AP, EAD, and AOS

[westmeetseast 7]

Hello,

After getting married, I filed for AP so my wife can travel back to Thailand, EAD so she can work while living here, and AOS so that she can get a green card and as with every other filing all I can do now is wait. We just found out that we are pregnant and I have the following questions:

1--When should we apply for a social security card (maybe I am late in doing that)?

2--It appears the processing times are running about 2 months for AP, 3 months for EAD, and 6+ months for a green card if there are no problems...does that appear correct?

3--My wife wants to travel back to Thailand to visit her family and the pregnancy has made this more urgent. How long can she stay in Thailand each visit? If there is a limit (3 months I have heard) can she return to the usa and then go back again? What are the usual rules regarding number of visits and length of visits?

4--What are the chances to have a baby with dual citizenship? IS it better the baby is born in the usa or Thailand?

Thank you for any help you can provide

[Kastrs 723]

One thing to consider in relation to where the baby is born, is how will the costs be coverd if born abroad? I am thinkng she is covered under your insurance in the us? Also is the baby is born abroad you will need to get it a passport before coming home which does take some time. Also, how young would you let your baby fly on the plane? Just a coup,e things to consider.

Congradulations on the baby!

Airlines have different restrictions on how late into a pregnancy they will let you fly but normally the cutoff is around 32 weeks I believe.

Yes go to the ssa and apply for her ss card now.

[Brens47 1]

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS!

Since you are still working with the adjustment of status and you might have more interviews, in my opinion it doesn't look good that you spend too much time separate if you are just married. When she get her AP to travel, maybe if she isn't very pregnant yet she could visit her family for a few weeks (depending on the physician's advice). If the baby is born abroad, you will have to be there until the process of his passport is done, since you are the USC (which somebody else said already it will take some time), it will also cost money. There are a few important things besides the one we already mentioned, that you two should consider before making a decision. Good luck and best wishes.

[Jamnan_n_Steve 17]

Our timeline from November 2 AoS (131/485/765) filing was combination AP/EAD card in hand was approximately 75-days and conditional green card approximately 100-days, a year and a day after we first met. We left for a eleven week return visit February 25 as I am retired and Jamnan missed her family (especially her eighteen year old son who did not accompany us) and friends after being away for five months. Because of our freedom to travel we do not expect any problems when we file to remove conditions and for naturalization as we are building a life together in the U.S. as well as trying to keep and build a life in Thailand (my Thai is a hard language to learn at 64). The bright line is 1-year, but travel outside of the U.S. for six months out of the year may need to be explained.

I would hope you can take the time between now and your babiy's birth working on building a spport network here while waiting for the next steps in the process

Steve from Jamnan_n_Steve

[Pii Sam 0]

Congratulations on the baby! Your baby will have rights to citizenship of Thailand and USA regardless of where it is born as long as you can prove that the mother is a Thai national, and that the Father is a US national. Very easy process in the US. We just went through the process a couple of years ago, and now our daughter holds both US, and Thai passports. Not sure how difficult it would be in Thailand. My guess is that it would not be that hard, just a matter of having all the proper paperwork (Passports, birth certificates etc).

[westmeetseast 7]

Congratulations on the baby! Your baby will have rights to citizenship of Thailand and USA regardless of where it is born as long as you can prove that the mother is a Thai national, and that the Father is a US national. Very easy process in the US. We just went through the process a couple of years ago, and now our daughter holds both US, and Thai passports. Not sure how difficult it would be in Thailand. My guess is that it would not be that hard, just a matter of having all the proper paperwork (Passports, birth certificates etc).

Thank you for your comments. We are very excited for the baby and plan to have the birth here in the USA. I know it will be easy to get a USA birth certificate since he/she will be born here but how did you get the Thai passport?

Curtis

[Pii Sam 0]

After we got the USA stuff (birth certificate & passport) we started on the Thai birth certificate first. It was pretty much just fill out the proper form(s), DOS certified copy of the Birth Certificate, copy of mother's tabien baan, ID card, passport, marriage certificate, copy of my passport, and a couple of 2x2 photos of my daughter. All pretty easy stuff to get. Sent it to the Thai consulate in LA. Got the Thai Birth Certificate back a couple of weeks later.

For the passport it was pretty much the same stuff, but since we didn't want to fly to LA from Washington state so they can capture biometric data for the E-passport, we waited till they had their mobile consular services visit. We filled out the proper forms, and gave them a copy of my daughter's Thai BC and they walked us through the rest. I can't remember the cost but I think it was around $50 for everything.

The Thai consulates and embassy will usually have a mobile service at least once a year to help people with passports and other services. The schedules are usually posted on the website of the consulate that services your region of the US.

Thank you for your comments. We are very excited for the baby and plan to have the birth here in the USA. I know it will be easy to get a USA birth certificate since he/she will be born here but how did you get the Thai passport?

Curtis