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My husband and I finally got our marriage certificate. We got married in Canada back in July. We finally got our marriage certificate and the officiant put the wrong date for the marriage. In addition, he put the wrong place of marriage on it too.

We have everything else lined up ready to go to submit our green card application, but the marriage certificate has the wrong marriage date. We have requested paperwork to amend the marriage certificate, but it will take 6-8 weeks just to receive the paperwork. Then another 10 weeks before they send a new one. What are our options in terms of submitting our green card application?

Should we file the green card application with an explanation on why the marriage certificate has the wrong date and that it is being fixed. Or should we wait until the marriage certificate is fixed before submitting our application?

Hey everyone,

Long story short when my kid turned 21, we (me and my husband) applied for AOS.Mentioned that both of us arrived on J1 with 2yrs condition and overstayed, but before visa expired we each applied (and received) waivers from our home country Embassy in Washington DC and DOS in Washington DC.We didn't left the States since then, have no criminal records, pay taxes

We decided to hire a lawyer (just bc in our mind such an important matter should me handled carefully) we set up a meeting, he heard us and the case it was very simple, most likely a technicality.After going over the details, we paid in full upfront followed by us to send him copy of all the documents.

We did taxes, medical,copies of everything and on March 15th, 2024 the lawyer filed all of them at the same time and everything moved relatively fast.

We did bio metrics in April, followed by I765 received in May 2024, I485 Declined in August 2024 , I 130 Approved in August 2024 and I131 denied in November 2024.

The shock was I485 denied letter that was asking us to return back home bc of the 2 yrs condition on the visa for each of us.We discussed with the lawyer that kept mentioning that "things happen and probably they didn't see the waivers bc people nowadays work from home!" We discussed the next step either 290B or refile 485.

We decided on 290B since he was telling us he did his job, all the paper were filed and the application was received in Sept 2024.

Now we are looking back and analyze everything as to how we got a denial since we applied for waivers so many years ago and they were not received/send. Applied for FOIA and discovered the lawyer didn't answer correct to all the questions.They marked "yes" to J1 visa BUT they marked "no" the the 2yrs condition and again"no" to the waiver, like we never filed or have approved waiver.

When we decided on 290B to be filed we didn't know all of the above, we only find out from FOIA after the facts. Also we never received a copy of 290B to see exactly the lawyer explanations.

BUT on Dec 9th 2024, our home country was completely removed from the Skill list, so the waivers are not needed anymore.

Now we have more than 4mo waiting on 290B decision and Emma is telling us is taking 6 mo and if we don't receive an answer we should file a service request.

This waiting is killing us and with the new administration in town we don't want to get in trouble.

I understand that we cannot work and we don't have a legal status but we have form 797c, notice of action (from filing 290B) that is giving us some protection, although not sure if that is completely accurate.

I feel like something that was so straight forward all the sudden turned into a "salad" all bc of the lawyer.Do we have any change with 290B or is just a waist of time?

I'm also concerned that I see people getting a decision quite fast on 290B and in our case is taking so long!

Please advise!

I was informed 2 days ago from where I got my medical exam from saying that they emailed my medical exam to the US Consulate Office and that they were sending me my chest Xray image CD and Vaccination sheet. When I got the package it was too big for my bag that I was taking to the interview and thought it would be okay to take it out of the purolator envelelope since I thought the actual envelope would be sealed but its not. Did I just screw myself over or am I okay? Its jsut said that the CD is required at the port of entry and vaccination sheet is required at the time of the AOS so I dont even need to bring these to my interview? Im so stressed now because I know something was suppose to remain unsealed and I dont even remember which one anymore.

Hello everyone! I've searched for information on H1B visa degree requirements. It says: "A bachelor's degree or higher in a related area is the minimum educational level required for a position to qualify for H-1B status", it also says that you can substitute 1 year of Bachelor's with 3 years of experience. My case is:

1. I'm a programmer, i've been working for 3 years in this field, i have an employer i work for, i can ask for a letter/feedback about my work experience and i have a contract.
2. I haven't finished my university (specialty: programmer) due to political reasons in my country. I finished full 4 years (i mean i passed all the exams and I have a document from the uni with my grades, info about all semesters), but i didn't have a chance to defend and get my diploma. Do these 4 years count, would i be eligible to apply for H1B based only on 4 years of uni without a diploma? Or otherwise, can i apply for a visa with 4 full years of uni and 3 years of experience in my field (with help of an immigration lawyer), are my chances equal to people with BA degree?

I've heard that it's much harder to get H1B approved without BA diploma, so i'd like to know if it's true or not. Unfortunately, I still can't go back to my homeland and finish uni, i wish i could.

If anybody knows some information, please, could you share it? Or your advice/thoughts? I appreciate any help in advance, thanks a lot for your attention

We were overseas visiting husband's brother in Asia when we got the email notice that his green card has been approved as of Jan 16! Hooray!

We filed on 3/29/24

Interviewed on 8/8/24 (that was a dud interview, we were told in December that the interviewer failed to do the separation kind like she was supposed to, so they rescheduled us for another interview)

Re-interviewed 12/6/24

RFE issued at interview because we had given copies of stuff to the previous interviewer that mysteriously was missing from the file, so they wanted new copies and I hadn't taken any old stuff with me that day

Turned that stuff in via fedex on 12/16/24

Notice of approval in email on 1/16/25.

Green card will be conditional, as we've only been married 10 months as of yesterday, but that's fine. As a side note, his work authorization and advance parole card was issued in July, about 3 1/2 months after filing.

Our adventure has ended, just 293 days from filing to approval. I know that we are lucky to have such a quick result.

Now he's haunting the mailbox waiting for the card to arrive - which is going to take a couple of weeks at least, I'm sure.