Technicalglitch

That's what my husband is saying ... but good points that Pushbrk and OldUser made that it's used for other things too, I didn't realize that. We'll look into it. It's only money I guess, what's a few hundred here and there (yikes!).

Luckily I won't need the EAD this time, I took early retirement (I may work again in the future but it's no rush). What we are thinking right now is that we will stay on the I-485 route, cancel our return to Canada for now and apply for the Advance Parole so that we can make trips home to Canada at some point while the I-485 is pending, since it's a 17 month wait supposedly in Vegas. If anyone sees flaws in that plan please let me know, we are all ears, and very much appreciate all the advice and tips we are getting here. It sucks that applying for advance parole is over $600 now. It was free when I had to request it for work reasons while on the K-3 10 years ago.

Does anyone know how long Consular processing takes compared to the I-485? (We're coming from Canada).

Are we supposed to tell them about the spousal immigration application being in progress without being asked when we cross the border? We haven't mentioned it on previous crossings (have crossed border 6 times since first applying), and they haven't asked us. Or just if they ask us?

If we switch to Consular processing, can we continue to visit the USA during the process? That might work better for us with I-485 processing being so slow, although advance parole would work too I guess.

How do we find that out? We are in Las Vegas. The Phoenix office gives 13.5 months processing for 80% of cases. OK, I just checked for the Las Vegas office and it's 17 months, sigh.

He says the mailing office for submitting is in Arizona, so I guess that indicates the field office? We have nothing else that indicates that.

I think he thought he had the choice of wanting to do it from the US once the I-130 was approved, I remember being personally uncertain on that point though. We submitted before we bought the house here in the US, although we did that soon after as his understanding of the process was that it was required or very helpful to already have the american domicile on his part.

How long does the I-485 adjustment of status take? We just worry about leaving our house there vacant for an extended period. Husband's family is all in the US and I have no kids, the rest of my family can come visit me if they miss me, ha!

Yes, it seems to be a catch-22. I entered legally with no intention of staying permanently until the process is complete, but the process is chugging along while we happen to be here on a visit, we have always visited the US while living in Canada. We didn't realize the process was going to slow down so much when we applied in August of 2023, when it said I-130's were taking 7 months or so at that time.

We are currently inside the US, on an extended visit. We own a house here now so we could stay and do the I-485 from here if that is better, we just weren't planning on it. We're fairly clueless relative to a lot of the applicants, all these I-numbers are a foreign language to us.

Should we submit an I-131 along with the I-485? What is the I-765? (Thanks for the speedy replies, you type very fast! :-D )

I just asked my husband and he says adjustment of status.

Do we have the option of staying here and doing it here? I entered as a visitor on this trip. Is advance parole an option while waiting for an I-485 to be approved? Thanks for the tips you are giving me, it's helpful.

Do you mean that I cannot leave the US at all after I-485 is submitted, or that I can leave but absences need to be less than 6 months? I remember with the K-3 visa I needed advance parole (which I applied for and got as I still did contract work in Canada back then). I know that I can't work in the USA until I get work authorization or green card.

My husband and I are a bit confused about next steps. Our I-130 was approved a few days ago, and we got the electronic notice yesterday. I'm the beneficiary. I previously had a conditional green card in 2015, but it expired in 2017 before renewing as we had relocated to Canada so we are doing the process again. I already have a US social security number. We have been married over 10 years now. The message we got told us to submit the I-485, so we are working on that. But will we get an official I-797 in the mail as an acceptance? Also, our I-130 happened to finally get approved while we are on a 2.5 month visit to the USA, we are here for 6 more weeks. So for our current address we have put our American address (we own the house, we bought it last year when we decided to relocate back to the States, and we visit for less than 6 months per year currently), and we put our Canadian address (we still own it and live there as our primary residence) as our second/previous address. Is that the correct way to do it? Thanks for any tips or advice on this next stage of the process. I've found some online info but it doesn't always seem to match up with what we are holding in our hands. Also, wishing those of you who are living apart from your spouses during the application the best of luck for fast processing and approval. It's so very slow right now.

I'm Canadian (I-130 just got approved) and I visited the USA with my American spouse 6 times while it was pending, no problems. The last time we entered we had an ornery border agent but didn't really have a problem getting in, the agent was just making us suffer a bit (said we didn't act like we were married ... which makes me wonder what all the other couples are doing that we are not! I joked with my husband that we were probably too nice to each other, made her supsicious ...) Crossing alone will probably not be a problem for her either, I used to do it when waiting for my K3 (I'm doing the process for the second time, we lived in Canada for a few years), although the border agents were a little more difficult when I was crossing alone and would usually send me into secondary, before giving me a bogus lecture on something I hadn't done and sending me on my way.

We got our I-130 approval notice today, we were August 30 filers. Approval dated Nov. 22, so they kept us in suspense for the weekend.

Our filing date was August 30, 2023. Today we got a notice that our case is being actively reviewed. It says that estimated time until decision is 4 months (!), but I am guessing that is a canned reply that doesn't mean much, from what others on this forum have said? Fingers crossed that it's within the next few days.

We're August 30 too, nothing has budged for months. Fingers crossed that we will be approved by mid-November?

I don't understand how some people do concurrent filing then. What situation puts someone as living in the states legally but not having started the spousal paperwork yet? Even the USCIS website seems to lean towards explaining the process for spouses as people who are already in the States. I'm just curious as I try to wrap my brain around understanding the process.

Thanks for the informative reply. I don't understand what it means when you say: "Pay close attention to US domicile for your USC spouse, and required US based income to sponsor you, Montreal is very strict on domicile. If your USC spouse has a valid job offer in the US, ask the Montreal US Consulate if they will accept the I-130, DCF (direct consular filing), which is much faster than the regular process." My husband is self-employed and his business has always been US-based, currently in Nevada, so adequate US income with decades of history of earning it that way, so we should be OK with that. What is Montreal very strict about about domicile, can you explain what they are strict about? We live in Canada currently. We are considering buying a property in the US, but we know we can't live there until I get my paperwork done, but would visit as a vacation property in the meantime. Would that worry them? I never had a problem visiting the US during my K-1 process, is there something I should be more concerned about with this process? Also, I should mention that I am retired (I'm in my 50's) and not a job-seeker in the states (I never did work there, I kept doing contract work in Canada when I had my green card). I'm assuming that will have no bearing on anything bureaucratically, but should be seen as less of a threat by border security (when I first started visiting in my 40's, they were a little more high-strung and worried that I was going to be job-seeking and stay, but they have lightened up considerably for the past decade, partially I think border security culture has just become less abusive, especially since the Covid years, they are much more reasonable. I also have a long history now of never over-staying, and they would see that in their records) Thanks again for the info, it really helps.

So are you moving to the US now, does the approved I-130 give you that right, and then you do I-485 once you get there? Sorry for being so clueless, I find the process very confusing, the bureaucratese on the USCIS site is hard to decipher, everything is so jargony and seems to have gaps in what I need to know. Glad to hear the I-130 went that quickly for you! I was hopeful about that, since the marriage is obviously real for those of us who had PR status before and are still with the same spouse. Fingers crossed that it will be fast for us too, although we're in no particular rush really, we know it happens when it happens and we can't do much about it.

We tried to properly relinquish the card, although we didn't know about that form (this is the first I have heard of it). We went to the US border folks at the airport in Canada and finally found and talked to a guy (we'd looked it up and it said we could surrender the green card this way, and my husband wanted to do everything by the book as we knew we'd probably return in the future). The guy couldn't do it though (actually wouldn't, forget why, he seemed busy), and he told us to go to the check-in counter and go past the ticket desk and pick up a dedicated phone on the wall, and if anyone answered (he warned us that they often don't) then we could surrender it there if he answered. He didn't tell us about a form. He didn't seem too concerned about the situation at all. We didn't go to the terminal to try the phone thing as we had already been there and the method seemed hopeless. The card was expiring imminently anyway, and eventually I got a letter from the US gov't acknowledging that and saying I didn't have PR status any more, which we already knew. We don't live at a land border so we didn't make the drive to try it there. Did we screw something up by not doing that form? It was going to expire anyway. It felt like we were the only people in the world to have ever left the US and were trying to relinquish the card like we knew we were supposed to, from the way he was talking, but we did try.

Hi all, In 2014 I got married in the USA on a K-1 visa. I got the 2-year green card after this, but in 2017 we relocated to Canada (where I am from) before I got the 10 year, so was unable to renew as we had taken up residence in Canada. Now we would like to return to live in the USA. We have filled out and submitted the I-130. 1) Is there any part of the process that is made easier or will be skipped as I was already thoroughly vetted the last time and previously held a green card? 2) Once the I-130 is approved, is that when I can take up residence and apply for the adjustment of status with the I-485? Am I able to move to the USA before this and add my I-485 as a concurrent filing? I'm confused by the fact that those that entered the country legally can file both concurrently, when we thought I needed permission through the I-130 to move there in the first place. Are people just entering as visitors and then staying and applying? Thanks for any help with these questions! I still find these processes difficult to figure out and navigate, despite the fact that we did it successfully once before.