AOS/Vaccinations/Bull$#it/$395WTFO?

[Satellite 1]

However, after the K-1 visa expires, if she has not applied for AOS, she starts accumulating "out of status" days. I believe one gets 180 of those before being subject to deportation proceedings.

Your legal status as a K1 expires after 90 days, married or not.

A K1 visa holder becomes out of status when the 90 days as a fiancée lapse or when the fiancée is no longer such, which occurs upon marriage. Or even engaging in some activity that is not authorized for a K1. You are subject to deportation the first day you are out of status. But you need a triggering event such crossing a border or committing a crime before there is any talk of deportation or removal proceedings. Thus this is not really an issue for your everyday out of status alien. The 180 day mark concerns the 3 year ban, which is triggered when an out of status person leaves the country and applies for entry again. On 365th day the ban is increased to 10 years. However, by never leaving and adjusting status as an immediate relative of USC this is both forgiven and never triggered. The key is to not leave the country until adjustment or AP.

On the other hand, her K-1 status in only valid until the date stamped on her I-94. You can wait as long as you want before you file, but keep in mind the fact that, after her status expires, she won't be eligible for benefits such as work and travel.

Same explanation as above, except that a fiancée couldn't travel outside the country and come back in legally even while in status either. As for work you need the social security card and EAD stamp, although the K1 itself is work authorized, thus your response is technically correct on this part. And also to clarify, just because you applied for AOS does not mean you get the benefit of working and traveling. You need an EAD and AP to do both until adjustment is complete, but in terms of status you are in status because of an authorized stay by the attorney general, which is the technical jargon used to describe someone who had a legal basis for adjusting status who is waiting for the completion of that process.

[akdiver 3]

I do not have the money right now, awaiting tax return! (Poor financial planning, I know, but what can I do?)

Were it me, I would borrow the money from a friend, take out a cash advance on a credit card, or take something to the pawn shop. Anything I could do in order to file the AOS and EAD within that first 90 days, short of going to one of those "cash advance" places (do not do that no matter what).

For what it's worth, if you happen to have a newish car (say, 6 years old at most) with no lien holder (i.e. it is paid off), you can use it as collateral for a loan from the bank.

Good luck!

AKDiver

[slim 1,525]

For what it's worth, if you happen to have a newish car (say, 6 years old at most) with no lien holder (i.e. it is paid off), you can use it as collateral for a loan from the bank.

If I had a newish car (within 6 years old) with no lien holder, I wouldn't be in financial difficulty!!!

People who have newish cars paid off don't usually have financial troubles... they've got their $#!t together enough to pay their car off!

[akdiver 3]

If I had a newish car (within 6 years old) with no lien holder, I wouldn't be in financial difficulty!!!

People who have newish cars paid off don't usually have financial troubles... they've got their $#!t together enough to pay their car off!

Just trying to help man.

Cheers!

AKDiver

[Satellite 1]

Anything I could do in order to file the AOS and EAD within that first 90 days, short of going to one of those "cash advance" places (do not do that no matter what).

I'll second that, getting her the EAD ASAP will help solve your financial troubles. It worked out well for us.

[slim 1,525]

Is it possible to do the EAD right now (like today) and send it in before the AOS?

And how long does the EAD take to get back? If I sent it all (AOS, EAD, etc.) as one packet, she'd get the EAD pretty shortly, right? Maybe two or three weeks?

[akdiver 3]

Is it possible to do the EAD right now (like today) and send it in before the AOS?

Well, technically, she is allowed to work during her first 90 days, even without a permit. However, no employer is going to believe she has the right to work unless she has the permit, so for the most part, this "right" is of little value. Besides, she would have to quit on the 91st day. Generally not something an employer is interested in, and so in general, it's generally not worth trying to find such a temporary job, under those circumstances. By the time you subtract off the time it would take to get a work permit, you're left with practically no time at all. I suspect in your case, enough time has gone by that she couldn't get the temp work permit before her 90 days expires anyway. As for the 1-year permit, she is not eligible to get a 1-year work permit until she applies for AOS. It is the fact of applying for AOS that makes her eligible for the 1-year work permit. So really, you need to apply for them together.

And how long does the EAD take to get back? If I sent it all (AOS, EAD, etc.) as one packet, she'd get the EAD pretty shortly, right? Maybe two or three weeks?

The good news is that the EAD will be approved while AOS is still pending. They say that if you do not get the EAD within 90 days of applying, you can go to the local office to get a stamp in the passport that permits work. The bad news is that it does take a lot more than 2-3 weeks (just another reason to apply ASAP). It took about 60 days for my wife to get hers. It's just like anything else - you get NOA1, you get biometrics appointment, and you get EAD. Getting the biometrics appointment takes a while, but she got her card within a week of having the biometrics done, if I recall correctly.

Just to give you some reality check for comparison purposes...we got married about 1.5 months after my wife arrived. We married during the first week of September and applied for AOS, EAD, and AP the very next day. She didn't get her AP and EAD in the mail until late November or early December. By the time she started working on December 19th, she had been here five months - and this was applying right away, with absolutely smooth paperwork and no problems.

FWIW, she got her PR card in January, six months to the day after her arrival, and no longer needed the EAD. This means we spent all that money and some 60 days of waiting for the EAD, which she only need for about a month because having the PR card itself grants the right to work. However, it was critical that she got the right to work that month early because she got such a good job with it. I consider it money well spent, even though the whole process is lame beyond belief.

Cheers!

AKDiver

[Larry and Maria 0]

Slim,

You've gotten plenty of advice to use.

Don't feel so bad about planning. Remember that the best planners make some margin of "error."

Most of us fit into the "normal" curve of finances, though probably a rather wide spread.

The bottom line is there are two of you and two can't live as cheaply as one.

AOS/EAD/AP, then the AOS lifting conditions, then possibly the Citizenship ... what about medical insurance, food, clothes, makeup, women's stuff, auto insurance ... on and on. C'est la vie!

You've got another adult person now in the financial picture ... and it's stressful ... unless you've got plenty of cash and love having a feeling spending it makes you feel good.

Here's one, looking forward, that most people learn late [i did]: each child you raise costs you one retirement ... again unless you're well-heeled.

"Trailers for sale or rent, rooms to let 50 cents ...." as the song goes.

HNY 2007 be happy and celebrate!

[slim 1,525]

Thanks everyone, for all the good info.

[mercy 1]

Hope you don't mind my input here..I don't know how much a titre test would cost in the US, but it might be cheaper than getting all of the vaccinations done again. I had one done for my K1 medical since my doctor's office couldn't find my vac records(how reassuring!), but being Canadian I'm not sure how much medical things like that cost in the US.

We pretty much had to beg, borrow, and scrape together the cost of AOS/EAD/AP, so I hear you on the poor planning part. Get out the vaseline indeed, it never stops with USCIS. Best of luck!

[Satellite 1]

Hope you don't mind my input here..I don't know how much a titre test would cost in the US, but it might be cheaper than getting all of the vaccinations done again.

We did our vaccinations at public health for $10 a piece and the civil surgeon was free of charge in terms of signing off on the vaccination supplement. In our case, since the Moscow clinic refused to do vaccinations when we asked, and translating / certifying Russian records and / or paying for the titre test seemed mighty expensive, redoing the vaccinations turned out to be a cheaper and faster option.

[mercy 1]

Hope you don't mind my input here..I don't know how much a titre test would cost in the US, but it might be cheaper than getting all of the vaccinations done again.

We did our vaccinations at public health for $10 a piece and the civil surgeon was free of charge in terms of signing off on the vaccination supplement. In our case, since the Moscow clinic refused to do vaccinations when we asked, and translating / certifying Russian records and / or paying for the titre test seemed mighty expensive, redoing the vaccinations turned out to be a cheaper and faster option.

Well there you go Mine was free in Canada, so I really had no idea what it might be here.

[slim 1,525]

Just a quick update-

After several phone calls, Elena's sister returned home, sobered up from the holidays, then found her vaccination record. She scanned it then e-mailed it to us. We printed a copy, headed over to the Civil Surgeon's office (after googling the local civil surgeon list, public health, city, county, cdc, and a host of other websites and then making about 20 phone calls) and got a prescription for a few shots. We're going to the public health office as soon as they're open (Happy MLK day, everyone!) to get that knocked out, then back to the CS to get a signature. We should have everything else completed by that time and have the whole packet sent off by next week at the latest. ($45 office visit for CS to issue scripts... will update with shot costs.)

In other news, we went to the Social Security office (for the fifth time) to get her name changed, and this time they told us that since her I-94 expires next week, they couldn't do anything about it. That was even after I explained to them that her I-94 no longer allowed her to "legally" stay here anyway since we are married now. They didn't care. USCIS and SSA are in the same building so we went up to their office and they told us that basically, she'd have to wait for the EAD to change her name on the Social Security card and in the mean time we'd have to use the NOA 1 from the AOS packet (that we still haven't sent in) to prove her legal status. "Hurry up, guys!" is what the gentleman at the window said. But, he added a nice "We'll see you back here in 6 months for the interview!" Hopefully, that's all it takes. That's a good sign though if the guy at the window is saying he sees most AOS interviews six months later.

Quick questions... Do I need separate checks for the I-485 and the bio fee? (One for $325 and one for $70?) I know I need individual checks for EAD and AP (which we're not going to do, by the way. EAD yes, AP, no. No reason to leave, no money for it either! We can wait a year or two for an international vacation...) Anyone have any other tips for doing the AOS packet? VJ seems to have a pretty good guide, worked well for the K-1, should be pretty good for the AOS. Once again, thanks for all the AOS advice.

[mountainlover534 0]

WRITE OUT ONE CHECK FOR $ 395.00

SEEMS THAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING GREAT WITH THE SHOTS..

OURS HAS BEEN A PAIN IN THE A...SS )) LOL

CIVIL SURGEON REFUSED TO GIVE SHOTS, ALSO HEALTH DEPT AS WELL DUE TO ALLERGIES....

WENT TO ALLERGY DR. WHO MISTAKENLY TESTED HER FOR EVERYTHING BUT WHAT HE SUPPOSED TO CHECK HER FOR...AND $ 310.00 LATER...WE GOT A LETTER SAYING SHE CAN HAVE THE SHOTS......WOW.....

NOW BACK TO THE CIVIL SURGEON...

A REAL TASTE OF AMERICAN BUREAUCROSSY.....

GOOD LUCK

SIE US