Loren Y

You pay the fee online as soon as you have the visa in your passport and passport in hand. You get the payment instructions and the numbers you need on a page in the envelope with your passport. It is in US dollars, and you just pay the 220.00 with a credit card. It is done online, and takes only a few minutes.

Any issues next week, plan a quick trip to Vegas, I can have everything you need in under an hour. I have literally married people less than 1 hour after they entered the US, and they filed for their AOS that same day. They came thru Las Vegas,NV as point of entry, I picked them up at airport. drove to license Bureau to get their license, we are now at about 45 minutes after they cleared customs. went to the SSA office in town ( this took the most amount of time, about 1.5 hours, and even though they didn't live here, they were still able to use this SS office because it is a Federal Government office, so any SS office in the US can be used to apply for a SS card) Drove to Symphony park ( About 15 Min. from the SS office), performed a small ceremony with my wife as a witness. Drove to the clerks office ( 3 MIn from Symphony Park) recorded the marriage and they picked up some certified copies at the same time. went and had lunch downtown Las Vegas while they finished finalizing all the forms for the AOS. Were at the main post office downtown around 1:30 pm, and made the 2pm cut-off for next day delivery. By the time their AOS package arrived at the address, they were off on their Honeymoon. Everything done in half a day. I think they arrived home about 10 days later, and the SS card was actually in their mailbox already.

Yes, Medical exam is the same for all immigrant visas. Though, technically the K1 is just a glorified tourist visa, but medical requirements are the same.

The G-1145 is just for notification via Text message that your payment was processed, and case number assigned. I did my wifes N400 online on November, and have been getting all mailed notices, and all of the online and email notices without issue. I assume you filed the paper N400 as you used the G-1145. All your other steps sound good, and should get you a rescheduled interview. and as @Rocio0010 said, a letter to the local field office would definitely help because they have your case file there in house.

Way the weather is in Chicago, you will need the salt for the roads just to make it to the ceremony.

Not sure if you have dealt with health care in the US, but I would take that 3rd world health care 9 times out of 10 before the US. US healthcare ranks pretty low compared to other countries. Here is a recent quote from an independent study.... Unfortunately, despite far outspending the rest of the world, the U.S. doesn’t even come close to having the best health care system in the world.

You can come and go as you wish with the stamp. My stepson arrived on November 9th, same stamp ( FX2 category), but same thing I551 stamp. Same day we entered we traveled to Mexico and reentered a few days after with no issues. His green card just showed up last week, so it is taking about 45 days for the green card to arrive in the mail. You can wait for the green card( Not necessary), or leave today it you want. Obviously come back before December 12th 2023, or have someone mail you your green card when it arrives if you are going to be gone over 11 months. I would try to not be gone for more than 6 months to be on the safe side.

You should get a new card in the mail with your old SS number on it automatically I would think. My stepson came in November 9th on his Immigrant visa, and I went to the SS office with him to apply for his SS card, and they said there was already one issued in the system, and should have it in a week. He said its all automatic now when you enter on an Immigrant visa. Even if you have a number he said it will send you a card. Doubt you will get thru on the phone, but you can try. You could visit your local office and they will know if you have one processing or a new one on the way. I would wait a week or so before doing anything and see what happens. My stepson entered on the 9th of November, the card was issued on the 10th of November, and we had it in the mailbox on the 17th of November. Could have saved a trip to the office if I knew something automatically worked for once like it was supposed to. As a side note, and just for your info. we paid the fee before he entered, and his green card just arrived. took about 45 days for it to get to the house after entry. CBP said give it 3 months, then call, but amazingly it showed up in only 45 days or so.

Agree with this. If I had $5 dollars every time I had to spend $5 dollars greasing palms thru this process it would have been much cheaper. LOL

I would think you would want to avoid any sticky notes, as everything needs to be run thru a scanner, and sticky notes and scanners don't play well with each other( other members may have a different perspective, I didn't use any). Not having some of the boarding passes would be fine, if you include a list or page of your trips together, you could note the trips that you didn't have boarding passes for. Not a huge deal on the boarding passes, I worked really hard to keep all of mine, and it was a job. Had to always print them, didn't use the phone ( The easy way/ electronic, or I did both on some trips). I managed to keep them all, but don't think it played a big role in the overall scheme of things.

both my Root and State farm policies required her to be mentioned or included on the policy because she is in the same household, but she doesn't have a drivers license either, so it didn't cost anything to add her, but usually once you say your married to the auto insurance, they want to add your spouse. Didn't cost me any extra with geico, root, state farm or progressive thru all the different companies I used over the years.

You can do a quick claim deed to add her to the house. around 50 bucks and pretty easy. Will be a good thing if you end up dead, she will still have a place to live and the house won't end up in probate depending on your state. Some utilities want to see her name on the deed also depending, but it only took a few phone calls to get her added to all my utility bills.

Not sure where you are in Las Vegas,NV. I did the K1 for my now wife back in 2018, and have helped about 4 people with their K1's. If you need some guidance, send me a message, and I can give you my phone number, and I may be able to help with any questions. Back when I did the K1 from date of filing until visa in hand was only 8 months. It's double that now, so you may want to consider a spousal visa. The Philippians is open for travel now, so a visit there, or to a close country to get married and start the process is feasible. Did the K1 with my wife, and just completed a I130 for my stepson, and I can tell you, having the I-551 stamp in the passport makes things a lot easier. But the K1 worked for us because we had a plan in place from the beginning. First learn all you can online and from the guides here, then decide what works best for both of you. I met my wife on Thai Cupid, same company, and had no issues with the T&C from the website in the process, it was never even brought up.

Filed my wifes N400 online, and received notice of acceptance the same day, then fingerprints being reused the next day, 1 day after filing. Fingerprints have nothing to do with approval, if they are reusing them the only good thing is it saves you a trip to the USCIS office. So you saved some gas money and time is the only positive thing about that notice.

I would file the N400. My wife had her I751 pending for over a year, just filed the N400 on November 19th this year online. All of a sudden....19 days after we filed the N400, I751 was approved without interview, and 5 days later had 10 year green card in hand. I think the N400 Bumped the I751, but it could have just been a coincidence.

Feel free to send me a message if you want to do the Vegas thing. I can get you all squared away with certificate in your hand in about an hour. I as always I don't charge members of VJ for the service.

6K for a 3.5 month speed up seems a little pricey. I agree it would be a waste of time and money. Depending on the country your fiancee is from 6K should allow you to live there for 6 months while you wait. I would use the money for that. Buy a plane ticket and spend the next 3.5 months with your Fiancee waiting for a decision. Better way to spend the money, and with a 3.5 month visit come interview time, things will be looking really good for the interviewing officer at the embassy, as you will have spent a good chunk of time with your fiancee, that proves a legit relationship better than any other evidence.

I have had no issues using a credit card for about 4 petitions now, and used the G1450 form every time. Like others have said, if you want to be extra safe, and since you are using a debit card/Credit card anyway it's coming out of your checking account, so no real difference in getting a money order or using your debit card. I am a credit card point abuser, I strive to get as many points as possible between 3 Chase credit cards. It is close to criminal the amount of free benefits I get by using credit cards for everything I purchase, but that is my thing. See this article if you need further understanding... https://thepointsguy.com/guide/chase-card-trifecta/ Most of the time people have problems using cards is they don't have the limits set high enough for a single transaction ( they are purposely set low by card issuers for your protection from fraud), so if you are going to use your card, make sure you have the single transaction limit set high enough ( say 1000 for most petitions, if you are doing AOS, set it to about 1500). Just call your card issuer, and raise your limit for single transactions.

Depends on the embassy. Back in 2018 when my now wife came she had the 2 envelopes, first one you open to get to the passport, 2nd one you keep sealed until POE. Just last month I went to pick up my stepson and his immigrant visa at the post office, and it's just one envelope, everything is transmitted electronically now. No matter what you have to open the first envelope to get to your passport. If there's nothing else in there like another envelope that says do not open, then everything is electronically transmitted. You should have a letter that states that in the package.

Don't feel bad, even as a US citizen I have been pulled into secondary more than a few times over my many years of travel and entries into the US. Even with global entry you will occasionally get flagged and pulled into secondary with a nice bag search, and the " Blue glove treatment" as I like to call it. I just smile and laugh as I know I didn't do anything wrong. I let them tear apart the luggage looking for something, and then I'm on my way. I would say once every 5 years or so I get the CBP officer that wants to be a hero that day and have to deal with it. Don't let it bother you too much, as others have said, keep your trips short, and keep ties to home, and after a few more entries they may go back to not showing interest. I think it was more a random thing than anything, you were the unlucky one that day.

One way is no issue. My stepson just arrived November 9th on a one way ticket on a FX2 immigration visa with no issues. CBP just verified the address we want the green card sent to, and we were on the way. Another thing that was shocking was they took care of applying for a Social Security number for him. I went to the SS office a few days after arrival on the 11th of November, and they said a SS number has already been issued on the 10th, and sure enough his SS card arrived in the mail the following week. The SS office said they actually got the electronic SS card application working now when someone enters on a immigrant visa and they don't have a SS number already, so hopefully that saves you a trip to the SS office.

I just got my wifes I751 approved about a week ago, and new card in the mail, and we filed November 2021 also, so you should see an approval on that pretty soon I would think, our case was at WAC. Funny thing, I filed the N400 for the wife online ( I recommend online, as it was really easy and straightforward), and I even have a previous post where after I filed the N400 online, it seemed to kick start the I751. 19 days after I filed the N400 online, magically the I751 was approved. Not sure if it was a coincidence or if the N400 filing got USCIS to review and approve the I751 or not, but I would file and see what happens. There is no place to put that you have a pending I751 on the form, but they can see all your cases I'm sure, and will know you have an I751 pending.

Just did an interview in Bangkok in the end of October for an immigrant visa. Once you become DQ'ed, you will get the interview notice in about 30 days, then you have roughly 3-4 weeks before the interview from the notice. They do work pretty quickly currently. Looks like an early February interview is possible.

Just filed N400 online for my wife in November. tried a few days earlier, but system was down, after they fixed it it was really easy. Notice received instantly, biometrics reused notice the next day, and petition switched to USCIS is processing your case almost immediately. Did an I130 online last year, and that process was also easier than by paper. Online made it easy to enter travel dates, upload paperwork and documentation as I already had everything scanned in, I would definitely do the online version.

Usually a few hundred dollars more expensive ( LOL). But everything else is the same. You schedule an appointment at your local Civil Surgeon, just like you would at the approved doctor overseas, and they will fill out the same medical form and give you a copy. Take any proof of vaccinations with you just like if you were overseas, then you should be good to submit with whatever form you are filing if it is required for the form. A lot depends on how you entered, for example if you came on a K1 visa, you would use your DS-3025 form from the medical overseas to file for AOS.