biggish data

HELP! Who to contact about Exceptional Filing at U.S. Embassies w/o a USCIS Field Office

I can't remember the process for expediting an i130, but I would contact your Congressman as well.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-03 15:56:00

HELP! Who to contact about Exceptional Filing at U.S. Embassies w/o a USCIS Field Office

THanks for your help. I've already called them multiple times and they don't have any helpful info on how to proceed. I've decided to just apply through the Chicago lock box and attach the a request to expedite on the top of the i-130 petition

Hope it all works out and your Dad has a speedy recovery.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-03 15:34:00

HELP! Who to contact about Exceptional Filing at U.S. Embassies w/o a USCIS Field Office

613-688-5335, is the number for consular section in Ottawa, but if they can't help I'm not sure what else you can do.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-03 15:19:00

HELP! Who to contact about Exceptional Filing at U.S. Embassies w/o a USCIS Field Office

Exceptional Filing at U.S. Embassies or Consulates without a USCIS Field Office:

Beginning August 15, 2011, petitioners, who do not reside in a country with a USCIS field office, but who believe that their situation merits an exception, may request an exception to allow the Consular Section at the Embassy or Consulate to accept the filing. Each request for an exception will be evaluated individually.

A petitioner seeking to file a Form I-130 at an Embassy or Consulate where USCIS does not have a presence should contact the Consular Section to request consideration of the request for exception and explain the circumstances in detail. The Consular Section will then relay the
request for an exception to the USCIS field office with jurisdiction over the Embassy or Consulate. The determination of whether the case presents exceptional circumstances that warrant an exception to the general filing process will be made by USCIS. USCIS will be publishing guidance on the circumstances that may qualify as exceptional on their website at:
http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-3481/0-0-0-6254.html

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-03 14:16:00

Today is my 1 year anniversary

Glad you are settling in. I found it really easy to adjust, it's a little hard not being in the same country as family, but I have always travelled a lot for business, average 125,000miles a year so the extra to visit doesn't hurt. I agree that the wait for ability to drive/travel was a pain, but i was lucky in that i didn't have to change job.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-03-11 02:52:00

Best way to transfer British savings into american

I have always used XE.com for currency transfers paying maintenance and the like.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-03-12 05:27:00

Passport - UK to US and back

Yes its very illegal. Think if it fell in the wrong hands. People do it and I know of 3 different people 1 Nigeria, 1 Fraud One Russia tried and all were confiscated at customs and sent back to sender.

You are already at NVC which means you are within like 3 to 4 months of an interview you can't wait for him to get here and get his SS? The ITIN is really not for short timers. But take the chance from UK I am sure you will get through fine.

Nonsense I have to send my passport around the world for visas all the time. Courier is recommended, people have to do it all the time what if you are traveling to a country that doesn't have an embassy in the country you are in.

How do you think your passport gets to you in the first place if you apply for a replacement uk passport while living in the usa? Magic?

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-22 07:26:00

Transferring money from UK to USA - recommend transferwise.com

Yup we use xe as well send money the other way every month as maintenance payments.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-08-29 12:08:00

Visa's in hand!!!

Have a great day.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-09-05 10:18:00

Waaaaaaaiting for interview to be done!

Congratulations.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-11-14 08:40:00

Approved!

Congrats.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-11-15 07:53:00

Arriving at POE together

You can go through the visitor line, my wife used to do this all the time before we were married and travelled together.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-11-20 11:18:00

That's what got me about airmiles, I have loads and looked it up and most of the bloody fare was still to pay as taxes! I quite like BA and Virgin, flew American Airlines once and was not impressed at all, the cabin crew seemed to regard the passengers as an unwanted nuisance and the entertainment was from the 80's.

I always try to fly Delta, but most of my travel is booked by the company so it tends to be Air France or KLM, when i go to visit family in the UK i try and always fly Delta 231/230 through Amsterdam its usually Boston crew and they recognise me now. I fell out with BA a couple of years ago and won't give them any of my cash, but sometimes the company puts me on with them. Virgin are okay and now you get sky team miles with them. Also virgin don't charge an extra fee for unacompanied minors so my kids fly them all the time.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-01-22 10:29:00

Ugh those lines can be hideous. I started flying with Aer Lingus before they restarted preclearance, the last time I had to clear immigration in Boston it was the end of May, boiling hot and it took 3 hours to get through. Horrible! I've done immigration in boston twice once I walked straight up to the officer, the last time there was a bit of a queue but apart from "is this your bag?" I was asked no questions at all so I breezed through.

I should state that if anyone was thinking of using avios etc on aer lingus you have to ring up BA to book the flights. It's 25000 return I believe from Dublin to Boston plus about £70 in taxes which is amazing. Only downside is I've never been able to book the Cardiff-dublin segment using airmiles so I've had to book that on a different ticket. Sometimes the airport check in staff check you and your bags through to Boston, sometimes they don't, so it's a case of weighing up whether you'd have a long enough layover to check in again in Dublin if the worst came to the worst. I've always made it through ok

Thats a really cheap air mile ticket, we used BA miles to fly to Edinburgh last year and the taxes were still about $700 a ticket. We usually use all my miles in the US where a free ticket is still largely that.

I don't like flying BA but sometimes don't get a choice my next trip is with them but I still have a lounge card so its not to bad. I haven't been in Dublin Airport for couple of years so may give it a go on one of our trips to the UK my wife wants to see Dublin so its an excuse for a layover of a couple of days.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-01-22 09:47:00

I had the same problem with being sick of the journey to Heathrow. I now only fly Aer Lingus Cardiff-Dublin-Boston. It's easy to transfer onto your next flight, your luggage is checked through as are you. They DID stop preclearence at Dublin for the Boston flights but restarted it in October. I've been through twice and it's an absolute breeze because people go through it in their own time rather than like when a plane lands in Boston, every single person on that plane has to go through immigration in one go so it takes ages. It's also great getting off the plane, grabbing your luggage and leaving the airport rather than fussing with immigration once you get to your destination.

If you've been saving up airmailed with BA/AA etc you can enter your BA/AA loyalty number during the booking with Aer Lingus and collect some airmiles. You can also use BA/AA airmiles on Aer Lingus flights which is handy if you HAVE to visit but are a bit strapped for cash.

Good to know that they are doing it again Dublin airport website still says no. In the end to avoid the line in Boston Immigration I ended up paying the $100 for global entry which is so much faster.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-01-22 09:14:00

http://www.dublinair...eclearance.aspx

Boston is one of the airports where you can't pre-clear for

I find the problem with the Dublin flight is the arrival time one gets in at 4:15pm the other at 11:05, and at the moment the tunnel to the airport from the north end is shut, so its a pain to get to the city depending where your join of course. The Amsterdam flight with Delta DL 230 gets in at 1:30pm and is usually the only flight in the international terminal at that time so is really quick immigration. I use this flight 6-8 times a year, and use Paris or London the rest of the time. I don't use Air Lingus because of the lack of a major airline frequent flyer program, sky team or star alliance.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-01-22 08:05:00

Alien Number with K1 Visa?

A number is I believe the alien number you are asking about.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-01-27 15:57:00

http://www.parklanem...t/rooms-suites/ Ive stayed here before and its about a ten minute walk to the embassy or if you prefer chain hotels there this http://www.ihg.com/h...nmr/hoteldetail

its a bit more but you can usually get deals on it off season on expedia or hotels.com i've stayed in the holiday inn a few times its maybe 12-15 mins from the embassy those are the only two in that area i've stayed in that aren't a lot more expensive.

Edited by h13rma, 27 January 2014 - 02:09 PM.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-01-27 14:09:00

Depends on how much you want to spend theres lots of good hotels near the embassy but some are very expensive.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-01-27 13:02:00

Certified Copy of Passport - UK

They changed the requirements last year and Notarized or Apostilled copies of documentation will not be accepted.
http://www.irs.gov/I...Asked-Questions

The official word from IRS is here http://www.irs.gov/I...TIN-from-Abroad

The Instructions for Form W-7 list 13 documents that can be used to prove foreign status and identity. A foreign passport is the only one that can stand alone (i.e., establishes both foreign status and identity). If a passport is submitted, there is no need to submit any other documents. If a passport is not submitted, a combination of at least two other documents, with at least one containing a photograph, must be submitted with the ITIN application. The IRS will accept copies of original documents, if the copies have been properly certified by:
**the government agency (foreign or domestic) which issued the documents, or
**employees of the U.S. State Department located in U.S. embassies and consulates abroad
.

Thanks , I didn't know they had changed it.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-03 14:22:00

Certified Copy of Passport - UK

Does anyone know where I can get a certified copy of a UK Passport? I need this to file taxes for my husband and I in the US, but I can't send the IRS his actual passport which is what they are requesting. He needs it as he travels back and forth to France and we hope to have his interview in April/May which again he will need.

It says I can use a certified copy of his passport, but he is not sure where he can get that in the UK. He is located in Surrey.

Thank you!

http://www.thenotariessociety.org.uk

Provides notaries, but I believe it cost £130ish, or he may be able to use his lawyer, He needs to gent apostles certificate as well

I did have a friend a couple of years ago that got it done at the US embassy

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-03 13:58:00

APPROVED!!!!! :-)

Congratulations

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-18 09:38:00

We used to fly KLM or Northwest route BOS-AMS-EDI but the layover times on the way back are just silly now.
Amsterdam has a very clean, efficient airport with lots to do between flights. There is an art gallery, casino, shops etc.

I've tried Aer Lingus but it stopped in Dublin and Shannon before arriving in Scotland. I now now that Direct is not the same as Non Stop. I was shocked when we stopped for the second time.I felt like I was nickle and dimed for everything. I even had to pay for a cup of tea.

We now use either Delta route BOS-LHR-EDi or GLA or British airways but we are going to be trying Virgin Atlantic on the same route in July. The short haul is Little Red but using Aer Lingus planes.

I don't find the layover too bad if you get the 5:55 from Edinburgh then the 11:10 from Amsterdam just time for a couple of glasses of champagne and a shower in Amsterdam. The Paris connection isn't too bad either.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-09 10:48:00

I always book my husband on Delta or the Delta Partners (Virgin Atlantic, Air France, KLM). I don't know of a way to use Miles to partially pay for a flight. We have booked one way on miles and a return on a credit card. I guess that is a way. Most times though that is not cost effective at all.

You can't part pay with any of the sky team airlines. I always try and fly Delta, but a lot of my work flights end up being Air France, If you use delta a lot its worth getting their credit card, can rack up a lot of miles that way.

Sadly my next trip is BA so thats a load of miles I won't use. I refuse to fly them if it involves any of my own money.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-06 18:24:00

I fly with Delta from Heathrow to Atlanta then on to Gulfport, Mississippi. It's one of the few airlines that goes to Gulfport.

I also have a lot of miles. I think we are a little unlucky, as we cant earn the "dollars" in order to use our miles. Well that's how I've interpreted it haha

If its the Medallion Qualification Dollars they only apply if you have a USA address, I have deliberately kept mine as a UK address as my company tickets are booked with air france and would' count for MQD but I prefer the Delta sky miles club, I would have lost my Platinum Card if I had a US address even though I fly over 150,000 miles a year with sky team.

You will be able to book tickets no problem with your miles but a uk address means that they will charge you £6 a ticket instead of $10 we are going to Denver this weekend with my miles and it actually worked in our favour with the pound at the moment $19.63 including fee from card for paying in sterling, instead of $20.

The miles are grew for last minute tickets as they don't get more expensive, even if booked 3 days in advance.

If you want to use them to fly to Europe make sure your first landing point is outside of the UK, Amsterdam or paris then get a short haul connection to the UK. european landing fees in the uk are much lower than transatlantic, and the French and Dutch have much lower transatlantic fees. I think I paid about $250 in taxes let time to go to Edinburgh

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-06 09:09:00

Travel question after arrival

I fly Delta out of preference, I hate BA they made my wife cry the way they treated her the last time we flew with them and Heathrow is a disaster even with a lounge card. We usually use Paris or Amsterdam. If you don't know the airports Paris is confusing and some of the terminals are lacking in places to eat or sit if you don't have lounge access the lounges are fine though and the newest one is one of my favourite terminals/lounges around. Amsterdam is a really simple airport just a bit of a sprawl and it can take a long time to get to the gate from either the lounge or just the central arcade. I usually use my miles for flights in the USA as they are all around $10. When My son flies unaccompanied we have used both delta through Amsterdam and virgin, delta charge $100 each way for unaccompanied minor, but tend to be cheapest and Virgin will take an unaccompanied minor for no extra, but Virgin don't have a kids zone at heathrow and he ended up sitting with the checkin girls in there break room, admittedly he was one of the first to use there service. They also didn't charge extra to fly into NYC and out of Boston.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-02-06 09:02:00

China

As she is still a Chinese citizen and is traveling as such she needs to get visas as required by any other chinese citizen, which of course means, no visa for China

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-11-14 11:46:00

US Embassy and Consulate Discussion

red flags

It's not a definite no. MY USC wife got divorced at the end of 2012, Massachusetts has a 90 day wait before it becomes final and we got married 28 days after that. It was mentioned to her in our interview, and she was asked about her previous Husband, his name was Hans, she was asked if he was German but in fact he was from Michigan. In the end our interview lasted all off 15 minutes and that was mainly just ticking boxes, we left after 25 minutes with I551 stamp in my passport.

Edited by h13rma, 27 August 2013 - 10:05 AM.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-08-27 10:04:00

US Embassy and Consulate Discussion

Interview related questions

http://www.visajourn...complete-guide/

This has a post in it that covers pretty much everything you ask here and was written by people who have just gone through the process.

Your Visa will be in your passport, and you won't be able to travel till you get your passport back but it doesn't seem to take long.

It's worth taking some proof, photos or the like, just so you have something if you are asked.

London seems to be a pretty low stress interview from what you hear on here.

Your green card will be sent to your address in the isa after you move there.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2014-01-29 10:20:00

Could potential government shut down affect my POE this week?

Biometric tomorrow

USCIS website states all offices worldwide are open and functioning as normal, please keep appointments as scheduled. I would say from that, that you should attend as expected.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-10-01 12:31:00

Canada

No, immigration appears to be operating normally.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-10-01 06:36:00

Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion

What is next?

It is removing conditions but the window to do this opens 90 days before your card expires so nothing to do till 2015

http://www.visajourn...ontent/751guide

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-09-10 14:36:00

Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion

What to do with the old green card?

You could always just put the card in a mailbox. Or destroy it.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-09-11 07:31:00

Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion

Renewal of AOS I-485 and EAD I-765

1) Yes the green card counts as work authorisation so don't need to renew EAD.

2) you need to do removal of conditions when the 90 day window opens, you must do this or she will loose her LPR status. The window opens 90 days before the card expires by filling I751.

2B) You must file for removal of conditions she will then receive 10 year green card and can then apply for citizenship 3 years after granting of LPR status

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-09-13 11:30:00

Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion

Green Card Renewal

http://www.visajourn...ontent/751guide

If you married a USC follow this guide.

h13rma

Male

Scotland

2013-11-15 11:01:00

Hello everyone,

Today I went for my interview in Lawrence (MA) at 7:45am, everything seemed normal, I was ready to answer all the questions, paperwork looked good, but... when my name was called the first thing the officer told me was: " I am sorry to tell you but we will need to re-schedule your interview because your A-File did not arrive from the national center" . At first, I thought she was joking, and could not process in my mind what she was saying, then just got upset and asked for a supervisor. Obviously the supervisor was not able to help, since all my info was in the A-file, and they need it in front of them to process my interview.

I'm sorry for all this! What a headache! I hope they can get you a new interview ASAP.

I asked the supervisor a couple of questions:

1- How come the A-file was not there since my interview has been scheduled for over a month?

2- Why most the info on the A-file is not converted to the digital format (come on it is 2014, I am sure it would speed up lots of things)

He gave a couple BS answers, and I end up leaving Lawrence really upset, because I know it will take another eternity to re-schedule the interview

What a bunch of retards... seriously they could at least sent me a message a day before the interview, at least I didn't have to go all the way there early in the morning for nothing.

justar

Female

Brazil

2014-10-23 17:46:00

Congrats, I found some interesting on the web today( see link below), it perfectly match with your oath date, it might be a safe way to figure out oath ceremony dates here in MA.

See this Link: https://docs.google....4LgIsU/viewform

Congrats again!

Hi, acisco! I got your PM, you were totally right about the connection between voting drives and oath ceremony. Thank you for sharing. Good luck on your upcoming interview and I'm hoping we all can be in this next ceremony in November!

justar

Female

Brazil

2014-10-11 22:49:00

Yesterday I had visited the Lawrence, MA field office with InfoPass to enquire about my Oath ceremony date. They said mine is scheduled for Novemebr 19th and will send out an official letter soon.

I am soo excited.

WOW! Great news! Thank you for sharing. Probably I will be scheduled for the same day as you. Let's wait for the official letter! Hopefully we all be done with this by next month!

justar

Female

Brazil

2014-10-11 22:46:00

Hi everyone!

I passed the test! It was overall a very pleasant experience. I arrived about 30 minutes before my interview time and was called about 10 minutes after that. The IO was very friendly and the whole thing lasted approximately 20 minutes. In the end he congratulated me and said that I had passed and that I should receive notification for the oath in a few weeks. I had a huge file folder with papers and the only thing he asked was for my children's birth certificates and to make a copy of my passport.

My questions were:
1: Who wrote the Constitution?
2: What is the president's political party?
3: Name a state that borders Mexico.
4: Who is the commander in chief of the military?
5: Name 3 of the original colonies
6: What are the current political parties.

I had to say: Who elects the Congress? and write: We elect the Congress.

I also mentioned my traffic tickets and he said he didn't need to see them. Also that I had been "detained" at the airport one time while waiting for my CR-1, and he looked into that but didn't seem to be concerned.

Thank you all for your help and support!!

Congrats, alix!

My interview was yesterday. It took about 30 min. The IO asked the same questions from the form N-400. The IO asked a lot of questions about my marriage (I submitted only our tax returns) and asked me to present additional proves . The good thing is that I have in my wallet our health insurance card with both our names on it, but this was not enough, she asked for more bills,... etc. She asked if I can show her our car insurance to see our names on it. My cell was with me, thanks got, couse I thought to leave it in the car. I logged in to my geico account from the phone, she saw our names there and accepted this as a prove. At the end I was approved, and now am waiting for Oath ceremony which can take upto 120 days according to the paper I was given.

One advice to those who apply based on marriage: prepare for the interview 3 additional documents that will prove your matrimony!

Congrats!

I passed my interview! The whole process overall was pretty fast and easy. My interview was at 8:30 am and I got there just five minutes before that. There were around 6 other people in the waiting area when I got there. I was called at 9:50. The officer was very nice. We went over the application first to make sure nothing had changed. She asked if I drove which I found weird but since I don't she didn't ask anything else. I was worried she would ask about me never filing taxes but she didn't! We then did the civics part and then the english one. She told me I passed and I was out by 10!

Congrats!

justar

Female

Brazil

2014-10-08 18:23:00