December 2022 - AOS Filers

[M&L🇺🇸 41]

I received today an RFE for my I-485 form saying that I have to go to a civil surgeon to re-do my medical exams. Checking the vaccination and health sheet that I submitted, I can see that the doctor from my home country forgot to check the correct option in the section 3, she left all of those empty. I wrote to the doctor to see if there's anything she can do to fix this mistake but I am pretty sure she'll tell me to just do the required exams with a civil surgeon here. I'm so MAD, I would be less mad if'd have gotten an RFE because of a mistake I MADE instead of someone else. But it is what it is... At least I know they're reviewing my case.

Edited January 18, 2023 by M&L🇺🇸

[kamishai 2]

Similar to others here, we also received an RFE re: I-485 dated 1/5/2023 with a deadline to respond by 4/2/2023.
 

This what the RFE contains as to why it's being sent and what we'll need to do in response.

 

I am the sole petitioner/sponsor for my husband (K-1 beneficiary).

 

We have some questions we'd like to get your comments on.

1. Since the RFE says to "Provide a complete and correctly calculated household size on Form I-864", we plan to add a statement saying "I am married and my spouse is counted at #1." - Please let me know if you also filled this section out the same way as shown in the picture below (our original submission) since we're now unsure as to what they want corrected here. We are already married so we put zero for #3 and they note to not count a member of the household more than once. It is just my husband and myself in our household so we thought our form is complete and correct for this.
2. For ITRs for the most recent tax year, should we go ahead and just submit my 2021 ITR which does show Form 1040 Total Income above the 125% threshold or should we file 2022 (still above 125%) and submit that instead? Side note - we are pending my husband's SSN since we were unable to apply for one before the wedding and these AOS/EAD/AP submissions and though hoping to receive EAD soon with SSN, we may not be able to file taxes jointly so will have to file separately if we go the 2022 ITR route. We'd prefer filing jointly for tax benefits but whatever option gets faster response from USCIS will be the way we go.
3. Should we still include current employment letter, pay stubs, and bank statements in our response to RFE?  - We originally provided these in our initial submission but nothing got uploaded to my husband's myUSCIS account so we're curious if this will just cause another RFE down the road if we provide them when my ITRs should be sufficient to show that I am able to support us both based on Form 1040 Total Income versus the 125% threshold.

We appreciate any feedback and also look forward to other's contributions here - they really help.

 

Thanks and good luck everyone!

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by kamishai
Remove word "snip" error

[Shay2022 9]

How early after biometrics can I expedite my work permit? 

[M&L🇺🇸 41]

4 hours ago, Shay2022 said:

How early after biometrics can I expedite my work permit? 

If you have a job offer, after 2 weeks you can ask for expedite using "financial loss" as reason. If they accept it and request more evidence, write a letter saying that not accepting that job offer is making your family loose money, attach the job offer and that's it. If you don't have one, I'd wait at least 3 months.

[M&L🇺🇸 41]

15 hours ago, kamishai said:

Similar to others here, we also received an RFE re: I-485 dated 1/5/2023 with a deadline to respond by 4/2/2023.
 

This what the RFE contains as to why it's being sent and what we'll need to do in response.

 

I am the sole petitioner/sponsor for my husband (K-1 beneficiary).

 

We have some questions we'd like to get your comments on.

1. Since the RFE says to "Provide a complete and correctly calculated household size on Form I-864", we plan to add a statement saying "I am married and my spouse is counted at #1." - Please let me know if you also filled this section out the same way as shown in the picture below (our original submission) since we're now unsure as to what they want corrected here. We are already married so we put zero for #3 and they note to not count a member of the household more than once. It is just my husband and myself in our household so we thought our form is complete and correct for this.
2. For ITRs for the most recent tax year, should we go ahead and just submit my 2021 ITR which does show Form 1040 Total Income above the 125% threshold or should we file 2022 (still above 125%) and submit that instead? Side note - we are pending my husband's SSN since we were unable to apply for one before the wedding and these AOS/EAD/AP submissions and though hoping to receive EAD soon with SSN, we may not be able to file taxes jointly so will have to file separately if we go the 2022 ITR route. We'd prefer filing jointly for tax benefits but whatever option gets faster response from USCIS will be the way we go.
3. Should we still include current employment letter, pay stubs, and bank statements in our response to RFE?  - We originally provided these in our initial submission but nothing got uploaded to my husband's myUSCIS account so we're curious if this will just cause another RFE down the road if we provide them when my ITRs should be sufficient to show that I am able to support us both based on Form 1040 Total Income versus the 125% threshold.

We appreciate any feedback and also look forward to other's contributions here - they really help.

 

Thanks and good luck everyone!

 

Hey! Replying to your questions:

1. Your household size is correct in the way you put it. If you only live with your new husband then the count of 2 is what should be there, so you don't have any problems with that.

2. For the tax return, if you already submitted yours and it's available in the IRS website then yes, submit the 2022 records too.

3. Please send EVERYTHING again regarding the affidavit of support. It's better to have things filed twice than hoping for them to do the right decision, leave no room for doubt. Include the following documents (you can download item 2, 3 and 4 from the IRS website):

• Form I-864 (Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA)
• Tax Return with form 1040 (latest)
• Tax Return Transcript (for the past 3 years)
• Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement (latest)
• Employment letter
• Last four (4) months pay-stubs
• Biographic page of passport of the petitioner
• Copy of birth certificate of the petitioner

 

[joaovily 10]

On 1/12/2023 at 12:12 PM, M&L🇺🇸 said:

Did they approve your I-485 or your I-765?

i meant to say after one day of my package arriving in their office, they sent a text message saying they received it

[Zzdem 37]

So after waiting 20 days I called USCIS and I got my case numbers so my AP and EAD were rejected I have no idea why and I made sure everything was signed and the forms were updated but my i485 was accepted. So I have a question can I just recreate the package and triple check everything and resubmit or do I absolutely need to wait for them to send the rejection notice ?

[M&L🇺🇸 41]

19 minutes ago, Zzdem said:

So after waiting 20 days I called USCIS and I got my case numbers so my AP and EAD were rejected I have no idea why and I made sure everything was signed and the forms were updated but my i485 was accepted. So I have a question can I just recreate the package and triple check everything and resubmit or do I absolutely need to wait for them to send the rejection notice ?

Did you got access to your USCIS online account? If you do, your rejection notice should be there.

[Zzdem 37]

1 minute ago, M&L🇺🇸 said:

Did you got access to your USCIS online account? If you do, your rejection notice should be there.

No I don’t have access to it as yet is there a way to get it sooner 

[M&L🇺🇸 41]

1 minute ago, Zzdem said:

No I don’t have access to it as yet is there a way to get it sooner 

Ok let's rewind. You said your EAD and AP were rejected for some reason but your AOS I-485 was accepted, did you receive your NOA1 for your I-485 already?

[Zzdem 37]

2 minutes ago, M&L🇺🇸 said:

Ok let's rewind. You said your EAD and AP were rejected for some reason but your AOS I-485 was accepted, did you receive your NOA1 for your I-485 already?

No I haven’t received the NOA1 in the mail for the i485 , I filed them all at the same time and they received it Dec 31st and I called uscis and they gave me the receipt numbers for all and I’m seeng the receipt notice was sent with a Jan 3 date and the AP and EAD has a Jan 20 rejection date 

Edited January 21, 2023 by Zzdem

[M&L🇺🇸 41]

Just now, Zzdem said:

No I haven’t received the NOA1 in the mail for the i485 , I filled them all and they received it Dec 31st and I called uscis and they gave me the receipt numbers for all and I’m seeng the receipt notice was sent with a Jan 3 date and the AP and EAD has a Jan 20 rejection date 

Ok we should go step by step. First let's focus on your I-485, your NOA1 should be Jan 3rd but you didn't receive anything on the mail yet. I would ask USCIS via Emma to send your NOA1 again, you can say in the chat "notice of receipt not received via mail". Normally what would happen is that a couple of days after you receive a notification of your NOA1 via text message and email, you receive the NOA1 in your mail. A week after you would receive your USCIS account access and some days after this your biometrics appointment. If your NOA1 was on Jan 3rd, you should already have your biometrics scheduled at this point, so I would try to contact them again asking for all these papers.

 

Secondly, once you get your USCIS online account and you are able to see the why of your rejection notice you can re-submit your EAD and AP. As your I-485 was already accepted, you might want to try submitting for these online instead of via paper. I heard is faster, but you'll have to pay again the fees.

 

Hope this is useful!

[Emerick 32]

It will be a month tomorrow since we received our NOA1s and we have not gotten our biometrics scheduled, should we reach out to them and if so how? Could the RFE for our I-485 be the delay for the biometrics?

[M&L🇺🇸 41]

3 hours ago, Emerick said:

It will be a month tomorrow since we received our NOA1s and we have not gotten our biometrics scheduled, should we reach out to them and if so how? Could the RFE for our I-485 be the delay for the biometrics?

Did you receive your USCIS online account access?

[Emerick 32]

9 minutes ago, M&L🇺🇸 said:

Did you receive your USCIS online account access?

Yes, we check it daily and the mailbox