Mychal

I would create a new topic for your case. Every case is drastically different which might affect outcomes and wait times.

@Family @OldUser My wife and I got home from our 1 year anniversary dinner today and she got an email saying action was taken on her case. The I-485s have been approved! No notices of reopening the cases. Just straight from denied to approved. Notices should be arriving in the mail in the coming weeks.

We did file it on paper. They sent us a letter back then as well on setting up an online account to track its status.

The only accounts we have are for the I-485 for my wife, and another for her son's 485. We even included these account numbers on the 290B's, but they sent us letters saying they created new accounts anyways.

Small update: We've received a letter from the USCIS saying they've created a new account for us regarding the 290B submittal. We were able to contact the USCIS through a phone call and they told us, for whatever reason, we cannot simply add the case to the existing account and that we need to create a new email address which can then be used to log in to the new one they made for us. So thats what we'll do. Kinda silly, but I suppose it is what it is.

I would try calling that number on the bottom right corner of your form and see if anyone there can answer your question. In my experience they return checks they don't need. My wife and I sent processing fee cashiers checks but they were returned to us due to the fees being covered with another application we sent.

Alright, we are just sitting still and trying to trust the process, haha. Forgive me if I'm sounding distrusting but everywhere I've researched from sources by the USCIS they say that she can't work even though shes a direct relative to a USC. I'm reading a lot of contradictory information than what I'm seeing here. Minor update: Today my wife got a notification from USCIS saying they have taken an action on her case, but upon review in the USCIS account it looks like they just posted the denial of her original I-485 online. We got the denial letter back on the 11th of this month, but it was never reflected online. Until today. Hopefully that means they're looking at our 290B.

I'll definitely look into the congressman authorization form. But in regards to her EAD I think we are deciding to just turn them in like they request in the denial letter, just to be on the safe side. We did some research and read several cases where applicants were denied GC or even their citizenship applications after the USCIS somehow found out they worked without a valid EAD during their time in the country. We don't need any more issues than we are already dealing with, and my income is more than enough to provide for us. We got notice earlier today that they did receive our 290B forms, so hopefully we hear the good news of the case being reopened or even approved. Worst case scenario we are preparing a new I-485 submission just to have on hand if we need to refile.

My current concern is regarding my wife's EAD. This coming Sunday is the 18 day limit where it is still valid, unless we can prove that her case is pending. Unfortunately that "proof" is dependent on how quickly USCIS responds to their receipt of our I-290B. Is the USPS receipt enough for this proof so that her EAD stays valid?

Thank you. We appreciate the well wishes!

Sent off the packages a couple hours ago. Should be arriving to their offices by end of day tomorrow.

Yea, I just saw some comments around VJ about them needing statements for each motion so I thought I'd write something up to see how it would look and get some feedback. I'll stick with the original. Thanks!

Funny you mention USCIS fees, haha. Today when we were just verifying the finish packet we realized that adding the bank statements that show previous USCIS fees would be a good thing to include. Including a printout of our recent bank activity showing the two $800 transactions for the very fees were are sending this whole thing in for.

We don't have any personal checks. Never had a use for them. Maybe I'll get some just to have on hand for some unexpected future need.

Thank you for all your help. I forgot that my bank is closed Saturdays so I have to wait until Monday to get the cashier's checks. I'll blame that forgetfulness on the very painful cold I'm currently battling. I was reading up on some other threads and saw on the 290B that they wanted statements for both the motions to reopen and reconsider. I added more direct verbiage to the cover letter, and included quotes from the denial letter to address. What your opinion on my revision? Should I keep it simpler and go back to the other one?

Alright thats good to know, thank you. Its really difficult to know when "legalese" is preferred and when its not. I was making some last minute changes to the order of our packet today and just making sure we have everything clean and easy to follow. I will say for how many pages it has it is very clean and easy to follow. I will be sending both forms out tomorrow. I'm including a G-1145 with them, so we should be notified by them when they receive it.

That one does make the most sense to me and is probably the classification I will go with. I've read some stuff about it that makes me still wonder if its even the correct one but it looks like the most accurate based off the 4 or 5 words the USCIS uses to describe it. I appreciate your input.

I'm just trying to verify to myself that the IR-1 is the correct classification, and there's just no cut and dry answer that I can find. Let alone if my stepson is an IR-1 as well or an IR-2... or something else. They definitely qualify for green cards based off entering on K1 and K2 visas, but https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility-categories doesnt really translate on which visa classification we are asking for on the I-290B. IR-1, IR-6, CF-1 , IF-1, they all look right, but also don't. They all have criteria that we both meet but also don't. For my stepson there are 4 other classifications that also look like they would fit after reading up on all of them as well. This is opening up a whole can of worms of uncertainty...

Ah, thank you so much. Though would it not be IR-6 for adjustment? For my stepson his category would be IR-2 or IR-7 I'm going to guess. I'm at 126 pages of just our bank and billing statements. How sure are we that they won't toss the case in the garbage for being "overly cumbersome?"

There's one question I cant find any information on in the I-290b, to know if I need to fill this out. My search functions must be messed up because I get no results on the topic, and only the same 7 videos uploaded by lawyers scroll on repeat when I search on youtube. I don't think this question is vital, but I don't want to take the chance that it is and leave it blank. In all the nuances, are we requesting classification?

That is a brilliant idea. I still have one more letter scheduled to get notarized tomorrow, so I will write one up explaining this situation to take along with it. I owe you. I really do. I plan on finalizing and organizing everything I have tomorrow. Copy every sheet and piece of evidence into a single PDF, put it all in order, and then print and review to send on Friday. Last order of business is to then hope and pray.... and be ready to send in a notice of a pending case so that her work permit doesn't become invalid.

I haven't pulled a credit report, but I did include quarterly statements for the two credit cards I do have, and explained that they are paid off using our joint bank account. I don't think the USCIS will like the reason we did not add her to these accounts. To say why frankly its because, at the time, we did not see it as necessary. We were obviously ignorant to the fact that they would need proof to this extent that we are a legitimate couple. We got married, live together, I handled all our expenses from my (and now our) one account, my wife is a part of my extended family and they recognize her as such, etc. We didn't know we needed a paper trail connecting every part of our lives. Its definitely a lesson hard learned and we're now hoping its not too late.

Its only as good as the help that I had. 🙂 I do have one more question. Should we include the I-485 that we submitted for the RFE, and/or the denial letter in the I-290B submittal?

I am an very organized person so I have little worry that something will be misplaced or forgotten. Check boxes and color coding for the win! 2. The only reason I made the verbiage like that is because the utility bill statements and the payments reflected on the bank statements do not line up. But I can remove it, as I think I will be grouping each month's bill statement directly with the bank statement that shows payment of said bills. I will remove that phrasing. 3. Per the I-290B instructions I'm sending the packet to Chicago, IL, and I wasn't sure if the field director of our local office would even be the one to get the packets. But I can change it back. 5. That would be a good idea but we do not do cards or any "evidence" for fathers/valentines day. We more do things like cook each other big fancy meals and just spend time together. Thank you for your guidance! Its night and day how I was feeling less than a week ago.

I do believe I have everything I need to submit. Just need to make a few scans to have digital record copies of a few documents. I have the bona fide marriage letters that will be notorized complete and I've scheduled with the relevant people to get them notorized today and tomorrow. I'm unsure how I should handle my stepson's packet, as his case was denied purely due to my wife's being denied, but my plan is to just add everything that is in my wife's packet to his, and at a note saying his case his case is depended on hers. Your thoughts? Do you think that should be ok or do I need to do something different?