ritac23

Has anyone applied to remove conditions on their green card yet? Mine was only approved late Nov 2023, so I'm still waiting until next summer.

Wow, I just went though your timeline and I'm shocked! You got married in April 2023 and moved to the US in December? That has to be one of the fastest case approvals of the past few years, congratulations!

My I-485 was just approved!!! Fingers crossed anyone else here waiting gets theirs soon!

Thank you all for the feedback. I submitted the RFE documents online on Monday, now it's a waiting game. I ended up finding some Venmo transactions that show my husband and I share household expenses. I thiiiink (knock on wood) that everything will be fine. Between affidavits, insurance policies, photos, shared address, shared household expenses, and shared responsibility over our cats USCIS should have plenty... I'll update you all when this gets approved. Now I'm off on another goose chase: renewing my passport 1,000+ miles from home in DC because my home country doesn't do anything remotely, apparently.

Good point. I did not think of that. We are including a statement on how we manage expenses.

We don't have any of those employment benefits/life insurance/retirement accounts listing each other as beneficiaries. We actually don't have any of those, period, because I am self-employed and he works for a not-so-great company in Texas. It was never an option for us. We're meeting with a tax preparer early next year, that's when we were going to open a joint savings account. I thought of just getting that done now, but to me it seems USCIS would find that fishy? Why only do that now AFTER getting the account? We also don't have a prenup. We are happy to go the traditional route of splitting assets acquired after the marriage. We were told we could do that by the county official who issued our marriage license. All in all, we've been together for 6 years and have been living together for 5 years. We're very young (24 and 25), which I think explains why we don't have the exhaustive list of proof USCIS would like to see. We also both came into the marriage sufficiently independent on our own that he didn't have to care for me 100% financially (I had my savings, so we split expenses from the beginning). It's 150% a real marriage! It just feels so odd having to prove that with documents we don't always have lol

Hey all! We just got an RFE from USCIS about our I-485. They're asking for proof that my husband and I share a marital life together. Have any of you had experience with this? We obviously share a marital life together, but I now realize USCIS doesn't really have proof of that since we've been waiting 20 months by this point. The thing is, we never added each other to our individual credit cards or bank accounts, we do our joint finances differently (at the end of the month/quarter/year we pay each other for a share of the joint expenses taking into account that we earn different amounts). I was thinking of submitting: - Pictures from the wedding - Copy of the marriage certificate once again - Pictures from trips we've taken throughout 2023 (latest one was September) - Pictures of us and our cats (we don't have children, but they're our joint responsibility) - 2022 joint tax return - Joint health insurance policy - Joint auto insurance policy - Bills in my name & bills in my husband's name, showing we live at the same address - Affidavit from his parents (they own the home we live in, we don't have a lease, they just let us live here, we're lucky) - Affidavit from his best friend, who was a witness at our wedding - Affidavit from our neighbors, who know we live together (is this one necessary? or could I leave it out to submit everything more quickly?) Would this be enough? I was really not expecting to get this RFE and I'm afraid us not owning property together or having pooled our incomes would hurt us. I mean, there's a good explanation for everything (he bought the car because he had good credit and I had none when we arrived; we never thought to add each other to credit cards/banks because this system was working and life got in the way...). I'd love your input!! Thank you!

This is correct. I did not have my results with me by the time the interview happened because the doctor was so busy. I got through the interview just fine and only had to show the medical at the border, in the sealed envelope, in the United States.

I was a K1 and this was at the height of covid with Trump's no-immigration executive order, but it took us more than 6 months to be scheduled for an interview... And it was radio silence from when we got the "your petition was approved" letter to an email saying "hey, come to Paris in exactly one month for your interview." You might fare better, hopefully.

For what it's worth, I remember when I was trying to book my appointment that someone else from Portugal told me they had their exam done in France. I think because the Portuguese doctor couldn't see them quickly enough. So there may be that option, which could save you a trip (since you have to do the interview in Paris)...

It's been 13.5 months since I submitted the I-485 paperwork and still nothing. Could this be because my field office (Omaha, NE) is just very slow (current processing time of 19.5 months)? Or should I assume there's a hangup on our case and I should prepare for an RFE soon? At least I have my work permit so I can have a normal life...

That sucks to hear! I hope it's just a mistake and you don't actually have to fly to Azores... The doctor I met with in Lisbon was Marta Monteiro at Clínica Campo Grande - Hospital St Louis. The email is clinica@hslouis.pt and their phone number is 210405500. I don't have the doctor's contact information because we did everything through the clinic's scheduling system. I'd give them a call to ask if the doctor is still working there and is still approved by the embassy. If that doesn't work, maybe contact the US Embassy in Lisbon as a last resort? Good luck.

Still no updates, and we're 3 weeks short of it marking a year I submitted the AOS... Anyone else in the same boat? I do have my EAD, but would love to get the green card before Christmas!

Sadly, I don't think that's unusual. It was really strange for a bunch of us to get an EAD so quickly, usually it takes almost a year... I've never called, so I don't know what number is active. Maybe you can try your help through Emma: https://www.uscis.gov/tools/meet-emma-our-virtual-assistant

It is! It's frustrating for sure for couples who have to wait longer for seemingly no reason whatsoever. I hope good luck comes your way soon.