AOS-Filing (or Compiling) in October 2008

[aleena 0]

EAD and AP received in the mail!!!! What a great way to start the year

I can not believe how quick they moved!

Congrats on yours too Bex!

and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all VJ friends!

you are right Bex.... a year makes a whole lot of difference!

By the way... I am going to Atlanta in 8 days. Wanna meet for a cup of tea

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

By the way... I am going to Atlanta in 8 days. Wanna meet for a cup of tea

Hey, I want to come to Atlanta.

Happy New Year to everybody. Good to hear the progress from you guys. We don't have any new reports. Wonder how long the GC actually takes? I don't really keep up with those kinds of stats. I looked at a list of October filers on a spreadsheet and there's alot with interviews scheduled in January and February. So USCIS told us to speed up the process they were transferring us to CSC. Wonder if that really is the fast track since those people are interviewing in the near future and we're in a dark box together in Cali. Well it doesn't really matter. Can't think of much difference in our day to day with a green card or like we are now.

Bex--I made Nick some mince pies last night. They were very crumbly but he liked them. I don't know much about making pie crust. Well I don't know anything about pie crusts so mine were super tender and flaky. What a bother. We haven't seen any around here, even when we were at World Market in Houston. I don't think mince pies are a big seller in Texas.

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

Got a email notice today saying our "Travel Document" (AP?) had been approved yesterday and was being mailed to us. No Biometrics Appointment yet, no notice of Transfer, no RFE (was thinking we might get one on the Vaccinations so we've got them all done and the paperwork too just in case..) but nothing...

I guess a "travel document" is better than a lump of coal in our stockings... (but what's it worth if you don't have $ for travel because you don't have your EAD so you can WORK!)

Happy New Year!

[aleena 0]

By the way... I am going to Atlanta in 8 days. Wanna meet for a cup of tea

Hey, I want to come to Atlanta.

Are you just messing with me or are u serious?

I would love to meet you!!!!!

[Ana&Jeff 0]

hey I am geting jealous evebody going to Atlanta I ebt there is a lot mroe warm then MA right now hahha

Happy new years evebody! I hope that 2009 full of happiness to all of you guys!

came here because yesterday I wento do the fingerprinter and for the first time I went to a immigration office or whatever it is called and it was nice

and quick and people were actually nice. hahaha Jeff went with me and he said that he was also suprised. It was in Boston really fast. Now we need to wait for the aproval and the cards

hope wont take to long cant wait to start working so we can get our house...

Ana

[HighwayStar 0]

Hello everybody! Hope 2009 is treating you well!

We got our marriage certificate last Friday, so yesterday we were able to go to the SS Office to request a SSN for me. Everything smooth and easy, apart from the almost two-hour wait - the guy there was awed by my language skills when I greeted another gentleman in French, and told me the DoS would need people like me. I told him, perhaps in a few years' time, when I get to become a citizen... Hopefully we'll be able to send our AOS papers by next week. Michael is a sweetheart, but he takes forever to do things (unlike me), and without his Affidavit of Support we won't be able to send anything. MEN!

[BexandAlan 0]

Hi Everyone.

Just stopping in to let you know I'm still alive. It all seems very quiet around here.

Alina sorry I didn't get back to you, I would have loved to have met up with you as well. Grrrr. My parents were in town last week (they went home on Thursday :( ) and Alan and I have been going through a very difficult situation which has kept me quite occupied. I don't want to talk about it too much right now. Alan and I are fine, we'll get through it, just sucks being 5,000 miles away from my friends and family.

On a brighter note, I got my AP and EAD documents in the mail and am searching for a job now. I don't know if many of you knew her but Sarah Jayne moved to Atlanta around the same time I did. Tonight we are going to a meetup.com expats night out in an English pub downtown so will be nice to meet some others that have made the same journey across the pond.

I hope that you are all doing well. I miss my little VJ family. Have been extremely homesick over the last few days and was wondering how you are all coping.

Lots of love and hugs.

Becky xxx

[Ana&Jeff 0]

Becky!

I understand you I am a little home sick too but I think mostly is because sucks stay home not working waiting for those papers is just driving me crazy, but we are just finally together it has been too hard already to get here the whole process is so stressfull better just say thanks for finally be with him. I was thinking latelly it is a really hard situation leave our family and come here but it has a good cause. So because of that I have been trying to talk to my mom almost everyday she is alwyas online to talk to me and it has also been helping.

I cant wait for those papers to come =/ cant stand been at home not been able to work =(

it just sucks =/

hope you guys have a wonderfull week I am expecting snow storm for Ma tomorrow yayyyyyyy so not happy about it hahaha

Ana

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hi kids!!!

I miss you all so much. My poor homesick sweeties...I'm sorry it's hard. Nick is a guy and they must not get homesick. We were sad on the weekend because our old, old Muffin kitty died. We had a little cat funeral in the back yard and buried her. I bought some pink roses for her grave. Our other cat and the next door neighbor cat even came. So we honored her memory in style.

Today we were in the next town and I suggested we go by the driver's license place to see if the EAD card would do to allow Nick to get a license. Bingo! It satisfied their new requirements. So without planning in advance or studying Nick passed the written test...barely. There were alot of questions geared toward minors. "What is the fine for a first offense of a minor doing ____?" "If a minor is guilty of ____, how long can the driver's license be suspended?" Anything to do with actual driving or road signs, he knew. Then he took a driving test. The lady took him out in the car for about 3 minutes, making a few turns around the block. Then he had to parallel park in their back parking lot. I guess she figured he knew how to drive so kinda went through the formality, but only briefly. He passed with flying colors and she told him he was an excellent driver. So he has a Texas Driver's License now...well it's a paper until the photo one comes in the mail.

Nick has been keeping busy re-organizing/cleaning out the garage for one thing. He's built a work bench, installed some extra power outlets near it and put in a big flourescent light over it. We shopped pawn shops for tools and he got a nice bench vise for $20 and a brand new looking jig saw. I was proud because I negotiated the price of the jig saw down to $15...Love to haggle and work a deal!!

I just read that Dutti got approved for her green card from CSC. She got an email. I guess we will get one of those at some point.

I'm about ready to file taxes when I get the rest of my interest and dividend statements. I've been reading up on the rules when you marry an alien. It's going to be to my advantage and maybe I'll even get some money back this year. I upped the withholding last year and even paid quarterly, and now it looks like I paid in too much. But the husband is going to help lower the tax bill and he can get the Rebate Recovery Credit and I get the rest of what I didn't qualify for last year.

Bex, I'm glad your family got to come visit. If you get down, just PM me and have a good moan. I don't mind and I will understand how you're feeling.

((((Hugs)))) to all of you

[aleena 0]

Hey there!

It took forever to dig up this topic!

I thought it was lost....

I acutally wrote a post last weekend and my computer froze and I lost and and then I didn't feel like writing it all over again...

So here I am a week later

.

Just wanted to say hi....

And Bex... you are so lucky your parents came to visit!

We are now in the wedding preparations zone...lol

the invitations are going out on Monday.

Everything is coming togeteher

Last weekend we went on a ski trip in Pennsylvania. first time skiing for me. It was great! I love it! Of course I was horrible on the first day... Sat down on a slope and didn't want to move and threw my skis in the middle of the slope... lol But I got over the frustration and now I can ski a little

I need to have my wedding dress altered next week. It is a little too long. everything else fits so it should be pretty easy.

Ok....going back to stuffing enevelopes!

I hope everybody is doing great and can't wait to hear from you guys!

love,

aLEEna

[HighwayStar 0]

Hello all! As you can see from my signature, we've finally mailed our AOS/EAD/AP application today. It wasn't a totally painless process, as Michael has been very stressed out because of work, and it took a lot of prodding to get him to do his part. My visa would have expired on Feb 16, and I didn't want to spend a second out of status. Now it's done, and hopefully everything will go quickly and smoothly. All the best to Aleena for her 'real' wedding, and to everybody else for their new life!

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Well done Highway

Glad you got it all in the mail. If anything is missing, they'll let you know and you can fix it. But I'm sure you did a perfect job. I hope everything comes quickly for you. It all seems faster or not a bother this round. I haven't even checked case status online but every couple of weeks or less. A lot of people can't seem to get the case status to work, but mine did from the beginning and I got emails when they did things like transfer to CSC, and approve the EAD and AP. So it seems to be functioning for me.

Aleena!! My little Bride of Dracula.

It sounds like you are the candidate for "having the most fun". You spend weekends at the beach, go hunting Bambi, skiing...WOW.

We watch cheesy reality shows. LOL. I hope all the wedding plans fall neatly into place. It can get crazy with last minute little details to do. I know you will look beautiful.

Nothing exciting going on here. I filed my taxes and get a refund so I guess that's something to smile about. We'll probably paint Nick's closet tomorrow. The guy finished fixing the wall this morning. That's the last of hurricane related house things to do. It got wet and moldy from the roof damage/leak and has been a cut out hole for months now. Soon Nick can finally have a closet in our room.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hey everybody! Where are you? Report in to Mama Nich. LOL

We had a nice Valentine's Day...roses, card and dinner out. It's pretty cool to be a newlywed.

Nick has his driver's license now and also got called for a job interview next week. It's about 40 miles from here, so not ideal, but he's going to see how it goes. I looked at USCIS for the first time in ages. It said touched Nov 7 last time I looked (received at CSC), but now it's Feb 13. So I guess that means the dusty box got hauled out of the storeroom and moved to a shelf in the office. Hopefully somebody will look at his file within the next month and not notice there's no I-693 medical form.

[Ana&Jeff 0]

Hey guys hope evebody is doing ok I Am going to have to wait even more for my GC and employment authorization just got a letter for a interview on march 24 in Boston =(

More and more papers to fill and a doctors appoinment to get ina month is almost impossible but I am going to need it because I need another medical examnation form.

Hope you guys are doing well

see you!!!

Ana

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hey guys hope evebody is doing ok I Am going to have to wait even more for my GC and employment authorization just got a letter for a interview on march 24 in Boston =(

More and more papers to fill and a doctors appoinment to get ina month is almost impossible but I am going to need it because I need another medical examnation form.

Hope you guys are doing well

see you!!!

Ana

Hi Ana...you might get your employment authorization soon. It normally comes 2-3 months after you apply if everything goes smoothly and they don't lose your papers or forget to give you a biometrics appointment. It's faster than the green card.

What other papers do you have to do? For the medical, you should only need to have the doctor put your immunizations on the I-693 form and maybe give you any shots you were missing. Your medical for the K1 is still less than a year old and is enough. Did they send you something requesting you to bring the medical to the interview? Wonder if they lost your medical info? That would be annoying. We are still thinking an RFE for medical, but nothing from them yet. Three touches in three days now. I've started checking once a day since they started touching.

Good luck on March 24. At least you have a date to plan around. We've got nothing to go on, but it'll happen when it happens.