EatBulaga

If you look at our Profile->Immigration Info->Our Story, our overseas medical took 3 weeks for the test results to come back and sent to the consulate in Taiwan. We anticipated some wait time and scheduled the K1 interview after picking up the results. I never heard about collecting the test results on the same day of the interview since some interviews are early mornings. I have read some cases when the interview is before the medical and the medical has to be submitted before approval, but I don't think those are the norm. The overseas medical DS-3025 does have a 6-month validity from the date it is performed--not the date of results pick-up for the K1 interview, and a 1-year validity to filing the I-485 AOS.

In general, the lower the passport index, then the lower the chances or more proof of non-immigration intent is required of the applicant. https://www.passportindex.org/ Philippines passport is ranked 62, while the US is ranked 8 and Japan passport is ranked 7. So if you are applying with the Philippines passport, then you will need to show proof of strong ties to your home country or Japan (with your permanent residence) and that you have no intention to immigrate or to work while on the tourist visa.

In the Profile dashboard, there are the 3 tabs: Activity, About Me, Images. How do I add pics to the Images tab?

Did all the cards look the same after the initial removal of DHS Authorization restriction from the 2-year green card?

Thanks! That is better than having to go to the SSO a couple of extra times.

Update the SSO with the 10-year green card or Certificate of Naturalization even though the restriction has been removed with the 2-year green card. What are the risks of not doing that because the SSN and the SS card will be the same?

Greetings all, We are K1-to-AOS and soon-to-be ROC filers. It took us a couple of trips to the SSO to remove the "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION" with the 2-year green card. https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/821529-ssn-removing-dhs-authorization/ Now that we got the new Social Security card without the restriction, if we get the 10-year green card from the ROC or if we get the N-400 naturalization, do we need to update the SS card again with those documents? Will the SS card still look the same? What are some potential risks if we do NOT update the SS card with the 10-year green card or the naturalization certificate? Thanks in advance for any response.

If you look at our Profile or Timeline, we had something similar at the Atlanta Field Office during the Great Request for I-693 Courtesy Email of March 2023. https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/798091-request-for-form-i-693-courtesy-email/ At that time the Atlanta FO estimated I-485 AOS processing time was over 36 months because the evidence suggested the Atlanta FO stopped processing in December 2022. So before the FO started back up processing, they apparently sent out a mass Request for I-693 Courtesy Email in March 2023, to all those who did not have an I-693 on file regardless if they had a proper overseas medical DS-3025 or not. Now there was a great debate among the Atlanta AOS filers then whether to go thru with the I-693 or not or wait for the I-693 RFE. About a week before the I-693 drop-off to the Atlanta FO in April 2023, the FO sent out a "We have taken an action on your case" email to seemingly everyone in the AOS queue, but the USCIS Case Status stayed on "Case Is Being Actively Reviewed by USCIS". About a week later, it seemed everyone got AOS approved without interview regardless if they dropped off an I-693 or not. So for us, from the "We have taken an action on your case" email to AOS approval showing up in our USCIS Case Status was about 2 weeks. The "We have taken an action..." notification was maybe USCIS internally prepping to formulate a decision like someone may have actually looked at your case, or they selected a few clicks on your case, etc. So the best advice is to be patient--some change may be coming up in your USCIS Case Status.

Hello USCIS filing gurus, We are K1-to-AOS and soon-to-be ROC filers. I'm comparing the differences between the I-751 evidence of bonafide relationships (for 2-year of marriage) https://www.visajourney.com/guides/removing-conditions-permanent-residency/ and the N-400 referring to you and your spouse (for 3-year of marriage) https://www.visajourney.com/guides/us-naturalization/ It seems that there are a lot of overlaps in documenting the proofs of the marriage if not N-400 is just a continuation of the I-751. In other words for the N-400, can I just include ALL the I-751 evidence of bonafide relationships plus add 1-year evidence to the N-400 (like 1 extra year tax filing, 1 extra year of bank statements, etc.)? Or will USCIS see that as redundant or just proof padding since they already have the I-751? Or should N-400 (3-year) just focus on the 1-year of proof since the I-751 filing and not include the evidences already submitted with the I-751? Or is the I-751 independent or mutually exclusive from the N-400 so that including ALL of the I-751 along with the extra year of proofs is actually recommended? Thanks in advance for any response.

Hello Everyone, I just want to follow up that we finally received the updated Social Security card in the mail today with no "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION". Did anyone else have the trouble of going to the SSO more than once to remove the restriction? Thanks.

It is your choice to fill it out or not. My experience is that unless the foreigner LPR is receiving a LOT of interest dividends from the US bank, then the W8-BEN paperwork is worth the trouble to fill out. If the bank interest is less than say 1000, then withholding 30% isn't worth filing the W8-BEN. Most joint filers mix the 30% bank withholding in the IRS filing return anyway. I had asked similar questions for my K1-to-AOS spouse a while back at https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/790033-w-8ben-for-k1-to-aos-filer/

Greetings everyone, we are K1-to-AOS who had previously tried to update the Social Security card (SSC) with the I-551 permanent resident card (2-year green card). Just want to share with others some difficulties we are experiencing in case anyone else is going thru the same. We first went to the SSO in 2023-06 with no appointments after receiving the green card to remove the "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION" on the SSC. The previous SS agent rushed us by inputting the green card info into the computer and barely looked at the SS-5. Then she said we should be getting something in the mail. But we never got any confirmation and we never received the updated SSC in the mail. We went again recently (2024-05) to the SSO with a scheduled appointment to update the SSC with the green card. This time the SS agent was more meticulous and took our SS-5 and gave us a confirmation letter with a reference number and a stamped copy of the SS-5 showing the received date. The confirmation letter stated: Before we can issue you a Social Security, we must verify the document(s) you gave us to show your Alien status with the Federal, State, or local office in the United States that issued the document(s). This may take up to 4 weeks. The SS agent said that USCIS probably did not respond to the previous SS request to verify the green card. This second request to verify the green card can take up to 6 to 8 weeks. So if any of you had problems with removing the DHS Authorization restrictions for work on your Social Security card, just be persistent and you may have to go to the SSO more than once. Just keep grinding.

Thanks for the reminder!!!

I read a while back that the Social Security Office could verify the I-94 electronically now. So you don't need to wait 2 weeks. You can maybe wait 1-2 days after printing out your I-94 to take it to the SSO, along with the passport, birth certificate, and filled out SS-5 form.

I think one bottleneck that many K1-to-AOS don't realize is the time to receive the marriage certificate (not marriage license). Depending on which state or municipality, the marriage certificate can take 30 days or more to receive. We avoided the wait by going to Las Vegas for the wedding where we got the marriage certificate the same day as the wedding. Also, you can start collecting the documents for the I-864 like the last 3 years of tax transcripts, payslips, etc., A couple of other fairly important steps to plan for the K1 beneficiary is opening a US bank account and getting the state Real ID or driver's license, which rely on the SSN and marriage certificate (for name change). But as a rule of thumb for the super-prepared, if you can file the I-485 within a month after US entry, then you are balling. You can see the step-by-step of what we did at our Timeline or Profile. https://www.visajourney.com/profile/386517-eatbulag

Greetings Everyone, My wife is a K1-to-AOS conditional green card holder. For the situation where the green card expires 02/01/2025 and resident since 02/01/2023, she plans to travel outside the country for say 4 months (less than the 6 months needed to reapply for entry). Will the 4 months outside the country affect the ROC approval? Or the resident since date? Or the date calculation for filing N400 (either 3-year or 5-year)? Thanks in advance for any response.

Ideally, the airlines gate/boarding agents should know that K1 visa is a one-way ticket. But that does not mean they are all well-versed on all the different US entry documents. My K1 visa beneficiary had more interrogating questions from the gate agent than the Port of Entry US CBP. I did anticipate some of the hassles and called the airline a couple of days before to leave a note on the flight reservation for the gate agent that the US entry document is K1 visa and a one-way ticket. This might help if your K1 beneficiary is from a weak passport country.

Yes, we have a Philippines Report Of Marriage. Yes. Maiden name passport and Green card marriage name with US marriage certificate to show name change is probably the way to go. Theoretically, buying 2 one-way tickets may work with Eva Air, which will cost a little more. Departure ticket in maiden name from US to the Philippines using Philippines passport with maiden name. While in the Philippines, update to new Philippines passport with marriage name. Return ticket in marriage name from the Philippines to the US using the new Philippines passport with marriage name. Eva Air also has an option to input the green card (marriage name) in lieu of passport in their online ticketing.

I checked with Eva Air. They do not change name on the original ticket. The option is to buy a new ticket with updated marriage name that matches the updated passport. Or don't change the passport name until you can buy a new ticket.

Yes. Wife has Philippines passport in maiden name, and will buy round-trip ticket with an airline in maiden name to the Philippines. While in the Philippines, wife wants to update to a new passport with marriage name. If she gets the new passport expedite, she needs to return with the new passport with the marriage name. Remember flight ticket is in maiden name. Will the airlines or US immigration have a problem with the new passport in marriage name? She will have US marriage certificate and Philippines Report of Marriage along with Green Card (marriage name), cut-up old Philippines passport (maiden name), new Philippines passport (marriage name). Is there anything else we need to avoid misunderstanding with the airlines or US immigration? Thanks