Argentinians AOS fillers

[andyazcu 230]

21 hours ago, KBCN said:

Wondering if anyone else did this... We decided to "check the box" on getting the SSN with the EAD since it is suppose to arrive within 1 week after the EAD is approved. 

 

In retrospect, this might not have been the best choice. Without a SSN for my husband, its been a headache (couldn't add to insurance, can't put him on bank accounts or open one, etc.). We figured we would wait it out, but now with the RFE and seeing some of the other timelines, I'm starting to get concerned. Just wondering if anyone else did the SSN with EAD option and if it worked out.

 

We assumed we would get our SSN/EAD/AP pretty early on (4-6 months) and be waiting a while for an interview (12-15 months) based off timelines/research. I know if you get issued SSN prior to the EAD, it will be marked with a red "not valid for work" stamp, which you have to go again and get an updated one with the approved EAD.

 

From those getting the RFE/Birth Certificate - it seems like interviews are coming up a lot faster and now I'm getting a little nervous that we will have very little time between his SSN getting issued/getting added to accounts for the additional evidence of a "bona fide relationship" for the green card interview. 

 

Our RFE was delivered to the PO Box today, so I was just going to wait and see if we get a response on anything, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask others about their experience or any advice/thoughts on this. 😕

We went to SSN office the first week my husband arrived (2/7) and had no problems. We filed AOS the week after (2/13) and checked “no” and entered in “NONE” on all the forms regarding SSN (since technically we didn’t have a number yet but knew we would before the EAD). Got his card in the mail a week after 2 weeks total waiting. His says the same as @Fe.Ta “Valid for work with DHS auth”. 

 

Believe you need to update it when you get the green card, since that will basically cancel out the EAD and the need for the DHS auth. The person at SSN office said to make sure to come back and update our documents when the time comes.  

[andyazcu 230]

21 hours ago, KBCN said:

Wondering if anyone else did this... We decided to "check the box" on getting the SSN with the EAD since it is suppose to arrive within 1 week after the EAD is approved. 

 

In retrospect, this might not have been the best choice. Without a SSN for my husband, its been a headache (couldn't add to insurance, can't put him on bank accounts or open one, etc.). We figured we would wait it out, but now with the RFE and seeing some of the other timelines, I'm starting to get concerned. Just wondering if anyone else did the SSN with EAD option and if it worked out.

 

We assumed we would get our SSN/EAD/AP pretty early on (4-6 months) and be waiting a while for an interview (12-15 months) based off timelines/research. I know if you get issued SSN prior to the EAD, it will be marked with a red "not valid for work" stamp, which you have to go again and get an updated one with the approved EAD.

 

From those getting the RFE/Birth Certificate - it seems like interviews are coming up a lot faster and now I'm getting a little nervous that we will have very little time between his SSN getting issued/getting added to accounts for the additional evidence of a "bona fide relationship" for the green card interview. 

 

Our RFE was delivered to the PO Box today, so I was just going to wait and see if we get a response on anything, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask others about their experience or any advice/thoughts on this. 😕

Also regarding getting evidence for the interview, I would just get what you can for now. Personally it’s proving harder to get him on utility bills and my lease (even with a SSN, who knew lol) but in the meantime we are doing the joint bank accounts, phone plan, etc and I have him on all my insurance policies and basically anything else we can get in writing that says he’s my spouse. 

 

I think this kind of evidence matters more for ROC in 2 years. At least that’s what I’ve read here and in my research. 

[andreaam 514]

For those with professional degree in any career, I highly suggest to use WES to so the validation. 
I studied for 6 years and got a bachelor architect degree from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and the validation gave me a Master’s degree. 
So apparently I have 2 degrees here instead of 1. 

[sjhedquist 2]

On 2/25/2020 at 1:36 PM, Fe.Ta said:

@sjhedquist I forgot to ask: Did you do the legalization and apostille in Argentina? If you didn’t, then that could be the issue.

Thank you for that helpful information...I did not realize I was missing the legalization and apostille. I researched like crazy before submitting the AOS packet but I must have overlooked that requirement. My husband's mother already requested a fresh copy of his Acta de Nacimiento and sent it to get legalized/apostilled this week. She also inquired about having it officially translated by a department of the government there in Santa Fe, but my question is - does the translation have to get an apostille stamp as well?

[Fe.Ta 874]

6 minutes ago, sjhedquist said:

Thank you for that helpful information...I did not realize I was missing the legalization and apostille. I researched like crazy before submitting the AOS packet but I must have overlooked that requirement. My husband's mother already requested a fresh copy of his Acta de Nacimiento and sent it to get legalized/apostilled this week. She also inquired about having it officially translated by a department of the government there in Santa Fe, but my question is - does the translation have to get an apostille stamp as well?

No, it is not a requirement. That would be up to you. Translations can even by done by a fluente person like @andreaam did.

[Fe.Ta 874]

We got official letters of approval in the mail today.

[andreaam 514]

12 hours ago, Fe.Ta said:

No, it is not a requirement. That would be up to you. Translations can even by done by a fluente person like @andreaam did.

Remember to do and sign a certified letter of translation

[Fe.Ta 874]

3 minutes ago, andreaam said:

Remember to do and sign a certified letter of translation

@sjhedquist Right, here is a sample:

 

[andreaam 514]

3 minutes ago, Fe.Ta said:

@sjhedquist Right, here is a sample:

 

This is a good example. 
I also used Silver Bay translation for some academic documents and they weren’t expensive and they were really fast. Just in case you don’t want to it and want professionals doing it

[Fe.Ta 874]

2 minutes ago, andreaam said:

This is a good example. 
I also used Silver Bay translation for some academic documents and they weren’t expensive and they were really fast. Just in case you don’t want to it and want professionals doing it

@sjhedquist www.daytranslations.com is another service, too. Depending on what you need/want.

[andyazcu 230]

Got our biometrics appt letter in the mail yesterday for March 9 🥳 

[KBCN 53]

Thanks for getting back to me about the SSN @Fe.Ta @Javier Mera @andyazcu! I put in the question right before heading out of town, so it was hard for me to respond with my gratitude over the weekend ❤️

 

I think push comes to shove, then we will just go down to the administrative office to get a social security card for him - especially since Javier mentioned that you can cancel one.

 

Fe.Ta - you are like our beautiful, unicorn stallion right now 😂Your timeline and experiences are matching up pretty similar to ours at the moment, so thank you so much for keeping us in loop here and keeping detailed notes in your timeline! This is a huge help to know when we might expect to hear back about things and what to do!!!!!!!!! I just hope this weird Acta thing clears out of their system so others don't keep getting hit with this RFE! 

 

Also, just FYI/background: The person that told me about their process/SSN card maybe just informed me wrong, so when I saw the new option of being able to "check the box for SSN getting issued" - I figured this was the update in the process to avoid what that person had gone through. In retrospect, we should have just gotten the card and dealt with "any hassle" because that's still going to be our case based off what you guys responded with. 🤦‍♀️

[Fe.Ta 874]

1 minute ago, KBCN said:

Thanks for getting back to me about the SSN @Fe.Ta @Javier Mera @andyazcu! I put in the question right before heading out of town, so it was hard for me to respond with my gratitude over the weekend ❤️

 

I think push comes to shove, then we will just go down to the administrative office to get a social security card for him - especially since Javier mentioned that you can cancel one.

 

Fe.Ta - you are like our beautiful, unicorn stallion right now 😂Your timeline and experiences are matching up pretty similar to ours at the moment, so thank you so much for keeping us in loop here and keeping detailed notes in your timeline! This is a huge help to know when we might expect to hear back about things and what to do!!!!!!!!! I just hope this weird Acta thing clears out of their system so others don't keep getting hit with this RFE! 

 

Also, just FYI/background: The person that told me about their process/SSN card maybe just informed me wrong, so when I saw the new option of being able to "check the box for SSN getting issued" - I figured this was the update in the process to avoid what that person had gone through. In retrospect, we should have just gotten the card and dealt with "any hassle" because that's still going to be our case based off what you guys responded with. 🤦‍♀️

You are so very welcome! :)

 

Haha Glad to be of any assistance, especially when it can give you some guidance of where yours could be heading.  I have been keeping everything updated for those like you (and others to come).  While timelines are not exactly absolute truth, and each case is different, I find it helpful to give others windows of time to expect things.
 

Don't worry about the SSN.  The good thing is you will be getting at least ONE.  So, you have things in order.  If you end up getting more than one, or none, you have the option of going to the local SSA and just fix it (out of all the issues this one would be on the lower spectrum when it comes to hassles - in my opinion).

[Javier Mera 217]

On 2/28/2020 at 1:25 PM, andreaam said:

For those with professional degree in any career, I highly suggest to use WES to so the validation. 
I studied for 6 years and got a bachelor architect degree from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and the validation gave me a Master’s degree. 
So apparently I have 2 degrees here instead of 1.

Nice! So would your next step be to take that to one of the universities over there and see how you resume the architecture field?

[andreaam 514]

1 hour ago, Javier Mera said:

Nice! So would your next step be to take that to one of the universities over there and see how you resume the architecture field?

I was thinking on doing a master here but now it seems I have one already according to the US educational system. In case I want to do another one or a PhD I can presenting this document. 
Through this company And evaluation I was able to see also how many credits I have and my GPA. According to my husband this are good information to have for job searching and interviews.