AOS/Petition Filing Questions

[MrPinkman 0]

Hi guys,

ok so we're in the 1st stage of filing everything and we had some questions, this stuff can be confusing. My wife's the USC & I'm the intending immigrant. Here are the questions :

General Question : does processing time really have anything to do with a state's immigration population ? For example would filing in California take longer than another state if you were filing the same documents elsewhere ? (Do petitions get sorted by address)

Question 14 on form I-130 says : "fill in Date authorized stay expired, or will expire as shown on form I-94 or I-95". I came to study on an F1 visa, and my I-94 just says D/S. So what exactly do I fill in for this part ? Date of graduation or ... ? we don't want to make any mistakes on this thing. I'm sure you undertsand ...

on filing form I-864 :

we plan on using my brother-in-law, & her sister as our joint sponsors , but we were wondering :

1) to meet the income requirement, her annual income must be greater than 125% of the poverty guideline for a 2 person household correct ? (i.e. greater than $15,130) Is that right ? please tell ....

on filing form I-485 :

1) the 1st section of the form asks for "Current USCIS Status", does that mean current immigration status, EVEN if one fell out of status ? See i had OPT issues, but have known my wife for 4 & a half years. So do I just put "Out of Status" and explain how/when with an attached document ?

2) I was under the impression that the USCIS would inform you of where to do the "medical examination" that is to be submitted with the form. Basically, what tests are to be done in the examination & do you do them at your local clinic ? Or is there a list of clinics "preferred" by the USCIS ?

I know it's a lot but please answer to the best of your knowledge. We'd really appreciate the feedback ...

Thank you all so much in Advance !

Edited July 26, 2012 by MrPinkman

[Thomas and Kristi 17]

I can't answer the question about the I-94 status...so I'll leave that for another member.

For the rest:

on filing form I-864 :

we plan on using my brother-in-law, & her sister as our joint sponsors , but we were wondering :

1) to meet the income requirement, her annual income must be greater than 125% of the poverty guideline for a 2 person household correct ? (i.e. greater than $15,130) Is that right ? please tell .....

The income should be above $18912 (unless you are US military, which it would then be $15130 or planning on filing from Hawaii or Alaska, which are $21,762 and $23,650, respectively).

on filing form I-485 :

1) the 1st section of the form asks for "Current USCIS Status", does that mean current immigration status, EVEN if one fell out of status ? See i had OPT issues, but have known my wife for 4 & a half years. So do I just put "Out of Status" and explain how/when with an attached document ?

2) I was under the impression that the USCIS would inform you of where to do the "medical examination" that is to be submitted with the form. Basically, what tests are to be done in the examination & do you do them at your local clinic ? Or is there a list of clinics "preferred" by the USCIS ?

1) Are you out of status? This is a tough question and I think I'll leave that to someone with experience on OPT.

2) There is a list of civil surgeons on the uscis website. http://www.uscis.gov/civilsurgeons You can only use those listed by USCIS.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Thomas and Kristi

[MrPinkman 0]

we tried our hardest, but yes i did fall out of status. OPT was denied, reason given to me was : "my I-795 application arrived (1) day late from when dated by the DSO at my college". We fought & failed.

just need to know what to fill out - being out of status will hopefully be forgiven based on our marriage.

thanks so much for the reply !!

Edited July 26, 2012 by MrPinkman

[Thomas and Kristi 17]

I'm still hoping someone else will come along and help you with the other questions. I have no experience with F-1 visas. Good luck with everything. This is a great group to get information from here if you run into any problems. The forums are full of experienced posters.

[didopage 337]

General Question : does processing time really have anything to do with a state's immigration population ? For example would filing in California take longer than another state if you were filing the same documents elsewhere ? (Do petitions get sorted by address)

2) I was under the impression that the USCIS would inform you of where to do the "medical examination" that is to be submitted with the form. Basically, what tests are to be done in the examination & do you do them at your local clinic ? Or is there a list of clinics "preferred" by the USCIS ?

General question : You don't choose where you file. Your package will be processed at the National Benefits Center, and then be transferred to either California Service Center, or your local USCIS office if they are not too busy. No way to know how long your AOS process is going to take. I live in California (Sacramento area), and got my interview date about 2 months in a half after filing the papers. Seems that my local USCIS office is pretty quick. Some other members living in California (San Francisco area) filed months before me, and are still waiting.

2) You need to go to a civil surgeon designated by the USCIS. See this link for the list: https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=offices.type&OfficeLocator.office_type=CIV (EDIT: Oops, I just noticed Thomas and Kristi have answered that one already )

Edited July 27, 2012 by didopage

[ceadsearc 516]

Confused - why are you listing 2 joint sponsors?

[MrPinkman 0]

@Thomas & Kristi : thanks guys ! I appreciate the answers so far !

@didopage : got it. Was under the impression that you could somehow control processing ... ha ! thanks !

@ceadsearc : i guess what I meant to say was if need be, I'd at least have 2 options for joint sponsorship. My wife's been a bit of a "free spirit" the last couple years, so i was just saying that if she didn't make the requirement.