ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionAny recent approvals out of the Texas Service Center
I am having trouble finding the correct address for filing of I-751 in Texas. Does anyone have a link to this address?
Thanks
LDPlumleeNot TellingThailand2007-12-08 12:42:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionHow to prove relationship...
I assume that when you applied to the college you had to put down an emergency contact number that's probably on file somewhere ... maybe you can get something confirming that from the school.

Don't forget your three affidavits! Maybe you want more, even.

Photocopies of your driver licenses showing the same address?
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-06-26 19:13:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionForm AR-11



Thank you everyone, especially meauxna :thumbs: We mailed off an AR-11 today. (Didn't need to do an I-865 as my daughter was sponsor and her address has not changed.)



Denise



But the spouse is *always* a sponsor, even if the spouse makes no money and there is a co-sponsor.

<g>

Unless your kidlet brought you over. ;)


True, but if your kidlet brought you over, there's no need to file an I-751. ;) I mean, what are you supposed to do, prove you're still her mother?
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-06 23:15:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionForm AR-11

Thank you everyone, especially meauxna :thumbs: We mailed off an AR-11 today. (Didn't need to do an I-865 as my daughter was sponsor and her address has not changed.)



Denise



But the spouse is *always* a sponsor, even if the spouse makes no money and there is a co-sponsor.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-06 20:49:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionFiling I-751 - concern from AOS?

Thanks for the reply. I guess I should follow my instinct and send everything to avoid any further problems. I refer to evidence like earlier affidavits that are dated from 2004 and things like that. I now have new affidavits from different people but I guess there is no harm in throwing in the old ones too.

We are the same race and nowhere near the same age (25 years difference), but it had no effect on our interview. The interviewer was more interested in OH as he teaches at the college where the interviewer was studying. I'm certainly not worried about it raising any red flags anyway.

Good luck with yours :thumbs:


Oh, I'm not sending the old affidavits, but they're not technically required for AOS, so I didn't think anyone but me was paranoid enough to get them. ;) I was referring to copies of our lease, bills, bank statements, etc. from back then.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-10 20:18:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionFiling I-751 - concern from AOS?

I'm pretty clued up about what to send, but do have a query that is making me curious about my impending filing of the I-751.

When I had my AOS interview they asked for no evidence. Nada. They didn't look at anything I had brought along, and when offered to them as a nicely acco-clipped file they recoiled back and said "no way". I wasn't even sworn in, but we won't dwell on that one ;)

Now coming up to filing the I-751 I am wondering what part my AOS file plays in this, if anything at all? Is it completely seperate process where they won't even glance at past files? The reason I ask is that I am concerned (only a little!) that they will see from the AOS that there is no extra evidence, only the document stuff sent with initial filing. Should I be compensating for this in any way (by sending extra stuff that was intended as AOS evidence), or can I rest easy at night knowing that just following the instructions will be enough?


I'm not sure what evidence you're referring to, that would be AOS evidence but not I-751 evidence? Both require the same thing, proof of being married.

That happened to us, too, btw: we each brought a backpack full of stuff (well, each of us had one binder and one photo album) and they didn't look at a single thing we brought, except to take the Mysterious Sealed Envelope (medical exam). And we'd married while G. was here on a J-1 visa, so we've never had to prove our relationship. I have a friend who's an immigration lawyer, and he says that's very common in US/UK, US/Canada, and US/Ireland marriages where both people are the same race and near the same age.

I saved all my photocopies, so yes, I'm going to send all the stuff [or most of it] they didn't ask for at the AOS interview.

I know for a fact, however, that there is exactly one physical file containing everything you and USCIS have ever done together.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-10 19:08:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionNotary or just affirmation?

The difference in the case of the affidavit is that the statement at the bottom should either begin "I swear under penalty of perjury ..." or "I affirm under penalty of perjury ..." (I believe that the rest of the statement is something like "... that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.")



Do you mean that each of my letter writers should actually type this statement at the end of the letter?


Yes. Doesn't it say that in the instructions? It used to, or else it said it in a guide somewhere, or something.

Anyway, that's what makes it an "affidavit" instead of just being a letter: writing that gives it the same force and effect as if you were testifying under oath in court.

Edited by sparkofcreation, 12 July 2006 - 07:32 PM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-12 19:32:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionNotary or just affirmation?

It says 'sworn to or affirmed' so we have just gone by 'affirmed' which doesn't need a notary. I think the VJ guide is way out of date, and feel much safer following the actual instructions that come with the I-751 form.


:no: No. "Affirmed" has nothing to do with having a notary or not. Some people will not swear for religious reasons. Those people can affirm instead of swearing. Like in court they ask you "Do you solemnly swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" and you can answer "I swear" or "I affirm."

The difference in the case of the affidavit is that the statement at the bottom should either begin "I swear under penalty of perjury ..." or "I affirm under penalty of perjury ..." (I believe that the rest of the statement is something like "... that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.")

I find it amusing that usually the people who will not swear are (1) very religious Christians who don't believe in swearing and (2) atheists since "swearing" implies "swearing to God" (even though most places don't add that part anymore).

In any case, nowhere does the I-751 itself say if it needs to be notarized or not. But whether the affidavit is sworn to or affirmed is unrelated to whether or not you need a notary. (When I had my AOS, we did have our affidavit-writers get them notarized. I don't know if we'll use affidavits for the I-751, because we just moved cross-country, so the people who see us together here have only known us a few months, and the people who knew us best back East don't see us anymore.)

Edited by sparkofcreation, 11 July 2006 - 11:58 PM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-11 23:56:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionWHEN TO LIFT CONDITIONS?

It's in 2007, 2 years after your GC.


More exactly, it's one year and nine months (two years minus 90 days) after your GC. So in September 2007.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-16 23:13:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionRemoving Conditions
My husband points out that BF was a bad abbreviation. Best friend. Not boyfriend. Obviously. Sorry, but there were crying children here and I was trying to finish my comment fast.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-18 22:33:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionRemoving Conditions


Don't know, almost no one ever gets called for a Removal of Conditions interview. Have you been? I've only seen one person on this board who got called for interview and I don't think that person's interview has happened yet.



I thought everyone went. When I went to Memphis for my AOS interview, the officer said in two years I would have to go back for another interview to remove the conditions on my green card. He said basically, all I would have to do is show up with my husband. Standard procedures he said. Maybe its changed since then? That would be great if I didnt have to go for the second interview.


Err ... no. They call people they're suspicious of for an interview, and a random sampling of people they're *not* suspicious of, but the cast majority people get approved without an interview.

Actually my BF is visiting now and her husband was K-1 also, and their Lifting Conditions was approved in late 2004 without interview. So it's certainly not a new thing.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-18 21:33:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionRemoving Conditions
Don't know, almost no one ever gets called for a Removal of Conditions interview. Have you been? I've only seen one person on this board who got called for interview and I don't think that person's interview has happened yet.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-18 19:30:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionUnrestricted Social Security Card
When G. got the unrestricted card, he had to be re-verified as well. Idiots put in the wrong date of birth when entering his info back when he first arrived in the US in early 2004. So his birth certificate, UK passport. visa, and green card all had the correct date of birth, but the SSA's records were off by a day (June 17 instead of June 16) and so he had to be re-verified. Took about seven weeks to get the new card, but that counts the fact that we moved across the country and the mail had to be forwarded. (Which they did. I hadn't thought they would.)

It took twelve weeks to get the first card, so this was an improvement.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-18 19:28:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionWhere's everybody at.......

The wife and I were married in March 2004. My wife's successful AoS interview was in February 2005. For some odd reason my (then 19 year old) stepdaughter's AoS interview was scheduled on a different date in March 2005. So I will be filing my wife's I-751 in November of this year and my stepdaughter's I-751 in December.


I *think* that because your wife's and stepdaughter's green cards were granted less than 90 days apart, your stepdaughter can be included on your wife's I-751. If I were you I'd check that out--you may very well save the $205.

It's only if hers were granted more than 90 days after your wife's that she'd need a separate application.

ETA: Yes, here it is: http://www.uscis.gov...doi/remcond.htm
If your child received conditional resident status within 90 days of when you did, then your child may be included in your application to remove the conditions on permanent residence. Your child must file a separate application if your child received conditional resident status more than 90 days after you did.

Edited by sparkofcreation, 08 July 2006 - 03:15 PM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-08 15:12:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionWhere's everybody at.......
We were married in August 2004, and will be lifting conditions this October. Sadly we've moved from New Jersey to New Mexico, so we'll be going through Texas. (Boo!) The good news is that the Albuquerque DO is apparently super-fast at processing citizenship applications, when we get around to that step.

Oops! I'm an idiot. We were married in July 2004, it's just that we filed AOS in August.

There's not really much reason to post during that two-year period, is there? I post sometimes, but it's not like I have any reason to be on here all the time the way I did when I was going through the AOS process.

Edited by sparkofcreation, 29 May 2006 - 10:15 AM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-05-29 10:14:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionI-751 address


When filing I-751, what address shall I use? Local office or reginal office? Is it indicated on the instruction? How about the address change form? which INS office to file? Thx...



HI!
You should file the I-751 to the Regional Office . What State are you located at?
You can find out more information about where to file the I-751 according to your location at www.uscis.gov
As concerning to the Ar-11 Change of Adress form ,you need to file it to Kentucky.
Also don't forget to submit the I-864 Sponsors Change od Adress and one more Ar-11 Alien Change of adfress and mail it to the Processing Center .
You can also fine a lots of answers on your questions by reading the topics of this forum,as everything you ask has been already discussed here many times.
Best Wishes (F)
Sincerely


I've said this before, but there is no reason to send the change of address form to anywhere other than what's on the form, unless you have a case pending at that service center or local office. You can send it if you want, but there is only one immigration file (called the A-file for obvious reasons), and if you send something to an address it doesn't need to be, one of three things will happen: (1) they will throw it out; (2) they will have to request your A-file out of storage, and personally I'd prefer ours stayed where it is, since that's where it's supposed to be; or (3) they could create a duplicate A-file, and then for the rest of forever you'll have two and they'll have to wait on both in order to process your case. [ETA: A fourth possibility is that they would just forward it to Kentucky, since that's where it's supposed to be sent. Of course, if you sent it to Kentucky also, that means you've just wasted a piece of paper and some postage, but that's about all.]

If, however, you have applied for something that means that your A-file is already at the Service Center or DO, then there's no harm in sending them notification of your change of address. There's also no reason that you would have to use the AR-11 to do so, either. Obviously if they're going to be mailing you anything, you want to make sure it goes to the right address. But if you don't currently have an application pending, there is no advantage to sending the AR-11 anywhere it is not required, and several potential disadvantages.

I don't know why SweetGirl insists on constantly telling people to do things they're not required to do. She also tells people all the time that they're required to send a new police clearance certificate with the I-751, which is also not true, and frankly a bit arrogant: is the FBI so incapable of doing its job of keeping track of US criminal records that immigration beneficiaries can do a better job at it?

Edited by sparkofcreation, 30 July 2006 - 12:44 PM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-30 12:43:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionA question for those who have completed change of address

In the interim I have been typing away and have the I-865 ready to go in the mail tomorrow. I found a post where someone suggested to send copies of the AR-11's to not only the London, KY address, but the local office and CSC as well, and call the 1800 number and ask them to change my address, just to make sure everyone has it. Then follow up in 30 days. I think I'll do all of that because.... well.... it's the USCIS.


My understanding is that this is only necessary if you have a case currently pending, in which case you would send either a copy of the AR-11 or just a letter to the place where the case is pending (either the Service Center or local office). Otherwise only the AR-11 to Kentucky and the I-865 to the Service Center are necessary. In fact, if you send your AR-11 to a place that doesn't have your file, one of two things will happen: either they'll throw the AR-11 straight in the trash, or they'll have to request your file out of storage in order to put the AR-11 in it. Personally, I'd rather they left G's file right where it is until it's actually needed.

Sending the AR-11 to Kentucky doesn't change your mailing address; it only fulfills the requirement to notify USCIS of address changes. But there's no reason you need to change your mailing address if you don't have a case pending. Of course if you do, you should notify the place that's processing the case; otherwise, you'll just file the next application with the correct new address, and they'll send the NOAs to the address on that new application.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-15 00:10:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionA question for those who have completed change of address



"It is illegal to wait more than 10 days to send in change of address and you may be fined, penalized, deported, stoned, etc."


:lol:

Relax! there's nothing to worry. you already got the GC right? you don't need to file I-865 since you don't have no more pending case. only your husband (LPR) is required to report his change of address.


Whoa. Holy misinformation, Batman!!

The I-864 is in effect until the immigrant either becomes a citizen or works for forty quarters (probably ten years, barring any extended periods of unemployment), whichever comes first. (Or until the immigrant or the sponsor dies).

As long as the I-864 is in effect, the sponsor must file the I-865 whenever he/she moves. Same applies to any co-sponsors if they move. Better file it ASAP.

The immigrant is required to file form AR-11 until he/she becomes a citizen.

To answer your question, you won't get any confirmation of the AR-11, but they will send you an NOA for the I-865. We've done it twice so far (and hopefully won't again).

http://www.uscis.gov...files/I-865.pdf

When Should I Use Form I-865?
If at any time in the past you completed a Form I-864,Affidavit of Support, to sponsor an immigrant, you arerequired to report your change of address within 30 daysof the change if the sponsorship agreement is still in force.
The sponsorship agreement remains in force until thesponsored immigrant:
Becomes a U.S. citizen;
Can be credited with 40 quarters of work;
Departs the United States permanently and either formallyabandons lawful permanent resident status (by filing FormI-407) or is formally held in a removal proceeding to haveabandoned that status;
In a removal proceeding, loses the lawful permanentresident status that the sponsored immigrant obtained basedon your Form I-864; or
Dies.

Edited by sparkofcreation, 14 July 2006 - 09:57 PM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-07-14 21:53:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussionquestion about sending photographs

I did something a little different for both my original K-1 application and the I-751 we just filed.

I printed 2 photos per page on a regular piece of paper (no photo paper) out of my printer. Then I wrote a caption of where it was and the time frame (the pics already had the date on them though).

I printed them on regular paper because I didn't want to have to tape a bunch of photos to paper, or worse, just leave them loosely floating around the envelope. It works fine I assume, because they have never complained. It makes the paper packet much more manageable (the packet is less heavy and the pages are easier to turn) when you do it that way.


I agree; I don't know if I'll send any photos (and mostly they'll probably end up being "this is B with our cats, this is G with our cats; this is B. with her sister, this is G. with B's sister" and so on--obviously nearly all the photos taken with our camera were taken by one of us), but I'll probably print them on hi-res paper (works better for photos than regular paper, but isn't photo paper--it's mostly used for printing things like presentations that are graphics-heavy) and then either type or hand-write the captions below.

Having seen what an A-file looks like, I would say that if you feel the need to include regular photos, put them in an envelope so the AO (adjudicating officer) can punch it with a two-hole punch without damaging the photos.

Frankly, we're hoping that the fact that both of us moved together from New Jersey to Albuquerque (with two cats in tow) will be sufficient!

Edited by sparkofcreation, 05 August 2006 - 11:17 AM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-05 11:15:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionLPR after married for 2 years.
Yeah, even if they grant you the LPR you're supposed to file the I-751 one year and nine months later anyway. There've been cases of people getting deportation proceedings started against them for not doing so. There have also been cases of people filing the I-751 in this way and having it (and the fee) returned with a letter saying it wasn't necessary. I'd rather file it just in case than risk deportation, personally.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-09 18:53:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussionaffidavit letters a must??
That said, several people on here have been approved without them. While they are specifically listed as examples of evidence (and the fact that such detailed instructions are given makes me think they want them), there's no way some people could provide everything in the example list. (For example, my husband and I don't have kids and don't want them. So obviously we won't be sending birth certificates.)

I'm going to send some if I find anyone to do them; the problem is that we've moved cross-country, so there's no one who's seen us regularly together over the course of our marriage.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-07 08:16:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionWhen to schedule Infopass? How about name change?

sparkofcreation, thank you for the insightful info. where can i find "statute of limitatoin" by states to change name due to marriage?

i might as well wait fo naturalizatoin - since it's only 1 yr down the road afte I751. it would be a hazzle to change all credit cards, SSN, mortgage... twice between I751 & N400!


1. Usually the Civil Division of your local state court (District Court, Superior Court, Supreme Court if you're in NY, Court of Common Pleas if you're in PA...).

2. Why twice? Whenever you change your name, you'll only do it once.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-13 20:27:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionWhen to schedule Infopass? How about name change?

2. I did not change my last name to my husband's two years ago. Now I want to change my last name. Do i just put my "new name" on FOrm I-751, page 1 & put "used name" on page 2? All our "evidence" documents are under my maiden name for these years, so i don't know whether it will complicate things...To be safe, shall I wait till applying for citizenship and then change my name? Please advise.



Make sure your state will allow you to do so. There are three main ways to change your name (as a general rule): by marriage, by court order, or by naturalization. However, some states only let you change your name by marriage within a certain time limit after the marriage occurs (and if you don't, you have to do so by court order, or by naturalization if applicable). So if your state allows it, you can start changing your name now (including putting the new married name on your I-751) but you need to check first to make sure your state doesn't have a time limit to do so. As an added bonus, if your state allows this, you should be able to get at least some evidence in your married name (like driver licenses for both of you showing the same address, which shouldn't take more than a few hours).

If your state doesn't allow you to do so this long after your marriage, you must file the I-751 in your current name and change it by court order or naturalization (if you can't do it now, I'd wait for naturalization if I were you, but that's just my opinion).
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-07 19:23:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionAny possible impact filing unemployment claim?
Does she qualify? IIRC, she has to have worked four quarters not counting the current one or the one just before it (or at least, that's what New Jersey calculates your unemployment salary based on--80% of your salary for four quarters not counting the current one or the one before--for example, I got laid off in January 2002, and they calculated it based on my salary from October 1, 2000 through September 30, 2001). Was she working by April 1, 2005? If my math is right, the applicable quarters would be 2nd quarter 2005 through 1st quarter 2006 (April 1, 2005 through March 31, 2006).

Edited by sparkofcreation, 11 August 2006 - 09:44 PM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-11 21:42:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionAfter filing I751,what to do?

So it is 3 years if you are married correct? My example is that my wife and I have been married for 2 years this November and she has been a permanent resident for 2 years in March 07' so anytime after November 08' she should be able to apply for naturalization (citizenship) because she will have been married to me (a born and raised US citizen) for 3 years AND been a permanent resident for 3 years.


If she was granted her residency in March 2005, she will be eligible to start the naturalization process in December 2007 (three years minus 90 days).
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-22 22:56:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionOriginal Greencard Request from USCIS



H[size=7][font=Arial Black]
[size=7]

I;M BASICALLY SITTING HERE AND WAITING WITHOUT NO STATUS AND NO DOCUMENTS. : :innocent: :help: :(


No documents? Didn't you just say you got a letter (NOA-1) extending your stay for one year, work and travel authorized?

Nebraska is currently processing applications filed January 9, so I'd say not to worry for at least a month.

And by the way ... typing in all caps on the internet is considered the same as walking into a room and screaming your conversation at the top of your lungs. Just so you know for next time.



Thanks for the reply.
1)The story is that we have filed the I-751 on January 23 via express mail ,so you can track you mail online and it arrived there on January 26,2006 .
In a week later, sometime in the beginnining of the February 2006 i ;ve received a Notice of Action Receipt with the date of January,26,2006,where it states that my Conditional Card extended 1 year and work and travel authorized.
2) Then in a week after, i;ve received the yellow colour letter where they;ve asked to attach the Conditional Card to the botom of the letter and mail it to them.
So, thats basically it, as since i;ve sent the Conditional Card away on February,2006
there was no response from the INS.
3) By no documents i mean that ,i don;t have my Conditional Card with me anymore and
my Removing conditions hasn;t approved or anything yet...
4) We have sent a letter to them , this Monday with a question about my case,so we hope that they will respond to us and write something at least... UNSURE..
I'll end it here and hope to hear any interesting information from any of you guys. :)
Thank you.


Aren't you not supposed to write and ask about your status unless the date they're supposed to be processing is past the day of your application? As I said, the USCIS case status site says NSC is currently processing applications dated January 9, and you said yours is January 26 ...?

I've heard of it taking over a year (not recently) to approved the I-751 and people needing to go get a passport stamp, so I'd say you're being pretty impatient ... you have your NOA-1, so you have proof of your status.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-05-14 23:41:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionOriginal Greencard Request from USCIS

H[size=7][font=Arial Black]
[size=7]

I;M BASICALLY SITTING HERE AND WAITING WITHOUT NO STATUS AND NO DOCUMENTS. : :innocent: :help: :(


No documents? Didn't you just say you got a letter (NOA-1) extending your stay for one year, work and travel authorized?

Nebraska is currently processing applications filed January 9, so I'd say not to worry for at least a month.

And by the way ... typing in all caps on the internet is considered the same as walking into a room and screaming your conversation at the top of your lungs. Just so you know for next time.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-05-14 19:53:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionOriginal Greencard Request from USCIS
I've heard of lots of people getting that lately. Normally it speeds up the process?they can just send you a new 10-year card instead of you having to go in person to hand over the old one. In other words, scary as it sounds, it's a *good* thing. Just make sure you make copies of the card and the letter to have on hand.

Edited by sparkofcreation, 24 April 2006 - 06:59 PM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-04-24 18:58:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionWhy No Date
That is weird.

No, I don't actually know why the processing date has disappeared; I just wanted you to know that you weren't hallucinating!
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-28 19:39:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionCondition removed....from Vermont Service Center...


Congratulations!!

We changed addresses twice, filed the required forms but surprisingly have received no confirmation at all. It has been more than a year since we changed the first time and more than 3 months since we changed the second time.

The reason I am bringing this issue up is because of your timeline which indicates that you received your NOA rather fast. Is this only a Vermont thing, or does the acknowledgement receipt for change of addresses has nothing to do with the NOA for the I-751?


Kezzie,

Actually, I was talking about the AR-11 and the I-865, for which I received no confirmation at all. Meauxna cleared the confusion, and she is right. After a month of filing the change of address forms, USCIS sent me some information in the mail, and it was sent to the very first address that I had provided to them, long back when I was still in India, while preparing the paperwork for the Consular interview.

As far as the I-751 is concerned, we are still a good 5 months away from filing that form.


We have moved twice since G's AOS was approved. Both times we received an NOA for the I-865 (the first time from Vermont, second from Texas) and neither time did we receive one for the AR-11. My understanding is that's normal?i.e. everyone gets one for the I-865 and no one gets one for the AR-11. Our NOA for the I-865 took a couple of weeks both times.

What information did USCIS have to send you? :huh: It seems sort of dumb to send an immigrant stuff to their address overseas after you've given them a visa to come to the US!

I don't know why you need to change your address at all?I was planning to just have my husband file the I-751 with the latest address on it. Since it's going to Texas, they're hardly going to start sending stuff to New Jersey, which is outside their jurisdiction.

Edited by sparkofcreation, 30 August 2006 - 12:14 AM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-30 00:14:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionMaiden Name and Married Name Dilemma

Hello all!!....It's been 2 years since my last post and I see this forum is as active and helpful as ever.

I will be applying for lifting of conditions for my wife's greencard on Sept 10th (Greencard expires Dec. 9th).

Here's the problem (in my head atleast!) :

Her greencard is in her MAIDEN name as is her passport ---- we havent changed that since she got it.

EVERYTHING ELSE including her social security card and every last shred of evidence is in her married name.

1. Will this be an issue?
2. Should I just file the I 751 using her maiden name (since thats on the greencard and original petition) and hope that the geniuses at the INS will figure out that its the same person in all the evidence?
3. Should I apply to have her name changed in the greencard to her married name?

My hope is that I can get conditions lifted and then chage the name in her green card.

Any advice/insight/experiences will be highly appreciated.


PS: Any idea about the processing times for the Nebraska center?

Thanks!!

matt


Doubt it will be a problem, AFAIK USCIS isn't quite incompetent enough to be unable to connect the dots. ;)

Why would you want to wait to change her name until after the 10-year green card is issued? Why deal with the hassle of USCIS more times than you have to? Just put the correct name on the green card application--there's a space for her maiden name on the application as well.

And why all this talk of you filing the I-751 and you having her name changed? It's her petition (you have to sign it, but it's her petition) and her name (which neither you nor anyone else could change even if you tried). Sheesh. Do you even live in a state where she'd be required to file to have her name changed legally? I mean, it sounds to me like she's already changed it, just that the green card was issued in the maiden name.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-30 00:07:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionLOL My Saga Continues

For those that remember my case, I was issued a 2 year conditional card after my 2nd wedding anniversary back in 2002. Tried to fight my local immigration office to have this card made into a 10 year card and they wouldn't do it. This year I applied to have conditions removed through Nebraska only to be told that I was issued a 2 year card in error initially. I got an I-90 to fill out, sent me and my son's 2 year cards back to Nebraska along with the original letter Nebraska sent to me saying we were issued two year cards in error. Nebraska received my package June 13.

Well today I get a I-797 Notice of Action from Nebraska, Notice Type: Welcome Notice.

Down below it states that my application is being processed or permanent residency. If approved a permanent residence card will be mailed directly to me from the Immigration Card Facility. If I don't hear anything from them in 30 days, I'm to call......

Ok is this a normal letter for a card that was only supposed to get changed from a 2 year to a 10 year card because the original one was issued in error?

I can hardly wait to apply and receive citizenship to get beyond all this nonsense. It's been a fun ride so far. We apply in April 2007. By the time we get this 10 year card which we should have gotten back in July 2002, me and my son will probably have already received citizenship.

In the meantime I had already gone in to our local immigration office to get a 1 year extension for me and my son.


I assume it's a standard letter they send to everyone who's applying for a 10-year card. Though it is weird that it says "Welcome notice."
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-09-09 16:04:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionMy husband is an idiot

Not true, I live in Albuquerque and we had the PNM (electric and gas bill) in both of our names, during the time we were married...
...

PS: When you go for your AOS interview you may not want to tell the USCIS officer that "my husband is an idiot" as part of the verification of your marriage... ya think??


Maybe that's an old policy, then, because PNM refused point-blank to put the bill in both our names when we moved here in February, despite demanding both our SSNs to open the account. (G says he'll call again and see if the customer service person he talked to that said no was just completely inept.)

Frankly, I think the fact that he moved from New Jersey to Albuquerque with me would be given far more weight than the fact that I call him an idiot.

Edited by sparkofcreation, 15 September 2006 - 07:12 PM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-09-15 19:11:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionMy husband is an idiot

Hi!
I would suggest you to send what u have plus your hudsand mother can write a letter about you as my husbands mother did by hand and its a strong piece of evidence . to show that the mom knows u guys.
If his mothers handwrtiting is not clear u should type it on computer and verify that the translated information is true and correct .
You should defenetely submit the photos.
Write and explanation to each piece of evidence u have doubt to submit as the page 3 somewhere an etc...
if your drivers licenses indicate the same adress ,would be not a bad idea to submit it ,plus the car insurances on both names,car ownerships,lease or homeonwerships agreements ,any recreational center mameberships on both names,credit cards statemenets on both names and etc....
I am sure you will be able to find a plenty evidence u need just think about it.


Seeing as how I'm the USC, I doubt that they care much what Gareth's mother thinks of me. In any case, both our mothers (1) can use a computer and (2) speak English (in fact, they're both English teachers). My concern with having my mom do an affidavit is that we haven't seen her in seven months because we've moved cross-country. She may be coming to visit about the time we have to submit the application, but that's up in the air (she was supposed to visit in November, before that she was supposed to visit in August, now it looks like mid-October ... maybe).

I think I covered the rest of your suggestions in my original post, except that we don't belong to any clubs together. Well, except a book club.

Poor Gareth! Don't beat him up too much. :)

I think you can safely send your middle pages of bank statements. You could also look and see if you can reprint your statement page from your online account. It won't be all of them, but some.

DO order your tax transcript for the missing year.

Costco, gym membership, bowling league? Other stuff like that shows you have a joint social life as well as financial.

Mail or bills that are addressed to only one of you are OK; if you have some and he has some and they both have the same address, it proves the same point. You don't have to be jointly responsible for all things.

Saying that, I'm happy to say that we just took out a big fat loan that is finally in both names! Woohoo! He's on the hook! ;)


We do have the cover pages from some of the earlier statements—just not since we bought the shredder (about a year ago).

I'm holding out hope we'll find the actual 2004 returns. I mean, I have neat folders for 2001, 2002, 2003 (those were the ones I needed for the I-864), a folder of supplemental documents for 2004, and a 2005 folder. So the actual 2004 returns must be around somewhere, right?

We don't have any memberships except one for Colonial Williamsburg that expired about a year ago. I think we might copy the front page of PNM (Power New Mexico) bills and ... I hate it when words come to me in Spanish and block the English ones ... err, stick them in with the T-Mobile bills alternating them so each month is together.

We're planning to buy a house next year, but so far, no joint debts.

Edited by sparkofcreation, 12 September 2006 - 07:19 PM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-09-12 19:25:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionMy husband is an idiot
Unfortunately, after I'd spent most of yesterday afternoon copying leases and car insurance policies and stuff, when I asked my husband if he could spend today [he's not working ATM] photocopying the first page of our bank statements ... he said "Oh, I've been shredding the first page of every statement because it has too much identifying information on it." :o

Now, on p. 3 of each statement, there is a tiny note of who has access to the account (with both our names), but will it be a problem to send them the center part of the statement instead of the cover sheet? In other words, will they find it suspicious that we send page 3 of every statement?

Unfortunately, we don't have any joint bills since we moved to Albuquerque, since all our new utility companies (electric/gas, cable/Internet, cell phones, and VoIP phone) forbid putting bills in multiple names; also, my new job's health insurance only puts the primary insurance holder's name on the card so we no longer have insurance cards with both names.

So before last February, we have leases, car insurance policy (the car itself is in my name alone since I've had it since before we got married and I'm still paying it off), electric/gas bills, cell phone bills, health insurance cards, credit cards (we're authorized users on each other's cards), and driver licenses.

Since February, we only have our lease, car insurance, and credit cards and driver licenses. Oh, and our 2005 tax returns (we can't find the 2004 ones).

We do, in both cases, have the bank statements, so if those don't raise more questions than they answer, I'd like to use them. But to me it looks pretty weird. :huh:

We're not planning to submit affidavits, since there's almost no one who's seen us together both before and after we moved. We do have miscellaneous stuff like thank-you cards for wedding presents and birthday cards from each other's families (e.g. from my mom to him, from his mom to me), but almost all of those are un-dated. And we have some photos but I don't know if they're worth sending.

(Our application date is still a month off, but we'll have people visiting for most of that time, so we'd like to get as much done before they get here as possible.)
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-09-11 19:23:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussionwhen to apply for I-751
1. No, you should not apply to remove conditions from your residency, because you haven't been granted residency yet.

2. As someone said above, if I were you, at this point I'd be hoping my AOS wasn't granted until after the two-year anniversary of my marriage.

3. That said, have you considered getting your Congresspeople involved? It seems like it's been nearly a year since you last had any information on your case, is that right?
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-09-16 11:55:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionWorth doing a designation of beneficiary?



B, I don't see the point---sounds like the designation would be if you wanted the money to go to someone *other* than your spouse.


Right, that would be the primary reason to do one, but the advantage would be that instead of saying "Bethany has a life insurance policy, the beneficiary is her spouse if any" it would say "Bethany has a life insurance policy, the beneficiary is her husband Gareth."

Yeah, I'm with you. Now you have two pionts to weigh against each other: Value of the evidence vs hassle of getting it. :P


It actually turned out that I was able to get our HR person to explain to me how to fill out the form (it wanted to know my "Department, Bureau, Division, Location" and all I was sure of was the last one!) and two HR people were able to witness my signature (I'd thought when I posted that I had to find two witnesses on my own) and so it wasn't that much of a hassle after all. We'll see if the paperwork comes through in time, but at least I have copies of the application.

I hope it makes people feel somewhat better to know that working for the federal government is just as much hassle as dealing with immigration ... and yes, our fingerprint checks take just as long to complete.

Just a thought - if you have a checking/savings/cd just in your name you can put a benficiary on those really easily - it's called a POD - Payment on death

You'd have a copy of the forms as evidence


Not really. We each have a personal checking account that we keep minimal amounts of money in for our personal, none-of-your-business-if-I-want-to-buy-something-expensive-with-my-money use, but mainly we use our joint checking and savings accounts. (The problem with those is the subject of the other post I linked to.)

Edited by sparkofcreation, 21 September 2006 - 10:50 PM.

sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-09-21 22:50:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionWorth doing a designation of beneficiary?

B, I don't see the point---sounds like the designation would be if you wanted the money to go to someone *other* than your spouse.


Right, that would be the primary reason to do one, but the advantage would be that instead of saying "Bethany has a life insurance policy, the beneficiary is her spouse if any" it would say "Bethany has a life insurance policy, the beneficiary is her husband Gareth."
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-09-20 19:01:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionWorth doing a designation of beneficiary?
I posted here: http://www.visajourn...showtopic=31513 about my lack of evidence since moving cross-country--we no longer have joint utilities or joint health insurance cards.

Today I asked my HR person for a letter showing who was the beneficiary of my job's life insurance and pension. She emailed me back that I hadn't filled out a designation of beneficiary form yet (I thought I had, I know G. had to sign a bunch of stuff when I took the job), but if I wanted, she could write me a letter saying that my life insurance would be distributed in the normal order of precedence, which would be the first of 1. spouse (if any), 2. children (if any), 3. parents (if living) ... and so on.

Doing an actual designation-of-beneficiary form could take up to a month (and is a huge hassle involving filling out multiple copies of forms, signing in front of witnesses, etc.), and even if I do one, I'll only have just now done one, if you know what I mean.

My question is, do you think that a letter saying that my life insurance will go to my spouse is enough, or should I do a designation-of-beneficiary form, or should I not bother?
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-09-19 20:59:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General DiscussionWorking OFF THE BOOKS.
Is it actually illegal for the OP if *she* pays taxes but her employer doesn't? I don't know, I'm just wondering. I'm a translator and I do a bazillion small jobs for different people and I'm sure they don't report to the IRS, but I always keep track and pay taxes. But then again I'm not working full-time for any of those people, at the most they might give me three or four jobs at $40-$100 a pop over the course of a year.
sparkofcreationFemaleUnited Kingdom2006-08-29 19:24:00