January Filers at the CSC - How are you doing?

[JeroenAndMichelle 28]

LMFAO thats awesome indeed

Hmmm.. I just tried it with myself but guess I was out of luck.. then again, I didn't complain yet..hmmm....

sooo where's my greencard??

[Alex & Rachel 78]

So I went to apply for my SSN today and was told that as a K-1 holder I can't have my SSN in my married name! Boo!

Welcome alb2009! As for planning a wedding - it's not recommended, but what I did was wait to see how long the process would take (compare yourself to another recent filer), then add on a couple of months, and set a date for round about then. When I filed this time last year, it seemed that applications through the UK were taking 8-9 months, so to be on the safe side I set a wedding date for 11 months later.

Alex and I will be able to apply for AOS this month. I already have work lined up, so I really hope my EAD arrives quickly once I file! I am so fortunate - I haven't even had to look for work!

I don't understand what they told you that, you got married; so what is their problem?

When I got married, I went to the SS with my passeport and wedding certificate, I got it with my married name without any questions.

I am wondering if you had someone who just didn't know much about that visa? I remenber a lot of people saying how depending who you have, they can tell one thing, or the total opposite.

Good luck on filing for AOS, I am glad you have a work waiting for you! I hope you papers will move fast!!

Argh! I did wonder if the guy knew what he was talking about! However, I was so surprised that he even recognised what a K-1 was (and he did sound very confident) that I took his word for granted. Oh well, at least getting a name change after marriage is free!

Juuust waiting for my SSN to arrive now before I file for AoS.

[hawkeye52 0]

What's up everyone?! Haven't posted for awhile, but we've been keeping tabs on all of our fellow January '08 CSC Filers. Valerie received her EAD on Friday, January 23rd. It took 84 days to receive, and we also had an RFE. It's crazy how timelines can differ so drastically depending on where you live. I thought that maybe ours would be among the last ones to go through since we live in San Diego, but she has it. Exciting! We also have our AOS interview on February 24th! Won't be long! Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear something. Things always have a tendency to happen when you least expect it.

[lucie&damon 0]

That's so funny!

Complaining does work! Congrats Pam and Cecile. I hope you'll have your GC soon!!!

Me I don't even try to complain. I know it will take forever for my GC. I called USCIS 2 weeks ago to check on my status for AOS. And the lady told me it just had been transfered to Denver, but when I went to my infopass last week, the lady told me my case was still in Chicago, and that it will takes about 8 months to get the interview...

Jeroen, did you get any touch on your AOS since your complaint?

[sunnybear 0]

Hi guys just popping in to check on everyone's progress thus far! Looks like most of us are moving along quite nicely! YAY! We just got our letter today stating Gareth has his biometrics next Friday Feb 6th! Pretty cool! We are also pleased it is only like an hour away as opposed to several hours away like I first thought!

Now for the cold and snow and ice to go away for good so I can get him his drivers permit and start teaching him my poor driving skills heh heh! Poor guy must feel trapped but at least we have a nice pub in walking distance

[lucie&damon 0]

What's up everyone?! Haven't posted for awhile, but we've been keeping tabs on all of our fellow January '08 CSC Filers. Valerie received her EAD on Friday, January 23rd. It took 84 days to receive, and we also had an RFE. It's crazy how timelines can differ so drastically depending on where you live. I thought that maybe ours would be among the last ones to go through since we live in San Diego, but she has it. Exciting! We also have our AOS interview on February 24th! Won't be long! Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear something. Things always have a tendency to happen when you least expect it.

Congrats!

It's good to hear that everything's going smoothly for you guys! Good luck on your interview!

[lucie&damon 0]

Now for the cold and snow and ice to go away for good so I can get him his drivers permit and start teaching him my poor driving skills heh heh! Poor guy must feel trapped but at least we have a nice pub in walking distance

It's the paradise to have a pub closeby!

Nevertheless, don't make him drive after going to the pub! lol

[Levi_Heather 0]

Congrats Hawkeye! Good luck at the interview That was fast on the biometrics appointment Steph! Levi was fingerprinted and all that at his interview in Vancouver. Wonder if they do it again in that case......

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Congrats Hawkeye! Good luck at the interview That was fast on the biometrics appointment Steph! Levi was fingerprinted and all that at his interview in Vancouver. Wonder if they do it again in that case......

I think everyone has to be refingerprinted for AOS. I'm pretty sure everyone had it done at the K1 interview. From what I've read (and from what I remember), we will have to do it again when we remove the conditions for our green card.

[Pam&Josh 0]

on a different note... anyone knows how things are with taxes over 2008??

I mean, I always thought we had to file 2008 in either the US or our home country (that is if there is an agreement, I know there is one for most European countries). But now I also read different things and that we apparently do not need to file tax yet since we haven't been here long enough or something? I don't know but it confuses me a bit so now I am kind of wondering what you guys think we need to do.

On that same note... the USC's claim differently now that we're married. I'm not sure how all this impacts taxes this year. Anyone with knowledge in this area?

I'm not an expert but I understood that in 2008 we pay the taxes in our home country. Since we were all working during the long K1 wait! héhé. But not in the US, since we're all not working during this long EAD,AOS' wait! We'll pay taxes for 2009 here.

Hi guys!

I finally found some strengh to look up what I should do for our taxes!Again, the best place to find answers was VJ.

Here is the best explained answer I found on the topic "Moving here and your new life in America", and the link of the topic is http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=170514.

Here is the part I think could help all of us:

I read all the IRS publications last weekend. Rin and John, Lucyrich, and US Brit are the correct posters in this thread as far I what I understood after doing the research.

If your spouse does not have a green card, you can declare with a statement attached to the 1040 filing form that you both elect to treat your new spouse as a resident alien for income tax purposes. You both have to sign it. Then you can file jointly. Otherwise a non resident alien can't file jointly. When you make that declaration, he is treated as a resident alien for the whole year 2008, not just the time he has been here. By making that declaration, worldwide income for the whole year 2008 must be reported for both spouses.

So if he/she worked in his home country part of 2008 before coming to the US, then any income earned abroad must be listed as income. BUT there is an exclusion of foreign income which for 2008 is $87,600 per individual. The non USC spouse has to figure out how much money he collected from employment from Jan 1, 2008 until he quit his job to move to the US. Then use some kind of conversion chart to change that figure into US dollars. If your foreign income received is not more than $87,600, then it all gets subtracted back off your joint income. Now your adjusted gross income that you pay taxes on is essentially only that earned by the USC in the US. And because the USC now has a spouse filing jointly, he will pay less taxes than he would if he were still single in most cases.

There is a form 2555-EZ where you fill out your exclusion. There's some questions about residency in that country asking if you were present for 330 days during any 12 month period that ended in 2008. Most of you were probably present in that foreign county your whole life until you moved here. It doesn't mean 330 days in calendar year 2008. It is 330 days out of any 12 month period...like Jan 2007 to Jan 2008, or October 2007 to October 2008.

So I tried TurboTax Basic to see if it caught on to all this stuff. I put in some estimated numbers and answered all the question format they use, saying my spouse was a resident alien. BINGO! It worked. Put everything in the proper place and excluded the income I put in for my foreign spouse. It even asked when his residency started in the UK. I put his birthdate since he's a life long resident. And the best news is I should be getting a refund when I normally owe additional payments. Having a spouse is a good thing for taxes.

I see the declaration of your spouse as a resident alien and filing jointly as the best choice unless you earned over 87,600 US dollar equivalent in your foreign job in 2008. Then you might want to look at the other options. A joint return would also look good at the AOS interview.

Sorry for the long post, but trying to simplify some very involved IRS talk is difficult.

Anyways, the topic is on VJ, but some of you said you didn't read the topics yet; so I figured it could help you start!!

It does clear things for me!

Hope it helps some of you guys!!

Good luck!

[JeroenAndMichelle 28]

Jeroen, did you get any touch on your AOS since your complaint?

Nope, I just checked and still the same dates... oh well, I know it is way too soon for me to start complaining, my AP and EAD probably wont come in January and my GC will probably take a bit longer even.. I will complain in a couple of weeks and see if it helps

[JeroenAndMichelle 28]

btw hawkeye, good luck on your interview.. im sure it will be a piece of cake

[CourtAndGrey 0]

Hi guys!

I finally found some strengh to look up what I should do for our taxes... !Again, the best place to find answers was VJ.

Here is the best explained answer I found on the topic "Moving here and your new life in America", and the link of the topic is http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=170514.

Hope it helps some of you guys!!

Good luck!

Thanks so much! This was a huge help!

[CourtAndGrey 0]

And guess what...!?!?!??!

Complaining worked for us too! On Monday the 27th we were FINALLY approved for EAD and AP!!!!

I filed the Service Request and they said we would hear something in 15 days, and we were approved in 11! Finally we can move on and start to get settled with two real incomes, things have been very tough so far. We're not even concerned with the AOS at this point, just happy to be job searching at last!

WAHOOOOOO!

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Congratulations Courtney!

Hawkeye, I hope the interview went well!