SansTortoise

Re: naturalization certificate; if you want to replace it, it could take a while. It took 18 months for a friend as she had to physically go to the local USCIS office so they could look up data she didn’t have about her naturalization, only to be told that when they digitized paper records, they only recorded her date of birth, parents names, and date of entry into the United States and they didn’t know if, when, or where she became a citizen. They then had to manually search the paper records storage warehouse to re-digitize the records, so that she could go physically to the local USCIS office again, so they could tell her the data she needed to apply for a naturalization certificate. Heard similar horror stories both pre and post the change from district courts to administrative agencies handling naturalization. All that to say — USCIS does not keep good electronic records of who is and is not a citizen after someone becomes a citizen. Just use your full passport (every page scanned.) If you want a new naturalization certificate it’s going to take a while.

A general rule of thumb for anything semi-official is use PDF. There will almost never be file issues on an upload website with PDFs.

Depends on mix of federal and state laws for who will be included. My advice would be to go to a local legal aid clinic and talk with a local attorney who is probably familiar with the requirements. For my state, spouses are counted even if MFS on taxes and not living together. Other laws might be different. Local advice is needed. This might be a case where it makes sense to do a K-1 for non-immigrantion reasons since that would exclude OP from the household until he at least moves here. But I’d reiterate to talk to a local legal aid attorney so you get a better answer.

Cool, thanks. He’s visiting and we’re close to a consulate so just going to have the consulate do it while he’s here since it’s easier than getting it done by the issuing agency. Just wasn’t clear as to if it was bio page or everything.

Called the IRS and asked several tax CPA friends who didn’t know the answer to this — for a certified passport copy when applying for an ITIN, does the IRS want every page certified or just the biographic details? Called the IRS help line and the response was “the form instructions don’t say.”

Travel to Cuba is a reason to deny an ESTA application, not a visa. Mongolia isn’t a VWP country so not applicable to you. Visiting Cuba for family reasons is allowed for US citizens: https://cu.usembassy.gov/services/traveling-to-cuba/ Don’t see why it’d cause a problem.

Good point. If the physical card arrives it’s a less urgent item, but getting it stamped is a positive regardless.

Yeah, it doesn’t work like that even if your local immigration officer is lazy. If the actual green card doesn’t arrive Tuesday call your local CBP office and ask for an appointment to get it stamped.

I’m not sure why you think this would be an issue. Probably happens thousands of times a day in lawyers offices around the U.S. for items related and unrelated to immigration.

K-1s and CR-1s take roughly the same amount of time these days.

Link to CBP’s I-94 website: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home

She can pull the log of every entry and exit from the U.S. on her passport from CBPs website. That’ll give you coverage from her end. You’d need to send in a FOIA request to CBP for the equivalent on your U.S. passport. Probably worth doing in case you get an RFE, but I wouldn’t wait 10 months for their response.

Yeah, that’s fair. It doesn’t hurt, but I’d definitely want to include items that show you were physically here as well. If they’re easily accessible always best to include the stronger evidence.

University or other school transcripts usually are the easiest. University transcript (if you went to a 4 year school) plus a letter from your employer stating you’ve been working for the company for X years while physically in Y location should be sufficient. If you’ve been working for the same employer 5 years or more that’s probably enough — can include a sampling of paystubs as well. High school transcripts are even stronger proof than university since there aren’t all that many international virtual U.S. high schools. I’d stay away from tax returns, voter registrations, etc. you can be registered to vote and file taxes with a US mailing address not in the U.S. (plenty do.) It’s hard to be physically enrolled to attend a U.S. university or high school virtually. Same with work: your employer saying they’ve seen you regularly for 5 years within the U.S. is pretty hard to question. Other things you can include are: rental agreements, utility bills, paystubs, etc. Basically any of the “daily life” things your local DMV will count as proof of residency for a Real ID purposes will help.

Born in wedlock to a U.S. citizen and alien: “For birth on or after November 14, 1986, the U.S. citizen parent must have been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for five years prior to the person’s birth, at least two of which were after the age of 14.” (From the link above) So long as you meet those requirements the child is a U.S. citizen and you can request a CRBA.

If he has a firm job offer you could potentially use direct consular filing, which is faster. Otherwise, it’s around a 2 year wait.

Yeah, that makes sense. A lot of this depends on context. My general advice is more of: don’t volunteer more than asked. If they don’t ask who you’re staying with (they might not), no need to tell them. If they ask, truthfully answer that it’s the significant other.

Your plan is fine and isn’t lying or misrepresentation. WT class admission only has two options for purpose of travel “tourism” or “business” and answering one of those to the initial question is common and expected, especially from a country with lower English levels. Tell the truth to anything asked and never lie, but keep the answers short and factual if there are any questions. Have her bring the Liquidación del Sueldo, a rental agreement, and if she’s taking vacation days any approval form (licencia or permiso) showing the days requested off. If there’s a work contract that might help too. Obviously the return ticket as well. If she’s entering via Dulles or BWI (saw you’re from MD) there’s a high chance the only thing they ask her for is a picture and just input tourist without even asking her a question. Copa and Avianca service the SCL->IAD and SCL->BWI routes so most others on the plane will be from high overstay risk countries if she arrives on one of those flights. CBP does tend to focus their attention based on API data. They already know who they want to talk to beforehand, so there’s no reason to be worried.

You’re also allowed to translate yourself and self-certify if your English and non-English language levels are sufficiently high.

I wouldn’t even say “boyfriend” unless prompted. It’s a vacation and there likely will be no follow-up if that’s the answer. If they ask who OP is staying with, etc. then it can be brought up, but an initial visit to the U.S. on ESTA from a low-risk country doesn’t need details beyond one word (“vacation”) in most cases.

Chileans entering on ESTA tend to have zero questions asked because low risk country and the CBP officer assumes they don’t speak English, and they tend to arrive on flights that have people from high risk countries so CBP has better things to do with their time. If asked why she’s here she can honestly answer “vacation”, since that is true, and the officer won’t ask a follow-up. She is not required to volunteer that one of the activities she will be doing during her vacation is getting married. All the other advice here is true about showing intent to return, etc. if marriage comes up, but given the fact pattern I would be shocked if any question was asked at all. My advice would be to have all the paperwork needed to show connection to Chile, but to be surprised if the CBP officer speaks more than once during the entire interaction.

Yes, we agree. Though I’d add: someone innocently says something wrong vs. is defrauding the government is a judgement call on behalf of the government, and acting on advice in good faith can help show it wasn’t fraud, but a misunderstanding of the law rather than a misrepresentation of facts. Which is why I think OP should have a heart-to-heart with their counsel taking into account all they’ve learned today and move from there.

Yes, this is my point. “I applied for the incorrect visa because my lawyer told me to and was completely honest throughout the process” is neither fraud nor misrepresentation. People are being overly harsh on OP here, even if on substance they’re correct that IR-1 doesn’t seem to match OP’s goals.

There’s a difference between making sure the form is accurate and relying on legal counsel to tell you what the law is. Obviously OP needs to be completely honest with both their counsel and the CO, but given that an interview has been scheduled they should be asking their lawyer how to act given the (valid) concerns raised here and how far along they are in the process. They should also feel comfortable relying on their lawyer’s legal advice. They’ve paid for the legal advice. They should use it given the concerns.

Since you’ve already retained legal counsel, I’d have this conversation with them, and do what they tell you. They’re more familiar with the facts of your case than us, and unlike members of this forum if anything goes wrong, “I relied upon the advice of counsel” is something the government recognized as a defense.