ghostinthemachine

Sorry to hear. I'll likely do the same once we file our 2024 taxes this month.

Are you referring to "Eintragung im Eheregister"? If so, my suggestion would be to contact the Standesamt at your last place of residence in Germany as they are the ones who have to process your petition. There's a general list of documents and the form needed on the AA website, BUT you know what bureaucracy is like at home so the local office might want something specific in addition to those. Ask them to confirm which documents they need translated and if any of them need to be notarised/apostilled too whilst you're at it. Fwiw I never got our marriage acknowledged at home and it doesn't change anything as long as your current marriage cert is accepted as a proper document (which it should if you got married in the US). You also don't need to acknowledge your marriage to officially change your name, those are two separate procedures.

Yes. Sponsor has to paper file the I-865 within 30 days of moving.

Seriously think I might be blind, but the only reference to previous marriages I see is this and it doesn't ask any further questions: Is this what you guys are referring to?

Where in the N400 online or paper form does it ask for this? I've seen it in neither.

I know what "head of household" means from an income tax perspective. You're not filling out a tax return. Again, USCIS =/= IRS. And I guess I missed the point that you aren't even wanting to apply to a fee reduction so there's no need for you to fill it out either way.

USCIS =/= IRS. This is from the page about fee waivers, but I'd assume they apply the same logic to fee reductions too:

Where is your nearest consulate? They have different procedures on how much in advance they publish new appointments (e. g. Houston is 3 months, Atlanta is only 28 days), but they all typically go live midnight German time. Just renewed my passport in Houston last week. Relatively painless other than getting an appointment booked in time.

Just wanted to say that I fully understand the pressure of this. It's the same situation in Germany and even as an LPR it has severely limited my options on what I can do banking/investment wise. Commerzbank closed my mother's account after she put me as a signatory (in case anything were to happen to her) because of my LPR status alone. It's frankly insane. I hope you can figure out a viable solution for you and your family.

Yeah no extra code for you then if you already have a working online account. You should be able to see all the letters in relation to your case uploaded, but for anything official (travel for example) you will need the green paper copy extension letter either way. USPS isn't supposed to forward USCIS mail afaik so your best bet might just be to stay in touch with whoever is moving into your old home or the prop management or whatever the setup is at your old address.

Just anecdotal of course, but we were almost mid-move when we filed last year and both letters (bio re-use and extension letter) arrived to our old address.

Interesting, genuinely never heard of that being a concern before

I'm not quite sure why you seem to be complaining about your case moving quickly. Certainly a first 😅

mein amt ist da immer schon sehr dahinter um ehrlich zu sein. hatte in ueber 10 jahren im ausland noch nie probleme *bis jetzt*... daran ist nun allerdings einzig die so kurzfristig angelegten wahl schuld. mein wahlamt hat schon im januar als ich den antrag eingereicht hab gesagt dass sie aktuell erwarten die wahlzettel am fruehenstes 31.1. zu erhalten, d.h. fruehstens abgeschickt werden koennten die eh erst am 3.2. ich hab leider auch noch keine versandbestaetigung bekommen diesmal (die emailt mein amt immer netterweise) und daher kann ich auch nur davon ausgehen, dass es wohl irgendwelche verspaetungen gab und die den kram selber auch noch nicht erhalten haben. hab am 14.2. einen termin zum passantrag in houston und wuerde die unterlagen da gerne direkt abgeben, aber ich habe mittlerweile nur wenig hoffnung dass die noch rechtzeitig hier ankommen. richtig mies alles. vorallem weil bei der wahl so viel dranhaengt nun und jede stimme wichtig ist.

I can see mine in the "profile" section of my USCIS account, but it looks like it's only showing because it's linked to my pending ROC. I assume it wouldn't show up there unless you have a pending case in the account.

You need to apply for GE using the name as per the GC. If you use her maiden name as per the passport it won't work. I went through the same. Had to go back, change the name of the account and then continue adding documents. You will have to input both the GC and the passport data anyway as well as then fill out the line that asks for any other names she's known as (her maiden name, in this case). No issues getting approved at all. Officer didn't even mention it at the interview (or ever during any border crossing to be honest). I'm finally just getting around to replacing my passport as it's expiring this year and will update my name in the process. Downside is you won't get PreCheck for those international flights since they have to be booked with the passport name, but apart from that it's not an issue at all.

I believe this was a COVID measure? At some point when you'd been out of the country within 14 days of your appointment/interview they would cancel and reschedule you. I don't think this is a rule (or enforced) anymore.

Happy anniversary you guys 🤗 anyone of you heard anything?

Afaik this would not qualify under 319b unless you can provide adequate proof that your spouse's employment abroad is scheduled for at least a year or longer (IIRC the burden of proof is on you and not USCIS). Regs also stipulate that you are supposed to join your spouse abroad imminently, but it sounds like you are permanently settled in WA? Never heard of anyone on TDY orders going down this route to be honest. People applying under 319b are typically accompanying spouses on PCS orders. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any IO approving such a petition for you under these circumstances.

Couldn't pay me to carry the extension letter around. Hell, I barely carry my actual (now expired) GC with me unless I know I will drive in a specific direction from where we now live as there are check points. I have copies of both extension letter and GC on my phone too for good measure. It's never been an issue.

falls deine GC und dein reisepass underschiedliche namen haben dann braeuchtest du auch noch irgendwas was den name change abdeckt (z. b. marriage cert). ansonsten brauchst du nichts weiter fuer gewoehnlich. re: schalter - das ist sehr abhaengig vom flughafen leider. manchmal haufen die LPRs mit den USC zusammen, mal gibts einen extra schalter fuer LPRs, mal wird man mit den touris/non-citizens gehauft. falls die beschilderung nicht klar ist dann frag einfach jemanden - oft stehen da ja leute rum die anweisen.

I'm aware of the I-751 processing times and aware of the British vs American English - I simply prefer the s vs the z as that's what I'm used to. Not sure what either has to do with my post or hypothetical questions quite honestly.

Thought I'd check in on our little thread... anyone with any updates? Been absolute crickets for me since January. Since we're fast approaching a year of waiting at this point it naturally poses the question of whether to apply for naturalisation or not. Since Germany did away with the huge bureaucratic hurdles to keep citizenship earlier this year, I have been umming and ahhing about filing next year. The thought of never having to deal with USCIS is quite lovely, but having to deal with the IRS for the rest of my life certainly isn't 😅 still not quite sure what to do at this point c.10 weeks out from potential early filing so if anyone has any interesting reading on the topic please do share.

I would not consider going to Cuba until you are at minimum a citizen if that is your final goal in terms of immigration. Travelling on any of the usual waivers will likely lead to longer background checks for any future USCIS petitions, Global Entry, government jobs etc from my research.

When you get your social go to a local credit union and open your own bank account and a secured card that can graduate to an unsecured credit card a few months down the line. It'll give you access to your own money, helps establish a credit score in the US with time and can be used as proof of address when you need it. In terms of credit/charge cards - if you had a relationship with Amex in the UK you can use that to open a card here in the US right away even with no prior credit history (I did that second to the bank account and secured card a couple years ago and it worked perfectly). In terms of DL - make use of the official document checker to see what you need and what would be accepted. https://realid.ilsos.gov/checklist.html