Questions about travel and bills after approval

[MrsAb2021 29]

My husband received his AOS approval notice today. Once his card comes in, is there a certain period of time that you are allowed to travel ? We plan to travel back to his home county for 1-2 months, will he only need his green card and passport? Is 1-2 months allowed ?

 

Is there any specific documents that should be kept from now until his ROC? For example does USCIS really need 3 years of water/sewer bills, or can you just pick a few to show joint financial needs? We have quite a few things together but I’m curious if every document from beginning is truly needed.

[Mike E 11,739]

4 minutes ago, MrsAb2021 said:

My husband received his AOS approval notice today. Once his card comes in, is there a certain period of time that you are allowed to travel ?

He is expected to spend more time in the USA than abroad. 
 

He should also not be abroad more than 180 consecutive days. 
 

4 minutes ago, MrsAb2021 said:

We plan to travel back to his home county for 1-2 months, will he only need his green card and passport?

yes. 

4 minutes ago, MrsAb2021 said:

Is 1-2 months allowed ?

probably. 

4 minutes ago, MrsAb2021 said:

 

Is there any specific documents that should be kept from now until his ROC? For example does USCIS really need 3 years of water/sewer bills, or can you just pick a few to show joint financial needs? We have quite a few things together but I’m curious if every document from beginning is truly needed.

One statement per quarter will be fine in most cases.  
 

Keep records of all travel together. Make sure you’ve at least one photo together per quarter. 

[Bob in Boston 701]

Different things help show that you live as a couple. Joint Bills, be it utilitys credit cards cell phones etc. Just have a bunc=h with both your names on it. Your drivers lic or staye ID with same address. Mail made out to the both of you. Apt lease or house deed. Trips together, save tickets, hotel reciepts and take pictures of you having a life together. Haveyour life ins with your spouse name on it, same with bank and retirement accounts. Joint health ins. The more you have the less volume you have to send like quarterly bank statments and bills. I had a little box I threw everything in for a year and a half or so..... come time to file get a good printer with ink a reem of paper and off I went. We sent a lot.... and included every month. Got approved in 10 months and no RFEs and no interview. Some say you dont need all that and some swear the more the better.... only you can decide. If you got good quality evidence send it. it makes it easy for them to justify an approval. Just my experience and opinion. Filed I485 in April of 2018 and sworn is as citizen May of 2022. 4 years from start to finish with a 24 year B2 overstay. I think it went well considering

[OldUser 6,635]

15 hours ago, MrsAb2021 said:

Is there any specific documents that should be kept from now until his ROC? For example does USCIS really need 3 years of water/sewer bills, or can you just pick a few to show joint financial needs? We have quite a few things together but I’m curious if every document from beginning is truly needed.

Yes, all of the evidence is truly needed. If you only pick a few without any system, leaving the gap in timelime, USCIS are going to send RFE.

 

E.g. you cannot show November 2022 bank statement, then February 2023 statement, then April 2024. There's gonna be questions about what happened in between these times.

 

To me (and I apologize if it's not the case), your question sounds a lot like "How does one spend most of the time out of the US and with little evidence get conditions removed?" I hope you do consider going this route, it's a bad idea. 

Edited November 20, 2022 by OldUser

[OldUser 6,635]

19 minutes ago, OldUser said:

I hope you do not consider going this route, it's a bad idea. 

^^ that's what I meant

[MrsAb2021 29]

32 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Yes, all of the evidence is truly needed. If you only pick a few without any system, leaving the gap in timelime, USCIS are going to send RFE.

 

E.g. you cannot show November 2022 bank statement, then February 2023 statement, then April 2024. There's gonna be questions about what happened in between these times.

 

To me (and I apologize if it's not the case), your question sounds a lot like "How does one spend most of the time out of the US and with little evidence get conditions removed?" I hope you do consider going this route, it's a bad idea. 

Hey thanks. No, I was just wondering how much time he is allowed to spend visiting family in one shot. We have work and bills here in the US together. I was just wanting to know if it was all truly needed over a course of 3 years to show those things. I appreciate the info. 

47 minutes ago, Bob in Boston said:

Different things help show that you live as a couple. Joint Bills, be it utilitys credit cards cell phones etc. Just have a bunc=h with both your names on it. Your drivers lic or staye ID with same address. Mail made out to the both of you. Apt lease or house deed. Trips together, save tickets, hotel reciepts and take pictures of you having a life together. Haveyour life ins with your spouse name on it, same with bank and retirement accounts. Joint health ins. The more you have the less volume you have to send like quarterly bank statments and bills. I had a little box I threw everything in for a year and a half or so..... come time to file get a good printer with ink a reem of paper and off I went. We sent a lot.... and included every month. Got approved in 10 months and no RFEs and no interview. Some say you dont need all that and some swear the more the better.... only you can decide. If you got good quality evidence send it. it makes it easy for them to justify an approval. Just my experience and opinion. Filed I485 in April of 2018 and sworn is as citizen May of 2022. 4 years from start to finish with a 24 year B2 overstay. I think it went well considering

Thanks, this is helpful. 

[MrsAb2021 29]

15 hours ago, Mike E said:

He is expected to spend more time in the USA than abroad. 
 

He should also not be abroad more than 180 consecutive days. 
 

yes. 

probably. 

One statement per quarter will be fine in most cases.  
 

Keep records of all travel together. Make sure you’ve at least one photo together per quarter. 

Thank you!

[OldUser 6,635]

Just now, MrsAb2021 said:

Hey thanks. No, I was just wondering how much time he is allowed to spend visiting family in one shot. We have work and bills here in the US together. I was just wanting to know if it was all truly needed over a course of 3 years to show those things. I appreciate the info. 

Yes it's truly needed if he wants to avoid RFE / stokes interview / denial.

 

As already mentioned by others, he cannot spend 180 days or more consecutive days outside of the US without breaking continuous residence.

[Bob in Boston 701]

7 minutes ago, MrsAb2021 said:

54 minutes ago, Bob in Boston said:

Different things help show that you live as a couple. Joint Bills, be it utilitys credit cards cell phones etc. Just have a bunc=h with both your names on it. Your drivers lic or staye ID with same address. Mail made out to the both of you. Apt lease or house deed. Trips together, save tickets, hotel reciepts and take pictures of you having a life together. Haveyour life ins with your spouse name on it, same with bank and retirement accounts. Joint health ins. The more you have the less volume you have to send like quarterly bank statments and bills. I had a little box I threw everything in for a year and a half or so..... come time to file get a good printer with ink a reem of paper and off I went. We sent a lot.... and included every month. Got approved in 10 months and no RFEs and no interview. Some say you dont need all that and some swear the more the better.... only you can decide. If you got good quality evidence send it. it makes it easy for them to justify an approval. Just my experience and opinion. Filed I485 in April of 2018 and sworn is as citizen May of 2022. 4 years from start to finish with a 24 year B2 overstay. I think it went well considering

Thanks, this is helpful. 

Oh.... and dont forget tax returns filing married joint or seperatly. Do not do single, a big no no

[MrsAb2021 29]

38 minutes ago, Bob in Boston said:

Oh.... and dont forget tax returns filing married joint or seperatly. Do not do single, a big no no

Yes, we filed together last year as well since he came at the end of 2021. 

45 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Yes it's truly needed if he wants to avoid RFE / stokes interview / denial.

 

As already mentioned by others, he cannot spend 180 days or more consecutive days outside of the US without breaking continuous residence.

Thanks, I think his first trip he’s thinking 1-2 months at most. 

[Chancy 6,241]

*** Moved from AOS from K1 Visas forum to Working & Traveling During US Immigration -- topic is about travel after AOS approval ***