April 2017 AOS Filers

[H-I 32]

9 minutes ago, TheSkywalkers said:

Phones are allowed provided that they are on silent mode, vibrate or turned off.

Ok , thank you ! Just I remember that they don't allow pnones during fingerprint appointment.

[Pritzz 21]

3 hours ago, TheSkywalkers said:

You're not a K1? What visa did you use to get to the US then? Not sure how it works for non-K1s but for K1s, what i said is how it works for lifting the restrictions from the SSN.

I was F-1 visa holder

[narakthisud 174]

2 hours ago, H-I said:

One more question about infopass. Were you allowed to have cellphone with you in a field office ? 

At the Philly office, we were able to bring our phones with us and even use them while we were waiting. I'm guessing some offices are different. 

[cyanmavi 101]

Congrats to all receivers of EAD/APs and GCs! I am hoping to join you guys after this Wednesday's AOS interview!!

And good luck to all of you who are still waiting for updates. It is not easy, I wish you lots of patience.

 

Just wanted to update you guys on my EAD/AP journey which is super boring in a way because nothing is happening and I think they just gave up on it since I have an AOS interview coming up soon.

My case was received on 4/24.

I filed an online service request on 8/14. It was day 112. They said I should hear back from them by 8/26.

I received an email saying that my case was under review on 8/30. On day 128.

It is currently day 132.

I know I am at least lucky enough to be getting my GC soon so I shouldn't complain but I think it is ridiculous that they think it is ok for us to wait this long for the EAD/AP.

 

Anyways. Thanks to all of you actively participating and making this thread going, I have been following closely even if when I was not that active, it really helped.

[RandB 156]

On 9/2/2017 at 10:54 AM, narakthisud said:

Only if you change your name. Unfortunately for us, since my wife took my last name, we're headed back to the Social Security Office on Tuesday. No fun!  

Neither of us changed our name. However, I believe the immigrant has to update their social security card anyway to remove the red text from it. I don't remember exactly what it says, but I think it's something along the lines of "Only valid with work authorization".

 

On 9/2/2017 at 10:57 AM, TheSkywalkers said:

I did update mine 2 weeks ago using my EAD. Changed my maiden name on the social to my married name and had the restrictions lifted.

Did you bring any documents with you other than your EAD card and old social security card?

[TheSkywalkers 143]

16 minutes ago, RandB said:

Did you bring any documents with you other than your EAD card and old social security card?

Marriage Certificate ang passport.

[RandB 156]

41 minutes ago, TheSkywalkers said:

Marriage Certificate ang passport.

Thank you. ☺

[TheSkywalkers 143]

1 minute ago, RandB said:

Thank you. ☺

You are welcome!

[Pritzz 21]

On 9/3/2017 at 5:40 PM, cyanmavi said:

Congrats to all receivers of EAD/APs and GCs! I am hoping to join you guys after this Wednesday's AOS interview!!

And good luck to all of you who are still waiting for updates. It is not easy, I wish you lots of patience.

 

Just wanted to update you guys on my EAD/AP journey which is super boring in a way because nothing is happening and I think they just gave up on it since I have an AOS interview coming up soon.

My case was received on 4/24.

I filed an online service request on 8/14. It was day 112. They said I should hear back from them by 8/26.

I received an email saying that my case was under review on 8/30. On day 128.

It is currently day 132.

I know I am at least lucky enough to be getting my GC soon so I shouldn't complain but I think it is ridiculous that they think it is ok for us to wait this long for the EAD/AP.

 

Anyways. Thanks to all of you actively participating and making this thread going, I have been following closely even if when I was not that active, it really helped.

Hey! 

 

Good luck tomorrow on your interview!

[cyanmavi 101]

Thank you!!

[narakthisud 174]

My wife and I dropped by our "friendly" local SSA office earlier this morning. We brought the following:

• a completed and signed SS-5 form
• a certified copy of our marriage certificate
• her newly-issued EAD
• her foreign passport (in her maiden name)

The clerk insisted that we produce an original certified copy with a raised seal. (The properties of this document can and do vary from state to state.) Also, the clerk was able to find a match for my wife's status in SAVE which means my wife will be getting her new card very soon!

 

For those of you who are curious...I took a moment to ask the clerk whether my wife's new card will have the "valid for work only with DHS authorization" notation. She indeed confirmed that it will. She confirmed that once my wife has her GC, we can come back to have it removed. (Not sure if I want to make yet another  trip to that office.) Maybe we'll stop by once my wife's a citizen? 

[Sabazou 18]

So we got the interview letter and I had a few questions.

 

It states that I need to bring a few things to the appointment...

 

1. Her birth certificate with translation. - I already submitted this in the original application AND they gave me an RFE for it so they got it twice. Is this really necessary that I need to pay for ANOTHER translation and have her mom ship out another certificate from Japan? Why do they need this so many times?

2. I-864 with income documentation (unless already submitted) - I submitted this with my original application back in April. I assume I don't need to bring it again but some time has passed since then. Can I just ignore this?

[Troy P 34]

Again as I said earlier.....the writing on the SS card means nothing as long as you have EAD. You have to wait until you green card for the writing to be removed. There ideally is no need to go to SSA unless you never did since you entered. No really important to remove it anyway...EAD or green card you are authorized to work.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Troy P

[narakthisud 174]

21 minutes ago, Sabazou said:

So we got the interview letter and I had a few questions.

 

It states that I need to bring a few things to the appointment...

 

1. Her birth certificate with translation. - I already submitted this in the original application AND they gave me an RFE for it so they got it twice. Is this really necessary that I need to pay for ANOTHER translation and have her mom ship out another certificate from Japan? Why do they need this so many times?

2. I-864 with income documentation (unless already submitted) - I submitted this with my original application back in April. I assume I don't need to bring it again but some time has passed since then. Can I just ignore this?

My opinion (take it for what it is) is to never give USCIS the opportunity to deny your application for a reason you could have avoided. It is for this reason that I suggest you comply with their requests for a birth certificate with translation and the I-864 as originally submitted. I would imagine that if you had copies of either document that it would be sufficient to bring them to the interview.

 

I know that this has to be frustrating for you and your wife, especially given that you've already submitted the birth certificate multiple times. But if they deny or slow down processing of your wife's GC because you decided to skip bringing them to the interview knowing full well they requested those items, is it worth the trouble to have to wait weeks or even months for a post-interview status update?

 

Maybe it's a mindset thing. As citizens, we're accustomed to questioning government bureaucracies and complaining until we get what we want most times. But non-citizen immigrants don't have that luxury as their fate is reliant on a single entity: USCIS. My advice is to bring as much documentation as possible. I'm glad to hear that you got an interview scheduled which means your wife will have her GC very soon!

[narakthisud 174]

8 minutes ago, Troy P said:

Again as I said earlier.....the writing on the SS card means nothing as long as you have EAD. You have to wait until you green card for the writing to be removed. There ideally is no need to go to SSA unless you never did since you entered. No really important to remove it anyway...EAD or green card you are authorized to work.

The reason we went today was because my wife took my last name. Otherwise, we would definitely have avoided another trip to the SSA office.