Scandinavians Part 2

[SpidersWeb 16]

29 minutes ago, Locito said:

Please let me/us all know how you fare! Can think that there are other lurkers around here with several AE and/or OE in their names 😁

 

I am still in Sweden so no idea how my GC is gonna look like. Thinking it is with the AEs and all after what they told me at the Embassy. I have actually never possessed a driver’s license (that is probably have to going to change in the US 🤭😅) so don’t know about that.

Oh sorry, I didn't realize you're still in Sweden 🙈

 

Funny how you received a different response at the embassy. I'm repeating myself a bit here but in Helsinki they told me the visa has to include the name with AE but that this could be changed at the port of entry for the PR card. However, in contradiction to this, CBP said they can't change anything. They told me to contact the consulate (well, that was already done) or the USCIS. So last night I sent a message to USCIS. Hopefully they'll reply before I'm traveling in a couple of weeks.

 

It's just nightmarish to think I'd have to have those 3 AE's added to my name, especially because it'll carry over to driver's license etc. as I've read 😅 

 

I'll let you and everyone else know how it goes 😊

[Scandi 4,166]

1 hour ago, Locito said:

And oh yeah, yesterday was a day of great joy for me and wifey. Checked the CEAC frantically several times during the

few days that passed since my interview and going into “Administrative Processing” since my medical hadn’t made it to the Embassy on time.

 

Sure, I was approved at the interview, but when I saw it down in writing after coming back from the grocery store, I FaceTimed CA and we were both laughing and crying!! 😭

 

I know it is tough for everyone here to be apart from our loved ones, but FINALLY!

 

Got a notification from PostNord in a timely fashion, too, so just waiting for my passport to get back to me. And then we’ve gotta get flights that ain’t cheap when buying one-way tickets. Probably tanking up on airline miles/bonus points and getting an award flight. Wife will be coming here for the new year so if things work out as planned, we will fly back together ☺️

 

I don't know which city you guys are in or which airports you depart from and arrive to..

 

But if you fly from CPH to LAX I very much want to recommend Norwegian. Direct flights, so less risk of losing your luggage, and it's cheap too. A one way ticket will cost half of a roundtrip ticket, just the way it's supposed to be. I know far from all airlines do it that way, but Norwegian certainly does. When I moved to the US I paid about $180 for my one-way ticket, and then I added two extra pieces of check-in luggage for about $25/each.

 

Obviously prices differ depending on the season too, but it's worth looking into.

[Jo&Bob 83]

On 10/26/2018 at 4:57 PM, EllenE1230 said:

Another Dane here who would like to help out

 

I filed back in December last year and received NOA2 early July. Had my medical scheduled for mid August and went to my interview 23rd of August. 

Had my POE early September

 

Though I did schedule everything as close together and as fast as I could. It is possible to do it even quicker if you got everything ready for your interview before receiving NOA2 and know exactly what to do when receiving it (talking about booking the medical and doing the DS-160).

 

I'll gladly help more too if you need it

Thank you so much EllenE1230 for your input!
You were very lucky to get both a medical appointment and interview only the month after!
Did you do the medical in Copenhagen called "Medical Office"? as far as I can see that is the only one in Denmark/ CPH?

You must be in the states now, how wonderful! I hope that you had a great move and the POE went well

[EllenE1230 22]

15 hours ago, JosephineAndBobby said:

Thank you so much EllenE1230 for your input!
You were very lucky to get both a medical appointment and interview only the month after!
Did you do the medical in Copenhagen called "Medical Office"? as far as I can see that is the only one in Denmark/ CPH?

You must be in the states now, how wonderful! I hope that you had a great move and the POE went well

You're most welcome!

I wouldn't call myself lucky though. I actually didn't have another choice since there was only 4 appointments available and they were all within 1-4 weeks :) plus waiting times at the medical facility (also called the medical office like you said :) )is only about 2 weeks so hopefully you can find something quick too! It's also the only place you can go too. Of course I don't know if I was just very lucky with the interview appointment times 🤔

You gotta book an appointment with the x-rays clinic too. The clinic is only 2 streets away from the medical office so you can easily book the appointments on the same day. Though you do have to have your x-rays taken first before going to the medical office. They'll ask when your appointment is with the medical office when you call the x-ray clinic :)

 

And yes, I'm in the states! Finally married to the love of my life. Now it's time for AOS 😅

[Locito 85]

On 10/27/2018 at 11:30 PM, Scandi said:

I don't know which city you guys are in or which airports you depart from and arrive to..

 

But if you fly from CPH to LAX I very much want to recommend Norwegian. Direct flights, so less risk of losing your luggage, and it's cheap too. A one way ticket will cost half of a roundtrip ticket, just the way it's supposed to be. I know far from all airlines do it that way, but Norwegian certainly does. When I moved to the US I paid about $180 for my one-way ticket, and then I added two extra pieces of check-in luggage for about $25/each.

 

Obviously prices differ depending on the season too, but it's worth looking into.

Thanks a lot for the tip, @Scandi 😊

 

Any major airport in the LA County would work, even SNA in OC and ONT in San Bernardino County. But I think from here that would mean at least two layovers on the way, most likely with KLM/Air France to AMS/CDG and another at a POE in the States.

 

Previously Norwegian did have direct flights ARN-LAX but now SAS unfortunately has got no competition on the direct route = fares going up.

 

What complicates the matter further for us is that I’ve got two cats I can’t bear to give away so they’ll become (almost) Legal Aliens, too 😸 Hence direct flights would be preferred; poor things having to sit in the cages 14-15 hours!

 

Me and wife have got really bad experiences from Norwegian, though. Them rather going to court than pay the EU261/2004 compensation for delayed

flights. Most recently they delayed ridiculously long (read: weeks upon weeks) to refund her after they re-routed her flights for the Thanksgiving (ie. no

more direct flights ARN-LAX in the winter timetable). Maybe I should go over to FlyerTalk to complain more 😉

 

We actually started a GoFundMe campaign, too. Never tried that before, and it feels a bit sad to have to be “begging” money from family and relatives...but what are you gonna do with all these

costs piling up...

[SpidersWeb 16]

If you have umlauts like Ä in your name and would prefer it transliterated as A instead of AE:

 

USCIS says you need to write a letter to your service center to have it changed for your permanent residency card.

 

I will believe it when I see the change 😛

[Paul & Mallory 1,398]

Hi all! So good to see some more progress for so many people!

 

Finally beginning to come down from cloud nine over here... we finally had our traditional Swedish American wedding reception at the beginning of the month and it was everything we wanted and better than what we ever could've imagined. Having his family here, in the states, WITH my family, is something we've only dreamed about all these years, and it was phenomenal. So much love in one room is pretty hard to describe. I have to say, I wasn't too thrilled, initially, with the idea of getting legally married first (when he first got here), and waiting to have a traditional wedding later, but it ended up working the best for us, I think. We were really able to look forward to and enjoy our day, and it just made everything feel that much more official.

 

Now, we are just waiting on his updated SSN card to arrive in the mail any time now.

 

Also - looks like EADs and APs have picked up. Even though our officer at the AOS interview told us those two applications will basically drop off, with the GC being approved, my VJ timeline has still been updating me on predicted adjudication for those, and it went from saying mid November as an estimation, to "Any day now!". So fingers crossed they are picking up across the board!!

[Jo&Bob 83]

 

On 10/29/2018 at 1:49 PM, EllenE1230 said:

You're most welcome!

I wouldn't call myself lucky though. I actually didn't have another choice since there was only 4 appointments available and they were all within 1-4 weeks plus waiting times at the medical facility (also called the medical office like you said )is only about 2 weeks so hopefully you can find something quick too! It's also the only place you can go too. Of course I don't know if I was just very lucky with the interview appointment times 🤔

You gotta book an appointment with the x-rays clinic too. The clinic is only 2 streets away from the medical office so you can easily book the appointments on the same day. Though you do have to have your x-rays taken first before going to the medical office. They'll ask when your appointment is with the medical office when you call the x-ray clinic

 

And yes, I'm in the states! Finally married to the love of my life. Now it's time for AOS 😅

Yes I hope to be able to plan everything that fast as well! we will see
Thank you for all the info!

And congratulations on your marriage! Must be amazing! I can´t wait! 
Oh yes the AOS! But I´m sure you´ll pass through that no problem, and I imagine the process wait is easier when you at least get to be with your husband!

Another question, maybe someone else in the forum can also answer, I want to take my fiances last name when we get married, but I am then wondering if that will be an issue for the AOS, and in general, because my passport will have my original name? or do I have to get a new pass port before I can apply for the AOS? That would slow the process down quite a bit and complecate it if I have to reniew my passport before applying AOS.

[Ralph2CO 2]

Hi ! I had my K-1 interview in Stockholm today and I was approved. The CO said I'll have the passport & visa in about 5 working days. If I want to track the status at CEAC until then, is this NIV type correct ? Today it's No Status, but hopefully on Monday Nov 5 it'll be in another status, right ?

 

[EllenE1230 22]

14 hours ago, JosephineAndBobby said:

 

Yes I hope to be able to plan everything that fast as well! we will see
Thank you for all the info!

And congratulations on your marriage! Must be amazing! I can´t wait! 
Oh yes the AOS! But I´m sure you´ll pass through that no problem, and I imagine the process wait is easier when you at least get to be with your husband!

Another question, maybe someone else in the forum can also answer, I want to take my fiances last name when we get married, but I am then wondering if that will be an issue for the AOS, and in general, because my passport will have my original name? or do I have to get a new pass port before I can apply for the AOS? That would slow the process down quite a bit and complecate it if I have to reniew my passport before applying AOS.

It is definitely much easier to wait now that we're together. Don't care how long it takes now that I can be with him

 

I'm working through the AOS with a lawyer and I'm not sure how she is changing my name but when filing she is using my old passport information and my new name. Hope that helps a bit

[Locito 85]

1 hour ago, Ralph2CO said:

Hi ! I had my K-1 interview in Stockholm today and I was approved. The CO said I'll have the passport & visa in about 5 working days. If I want to track the status at CEAC until then, is this NIV type correct ? Today it's No Status, but hopefully on Monday Nov 5 it'll be in another status, right ?

 

Congratulations on your approval! 😊

 

I thought in this instance even K-1 counts as an immigrant visa? After I was approved for my CR-1 pending the medical results, I could see the same day that my visa was under administrative processing.

 

In the example it says that your Application ID or Case Number can begin with AA or the year. What do your papers say? My immigrant visa all the way from NVC started with STK. If yours starts with STK, then maybe it is under immigrant visa, too?

Edited November 1, 2018 by Locito
for => on

[Ralph2CO 2]

Thanks @Locito

 

I went to the IV url and used my STK case no. and I can see I'm now in Ready status, and hoping to see this change into Issued mid next week 😀

 

This VJ forum is very valuable, Thx again for ur help

[Jo&Bob 83]

1 hour ago, EllenE1230 said:

It is definitely much easier to wait now that we're together. Don't care how long it takes now that I can be with him

 

I'm working through the AOS with a lawyer and I'm not sure how she is changing my name but when filing she is using my old passport information and my new name. Hope that helps a bit

I can imagine it is a lot better waiting together!
Thanks, yeah that helps, I have also been searching around on VJ and it seems like it is okay to use the old passport, since the name change is on the marriage license, so it´s possible to file in the new name. But I´ll keep researching, we are gonna try and do it without having lawyer help so there is a loot to figure out
Thanks for taking your time to answer all my questions, it is very much appreciated!

[EllenE1230 22]

30 minutes ago, JosephineAndBobby said:

I can imagine it is a lot better waiting together!
Thanks, yeah that helps, I have also been searching around on VJ and it seems like it is okay to use the old passport, since the name change is on the marriage license, so it´s possible to file in the new name. But I´ll keep researching, we are gonna try and do it without having lawyer help so there is a loot to figure out
Thanks for taking your time to answer all my questions, it is very much appreciated!

 Hm, I don't see my name change on my marriage license? It's my old name which is being used there. Did I miss something? 

People on VJ usually say it's not necessarily better to file with a lawyer, and I very much agree with them. We did it mostly out of convenience and hopefully a less change of Eye's. Though I've been told that the guides on here are very useful

Good luck with the filing!

 

[Jo&Bob 83]

Oh it´s only if you change your last name that it will appear on the marriage license, but I´m only in the process of understanding everything so I could be wrong

Yes, I totally get the convenience with a lawyer and if we had had the money or we didn´t have time to research everything enough to a point I feel comfortable to do it our self, we would go with a lawyer too. But yes Vj is a super tool
Thank you!