October 2009 K-1 Visa filers

[K and L 27]

We filed our AOS this past weekend (after getting married just over a week ago) - pretty much the day after our honeymoon. I really hope we'll get to forego the interview stage -- my state only has one USCIS center, and we live about three hours away from it. It's a huge inconvenience, and as far as I can tell, they prefer to send the K1 AOSes to CSC to be processed. (Of course: sample size 1...)

Congrats on the AOS approvals!

I'm sorry about the SSN snafu - you'd better get that cleared up soon, you've got about a month before he can't get one. You don't need a SSN for the wedding or the AOS, so don't stress too much; at the end of the day, it DOES save you the effort of having to go to the SSA twice.

Edited August 26, 2010 by K and L

[lilacvioletiris 11]

Thanks Nope, not the first ... based on all the October filers, Rito has been approved too You and lilacvioletiris and a handful of others are the only others that I know of from October that have filed for AOS. It was MUCH easier and stress free than the K-1 - to me at least

AOS is almost more torture than the K-1 waiting because there isn't "Igor's List" to watch us get closer to the top. With all the "individual field offices" and their processing times, it seems that Detroit has AOS interviews after about 90 days from when paperwork was mailed in so hopefully in late October or early November we will have the AOS interview. As long as the work permit gets here sooner, I can wait for the AOS interview. My husband is chomping at the bit to be working again especially now that I am back at work as a teacher and there is no one around at home to commiserate with. More waiting is coming. It would be awesome to be done with AOS by Oct. 15 which was our K-1 NOA1 date. Just have to wait and see.

We filed our AOS this past weekend (after getting married just over a week ago) - pretty much the day after our honeymoon. I really hope we'll get to forego the interview stage -- my state only has one USCIS center, and we live about three hours away from it. It's a huge inconvenience, and as far as I can tell, they prefer to send the K1 AOSes to CSC to be processed. (Of course: sample size 1...)

Congrats on sending your package. One waiting day at a time....

Hi everyone!

I've been away for so long. Everything has been pretty awesome since we got approved, although, I'm really tired of waiting. I miss him so so much! But we've set a wedding date: January 23rd and he'll be officially getting his plane ticket to come out here this week! I bought my dress a couple of days ago, and it's beautiful! Almost have a venue picked out, and then we can move on to all the fun stuff! So excited to be married!

So that's my update! Working 2 jobs doesn't give a whole lot of time for anything else!

J

Congrats on making plans for your wedding. It is exciting!

Hey October 2009 filers! How is life these days? Pretty soon, it will be one year since we filed - crazy!

I've been woefully neglectful to VJ lately since everything has been pretty quiet with immigration. Well, until the last couple of days when we found out my fiance STILL hasn't been entered in the system so that we can go ahead and get his SSN. I hope someone at the border/immigration hasn't bungled it up in there.

Any other news these days?

Still waiting for AOS paperwork to move through the system.

[Leenie 15]

Wow, things really are still hopping around here

It's so nice to hear about AOS approvals already, so congrats to everyone who has gotten through that already!! It's equally as nice to hear about our upcoming weddings. I hope everyone has a beautiful and stress free day.

In a surprising turn of events, we just got a letter saying that my fiance's social security card is coming through in two weeks, so yay! I guess the calls to the SS office, USCIS, and CBP got someone's rear in gear

[Jessica&Carl 1]

Hey guys,

I have a really random question. I'm not finding a whole lot of info in the other boards, so I thought I'd try my trusty October filers. (Gosh that seems like such a long time ago, doesn't it?)

Did anyone have Chicago at the POE? My man is trying to decide between two flight that both have his POE in Chicago. One has a much shorter layover and gets him here to Colorado much sooner. The other is a much longer layover and he gets here very late. I'm just wondering if he needs the extra time to go through the POE process or not. He'll be flying 2 days after christmas, and we're not sure if that will make the immigration line a lot shorter, or a lot longer because it's close to the holidays. Would love any info you all have!

Thanks,

J

[lilacvioletiris 11]

Wow, things really are still hopping around here

It's so nice to hear about AOS approvals already, so congrats to everyone who has gotten through that already!! It's equally as nice to hear about our upcoming weddings. I hope everyone has a beautiful and stress free day.

In a surprising turn of events, we just got a letter saying that my fiance's social security card is coming through in two weeks, so yay! I guess the calls to the SS office, USCIS, and CBP got someone's rear in gear

My husband just got our letter that told us our interview date is Oct. 4 in Detroit! Yeah!

[Beth and John 7]

My husband just got our letter that told us our interview date is Oct. 4 in Detroit! Yeah!

YAY!

[K and L 27]

Yay lilac!

We're still waiting for our NOA1. It's been a week, and no joy on the texts/emails. I won't start pestering anyone for another week or two.

Did anyone have Chicago at the POE? My man is trying to decide between two flight that both have his POE in Chicago. One has a much shorter layover and gets him here to Colorado much sooner. The other is a much longer layover and he gets here very late. I'm just wondering if he needs the extra time to go through the POE process or not. He'll be flying 2 days after christmas, and we're not sure if that will make the immigration line a lot shorter, or a lot longer because it's close to the holidays. Would love any info you all have!

Figure you'll need at least 2 hours at immigration, plus whatever time it takes to get the baggage, plus time to go through security again, plus time to get to the gate (as there are no trams or automated walkways in O'Hare) -- travel around the holidays is so variable, and (as a frequent Chicago flyer) when Chicago gets busy, it gets *busy*. I would say that 4 hours is a minimum, and 5-6 hours may be better if he's not flying priority class (which gets faster security time). O'Hare is pretty ####### about the TSA list (must be in the ziplock, must be under the size to fit in the ziplock, etc) - Miami's not nearly as #######. It's MUCH better for him to get in late and tired and not having missed a flight than having insufficient time and having to reschedule the flights and possibly stay overnight (flying standby succccccks) and what not.

Edited August 30, 2010 by K and L

[lilacvioletiris 11]

Yay lilac!

We're still waiting for our NOA1. It's been a week, and no joy on the texts/emails. I won't start pestering anyone for another week or two.

Yeah, the emails for the NOA1 were a little weird. We received 12 of them for 3 forms several in duplicate like someone inputted the same information into the system and said "send this email". Give it 10 days and you will likely have something to look at on the USCIS portal.

[Jessica&Carl 1]

Yay lilac!

We're still waiting for our NOA1. It's been a week, and no joy on the texts/emails. I won't start pestering anyone for another week or two.

Figure you'll need at least 2 hours at immigration, plus whatever time it takes to get the baggage, plus time to go through security again, plus time to get to the gate (as there are no trams or automated walkways in O'Hare) -- travel around the holidays is so variable, and (as a frequent Chicago flyer) when Chicago gets busy, it gets *busy*. I would say that 4 hours is a minimum, and 5-6 hours may be better if he's not flying priority class (which gets faster security time). O'Hare is pretty ####### about the TSA list (must be in the ziplock, must be under the size to fit in the ziplock, etc) - Miami's not nearly as #######. It's MUCH better for him to get in late and tired and not having missed a flight than having insufficient time and having to reschedule the flights and possibly stay overnight (flying standby succccccks) and what not.

Ugh. Okay, well thanks for the advice. He already got the flight that only has an hour and 45 minute layover time. I guess we're going to just have to pray...

Thanks tho!

J

[K and L 27]

That's not going to be enough time. I'm flat out going to say that. I frequently fly out of O'Hare, and an hour is just enough time in O'Hare for domestic layovers if you've got a concourse change, as planes are frequently late (or if on time, have to sit on the concourse, waiting for a gate to open up) and there's no trams/etc to help you get where you're going faster. International to domestic typically involves a terminal change at O'Hare, in addition to the time at immigration and customs.

Miami's not as busy as O'Hare for international flights, and L took about an hour and a half between waiting for his baggage, going through initial immigration screening, and going through secondary immigration control. He got the fast track through security, because we used my frequent flier miles to buy his tickets and first class was cheaper than security, and it still took about 15 minutes with TSA.

And if you read the O'Hare POE reviews, many of them talk about taking an hour and a half or more at immigration - on top of the 30-60 minutes you'll spend waiting for your baggage.

Maybe if he didn't have the secondary screening because of the K1, it'd be sufficient time...

Edited August 31, 2010 by K and L

[K and L 27]

Happy wedding day, Leenie!

Edited September 10, 2010 by K and L

[Leenie 15]

Happy wedding day, Leenie!

Aw, thanks a ton! It truly was a happy day! Weather was perfect, and I'm just so happy to be married to my super hubbykinnies

We're looking forward to embarking on our AOS journey in the coming days - just trying to decide whether to get a CS to do a vaccination transcription for us or just send in our DS-3025! Oh yeah, and waiting to get our marriage certificate back.

[K and L 27]

Glad to hear!

For whatever it's worth, we went ahead and went with the CS transcription - ultimately, we decided it was better to spend a little money and ensure we wouldn't get a RFE for not filing the correct form, as RFEs put a pause in your AP and EAD as well as your AOS.

L's AOS/EAD/AP was just transferred to CSC, so no interview for us! Someone in the Aug '10 filers thread mentioned that people who apply for all three (as opposed to those that apply for AOS/EAD or AOS/AP or just AOS) tend to get transferred and have no interview. I don't know if that's a good thing or not (I suppose it depends on whether or not you want to sit back and wait for everything or want a particular time that you'll get the green card). I'm just glad we don't need to interview - we live over 100mi from the nearest USCIS office and after driving from AZ to NC to here, L doesn't want to drive aaaaaanywhere.

Edited September 21, 2010 by K and L

[Leenie 15]

Glad to hear!

For whatever it's worth, we went ahead and went with the CS transcription - ultimately, we decided it was better to spend a little money and ensure we wouldn't get a RFE for not filing the correct form, as RFEs put a pause in your AP and EAD as well as your AOS.

L's AOS/EAD/AP was just transferred to CSC, so no interview for us! Someone in the Aug '10 filers thread mentioned that people who apply for all three (as opposed to those that apply for AOS/EAD or AOS/AP or just AOS) tend to get transferred and have no interview. I don't know if that's a good thing or not (I suppose it depends on whether or not you want to sit back and wait for everything or want a particular time that you'll get the green card). I'm just glad we don't need to interview - we live over 100mi from the nearest USCIS office and after driving from AZ to NC to here, L doesn't want to drive aaaaaanywhere.

Your signature "spoilers" are so flippin' cool!!

I just wanted to pop in and share the exciting news that we finalled mailed our AOS package. Although it was less work than the K-1, it's still such a huge load off. Nothing we can do now but wait!

K and L, you guys should be nearing your AOS approval soon, yeah? I hope it's right around the corner

[lilacvioletiris 11]

Aw, thanks a ton! It truly was a happy day! Weather was perfect, and I'm just so happy to be married to my super hubbykinnies

We're looking forward to embarking on our AOS journey in the coming days - just trying to decide whether to get a CS to do a vaccination transcription for us or just send in our DS-3025! Oh yeah, and waiting to get our marriage certificate back.

Congrats on the wedding!

Our AOS journey came to an end today, 365 days from when it started! My husband received his green card in the mail! We had mailed our I-129F on 10/13/2009! Today the green card came on 10/13/2010! Yeah! Now the wait for Removal of Conditions in 2 years. Big sigh of relief!

Glad to hear!

For whatever it's worth, we went ahead and went with the CS transcription - ultimately, we decided it was better to spend a little money and ensure we wouldn't get a RFE for not filing the correct form, as RFEs put a pause in your AP and EAD as well as your AOS.

L's AOS/EAD/AP was just transferred to CSC, so no interview for us! Someone in the Aug '10 filers thread mentioned that people who apply for all three (as opposed to those that apply for AOS/EAD or AOS/AP or just AOS) tend to get transferred and have no interview. I don't know if that's a good thing or not (I suppose it depends on whether or not you want to sit back and wait for everything or want a particular time that you'll get the green card). I'm just glad we don't need to interview - we live over 100mi from the nearest USCIS office and after driving from AZ to NC to here, L doesn't want to drive aaaaaanywhere.

Hope all goes well with the transfer and L gets his green card soon.