AOS from B2 tourist visa - questions about paperwork and misc.

[sjfoley1 11]

Hi all, my husband is Canadian and is currently here in the US on his B2 visitors visa, and I am a US citizen. We are getting all of the paperwork together and have the appropriate funds for the fees for him to adjust his status. One thing I am confused about is on the i-864 form under part 5 (household size) where it counts the person you are sponsoring and then also asks if you are married and counts that as another person, so it looks like our household is 3 people when its really 2. Since we aren't suppose to count a person more than once on this form, do I just leave the spouse portion blank?

 

I know i-765 is optional, but since you can file it with no fee with the other forms is it a good idea just to do it? If this is approved would this allow him to work if his green card is still pending? also with i-131, does he need that if we were just going to travel within the US, or is it just if we were to leave the country?

 

With i-485, the guide shows this for showing a bonifide marriage:

1.	Documentation showing joint ownership or property; or
2.	A lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence; or
3.	Documentation showing co-mingling of financial resources; or
4.	Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to you, the petitioner, and your spouse together; or
5.	Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties having personal knowledge of the bona fides of the marital relationship (Each affidavit must contain the full name and address, date and place of birth of the person making the affidavit, his or her relationship to the petitioner of beneficiary, if any, and complete information and details explaining how the person acquired his or her knowledge of your marriage); or
6.	Any other relevant documentation to establish that there is an ongoing marital union.

 

I own a house, which I was in the process of purchasing when my husband and I first met. He doesn't have a bank account here, and I hadn't been aware if I could add him to mine. Is this something I should do? He is listed on our cell phone plan but that is about it right now. Is the affidavit this is talking about the i-864 or something different? Would screen shots from facebook and  photos of us together be able to be submitted as evidence?

 

Thank you all for your help!

[Dashinka 24,492]

Household size should be two assuming there is no one else.  It is always a good idea to file the I765 and I131 concurrently.

 

Good Luck!

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

Advance Parole (I-131) is not needed to travel inside the US, but it would be unwise to skip submitting it.  The purpose of filing an  I-765 (EAD)  is to allow a person to work in the US pending approval and issuance of a Green Card.   It must have been difficult for him to suddenly leave everything behind in Canada while in the US on visit....

[little immigrant 801]

Yes you should add him to your bank account 

 

You also could do a quitclaim deed to add him to the house if desired 

[617Haligonian 34]

See if you can add him to your bank account. My bank gave me the run around so I just kept asking every month or two til someone finally said they could add him. 

 

You want as much info as possible to show your relationship is legit. I don't have a lease with both of us on it, so I made sure to share extra info like screenshots from posts on each other's Facebook walls or photos of us together. 

 

The affidavits for the 485 is basically fancy words for "letters from family/friends saying they know you're legit". You can look up some examples on this site to use as reference if you wind up asking family/friends for their support. 

 

Your household size is 2 (assuming just you and your husband). I don't have my forms in front of me but I believe the beneficiary gets counted in the household size before the spouse slot. I put 0 in the spouse box since my husband was counted in a prior slot (ie as the beneficiary). I didn't get questioned on it at all. 

 

I'd also file the 765, and 131 since they're free if you're filing for AOS. Never hurts to cross your Ts and dot your Is

[lonesurvivor 48]

Its hard to add people to bank accounts, I was also given the run around but finally we got one through Wells Fargo. You can also try adding him as an authorized user to your credit card. Other easy things we did that did not require a SSN are health insurance, life insurance, phone bill. I assume with that much you should be fine. Maybe your car insurance if possible

[sjfoley1 11]

Thank all  for your responses! The only other thing I am wondering about now, is once we get the paperwork submitted, he technically cannot leave the US or it would be considered abandoning his application, is that correct? What does this mean for the tourist visa he is currently here on, which states he can only be in the country until October 12th?

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

3 minutes ago, sjfoley1 said:

Thank all  for your responses! The only other thing I am wondering about now, is once we get the paperwork submitted, he technically cannot leave the US or it would be considered abandoning his application, is that correct? What does this mean for the tourist visa he is currently here on, which states he can only be in the country until October 12th?

1.  If he leaves the US prior to RECEIVING a valid advance parole document, he will have abandoned his adjustment of status.  

2.  Once he submits the I-485, he will be granted "authorized stay" until the I-485 is adjudicated......He will not have legal status, but will have authorized stay.

[eckoin 211]

6 minutes ago, sjfoley1 said:

Thank all  for your responses! The only other thing I am wondering about now, is once we get the paperwork submitted, he technically cannot leave the US or it would be considered abandoning his application, is that correct? What does this mean for the tourist visa he is currently here on, which states he can only be in the country until October 12th?

Correct, he cannot leave the country until he has an approved AP (I-131).

 

Are you referring to his visa being valid until 10/12, or his status being valid until 10/12?

 

Either way, doesn't matter much. While his status is valid, he's here legally. While he has a pending AOS, he's here legally (albeit without a valid status, but with authorized stay). 

 

If his status (the latest stamp in the passport or his I-94) is valid until October 12, he's not deportable. Once he has a pending AOS, he's not deportable. All good on that front. 

[sjfoley1 11]

Awesome, thank you SO much!

[sjfoley1 11]

One last question - for the instances in the paperwork where we need to include information about my husbands parents - we have everything about his dad but his mother passed away when he was very young and we are not sure how much information we will be able to get about her. Do we still need to include her information in the paperwork?

[Boiler 45,486]

13 minutes ago, sjfoley1 said:

One last question - for the instances in the paperwork where we need to include information about my husbands parents - we have everything about his dad but his mother passed away when he was very young and we are not sure how much information we will be able to get about her. Do we still need to include her information in the paperwork?

Absolutely.

[sjfoley1 11]

Hi all, we are finally getting ready to submit my husbands AOS application. I was going through the checklists on the USCIS website to double check we have the appropriate things together - do we need a separate copy of birth certificates, ID's, etc for each form we are sending or is one copy of each enough since it is all getting submitted together?

 

Also, the "affidavits" we can submit from family in friends attesting to our relationship, do those have to be notarized? Signed and mailed to us?

 

I was able to get him added to a credit card as an authorized user as my bank will not allow him to open an account, my job will not allow me to add him to my insurance without the green card, and I own a home so we don't technically have anything showing we live in the same residence (but he has lived here since he arrive to the US again in April). We have also had him on my cell phone plan and bill since last year. Should that suffice?

 

Should we include screen shots of facebook posts, copies of photos of us together etc?

 

Thanks all for your help, if I think of anything else i'll add it later.

[Boiler 45,486]

Quality not quantity, affidavits are pretty useless. I am happy to provide one for a very moderate fee.

 

The NOA will allow him to be added to your Health Insurance, GC will be a long way away.