I-751 February 2018 Filers

[Slowloris 17]

@wildnwonderful unrelated, are you from WV by any chance? I went to WVU for grad school!

[wildnwonderful 6]

@Slowloris yep i lived in WV for a while, my wife is from WV...GO MOUNTAINEERS!!! 

[wildnwonderful 6]

So i got my biometrics done today and decided to stop by the DMV to get my license renewed....which they did but for just 12 months. I asked the guy why he he renewed it for just 1 year, he said because my I797 says GC is extended for just 1 year. I was disappointed as i was hoping to get at least 2 years so i don't keep going back to renew all the time.

[robhat 7]

1 minute ago, wildnwonderful said:

So i got my biometrics done today and decided to stop by the DMV to get my license renewed....which they did but for just 12 months. I asked the guy why he he renewed it for just 1 year, he said because my I797 says GC is extended for just 1 year. I was disappointed as i was hoping to get at least 2 years so i don't keep going back to renew all the time.

I guess it really depends on the DMV officer, I did mine in CA a few days before my GC expired and got it renewed until 2022...

[wildnwonderful 6]

@robhat i wasn't much impressed but i guess it's better than nothing.

[robhat 7]

1 minute ago, wildnwonderful said:

@robhat i wasn't much impressed but i guess it's better than nothing.

Certainly, I now know how much it sucks in the DMV. My experience before CA was a small town in Oregon where you could just walk in and be out within 10 mins. Not so much in the Bay area in CA.

[Unidentified 2,930]

So when it comes to applying for citizenship... At what point are you eligible? Is it 3 years being married or 3 years since you got your Green Card? USCIS made it sound like it's 3 years from your wedding anniversary but you never know with them, not everyone there know what they're talking about. 

[iPod 89]

11 minutes ago, Unidentified said:

So when it comes to applying for citizenship... At what point are you eligible? Is it 3 years being married or 3 years since you got your Green Card? USCIS made it sound like it's 3 years from your wedding anniversary but you never know with them, not everyone there know what they're talking about. 

It's 3 years since the anniversary of your green card (the date printed on your green card).

Edited May 4, 2018 by iPod

[Unidentified 2,930]

Just now, iPod said:

It's 3 years since the anniversary of your green card (the date printed on your green card).

That's what I figured it would be and it makes way more sense. It's funny when the people working for USCIS has less knowledge of what's going on than people on an internet forum. Thank you  Guess I have to wait until March 2019. 

[iPod 89]

5 minutes ago, Unidentified said:

That's what I figured it would be and it makes way more sense. It's funny when the people working for USCIS has less knowledge of what's going on than people on an internet forum. Thank you  Guess I have to wait until March 2019. 

Exactly! I have heard some crazy stories about what people went through with USCIS. 

[Danielle and Jake 24]

So my wife and I got back from our vacation just fine (we were worried our biometrics appointment might be scheduled, but we're in the CSC group, so no idea when/if that's happening). Now I have another question/concern. My wife's Canadian passport will expire next year, and we need to renew it. During our trip we went to a place in Canada where they do all that stuff to ask our questions, because we're going to have to do it by mail from the US. Since her current passport was before we were married and therefore in her maiden name, the lady at the center said we need to file for a new one altogether in her married name. We have everything gathered for that, signed, copies of documents, etc.

 

The reason we are looking into doing this sooner rather than later is because of the stamp we will likely need to get since I highly doubt the I-751 will be completed in the one year extension period (if I recall correctly, if it's nearing the end of that period and USCIS is still working on it, then you make an infopass appointment at your local office and get a stamp on your passport). So if her passport expires in a year, it's probably a better idea to get it renewed and everything before we go through that, so she has a 10 year passport to stamp.

 

My question is do we need her current passport for biometrics? I can't remember from  when we did AOS and it could be different for ROC, but in order to do her new passport by mail, we need to send her old one in, and I think the passport office in Canada said 4-6 weeks to complete the process. We'd rather get this done sooner, rather than later, since all the passport photos, guarantor signed documents are valid for only 6 months, but I'm concerned that we won't get biometrics in that time, or we need her current passport for that biometrics when the time comes. Her new passport would be in her married name, which since her GC is like that as well, will be nice because we won't need to carry around our marriage certificate when traveling to "connect the dots" in case we get a border guard who isn't completely sure of what's going on (we had that for her K1 visa, it took 5 guards at the border reading from a little book on how to do everything).

 

Should we be concerned? Can we just send away for her new passport now, or should we wait until after biometrics?

[ALIENRJ187 43]

15 hours ago, Danielle and Jake said:

So my wife and I got back from our vacation just fine (we were worried our biometrics appointment might be scheduled, but we're in the CSC group, so no idea when/if that's happening). Now I have another question/concern. My wife's Canadian passport will expire next year, and we need to renew it. During our trip we went to a place in Canada where they do all that stuff to ask our questions, because we're going to have to do it by mail from the US. Since her current passport was before we were married and therefore in her maiden name, the lady at the center said we need to file for a new one altogether in her married name. We have everything gathered for that, signed, copies of documents, etc.

 

The reason we are looking into doing this sooner rather than later is because of the stamp we will likely need to get since I highly doubt the I-751 will be completed in the one year extension period (if I recall correctly, if it's nearing the end of that period and USCIS is still working on it, then you make an infopass appointment at your local office and get a stamp on your passport). So if her passport expires in a year, it's probably a better idea to get it renewed and everything before we go through that, so she has a 10 year passport to stamp.

 

My question is do we need her current passport for biometrics? I can't remember from  when we did AOS and it could be different for ROC, but in order to do her new passport by mail, we need to send her old one in, and I think the passport office in Canada said 4-6 weeks to complete the process. We'd rather get this done sooner, rather than later, since all the passport photos, guarantor signed documents are valid for only 6 months, but I'm concerned that we won't get biometrics in that time, or we need her current passport for that biometrics when the time comes. Her new passport would be in her married name, which since her GC is like that as well, will be nice because we won't need to carry around our marriage certificate when traveling to "connect the dots" in case we get a border guard who isn't completely sure of what's going on (we had that for her K1 visa, it took 5 guards at the border reading from a little book on how to do everything).

 

Should we be concerned? Can we just send away for her new passport now, or should we wait until after biometrics?

Is the passport necessary for biometrics?  Shouldn't the green card and state ID be enough?  The passport you have now does not have all the up to date info on it that the Green Card or even the driver's license should have.  I'd hold off a little bit and see what the hell is going on with processing times with CSC before you make your decision.  

[Danielle and Jake 24]

8 hours ago, ALIENRJ187 said:

Is the passport necessary for biometrics?  Shouldn't the green card and state ID be enough?  The passport you have now does not have all the up to date info on it that the Green Card or even the driver's license should have.  I'd hold off a little bit and see what the hell is going on with processing times with CSC before you make your decision.  

I guess that's what I'm wondering to, if her passport is necessary for the biometrics appointment. Hoping someone who has had their appointment recently could shed some light on that. I agree, her GC and state ID are the most current and accurate documents, but who knows?

[Unidentified 2,930]

On 5/5/2018 at 8:55 AM, Danielle and Jake said:

So my wife and I got back from our vacation just fine (we were worried our biometrics appointment might be scheduled, but we're in the CSC group, so no idea when/if that's happening). Now I have another question/concern. My wife's Canadian passport will expire next year, and we need to renew it. During our trip we went to a place in Canada where they do all that stuff to ask our questions, because we're going to have to do it by mail from the US. Since her current passport was before we were married and therefore in her maiden name, the lady at the center said we need to file for a new one altogether in her married name. We have everything gathered for that, signed, copies of documents, etc.

 

The reason we are looking into doing this sooner rather than later is because of the stamp we will likely need to get since I highly doubt the I-751 will be completed in the one year extension period (if I recall correctly, if it's nearing the end of that period and USCIS is still working on it, then you make an infopass appointment at your local office and get a stamp on your passport). So if her passport expires in a year, it's probably a better idea to get it renewed and everything before we go through that, so she has a 10 year passport to stamp.

 

My question is do we need her current passport for biometrics? I can't remember from  when we did AOS and it could be different for ROC, but in order to do her new passport by mail, we need to send her old one in, and I think the passport office in Canada said 4-6 weeks to complete the process. We'd rather get this done sooner, rather than later, since all the passport photos, guarantor signed documents are valid for only 6 months, but I'm concerned that we won't get biometrics in that time, or we need her current passport for that biometrics when the time comes. Her new passport would be in her married name, which since her GC is like that as well, will be nice because we won't need to carry around our marriage certificate when traveling to "connect the dots" in case we get a border guard who isn't completely sure of what's going on (we had that for her K1 visa, it took 5 guards at the border reading from a little book on how to do everything).

 

Should we be concerned? Can we just send away for her new passport now, or should we wait until after biometrics?

If she has a valid Drivers license her passport is not needed. She would only need to bring her passport if that is the only valid form of ID she has. 

[Danielle and Jake 24]

1 hour ago, Unidentified said:

If she has a valid Drivers license her passport is not needed. She would only need to bring her passport if that is the only valid form of ID she has. 

Probably a dumb question, but does a state ID count? She doesn't drive, so she just has a Wisconsin State ID (which looks the same as a driver's license), and her GC, obviously. I'm just scared to risk it, but I'd rather get this new passport business done with sooner, rather than later (since we only have about 5.5 months of the photos and guarantor signatures being valid).