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Sheep posted:It's important to be clear - if you're eligible to apply for a K-3, you're eligible to apply for a CR-1 or IR-1 as well. The difference is "get in as fast as possible then file for AOS" (K-3) or "get everything sorted, then enter and be a permanent resident" (CR-1/IR-1). Two of the three available spouse visas automatically confer permanent residency upon entering the country, so my statement wasn't exactly incorrect or anything - as I said, I just should have written "immigrant" in front of "spouse visas". The K-1 visa, again, is technically not an immigrant visa (read the second sentence of the VJ FAQ on it, or the Wikipedia page, or the state.gov page on K-3 visas which is entitled "Nonimmigrant Visa for a Spouse (K-3)"), which is why it does not confer permanent residency. Well, also there's the whole thing that the government basically considers K-3 visas obsolete and just processes them as a CR-1/IR-1 application at this point.
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Feb 3, 2014 00:40
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Powerlurker posted:Well, also there's the whole thing that the government basically considers K-3 visas obsolete and just processes them as a CR-1/IR-1 application at this point.
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Feb 3, 2014 00:48
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I had qualified what I said with "Unless it's a new thing", and that's what it is. You could have just said that. I'm also very sorry for making fun of funny typos on a comedy website.
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Feb 3, 2014 03:26
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We just filed the I131 and I485. I'm a student graduating in May. Given the processing times, we don't have to worry about me getting kicked out right? Because we've already filed? Will I still get the temporary EAD within 30-45 days or whatever? I knew there was a backlog but my understanding was, even if I graduate, once I file they cannot make me leave. Please tell me I'm right!
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Feb 3, 2014 10:52
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Miranda posted:We just filed the I131 and I485. I'm a student graduating in May. Given the processing times, we don't have to worry about me getting kicked out right? Because we've already filed? Will I still get the temporary EAD within 30-45 days or whatever? I knew there was a backlog but my understanding was, even if I graduate, once I file they cannot make me leave. Please tell me I'm right! As long as you've filed the paperwork properly, you won't be kicked out (you DID file your I-130 with the I-485 didn't you? The I-131 is just for travel authorization while your application is pending). You will get the temporary EAD if you filed the I-765 with your other paperwork.
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Feb 3, 2014 16:38
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Powerlurker posted:As long as you've filed the paperwork properly, you won't be kicked out (you DID file your I-130 with the I-485 didn't you? The I-131 is just for travel authorization while your application is pending). You will get the temporary EAD if you filed the I-765 with your other paperwork. Yes, sorry, I always forget which is which. I'm worried we are going to miss our mail because for some reason it gets hosed up at this address. I'm wondering if I should change it now to my in-laws, just in case. Only, we don't live there, it would just be mailing.
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Feb 5, 2014 11:14
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How soon after applying to remove the conditions of my green card should I expect an appointment set up for an interview? If we need one that is. Our lawyer was pretty convinced that we'd need an interview done because we didn't have a lot of stuff in our names, together. We applied in September because my card expired in December and at that time the lawyer said the wait period is about 6 months. I've gotten the biometrics done, we got the letter for that shortly after applying. We also received a letter informing us that the petition had transferred to another service center. Should I still be on the look out for an interview request? I'm trying to plan a spring break trip and I'm just worried that I'll pay for hotels and what not, and then get the interview letter with our time booked for while we are away. 
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Feb 5, 2014 19:56
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OK, so I submitted the I-130 petition for my husband, but I'm impatient and want him to be here sooner than 9+ months. I'm looking at the K-3 application (here: http://www.uscis.gov/i-129f) for spouses and it seems that all I need to submit is an I-129, a copy of the marriage certificate, and a copy of the I-797? That seems too good to be true, what am I missing?
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Feb 9, 2014 02:31
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Baneling Butts posted:OK, so I submitted the I-130 petition for my husband, but I'm impatient and want him to be here sooner than 9+ months. I'm looking at the K-3 application (here: http://www.uscis.gov/i-129f) for spouses and it seems that all I need to submit is an I-129, a copy of the marriage certificate, and a copy of the I-797? That seems too good to be true, what am I missing? That USCIS is basically not issuing K-3 visas anymore and just processes them as IR-1/CR-1 visas. Plus if you were able to get him over here on a K-3, you then have the additional expense of filing for Adjustment of Status ($1070 plus expenses) that you don't have to deal with on a CR-1/IR-1.
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Feb 9, 2014 08:01
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I'm very excited! Yesterday I got a notice from USCIS stating that my case had been transferred from the National Benefits Center to the Nebraska Service Center. It says that if I do not receive a decision or notice of action within 60 days I should call customer service. Does this mean that they will probably make a decision within 60 days or are they underestimating their processing times?
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Mar 12, 2014 02:43
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Question about visas and visa waivers happening in close proximity. Here's the situation.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
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Mar 21, 2014 06:31
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Who is 'The HR guy at work'? If that is the company's in-house immigration attorney, you should probably listen to them because they are not going to yank your chain for no reason. If it is just the person that pushes your papers to an attorney, eh, ask the attorney that is handling your case? If there is no attorney and this is all done by some HR dude with no actual training, how much do they really know? Re-entering is very likely to actually mess up your H-1B petition. What is more likely to happen is that you could run into issues with your new ESTA entry if the immigration officer sees you have pending casework and gets confused/doesn't like it. CBP generally hates anything they see as an abuse of ESTA, and once you get kicked on that you can never use it again. And yes, that could complicate your future entry in H-1B, although probably not completely derail it. Here is another option for you - when your H-1B comes through, it will be valid for October 1. But you are allowed to enter ten days before that date using your H-1B, even though you won't be able to work. The idea here is that you probably need time to get set up before you start working. So you could always come in on September 21st and do vacation-y stuff for a week before starting your work. No issues with entry or anything.
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Mar 24, 2014 21:29
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Thanks for the feedback. The HR guy is just a startup HR guy with little to no training passing word between me and a lawyer, so I wasn't sure how much I should count on his word. And entering a week early isn't really an option in this case, I'm looking to specifically entering in late August for a week long event. I guess I'll weigh my options.
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Mar 25, 2014 04:35
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JOHN SKELETON posted:Thanks for the feedback. There is really no reason for this HR guy to be go-betweening with the lawyer. If you have the lawyers contact information, you should be able to reach out to them directly and have a conversation about this so that you can understand what is really being said with some crappy game of telephone. We do this all the time, because it is much easier to just talk to someone than run everything through an HR contact/filter. Only the sketchiest of companies don't want their employees speaking directly to immigration attorneys.
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Mar 25, 2014 14:40
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Possibly a dumb question: my fiance (UK) would like to move here (US). While we're working on the visa process and waiting for the paperwork to go through and all that, should we remain in our respective home countries? We were planning a visit while waiting but I'm not sure if that is a no-no or not. As always thanks for any help.
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Mar 30, 2014 12:21
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From a US immigration perspective, there is no issue with you going to visit your fiance in the UK. You can travel wherever you want and it's no issue. The only risk is if your fiance attempts to visit the US - the concern there is that the immigration officer might doubt whether they are really just visiting, or plan to enter on the waiver and then try and arrange a permanent situation (which they disapprove of). The sort of visiting you are talking about isn't prohibited, but the fact that you're engaged and immigration is already under consideration makes it harder to convince people of the 'non-immigrant intent' that is required to enter as a visitor. Unless there is a compelling reason for them to come to the US, I would stick to visiting them in the UK while the process is underway.
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Mar 30, 2014 20:15
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So we submitted all the stuff a while ago and first we got an appointment for biometrics on the 14th of April, then about a week after that we got a Request for Initial Evidence (I-485) asking us to "Submit a completed and signed form I-864 Affidavit of Support for the petitioner/sponsor listed on Form I-130 or Form I-129F. Even if a joint sponsor will be used the petitioner/sponsor must submit Form I-864. (The Form I-134 is not acceptable to use for Adjustment of Status.) Also provide copies of the petitioner/sponsor's most recent Federal Income tax returns. If you have submitted Form I-864, the version you submitted is no longer accepted. You must submit Form I-864 with a revision date of 3/22/13. All pages of Form I-864 must be present and of the same revision date. If the applicant qualifies for one of the exemptions on Form I-864W, please submit a completed and signed I-864W." I submitted three years of Verification of Nonfiling from when I was in Singapore/China and I went over the form around 20 times before putting it in the envelope, I have no idea what they want from us. We provided enough evidence to show we're over the poverty line and that we could also easily transfer money from China to here if we needed to.
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Mar 31, 2014 16:01
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My immediate reaction to that is that you may have filed the previous version of the form, which was outdated. When did you file, and where did you get the form? If you started putting stuff together well in advance, or pulled the form from somewhere besides the official site, it's possible you had an older version. Do you have a copy? If so, pull that out and check to make sure it matches this one. If you are sure you used the current version, there are a couple possibilities. One is that the I-864 was lost in handling, and the officer knows it's easier to ask you for another one than try and deal with that mess (this has gotten less common but still happens). The other option is that there was something weird in your documentation, and it just confused someone. It sounds like you were out of the country for the prior period, so you don't have actual tax returns. Did you include an explanation for it? Also, they might be concerned that you are leaving your foreign position to return to the US and aren't sure about your income here. Do you have a position here that you can document? USCIS RFEs are terrible, because they are almost always some stock language generated by the officer hitting a code, so they never tell you what the specific issue is. Instead you are left wondering if the officer is completely incompetent, or if there is some subtle problem you are totally missing.
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Mar 31, 2014 16:37
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Cuatal posted:So we submitted all the stuff a while ago and first we got an appointment for biometrics on the 14th of April, then about a week after that we got a Request for Initial Evidence (I-485) asking us to The Verification of Nonfiling letter doesn't prove that you weren't required to file an income tax return, it only proves that you didn't file one. You will also need to cite for them the specific grounds under which you weren't required to file a return (e.g. your income during the year was below the threshold for filing).
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Mar 31, 2014 16:45
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Ashcans posted:My immediate reaction to that is that you may have filed the previous version of the form, which was outdated. When did you file, and where did you get the form? If you started putting stuff together well in advance, or pulled the form from somewhere besides the official site, it's possible you had an older version. Do you have a copy? If so, pull that out and check to make sure it matches this one. Yeah the form is the right date, same as the one I have filled out on my computer. I was gone for three years and submitted three years of verification of nonfiling(s). I have two jobs and submitted letters stating when I was hired and how much I make, along with an account statement from my bank and an account statement from my wife's bank and a series of printouts showing how easily we could transfer money from China to America (maybe this is what confused them?) I wrote explanations on the back of all of the paperwork though. I've been Googling and it looks like other people have had more specific responses, like requests for proof of income or tax forms, and I just get this crap, which makes me even more confused. Powerlurker posted:The Verification of Nonfiling letter doesn't prove that you weren't required to file an income tax return, it only proves that you didn't file one. You will also need to cite for them the specific grounds under which you weren't required to file a return (e.g. your income during the year was below the threshold for filing). Oh wow, I didn't even know that. Do I need some sort of documentation for that or just my own explanation? Cuatal fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 16:46
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Cuatal posted:Yeah the form is the right date, same as the one I have filled out on my computer. My understanding is that you would have to use your own explanation. Are you sure you weren't required to file a tax return while you were living abroad? (check here to confirm: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Do-You-Need-to-File-a-Federal-Income-Tax-Return%3F-) If you made more then $10,000 last year or the equivalent thereof, you may have some back taxes to file.
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Mar 31, 2014 17:01
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Spoke to an immigration officer on the phone and they said the problem is I had no income last year which makes me ineligible to sponsor anybody despite having an income now. He said we need to find a joint sponsor that had an income last year along with their W-2 and forms proving they filed taxes and when we submit the form I-864 with the co-sponsor they have to add my wife to their household size.
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Mar 31, 2014 17:16
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In case I am way over complicating this the short form of my question is "what is my state of residence if I immigrated to the US by way of marriage to a US citizen?" He is in the USAF. We met in Canada while he was temporarily stationed there. At the time his base was in Charleston SC. I came to the US several times to visit him after he left Canada. During one of the visits we decided I would quit my job and move in with him. We decided to get married and did so in Summerville SC. I think this may be relevant as the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act mentions that the spouse has to have lived in the state they want to claim residency in before they married the service member and South Carolina is the only place we lived together before we were married. My husband owned a home in SC and it has now been sold. My husband is a Kentucky resident. He has a permanent address there. At one point he and I jointly owned a piece of property in KY, both names on the title, but it has now been sold. We are currently stationed in California. I do not have a CA drivers license, we do not intend to stay here once he leaves the AF we intend to move back to KY, I have never voted here. We live on a military base. I am a permanent resident and intend to apply for citizenship eventually. Up until now we have just filed income taxes jointly. I now wish to register a sole proprietorship. This is where I am getting all confused on. The business is completely online there is no physical store front. Which state do I pay taxes to? Summary of S. 475, Military Spouses Residency Relief Act,Public Law No. 11197 posted:1.Normally a worker will be taxed by the state in which income is earned. Federal laws And this is the part that confuses me quote:A state’s current statutes on domicile are not changed by the Act (except that it prohibits a state from automatically claiming a spouse as its domiciliary merely because she has moved there to be with a servicemember who is under orders to be in the state). Thus: I didn't have a state of residency before we got married, I was an Ontario resident. I apologize if I have misworded anything, I probably have. I should mention we've spoken with a military lawyer and he wasn't sure. He said if he had to guess I was a KY resident.
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Apr 15, 2014 03:38
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I'd love to help you, but this isn't really an immigration question at all. What the immigration service/process considers your residence has basically no impact at all on what you might consider for your tax reasons or other benefits. Immigration is all federal law, so claiming a specific state over another basically has no meaning. I would recommend that you speak to a tax attorney or someone who specializes in military matters. I know you said you spoke to a military lawyer, but it might be worth looking around for another one - it's not like marrying abroad is that unusual for military families, someone must have encountered that before.
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Apr 15, 2014 05:09
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Ashcans posted:I'd love to help you, but this isn't really an immigration question at all. What the immigration service/process considers your residence has basically no impact at all on what you might consider for your tax reasons or other benefits. Immigration is all federal law, so claiming a specific state over another basically has no meaning. Well thank you for taking the time to read the post  A tax attorney sounds like a good idea so that'll be the next step
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Apr 15, 2014 05:44
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Just to note, there are also a generic legal questions thread and a tax thread that you might want to look in on. I think that your question might end up being a little too specific and detailed for people to throw answers at you (especially the legal thread) but people might be able to give you some pointers or possibly where to look for an attorney.
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Apr 15, 2014 14:24
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Assuming permanent residency is the end goal and given what I've seen of the quotas, am I right that an EB-2 is easier / faster to get hold of than an H1-B? I understand that EB-2s are per-country-capped but not scaled to the country's population, so being from the UK it seems I'd be in better chance than someone from, say, India or China. I qualify for EB-2 as I'm a bachelors graduate with 8 years industry experience post-grad. Do employers have any preference as to EB-2 or H1-B? The costs don't really matter much as I'm willing to take on as much as legally permitted.
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Apr 15, 2014 16:01
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I have read your post maybe four times and I am honestly not really sure how to begin to respond because I feel like I have to go back to the groundwork of immigration to even begin. Ugh, ok, short answer: EB-2 gets you a green card. An H-1B, by itself, never gets you to the green card stage. Almost everyone who is getting a green card in the US uses the H-1B or a similar working visa class as a stepping stone while they are getting through the whole permanent residence process. Basically, even if you have a company that is ready to sponsor you, getting through the EB-2 process takes about a year, and during that time you have no basis to enter or work in the US. The company has to do all this work and pay a good deal of money while you sit on your duff in the UK. You can guess that there aren't really too many places willing to do this. What almost always happens is that the company hires someone on an H-1B (or other work visa) allowing them to enter and work much more readily. They work for the company for a while, and then the company can decide if they are worth sponsoring. If so, the worker gets to stay in the US and keep working using the H-1B while the whole EB-2 process is ticking over. If not, well, people end up burning up their six years of H-1B time and have to leave the US. Almost all employers prefer to start people on H-1Bs because this gets them working immediately, and allows them to evaluate workers before making any large/long term commitments like the EB-2.
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Apr 15, 2014 20:24
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Ashcans posted:I have read your post maybe four times and I am honestly not really sure how to begin to respond because I feel like I have to go back to the groundwork of immigration to even begin. Ugh, ok, short answer: EB-2 gets you a green card. An H-1B, by itself, never gets you to the green card stage. Also because H-1B workers are more tied to the employer. Companies don't want to go through the money and hassle of doing an EB-2 to have the employee they just sponsored jump ship after they get here.
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Apr 15, 2014 20:42
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Ashcans posted:I have read your post maybe four times and I am honestly not really sure how to begin to respond because I feel like I have to go back to the groundwork of immigration to even begin. Ugh, ok, short answer: EB-2 gets you a green card. An H-1B, by itself, never gets you to the green card stage. I'm aware H-1B is a stepping stone, I was using it as a shorthand for the full process of H-1B / I-485 which while more common seemed like a much more heavily contended route to a green card. Thanks for the insight into the employer mindset, though, they're all fair points even if I'm willing to take most of the cost on myself.
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Apr 15, 2014 20:51
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Arachnamus posted:Thanks for the insight into the employer mindset, though, they're all fair points even if I'm willing to take most of the cost on myself. Just so you know, there are restrictions on what an employee can pay for in the process. Most notably, you can't pay for anything in the PERM - all the costs of recruitment and preparation need to be carried by the employer. That can be significant in a metro area (required advertising for us regularly runs to a couple thousand dollars) and it only gets higher if they need an attorney. And really, they probably want an attorney, because it is ridiculously easy to mess up a PERM application or fail the audit for lovely, non-substantive reasons.
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Apr 15, 2014 21:03
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My wife finally got her green card and everything a couple months ago (she came here on a K-1 visa and then we married and applied for adjustment). I want to make sure I get what's next: as I understand it, for 3 years her permanent residency is conditional on our remaining married, and then after that she has to reapply for unconditional permanent residency and maybe we'd have an interview (which we didn't this round). Right? What about if she decided she wanted to apply for US citizenship? Also, with a green card, do we have to worry about special restrictions/re-entry issues whatever if we travel abroad? I'm not thinking of like, six months at a time or anything -- more like a typical ~2-week vacation.
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Apr 16, 2014 01:47
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:My wife finally got her green card and everything a couple months ago (she came here on a K-1 visa and then we married and applied for adjustment). It's 2 years till she applies to remove the conditions on her greencard. 3 months before her card is due to expire you'll have to begin the process of renewal. You'll submit anything that is proof that your marriage is a legitimate one, so basically anything with both your names on it. My husband and I didn't have a lot of these things because we are both students living with my mom-in-law and it's currently providing us with some issues with my renewal because we just don't have enough documentation. Things like life insurance, bills, bank accounts, leases, insurance, tax returns, w-4 form, are all things the government is looking for when you renew. You'll also want to make sure you are taking loads of pictures of yourselves doing things and being with other people. You most likely won't need an interview if you provide enough evidence when you submit. She can apply for residency after 3 years (it maybe a different months, but I think it's around 3 years) on the condition that she stays married to you during it. Without that condition it's after 5 years of being a resident of the US before she can apply to change citizenship. On a greencard you can only leave the country for 2 months at a time. There are special cases and visas you can get to extend that time, but I don't know much about them. I am also not sure about travel restrictions to other countries, but I travelled to and from my home country with ease on my greencard.
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Apr 16, 2014 01:57
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:My wife finally got her green card and everything a couple months ago (she came here on a K-1 visa and then we married and applied for adjustment). Out of curiosity, how long did this whole process take? Me and my girlfriend are hopefully planning on doing this in a year or two.
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Apr 16, 2014 03:31
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computer parts posted:Out of curiosity, how long did this whole process take? Me and my girlfriend are hopefully planning on doing this in a year or two. It took about a year from us sending in the application to her getting a visa. Once she was here it obviously wasn't as hard to wait but it was another 6 months or so until she got a green card. She got work authorization a bit earlier than that, though. squeee posted:It's 2 years till she applies to remove the conditions on her greencard. 3 months before her card is due to expire you'll have to begin the process of renewal. You'll submit anything that is proof that your marriage is a legitimate one, so basically anything with both your names on it. My husband and I didn't have a lot of these things because we are both students living with my mom-in-law and it's currently providing us with some issues with my renewal because we just don't have enough documentation. Things like life insurance, bills, bank accounts, leases, insurance, tax returns, w-4 form, are all things the government is looking for when you renew. You'll also want to make sure you are taking loads of pictures of yourselves doing things and being with other people. You most likely won't need an interview if you provide enough evidence when you submit. Sorry to ask a stupid question but do you need to apply for any sort of documents before you leave the country for up to two months? RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Apr 16, 2014 |
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Apr 16, 2014 05:36
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squeee posted:She can apply for residency after 3 years squeee posted:On a greencard you can only leave the country for 2 months at a time. Check the Wikipedia article on permanent residency.
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Apr 16, 2014 10:01
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If you anticipate needing to leave the US for an extended period of time and want to protect your status as a Permanent Resident, you can file form I-131 requesting a Reentry Permit. It's good for two years, and during that time it basically allows you to bypass the travel/residency requirements of being in the US. The first permit is generally trivial to get, and you can extend it for an additional two years, and then continually in one-year increments, but the more time you try to get the greater chance there is you will get pushback from USCIS about whether you are really intending to return. If you have a very clear reason (say you opted to go to college in another country and so you are going to be there fore four years) and a convincing argument for return (the rest of your family is still in the US, you're keeping up the trappings of residency) then you should be ok. You do not need this if you are taking a two or three month trip, unless you are taking so many of those trips you are spending the majority of the year outside the US. You will generally be fine if your trip is less than six months, but beyond that you may face additional questions and scrutiny for immigration when you re-enter. It isn't common for immigration to revoke someone's green card on re-entry unless they have done something like live outside the US for years without doing anything about it - if you make too many trips or a very long one, the officer will probably just caution you and tell you to get on the ball. If you keep screwing around, then you might see consequences. Of course, I also know of people who basically live outside the US for years, reentering two or three times a year for a couple weeks at a time, and never see any fallout from this. But it's not a really great strategy to rely on.
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Apr 16, 2014 14:20
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Well... I was thinking more along the lines of visiting my wife's family for a couple weeks off from work or something like that so I guess there's nothing to worry about.
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Apr 17, 2014 01:26
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So it turns out I'm going to be living in the USA for the next three years and going to school while working there. The school tells me that I should be fine with just an I-20 form getting across the border but that means entering with what I'm assuming is TN-1 status. Would it be advantageous for me to apply for a different visa type if I might be looking for less temporary work in the US? Would it even be possible?
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Apr 27, 2014 20:57
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If you have an I-20, that means you are going to be applying for F-1 (student) status. What do you mean 'going to school while working'? F-1 status comes with very limited work authorization - it is generally limited to 20 hours a week on campus, unless you are participating in Curricular Practical Training during your course of study approved by the university. If the work you are wanting to do is a full-time gig or doesn't otherwise fit into the above, you should probably be considering applying as a TN based on the work, and then going to school as a plus. But that relies on the position being TN-eligible. What work is it?
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Apr 27, 2014 21:50
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