RamonGomez

She was a CCP member but easily meets the exemption requirements, since she only was pushed into it in college for "job opportunities" (which she never took advantage of) and hasn't been a member or paid dues in 15 years. That shouldn't pose any problems with the N400 but you never know whether the IO is aware of USCIS's own policies. For our AOS interview the attorney dug up and brought a massive stack of court rulings related to CCP issues but the issue was never brought up. My wife did however submit a "letter of explanation" with the I485 packet per the attorney's suggestion. I'm not too worried about it but like @Mike E said in another thread, having a third person as a witness is invaluable in case it ever comes down to a "our word versus yours" situation. And according to her 20+ years of experience, USCIS IO's generally behave better when there is an attorney in the room - not that abusive behavior is particularly common, but it's especially uncommon when an applicant has legal representation present.

My wife is considering filing an N400 in October this year. For the I-485 AOS we hired a VIP top-tier immigration attorney in case if any issues came up. The attorney knew pretty much all the IOs and staff at our field office and brought along a massive stack of court decisions as a defense in case if any issues cropped up (e.g. Communist Party Membership). The interview was only about 7-8 minutes long and she did a lot of the talking, corrected the IO, clarified answers, basically guided the process etc. Definitely worth the money. To make the process smoother we were thinking of hiring her again for my wife's N400 (money is no issue) - is this allowed?

While I don't know your financial situation or what country they are from, life can be very expensive and difficult living as, basically, an undocumented illegal immigrant. They will not be eligible for any free government welfare, food stamps, medicaid, auto insurance etc. They will not be eligible for health insurance through the ACA. They will be living here on a cash basis. Look up cash prices to see a dentist, doctor, emergency room bills - they aren't pretty. A single incident can wipe out whatever money they earn for your siblings, which I'm guessing isn't that high given they would be working under the table. I know of two couples who were able to legally bring their parents over here on an IR5, and it led to the breakdown of both marriages BTW, but maybe it will work out for you. My suggestion - unless their lives are in grave danger in their home country (in which case they should apply for asylum), they should go back.

When my mother in law came to visit some time ago, I looked into various travel insurance policies. Most were, to be frank, useless. Remember, US hospitals by law must "stabilize" anyone that walks in the ER - that means putting a cast on a broken bone or stent for a heart attack. Research all the cash-based options for primary or urgent care near you, you may be surprised at what you find. There is a family practice doctor near us that is cash-only and charges $120 for a 30 minute visit. There are several urgent cares that charge a $400 flat fee for cash-paying patients. Most standard medications like antibiotics or inhalers are dirt cheap if paying cash. So for 95% of run of the mill issues (infections, broken bones), you'll probably come out ahead by self-insuring. I'm not familiar with the Philippines at all, but do any health care plans there cover medical care abroad?

USCIS is often liberal with some deadlines as well so you may not even run into any issue. I double checked the RFE we got some time ago and it does say you must "submit by [DATE]", not that USCIS must "receive by [DATE]". I doubt they have a rejection letter ready to go at 12:01am if the RFE isn't on their desk.

We went through this process some years ago. We immediately filed my stepdaughter's I130 after we married while my wife AOS'ed. So my stepdaughter went through the I-130 process essentially on her own as a minor. Definitely have your spouse attend the interview, not an aunt or grandma because the officer did ask a few questions that only my wife knew the answers to. The interview was about 5 minutes long, and they mostly spoke to my wife. The officer did show my stepdaughter a picture we included in the I-130 and asked her who the man is (it was me). We got the passport back with her visa in 3 days and headed back to America shortly afterwards. Her biological father did send a notarized permission letter, but it wasn't checked at the interview. My wife did have sole custody so it might not have mattered anyways. Although if you filed the cases together I think you could request the be interviewed together. If they are not able to do this, definitely have your spouse attend the interview with her.

When we submitted our I-485 packet some time ago, we put in ultrasound pictures as my wife was ~3 months pregnant at the time. At the interview, the first thing the officer asked about was the baby. After handing him the birth certificate he literally said "well this is going to be a quick interview" and we were out of there in 5-10 minutes. But yeah, I guess signed affidavits and joint Costco cards would've been even more impactful LOL if you listen to some of the posters on here. I don't understand the defensiveness and insecurities regarding the issue of children. No one is saying you have to have children to get a case approved. But having a child obviously seems to help, based on our experience and according to our attorney who had attended hundreds of these interviews. The first item in the "Evidence of the Relationship" section of the I-751 instructions is "birth certificates of any children born during the marriage". Anyone impulsively claiming that "kids just means you had sex" is just trying to sound edgy, but instead comes of as highly insecure - and there's no reason at all to be adversarial about this.

How long is the N400 realistically taking nowadays in the Twin Cities area? My wife already has her 10 year green card. The online case status processing times estimates 15.5 months or less for 80% of cases. However, I've been skimming reports on here and it looks like 4-8 months seems to be pretty common. Also, how bad is it applying under the 3 year rule? My wife will be eligible for the 5 year rule in Feb 2024 (about 8 months from now) and is not in a huge rush, would it make sense to just wait? Or is the 3 vs 5 year rule not a huge deal. Thanks everyone.

Depends on the current backlog. I recall seeing a few recent cases get an interview notice about 6 weeks after DQ. My stepdaughter went through the process in 2019 and it was: DQ ----> Interview Notice 2 weeks Notice ----> Interview 2.5 weeks Honestly we could've used a little more time between the notice and interview, since we had to arrange vacation time at work, extra childcare, and scramble to buy tickets/hotel accommodations in 2.5 weeks as one of us had to accompany her to the interview.

I don't (unfortunately) have an answer to your question, but when my stepdaughter went through Guangzhou, they sent us an email with the appointment time and date, we had no opportunity to schedule it. It would've been nice to be able to schedule it, since her appointment was scheduled for 17 days from the date of the email 😑 There are a few facebook and wechat groups that have a lot more activity for current applicants - I would take a peak there.

I recently read an interview with a former counselor officer (I think he worked in Mumbai India), and one thing that I found interesting was him saying that "90% of the visa decision is made before the interview" (I'm paraphrasing). They look at things like age, occupation, savings, income, address, gender etc. and can algorithmically get 90% of the way there before even interviewing the applicant. It's why you hear so many stories of 30 second interviews resulting in denials without the applicant even getting a chance to plead their case. I think her odds of getting the visa are low, but then again there are people who applied several times and were finally granted the visa. My sister-in-law got her B1/B2 on her second interview, and she met someone at the consulate who finally got it on his fourth (!) attempt. Good luck 🙂

Don't bring the card with - basically the same thing if someone lost it. Anyways sounds like OP is cancelling so all should be good either way.

If it's not a huge hassle I would still get the passport stamp, in case you lose the extension letter you'll still have an extra form of proof in your passport. Might as well since stamp appointments are often not easy to get.

If you're 10000% sure you're going through with this, then generally the best answer with regards to any immigration question is ASAP. The time it takes you to prepare and submit stuff to USCIS is pretty much the only thing you can control, and the overall big-picture trend is "the sooner the better" (though of course there are random exceptions).

While cases are generally first-in-first-out, it's not a perfect system. We filed in Feb 2021 and didn't get approved until they were working on March 2021 cases. Unless you need an interview, it's the service center that determines the speed of your case processing. In other words if your status is Fingerprints Taken/Reused, the case is probably sitting at the service center. If it says Ready for Interview to be Scheduled, then your case will wait until the field office can schedule an interview. Of course, none of this is an exact science given that the online case tracking isn't perfect and the general random element of USCIS. Not much you can do other than wait...

There definitely was - he even posted a picture of the document. It was basically a 3x5 index card with a one-year I-551 stamp in it IIRC.

Easy solution - USCIS doesn't get the fee until the petition is complete. Would probably cause USCIS to get it's act together overnight.

Can you renew the drivers license now before the 2 year green card expires? Some states will give 4-7 year licenses even if proof of status expires before then

Is your child eligible to be included in your I-751 ie did you both get your green cards within 90 days of each other? Also is a 19 y/o considered a child for I-751 purposes (I don't the answer, just curious if that could be an issue). Many people have had good luck by writing and mailing a physical letter to the Nebraska Service Center. This seems to be much more successful than online erequests or tier 1 service requests.

The idea is that printing it on thick paper would be less likely to tip off an airline employee that it's a copy vs printing it on flimsy paper with a crappy inkjet printer...

Have you considered legal action against USCIS? Or at least spoken to a good attorney? That timeline is insane. I've seen cases get miraculously cleared up within a month after just filing a lawsuit.

Seems like USCIS is making a push to clear out or prioritize "easy" cases. It makes the overall backlog numbers look much better (more approvals) though it screws a small minority with difficult cases.

Update - we just got the "New Card" status update. MSC service center, entered on a CR visa, I-751 interview waived (this is for a <14y/o child FWIW).

Got my stepdaughter's approval today! Filed DEC 2021, got an RFE in NOV 2022, replied two days later, and just got the "New Card" update... all in November! And they processed the I-751 in less than a year. She came in on a CR visa and her I-751 interview was waived... so it appears the interview waivers are definitely real. However, she is <14 y/o and her mom's I-751 was approved without interview in JULY 2022, so that may have made things a bit easier. With that said our immigration journey is done for the next 10 years (unless someone wants to file an N-400... which my happen)!! BIG THANKS to all the members on here for all the wisdom, reports, and advice.