Frontloading AOS

[Leo&Farah 0]

Well we are in the stages of getting the paperwork ready for AOS and wondered if, like the K1, it should be frontloaded with relationship evidence. We heard some K1 adjustments get put straight to CSC or something and get approved without an interview. Wondered if frontloading marriage jointness evidence would have any effect on the probability of it.

Also, I am so confused about the degree of name change allowed once married in your free name change.

Say my full name is Anne Bettysue Miranda Crocker and my husband's last name is Scavo.

First name: Anne Bettysue

Middle name: Miranda

Family name: Crocker

For all intents and purposes and throughout my life, my first name and given name was always Betty, not Anne as is just a cultural prefix to my first name, nor is it Bettysue. Anne is sort of my cultural equivalent of things like Junior or Senior, so as you can tell it will be stupid to go around with that as my first name. I have always gone by Betty. Social security shortened my maiden name on my card to Anne Bettysue Crocker and left out my middlename, Miranda.

Could I apply for AOS in the married name Betty Sue Scavo? Leave out that prefix, use my actual first name as a first name, separate Sue in Bettysue to a middle name and use my husband's last name?

First name: Betty

Middle name: Sue

Family name: Scavo

PS: Sorry for the bad name examples. And yes, I watch Desperate Housewives.

[payxibka 10,047]

Well we are in the stages of getting the paperwork ready for AOS and wondered if, like the K1, it should be frontloaded with relationship evidence. We heard some K1 adjustments get put straight to CSC or something and get approved without an interview. Wondered if frontloading marriage jointness evidence would have any effect on the probability of it.

We did not "front load" and my wife and son were approved without interview.

If you have met the requirements of a legal name change in accordance with your state law, you can apply for AOS in your current "legal" name.

Edited December 28, 2009 by payxibka

[HeatDeath 430]

I didn't frontload and got approved in two months with no interview. Frontloading is considered advisable in many cases at the K-1 phase because, while USCIS is reasonably consistent and transparent, some consulates and consulate officers are known to be very strict and very arbitrary, much more so than the USCIS. Frontloading is essentially an end run around the worst of the consulate's obstructionism, forcing them to accept and consider evidence they might not otherwise want to have to care about.

At the AOS stage, it's all just USCIS. They can be opaque, impenetrable, and frustrating, but it is very unusual for them to be arbitrary or capricious. If they're giving you a hard time, they usually seem to have a reasonable reason [at least, more reasonable than the "Everyone in this country wants a US visa, will say and do anything to get it, and we hate them all" that you seem to get in some consulates.]

At any rate, frontloading doesn't seem to have any impact on whether you get transferred to CSC and skip the interview or not. Assuming it's based on anything other then how busy your local office is relative to the CSC (and it may not be), it's probably based on how well organized your packet is, and on having a complete lack of complications or obvious red flags. Luck probably plays a big role too. So be diligent. Dot every I, cross every T, check your packet against the examples here AND the instructions on the USCIS website a couple (of dozen! ) times, and hope for the best. As with anything else in your life that is [apparently] completely beyond your own control, prayer seems to work well too.