.yana

Speaking solely about my personal experience: I was employed for 7 years without work authorization before marrying my husband who is a US citizen. I have always used my SSN / filed my taxes but never lied about my legal status on paper (I worked in places that didn't thoroughly check legal documents to be frank). I consulted an immigration lawyer about this when I started preparing my AOS paperwork. And, following his advice, wrote in "odd jobs" in the form from back in the day when it asked to list your employment history (it probably changed since 2016 so not sure about wording now). I was never asked about this during my AOS interview, and it was never brought up by any USCIS agent during my journey to become a citizen.

Then time to focus on self-healing before getting into another relationship with anyone.

Would you have tolerated same treatment from a person not from US?

Thank you, OldUser, for the reminder to update my immigration status with SSA and all the tips! I searched for my local office direct number, called them & was prepared to wait for some time, received another call and placed my call with SSA on hold, and when I switched back few minutes later - an agent was patiently waiting for me & scheduled my appointment. So for all of you who had to wait for them to answer your call for hours - this is for you! I made SSA listen to my hold music while I took care of my other business 😅

Yes

The only things I submitted for my N-400 (filed online under 3 year rule) aside from required documents were tax transcripts, and not even for 3 years, just 2 (I added the latest one once filed online). No issues with approval.

Your scenario is quite common, do not fret. I came here on a tourist visa in 2009, changed status to F1 but didn't maintain it & was out of status for over 5 years. Had one horrible marriage very early on that also ended in disaster but then remarried years later and filed for AOS. Now a citizen.

Biometric reuse notice the day after filing is WILD (peep my timeline in my signature 😅)

Research the laws and implications thoroughly though. From what I saw on this forum, things changed drastically since early 2000s. Also from what I've heard before: even though people switched to B almost with no issues after J, it would then result in extra scrutiny when applying for any visas in the future in US consulates overseas.

Does your J1 visa say smth along the lines of "subject of a 2-year rule"? If you so - you can not get another visa until after you return to your home country & spend at least 2 years outside of the US. If not - I knew plenty of people back in my time on J-1 who changed their status to B within the US and traveled for an extra couple of months. But I don't know the process, and this was back in early 2000s.

This is solely based on my personal experience: - My I-751 was still being adjudicated at the time when I filed N400 under 3 year rule so they had all the evidence already - I submitted only the bare minimum for N400 (marriage certificate, taxes short 1 year bc it wasn't available yet, and that's all) Naturalized much sooner than if I had waited for 2 additional years. And, again, didn't need to collect/submit any additional evidence so it wasn't a hassle at all.

You might get the fastest N-400 adjudication in the history of USCIS medal.

They will likely waive your I-751 interview and you'll just do the N-400 test (I wouldn't even refer to it as interview because all I was asked were the civics test questions + quick reading & writing test, that's it).

It's 3 years (minus 90 days) after you received your GC, not wedding date. So count 3 years from May 2023. Don't forget to remove conditions on your GC in the meantime.

Staying for a couple of months at most & leaving shortly after being born hardly qualifies as "living in US" doesn't it?

Mother gave birth on US soil, acquired citizenship for the child, returned to her country with the baby.

I would start with following up with their office. Pester them if you need to. My representative helped me tremendously when I reached out to them. Albeit they responded right away. They can do it, and USCIS will respond to their inquiry.

I feel bad for VAWA filers who already have an uphill battle ahead of them proving the legitimacy of their case.

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If you apply ASAP, you might get all three visas in time for your trip. I only have experience with French embassy, and it took about 10 business days to get my passport back.

I would stand behind this but only if USCIS spend that extra $$$ to significantly improve their website functionality. Because when I was doing online filing, it was a disaster.

Go take your Oath then apply for a passport via a passport agency. It used to be ~$400, could be slightly more now. Turnaround is as quick as 48 hours. Free option is to apply for emergency passport appointment due to immediate travel. But I’m not familiar with that process and how successful it is.

First of all, don't compare your case to others'. It won't do you any good, just add to your frustration. Back when I filed for my AOS in 2016, those who filed with me received their GCs within 3-6 months. At some point, I was the only filer left in my topic who got nothing from USCIS. Each of my filings (AOS, I-751, N400) ended up taking the longest out of the projected wait time, and I had no RFEs. So just be patient. And yes, the country of origin might affect certain USCIS processes. For example, during my original AOS filing, at the infopass appointment I learned that my home country took over half a year to clear my background check which resulted in delay of my interview.

I was rooting for you so much… Don’t give up! 🙏🏻