BINATIONAL SAME SEX COUPLES !! Show up!

[Davesings 30]

I was about to give them a call this evening, but then today I got THREE (quite unexpected) status updates from USCIS:

1. The Post Office Returned the petition as undeliverable;
2. Your address was changed relating to the I-129F;
3. Last but not least, "Card/Document" Production - On November 15, 2013 we mailed the document to the address we have on file.

Oh that sounds odd...keep us posted! what did this mean?

[Nikkosan 127]

Oh that sounds odd...keep us posted! what did this mean?

My lawyer told me we can just ignore it, and that it was an error on their part.

I freaked out a little, but ultimately relaxed a bit after I received his answer, and also after reading about others experiencing the same thing (at least the "undeliverable" part), and noticing how it doesn't mean you go back at the end of the line.

I suppose message #2 was a result of my lawyer contacting USCIS to change the address, and #3 of USCIS sending out another NOA2 to the new address? Just guessing.

We will be calling DoS on Tuesday night, we figured we would give them all Monday, and part of Tuesday to see if they received the application and if a case number has been issued.

[zuluweta 250]

Just got NOA2 approval notice dated 18 November 2013 for I-129F via email and USCIS website. What a wonderful birthday gift!

[Nikkosan 127]

SUPER!!! ...and yeah, long overdue!!!

[kmiami15 8]

Just got NOA2 approval notice dated 18 November 2013 for I-129F via email and USCIS website. What a wonderful birthday gift!

yay!!! congrats... I knew it was coming sometime soon

[TicoLover 17]

We had our interview this morning at 9:45 at the Sacramento USCIS office and were approved on the spot after some very tough questioning for half an hour. We were accompanied by our lawyer and I was really getting worried that IOS was not going to approve us as he kept hammering us with repetitive questions for half the interview about our intent when my husband entered the US 7 years ago. He asked us how we met and the timeline of my trips to Costa Rica and why my husband overstayed his business visa. He reviewed in detail the visa interview at the US Embassy in Costa Rica from over 7 years ago and verified that I was the person accompanying my husband to that interview. He was starting to ask for verification about my corporation in Costa Rica then noticed that all the verifications were on file from the visa interview 7 years ago. He asked both of us about 5 times in different ways the intent when my husband came to US. After about 15 minutes of hammering away at us on those questions he switched to asking us questions about accounts in common and checking out checking books which showed we were living at the same address since early 2007 and my husband had even made payments for furniture for the house from the checking account he opened in February 2007 at our common address. He looked at the financial records a little and then asked for photos. We showed him photos from the time we met in person in May 2006 until our recent Blessing of our Civil Marriage that we celebrated like a large wedding with 170 guests last Monday on the 7th anniversary of my husband arriving in the US. When then offered to provide more documentation and he said that's enough to clearly establish our relationship and all he has to do is check the background check and will approve the AOS this afternoon. He kept about 15 of our original photos, many from when we first met and photos of us together with friends and family over the past 7 years, and a couple of our photos from the wedding. One of the photos iI provided s where we are kissing during the Blessing Ceremony. Yes, we are really gay.

As we were leaving the office, my husband nearly fainted and fell against the wall in relief that it was over. The lawyer told us that she thought that she was going to have to intervene and start asking the IOS why he was asking so many questions about something that already been established with the granting of the business visa back in 2007. Then when he turned to the photos and quickly said he was going to approve the application, she realized that what he was doing was shoring up our application so that two years from now there would be no unanswered questions for the next IOS to ask that could potentially cause us problems down the road. Either way, we went through the trial by fire over intent and overstaying the visa and came out the other side successfully. Now, I can buy my husband his plane ticket to go back to visit his family in Costa Rica for the first time in 7 years!

[Cometz 0]

It has been over month now since CSC received my RFE. Should I call them and ask? I cannot fill out an e-request from USCIS.gov website because it have not exceed my process (60 days) time yet. What should I do? I am afraid it's at the bottom and being forgotten. Any suggestions, please help.

[Davesings 30]

It has been over month now since CSC received my RFE. Should I call them and ask? I cannot fill out an e-request from USCIS.gov website because it have not exceed my process (60 days) time yet. What should I do? I am afraid it's at the bottom and being forgotten. Any suggestions, please help.

It's certainly not going to hurt to call them. Take heart in knowing you are still within the normal processing time frame even though it sucks to wait!

I'm in the beginning stages ... my petition was transferred to CSC and I was issue a receipt number.

Welcome to the group and good luck!

We had our interview this morning at 9:45 at the Sacramento USCIS office and were approved on the spot after some very tough questioning for half an hour.

Congratulations!

Just got NOA2 approval notice dated 18 November 2013 for I-129F via email and USCIS website. What a wonderful birthday gift!

Awesome!

[Davesings 30]

9:12....CMON TSC...please send to NVC? Please?

[zuluweta 250]

SUPER!!! ...and yeah, long overdue!!!

Thanks! You're right, it was long overdue. We got the NOA2 approval while lined up at the immigration counters at the airport coming back from vacation.

[Nikkosan 127]

We had our interview this morning at 9:45 at the Sacramento USCIS office and were approved on the spot after some very tough questioning for half an hour.

Now, I can buy my husband his plane ticket to go back to visit his family in Costa Rica for the first time in 7 years!

Congrats, you BOTH deserve it!

Thanks! You're right, it was long overdue. We got the NOA2 approval while lined up at the immigration counters at the airport coming back from vacation.

That's neat!!!

[shibanpr 0]

Our case on the CEAC website is showing "READY". I checked the DHL website and the documents left Cincinnati early this morning and should be delivered to AIT in Taipei on Friday 11/22.

Service Center : Vermont Service Center

Transferred? Texas Service Center on 2013-08-06

Consulate : Taipei, Taiwan

I-129F Sent : 2013-07-17

I-129F NOA1 : 2013-07-23

I-129F RFE(s) : 2013-10-1

RFE Reply(s) : 2013-10-17

I-129F NOA2 : 2013-10-24

NVC Received: 2013-11-14

NVC Left: 2013-11-19

[kmiami15 8]

We had our interview this morning at 9:45 at the Sacramento USCIS office and were approved on the spot after some very tough questioning for half an hour. We were accompanied by our lawyer and I was really getting worried that IOS was not going to approve us as he kept hammering us with repetitive questions for half the interview about our intent when my husband entered the US 7 years ago. He asked us how we met and the timeline of my trips to Costa Rica and why my husband overstayed his business visa. He reviewed in detail the visa interview at the US Embassy in Costa Rica from over 7 years ago and verified that I was the person accompanying my husband to that interview. He was starting to ask for verification about my corporation in Costa Rica then noticed that all the verifications were on file from the visa interview 7 years ago. He asked both of us about 5 times in different ways the intent when my husband came to US. After about 15 minutes of hammering away at us on those questions he switched to asking us questions about accounts in common and checking out checking books which showed we were living at the same address since early 2007 and my husband had even made payments for furniture for the house from the checking account he opened in February 2007 at our common address. He looked at the financial records a little and then asked for photos. We showed him photos from the time we met in person in May 2006 until our recent Blessing of our Civil Marriage that we celebrated like a large wedding with 170 guests last Monday on the 7th anniversary of my husband arriving in the US. When then offered to provide more documentation and he said that's enough to clearly establish our relationship and all he has to do is check the background check and will approve the AOS this afternoon. He kept about 15 of our original photos, many from when we first met and photos of us together with friends and family over the past 7 years, and a couple of our photos from the wedding. One of the photos iI provided s where we are kissing during the Blessing Ceremony. Yes, we are really gay.

As we were leaving the office, my husband nearly fainted and fell against the wall in relief that it was over. The lawyer told us that she thought that she was going to have to intervene and start asking the IOS why he was asking so many questions about something that already been established with the granting of the business visa back in 2007. Then when he turned to the photos and quickly said he was going to approve the application, she realized that what he was doing was shoring up our application so that two years from now there would be no unanswered questions for the next IOS to ask that could potentially cause us problems down the road. Either way, we went through the trial by fire over intent and overstaying the visa and came out the other side successfully. Now, I can buy my husband his plane ticket to go back to visit his family in Costa Rica for the first time in 7 years!

wow!!! what a moving story.. the only thing that I have to say is congrats and well deserved... now I hope your husband sees his family and enjoys his time there....

[TicoLover 17]

wow!!! what a moving story.. the only thing that I have to say is congrats and well deserved... now I hope your husband sees his family and enjoys his time there....

Thank you. We received the email and text message last night that my husband's Green Card is in production. This morning I booked my husband's trip to Costa Rica for 6 weeks in December-January.

[SM & EF 41]

Sorry for the long post, but we had our interview yesterday in Ft Lauderdale (Oakland Park field office) and were approved after a very pleasant 20 minutes with our IO. Over the past three months I have gained a lot of knowledge and comfort reading everyone’s questions and comments. Thanks for sharing your stories. Here is our interview experience.

We arrived at 9:05 for our 9:45 appointment and went through security. Our lawyer arrived a few minutes later and we went to check in. Our lawyer actually had two same-sex couples scheduled for interviews at the same exact time, so all five of us sat down together to wait. Our lawyer's plan was to go with the first couple called, tell the IO about the double booking, and ask them to let the IO assigned to the other couple about the conflict. If the couple left behind were called before the lawyer returned, they would tell the IO the situation. If the IO asked the couple to sign a waiver and do the interview without the lawyer, they should refuse at which point the IO would probably skip to the next couple on their list and come back later.

We had been waiting for about 15 minutes when our lawyer saw a lawyer she knew and went to talk with him. When our lawyer came back, she let us know that the appointments were running about 45 minutes behind so it seemed we would be waiting till at least 10:30. Much to our surprise, our name was called at about 9:50. Our lawyer led us into the back room and as we walked around the corner to the IO’s office, our lawyer explained the scheduling conflict. The IO casually mentioned that it shouldn’t be a problem since the interview wouldn’t take long. That was nice to hear at the start of the interview.

With the door closed, the IO swore us in and started with me (the USC). She basically asked me to confirm the info on the I-130. This only took a few minutes. Then she turned to my husband and ran through the questions on the I-485. There was one funny moment when she asked about polygamy. The room was silent and the IO turned to me. I laughed and said, “We’re just lucky we could get married once!” We all had a good laugh and the interview continued. The IO started asking about how we met and when we moved in together and then we got off on a tangent about visiting Charleston S.C. Once that wrapped up the IO mentioned that she was approving the petition pending the name check.

At this point I got a little emotional, and while I tried not to cry, the relief of being approved made my efforts futile. At that moment my husband got up to give me a hug and then our lawyer’s phone started to ring. She tried to press ignore but it wouldn’t stop ringing and she kept trying to shut it off as she repeated “ignore, ignore, ignore”. My husband thought she might be talking to him about not getting up to hug me but he didn’t care. At that point the IO reached into the drawer for some tissues and even she was a little teary eyed. After that, we all got up, shook hands, and the IO walked us to the front. We hugged our lawyer, went over to the other couple, and briefly explained what happened. Within one minute they were called and off they went. Later that day we heard from our lawyer and she confirmed that they also got approved, so it was a great day for everyone involved.

The icing on the cake came this afternoon when we received emails from USCIS stating that our green card is in production and the I-130 had been approved. So all we need to do now is wait for the green card (plus the SS card which still hasn’t arrived three weeks after applying). All in all, we feel very fortunate to have gotten through this process in just a few months. I’m still amazed at how much has changed recently. 5 months ago DOMA fell, 4 months ago we got married in Maryland, 3 months ago we applied for AOS, and today we are nearly done. Thanks again for all the help you’ve given us. Best of luck to everyone!