biggish data

Thanks you once again

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-13 14:43:00

No, let the petition runs its course with her maiden name. When you submit the visa application, that is when I would include her naturalization certificate, marriage certificate, and maybe her new US passport to show that the name being used on the visa application is from the same petitioner and that petition has been approved.

Dave

I see, but we would be sending it in so they can bump up her petition from F2a ti CR1, because she is a perm resident., its likely she will get her citizenship before our priority date becomes current. Hence wondering if it will cause confusion.

Thanks a million

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-13 14:27:00

Change her last name now with the N-400. She filed a petition for you. Once the petition is approved it is all about you and you getting the visa. If there are any questions, she can use her new passport and her marriage certificate to show that she if one and the same person. I always say to live your life as you see fit and not let the USCIS dictate simple life decisions.

Good luck,

Dave

Thanks a lot, so when she gets her citizenship approved and her US passport or Naturalisation cert, she will send these in to USCIS to upgrade the petition? should she send the marriage cert with a note saying she took my name? but they should be able to deduce from the naturalisation cert, she is the same person due to her alien number being on it?

I appreciate I may be looking into this too much

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-13 14:21:00

Hello all,

My wife is a permanent resident who has petitioned for me to live in the US with her. She will be sending her N-400 papers in the coming months. Could she change her last name to my last name, or do you reckon that would mess things up for the exsisting petition.

It would make life easier for us in the sense that she could get her US passport with her new last name on it, and be able to change the rest of her document easily, whereas if we do it later, it could be a bit more work.

Any advice, stories, guidance etc?

Many Thanks,

Tim

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-13 14:10:00

waiting 2 months no oath ceremony

Sorry to ressurect the dead - however some posters here implied going for the name change on the N-400 could increase the time waiting before you take the oath at the west palm beach office - is this true, we want to get my wifes citizenship done as fast as possible, so should we just leave the name change until after everything? Thanks

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-18 11:36:00

IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

NVC Filers - May 2014

Newbie here to the NVC side of thing, so will read through the thread, has been very helpful so far..

Just got my NOA2 yesterday, after 15 days, must be some sort of a record, now hoping the NVC can be super fast too

Newbie here to the NVC side of thing, so will read through the thread, has been very helpful so far..

Just got my NOA2 yesterday, after 15 days, must be some sort of a record, now hoping the NVC can be super fast too

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-05-01 04:44:00

IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

Congrats! I hope mine is so fast! I miss my husband a lot! It looks like they are processing so fast I really hope its the same for everyone's!

Oh thank you, I am sure it will be just pray!!

I miss my wife a lot also...

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-05-01 08:04:00

IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

I know my petition is an F2A, but you guys may be interested in the timeline, just got word of an NOA2, that was 15days after the NOA1, CSC, that is crazy fast, we are truly blessed, now we just have to wait for my wifes citizenship

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-05-01 01:06:00

IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

Hi everyone,

I filed an I-130 petition for my husband from abroad on 4/18/2014. Today I received my email notification that they received the petition on 4/21/2014. Is this the same as my NOA1 date? I will have to wait for the paper copy to be sure.

My petition was routed to the California Service Center. I see a couple of people who filed from abroad this month got amazingly quick approvals through California, so I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed!

Yeah thats you NOA1! In the same position as you too, I got the email, but waiting on the hardcopy, hopefully it will be a fast process for us both through CSC

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-24 05:13:00

IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

I recieved and email today, which is great news, we have been transferred to the California Service Center, which I believe is processing quite quickly atm for F2A applications! I checked on the case tracker and it says:

On April 15, 2014, we received this I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN, and mailed you a notice describing how we will process your case.

Does this mean April 15 is our NOA1? and our priority date?

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-18 09:13:00

IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

My hubby is in CA and our petition was routed to nebraska, so i guess it can go anywhere.

Interesting to hear, thanks for letting me know.

Here is hoping all of us get approved nice and quickly

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-17 12:34:00

We sent ours on the 12th of April, its been delivered to the Phoenix lockbox, so we hope to get an NOA1 soon - we have signed up for electronic communication, so I dont know when we get that, hopefully tomorrow or monday, and the hard copy not too long after.

We're in Florida, so our petition goes to Texas right? or can it go anywhere?

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-17 11:41:00

Ugh, having no luck with the presents angle :/ - got a print screen of an order I made online for flowers to be delivered to her work, has her name and the date on it, and the amount of flowers, will definitely include that.

I was also thinking, she sent me a heap of card, I could photocopy them? though, all the cards I sent her are in the states, so cant get to them - is it ok, just sending in copies of the cards she sent me (eg valentines, birthday, random i love you's) ?

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-02-09 14:40:00

Thinking back i'd include the FB Friendship page screenshot (where it shows A and B were friends since... mutual friends C and D, etc). Maybe a screenshot of all e-mails received from B with counter of how many e-mails are there from this person all in all. Maybe gift receipts? Like when you buy a birthday present online and have it shipped to them? Stuff like that.

We had some really good evidence for our case, like copies of powers of attorney for each other to take medical decisions and buy property, then we were in process of buying an apartment together, so also showed that. Did family affidavits, but i don't think it mattered that much.

Thanks a lot, I will try get a screeshot of when we first came friends on facebook, though I have a screenshot of our first message ever sent on another website we met on. I'll look for gift receipts too! thank you! So shouldnt really need to send in messages etc

though with the presents, will it really be that nessecary because it doesnt have her name on it, could have been buying them for my sister, etc

Edited by tim131, 09 February 2014 - 02:34 PM.

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-02-09 14:33:00

Well, we didn't have even 1 hotel bill. Anyway, passport stamps matter more than tickets (can buy and not use?) - i'd match passport stamps with tickets e-mail printout to show trips.

Brilliant thanks, we will but them both together, and match the dates together!

As for the facebook and skype chats? any ideas, print all, print some, print one, print none? what are you supposed to do when you have vast amounts of chat logs, do they want to see the content or just that we talked everyday since we met?

Thanks again

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-02-09 14:17:00

You should concentrate on hard evidence like passport stamps and ticket stubs and hotel receipts. Pictures are secondary evidence.

We attached a coversheet with, among other things, list of all trips we made to see each other backed up with copies of passport pages with stamps. Only had a couple of pictures in the petition altogether.

The problem is, we don't have any ticket stubs really, just the emails from the airlines and our passport stamps! - as for hotels, again, just email confirmations - we really don't have a lot and its stressing us out. We have baseball tickets, but whats the point don't have our names on it, could be anybodys!

Not sure what else we can do?

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-02-09 14:12:00

USCIS as well as the Embassy does not and will not expect a couple living apart in separate countries to have joint finances, property, etc. Most people on here (myself included) only submit items such as evidence of travel, skype sessions, Facebook postings, email, etc. etc.

Evidence of time spent together in-person is always going to be your strongest evidence.

Thanks for the response

Thats good to hear - now I'm sure you know yourself, it would take a literal tree worth of paper to print out conversations from skype and facebook on - what is the best way to tackle this, a screenshot or two?

Evidence of time spent together - e.g pictures of us, from our three seperate meetings?

We have fitted 3 pictures to a page, so for example

Page 1 - first meeting in Florida, 2 pictures of me and her then one of her and my mother

page 2 - again first visit - me and her and her friends

page 3 - second visit, me and her family

page 4 - proposal pictures

page 5 - her visiting Ireland/UK pictures of us and my friends

page 6 - pictures of me/her with my family.

Am I on the right track?

Sorry if I'm looking into it too much I just want to get it right first time

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-02-09 13:37:00

Hello All,

First would like to say, how helpful the guides and browsing forums has been to me and my fiancee, its brilliant, totally don't need to pay thousands for an attorey.

A little bit of background, to perhaps help with the question.

Me, Irish National, been living in the UK for the last four years, moving back to Ireland for the whole process (want to spend time with family before the big move, and its easier to get to the embassy etc, as opposed to the city I am in just now)

Her, Mexican Permanent Resident, on a holiday visa to visit me, upon return, will file for citizenship, but has moved from Texas to Florida, so will have to wait three month, upon return to Florida.

We got married a few weeks ago, over here (the UK) so officially Mr & Mrs, so happy, though she will change her name when we both end up together in the states.

We are going to send our I-130 in quite soon, so really excited for that, and hopefully the visas for spouses of permanent residents will hurry up, as I think they're still processing Sept 13? - does anyone have an educated guess when applications send in around now, would get seen?

My main question is;

We have nothing really in joint name, as we have never properly lived together, just visited, we have 6 pages of photos, going to send copies of passport stamps and the flight confirmation emails, also going to send our first message ever sent, a print screen of my skype, showing we have had many calls etc, and then a screenshot of our first facebook message. I just feel this isn't enough.

I know me being an Irish citizen, I'm from a low-risk country, but I dont want the application to be rejected for not enough evidence.

Can anyone give us some advice?

Thanks,

Tim

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-02-09 10:38:00

When to file

You are welcome. Let me firstly explain the differences with petitions for spouses of US Citizen vs Permanent residents. Firstly all petition with one spouse in the US (Citizen & Permanent Residents) and the other in their native country go through 3 main stages. You have the USCIS stage where the initial I-130 petition is filed, if approved the petition is then sent to the National Visa Center (NVC) where you submit another set of documents, once you case is completed at the NVC you file is then sent to your local embassy for you interview. Now let explain what happens to a petition filed by a US Citizen vs a Permanent Resident. The main difference between the two is that if you file for your spouse a US Citizen a Visa Number is readily available whereas if you file as a Permanent Resident you have to wait until a Visa Number ( When your priority date is current) is available before they would schedule you interview. The wait for a visa as a spouse of a permanent resident was normally about 2.5 years but since last year the wait right now should be about 1.5 years (the may change very soon). The September 08, 2013 date that you are referring to has to do with Visa Numbers, it basically mean that Visas are readily available for most people who have a Priority Date before Sep 8, 2013. If you file your pettion now by time your wife is a citizen your pettion would mostly already been approved by the USCIS and sent to the NVC where it would be waiting for a visa number to be available. Your wife could update your petition at the NVC and you case should process pretty smoothly after that.

Brilliant post, many thanks for your post, thats brilliant.

So sending it now is better because at least that way by the time she gets her citizenship the petition should have passed the first stage, and at the NVC waiting for the visa slot to come up.

Wheras if we waiting for her citizenship and then send it away, we'd have to wait for it to get to the NVC.

How long usually does it take to get to the NVC stage? from sending it in?

Thanks so much for your help thats brilliant, we're going to send it in soon - we're just really struggling with evidence

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-02-10 09:33:00

When to file

Hi Tim,

I would recommend that you let your wife go ahead and file you petition now as they are actually approving F2A ( Spouses of Permanent Resident) pretty quick right now. US Citizen petitions are heavily backlogged right now, so it's taking almost a year to have a petition approved, where as Spouses of Permanent Residents petition are taking 5 months. My hubby sent my petition the end of November with a December 2 priority date and I have already been approved. My hubby is also eligible to apply for citizenship this year in April. I would say that sending your petition now will definitely save you a lot of time as most likely by time your wife officially becomes a citizen your petition would already be approved and send on to the second stage NVC.

Hi There

Thank you very much for the response!!

Ok this is good new about the Permanent Resident category going quick, but I thought it was still processing from Sept 13 and was stuck there for the past month or so. When you say approved what does that mean exactly? your application has been approved and sent for processing? Does it not get approved straight away normally if you're an LPR, is that what the wait time is for? to get approved? It's quite a bit to take in, still not sure whats what haha.

But thanks so much for the positive news, I will get Ana to send in the application ASAP, and hopefully, we wont have to wait too long in that queue.

thanks again

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-02-10 07:07:00

When to file

Hi there,

had another topic there last night about our Cr-1 F2A application!

Wondering, my wife (US LPR) will be returning from a trip here to Ireland in the next month or two, it will be to a different state, so she will have to wait 3 months to file her n400 - which she is eligible for.

Should we wait until she become a US citizen and then file, or just file away now as an LPR.

IS there any benfit to having the application already sent in, and then upgrading our petition, does it save us time at all?

Realisitcally how long do you think we'll be waiting, we figured, if we send it in now, she goes back to the states, and gets her n400 sent off in say Sept 14, becomes a citizen in maybe Feb 15, and then assuming the petition is already pending get it upgraded and processed by Oct 15 - is that unrealisitc, too fast, too slow?

Is there a massive benefit sending the petition in just now, or should we wait? - I understand there are threads already about this, but no one has had to wait the three months to do the N-400 application

Thanks,

Tim

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-02-10 06:39:00

Police Certificate

Hi There,

Does the certificate have to be within a certain date? We are just sending off our I-130 now, so I realise I wont need it for a while, but I want to get the police certificate now, just to be on top of things, is there a date requirement.

It will be from a country I used to live in, not the country I currently reside in.

Thanks,

Tim

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-03-31 13:34:00

When to get the police certificate? (split topic)

Sorry to chime in on this - but I used to live in the UK for 4 years, moved back to Ireland - can I order the UK police cert now, even though it will be likely my interview wont be for a year or so? I no longer live in the UK or intend on doing so, so it should be ok to get it now? Get my Irish one a month or two before the interview? I just want to get as much as I can sorted now, and all the expenditure out of the way.

Thanks

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-09 06:21:00

Question about sworn affidavit (for marriage authenticity)

You will not ever need an appostille in this process. I would skip any affidavits. You've been living together in Colombia for some time. Evidence of that is sufficient.

Ouch for you though. Lots of problems with your cover page starting with the header.

You are applying for nothing. You're filing an I-130 petition.

You need only one G1145 for an I-130 filing.

You do not "sign" passport photos. Print the full name on the back of each. No phone number needed on these photos.

If you have a photocopy of a certified copy of the USC's birth certificate, there's no need for every page of the passport

Instead of every page of the passport, provide only pages that evidence your time together in Colombia.

Intending Immigrant Birth Certificate is not part of the I-130 package. It comes later when applying for the visa

You have more than enough relationship evidence. Affidavits from friends are more likely to hurt than help but most likely they will simply be a waste of time and effort.

Out of interest why would they be more likely to hurt their application?

Cheers,

Tim

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-10 15:03:00

Ah its weird how it works, my wife is from Florida, so it was supposed to go to Texas, don't think theres any rhyme or rhythm to it.

We filed last Saturday, our Priority date/NOA1 is 15 April, just want the time to speed up already

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-21 07:42:00

Well sure the way I'd look at that is, you have a good track record, you went home in time, no record of overstaying, that's good! Yeah, best sticking with husband, I dunno if they record your answers at the POE, but if you said friend instead of husband, it could be used against you in the future? idk - it probably wouldn't but you never know - sure its always better being honest, especially if you've nothing to hide!

That would be nice to be over there before Christmas alright, christmas in the sun? madness..

I'm filed at California, which is going really fast aparently, but doesn't do me much favours, as my wife is actually Mexican, she needs to get her citizenship, so that is the spanner in our works the moment; but when she does, she will come to Ireland and wait it out with me

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-21 07:32:00

Yeah this forum has been brilliant, and I love it - but some members like to scare monger and be negative.

I would yeah - usually they'll ask purpose of visit e.g business or pleasure - say pleasure, and if they ask give them the name etc, if they probe further yeah definitely say husband, you've got nothing to hide.

Last few times, I have a joke with the CBP officers as well, but I guess thats just what I am like, Irish people tend to talk to anyone and make jokes in serious situations haha.

I see you're Nebraska, I think theyre goin fairiy quick, so hope you get your visa soon!!

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-21 07:08:00

You'll be absolutely grand - I think there is a lot of scaremongering in this forum when it comes to visiting. If you never joined here, and read all up about it, would you be as worried?

I am in the exact same position as you are, visiting my wife for the first time since we married in June time, but I will also have my NOA1, and a letter from my job. If you've got all them and your return flight and your ESTA sorted, you'll be laughing. A letter from your employer will be more than enough, tenner says they don't ask for it.

You have no intention of over staying, that all you need to remember, you are honest and law abiding, the CBP are well trained, they will be able to see that, a long with all you evidence.

Best of luck to you!

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-04-21 06:54:00

Post Decision to Initial Review

I was at NSC, we are going for (I-130), We were shipped to NVC 2 days after approval! Good luck with yours!

Ah well thats nice and fast so. Best of luck with yours as well, hopefully it'll be nice and soon and you'll be over state-side!

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-05-05 17:01:00

Post Decision to Initial Review

Exact same thing happened to me. Read my signature. Nothing to worry about! It's goes back to initial review by default if you change your address.

This happened to me too just this week, we were post decision - initial review - post decision (again) then shipped to NVC. don't worry about it

Ah thanks lads, almost had a connery there when I saw it haha - hopefully it'll ship over to the NVC there nice and quick

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-05-05 05:01:00

Post Decision to Initial Review

Hello all,

We got the good news on Thursday that our petition had been accepted, we got an email confirming it, and also check our case status, it said it had been approved blah blah.

A day or two before my wife changed the address to her PO Box, now I checked the case status again, it's gone back to inital review.

Now I am sure our application has still been approved, and it only went back to that as they changed the address (wife got an email confirming it) but I need someone here to just tell me thats the case, and re-assure me

Thanks

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-05-04 12:06:00

Advice please?

That is extremely unlikely to get you an expedite, as you moving over is not guaranteed to give you a job over there immediately, so you guys may be worse off than before. That being said, the Dublin embassy is relatively flexible, so be as prepared as you can be, and then when your paperwork is there, call them and ask for any cancellation appointments, and you may be lucky and get one quick.

How will she fulfill the affadavit of support if not working btw?

I've got a few contacts over there, so should be able to walk into a job over there, nothing major, but at least 40k a year, which isn't bad to walk into.

AoS is covered by her aunt.

Dublin is flexible you say? might give them an email or call when it gets to them.

Cheers.

tim131

Not Telling

Ireland

2014-09-28 09:43:00