RamonGomez

Lol literally 0% of this turned out to be true. Just goes to show the loudest and most confident aren't always the most correct. Congrats OP.

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.