Rec'd 2yr GC 3 months before 2nd wedding anniversary, can we apply for ROC now?

[Ketsuban 1,034]

10 minutes ago, JFH said:

If you did a K-1 you must have known that ROC is part of the process. If you didn't know, too bad you didn't research beforehand. If you AOSed from a tourist visa, well...you already skipped enough steps. 

 

Why are you worried about ROC? If it's all genuine, what's to worry about? Being apart is worse, I can assure you. At least you do ROC together.

Well for one thing it saves a few hundred dollars to not do it

[br9k 23]

It also avoids a year or more in GC limbo wrt. travel. Essentially all countries that allow entry by "green card" holders require a current unexpired physical "green card", so the ROC NOA just does not cut it. Getting Schengen visa is also less certain - you end up "shopping" for a country/consulate that understands what that funny paper is.

And of course there is constant "education" of employers, various state and local government agencies and the like, many of whom fail to recognize a piece of paper as a valid proof of legal status.

 

Back when it took under 3 months (which is why you apply 3 months before expiration of conditional GC) - it was all reasonable and simple. ROC as it is currently implemented, is a major PIA.

[mfranc68 31]

When my wife had her visa in hand we were two months shy of our second wedding anniversary. The visa was valid for five months. We waited the two months and then she came. She received the ten year green card and we avoided ROC with all its headaches and expenses. I think that we made the right decision. BTW, I think that the IO was very rude to you for saying that.

[geowrian 22,338]

It's one thing to wait to go through POE with a visa versus telling an IO that you were hoping to bypass a mechanism used to detect fraud (ROC). Yeah, nobody wants to go through it and I think everybody understands why the question would be asked....it's just kinda taking it to another level to actually ask to get around ROC. At least that's my $0.02.

[JPN2US 0]

22 hours ago, JFH said:

If you did a K-1 you must have known that ROC is part of the process. If you didn't know, too bad you didn't research beforehand. If you AOSed from a tourist visa, well...you already skipped enough steps. 

 

Why are you worried about ROC? If it's all genuine, what's to worry about? Being apart is worse, I can assure you. At least you do ROC together.

We did AOS. I know it skipped a lot of steps but it was still a long process. I'm not worried about ROC and we are genuine. It's just we were so close to our 2 year anniversary that bypassing that whole process would've been nice.