MyNameIsEarl

Thanks for the inputs. I think my friends can help. I will ask them.

Hi Everyone, I am an USC working in I.T and lost my job a month ago right after my wedding. I am married to an immigrant on f1 visa, not working and her visa is about to expire(in couple weeks). I am currently searching for jobs but it looks like it might take couple months to get one. I am currently receiving unemployment benefits which is above 125% of the poverty line. Can I use my unemployment income to file the her gc and I am sure by the time of her interview I will be having a job and making enough money. My income from that last several years is solid and above the required level. So can I just submit my past w2s and current income as unemployment? Also, if I get a job after couple months can I submit updated i-864? I am just trying to file gc asap because I don't want my wife to lose her status. Please suggest if you have any idea on how to proceed at the moment.

No, they have joint lease, tax returns, electricity, internet, phone bills, pics with girls family during thanksgiving and Christmas, amazon shopping list, car insurance Lol. Seema Auntie approves this post

@cocoVA He said he does...they have joint lease, tax returns, electricity, internet, phone bills, pics with girls family during thanksgiving and Christmas, amazon shopping list, car insurance

Thanks everyone for all the inputs guys. I spoke to my buddy again and I will answer to the questions some of you asked here, 1. Why is he not here? He is not aware of this forum and he said he follows some FB 751 and n400 groups. I told him to join but in the meanwhile I posted this because I am here anyway. In addition, he is very low. So I thought to help him a little. I provided my personal inputs and wanted to get more from here. 2. Which country he is from ? India 3. Why he has an attorney? Well he his using him from i130 filing and I don't see any specific reason. It's just like how some ppl think attorneys make thing easier. Maybe if you have seen my previous posts here, I asked should I hire attorney for my n400/i751 interview and half of the responses suggested to get one. 4.Thanks for pointing out the name 'stokes interview' , not aware of it. 5. Attorney prepared them for interview and gave them mock questionnaire but I don't think he did a good job. In addition, it's fault of my friend and his wife as well to not prepare well and I get it. 6. Regarding the questions asked, 1. When did you first meet and where ? The wife answered it correctly 2. Draw the layout of the house? She drew it right. They are living in the same house 3. House rent - The wife said something in 1300s and not sure. Husband said it varies because of changes in monthly trash, water bills and its's between 1350-1400. The right answer is 1380 at least for the last month. 4. Bankruptcy - VO asked the amount and my friend said it's around $100k. I am not sure how VO knows this and I think the officer did prepare well before the interview. 5. Other financials - Officer asked things like who spends on grocery to the wife and asked if she gets money for shopping etc from husband as she makes very less compared to him. 6. Wife's work details - officer asked wife's supervisor name, her desk number etc. Not sure why. 7. House details - Officer opened google maps, earth and asked about the house they are living, time to drive to work etc. Then asked the wife to draw the layout. She did answer correctly. They live in a 2 bd and they expected he would ask why 2 bed? but he didn't but that probably gave him red flag! 8. Car details - she gave the VO correct details about the colors of the car but not the year for both cars. 9. Age gap - She is 5 years older to him and he just said to the wife like, oh! you are older than him...okay! They don't have kids and he didn't ask anything about it. 10. They have a joint credit card account and officer went through it. 7. That's good point @Family about him saying that she is gorgeous etc but i don't think my friend is such spontaneous..lol. That's a smart answer. 8. Regarding F-1, yes he was on f-1 and he didn't get h1b and so he did another masters and extended f-1 before the marriage. 9. Attorney response - He says it's common and the couple did good job. But, I don't think it's common too like most of you here. Attorney also said that he will sue uscis if required. Attorney told my friend that the officer is new and he is still in the learning process, it's a common thing to deal with new officers and nothing to be worried about. Attorney alaso said if the VO has more doubts of the couple didn't answer right, uscis won't send them home that soon and they would have asked more questions about sleeping habits, sex, what they did yesterday, more about their personal habits etc and told not to get worried about n400 and they will schedule it soon.

Kansas city, MO. His wife is 5 years older than him and he was on F1 visa before AOS. He is worried after the interview but his attorney says this is very common but he is worried because VO refused to do n400 interview and I think it's a red flag too.

Hahaha. It's for my friend who went to school with me here. He married USC 4 years ago. From what he said, lawyer didn't involve during most of the interview. She only questioned the officer about the duration at the end as he has another interview to attend. In addition, asked the VO why he isn't doing n400 and if he need any additional documentation to which he replied he will let him know after the review.

This post is regarding my friend's interview which happened today. He received interview notice for both i751 and n400. He and his wife went to the interview this morning with an attorney who was with them during the entire interview process. The officer came out and asked the wife to come with him and told my friend to sit right there and hand him his DL. He then interviewed his wife for 90 minutes. Asked her about her job, draw layout of their house, exact dates of their initial meetings, car models and colors, what is the exact rent amount, who buys grocery and how they share house expenses etc. Asked her if she knows her husband's ssn number etc. She answered well about her job, draw layout but didn't give him exact dates and she said she is not sure of car model, rent amount though she gave approximate amount. She said she doesn't know his ssn and the officer was like why not? He asked her to write her manager name, desk number etc in the office. Then he asked my friend why he married someone with low income, rent, car models and more about his financials. He filed a bankruptcy few years ago and he asked few questions regarding it and it lasted for 20 minutes. After that he said he has to review the case. When attorney asked about n400, he said he doesn't want to do that now and he has to review i751. Attorney asked about the timeline and he said he can't tell. Attorney says now it's just waiting game. Is this common to interview the couple separately during combo interviews and refusing to do n400 interview? If not, he wants to prepare for different scenarios and talk to other lawyers as this attorney says there is nothing he can do except waiting. Please let me know if any of you seen something like this before? Also, apologies for posting on behalf of my friend. He is not in the group and I used this group for suggestions through out my i751 and n400 process. So, wanted to post here.

Yes, I filed my N400 in Texas in Dec, 2022. They will schedule your interview soon. Texas N400s are moving faster

Update on my case - went to the interview without an attorney Officer said let's start with i-751 and if we are good we can move to n400. The interview lasted for around 45 minutes. He did look into all the documents, asked multiple questions starting from how I came to the country, meeting and before marriage relationship with my ex, journey with her and her details like where she is born, dob, dates of divorce, marriage etc, reasons for divorce, details about the pics I submitted with ex, details about our trips and details of our interactions after divorce, multiple questions about DV case, education, current job details, taxes etc and then asked civics ,history questions for n400 and told me that I will get the decision is mail. I got my i751 approval on the same day evening and n400 oath scheduled the next day.Currently waiting for the oath ceremony and luckily the immigration journey is over (almost over as oath ceremony is pending).

Yes, I did finish my masters and started working immediately. Never had problem with my h1b and extensions. I am one of them but trust me that’s not in negative way. I hear his name and Wilkes law sometimes on websites, so. Maybe I should do that since you say that he is going live today. I am not sure if he comes to the interview in Texas all the way from Missouri but I wanna know what he says. My thoughts are to wait for another week before hire a lawyer because I wanna see how uscis responds to my SR this time, in the meanwhile I can reach out to him and possibly others to get their opinions. Thanks again for the inputs and recommendations.

I had this doubt and contacted few attorneys during that time and they all said the same thing, uscis will know if it's related to dui,dv,terrorism and something else that i forgot and courts inform them. I felt it's true because Judge asked me about my visa, how long I am in US etc. It might sound weird but i spent thousands and thousands just on consultations. Even before I file my divorce I called 15-20 attorneys and paid consultations, took appointments and explained my situation, evidence I have because I felt I needed to move on and I need to file divorce. They all said I have good reasons, good evidence and it shouldn't be a problem except one who said he can't tell anything and every waiver case is 50-50%. it's simple, uscis or no one has authority to reopen a case that's been dismissed by a Judge after a certain time (they usually mention that timeline on dismissals). That's why they had to approve my 485 because it's dismissed. Still, they can ask for rfe, ask me multiple questions because even though it's dismissed if I admit it verbally or written it can be used as evidence against me. Even if I don't disclose, it can be used against the applicant. I don't know how hard the interview going to be but it's frustrating to wait so long. I know ppl who has no evidence before marriage and didn't leave together and divorced within 6 months and got approved, someone who married same sex with 30 years age gap and divorced and had a kid marrying opposite sex. I think it depends on the officer. I need luck..lol

The VIsa officer told me. I posted this in this group. I got three i-551 stamps so far and for the 3rd stamp, had to travel thousands of miles because I didn't find appointment in texas. The officer spoke to me for a while and informed the current situation and why the processsing is slow. Even the officer before that told me i-751s are in backseat then. But the officer before that got angry when I mentioned how long I need to wait, the officer said I have to wait a year,2,5 doesn't matter because there are many others like me and they have a huge load of cases. Also, it's something I got from my previous experience. Before my 751 interview I raised multiple SRs and one time they replied my case went to records room by mistake and they fetched it, transferred it few times and finally moved to local office. Looks like the VO didn't check my new application. Yes, it was.

No. Not illegal. I moved to states in 2010 legally from India. Came here on f1 and then got my h1b in 2012 and applied for gc in 2014 in eb2.

when I am about to file online on the website, https://www.uscis.gov/n-400 there is a a tool https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship-resource-center/learn-about-citizenship/naturalization-eligibility The tool tells if you are eligible or not. You can apply 90 days before 3/5 years. Even for i-751 you don't need to wait 2 years, you can file 90 days before expiration. They won't approve with pending i-751. They will reach out to VO handling i-751 and they should complete the decision making in 120 days.

Gotcha, thanks. The decision thing is definitely weird. I am worried initially but found few ppl like me on reddit, telegram etc waiting for over a year after the interview which provided me some relief but I am still a little worried. And for the second point, it's my fault I didn't mention my timeline clearly. No, I informed USCIS about my divorce. Below are the highlights of my journey, 02/2017 - Married 06/2017 - Filed GC (I waited few months because I was not sure as I already filed GC in employment category few years before ) 01/2018 - Interview done 01/2018 - Charged with DV a week after my interview 02/2018 - DV case dismissed without trail 02/2018 - Received RFE from USCIS regarding DV case 02/2018 - Sent certified copies of incident report and dismissal notice 03/2018 - Temporary GC approved 01/2020 - Filed i-751 jointly 07/2020 - Separated 08/2021 - I filed divorce 10/2021 - Divorce finalized 11/2021 - Filed waiver and informed USCIS about divorce 01/2022 - I-751 interview 02/2022 - Received RFE asking to submit almost every evidence from the date of marriage 03/2022 - Sent RFE - marriage pics, lease from before marriage to separation, bank statements, utility bills, joint filing tax records, tons of pics from family events, anniversary day cards from family, domestic and foreign trips, tattoo of my name on my ex, amazon and other shopping records etc etc of 400 + pages 04/2022 - Raised SR and received a reply ' we are processing the case' 07/2022 - Raised another SR and same reply 09/2022 - spoke to an USCIS officer during info pass stamping. She said they are very busy and unable to concentrate on i751s' and they will start focusing on them from 2023 12/2022 - Filed N400 02/2023 - Called for i-551 and they sent me a 48 month receipt notice and the agent raised another SR (still waiting for the reply, it's been 3 weeks) 02/2023 - Received n400 interview notice 04/2023 - Interview date I felt that I sent a lot of evidence and I don't have any record other than that dismissed misdemeanor but it looks like I am wrong or they are busy that they took 38 months already and 14 months after interview and 12 months after rfe.

Thanks. I don't think they even accept the application if you are divorced and filing before 4 years and 9 months. They have the eligibility calculator on the website. I got married in Feb, 2017 and received my temporary gc in March,2018.

May I know why do you think this is beyond DIY ?

So, you guys think I need a lawyer..huh. I thought I don't need one because of my past experience with lawyers and my case is dismissed before going to the trail and also it's 5 years ago. Thanks for your inputs, I will start looking for a good attorney.

Thank you, both. My i-751 interview was quick. I filed a divorce waiver in Nov, 2021 and my interviewer didn't know this(asked where's my wife?). During the interview I said I am divorced and filed a waiver, the interviewer asked how long we were together and when I am divorced (we are married for 4.5 years). The interviewer asked me about my DV case from Jan,2018 which is dismissed. Then she said, will let me know soon and sent me a rfe asking for almost everything from the day of marriage. I sent all the proofs I can such as lease, tax documents, bank statements, amazon shopping history, tons of pics of from our domestic and international trips, pics with my family, and hers, utility bills and the dismissal copy of my DV case in Feb, 2022. Yes, I did attach my i-751 receipts and i-551 stamps during n-400 filing and even wrote a letter to the officer requesting to speed up things as I am getting my passport stamped every 6 months and I am waiting for a long time. I did use lawyer for my i-751 waiver filing which I think is a mistake. He has great reviews but I didn't get any help from him like guidance during filing. Whatever the docs I sent, he forwarded them to USCIS. He sent his assistant to the interview and the assistant didn't prepare anything. The interviewer asked something about my DV case in legal terminology which I didn't understand and he started looking at my face and told the interviewer that he is not aware of the case (we discussed about the case twice before the interview). I googled it after I went home, my ex called cops during an argument when she is under heavy influence and she didn't even know that I got arrested and the Judge asked me to stay out of my house and not to contact her. She thought I was angry and I left as she called cops but when she knew she called the prosecuter and asked to cancel the case. The officer was asking us, why my wife called and asked the courts to dismiss the case. I should have replied if I understood the terminology. If I hire a lawyer, I think I need a better one this time. In cases like these, when the interview result is pending for 12+ months does that usually mean they are verifying something important or have some concerns?

Hi All, I filed my I-751(SRC) in Jan,2020 and changed it to waiver in Nov, 2021. Interviewed in Jan, 2022 and still waiting for the result. Raised a service request in 2022 and the reply was 'we are processing your case' . Applied for N400 in Dec, 2022 and my interview scheduled for next month. I still have no update on I-751 though, I raised another SR in February but didn't get any reply. I assume it's not a combo interview as my i-751 interview is over last year. Should I inform the officer during the interview regarding my pending i-751 or is there something else I should do to get a decision on my I-751 as I read somewhere N-400 can't be approved with I-751 ? Your inputs are appreciated, thank you.

Thank you, your answers are very helpful. My case status just changed to 'case is being actively reviewed by USCIS' . Hopefully it means something but I will try to add a letter like your wife as well as my i751 is pending from 3 years.

Congrats on your N400 approval. I just applied N400 online and my i-751 is pending from 01/2020 in Dallas office though my i751 interview is completed in 01/2022 and I submitted rfe docs in 02/2022. I noticed in your timeline that you requested for combo interview on the same day you filed N400? May I know how to do that? I am not sure if I am eligible for combo interview as I already had my i751 interview but would like to give it a try to see if it can speed up the process. Also, would you please let me know the receipt you received is online or through mail? I see the my case is already updated with receipt number online but I am not sure how we receive a copy of the receipt.

Hi All, Please excuse if a similar question has already been posted, I searched and didn't find any so asking here. My pending I751 case is SRC and currently at Dallas local office. Below is my timeline, Mar 2018 - 2 year GC received Jan, 2020.- filed joint 1-751 Oct, 2021 - divorced Nov, 2021.- filed waiver Jan, 2022 - Interview done and received a rfe (asked to send almost all the documents such as bank statements, taxes, lease, pics etc from marriage day to divorced day) Feb, 2022 - Rfe docs submitted Jun, 2022 - SR raised and reply received as 'we are processing your case' Sep, 2022 - Called USCIS and the officer said that my case is within the normal processing time and told me to reach out after March, 2023 I will be eligible to apply N400 very soon as I will be having GC for more than 4 years and 9 months. Would you please let me know what documents I need to submit in this scenario?