AER offers Grants for passport and immigration fees for foreign-born spouses

[Roel 7,192]

https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/2019/02/05/more-help-for-soldiers-in-need-medical-equipment-dental-costs-child-safety-spouse-immigration-fees/

 

This is something my husband was recently briefed on. (and I just managed to find this info posted online :P)

Army Emergency Relief can now offer, and let me quote here:

 

" Grants for passport and immigration fees for foreign-born spouses. This is primarily for soldiers who are stationed outside the U.S., have married a citizen of another country, and want to bring their spouse to the U.S. when they are moving back to the U.S. Many soldiers said this was causing a financial hardship because they wouldn’t have the money to apply right away for their new spouse’s passport and other requirements for immigration, Durr said. "

 

I'm not sure what the actual requirements are in order to qualify for the grant - this is probably case - by -case type of thing (or maybe depends on the rank, dunno), but it's defiantly worth checking if you qualify.

 

Personally I'm going to contact AER and ask if the grant also covers naturalization fee. It would motivate me to actually apply for citizenship hah. 😛  I'll update the thread if they give me an answer.

[ST_RO 309]

On 2/24/2019 at 11:31 AM, Roel said:

https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/2019/02/05/more-help-for-soldiers-in-need-medical-equipment-dental-costs-child-safety-spouse-immigration-fees/

 

This is something my husband was recently briefed on. (and I just managed to find this info posted online :P)

Army Emergency Relief can now offer, and let me quote here:

 

" Grants for passport and immigration fees for foreign-born spouses. This is primarily for soldiers who are stationed outside the U.S., have married a citizen of another country, and want to bring their spouse to the U.S. when they are moving back to the U.S. Many soldiers said this was causing a financial hardship because they wouldn’t have the money to apply right away for their new spouse’s passport and other requirements for immigration, Durr said. "

 

I'm not sure what the actual requirements are in order to qualify for the grant - this is probably case - by -case type of thing (or maybe depends on the rank, dunno), but it's defiantly worth checking if you qualify.

 

Personally I'm going to contact AER and ask if the grant also covers naturalization fee. It would motivate me to actually apply for citizenship hah. 😛  I'll update the thread if they give me an answer.

 I would be very interested in what you find out! I'm currently in the process of AOS, it would be awesome if that were covered as well. Not getting my hopes high though...

[Roel 7,192]

17 minutes ago, ST_RO said:

 I would be very interested in what you find out! I'm currently in the process of AOS, it would be awesome if that were covered as well. Not getting my hopes high though...

Thanks for reminding me to update!

 

They told me they wont cover the n400 fee but they can offer a no-interest loan. 😛

 

But it's always worth asking them about AOS!  Though I suspect they mostly offer grants for immigrant visas like k1 or cr1 to help just bring spouses to the US. 

[ST_RO 309]

1 minute ago, Roel said:

Thanks for reminding me to update!

 

They told me they wont cover the n400 fee but they can offer a no-interest loan. 😛

  

But it's always worth asking them about AOS!  Though I suspect they mostly offer grants for immigrant visas like k1 or cr1 to help just bring spouses to the US. 

Thanks for the update! 

Too bad they won't cover the N400, but a no-interest loan is better than nothing I suppose :-)

I will definitely ask them, we just blasted the $1.225 for the AOS and since Human Resources screwed up big time, we are still waiting to receive the BAH (we got married in December...), so we are paying rent, utilities and everything else out of the crappy single soldier pay and our savings. 

I am completely new to the whole military/army life and my husband is not really helpful. Most of the time the answer I will get is "uuuuhm, I don't know..." So sorry if I'm asking a stupid question: should I contact the AER on post directly? I checked out the AER website and did find an office for Fort Bliss, but I couldn't find any "official" info about the immigration grant for foreign-born spouses on the website. Unfortunately, my experience with everything you have to apply for here so far has been that if you don't rub anything official in their faces, you will not be helped, get wrong information, etc. We made an appointment with USCIS on post because we had a few questions and the lady insisted that K1's can not apply for a SSN. I really had to hold myself back from laughing out loud. So just to not be turned away once more, if you have any further info besides the article, I would really appreciate it.

 

Thanks! 

[Roel 7,192]

You can just message directly, either call or email. https://www.aerhq.org/Contact-Us

 

And yeah the immigration grants are the new thing and they dont really have much info about it yet. 

 

And btw.. Motivate your spouse to be more informed about various army life issues. He has more access to many informations and it is easier for him to find out stuff. He really should be helping you to integrate into the military life. 

[ST_RO 309]

5 minutes ago, Roel said:

You can just message directly, either call or email. https://www.aerhq.org/Contact-Us

 

And yeah the immigration grants are the new thing and they dont really have much info about it yet. 

  

And btw.. Motivate your spouse to be more informed about various army life issues. He has more access to many informations and it is easier for him to find out stuff. He really should be helping you to integrate into the military life. 

Thank you, will do that!

 

Yeah, I'm trying my best. We had a lot going on with very sick parents, him having a bad accident on duty, change of command. It's always something new, so most of the issues we/I have to deal with regarding immigration get pushed back. I had a breakdown where I explained to him that I can't do research on things I don't know about. He is more of the "it is what it is" type of person whereas I am more nagging and keep asking questions when I know I am getting wrong information. He has gotten better though. 😏

 

Anyway, sorry for the vent and thanks for your help!

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

@ST_RO Please let us know what they say about AOS. Would come in pretty handy 😊 

[ST_RO 309]

On 3/7/2019 at 10:52 AM, Letspaintcookies said:

@ST_RO Please let us know what they say about AOS. Would come in pretty handy 😊 

Will do! I sent out the email and they have gotten back, requesting my husband's DoD ID and our zip code. I will keep you posted.

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

 

On 3/10/2019 at 4:30 AM, ST_RO said:

Will do! I sent out the email and they have gotten back, requesting my husband's DoD ID and our zip code. I will keep you posted.

Did you heard anything back?