Fe.Ta

Bring a couple of pictures since you first met, wedding, and up to the point of the AOS interview. Be selective, don't bring them all. But, do bring some. It is better to have them and not need them than not have them at all. Our officer did ask for pictures, even though we had submitted them throughout our process (we included some with the K1 and some with the AOS). She was a few months from retiring and had been doing it for a while. She stated that she always looked at pictures because she could tell when something is being faked (or not). So, again, be selective, maybe include ones with friends and family and some that are not as posed (like when they take it and you are not looking, etc).

What @OldUser said. You can also do quarterly from the marriage until the first GC, then monthly between GC and ROC. It is up to whatever you feel comfortable. If you have plenty of evidence (i.e. utility bills, medical bills, etc.), then quarterly should be fine because you have quality over quantity. I believe you have a child together, correct? If so, I would say there is no need for you to make the package that big. Do your child's BC, leases/mortgages, insurance, tax transcripts, etc. from the time of your marriage until the ROC. Then, just do quarterly statements on utility bills and bank statements from the marriage until the ROC.

We are in Potomac. Nothing on the biometrics either. It is "normal". Just keep waiting.

You seem to have strong evidence. If you can get that month to month lease under both of your names, even better. But, do submit all the documentation from the landlord that you have where it lists you both. Given that you have such good evidence on the ones that hold more weight, the affidavits are not necessary. They are only helpful when other evidence is lacking a bit, so it helps some. I would say the snapshots of conversations are even less valuable than the affidavits because of all the other evidence you do have. I would replace the affidavits and conversations with family snapshots for a few pictures throughout the years in which you can see you and with with those family members and friends (both on your side and his). If you only have it for one side (for example, his friends and family), that is OK too. As a general note, we provided affidavits that were notarized. The few that were not (we didn't do many either), we had copies of the DLs to show those people existed, had DLs, and the signatures matched. In our case we included them because we had enough strong evidence, but were missing a lease and utilities. So, we used the affidavits the backup some other evidence we had in which those people were part of it (i.e. one affidavit was done by our marriage witnesses who are also the witnesses to our wills and parents to our godchildren).

I would advise you, just like the others, to look into the Zoom wedding. While you can get married in Argentina while both of your are foreigners, there is going to be some legwork to get it done. Argentina is not that fastest moving and they have a lot of red tape. So, you might end up delaying it even more and actually have less time to get it done than what you think. For example, we had to get my husband's birth certificate legalized and apostille. One of the two only took two hours, but we had to leave the BC in another place for like 10 days to get it done. LOL I am glad I knew this ahead of time and literally booked our flight home almost a month AFTER our scheduled interview. Otherwise, we would have had to keep moving our date because of things not being as quickly. From my experience, immigration is difficult enough when you have the USA and the originating country of the beneficiary to add a third country for the marriage, especially if two of those countries are within South America (we do not have the greatest systems). The Zoom wedding seems a little bit more straightforward and it has been done before. Just do your research. Lawyers sometimes just advise against things they are not familiar or comfortable with rather than give you all the options. Here are some links regarding marriage in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They are in Spanish, but if you are from Brazil it would be easier to understand and translate. https://buenosaires.gob.ar/registrocivil/informacion-general-para-casarte https://tramitalofacil.com/requisitos-para-casarse-en-argentina-siendo-extranjero/

I meant to say "IS NOT irrelevant".

Technically, the countries should not be relevant for the I751 and the N400, since the whole country-based approach is to provide status for those that are out of status. However, I made that point because I have seen cases in VJ where there have been 10-yr GCs that have been approved within a month (or a few months) of submission and they are from those countries. This leads me to believe that there are officers that are either not well trained, ignorant, or lazy to differentiate when the rule is applicable or not.

Your N400 cannot be fully approved without an approved I751. Thus, Potomac IS irrelevant. Some cases have their I751 transferred properly from the service to the field office so they can have a combo interview when you are at the local field office. Hence, the field office would have jurisdiction over both at the time of the interview. However, there are cases where by the time the N400 interview comes around the FO does not have the file for I751 nor an approval from the service center. Thus, the FO has jurisdiction over the N400 but the SC still has jurisdiction over the I751. In which case, the N400 cannot get fully approved until the FO goes back and requests the I751 to be transferred for approval (and have jurisdiction). This is why sometimes a case could still get stuck depending on the combination of which FO and which SC is yours. Not one is like the other.

Or 7...or don't hear anything (like ours). LOL You know, Potomac is just the BESTEST. Man, I wish you all the best. But, I hope this is not true. There are people in Potomac waiting since 2020 and 2021. It would be BS if people that filed in April 2023 get expedited first.

Besides the issue with immigration, if you are legally married and you both file as "single", it can create a bigger issue with the IRS and the government in general. So, do be careful.

Thank you! Take it one stage at a time. Focus on K1 first. Then, once approved, you can take a look at what needs to happen for AOS as soon as your S.O. gets to the USA. After that, enjoy freedom for about a year and a half, just gather documents in the meantime, and focus on ROC then. For AOS/ROC, your field office is where you get the interview, but that is not the same as the service center. For example, when we did our AOS, it went to the Missouri Service Center (MSC). Once it was ready to be scheduled for an interview, it was sent to our field office (Orlando, FL). Had Missouri decided to just approve it without an interview, we would have gotten the approval from the service center, which has a different processing time than the Orlando, FL field office. The same thing with our ROC. We are currently at the Potomac Service Center (this is in Virginia and it is the worse one out of all of them). If they decide to interview us again, then our case would go to the Orlando, FL field office. But, the processing time is based on Potomac first, then (when it is transferred) it will depend on the field office. I hope that makes sense.

We hear you! BTW, it does not get any better as you continue the journey. LOL We are at the ROC level and we see this all the time. While USCIS advocates "first comes, first served", that is not the case. The have no pattern, logic, and they do not act the same across the board between officers, service centers, and field offices. *SIGH* I still struggle with this now.

@OldUser options are correct. Now, while most people do get their I-751 and N-400 approved the same day via a combo interview, there are plenty of cases that do not. So, there could be several reasons why people would choose to wait for the I-751 to be approved or be closer to the estimated date before N400. Just the other day I saw a post on VJ (which of course I can't find it) where the N400 was waiting close to or over a year BECAUSE the I-751 had not been approved yet. There are plenty that just get conditionally approved until the I-751 is approved which can take weeks, months, years. Take our case for example, we are in death row Potomac. We are eligible to apply in September 2023. Will we do it exactly at that time? Probably not. Why? Well, we haven't even heard on biometrics so the chances of the I-751 be "shaken loose" by the N-400 is minimal compared to other cases at other service centers or even Potomac. Again, yes, all three options OldUser shared are accurate and the choice will depend on the person's preference and where their case is at - in additional to their overall priorities of course. I respect those that are applying for N400 immediately, but I also get those of us that just don't see the point because you can tell we are going to be stuck anyways and we might use that $800 for other needs at this time. Another word of advice, users like you and @DE2020 are going to be approved faster than others within this thread and other threads because of your originating countries. They are giving priority to countries like Venezuela and Ukraine because of the turmoil, which I get. However, it will not yield a realistic estimate or window to the others that do not fall within those countries that filed around the same time you did.

Hi! Did you mean to say Jan 2023? Which is your service center?

Congratulations! It is interesting that you were sent to the MSC. There are a lot of people on here that say you get sent to the closest service center. Thus, most Florida cases end up in death row Potomac. Yet, yours was at MSC. Thank you for sharing the feedback.

This is a a generic thing, it does not mean there is any actual movement. Technically, all of us are within that status, it just shows up for some versus others.

Congrats on your bundle of joy as well! Unfortunately, no. I have contacted them via an inquiry, phone, chat, etc. about 10 different times and I get the same canned answer. We are in Potomac (AKA death row), so it is "normal". There are cases in Potomac that get the biometrics notice within the month like everyone else and then you have others like me that just don't hear anything about it. LOL SMH. We are honestly not consumed by it either, since we have other things we are focusing on. But, sometimes I just get bored and begin to poke around. Haha

You can't choose the centers, they are assigned to you - lawyers have no say. Unfortunately, you got assigned the worse one. Our case for Removal of Conditions is in Potomac right now, so I am expecting to wait a very long time. But, that is different than yours. Regardless, they (Potomac) do take their sweet time for things in general. Yes, most people in VJ will agree that if you have a straightforward case, to avoid using a lawyers, since they are more expensive and it doesn't really help. This will give you and idea of the Processing Times: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/ Play around and see what timelines or processing times is giving you. I think you are still within the reasonable window to wait for the embassy to contact you about the interview. It appears it is taking about a month or so for the embassy to receive it, then another month or so for them to schedule the interview. Lastly, add their e-mail address as a contact so the e-mails are not blocked: BuenosAires-IV@state.gov If you do choose to email them, please make sure you include your case number in the subject line.

Were you "documentarily approved" by Potomac? Thus, you are waiting on your case to be sent to the Argentinian consulate to schedule an interview? If this is the case, you are in one of the worse centers (Potomac), so the delay itself could be them actually sending the case to Buenos Aires. Then, I know with COVID, there has been some delay with the embassy in Argentina. But, even pre-COVID, a month seems reasonable of a wait. I would give it a bit more time. However, I will encourage other recent IR/CRs to speak into this. @Sarah & Dani Would you be able to provide some insight into this?

Yes, you either get the biometrics waived or you get a new appointment scheduled. We have not gotten either. I do not think we are at the same center, since you are probably going to end somewhere on the West coast - Texas Center max. We are in death row Potomac.

As others have said, you only need to state that you are intending and will fulfill the requirement to marry within the 90-day window. No plans of the actual wedding need to be shared for the purposes of the K1 visa. Avoid yourself a headache if you can. The only time we shared our plans was when officers asked my now husband during the embassy interview and at POE, but it was a plain "we plan to do a courthouse wedding in X city". Good enough, move on.

So glad everyone is doing OK. You are luckier than we are. We are 7 months in and no word on the biometrics. Haha

Send what you have. Whatever you have as extra can be saved if you get an RFE for additional documentation, if you have an interview for AOS, or you can just save it for ROC. It seems you have enough initial evidence for AOS, so risking a late submission is far worse than just submitting what you have without a couple of utility bills.

Having a foreign degree might get you less money/options. But, it will not affect your immigration journey AT ALL. If anything, having and adding education to your repertoire and wanting to be a USC means USA can benefit from it as well. It is risk free to apply, it will show you what other options you DO have if you are ineligible for the Pell Grant. Likewise, having no results or not wanting the options they give you could give you an opportunity to see if the college itself will be willing to help or has local resources, etc.