July 2018 AOS Filers

[Joschka 8]

Some of that is news to me. Thanks;

 

But then, how did he pay his med school expenses? Did he have a fellowship? Was he living in University housing? A whole lot of non-cash stuff is considered to be 'in kind' income which has to be reported! It sounds like you will need a tax accountant if you are ever required to file those back returns.

 

I just (a couple of days ago) submitted my i-864 and tax returns for any years prior to 2017 are OPTIONAL! I did not submit them because it's a pain in the neck to get things into their submit format.

 

I don't think you need a letter as long as you can submit for 2017.

[PartyParrot 40]

26 minutes ago, Joschka said:

Some of that is news to me. Thanks;

 

But then, how did he pay his med school expenses? Did he have a fellowship? Was he living in University housing? A whole lot of non-cash stuff is considered to be 'in kind' income which has to be reported! It sounds like you will need a tax accountant if you are ever required to file those back returns.

 

I just (a couple of days ago) submitted my i-864 and tax returns for any years prior to 2017 are OPTIONAL! I did not submit them because it's a pain in the neck to get things into their submit format.

 

I don't think you need a letter as long as you can submit for 2017.

Husband did file taxes "before med school" (he worked before med school), but it was more than four years ago (not applicable for the I864, the want the past three years). Never asked how he paid for med school, I only know that his med school was all on loans and his family didn't chip in. His accountant told him as a student with no income, he didnt need to file taxes, guess we'll have to look that up too.

Thanks for the info! We didn't know that anything before 2017 is optional. We are barely surviving as young doctors, the pay for resident doctors is very bad and I can't work. I hope they don't ask for RFE, we do have plans to ask the state for more documents if we get one. We're lucky to be state employees, I hope it makes a difference. 

The point is, we hired the attorney (who was also a CPA) because we thought he would help us out with the I864 form. He not only didnt help with the I864, he also messed up the easy forms.  

As presons with professional degrees, we are amazed at how unprofessional a lawyer can be. Imagine a doctor ordering the wrong meds for your family member, and that someone ends up in the ER, thats how we feel about our rejected application. I guess we'll have to watch out for "unprofessional professionals" in the future. 

Edited July 24, 2018 by EducatedByAnimals

[Joschka 8]

I feel your frustration. Lawyers can be such crooks!

 

Although you are probably not in the mood for a lawyer joke, here is one that may apply: "Why are they now using lawyers for medical experimentation, instead of rats?"

 

 

Answer: "Because there are some things rats won't do!"

 

I hope that offers some light relief!

Best of luck to you,

Joschka

[alol 23]

So I checked my online banking this morning and it looks like my checks have been cashed, no text or email notification yet, though...

[PartyParrot 40]

hey guys, just an update of our really messed up situation here...

So we talked to our lawyer and he was absolutely apologetic about the outdated forms and signatures in BLUE INK (Facepalm). I'd rather he not apologise and do the job right in the first place. 

I stayed up all night to prep the documents with forms freshly downloaded from the USCIS website. Rewrote the cover letter, prepped the G28 FOR THE LAWYER and sent it all back to him for print/signature/scan. I'm glad I read through all of the instructions before we got a lawyer, never thought i would use the instruction but here we are... 

 

For people who have lawyers, it's still better to read the instuctions, front to back, upwards/downwards and sideways.

 

Hope we can send the package on 7/25 with priority shipping and make the 7/31 post date for the I130/I130A forms. 

 

Edited July 24, 2018 by EducatedByAnimals

[alol 23]

11 minutes ago, EducatedByAnimals said:

hey guys, just an update of our really messed up situation here...

So we talked to our lawyer and he was absolutely apologetic about the outdated forms and signatures in BLUE INK (Facepalm). I'd rather he not apologise and do the job right in the first place. 

I stayed up all night to prep the documents with forms freshly downloaded from the USCIS website. Rewrote the cover letter, prepped the G28 FOR THE LAWYER and sent it all back to him for print/signature/scan. I'm glad I read through all of the instructions before we got a lawyer, never thought i would use the instruction but here we are... 

 

For people who have lawyers, it's still better to read the instuctions, front to back, upwards/downwards and sideways.

 

Hope we can send the package on 7/25 with priority shipping and make the 7/31 post date for the I130/I130A forms. 

 

Good work getting those forms fixed so quickly! I couldn't agree more about checking things over & reading the instructions - you can't rely on lawyers or prep services to get things right, even though they'll happily take your money regardless...

 

Also, I don't think you need to worry about the expiry date of the i-130/i-130a - since USCIS haven't updated the forms, they'll continue accepting petitions with the old expiry date until there's a new set published. Obviously I'm sure you want to get the process moving again as quickly as possible in any case, though.

 

I have my fingers crossed that things go smoothly for you from here on out!

[PartyParrot 40]

1 hour ago, alol said:

Good work getting those forms fixed so quickly! I couldn't agree more about checking things over & reading the instructions - you can't rely on lawyers or prep services to get things right, even though they'll happily take your money regardless...

 

Also, I don't think you need to worry about the expiry date of the i-130/i-130a - since USCIS haven't updated the forms, they'll continue accepting petitions with the old expiry date until there's a new set published. Obviously I'm sure you want to get the process moving again as quickly as possible in any case, though.

 

I have my fingers crossed that things go smoothly for you from here on out!

Just wondering, can I ditch the whole package and compile a new one since my old package was printed on recycled paper by the lawyer, and there were too many mistakes?

I tried searching online to see how people resubmit their applications but it seems like most people got rejected because of incorrect fees, all they had to do was send in the right check along with the old package. Mine however...... 

USCIS gave us four NOAs explaining why package was returned, all forms had a line of grey print on it indicated date and time. I plan to put the green paper and the NOAs on top of the documents, just in case they want to link this to the old case number. Don't know if it will work but we'll see.

By the way, lawyer told me to go to USCIS website and "ask emma" how to resubmit the package. Really.... Ask emma...
Couldn't find a thing about whether or not to use old forms.

 

 

 

 

[alol 23]

@EducatedByAnimals From what I've read, you can reprint everything (I'd definitely want to do that, too!) and follow the instructions enclosing the letter(s) in the package, but I think I'd probably call USCIS to be sure...

 

Might also be worth posting in the main AOS forum to see what others have done in the past in similar situations, too.

Edited July 24, 2018 by alol

[PartyParrot 40]

 

8 minutes ago, alol said:

@EducatedByAnimals From what I've read, you can reprint everything (I'd definitely want to do that, too!) and follow the instructions enclosing the letter(s) in the package, but I think I'd probably call USCIS to be sure...

 

Might also be worth posting in the main AOS forum to see what others have done in the past in similar situations, too.

 

Justed got through to USCIS on phone, they said reprinting everything is okay and they don't have any rules about resending old forms. They basically said since it was rejected (or half done) it doesn't really matter if its old forms or updated onws. They also said that it's "people processed",  just type on paper and say everything is reprinted and updated. 

[Joschka 8]

7 hours ago, alol said:

Good work getting those forms fixed so quickly! I couldn't agree more about checking things over & reading the instructions - you can't rely on lawyers or prep services to get things right, even though they'll happily take your money regardless...

 

Also, I don't think you need to worry about the expiry date of the i-130/i-130a - since USCIS haven't updated the forms, they'll continue accepting petitions with the old expiry date until there's a new set published. Obviously I'm sure you want to get the process moving again as quickly as possible in any case, though.

 

I have my fingers crossed that things go smoothly for you from here on out!

 

4 hours ago, EducatedByAnimals said:

 

Justed got through to USCIS on phone, they said reprinting everything is okay and they don't have any rules about resending old forms. They basically said since it was rejected (or half done) it doesn't really matter if its old forms or updated onws. They also said that it's "people processed",  just type on paper and say everything is reprinted and updated. 

 

4 hours ago, EducatedByAnimals said:

 

Justed got through to USCIS on phone, they said reprinting everything is okay and they don't have any rules about resending old forms. They basically said since it was rejected (or half done) it doesn't really matter if its old forms or updated onws. They also said that it's "people processed",  just type on paper and say everything is reprinted and updated. 

I was optimistic, I read all of the instructions carefully and the only question I had that was NOT covered in the instructions was: what to put in as parent addresses for parents who are deceased. I guessed and put in "deceased" for all four of them. Our I-130 was approved after just over six months with no questions asked.

Now the bigger problem is the Visa Processing Center where it is MANDATORY to submit the I-260 through their web site but that has been down for at least 36 hours and they told me they have no idea when it will be fixed. They also declined to tell me what the problem is.

Edited July 25, 2018 by Joschka

[alol 23]

12 hours ago, alol said:

So I checked my online banking this morning and it looks like my checks have been cashed, no text or email notification yet, though...

Just got all four electronic notifications 

[Kels00 26]

2 minutes ago, alol said:

Just got all four electronic notifications 

Nice!  

[aznhouston 130]

18 hours ago, EducatedByAnimals said:

hey guys, just an update of our really messed up situation here...

So we talked to our lawyer and he was absolutely apologetic about the outdated forms and signatures in BLUE INK (Facepalm). I'd rather he not apologise and do the job right in the first place. 

I stayed up all night to prep the documents with forms freshly downloaded from the USCIS website. Rewrote the cover letter, prepped the G28 FOR THE LAWYER and sent it all back to him for print/signature/scan. I'm glad I read through all of the instructions before we got a lawyer, never thought i would use the instruction but here we are... 

 

For people who have lawyers, it's still better to read the instuctions, front to back, upwards/downwards and sideways.

 

Hope we can send the package on 7/25 with priority shipping and make the 7/31 post date for the I130/I130A forms. 

 

What's wrong with blue ink? 

I also did blue ink for those fields that I couldn't type. Now I'm worrying. :/

[PartyParrot 40]

2 hours ago, hoangthaihuy said:

What's wrong with blue ink? 

I also did blue ink for those fields that I couldn't type. Now I'm worrying. :/

Honestly I wouldnt worry about it too much, just bummed that an immigration lawyer didn't do everything in black ink. If they have problems scanning it they will return the package along with the uncashed checks. If they return it, just make sure to do it all in black ink. Plain instructions on the first page of the forms. It took them only 10 days to get the rejection notice in my mail box so if rejected you'll probably find the whole package in the mailbox 10 days after your post date. 

And then just pull an allnigther and resubmit, like me! Stay positive!

Edited July 25, 2018 by EducatedByAnimals

[aznhouston 130]

14 minutes ago, EducatedByAnimals said:

Honestly I wouldnt worry about it too much, just bummed that an immigration lawyer didn't do everything in black ink. If they have problems scanning it they will return the package along with the uncashed checks. If they return it, just make sure to do it all in black ink. Plain instructions on the first page of the forms. It took them only 10 days to get the rejection notice in my mail box so if rejected you'll probably find the whole package in the mailbox 10 days after your post date. 

And then just pull an allnigther and resubmit, like me! Stay positive!

Thanks.

I remember reading in one topic, a filer got her package rejected just because the person processing her package thought the black ink looks like a photocopy version. So she gotta use blue ink instead.

Drama, so much drama from the USCIS. LOL