Leaderboard

Why did you not have a plan for providing health insurance for your wife? It is your responsibility, as the petitioner.

Public Charge determination or financial support is not even considered or applicable in the Naturalization process. They are non-issues. I can tell you that the N-400 was, by far, the easiest part of the immigration process for us. It was a piece of cake from application to approval.

The Kiwi is a citizen! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸. Applied 11/29/24 under the 5 year rule. He brought all our tax transcripts and civil documents, but the officer didn’t need to look at any of them. He was asked 6 questions, got all right. The timing of having an afternoon appointment in Seattle was great, we waited about half an hour for the oath ceremony. Sitting there as a born American, I realized that many don’t ever get to attend one- it was an honor, and so interesting. Everyone was SO happy ❤️🇺🇸.

Oh man she messed up. He believed the visa was denied. Then she used it to enter the country. Well the joke is on her. She has no way to stay in the country legally. She needed your brother for that and she messed that up big time. Let your brother know he is not on the hook for her. If he has any receipt #'s anything at all he can report it.

On what basis would he file an I-290B? If he did not place initials and date per the RFE instructions, then an I-290 might not work, since the denial was not in error. It's time to refile a new I-485, imho.

Yes, she can file N-400 while I-751 is pending. Many folks on VJ do it. Multiple things can happen. 1) I-751 may get decided before N-400 2) I-751 and N-400 interviews may be combined 3) I-751 and N-400 interviews may be on different days N-400 cannot be approved without I-751 being approved first. If she only gets N-400 interview and no decision on the day, she'd have to wait for I-751 approval. The good news is, USCIS can be sued after 120 days after N-400 interview for a decision if she doesn't have it by then.

Alright then, as promised, report from new US citizen 🤠 Had an interview in the morning. Had a long wait (approx an hour) in the waiting area. Glad my lawyer was with me, since she kept listening to my name being called while I went to the restroom and also was a great source of entertainment (OK, not only entertainment, we went through questions few more times). Got called by a IO lady, she was about 30-35 y.o. She welcomed me and my attorney, told there's going to be trainee in the interview, then took to the room. After swearing in, she asked for my passport, GC, DL. Confirmed my name. Then she went through civics questions, it was a breeze. Same reading / writing on tablet. I got all 6 questions right, so she resumed with N-400 application. She confirmed few personal questions, address, work etc. Interestingly enough, she (I feel like) made a couple of mistakes on purpose reading my travel dates and other dates on form. For example, she said "so you were back from Italy on September 6th, 2024?" But I knew it was September 10th, so I answered "No officer, it was September 10th". Then she apologized for reading incorrectly. And it was 2-3 questions like it. The she asked me how many times I was married, and more importantly, who lives at my address. When I replied "Just me and my wife", she asked whether anybody else lived with us. When I said "No", she proceeded asking about whether at any point me my wife lived apart. At that moment my attorney immediately jumped in, and pretty much told IO it's a 5 year rule application, and these questions are irrelevant. IO got visibly dissapointed (😃), proceeded with Yes and No questions. After those questions I double checked my answers and details on tablet and signed it. Then IO was pleased to announce I passed the exam and the interview. She also told me they had same day ceremony available about 1.5 hrs later. I surely agreed 😃 The longest wait in my life was sitting in the other area for 1.5 hrs, mostly starring at US and DHS flags. I kinda reflected at that point and thought that paying a lawyer wasn't a bad idea, even though my case was easy and straightforward. I brought about 400 pages of various evidence including marriage bonafides. I brought all J1, work visa docs, marriage cert for our marriage, divorce papers for my wife's prior marriage, her naturalization cert, all passports and IDs, my naturalization cert from other country, my birth cert and translations. Essentially I was ready to fight to the end, no matter what they would have asked I had it. But I feel like my lawyer helped keeping interview short and focused. All and all, I feel like it took about 15-20 mins max. Eventually, me and other folks got in a different room, had our GCs taken away, and read the oath together! After ceremony we got naturalization certs and checked the details before leaving. I'm super happy the way everything went. I'll keep disagreeing with anybody who says N-400 is the easiest part. No, officer could have made it hell if I wasn't prepared, went without a lawyer, wasn't confident or didn't listen carefully. Good luck to everybody still waiting ! Next stop - need to apply for passport 😃

Good stuff! 👍🏻 I think AOS from non-immigrant visas should be vetted a lot more. Show evidence that you had a real reason (change in circumstances) that made you have to change your plans. Now there doesn’t seem to be any requirement to send in that type of evidence and I think that needs to change.

This is not how the I-864 works. Please read the instructions to understand what you signed: You are not obligated to keep her at a certain income level. You are, however, obligated to support her if it becomes necessary. If you think she may end up having to rely on public benefits, then you will want to support her financially to prevent that from happening. But keep in mind, the I-864 is a contract between you and the Government, not between you and her. It won't hurt to discuss your situation with an attorney and see what they recommend, but I definitely would not just pay her what she is asking for.

We arrived here late late Saturday night. Baby girl made her appearance Friday afternoon. She's doing good and so tiny. Mom and Dad are doing well too. They will be home tomorrow.

It’s about time. Gets tiresome seeing people on VJ looking for info on how to circumvent the queues by doing this….

I'll just chime in and say there is no point in your wife even filing the petition until she can come spend some significant time with you there in Nigeria. It's useless to even count all the red flags. Nobody can see through them anyway. People do what is important to them. They find a way. That she hasn't even found a way to start the process in four years, is really all that matters.

Forget about immigration, and think about it... who would not try to see the love of their life for four years? Long distance relationships mean some time apart, and some sacrifice (time, money, etc.) - but, visiting each other is part of the deal. Would you be able to help pay for her tickets to visit you? Has she looked into taking an extended leave from work to visit you for a few months? Have you tried to meet her in one of the Caribbean countries where you can travel without a visa? What efforts have you done to be together?

Okay let me chime in and clue you in on Lagos and what probably will happen because this has been happening alot. Your case will go to the fraud department and you and your spouse will wait and be scheduled at some point for a Stokes interview. They will call her and you both will be ask same questions and they need to match. It is now 2024 it's going on 4 years. No way in America does anyone not get time off. 4 years no Sr. You are trying to demonstrate to the embassy you are in a bonafide marriage. You have a age gap which really isn't that bad. Me and my husband s is much bigger. But marrying first visit and never going back is a Big read flag. I have even in the last 2 years see the CO tell the petitioner if you want your spouse to get a Visa you need to fly here and see them. They aren't playing.

Your US spouse needs to come and join this conversation.

biggest shock of my life - i751 approved today!! filed Jan 22

Hey all, Just got the notice for my interview! Really overjoyed to finally have it on the books. My dates are: Submitted: 11/19/24 Case being reviewed: 11/19/24 Biometrics (reuse notice): 11/19/24 Interview notice: 03/05/25 Interview date: 04/10/25 Filed under the general five year category. Fingers crossed everyone else receives notices soon!

If I was in your situation (and I actually have been in your situation!) I would choose not to do an adjustment of status. It always sounds like a great idea until you are in the situation where you can’t work or even leave the US for an emergency for example. I chose the consular processing route because I knew I would be absolutely miserable being stuck like that. Also, I had a stable job and life ‘back home’ and only left for a short visit, so changing that to just staying in the US unprepared, quitting my job without a proper notice, etc. was an absolute no for me. I am very happy that I made that decision because I was able to tie up loose ends and do it properly and was able to start a new job fairly soon after moving to the US. This helped me to integrate and build my own life in the US. I have zero regrets. Food for thought!

More importantly, do your sisters have jobs? Do they have families, assets or other commitments in their country?

I've been interested in Khalil's case from the beginning because I know no matter how his case will turn out, it will be an important legal precedence set for all legal immigrants. On a personal level, what I don't understand is that if he truly didn't believe in western civilization, why did he choose to study in the U.S. and then marry a U.S. citizen to stay here? I was taught a lot of propaganda about the West from a young age in China too, but I chose not to believe it, and decided to come to America and see for myself. I believe at least half of the people on this forum started their immigration journey with a nonimmigrant visa like student visa or work visa, so we know on the visa application form, they ask if we're part of the Communist Party, or if we ever persecuted someone because of their gender, race, or nationality, etc., so we know what those questions implies: the U.S. government only wants people who believe in their values to come in. If no one can prove what you really think, and you tell them what they want to hear to get the visa, there's not too much wrong about it, but I used to believe that means you will at least give American values a fair try. The fact that so many pro-Palestinian protesters on campus were international students was shocking to me, because back when I was in college as an international student, I've never heard international students put themselves out there like that. I have a friend from Syria, and when we used to work together, I often teased her about her lack of common knowledge, and she would tell me they taught her nothing in school in Syria but to hate Israel. We went on a trip to Tokyo together last year, and we were just chatting in our hotel lobby. She was still trying to convince me that women's life in Saudi Arabia isn't as bad, and she'd happily move there if she could marry someone there, and I was just flabbergasted, so I asked her: "If you prefer to live in the Middle East, then why did you come the U.S. and become a citizen? We planned this trip over dinner spontaneously, and bam, here we are in Japan, what country enabled us to do something like this both finance-wise and document-wise?" Then, she was speechless. The U.S. can certainly learn a lot of things from China, and we all miss something from our home countries, but I think we all have to be honest about why most of us are here: we're here because as many flaws as the U.S. has, we can still build a better life here than we can in our home countries, and in the case of the Middle East, till this day, we have yet to have a muslim country that can give their citizens a life as good AND free as the U.S. can give theirs, so maybe western civilization is doing something right.

It's official, I am an American citizen! Last night was my last night as a solely British citizen so I drank a (British) pint of London Pride followed by a Scottish whisky. Tonight, it is a couple of American beers followed by a bourbon. The ceremony in Brooklyn Center (Minneapolis) was really well run. We had 500 new citizens from 85 countries. They went through each country and got us to stand when our country was called, until we were all standing and ready to take the oath. I'm lucky that we have had a trouble-free process (although some big delays during covid) but I am incredibly grateful to this community for all the help along the way.

I am not familiar with Cairo’s current procedures, but I would not leap to the assumption that this is something to be concerned or panicked about right now. When there is an officer review of the details/documentation of a non-immigrant visa case (which a K-1 technically is) prior to the interview, the officer usually either issues the visa or sends an interim refusal until the interview. The interim refusal may suggest additional information to bring to the interview. For example, if someone has applied for a visa under the Interview Waiver program and the officer decides that the person really needs to be interviewed, they will issue a 221(g) refusal and require the person to come in for an interview. They will tell the applicant if there’s a specific piece of information to bring with them. It appears to me that what Cairo is doing is reviewing the case for completion prior to the interview, to help applicants come fully prepared with everything they need to bring. To document the review and what was requested, they issue the 221(g) sheet. Since none of the main areas were checked on the OP’s sheet as far as I could see, it seems to me that they were likely satisfied with the basic documents, but wanted to indicate that documentation of a solid, bonafide relationship is very important — probably THE most important part of the application.. NOTE: If someone has gone through Cairo for a K-1 visa recently and my basic assumption about their process is wrong, please let me know and I’ll reassess this response! About asking for an earlier interview — the date you received is likely the earliest open date. Unless you have a valid reason (other than, of course, wanting to be together as soon as possible), it is unlikely that you will get an earlier date.

We have been approved! Got the notification 2 days ago. We are July 5th filing date. Everyone’s approval is coming soon! Don’t give up hope..

You need a good divorce attorney...asap to help you protect yourself financially.

Hi guys! Been a silent public viewer of this thread for a bit and I just created an account as a thank you to let you guys know that we got approuved today! My fiancé is from Minnesota and I'm from Canada. We sent our documents July 1st and they received it July 3rd if that helps anyone 🤗

I seem to remember the last POTUS calling half of the country "garbage".

I noticed that most, if not all of the reports that I have read are written by "journalists" who have either absolutely no understanding of immigration law and policies, or they purposefully omit important facts from the headlines, or both (usually both).

Lying to the US government is never a good idea and can lead to big problems like deportation or a lifetime ban from entering the US.

Are you a immigration officer? Looks like you are so much into this.

Be advised that a person cannot enter the US as a non-immigrant with the intent to stay in the US and adjust status.

I can’t speak for all countries but I am currently living in Austria and they had translators for me when I was moving here. They also offer classes in English and many other languages for new immigrants explaining the different benefits we could be entitled to. They also gave me a voucher i can use towards a language class. All of these were government funded programs. It seems like this would be a better system in the US, helping immigrants assimilate instead of just cutting funding for translators.

NO. It is fraud to try to make an “anchor baby” by entering the US with the intent to given birth. Don’t even try it. And hopefully this plan for fraud will be stopped with the travel ban for your country.

Your bank should be able to tell you. But if you know it’s been received then that’s good, the clock has started ticking. P.S. It seems I’ve now been in the US for long enough for ‘cheque’ to look wrong to me. 😂

Do the terms of the ESTA allow for those activities? You will want to make sure 100% sure that academic research and interviews are permitted, especially in light of recent high-profile incidents of ESTA being revoked due to violation of terms.

Oh well when I get there I’ll let you all be aware of the miraculous God of celestial

I think you seriously annoyed or confused them by skipping oath several times, asking them for a favor to reverse decision and skipping oath again. From a simple straightforward case, your case turned into bureaucrat's nightmare hence they're sitting on it. At this point, I'd recommend seeking legal help to clean this up. Ideally, you should have applied for N-400 later, after sorting all issues back home and attended the very first oath date no matter what. But it's water under the bridge now. Good luck and keep us posted!

Brother, knock it off. NO personal contact -- NONE. NO answering calls or texts. ZERO. The very next instance when you fail to follow this advice could prove perilous, as stated by everyone here.

Good day! Filed N400 February 3rd (Online) Biometric February 25th and just received interview notice for April 16 @ 9am in Milwaukee 🥳

Now that she was served divorce papers, she is asking to come home and reconcile. My attorney predicted this would happen. She says that I have until the end of the month and if I decide no, then she will sign the divorce papers. She doesn't know that I cancelled the marriage visa petition with USCIS. Not surprised. And saying that she is in bad health because of this. I didn't choose to leave. It was her. I told her that apparently, she thinks gringos are gullible. Too old for games. If she signs, then the process will be over quicker and easier.

Another vote to change the name as part of the N-400. Otherwise, it is going to cost you more. In addition, the Certificate of Naturaliztion will be 100% accurate with legal name. You have a single name-change document rather than having to supply both a NC and a court order if needed to prove citizenship.

Having one doc as proof of citizenship and name change is just cleaner in my opinion, than two docs: 1 for name change and 1 for citizenship. Fewer moves, fewer docs to keep in safe place etc. If she knows she's changing name, applying for passport in current name also doesn't make much sense, as requires updating it again.

Tips from my lawyer: 1) Short answers is the king. Yes / no answers if possible are better than any other types of answers 2) Don't volunteer any information or evidence unless asked for it 3) Don't engage too much in chatter before or while in the intreview - that eliminates chance of tricky questions / volunteering more info. Civics questions, reading and writing skills is sufficient to validate English proficiency 4) Dress with respect. Full suit isn't necessarily a requirement, it's not a fashion show. At the same time, don't wear casual clothing such as ripped jeans, tshirt or flip flops 5) Adjudicator wants to hear simple answers and finish interview faster. They may combine several questions into one. Be ready for this 6) Watch out for switch from questions requiring NO answers to YES answers 7) Don't overcomplicate things

I don't know of anybody that brought certified tax transcripts. We all just upload and/or bring the print-out versions from IRS website.

I would also have her jump on a plane. With an absence of less than 2 yrs, I don't expect much of an issue, but make sure she understands not to sign an I407 if asked, or pressured to do so. Good Luck!

She will not be able to keep Swedish benefits for treatment of existing conditions (=planned healthcare). Swedish citizens living outside the EU have access to free healthcare in Sweden for emergencies only. It is a crime to claim that you live in Sweden if you don't (brott mot folkbokföringslagen), especially if the incorrect information is used to obtain benefits you're not entitled to. Since she's been away less than a year she can probably obtain care without raising red flags, but she needs to sort her status out properly since this will have tax implications as well.

My husband's new green card came today!

K1 seems a really odd choice Anyway she needs US insurance

I am sure the OP knows what the issue is.

Got a notice at 2:45pm (interview was at 9am) that an action was taken on my case, and looking at USCIS portal the case is now in "Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled" status, so looks like the supervisor approved it this afternoon!, Very happy!!

I recommend filing for citizenship as soon as you are qualified to do so. Our I-751 had been pending for 40 months when my wife submitted her N-400. 4 months later both the I-751 and N-400 were approved. Then a few weeks later, she became a citizen.