Immigration Article

[Eliz84 0]

Hi there,

I'm writing an article on immigration for my university Journalism course. My husband (Chiggins) uses this site quite alot and I thought it would be a great venue to gather information and stories about the process of legally immigrating to the United States (I know it's been fun for us haha). I'm not allowed to use my husband as a source for fear that I may not be able to remain unbiased.

If any of you could share your stories, problems, nightmares and general overall opinions of the USCIS and the Immigration Process, I would greatly appreciate it. It does not have to be limited to marriage related visas, so if you have any really interesting experiences(and wouldn't mind if I summarized them for this article), I would love to hear about it. This article will only be seen by my Professor and myself and maybe my parents, if I get a decent grade on it. You can post it here or feel free to e-mail me if you're not comfortable about presenting it on here.

Thanks to anyone who can help me out!

[Traviesa 0]

I got an interesting story for you. It involves deportations, 10 year bans, a K-1 Visa, denial based on "drug addiction" lol, and an Advisory Opinion. I'll get back at you.

[Ladylethal 12]

I´m too early in the process to have much to say one immigration. But I am sure a lot of us have good/bad stories to share.

[MrMrsKnight 0]

I got an interesting story for you. It involves deportations, 10 year bans, a K-1 Visa, denial based on "drug addiction" lol, and an Advisory Opinion. I'll get back at you.

[charmac7 4]

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...wtopic=7467&hl=

this pretty much sums up my experience so far

Char

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

If any of you could share your stories, problems, nightmares and general overall opinions of the USCIS and the Immigration Process, I would greatly appreciate it. It does not have to be limited to marriage related visas, so if you have any really interesting experiences(and wouldn't mind if I summarized them for this article), I would love to hear about it. This article will only be seen by my Professor and myself and maybe my parents, if I get a decent grade on it. You can post it here or feel free to e-mail me if you're not comfortable about presenting it on here.

I am going to assume that you're not interested only in negative experiences with USCIS. So I'll give you a brief summary of my experience.

Submitted petition to USCIS in December 2004, USCIS approved petition about three weeks later. They sent the approved petition to the Department of State consular post in Mumbai, India. They rec'd it in a timely manner, less than two weeks after USCIS approved the initial petition. Department of State then scheduled a visa interview, which was granted. My wife (then fiancee) entered the US shortly after, we got married and then she applied to USCIS to adjust status. At that time USCIS official timelines for the Newark office indicated an 11 month wait. Our wait was only about 7 months. The interview was hassle-free and easy. My wife is now a Legal Permanent Resident, in no small part due to the efficiency of the USCIS.

They do make mistakes but my sense is they get it right more often than otherwise.

Good luck on your paper.

[Mand 1]

Speaking from my own experience of USCIS, I have to say that we have never had one problem so far with the process (We still haven't received the actual Green Card yet, so touch wood!!...See Steffi's case for a complete muck up of that!!) Every one we dealt with; from the people in the U.S. Embassy in Dublin to the people in the Columbus OH office have been so pleasant and polite to us.

We have been very lucky with the speed of our entire journey from K1 to AOS (you can check out my timeline or signature for the actual dates) and know that there are others out there who have not been as fortunate.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Speaking from my own experience of USCIS, I have to say that we have never had one problem so far with the process (We still haven't received the actual Green Card yet, so touch wood!!...See Steffi's case for a complete muck up of that!!) Every one we dealt with; from the people in the U.S. Embassy in Dublin to the people in the Columbus OH office have been so pleasant and polite to us.

We have been very lucky with the speed of our entire journey from K1 to AOS (you can check out my timeline or signature for the actual dates) and know that there are others out there who have not been as fortunate.

An important point of clarification - the consular officers at the embassies are NOT USCIS, they are Department of State.

[meauxna 15]

If any of you could share your stories, problems, nightmares and general overall opinions of the USCIS and the Immigration Process, I would greatly appreciate it. It does not have to be limited to marriage related visas, so if you have any really interesting experiences(and wouldn't mind if I summarized them for this article), I would love to hear about it. This article will only be seen by my Professor and myself and maybe my parents, if I get a decent grade on it. You can post it here or feel free to e-mail me if you're not comfortable about presenting it on here.

Thanks to anyone who can help me out!

Feb02: started research on immigration methods through spouse/fiance

Mar02: wrote to INS office overseas (Athens) and started inquires for filing with them.

May02: married

Aug02: filed I-130 with (then) INS in Athens

Sept02: applied/recieved Immigrant Visa

Nov02: entered US, became a PR, "Welcome to America, my man"

Dec02: Green Card received on schedule, thank you INS

Oct04: Filed I-751, rec'd receipt/status extension within one week

Jul05: walked in Local Office, chatted with officer, picked up N-400 Guide to Naturalization

Aug05: rc'd approval letter for I-751 with instructions for new card production

Aug05: InfoPass appointment for biometrics etc. Friendly officer yukked it up. Had to wait 20 minutes past our appt. time

Jan06: InfoPass follow up appt/card not rc'd. Friendly officer looked into things, asked us to wait, made a phone call to Missouri (file sent to storage by accident), said to expect card shortly.

Jan06: New card arrived

N-400 has been filed, fingerprints taken, everything moving along according to plan and schedule.

No USCIS complaints here.