Got IR1, whats next?

[A.A.R 0]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to know a few things. I got my IR1 visa from the embassy. The scenario is that me and my USC wife are married for over 5 years now. I am planning to move to the state next month. My questions are:

1. Do I have to do AOS or I am fine and don't need it because we are married over 2 years?

2. Do I have to fill in I-94 in the plane or I don't have to fill it in at all?

3. What kind of questions can be asked at POE? I am planning to land in Dulles Washington

4. After entering the US, do I have to do anything else to get my GC and SSN or just sit back and relax and it will come by itself?

Please put in as much information as possible related to this topic as there is not much info. available to the married couples who are already married before filing there petitions and are married for more than two years already. Please add your personal experiences also. It will help many others to get through this lengthy process. Thx!

[Stabu 0]

1. Do I have to do AOS or I am fine and don't need it because we are married over 2 years?

2. Do I have to fill in I-94 in the plane or I don't have to fill it in at all?

3. What kind of questions can be asked at POE? I am planning to land in Dulles Washington

4. After entering the US, do I have to do anything else to get my GC and SSN or just sit back and relax and it will come by itself?

I'm still waiting for a CR-1 myself, but I'm almost there and I do know a few things so here goes:

1. No, CR-1/IR-1 visas don't have an AOS at all. They only have an I-751 phase if you have been married less than two years when you enter the US. Thus the only thing you have to fill next is citizenship if you wish to obtain it.

2. You need to fill the customs info (blue blanket) on the plane but you don't have to fill in the values of your goods or pay any customes fees since you are brining over your personal belongings. Still, you are not allowed to bring sertain things to the US such as live bacteria or an animal. You don't need to fill any immigration info (green or white blanket) as far as I know. Check this with someone else too.

3. I can't really answer this question, but as far as I know they don't tend to pester that much immigrants in the POE, since this is the job of the consulates and back ground checks are the job of USCIS, NVC, FBI, DHS etc. agencies.

4. Nope. In some cases you may need to make a few calls if these things are lost in the mail (USPS is extremely unreliable). In the vast majority of cases these things are delivered within a month of your arrival.

Hope this helps .

[A.A.R 0]

Hey many thanks!

I was wondering and had all these questions that needed to be answered.

Well you have been a great help thx once again and I wish you get your visa soon too.

[Flames9_RN 358]

If you check off the box on the form for the SSN (ds 230 i think) it should arrives 10 to 14 BUSINESS days! if not, head down to your local SSN office and inquire about it. Mine didn't arrive, so i just filled out another form (downloaded it from their website: http://www.ssa.gov/ week later it arrived in the mail

[Urge To Race 2]

Why would you say USPS is unreliable? USPS is very reliable. If an SS card is mailed to you, it will almost certainly arrive. Things almost never actually get lost in the mail. If you don't get an SS card in the mail, it will be most likely be because SSA never sent one, their error not USPS; or because you didn't check the box on the form asking for one, your error not USPS. USPS mail can sometimes take a day or two longer than you would hope, but it gets there.

1. Do I have to do AOS or I am fine and don't need it because we are married over 2 years?

2. Do I have to fill in I-94 in the plane or I don't have to fill it in at all?

3. What kind of questions can be asked at POE? I am planning to land in Dulles Washington

4. After entering the US, do I have to do anything else to get my GC and SSN or just sit back and relax and it will come by itself?

I'm still waiting for a CR-1 myself, but I'm almost there and I do know a few things so here goes:

1. No, CR-1/IR-1 visas don't have an AOS at all. They only have an I-751 phase if you have been married less than two years when you enter the US. Thus the only thing you have to fill next is citizenship if you wish to obtain it.

2. You need to fill the customs info (blue blanket) on the plane but you don't have to fill in the values of your goods or pay any customes fees since you are brining over your personal belongings. Still, you are not allowed to bring sertain things to the US such as live bacteria or an animal. You don't need to fill any immigration info (green or white blanket) as far as I know. Check this with someone else too.

3. I can't really answer this question, but as far as I know they don't tend to pester that much immigrants in the POE, since this is the job of the consulates and back ground checks are the job of USCIS, NVC, FBI, DHS etc. agencies.

4. Nope. In some cases you may need to make a few calls if these things are lost in the mail (USPS is extremely unreliable). In the vast majority of cases these things are delivered within a month of your arrival.

Hope this helps .

Edited September 17, 2007 by Urge To Race

[Stabu 0]

Why would you say USPS is unreliable? USPS is very reliable. If an SS card is mailed to you, it will almost certainly arrive. Things almost never actually get lost in the mail. If you don't get an SS card in the mail, it will be most likely be because SSA never sent one, their error not USPS; or because you didn't check the box on the form asking for one, your error not USPS. USPS mail can sometimes take a day or two longer than you would hope, but it gets there.

Well... first I really hope that this doesn't turn into a discussion about the USPS. My argument is based on statistics and personal experience. I've seen some statistics a few years back that show that the USPS lose something like 0.005% of all mail sent. This is a rather large percentage, i.e. one out of ever 20,000 mails are lost (on comparison the Finnish post office - while being extremely bad - looses 0.00002% of its mail). I've personally sent between 10 and 20 letters/packets using the USPS from a US source too a US source and the USPS has lost two of them (of course I've been extremely unlucky). Further more several letters have arrived late, which I've sent from Finland to the US. This has not been because of the Finnish post office, since I've succeeded in tracking the letters 'till the very moment they leave Finland on a direct flight into the US. One letter that was promiced to be delivered six days from my local Finnish post office (containing visa information!) to the US address took two days in Finland and an amazingly over three weeks in the US. I've been avoiding using the USPS for an year now because of all this mess. If possible, I always use UPS or Fedex and pay gladly a bit more for it, since they've never failed me so far a single time.

[A.A.R 0]

well I do not want to prolong that discussion over USPS but one thing I would like to add here. The european mailing system is much better than any mailing system in the world. Even the regular mail services (which does not include any courier service) works excellent. This I am saying on personal experience. And off course, every one talks from their own experience. Its worth paying every single extra penny, if you can rely on the service. Its not the matter of whats good or bad, but what best suits.

[A.A.R 0]

well STABU do you have any idea, if there is any duty or taxes on the gift items like jewellery?

[Stabu 0]

well STABU do you have any idea, if there is any duty or taxes on the gift items like jewellery?

Well, the duty free limit to bring items to the US is $100 for visitors and $800 for permanent residents and citizens if I remember correctly. I'm not exactly sure how immigrants are chategorized on this scale. I don't know how high the duties/taxes are after this point.

[A.A.R 0]

hey many thanks for the info. You know what? You have been a great help. I really appreciate it.

thanks once again and take care.