How do you know which Service Center you are?

[TriloByte 1,818]

Hi folks. 🙂

 

Trilobyte's wife here. One last thing before we send off our I-751. I don't remember and don't know which Service Center we are.

 

It's for the purpose of the covering letter/sheet. We've followed Visa Journey's sample covering letter which says at the top : 

[Insert Service Center Name]

[Insert Service Center Address]

 

I found the address of where to mail our pack off to, but I don't know the Service Center name. Are they the same thing?

 

We're Raleigh, North Carolina. I guess we were given it at some point, I don't know now though. Any ideas on where to look, please? 

 

Thanks! 🤓

 

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by TriloByte

[Pats5415 97]

You are sending it to a lockbox which then goes to a service center. Please read filing instructions at the website, which will tell you where to send it depending on your state. You will only know the service center once you get your NOA1

[TriloByte 1,818]

Alrighty. 

 

Thank you, Pats.

 

Will do. 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by TriloByte

[Wuozopo 4,293]

3 hours ago, TriloByte said:

It's for the purpose of the covering letter/sheet. We've followed Visa Journey's sample covering letter which says at the top : 

[Insert Service Center Name]

[Insert Service Center Address]

The cover letter is not important. Somebody wrote that on VJ maybe over 10 years ago before lockbox locations when we mailed everything to an actual service center. I seriously doubt a USCIS person will ever see it (“Dear USCIS examiner”) .  
 

How about 
USCIS Lockbox
P.O. Box 660480 
Dallas, TX 75266

 

To whom it may concern:

 

Or skip the cover letter like I did.

[TriloByte 1,818]

^ If skipping it is fine, I would rather do that. 

 

The sample did look a bit... er, outdated and naff to me. I just thought it would be better to do things ''by the book''. 

 

So you just put your I-751 form in with two checks and extra pieces of marriage proof, and that was it? 

 

I've not sent it off yet, so I could always take the cover letter out.

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by TriloByte

[Wuozopo 4,293]

46 minutes ago, TriloByte said:

^ If skipping it is fine, I would rather do that. 

 

The sample did look a bit... er, outdated and naff to me. I just thought it would be better to do things ''by the book''. 

 

So you just put your I-751 form in with two checks and extra pieces of marriage proof, and that was it? 

 

I've not sent it off yet, so I could always take the cover letter out.

 

 

I sent one check (Form fee + biometric fee) paper clipped to the first page of the form, followed by photocopy of the front/back of the greencard, then all the married joint evidence covering dates going back 2 years. The photos at the end were just a collage done in Word printed on plain paper where 8 or so fit on a page. We chose ones that looked like everyday life, not always glamourous poses....decorating (painting) a room, hanging Christmas lights outside and some family/friends gatherings. I have to admit, ROC was on our mind for two years so we would grab a neighbor kid to snap photo ops of rather mundane things just to capture us together in our home. 😂 

 

If you send the G-1145 to be notified they received the packet, then put it on the very top of the stack. They didn’t have that form for me. I relied on Priority Mail tracking to know it had been delivered.

 

Have you reviewed the drop down additional info on this page?

 

https://www.uscis.gov/i-751

 

[TriloByte 1,818]

19 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

I sent one check (Form fee + biometric fee) paper clipped to the first page of the form, followed by photocopy of the front/back of the greencard, then all the married joint evidence covering dates going back 2 years. The photos at the end were just a collage done in Word printed on plain paper where 8 or so fit on a page. We chose ones that looked like everyday life, not always glamourous poses....decorating (painting) a room, hanging Christmas lights outside and some family/friends gatherings. I have to admit, ROC was on our mind for two years so we would grab a neighbor kid to snap photo ops of rather mundane things just to capture us together in our home. 😂 

 

If you send the G-1145 to be notified they received the packet, then put it on the very top of the stack. They didn’t have that form for me. I relied on Priority Mail tracking to know it had been delivered.

 

Have you reviewed the drop down additional info on this page?

 

https://www.uscis.gov/i-751

 

Ah, that's really helpful, thanks! 🙂 

 

I've reviewed that link and printed it out too, I'll go through it all again with a fine tooth comb before we send it off. You were smarter/better prepared than us, we don't have any photos of us together at all since we got married as we both hate having our photo taken.

 

But we have plenty of other evidence. Joint medical insurance cards, my name on my husband's life insurance policy, joint bank account, joint lease on our apartment, photos of labels where we've had stuff sent from Amazon in both our names. Do you reckon that'll be alright? I've done the G-1145 and yep - it will be at the top of the stack. 

 

I think my husband and I have had Covid, we're fine now, but my mind is all kind of scattered and I can't focus, hence why I keep asking (probably) stupid questions here! I'm almost done though, I'm sure the pack will be fine, hopefully I've done a decent job. 

 

Btw, where are you from in the UK, if you don't mind me asking? Whenever I see your posts I always get the feeling we used to be (sort-of) neighbours! 🙂

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by TriloByte

[Wuozopo 4,293]

1 hour ago, TriloByte said:

we don't have any photos of us together at all since we got married as we both hate having our photo taken.

Our photos weren’t all fit for Facebook. My wife didn’t mind USCIS seeing her “looking like a hag” as she described herself in painting clothes with no makeup. Made us look like normal folk she said. 

 

1 hour ago, TriloByte said:

But we have plenty of other evidence.

Make sure you have dated items covering the whole time since greencard, not all recent.  First bank statement together a couple in middle and most recent. Do you have driver licenses with same address? Credit cards? We photocopied his and hers cards side by side all on same page. Covered the middle numbers on credit cards before laying on copier.  Old insurance and new insurance cards. Look for dated items to cover continuous being together. That helps. 
Oxfordshire. BTW, we like San Antonio. Have taken 4-5 trips there. I like La Fogata but we stay mostly around the Riverwalk.

[TriloByte 1,818]

^ We've really only got what I already listed. It'll just have to do. No credit cards, we made a pact to go debt free when we got married 3 years ago and closed out all credit cards accounts, and no intention of opening new ones ever. And I don't drive. We just don't need two cars, it would just be a waste of money for us. But a mix of older and newer bank statements is definitely a good idea and one I didn't think of. 

 

I love Oxfordshire, I used to go there a lot when I was growing up, we had family friends there. I'm from Bath and lived in Bristol for many years. As to San Antonio, my husband lost his job in Austin right at the same time that I was getting my green card. I've been to San Antonio once but we really only drove through it. But to me it looks the same as everywhere else in Texas! Everything is new, and everything looks the same! He got a new job in Raleigh, NC a year ago so that's where we are for now. We're aiming to be back in the UK in 5ish years. I'm homesick and my husband much prefers the UK. Also we can't stick the idea that if he loses his job he would lose his health insurance and we could go bankrupt/lose all our savings. That alone is reason to live in the UK over the USA. 

 

I just want to get my conditions lifted and USCIS off my back in that regard and then I don't think we'll ever deal with USCIS again. Anyway, thanks again for your help, I really do appreciate it!   🙂

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by TriloByte

[TriloByte 1,818]

Meant to say (too late to edit) ''lose our savings if we were to get sick''. Which is a possibility since we're both in our forties and both have some health issues.

 

It's been good to have the opportunity to live in a new country for a while but in hindsight we should have done it the other way, my husband should have come to the UK.

 

I've done my best with the I-751, it'll just have to do. If USCIS take 800 days to reply, we might have already left by then. That is my ideal scenario tbh, I really can't be bothered with any more dealings with them.

 

Anyways, all the best to you and thanks again. 🙂

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by TriloByte

[Wuozopo 4,293]

1 hour ago, TriloByte said:

As to San Antonio, my husband lost his job in Austin right at the same time that I was getting my green card. I've been to San Antonio once but we really only drove through it. But to me it looks the same as everywhere else in Texas! 

You need to change your profile from Local office San Antonio. It also means your ROC goes to Arizona, not the address I put earlier. Texas is not the same everywhere. Has a lot of different regions that look different. 
 

As far as moving back to U.K, you really should stick it out and get your citizenship first. Eligible next year. Then you will truly be done with US immigration. I know of so many over the years who go back to U.K. only to change their mind and want to return to the US. If you have citizenship and a US passport, you just get on a plane and move. Otherwise you start the whole process over again. Ugh. You’ve come so far, might as well get over the last hurdle. 
 

You’ll also want to check out the UK immigration for your husband. You’ll need to go ahead of him and hold a job for 6 months making above their poverty threshold or have around $60,000 saved up. It’s all explained in a confusing manner on UK,gov. Also I’m not sure he will qualify for NHS immediately. He may have to pay a surcharge. 

 

 

[TriloByte 1,818]

^ I probably should have mentioned that I have my own business and if I were to become a naturalized US citizen and then moved back to the UK, I would have to pay both UK and US taxes on that business. And I wouldn't change my mind and would never start all over from scratch with USCIS.

 

The only reason I came to the States was because my husband had kids from a previous marriage he wanted to stay near to but they are older and grown now. They're excited by the prospect of travelling to the UK now they're old enough to do it. If it hadn't have been for his kids, I had absolutely no desire to leave my home, my husband would have come to the UK.

 

We know all the other stuff about UK immigration, NHS surcharges etc, and we're OK with it. It'll be more complicated with Brexit but meh, we'll figure it out.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by TriloByte