the quota is already full + she will have to find a sponsor/employer). Besides, it's not easy to get a job here in the US without physically being here (although she has a quite impressive working background). There's no such thing as online appl for H1 stamp for Malaysians

I deeply appreciate your inputs. God bless you, my friend.