My journey - after marriage

[NancyLyz 58]

3 minutes ago, A&H2018 said:

Thanks for the kind words, but I am fine waiting and would rather bypass i751 too. Just fear that the interview will come right before and then have to do i751 ans n400 all at once. 

Plus just would prefer overall better communication for everyone. Now to provide information to all june/july filers.

Yeah I always wonder, if I've gotten married for like 1 year and 9 months (something close to 2 years but not there yet) at the time of interview, will they give me a 2-year card or 10-year card? I'd hate to have do I-751, since they're definitely certain not going to be approved within a year and it'll be adjudicated with N-400 together. 

[mushroomspore 3,044]

2 hours ago, NancyLyz said:

Yeah I always wonder, if I've gotten married for like 1 year and 9 months (something close to 2 years but not there yet) at the time of interview, will they give me a 2-year card or 10-year card? I'd hate to have do I-751, since they're definitely certain not going to be approved within a year and it'll be adjudicated with N-400 together. 

No it has to be 2 years or more at the time of interview/approval. They're the government; they don't allow "wiggle room" on their rules.

[CTgal18 157]

15 hours ago, NancyLyz said:

Yeah I always wonder, if I've gotten married for like 1 year and 9 months (something close to 2 years but not there yet) at the time of interview, will they give me a 2-year card or 10-year card? I'd hate to have do I-751, since they're definitely certain not going to be approved within a year and it'll be adjudicated with N-400 together. 

 

12 hours ago, mushroomspore said:

No it has to be 2 years or more at the time of interview/approval. They're the government; they don't allow "wiggle room" on their rules.

If you’ve been married for 2 years at POE (not interview), yes you would get a 10 year card not a 2 year card. 

 

What Is Conditional Residence?

 

If you have been married for less than two years when your foreign citizen spouse enters the United States on an immigrant visa, his or her permanent resident status is considered “conditional.” The immigrant visa is a conditional resident (CR) visa, not an immediate relative (IR) visa.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration/immigrant-visa-for-spouse.html

Edited July 7, 2018 by CTgal18

[CTgal18 157]

Didn’t realize the person was already in the US so disregard my previous comment. 

[mushroomspore 3,044]

3 hours ago, CTgal18 said:

 

If you’ve been married for 2 years at POE (not interview), yes you would get a 10 year card not a 2 year card. 

 

What Is Conditional Residence?

 

If you have been married for less than two years when your foreign citizen spouse enters the United States on an immigrant visa, his or her permanent resident status is considered “conditional.” The immigrant visa is a conditional resident (CR) visa, not an immediate relative (IR) visa.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration/immigrant-visa-for-spouse.html

Oh wow thanks I always thought it was at time of interview/approval. A tiny but important detail. 

[A&H2018 146]

22 minutes ago, mushroomspore said:

Oh wow thanks I always thought it was at time of interview/approval. A tiny but important detail. 

She edited her post those are IR/CR rules. It is at interview for AOS folk, since the interview officer makes the decision on the spot.

[mushroomspore 3,044]

1 minute ago, A&H2018 said:

She edited her post those are IR/CR rules. It is at interview for AOS folk, since the interview officer makes the decision on the spot.

Oh gotcha! Hahaha, man, all these technicalities. 

[NancyLyz 58]

On 7/7/2018 at 11:11 AM, mushroomspore said:

Oh gotcha! Hahaha, man, all these technicalities. 

Yeah it's a bit different. It's up to the officer who interviews us I assume.

 

Anyway, have you gotten your EAD? 

Edited July 10, 2018 by NancyLyz

[NancyLyz 58]

Update 7/26/2018

 

 

I received my new social security card on 7/10/2018 (Applied 7/2).  However, I still have a long wait for my driver's license (Applied 7/3). 3 weeks after my 4 hour visit in DMV, I waited for 2 hours on the phone to talk to a representative. 

 

The representative was very nice. She told me that since I'm not a citizen, my status needs to be verified with DHS (I applied for a CA REAL ID), which usually takes at least 4-6 weeks. She has witnessed people having to renew their temporary driver's license (3 months valid from the issue date) but she told me it's anyway free to renew the temporary one. 

Well I'm anyway back at work and I don't really care much about that.

 

 

 

[txkangaroo 91]

17 minutes ago, NancyLyz said:

Update 7/26/2018

 

 

I received my new social security card on 7/10/2018 (Applied 7/2).  However, I still have a long wait for my driver's license (Applied 7/3). 3 weeks after my 4 hour visit in DMV, I waited for 2 hours on the phone to talk to a representative. 

 

The representative was very nice. She told me that since I'm not a citizen, my status needs to be verified with DHS (I applied for a CA REAL ID), which usually takes at least 4-6 weeks. She has witnessed people having to renew their temporary driver's license (3 months valid from the issue date) but she told me it's anyway free to renew the temporary one. 

Well I'm anyway back at work and I don't really care much about that.

 

 

 

Good to know the updates! I've been checking to see if you got everything lol

 

For me, I got the SSN two days after receiving combo card. But my SSN omits the middle name (which is my maiden name), so I took the SSN and combo card to SSA to get it updated. The officer was giving me hard time for not checking the application, while it's not even my fault.  Anyways he kept saying I should have applied for correct name to decrease their workload blah blah blah, and I'm just pretending I'm listening. After the SSA I went to DPS for name change. This time it was a lot longer wait than the SSA, mostly because the DPS in Houston shut down several locations during the summer and people has to go to only two near the city. I spent an hour waiting (with my appointment), and was allowed in the building 45 minutes passed the appointment time. The process was quick enough since I'm only updating my name without changing the effective date (current visa status expire in 2020). Timeline for my update process:

 

7/3/18 received combo card

7/5/18 received SSN with update name (wrongly omitted my middle name)

7/6/18 updated SSN and DL

7/13/18 received SSN with corrected name

7/20/18 received updated DL

 

Planning to add note on my passport on 8/15. International trip booked for 8/28. Hopefully everything will be smooth!

 

 

[NancyLyz 58]

1 hour ago, txkangaroo said:

Good to know the updates! I've been checking to see if you got everything lol

 

For me, I got the SSN two days after receiving combo card. But my SSN omits the middle name (which is my maiden name), so I took the SSN and combo card to SSA to get it updated. The officer was giving me hard time for not checking the application, while it's not even my fault.  Anyways he kept saying I should have applied for correct name to decrease their workload blah blah blah, and I'm just pretending I'm listening. After the SSA I went to DPS for name change. This time it was a lot longer wait than the SSA, mostly because the DPS in Houston shut down several locations during the summer and people has to go to only two near the city. I spent an hour waiting (with my appointment), and was allowed in the building 45 minutes passed the appointment time. The process was quick enough since I'm only updating my name without changing the effective date (current visa status expire in 2020). Timeline for my update process:

 

7/3/18 received combo card

7/5/18 received SSN with update name (wrongly omitted my middle name)

7/6/18 updated SSN and DL

7/13/18 received SSN with corrected name

7/20/18 received updated DL

 

Planning to add note on my passport on 8/15. International trip booked for 8/28. Hopefully everything will be smooth!

 

 

Congrats on getting everything done! I'm guessing you didn't ask for the REAL ID version of Driver's license then.

 

Keep me updated about your trip. I'm going to travel later this year and I'm a bit scared. 

[txkangaroo 91]

51 minutes ago, NancyLyz said:

Congrats on getting everything done! I'm guessing you didn't ask for the REAL ID version of Driver's license then.

 

Keep me updated about your trip. I'm going to travel later this year and I'm a bit scared. 

Well, Texas has always been using the DL under the real ID act (has a little star on the face). But I already had the valid DL under H1b visa which went through the second verification last year... I remember waiting two weeks to get it done.

 

As for the travel, I plan to use my unexpired H1b visa stamp so that might be different in your case. As what I hear from other people, the AP worked fine cause she went back and forth for fourth times and didn't have any problem with the AP.

Edited July 26, 2018 by txkangaroo

[NancyLyz 58]

2 minutes ago, txkangaroo said:

Well, Texas has always been using the DL under the real ID act. But I already have H1b visa which went through the second verification last year... Waited two weeks to get it done.

 

I plan to use my unexpired H1b visa stamp so that might be help in your case. But as what I read from other people, the AP worked fine cause she went back and forth for fourth times and didn't have any problem with the AP.

Ah that makes sense. Yeah I just hope I can get my DL soon. Using the temporary one can be troublesome.

 

Thanks a lot!

[txkangaroo 91]

Just now, NancyLyz said:

Ah that makes sense. Yeah I just hope I can get my DL soon. Using the temporary one can be troublesome.

 

Thanks a lot!

Don't worry, did they give you a number to check the status of your verification? I think it starts with 2018 and end in two letters. You can use it to check online instead of calling.

[NancyLyz 58]

1 minute ago, txkangaroo said:

Don't worry, did they give you a number to check the status of your verification? I think it starts with 2018 and end in two letters. You can use it to check online instead of calling.

No California doesn't do that. But the rep did say I should give them another call by 6-8 weeks if I have not received my DL yet. I already made an appointment for the end of September just in case.