MCOBAQ

Non-immigration and non-family lawyer here. As others have said, and based on the facts we have, the child is not a USC and cannot become one unless your friend is willing to execute the proper papers and stand before a consular officer. No family court judge can confer US citizenship or even compel your friend to jump through those hoops. Likewise, the child would not be entitled to US social security or Medicaid benefits. Since your friend and Colombiana were never married, she has no claim to his house. Depending on what state he’s in, he may also have homestead protections which would prevent anyone (even a family court judge) from giving the house to Colombiana. Your friend may well owe child support, and there are international laws in place whereby a US family court could enforce the child support orders of a Colombiana court - if Colombiana ever got such an order. I doubt a Colombian court is going to award her the king’s ransom (appropriate word for what she’s trying to do here) that she’s asking for. Most importantly, and especially so in light of your friend’s government job, he needs to see a couple of lawyers (immigration and family). This will give him some good information, when knowledge is power. It should also give him some confidence and peace of mind. I wish him good luck.

Yikes. I won’t tell you to be patient, because I know I wasn’t! It took nearly 2 weeks for our case to go back into review from when the post office delivered our response, and then another week to get the approval. I bet you hear something soon - good luck!

Thanks! Yes it did go to our field office - they sent us an RFE in March because some paperwork had gone missing from the file. The approval comes about 4 weeks after we sent in our response directly to the field office. We did a fiancé visa and then AOS, so we we’ve been married a little over a year now.

Happy to report that my husband’s AOS had been approved! 1 year and 3 days from when we filed…no interview and they never asked us for evidence of a bona fide marriage.

We included a copy of the DS-3025 with the AOS packet and they still sent an RFE asking my husband to provide his medical exam record (which should have been in the sealed envelope he received from the embassy with his visa). He called the panel physician in his home country, but they would not release the records to him. He ended up redoing the exam here in the US and sent it in to our field office. You should be fine…worst case scenario is your spouse has to repeat the exam here and send in another sealed envelope.

Civil Surgeon said she would sign off on the form assuming the blood work came back negative, so I believe only the first dose of the multi-dose vaccines is necessary (except COVID). For the $110 she charged, I hope he can get the remaining doses though! The exam and blood work was $480.

Nearly the same thing has happened with our AOS application. If you bring your DS-3025 (and any other vaccination cards you have) with you to the civil surgeon medical exam, you should not have to repeat those vaccinations. If any vaccinations were not completed abroad and they’re required now, you’ll need to get those done before the CS will sign the I-693. HepB was not a required vaccine when my husband did his medical abroad, but it is now, so we paid $110 on top of the exam fee to make sure that was complete. It can’t hurt to bring the chest X-Ray CD with you, but the doctor didn’t need it in our case. If the non-US COVID vaccines were completed per their protocol, and the doctor can read the vaccination card, they should be acceptable for I-693 purposes.

Hi - We received the same RFE. I asked my congressman’s office to intervene, but the USCIS response was basically “we told them what forms we need in the RFE.” We caved and choose the path of least resistance - redid the exam last Friday. Hopefully it’s a quick approval once we send the results in (along with our marriage certificate, which they also apparently lost). If you can manage the duplicate exam, I’d highly recommend doing it.

The general rule is not to submit anything that hasn’t been requested by USCIS (either by being required as part of a form or via an RFE). That being said, I would include the DS-3025 with your I-485 and if you have a copy of the complete medical report from the overseas doctor, include that too. Don’t be surprised if they end up asking you for an I-693 down the road even if you were married within 90 days of arrival and applied for AOS within a year of the overseas medical. In our case we were married within 90 days of my fiancé’s arrival and submitted the I-485/I-765/I-131 within a year of his exam in Colombia. After 10 months of silence, we received an RFE from our field office for (1) either the OF-157 or DS-2053 from his medical exam in Colombia because his “file does not contain any evidence of a completed medical exam prior to entry in the US” with the option to do an exam here and submit I-693 if we did not have the other forms. While I’m super annoyed that they are asking us for forms we would not have because they should have been in the sealed envelope we turned over at the POE (if the medical exam evidence wasn’t in the sealed envelope, I doubt he would’ve been allowed out of the airport!), we decided the path of least resistance would be to do an exam here. Btw, (2) they also have asked us for a copy of our marriage certificate- of course I submitted that with the rest of the AOS paperwork. He did his exam last Friday with a civil surgeon we located using the USCIS search tool. $480 for the exam, $110 for the HepB vaccine he needed. We’re waiting for his blood tests to come back and then we’ll pick up the I-693 and send it in with (another) copy of the marriage certificate. Will ask for a copy of the completed I-693 so that we can upload everything online (and also send the sealed envelope). I’ll update this to let you know whether we get an approval or an interview.

Agreed it’s strange, since that form would’ve been in a sealed envelope that we couldn’t open. Yes he did a chest X-ray as part of the exam and we have a CD with those results.

Thanks for the reply. We included the DS-3025 (immunization form) with the I-485 packet and do still have a copy if need be. It was submitted within 1 year of the overseas exam. They are saying they did not get a DS-2053 (I’m not getting the numbers transposed lol) - that’s the substantive medical report that we were not given. If it comes to it, there’s a CS close to home and we’ll bring the 3025 to avoid paying for additional vaccines.

I’m actually a May 2022 filer, but your advice here may have just cleared up something for my husband and I. We just received an RFE for our marriage certificate, which I am sure we included with the I-485/765/131. Seems like maybe they used that certificate when they adjudicated the I-765 last summer and since we only included 1 copy, they don’t have it now that they’re working on the I-485? The decoupling has resulted in a missing marriage certificate for the I-485 now? Seems ridiculous they wouldn’t have scanned it in at some point, but it’s the only logical explanation. They also have asked for my husband’s DS-2053, saying there’s no evidence of him having done the medical exam. Seems like that form would have been in the sealed envelope he turned over on arrival - how would we possibly have it to send to USCIS (then or now)? I have my congressman’s office checking into this - maybe USCIS will look around the file a little harder.

So after 8 months of radio silence, we received an RFE yesterday. They’re not looking for evidence of a bona fide marriage. Nope. They’re looking for our marriage certificate (it was included with the I-485 we sent back in May 2022) and the DS-2053 report of medical exam from the exam performed overseas (which would’ve been in that sealed envelope we handed over at the POE). Do these people routinely lose sensitive documents despite all the time and care we take to make sure everything is done by the book? We can send another copy of the marriage certificate, no problem. The medical form they are asking for is not something my husband was given at his exam - it should’ve been in that sealed envelope that came with his visa. We do have the immunization form DS-3025 and submitted it with the I-485, but do we now have to pay for a second exam because of a USCIS error? Anyone else get a ridiculous RFE like this?

If it’s any consolation, you’re not alone. We filed the I-485, I-765 and I-131 (adjusting from a K-1) at the same time in mid-May 2022. Things seemed to be processing quickly at first: assigned to Natl Benes Center with an IOE receipt number, online account created, biometrics taken in early July 2022, and the EAD issued quickly after that. Since then, not a peep. They’ve been “actively reviewing” the I-485 ever since, and there’s been no movement on the AP since sending us the receipt notice. We called a few months ago and the rep told us our interview had been waived (great!) but that the AOS itself was still being reviewed. In the meantime I’ve seen other couples I’d been following here get their GC’s in 4, 5 months (one couple submitted everything after we did - same state, different city, and they already received the GC). No advice for you, sorry to say, but others are as frustrated as you are.

It seems like a standard email they might send to everyone (although we have not gotten one like it), or maybe whomever opened your packet didn’t pay attention to the type of visa being adjusted from. Do you remember if you guys received a DS-3025 from the medical exam (vaccination confirmation form)? If not or if it was not included with your AOS packet, that may have prompted the email. Would it hurt to redo the exam? I doubt it as long as no “Class A” diseases are found. But the email does say to ignore if you’re converting from a K-1 visa. The fact that the K-1 has expired by now I think is irrelevant for this issue. Here’s a link to the USCIS page on the I-693 that might help…see frequently asked question #3 on page 8: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-693instr.pdf

If I understand correctly, K-1s do not need to redo the medical exam so long as the I-485 is submitted within 1 year of when the medical exam was performed. Doesn’t matter that the AOS process will take forever, as long as the application was filed within 1 year of the exam.

Non-immigration lawyer here who is patiently (sometimes not patiently) waiting for my husband’s AOS to be approved. I’m all for folks handling their own matters if they can, but sometimes it’s just better to seek out a professional consult. Even if it’s just to get some advice on your issue and not to take you through the whole process, it could be well worth it. I know you can setup an online consult through VJ, and there are plenty of immigration lawyers with YouTube channels that also offer online consults. That having been said, I think the SpaceAge example was pretty extreme. Try to get everything corrected for the next submission, keep a low profile like someone else posted, and you’ll have your NOA1 soon. You might also keep a copy of your rejected AOS forms handy in the car just in case you get pulled over - can’t hurt. Good luck!

1. Not necessary that they attended the wedding. Those signing the affidavits simply have to be able to attest to the validity of the marriage. This can come from anyone that has legitimate, first-hand experience with the two of you as a married couple. 2. Sworn affidavits, by their very nature, are usually notarized, yes. I’d say err on the side of caution and have the affidavits notarized. Google “[your state] notary acknowledgement sample” and add it to the end of an affidavit form you’ve done up for whomever is gonna sign for you. If there’s a notary acknowledgment that mentions having taken an oath (I.e. sworn), that’s the one you want. Most banks, check cashing places, and even UPS stores have notaries. Just my $0.02 worth as a (non-immigration) lawyer going thru this process too.

Possibility here: Rebecca N. Pirela, M.D. 1417 N. Semoran Blvd. Suite 101 Orlando, FL 32807 407-480-5515 (See attached screen shot re certifying vaccinations from home countries)

Called today. We were told our interview was waived back in May 2022 (i.e. when we filed) but that the application is still being processed. As for time frame, all she would tell us is that it's at the Orlando field office, that they process 80% of their applications within 17 months, so everything is going normally. Sit tight and wait, essentially. 🙄

Congratulations! I think it really does vary from case to case. My husband received his EAD (not a combo card) back in early July, but the AOS is still “being actively reviewed.” We have an IOE receipt number and hoped that the electronic processing would speed things up, but doesn’t seem to be happening for us.