OldUser

I think the letter should state how early you need to be there? The rule of thumb is no earlier than 30 mins prior to appointment. My ceremony (not your field office) did not allow guests either.

You don't need to do anything. Sorry about everything you're going through.

Time to lawyer up. In my amateur opinion, any benefit obtained through fraud is subject for revocation, even if it was for dependant.

The biggest problems with paid joint sponsor are: 1) Transactional relationship which is a fraud indicator 2) More importantly, the paid joint sponsor could sponsor several immigrants for reward over the course of time, and not even count them correctly on I-864. This is the biggest problem. E.g. they'd put they have household size of 4 (3 family + 1 immigrant), but in reality their household size is 20 now (because of prior I-864 liabilities). IMHO no sane person would be sponsoring a stranger. If they do it for money, they's super high risk they're fraudsters and make money sponsoring many people. Don't do it.

Thank you for detailed report @TwoSwifts! Jokes and comments about officer's desks / looks etc are a bit risky. Glad you got an adequate person adjudicating case.

Your mileage may vary (YMMV). I heard one person being asked prior to oath to produce a 2 year GC... Literally asked multiple times for it.

Got card in my hand. It took about 2 weeks from being approved to receiving it. The plastic quality is good, doesn't feel flimsy. The printing quality is 7/10 subjectively. The ID doesn't have as much protection features as US passport card. Competitively, 3/10 when it comes to security. It features magnetic strip and bar code at the back of the card. Got some booze in a liquor store for July 4th. Never ID'd 🥲 I thought it would be first opportunity to use this ID.

Processing time is currently 9 months for I-129F https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ Things did slow down a bit

Awesome congrats! What a gift for 4th of July! It's always best to be overprepared than underprepared.

Do you have any pending case? If you haven't filed N-400, you don't need to do anything besides police report, probably just for your safety in case if somebody tries using your old GC.

If I-751 is approved, you're no longer a conditional resident. Don't travel internationally without 10 year GC or valid I-551 stamp, you'll get stuck overseas and will have to pay a lot for boarding foil. Police report is a good idea for many reasons. You can apply for naturalization whenever you're eligible, whether you have 10 year GC in hand or not.

This shouldn't be an issue if you have a qualifying joint sponsor.

Who told you that? Adjustment of status packets require I-693 when filing. Otherwise it will get rejected. "Effective Dec. 2, 2024, you must submit Form I-693, or a partial Form I-693 (such as the Vaccination Record), and you must submit it with your Form I-485. Otherwise, we may reject your Form I-485. " Source: https://www.uscis.gov/i-693 Don't use notarios / paralegals to file immigration cases! Don't rely on advice of friends who filed cases long time ago. Things change all the time. You need to be aware of all requirements.

And no bags of powdered sugar, laundry powder or baking soda either 😅 All of this is readily available in the US.

Few things: 1) Did she ever have any line of credit? E.g. loan in her name, credit card, mortgage etc? If not, websites like LexisNexis may not have info on her. This is one of the websites which collects data on people for banks etc to use 2) Did she recently move? 2) More importantly, did she change her name as part of naturalization? Otherwise, I agree with @Lemonslice, I opened bank accounts, credit cards, brokerage accounts as LPR and citizen without any issue. The only time I had some trouble verifying identity online when I just arrived in the US on work visa and had 0 history in the country.

Sadly, verbal approvals mean nothing. They're not legally binding. Is your wife a French citizen? Was she born in France?

~ This is not an immigration issue. Moved to Off-Topic ~

No way, we need something similar to the Darwin Award for people shooting their own leg immigration wise. This idea of shredding docs or evidence after naturalizing is somewhat popular amount some immigrants. I don't fully understand why. It's literally proof of how you became a citizen if you ever need to explain it to authorities. I can understand shredding easily available docs such as bank statements etc, but shredding notices etc... Not sure I'm a fan. I'm keeping all I-797 notices I received through AOS to naturalization and digital copies of those. Hopefully will never need it

This is a good question, which I don't have answer to. Maybe it's a thing to try in 10 years? 😃 I'd argue certificate of naturalization is very important doc though. I know somebody close who couldn't get a government related job with passport and passport card. They needed to present certificate of naturalization specifically. This can also happen at SSA when trying to get some benefits. Also, when sponsoring an immigrant, proving derivative citizenship for child or renewing passport. There's more and more stories of DOS asking for certificate again when renewing passport, many years later after successfully renewing it in the past without having to present it. Think of it as "remember me" checkbox on website. Many times you wouldn't have to enter password again, but occasionally the security system will ask you to reenter password. You wouldn't want to have to certificate when you're prompted for it. I do believe PPC is useful to restore the certificate quicker if it's lost or damaged though.

Not surprised at all.

If it's not checked, then it means you're just waiting. At some point in future you'll get scheduled for interview.

Credit card! Risky stuff, glad it worked!

Illegal route may be even worse : 1) OP marries in October 2) Leaves the US 3) Attempts to reenter the US on J-1 with intent to adjust 4) Gets caught by CBP. Held in secondary, questioned, phone and personal belongings searched 5) J-1 is cancelled, entry denied, sent back home 6) Now OP is facing 3+ years consular process overseas AND needs to seek waiver for misrepresentation

@katywalla read my comment posted earlier. You're OK marrying now, filing for adjustment, and leaving the US for trip in December if you have advance parole or green card then. Why is it OK to adjust now? Because you didn't have intent of staying in the US when you last entered to the country. However, if you leave now without filing for adjustment and plan to reenter with intent to adjust, then you have potential issue with misrepresentation / fraud in the future. Most of AOS applicants have interviews nowadays. At the interview adjudicator may dig deep into your relationship timeline, reasons for marriage etc. If they suspect you played the system by entering the US with immigrant intent on non-immigrant visa, you'll have serious issues. Also, the chance of reentering on J-1 after marrying US citizen is also decreasing significantly. That's why it would only be safe to leave on Advance Parole, because then you would be upfront to CBP: yes, I married, yes I have immigrant intent, here's Advance Parole.

Thank you for very valuable datapoints @Ontarkie! Seems like there's a pattern with DMVs!