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We got a case complete last night! Thanks Ashcans and others for all your help during this arduous journey. Now just have to get a medical and wait for my interview. Easy poo poo.
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Feb 6, 2015 04:58
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Ashcans posted:That's great! Congratulations!  I think I'm worried that they will discover things wrong with me then I won't be able to go..
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Feb 6, 2015 05:52
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If you desperately don't want to get vaccinated (which doesn't appear to be the case anyway) you can get titre tested, I did, not because I don't want to be vaccinated but because I was getting prenatal checks done anyway so they added that on to the giant amt of blood I needed to give up. v v
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Feb 6, 2015 23:08
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King Louie posted:Oh my god this is probably my fault that you're nervous! Don't be! You'll be completely fine! The doctor did tell me he found a slight murmur I think after listening to my heart for a very long time... Said it wasn't a problem though. It's not your fault at all! I was nervous before our talk, heheh. You actually helped me a lot! I have a better idea of what to expect now. I am just looking at my vax records now and I can't see a varicella one though I know I had it. The problem with being a doctor's kid is that some of your vaccinations and treatment get kind of "undocumented" if they're done at home, and also I think I had some vax at school which also wouldn't be documented.
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Feb 7, 2015 00:26
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But those tests take a couple of days to be run..
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Feb 8, 2015 00:55
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I got my interview  and passed my medical. Interview 17 March.
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Feb 13, 2015 05:10
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Ashcans posted:Congratulations on your lack of leprosy! The doctor was awesome, very casual (but not "too" casual) and reassuring. It's all getting very real now! In the last like 10 days we have had all the good news in the world and now I have a month-long wait with absolutely nothing happening, lol. Well, apart from, you know, getting ready to leave the country I've lived in for 31 years.
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Feb 15, 2015 01:48
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My interview at the Sydney Consulate is today. Max stressing! 
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Mar 16, 2015 20:28
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Ashcans posted:If they ask, you should not admit that you intend to enter the US for purposes of espionage or bigamy. They might try to trick you, kind of nudge and wink and say 'not even a little bigamy?', but stay strong. It's a trap. Lol Well we had some pretty ... Weird.. Thing... Ok so They said I'm all good except for my father in law (joint sponsor)'s w2 being missing. Except he is self employed?? We submitted his full tax return plus all schedules including schedule C. I didn't know any better so I just left but when I talked to my husband he was like "yeah that's not a thing" so all we can do is email them and tell them that? They also put "2014 w2" on the further info form but I assume that's a mistake because he was def talking about the 2013 paperwork. gently caress my life.
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Mar 17, 2015 06:47
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Ashcans, we only had my self employed father in law and mother in law, also self employed, who had filed jointly. NVC said all that paperwork was fine. I feel like this guy just is wrong? He definitely wrote joint sponsor on the sheet.
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Mar 17, 2015 22:32
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Ashcans posted:Yea, I mean, it's entirely possible that he looked through the paperwork and went 'ok, tax return, oh no W-2' and just didn't parse that it was a self-employed sponsor. I don't like to say it, but we get asked for dumb stuff that doesn't apply all the time. I would suggest you email them a copy of the notice you were given along with your documents and say, basically, 'hey, there is no W-2, please adjudicate or let us know if you want something else'. I said to the guy at the interview "well, he is self employed, so he doesn't get a w2. He's a self employed sole proprietor." and the guy looked at me simperingly and was like "well honey everyone gets a w2 ok? even if you have to give it to yourself" so I was like "welp ok what would I know I'm not American" but when I left and called husbo he was like wtf no, no just no and also no. So we both emailed them and were like "what do you want from us, we can't get a w2, it doesn't exist, here is the applicable tax law" and their response was "well then if he doesn't have a 2013 or 2014 w2 [WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT HE DOESNT GET ONE] you will have to send a dated letter explaining why". So obviously we did that but what the gently caress. Why are we explaining this to them? This is THEIR RULES which we complied with FLAWLESSLY. We called NVC after they got our paperwork and when they checklisted us they told us all the tax / financial info was absolutely perfect. We emailed them back with the letter, attached (again) his tax return and schedule C (though we did submit ALL schedules of the jointly filed tax return when we first sent them off and he had them in front of him at the interview, I also had copies with me). I am so deeply angry about this, our application was complete and now in their response to that email they're saying "your application will be assessed for completeness and then adjudicated" and we have no idea how long this will take, all for a mistake that is IN NO WAY ours. It's hosed, so beyond hosed, and maybe I sound like I'm overreacting but I miss my husband and I thought I'd be leaving next week and now that's looking unlikely and all because of something that's 100% not our fault. I would suck it up if it was our fault but it's their mistake and I'm loving pissed off. And it's not like there's anything we can do but wait for them to do their poo poo. My husband contacted his Congresswoman and her staff member has been amazing, she said she'd get on it but I mean, they have lots of stuff to do that might mean "I'll get on it as soon as I'm done with the 8000 other enquiries I have before yours" so it might be too late by the time that happens but at least she has been responsive and interested, she seems to think it's as ridiculous as we do. On the bright side, we knew it was a risk to book flights before we had the visa but the flight prices were going up and up and up, so we booked them. However the change fees are actually not so bad! So that's good. And I shouldn't have to delay by too much. Basically if the visa is in the post by Thursday this week I'll be able to go when I want to go, if it's not, then I won't, but I can't imagine it to be too much of a delay. Also to answer your question, both my husband and his parents definitely are getting their 2014 taxes done right now, though they shouldn't be asking for them since it's not deadline yet, but we're doing it just in case. Ray's (husband) will be tricky because he has foreign income having spent a lot of his 2014 in Australia, but his dad will still be waaay over, many times over the threshold so at least that's not a concern. SOrry for the rant. I'm so angry and sad and upset and stressed. I literally have a stress rash and can only sleep with medication and have lost 3kg wiewwwwww 
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Mar 23, 2015 02:46
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CEAC status now says "Ready". I assume this is good? Who knows.
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Mar 25, 2015 07:35
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Thanks Ashcans. I hope this means we are nearly at the end. To be honest at this point Obama could ring me himself and be like "your visa is totes approved I signed it off myself" and I'd be like "whatever bitch I'll believe it when I am in my friend's car at LAX now gently caress off". You know? Something I've been thinking about is thus: you know how spouses wait 3 years from arrival to applying for Citizenship, does that mean 3 years from removal of conditions (ie, from getting IR-1 (Ray and I have only been married less than a year so we have a bit to wait til then)) or 3 years from port of entry into the USA? Not that it strictly matters I'm just interested.
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Mar 26, 2015 02:30
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Ashcans posted:No, it's just three years from getting residence - so in two years you remove conditions, and then a year after that you would naturalize. Cool that is unexpectedly good news? This process has broken me lol. AzureSkye, please make sure you really want this, ok?
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Mar 26, 2015 04:36
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Visa status turned to "issued" sometime this morning then I got an email saying it's all good. I guess it'll arrive in the next few days. Knowing Australia Post it will arrive the day after I was meant to leave. Oh well at least it's coming I guess. I honestly feel weirdly numb and like I have just run out of feelings.
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Mar 27, 2015 07:20
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AzureSkye posted:Honestly the application for spouse doesn't seem to be anything over the top unusual to me? Also flavor I agree that there are probably way harder countries etc but sorry, this process is a total oval office. I literally got (temporarily) refused at interview because they asked me for a document that doesn't and can't exist so... yeah they sorta can just say no for whatever reason they want and leave you in horrible limbo.
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Mar 28, 2015 00:05
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lol internet. posted:So.. I applied for BoA Travel Rewards visa through my wifes name and was able to piggy back myself as a secondary card holder to start building credit now.. while waiting for my green card to be processed. Does that work? Getting a secondary card and building credit? I would think that that would only build credit for your wife (this is a problem I'm trying to solve at the moment too). I entered the country with a fully paid visa 3 weeks ago and still don't have my green card :|
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Apr 22, 2015 18:14
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Yeah TD Bank do have one of those but honestly I'm too scared to apply in case I get refused and that affects my credit rating, I asked the bank manager about it and he said though he didn't see a single reason why I would be refused, it couldn't be guaranteed. I just don't want to risk it, I feel a bit trapped! Also I don't want to hand over my money, dammit. 
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Apr 22, 2015 18:48
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What kind of visa are you applying for? K3 or IR1/CR1?
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Apr 22, 2015 22:36
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Ok so I just came out the other side of that exact visa. You have a very long and stressful ride ahead of you. Your i-130 is the easiest part of the process. This is just the petition to apply for the visa. First thing you'll get is an NOA1 - that tells you that they received it. After that you have a wait to receive NOA2 - which is them saying that your petition is fine and it's being sent to the visa centre. Some people wait 5-8 months for NOA2. I waited 6 days - there is some talk that when both people (petitioner and beneficiary) are outside of the USA, you get expedited. This hasn't been confirmed but it seems to be a pattern. This time also depends on which service centre you get sent to. California is the fastest and Texas seems to be the slowest I think, from what I remember. Pray for CA. When the NVC (national visa centre) gets your package, they will send you your case file number, invoice ID and a few other things like that. You then use the online system to send in your DS-261, which is confirming who will get contacted about your visa stuff basically, ie you and your partner. Then you have to wait for your AOS fee to be payable. While you're waiting, I suggest you get all your financial documents together. You can find out what you'll need (and whether you need a joint sponsor) on the NVC website - usually tax returns or full transcripts, w2s, all that jazz. Then when your AOS fee comes up to be paid you pay it, and send in your AOS documents (these can now be good quality copies not originals, thank god, we came in just before this change and had to send all my original documents) as well as your i-864s for your sponsor/s and all the other stuff you are told to send in. At this time you can also send your IV documents (civil documents (birth, marriage, police, military, adoption, divorce certs etc)) if you want, there doesn't seem to be any difference in waiting for the IV bill which is the next thing to pay, after which you complete the DS-260 online which is an ENORMOUS online form about your previous addresses, employment, family etc - have a look at a sample of it to see what you're in for. After your last scanned date (ie, the date that they receive your final set of documents whatever they may be) you wait 60 days for them to review those. Then, if you're all good, you get a case complete. If not, you get a checklist and have to do something again or send further documentation and it can't be overstated how stupid these can be - we got one for the most unimportant blank field ever! Then you send in those documents (ie by mail) and wait another 60 days for them to check them and respond. Rinse repeat. If you get a case complete then depending on your embassy (yes yours is Montreal only, not Toronto) you can either set your interview date or they'll tell you what it is. You have to get a medical by a panel physician before this. At your interview you can either be approved on the spot (majority of cases) or sent into Administrative Processing (this happened to me, through no fault of my own, it was 100% the fault of the interviewing officer who was straight-up wrong). I was only in AP for 2 weeks thank god, but we had to get our Congresswoman involved. So, beginning to end, sending petition to having visa in hand and leaving, was 9 months. That's not considered a terribly long process. We had a checklist which added 60 days to our time, so even if we did not have a checklist we would have been at 7 months. I hope this helps, I strongly recommend the visajourney forum, I would have hosed up so many things without that forum and all its wikis! There's also some very scary wording of totally innocuous things that you can look up and be reassured which helped me a lot. Good luck, vent much, be patient, stay strong. Sharks Below fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Apr 23, 2015 |
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Apr 23, 2015 00:26
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lol internet. posted:Thanks for the thorough indepth process. Hopefully I get a expedited NOA2. I plan on importing my car to the US so it will also be beneficial for me to sign up at that site. It's fairly full on, the guy who did mine was saying that they've had to crack down on genital exams lately because of a spate of people whose genders were... well the truth was bent a little from what I understand. But he didn't touch my actual genitals, he just did the 'palpate ovaries and cough' thing. I believe that some doctors do do the full genital examination but it's not too invasive especially if you know what to expect. It's mostly a LOT of yes/no questions, a basic vision test, blood pressure all that jazz. I would also recommend getting your vaccination records and/or getting up to date with what you need, because they can be expensive to get at the visa medical especially if you have the ability to get (some of) them done under your universal healthcare like I did in Australia.
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Apr 23, 2015 00:49
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Sheep posted:Guess we could send our collection of selfies of us taken with our cat and give someone a laugh. Yes because that's much less creepy than actual wedding photos? 
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May 6, 2015 03:42
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Powerlurker posted:Regarding processing times and RFEs, there are rumors that certain service centers (*cough*Vermont*cough*) like to send out dubiously justified RFE's when their processing times start getting too long so they can pause the clock and still officially stay within their targets. I thought Texas was the worst for that?
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May 27, 2015 02:24
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Powerlurker posted:All I know is that in recent months with I-751 applications, Vermont was spewing out RFE's while California was just cranking through applications (per VisaJourney observations). I've never had reason to deal with Texas. Yeah I was stoked when we got California.
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May 27, 2015 03:08
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lol internet. posted:Wooooo Good news I hope the next stage isn't too long for you.
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Jun 5, 2015 04:36
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Our local Congresswoman saved our butts, thank god she intervened for us or we would have been in AP hell following my CR1 interview in Australia with some loving fuckwit who didn't know the loving law regarding tax for self employed persons ffffffffffffff sorry still really sore about that. Took me a couple of weeks to get my SSN but my green card probably took 6-7 weeks. But it's here hooray!
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Jun 12, 2015 21:25
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lol internet. posted:CR1/IR1 petition. Our case was received in the NVC on August 6 2014 and I entered the US at my absolute first opportunity which was the 1st of April 2015. We had one checklist (RFE) and a thankfully-short though terrifying few day delay after my interview but apart from that everything pretty much kept a "normal" timeline so.. that's.. a thing.. I doubt it'll be finished by the end of summer but ymmv etc, Ashcans might know better.
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Jul 11, 2015 17:09
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Here is my signature timeline thingy c/ped from VisaJourney, I'm also CR1: I-130 Package received Chicago - 14 July 2014 NOA1 - 17 July 2014 NOA2 - 28 July 2014 [note: this is a super anomalous short wait at USCIS - thought to be something to do with both of us being out of the country?] Email from NVC with Case Number etc - 18 August 2014 Completed DS-261 online - 19 August 2014 Paid AOS Bill - 20 August 2014 AOS Bill shows "PAID" 22 August 2014 Sent AOS Package to Parents in Law for signing 5 September 2014 AOS Package scanned at NVC 19 September 2014 IV Bill Paid 24 September 2014 DS-260 completed online 25 September 2014 Send IV Package 26 September 2014 (from NH) IV Package Scanned 29 September 2014 CHECKLIST RECEIVED 26 November 2014 Checklist sent from NH 8 December 2014 Checklist scanned 11 December 2014 Case Complete 4 February 2015 - 192 days since NOA2. 171 days at NVC. Medical Appointment 12 February 2015 P4 Letter Received 13 February 2015 Interview 17 March 2015 - ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING?! Missing my joint sponsor's W2 which he DOESN'T GET, HE IS SELF EMPLOYED. Sydney Consular staff are useless and moronic. Congresswoman involved. CEAC Status changed to "Ready" 24 March 2015 CEAC Status changed to "Issued" 27 March 2015 Visa in hand 31 March 2015 - mere hours before I leave for Brisbane to fly to LA. POE LAX extremely easy and pleasant - 1 April 2015 Reuinted with husband at Boston Airport - 2 April 2015
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Jul 11, 2015 18:32
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lol internet. posted:Welp.. I hope the snow in the NE isn't too bad next year... I hope you have a better time! But from what I understand, mine was just about a golden run so .. :| Honestly, giving up on having a timeframe in which to have this completed made things a lot easier in terms of heartache.
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Jul 12, 2015 00:13
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I would call if I were you, we waited quite a long time for the written notification and when we got it was SUPER confusing!
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Jul 15, 2015 22:42
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Ashcans posted:Are you talking about the NVC? Because I have never heard of USCIS providing RFE information over the phone. AFAIK the first two levels of service can only even see that an RFE was issued, not what it was about at all. Oh sorry! I went back and read the post and of course he's talking about USCIS! Sorry - ignore me!
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Jul 16, 2015 04:38
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AzureSkye posted:So we had the most useless call ever with USCIS. The guy my husband was speaking to claims he can only see that we filed G-1145 and has no idea what is happening with it, and that we weren't sent an NOA1 because they can't mail things to addresses outside of the United States? He was also not mentioning the NOA at all until I told my husband to bring it up. That's garbage, we got both NOA1 and 2 in Australia in the mail.
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Jul 20, 2015 18:43
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Maybe I'm paranoid but that seems pretty risky to me, can you have your boss say that you're expected back at work and have it in writing or something?
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Jul 20, 2015 20:00
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:I'm not an expert on this, obviously (here I am asking questions), but I'd think you'd be better off working something out between your family members than trying to get him deported. Agreed, your way seems brutal. Maybe it's best to book him a flight home to see his parents and put him on it? Idk. If you don't want to do it anymore, as a couple you can decide that but I think having someones Citizenship (he's not a resident, he's a citizen right?) revoked is not even possible (as an individual, obviously) ... let alone reasonable. Anyway: can someone just clarify something for me? I'm sure this question has been asked but I couldn't find the answer and I'm scared of the actual information because it's so often wrong (IME): I arrived on 4/1/15, my green card says it expires 4/1/17, so I can start filing the adjustment of status to IR-1 from CR-1 on 1/1/17 right, then when can I apply for Citizenship? Is it 3 years after 4/1/15 (port of entry) or is it 3 years after my status adjustment to IR-1 is approved? Thanks in advance this is a dumb question I know.
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Oct 6, 2015 18:00
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Pig Head posted:He has permanent residency, not citizenship. I'm still learning the ins and outs of all of this stuff but I do think permanent residency can be revoked. I wish my boyfriend's family would be more proactive and realize what a lovely situation this puts him/us in. And I wish we could get him on a plane for him to spend time at home but the last time he did that, the brother stayed in Bosnia for about 6 mos and came back, only to be in jail again a few weeks later. The brother is incapable of making decisions about his life so I'm really thinking now that the family has to step up and help. Thanks for the replies! Right. I was confused because you said your boyfriend was a citizen but I guess his brother isn't necessarily. Apart from the usual "because he's family" reasons which don't really seem to be relevant here because you want him out of your lives anyway, why not just sever? Manifest Dynasty posted:You can file for Naturalization 90 days before the 3 year anniversary of your entry as an LPR, as indicated by the "Residence since" field on your card. In this hypothetical, the 3 year date would be 4/1/18. This assumes you are married to your USC spouse for the entire time, from entry to final Naturalization. Gotcha - thanks. So I file for adjustment in two-years-minus-90-days (as indicated by the 'card expires field minus 90 days) from port of entry and for naturalization three-years-minus-90-days from the date of entry. Thank you!
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Oct 7, 2015 15:14
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You have to provide proof though? I know on ours, certain figures from tax return documents had to be put in at certain points on the AOS forms. We could only be approximate for projected income (ie where the financial year is not yet over). We didn't need assets so I'm actually not sure about that.
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Oct 9, 2015 03:38
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If it's extremely important to be able to live in America I wouldn't risk it. Also being someone who waited nearly a year doing the "right thing" and it being really bad and sucky and being apart from my husband for awhile (CR1/IR1 visa, we had to do the 'official wedding' paperwork at a different time to our wedding too), I just think you should suck it up. JMO, biased, soz
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Nov 11, 2015 05:07
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I feel like this exact thing happened to me too and I have no idea what I did and it was like 8 months ago  I mean, you have a copy of the one you sent, right? Is it still in-date (less than 12 months from when it was issued)? Sharks Below fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Dec 24, 2015 |
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Dec 24, 2015 02:12
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lol internet. posted:I don't have a copy of what I sent. It was the original and it is still within 12 months correct. Argh. Always keep meticulous copies of what you send to them from now on. I think that's what they mean though - bring a new one with you if it's out of date. Ashcans might have a more accurate answer. I ended up having another one anyway because I only got a state police certificate and needed, or felt like I needed (the instructions for my state were ambiguous) a federal police certificate, so I had that one with me.
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Dec 24, 2015 21:45
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I have this vague recollection of the lady at the NVC when we called about this saying it was just a weird way the thing was written, and her saying something like "even though it says that, we definitely sent it to them so don't worry about taking it". Even so, I got a new one (a federal one, because I was worried my state one wasn't enough). You can literally never be too careful in this process 
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Jan 7, 2016 23:35
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