LAND DOWNUNDER, Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi

[KiwiBird 132]

SUCCESS! Sydney emailed us today saying (paraphrase) "You can send your passport now. We got the NZ Police Check back."

It wasn't even the one Sydney mailed to Auckland either. It was the one that my guy had given to the NZ Police directly cause they hadn't received the one from Sydney! That's twice now that our 'visa journey' would have been longer had we not been proactive about it. I'm proud of us.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

SUCCESS! Sydney emailed us today saying (paraphrase) "You can send your passport now. We got the NZ Police Check back."

It wasn't even the one Sydney mailed to Auckland either. It was the one that my guy had given to the NZ Police directly cause they hadn't received the one from Sydney! That's twice now that our 'visa journey' would have been longer had we not been proactive about it. I'm proud of us.

Congrats!! Very exciting

[Wayne-Rachel 8]

Dave and Shannon: no worries mate

KiwiBird: yay yay yay!!! awesome news!

Edited April 11, 2011 by Wayne-Rachel

[CareBear 18]

Fantastic news Kiwi - so happy for you

[Breezie54 2]

March 24th - Interview in Memphis for my AOS... arrived at 9.50am we were the only Caucasian people there, surrounded by those from India, Pakistan, Mexico and a gal from Ireland and another from European Slavic Country, we were the only people speaking English...

We were called up around 10.30 am or so, lovely tall black man greeted us and took us to his Office, we were asked to stand and Swear the Oath which we did, again i had to answer roughly 20 questions i had already answered on the I-485, but this was under Oath, then we were asked how we met, told him how and where and when lol, showed our orginal Birth Certificates and ID's, plus Leonard's original Divorce Papers, i had taken both binders, plus a full copy of all the AOS, EAD, AND AP submissions plus copies of our Electric Bill, Settlement Papers for our new House, plus photo's i had printed from the wedding, honeymoon, our new home etc, he didnt even look at the photo's, he was very courteous, we only responded when asked questions {i was told by a NYC Detective to do this when dealing with the govt, only speak when spoken to, and it works well}

After asking a few questions about family and what we were doing now, he looked at us and said Kaye Congratulations your Application for Conditional Permanent Status has been approved, told us we would get a letter in the mail confirming this and that my Green card would be forwarded separately within 30 days of the interview, he told us that USCIS will not send a reminder prior to the expiration of the card in 2 years, that i must submit the Application to Remove Conditions 90 days prior to the expiration [information rcd with the greencard suggests you submit at least 7 MONTHS prior to expiry]

March 30th - Congratulatory letter received from USCIS confirming approval of Adjustment of Status

April 5th - Green card In Hand

Now we have a break of at least 17 months before we have to submit anymore paperwork, now i can go to Social Security and get my Social Security Number changed to my married name, can go to DMV and sit the exam and take a driving test and get my Tennessee Driving License YaY, and will contact the Aussie Embassy in NYC and see if they will amend my Aussie Passport to my married name rather than go through all the change of name and birth certificate ####### ive read about.

Want to give special thanks to Vanessa for all her help with masses of threads she has posted listing very explicit check lists when submitting documents and for her support answering my questions.

We have been in our new home set up on the same property for two weeks now, its absolutely beautiful, have nearly finished unpacking everything from the old house and just have to do my boxes from Australia now, so will do them one at a time, as coming home from Memphis i came down with an acute case of Tedonitis in my right shoulder and had to have an injection of some glorious pain relief stuff and anti inflammatory medication along with a 4 day supply of prednizone, thankfully it has now settled down and is just a niggly ache when i overdo it, Leonard was marvelous doing all the heavy lifting and putting boxes on bench tops for me so that i didnt do any lifting, we had a huge front porch built on the front of the house and a lovely 8 x 8' side deck for the laundry room entrance and they fitted the new house snugly up against the back deck, so now the big job of landscaping will commence as soon as they come to grade and back fill.

Want to wish everyone well with their journeys... just remember keep copies of everything you submit, take all your paperwork to any interviews and make sure you dot all you i's and cross all your T's.. and remember to submit well before the time frame allotted

Cheers to all Kaye and Leonard

[VanessaTony 3,567]

March 24th - Interview in Memphis for my AOS... arrived at 9.50am we were the only Caucasian people there, surrounded by those from India, Pakistan, Mexico and a gal from Ireland and another from European Slavic Country, we were the only people speaking English...

We were called up around 10.30 am or so, lovely tall black man greeted us and took us to his Office, we were asked to stand and Swear the Oath which we did, again i had to answer roughly 20 questions i had already answered on the I-485, but this was under Oath, then we were asked how we met, told him how and where and when lol, showed our orginal Birth Certificates and ID's, plus Leonard's original Divorce Papers, i had taken both binders, plus a full copy of all the AOS, EAD, AND AP submissions plus copies of our Electric Bill, Settlement Papers for our new House, plus photo's i had printed from the wedding, honeymoon, our new home etc, he didnt even look at the photo's, he was very courteous, we only responded when asked questions {i was told by a NYC Detective to do this when dealing with the govt, only speak when spoken to, and it works well}

After asking a few questions about family and what we were doing now, he looked at us and said Kaye Congratulations your Application for Conditional Permanent Status has been approved, told us we would get a letter in the mail confirming this and that my Green card would be forwarded separately within 30 days of the interview, he told us that USCIS will not send a reminder prior to the expiration of the card in 2 years, that i must submit the Application to Remove Conditions 90 days prior to the expiration [information rcd with the greencard suggests you submit at least 7 MONTHS prior to expiry]

March 30th - Congratulatory letter received from USCIS confirming approval of Adjustment of Status

April 5th - Green card In Hand

Now we have a break of at least 17 months before we have to submit anymore paperwork, now i can go to Social Security and get my Social Security Number changed to my married name, can go to DMV and sit the exam and take a driving test and get my Tennessee Driving License YaY, and will contact the Aussie Embassy in NYC and see if they will amend my Aussie Passport to my married name rather than go through all the change of name and birth certificate ####### ive read about.

Congrats!! and you're totally welcome I love hearing positive reviews. Life will be so much more relaxing now If you haven't already you can go to the SSA to change your SSN name (mine was in my maiden till I got my GC) and you can also have the "DHS authorisation removed". You can also go and get your drivers licence or if you had one already and the expiry date was short they can extend the expiry date

The seven month thing worries me though 'cause if you file anything before 90 days it will be returned to you and that would just confuse people wondering why they were rejected (you can file earlier if you're divorced). Do you have a chance to copy the document and maybe email me or post a pic here? Maybe they just mean start collecting stuff and that it should be from at least the last 7 months? (i.e. nothing from today 'cause things change quick?)

Congrats on the new home too! I need a job before I can rationalise updates to the house that I want to do. Tony earns enough to support us and I don't NEED to work but I would appreciate the extra money to splurge on pretty things

Re the name change and passport.. let me know how you go. I don't know what state you're from (sorry ) but here's the name change guide I wrote: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/248400-australian-passport-name-change-process/ Astrid called about it and they told her that the name change was required because they don't recognise the overseas marriage certificate (unless you renounce Aussie citizenship I believe it was). I was in Australia when I changed mine and I can tell you no-one wanted anything to do with the Iowa marriage certificate. VicRoads in particular. If you need any help let me know. You have until 31st July to get the free passport change which should be fine but you'll need to start that soon. We can get it done quick Also pics you can get done here: www.epassportphoto.com

[Dave and Shannon 9]

hey

is it true that you can go to either NY or Las Vegas to a government building and get a temp working visa that last like 3 months while you wait for the green card ? I heard you can walk in and pretty much get one that day instead of waiting so long...

[CareBear 18]

Incorrect Dave. You cant' get a working authority until you file for AOS which is filed after you marry. Mine took 57 days to be approved and issued. But then my green card was approved a week later and that supercedes everything lol.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

hey

is it true that you can go to either NY or Las Vegas to a government building and get a temp working visa that last like 3 months while you wait for the green card ? I heard you can walk in and pretty much get one that day instead of waiting so long...

Never heard of it. The only "work permit" that is valid is the EAD and you're applying for it with AOS (for free). It IS possible to get an EAD prior to AOS based on your K1 visa, but you need to pay for it, and it's only valid till your I-94 expires and seeing that it usually takes around 2 months to receive it's pretty pointless. The "work stamp" that some people used to get at airports isn't valid but you COULD be talking about that stamp just getting it somewhere else and if so, like I said, it's not valid. Some people think it is and end up in trouble working illegally. It needs to be on this to be okay: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf

Sorry I couldn't be more positive about it.

[Dave and Shannon 9]

Never heard of it. The only "work permit" that is valid is the EAD and you're applying for it with AOS (for free). It IS possible to get an EAD prior to AOS based on your K1 visa, but you need to pay for it, and it's only valid till your I-94 expires and seeing that it usually takes around 2 months to receive it's pretty pointless. The "work stamp" that some people used to get at airports isn't valid but you COULD be talking about that stamp just getting it somewhere else and if so, like I said, it's not valid. Some people think it is and end up in trouble working illegally. It needs to be on this to be okay: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf

Sorry I couldn't be more positive about it.

Thanks guys, this is what the lawyer said to me toward the start of our filing, "Some airports will issue something called the Employment Authorization Document Stamp. New York at JFK and Las Vegas at McCarran are the big ones we know of. I believe Dallas at Fort Worth is another one. The EAD stamp does allow immediate employment authorization. There is only one slight problem with it: it is only valid for 90 days. You will still need to apply for the one-year Employment Authorization Document, and that takes between 60 and 90 days to approve after filing." not sure if this is correct or not.. thanks heaps for the reply, id like to work as soon as possible but looks like i might be having a nice break

Vanessa&Tony, not everything can be good news thanks heaps for the reply

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Thanks guys, this is what the lawyer said to me toward the start of our filing, "Some airports will issue something called the Employment Authorization Document Stamp. New York at JFK and Las Vegas at McCarran are the big ones we know of. I believe Dallas at Fort Worth is another one. The EAD stamp does allow immediate employment authorization. There is only one slight problem with it: it is only valid for 90 days. You will still need to apply for the one-year Employment Authorization Document, and that takes between 60 and 90 days to approve after filing." not sure if this is correct or not.. thanks heaps for the reply, id like to work as soon as possible but looks like i might be having a nice break

Vanessa&Tony, not everything can be good news thanks heaps for the reply

Okay yep he's talking about the stamp that I was talking about. unfortunately your lawyer has no idea and/or hasn't been keeping up with developments. If you had that stamp and were working you're working illegally. If caught you could say "but I have this stamp and my lawyer said it was okay" and they would tell you that it's YOUR responsibility to check the laws and YOU will pay the price. Your employer would also pay the fine for hiring someone who isn't work eligible.

I don't know if you're still in contact with the lawyer but show him the document I linked before. That's referred to as e-verify and something we and our employers HAVE to do (I saw it mentioned in Walmart the other day ). You'll see the stamp isn't on the list.

[Dave and Shannon 9]

Okay yep he's talking about the stamp that I was talking about. unfortunately your lawyer has no idea and/or hasn't been keeping up with developments. If you had that stamp and were working you're working illegally. If caught you could say "but I have this stamp and my lawyer said it was okay" and they would tell you that it's YOUR responsibility to check the laws and YOU will pay the price. Your employer would also pay the fine for hiring someone who isn't work eligible.

I don't know if you're still in contact with the lawyer but show him the document I linked before. That's referred to as e-verify and something we and our employers HAVE to do (I saw it mentioned in Walmart the other day ). You'll see the stamp isn't on the list.

Thanks heaps for that information hey, glad i didnt end up going to vegas and trying to get a work permit haha.. will be cheaper flying straight to NC then I will just go through the normal process and take abit of a holiday i guess ill need it considering 1 week annual leave a year!! noooooooo i love my council job haha.. things you do for love!! thanks for the help.. im sure ull hear from me again as this whole process is interesting to learn and go through... so there is a way i can get a temp work permit to work while we arent married yet? and if i was to get one, it just voids once we are married and then i have to wait for the green card? ah this is all so confusing haha.. is the temp work permit much?

cheers

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Thanks heaps for that information hey, glad i didnt end up going to vegas and trying to get a work permit haha.. will be cheaper flying straight to NC then I will just go through the normal process and take abit of a holiday i guess ill need it considering 1 week annual leave a year!! noooooooo i love my council job haha.. things you do for love!! thanks for the help.. im sure ull hear from me again as this whole process is interesting to learn and go through... so there is a way i can get a temp work permit to work while we arent married yet? and if i was to get one, it just voids once we are married and then i have to wait for the green card? ah this is all so confusing haha.. is the temp work permit much?

It's about $340 dollars and unfortunately it's totally not worth it. You're given 90 days on your I-94 when you enter on the K1. The permit that you'd get is valid only until your I-94 expires and given it takes around 60 days to get it, you'll get 30 days of work out of it. AND you'll need to stop working as soon as it expires.. which will suck if you get a job you love only to have to leave it for who knows how long. Not to mention some places might not hire you given it's such a short validity.

Anyway completely up to you but normally people just file AOS asap and you'll get your free EAD abotu 60 days after filing. In the meantime you can get used to life in the US and enjoy time with your honey

[KiwiBird 132]

Anyone have any advice for shipping things here? He doesn't have too much to move, but like.. one sq meter of stuff is like $800+. That just seems like a lot to me!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Anyone have any advice for shipping things here? He doesn't have too much to move, but like.. one sq meter of stuff is like $800+. That just seems like a lot to me!

I started a thread about that here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/293179-shipping-costs-aus-to-usa/ There's a few suggestions there and I would LOVE if people who reply here could reply there as well.

I think $800 is pretty decent 'cause I was quoted $1000 and I thought that was good! Do you mind if I ask who you looked through?