K! AOS Help

[hilton 0]

Well... I can tell you from my experience and I am sure many can relate to that.

My husband did save up more than enough for my AOS and I even brought some money with me when I came here. I came in June 2008, just when everything started going down hill in the American economy. My husband owns an auto business and that went down from making $1000 a week to making nothing. No one wants their car painted when times are bad. The dealerships he had business with were all closing down one by one. With no income, we still needed to eat, pay the bills, pay rent, this and that. Our famiy in Michigan didnt do too well either , many got laid off, pay cuts etc and borrowing money from them was totally out of the question. So, we figured we had to use the AOS fund, that we put aside to pay whatever that was more important at that time like having a place to live, food on the table etc. While trying to save his business, my husband also went out searching for a job and competing with thousands of job seekers, it wasn't easy. In the end, he went into law enforcement because that was one of the industries that was hiring and didn't require special skills or experience. Took a few months to save up and did my AOS.

So, I would like to say, we do think about the big picture but sometimes things don't happen according to plan.

Cheers.

yea

my situation involved the fact we were cought in the period when the fee's for AOS went up in price ( almost doubled ) I think and my step daughter's ( 14 years old) visa expired in 6 month instead of having the full year to come to the US. The plan was for her to finish the school year in Thailand then come to the US in april time frame and have part of the spring and all summer to get setteled in so .....no time to save that money up like we planned plus we had the expence of the airfare earlyer than expected, then on top of all that I got activated to active duty military which reduced my pay by a significant amount so ...unexpectant things you don't plan for happen .

[Kang Lang 7]

we also filed a year late not financially related but due to unforseen medical emergency with my mom which took precedence. my husband was approved at interview without incident so it can be done although of course not recommended.

having said that, we did not get a new medical my husband just took a blood test to prove the antibodies for the required immunizations were present and had the medical transcribed after the general physical which was signifanctly lower in cost than redoing the medical.

good luck to you!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hi

everyone I need some help regarding AOS, We have not filled for AOS because of the cost and it coming up on a year and we have the money saved up now. But after my wife got here we inguired about how long we had to send in the AOS packet and no one could give us a the answer. we asked the local imagration office and my congressman and was told just do it as soon as you can. I also tried to look it up but could not find anything that gave us a deadline to file... untill recently (now that we have most of the money saved up) I had to redo the packet because the documents have been updated and when I inquired on the visajourney site I found out that it has to be completed within a 180 day period or you become inelagable!!! Now Im worried its going to cause us some big problems!!!

Does any one know of anyone taking this long to apply and know what happened,

does anyone have any suggestion or advice

Thanks

She is also going to need a new medical exam and vaccination report as her old one for the K-1 is more than one year old by now. Find a civil surgeon in your area and get it scheduled. This will add a few hundred $$$ to the cost of the AOS. You may as well do it before you send it in, you will get an RFE for a new medical exam. When you get an RFE they will give you only a few weeks to get the exam and send it back, and if you are still in the same situation money wise and fail to comply with the RFE they will deny the AOS and send her a letter to get out of the USA. Better to wait until you have everything ready. As Bobby suggests there is no need for an AP, if she were to leave the country now, even with an AP, she would be barred from re-entry due to her overstay and out of status condition.

The AOS is an important part of the K-1 process and is known to everyone going into this process. It is an expense which is entirely predictable before you file the petition and submit TWO affidavits of support. It is one of those things that petitioners need to make a PRIORITY and one of those things you beg and borrow money to pay for if needed. waiting while "saving up" money for an expense you knew about months in advance is likely to cause you and your wife a lot of extra expense (medical exam) and problems. You should never have to ask the question "What will happen to my wife now?"

[F & J 21]

We called USCIS (National Customer Service Center) about this before. My husband and I were in a panic - my I-94 was about to expire and we were still waiting for my I-693. My appointment with the Civil Surgeon was scheduled 4 days after the I-94 expiry and we were so worried that it would cause problems with the immigration process. There was no way the CS could get as an earlier appointment date.

This is the information they gave us:

• there is no "deadline" for filing for Adjustment of Status but it is recommended that you file AS SOON AS POSSIBLE after getting married
  
• as long as you've fulfilled the requirements of the K-1 visa (there is only one: get married within 90 days of US entry), you can legally stay in the U.S. while your Adjustment of Status is pending
  

Edited January 12, 2010 by Fatima and Jim

[hilton 0]

We called USCIS (National Customer Service Center) about this before. My husband and I were in a panic - my I-94 was about to expire and we were still waiting for my I-693. My appointment with the Civil Surgeon was scheduled 4 days after the I-94 expiry and we were so worried that it would cause problems with the immigration process. There was no way the CS could get as an earlier appointment date.

This is the information they gave us:

• there is no "deadline" for filing for Adjustment of Status but it is recommended that you file AS SOON AS POSSIBLE after getting married
  
• as long as you've fulfilled the requirements of the K-1 visa (there is only one: get married within 90 days of US entry), you can legally stay in the U.S. while your Adjustment of Status is pending
  

yep that is the same info they gave us as well as my congressman