Vickys_Mom

Which one appears on the birth certificate? Use that one. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Yes. DO NOT send originals through the mail. Send copies, and bring the originals to the interview. Regards, Vicky's Mom

They need that yellow package. The permanent I-551 (green card) has two requirements: payment of the $220 fee, and entry into the United States. You have the stamp so you have entered, but you also had the yellow envelope. Because you didn't turn in the yellow envelope, the system doesn't know that you've entered the United States. Since one of the two requirements haven't been completed, it won't issue you a card. The officer who put the stamp in your passport at the port of entry should have taken the envelope. He made a mistake. Follow @milimelo's advice above about doing a deferred inspection. They'll take the yellow envelope and "process" it, which will tell the computer that you have entered the United States. It'll trigger the request for the green card. (By comparison, my mother-in-law's visa didn't have a yellow envelope. Her information was transmitted electronically, and when her visa was scanned at the port of entry the system noticed she had entered. I'd already paid the fee, so it triggered the request.) As already mentioned, the stamp in your passport grants a 12-month stay. Not six months. Having said that, go and do the deferred inspection as soon as you can. Regards, Vicky's Mom

And no, an RFE is not a "doomed" indication. It means exactly what it says. They want to see more information of a bona-fide marriage. Be aware that you won't get a second RFE. If you do not satisfy the requirement of the RFE, they may reject your application and you have to start over again. Review the list of possible evidence. Submit as much of it as you can. Pay attention to the deadline. (I've gotten at least two RFEs since I've been dealing with USCIS. All have been resolved and the beneficiaries received their green cards.) Regards, Vicky's Mom

One data point: my mother-in-law's application was received 08 Oct 21 and approved 02 Nov 22...just under 13 months. Regards, Vicky's Mom

You can bring *anything you want* to the interview. They will be more interested in your fiancé's pay stubs since he's the sponsor. Don't forget to bring the originals of anything you sent copies of with your applications. Birth certificates, wedding licenses, passports, etc. The one IO I interacted with together during the AoS interview (years ago) spent most of her time looking at our wedding photos and pictures of trips we'd taken together. Regards, Vicky's Mom

The DMV person didn't know what was required. You know more than she does. I have a letter from a state agency who reviewed my mother-in-law's IR-5 visa stamp in the passport. They rejected it and said "this is expired". It's not...she entered the country six weeks ago. (It's valid for 12 months.) So I could have called, tried to find the person, and "educated" them. Maybe they would have been happy to have the explanation and learn something. Maybe they would have reacted badly. Since I knew her I-551 (the physical green card) was on the way, I just waited until it got here and sent a copy of it instead. I didn't try to explain anything...just submitted the document. You can certainly try again, but they know what the physical green card looks like and how to read it. I'd wait if you can. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Much of this will be a part of the divorce decree. You should have a divorce attorney NOW. Decisions will start being made and your attorney protects you (as well as your children). Disposition of debt incurred during the marriage is one of the things negotiated in the divorce settlement...like custody of the children and visitation rights which you need to be concerned about also. It would be wonderful if you found a divorce attorney who also understood things like the Affidavit of Support. Those are rare and (I suspect) more expensive. But that's a secondary issue to getting things set up to protect yourself while the pre-divorce activities occur. There's nothing that says you two can't work all of this out later and stay married. But once one of you starts throwing that D-word around you have to find an attorney to protect you. Regards, Vicky's Mom

U.S. Customs and Border Protection won't care. If they ask why you have a return ticket tell them it was cheaper that way. If you do it to the same airline, multiple times, and they keep track of it, they may eventually tell you to take your business elsewhere. Regards, Vicky's Mom

I've done an AOS from a student visa (thru naturalization) and an IR-5. I don't remember ever being sent a checklist from USCIS, at any point during the process. That's why you use places like VJ...people here have created guides and checklists you can use. Advice: never, ever, ever expect that USCIS is going to help you with this process. You're going to do all of it yourself. Regards, Vicky's Mom

My wife and I have insurance through our respective employers. Neither of our employers' policies would allow us to add my mother-in-law as a dependent. They said a dependent had to be 26 or younger. So I only asked healthcare.gov for an individual policy for her. Healthcare.gov will insure all of you. Whether it's a family policy with all of you or a separate policy for each...I don't know. Regards, Vicky's Mom

In my case (mother in law) the healthcare.gov web site sent her information directly to my state's Medicaid program. They've contacted me and asked me for information as if she is applying for Medicaid and a "credit" for her health care premiums. We told them we didn't think she qualified in our state for Medicaid (71 years old, never contributed to Medicare or Social Security, just got here and doesn't have five years' residency), but I think the healthcare.gov system just sends it off to the state agency regardless. It is not a public charge issue. I doubt my state (Nebraska) is going to provide any credit, and I suspect we will be paying full price for her insurance as we make enough money not to worry about credits, but since the state's process was already started we decided to wait and see what happens. At present, the best quote from healthcare.gov I have for her is around $950 per month. That's a very basic policy...pretty much catastrophic insurance only, high deductible, etc. OP, check Florida rules about Medicaid. Some states allow legal permanent residents to apply for Medicaid on arrival. Others have waits. Even if she doesn't qualify for Medicaid you can certainly add her to your healthcare.gov policy. Regards, Vicky's Mom

If the Post Office does anything, it'll be to make sure that the father's name written on the passport application matches the father's name written on the birth certificate. I didn't notice the Post Office paying that much attention to the application. The Passport Agency should be more thorough since they have to key all of the information into the computer. I'd take the documentation you have and include a letter explaining what happened. But I'd use the name on your son's birth certificate as the father's name on the passport application. Keep it simple. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Nope. It's still valid. The holes weren't punched in it to try and obscure information, and most people who work with legal documents know what a two-hole punch at the top of the document means. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Sign everything. Go back and make sure you signed everything. Then look again. Make sure you signed where you were supposed to and your spouse signed where they were supposed to. If you had to attach any explanations because they wouldn't fit on the form, make sure you put the identification information at the top of those pages: name and A-number. Double-check instructions starting with page 5. Make sure you included everything. Print out a copy and check the items off. Make at least one copy of everything you are submitting. Assume USCIS loses your entire packet. You should be able to easily re-create it. Aside from the form itself, do not send the originals of anything. (Or, don't send anything that you're going to have a problem with if they lose it.) For example, I have several original copies of my U.S. birth certificate, all with stamps from the state's Department of Health, and I could request another one if I had to. So I didn't mind sending them an original. If you can't easily get another copy of an original document, send a copy. (You will still bring the originals with you to the interview.) Did you make copies of everything? Regards, Vicky's Mom

My mother-in-law's came in today via the U.S. Postal Service. It had a tracking number on it, and I saw it from the time they created the mailing in Lee's Summit. We live in a house and it was left in our regular mail box. No signature required. Regards, Vicky's Mom

Not me. I want to see them try him for the offense of making a copy of a government document to provide to, well, the government. (smile) Regards, Vicky's Mom

I vaguely remember having to wait a day or two after I submitted one set before I could get the link to work for the second set. It was for my mother-in-law and we were in Indonesia at the time, so I remember being irked by "we're here on a short trip, I'd really like to get this done now, it's making me wait to submit these..." Give it a day or two and see if it enables. Regards, Vicky's Mom

In the United States, if you are found not guilty of a crime, you are not given penalties like a six-month probation, community service, or a suspension of your driver's license. You were convicted of something. It might not have been the initial charge but you were convicted. Question 4 should be Yes. It might have been "guilty" or "no contest" or something else. I would also consider answering Yes to Question 7. You were inside a jail. It might have been for a couple of hours, but you were inside a jail. Remember to attach all of the paperwork related to the case. Someone will have to review it and make a determination. You are so close to being done with this. Be open and honest about what happened. Regards, Vicky's Mom

You do the best you can. I have copies of all of my W-2s going back to my teen years. They had my employers' full address on them. Even if that employer doesn't exist any more I can use the addresses on the W-2. (I didn't need it for a DS-260...I work for a contractor that does government work, and they needed all of the information for my background checks.) The Internet is your friend. Even if a company no longer exists, some part of them may still be found on Google. Track down what you can. For a given entry put as much information as you can. You might have to put "don't know" or "don't remember" for a street address, and you might have to put all 9s or 0s for a phone number. But make an effort to put in as much information as you can. You want to give the reader the impression that you would have given them every bit of information they asked for if you could find it...not that you didn't make any effort to go and track down a given employer. Regards, Vicky's Mom

A DS-3025 is a Vaccination Documentation Worksheet. An I-693 is a Report of Immigration Medical Examination. You can have a DS-3025 be a part of an I-693 package but they are not the same thing. If you've received an RFE for an I-693, you need to send them an I-693. If you did one already and don't have a copy of it, you may have to do another one. My wife had one done here in the United States. I think we paid $200-300 at the time (2011) and I *still* have an electronic copy of that form. (Note for the future: keep copies of every piece of paper you have to fill out as a part of the immigration process...at least until you have a naturalization certificate in hand.) You can certainly write them back and tell them you did all of this already but that won't satisfy the RFE. They may decide you don't really want to go through the process and cancel your application. Regards, Vicky's Mom

It wouldn't hurt especially since this is an RFE. The tax transcript should contain all of the totals related to your W-2s, 1099s, etc. That doesn't mean they can't ask for the specific forms. The last time I did one (for my mother-in-law), I included my W-2, my wife's W-2, two 1099-Bs, a 1099-DIV, and a 1099-INT since I had them. It was probably too much but I'd rather send too much than not enough. I didn't send the 1099-SAs (distribution from a Health Savings Account) because it doesn't show income per se. Regards, Vicky's Mom

When you arrive in the U.S., your passport will be stamped by the authority with an ADMITTED stamp. This stamp will include the date of admission and the category...in your case, IR2. Your stamped passport serves as proof of valid residency for 12 months from the date of that stamp. You should expect your green card to be mailed within 90 days of your entry into the U.S. since you've already paid the fee. Regards, Vicky's Mom

You paid the fee, and when she enters the U.S. that satisfies the other requirement. The green card should be issued within 90 days of both requirements being satisfied. Regards, Vicky's Mom

In my case, I had submitted my personal Affidavit under my wife's name (along with hers). I had to send CEAC a note asking them to "unlock" the account so I could add a Household Member entry. They got it done within a couple of days. I think there's a link on the CEAC site you can click on to ask for help. Tell them what you said above. Regards, Vicky's Mom