December 2015 AOS filer status

[Roy&Chanel 109]

Ok, thank you

I don't think that applies to us, just got scared I'd missed something.

Sent our package off yesterday, just hoping all goes well and we haven't missed anything.

Oh God, my previous message was somehow cut off. I was about to ask this too, I was panicking when I was reading up people paying 420dollars more! So to ensure from K1 our AOS should be 1070dollars right? I hope everything goes well, I sent out on last day of November, and it reaches around 3rd Dec. Till date no notification yet, I'm worried! I hope everything is fine! And everyone else's too!

Pray hard!

[SincerelyMeike 52]

Oh God, my previous message was somehow cut off. I was about to ask this too, I was panicking when I was reading up people paying 420dollars more! So to ensure from K1 our AOS should be 1070dollars right? I hope everything goes well, I sent out on last day of November, and it reaches around 3rd Dec. Till date no notification yet, I'm worried! I hope everything is fine! And everyone else's too!

Pray hard!

I did the priority shipping for 2 days cause I couldn't wait. I was legit about to get the 1 day shipping too but hubby gave me the "-_-" look cause it was $25 T-T

I'm so nervous I had to stop myself all day from looking at the tracking number, but I'm gonna look first thing in the morning xD

[Mena28 35]

Going to jump in on this as I'm preparing my forms before our wedding (Dec 18th!) so we can just enjoy the holidays afterwards! This thread has already been helpful as it's saved me from needlessly filling out the i-693 form!!

I do have a quick question though... my fiance and I are getting married in a courthouse here in California with his family as witnesses (so it's no secret), but we plan to have a 'proper' church wedding back in England in a year or so (when we can afford it!) so all my elderly and extended family and friends can come celebrate with us. I ideally don't want to change my name until after our 'proper' wedding to make it feel as authentic as possible... I do intend to take his name and have declared so on our marriage license. Should I file for AOS with my married or my maiden name? I plan to be known as my maiden name for another year or two yet but does that really matter? It all seems a bit petty when you spell it out like this, but I'm not quite ready to let go of my maiden name yet!

I feel like the one in a courthouse will be seen as the "proper" wedding in the eyes of the law ;-)

We are doing a similar thing - got married here in the USA, filed for AOS (but using my married name, I added his to mine) and doing a "real" church wedding some time next year when my husband can get off work.

I also had to put my intended name after marriage on the marriage licence - it then showed up on the marriage certificate right away :-)

Remember that once you get your greencard - sometime in a year or so, right - that will come in the name that you put on during the AOS process, if I have got this in my head right. And at the top the first question is your name and underneath previous names - after your marriage I feel like your married name kicks in :-)

That being said, I think you can safe yourself a lot of explaining with Banks/ SSN/ insurances if you just switch over right after marriage. No one stops you from keeping using your maiden name in social settings. Having all your paper work in the same name just makes it easier.

Like I will choose which ever I like better lol - like when I have to give a name for pick ups I use my husbands, because spelling mine takes FOREVER, never mind trying to spell both...

But I can understand your reluctance in giving up your name, I felt just the same.

[Kyle and Linh 64]

We finally are able to join the December group. Fed Ex package to Chicago yesterday.

We had been having trouble getting verifications of vaccines from Civil Surgeon offices because they wanted to EXTORT us to get another physical. I finally strong armed a clinic (not one man shop like many CS were here) to sign off on the paper for a nominal fee of $195 which is about $100 too high for me. When my wife and I met with the CS he was friendly and said "This should be easy and take no time to do" my response in front of the nasty front office lady who had control of the paper process was YES. She drug out the paperwork for 3 days to get back at me threatening her to the corporate boss and USCIS. To me the verification could have been done in 10 minutes max... I guess I will learn someday to smile and take it....

Amhara how did you truncate your signature area to hide the K1 timeline. I like the idea.

Finally on the change the last name stuff. We have chosen to keep it all the same since that is in keeping with Vietnamese tradition. It is way too complicated to have my wife change her name since it would mean explanations, delays, not to mention needing new Vietnam passports and drivers license. We will wait until after green card to do since we will do her son at the same time. It's a simple process to do at the courthouse and have a judge legally sign off on it. Right now I don't want any delays or issues with AOS/EAD/AP

[SincerelyMeike 52]

We finally are able to join the December group. Fed Ex package to Chicago yesterday.

We had been having trouble getting verifications of vaccines from Civil Surgeon offices because they wanted to EXTORT us to get another physical. I finally strong armed a clinic (not one man shop like many CS were here) to sign off on the paper for a nominal fee of $195 which is about $100 too high for me. When my wife and I met with the CS he was friendly and said "This should be easy and take no time to do" my response in front of the nasty front office lady who had control of the paper process was YES. She drug out the paperwork for 3 days to get back at me threatening her to the corporate boss and USCIS. To me the verification could have been done in 10 minutes max... I guess I will learn someday to smile and take it....

Amhara how did you truncate your signature area to hide the K1 timeline. I like the idea.

Finally on the change the last name stuff. We have chosen to keep it all the same since that is in keeping with Vietnamese tradition. It is way too complicated to have my wife change her name since it would mean explanations, delays, not to mention needing new Vietnam passports and drivers license. We will wait until after green card to do since we will do her son at the same time. It's a simple process to do at the courthouse and have a judge legally sign off on it. Right now I don't want any delays or issues with AOS/EAD/AP

Right?! I'm so nervous that if I change my last name before filing somethings going to go wrong and I really don't care for any delays since my last name is complicated enough as is.

My maiden last name is Büttner in german, but back in 1999, it was processed as Buttner when my family moved to US, yet they've processed my name this time around as Buettner....

[Mena28 35]

oh gosh, German names can be so hard in the US, right?

I have got an Umlaut (UE) and two silent "h", not even Austrians get it right half the time...

[SincerelyMeike 52]

oh gosh, German names can be so hard in the US, right?

I have got an Umlaut (UE) and two silent "h", not even Austrians get it right half the time...

Oh my gosh yes. It's so annoying LOL

[Amhara 460]

I'm worried this is going so quickly - my husband is visiting me on 12/20 for Christmas. I'm afraid they will send the Biometrics appointment letter while he's here visiting (he lives in another state for work). Will I get a NOA text message for the biometrics or will they schedule it here in my state while he's here visiting if we ask?

I found a post from someone yesterday on the October 2015 filer thread and they said, "We got the text/email notification for the interview today, but still no EAD or AP approvals."

So if you turned on your e-notifications on the USCIS we might get an interview notification?

[HGord 22]

I feel like the one in a courthouse will be seen as the "proper" wedding in the eyes of the law ;-)

We are doing a similar thing - got married here in the USA, filed for AOS (but using my married name, I added his to mine) and doing a "real" church wedding some time next year when my husband can get off work.

I also had to put my intended name after marriage on the marriage licence - it then showed up on the marriage certificate right away :-)

Remember that once you get your greencard - sometime in a year or so, right - that will come in the name that you put on during the AOS process, if I have got this in my head right. And at the top the first question is your name and underneath previous names - after your marriage I feel like your married name kicks in :-)

That being said, I think you can safe yourself a lot of explaining with Banks/ SSN/ insurances if you just switch over right after marriage. No one stops you from keeping using your maiden name in social settings. Having all your paper work in the same name just makes it easier.

Like I will choose which ever I like better lol - like when I have to give a name for pick ups I use my husbands, because spelling mine takes FOREVER, never mind trying to spell both...

But I can understand your reluctance in giving up your name, I felt just the same.

Haha, yeah, i don't think the law will like me disregarding the legal ceremony like that. I guess I'll just see what it says on the marriage certificate, people seem to have done it both ways. I'll just change my name over on things as and when they expire, it'll mean carrying a copy of my marriage certificate when i travel for a while (my passport still has 2.5 years on it) but that's a small price to pay when you think of all the costs to get all these new documents at once. It's just such a pain! I guess none of it is totally official until I change my name over on Facebook

[SincerelyMeike 52]

I found a post from someone yesterday on the October 2015 filer thread and they said, "We got the text/email notification for the interview today, but still no EAD or AP approvals."

So if you turned on your e-notifications on the USCIS we might get an interview notification?

You made a post earlier about your husband getting a learners permit. I thought you have to have something that proves you're allowed to be here for at least 6 months? I really want to practice driving as well...

[Amhara 460]

Amhara how did you truncate your signature area to hide the K1 timeline. I like the idea.

I wonder if we will get our NOA the same day??

You go on your signature and type

on the top, and

on the bottom. I thought I could have two spoilers, but that hasn't worked out so far...

You made a post earlier about your husband getting a learners permit. I thought you have to have something that proves you're allowed to be here for at least 6 months? I really want to practice driving as well...

Since you are in the great state of Texas, you can get your learners permit (or drivers license, but probably want the permit first) after being here for 30 days. Yours and our timelines are very similar! My guy entered November 10th and you entered November 12th. We went yesterday and they told us we need to wait until after December 10th. We will try again tomorrow and will let you know. You can fill out an affidavit for no SSN and for your residency. Your wife will need to sign a residency affidavit that you live with her and she needs to prove her residence by two bills. I will let you know how it goes for us tomorrow!

[Amhara 460]

You go on your signature and type

on the top, and

on the bottom. I thought I could have two spoilers, but that hasn't worked out so far...

Nope, you start with

on top and [ /spoiler ] on the bottom (without the spaces)! Success!

Edited December 10, 2015 by Amhara

[N and S 29]

We mailed our package today!! Yet another round of processing with USCIS!!

[Roy&Chanel 109]

Good luck everyone! Just checked my bank today, its been transacted, and received email and smses at 1230am from USCIS! Looks like it is moving, my receipt starts with MSC though!

[SincerelyMeike 52]

I wonder if we will get our NOA the same day??

You go on your signature and type

on the top, and

on the bottom. I thought I could have two spoilers, but that hasn't worked out so far...

Since you are in the great state of Texas, you can get your learners permit (or drivers license, but probably want the permit first) after being here for 30 days. Yours and our timelines are very similar! My guy entered November 10th and you entered November 12th. We went yesterday and they told us we need to wait until after December 10th. We will try again tomorrow and will let you know. You can fill out an affidavit for no SSN and for your residency. Your wife will need to sign a residency affidavit that you live with her and she needs to prove her residence by two bills. I will let you know how it goes for us tomorrow!

Thank you!! Definitely let me know how that works out because Ive been doing so much research on getting a license in texas and everywhere I look it always says in texas you need an EAD..