RamonGomez

Wife just filed her N400 yesterday, got the receipt and re-use letter immediately. Estimated time of 10 months which is perfectly fine, but our attorney told us she is seeing interviews in the 4-6 month range at our office. Man... this online interface is so nice compared to having to send in reams of paper.

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.