Edward and Jaycel

Congratulations!! And thank you so much for taking the time to share this with everyone

HAHAHAHA yes! We are using the AOS forms to change Jaycel's name. She is taking my lfamily name as her family name and taking her maiden family name as her middle name. Her biometric appointment notification came in her new married name, however her passport is in her maiden name so we brought along a certified copy of our marriage certificate as documentation of the name change. In addition to this, on the back of the appointment notice is an "Applicant Information Worksheet" where she had to put her name (married name) and any other names used (maiden name). We had to explain three times to the woman entering her information and taking her fingerprints that yes, she is taking her maiden family name as her new, married middle name. LOLOLOL 😆

This is correct. It is emailed to the attendee after the session during checkout and this is the certificate they need to present to Philippine Immigration when exiting the country. They will present the electronic certificate retrieved from the email that the CFO sends. In Jaycel's case, the immigration officer wanted to see the email with the attachment on her phone and then watch her click on the attachment to open the certificate.

It usually means someone was working on your case... Hoping they square away the admin processing quickly for you!

It all depends on the Consular Officer conducting the interview. That's why, even though it is not required for the I-129F, I urge everyone who is going this route to front-load their petition with relationship evidence. I say this because the I-129F packet you send to USCIS gets sent to the embassy for the interview. In our case, we know for sure that the CO conducting Jaycel's interview was scanning through our I-129F packet(110 pages in total) because of the comments he was making and we believe this is why the interview only consisted of 5 basic questions and lasted approximately 3 minutes before he verbally approved her and the visa was issued 3 days later.

For I-129F you cannot upload anything to your case through the NVC. Bring whatever additional evidence you want to add to the case to the interview.

Because I'm such an **** Retentive when it comes to attention to detail and because I've studied all of this process intently for the last 15 months or so.... Here's an interesting tidbit for anyone else that is a bit of a nerd like I am with this stuff. Jaycel had her Biometrics appointment yesterday and while we were inside the ASC, her case statuses changed to "Case Is Being Actively Reviewed By USCIS" as expected. The first pic is how it looked in the online portal the night before the biometrics. The second pic is what it looks like as of yesterday afternoon. No "Concurrent Filing" anymore and the I-765 with a higher receipt number is now on top. AND over the course of the last day, the order of the cases has flip-flopped several times. Sometimes the I-485 is on top and sometimes the I-765 is. Just a weird tidbit. Not saying it means anything but definitely have not stumbled across anyone talking about something like this over the last 15 months in my studies 🤪 Oh... and on the I-765, the "Estimated time until your case decision" went from 3 months to 40 months LOL 😂

This..... Was this marked?

If you are in no rush to get the card then why not use the option on the Adjustment of Status forms (I-485 & I-765) to request a card from Social Security? If you want to take your husband's name, then use your new married name on the forms and when you select the option that you want the SSA to issue you a card, they will come in your new married name. Save yourself the trouble of having to deal with the SSA directly.

Yes, I heard the same thing. We just decided that the number of AOS that are approved before the I-131 is adjudicated to us made spending that extra $630 not seem worth it LOL

Yeah I did not send certified copies and got the RFE. The instructions are clear that you have to send certified copies and I just missed that part when I was filing the I-129F. USCIS did send back the original, certified copies to me after they approved the petition. I would order another set of court certified copies just in case they don't send back the ones you send in. USCIS rules are that they return any original/certified copies you send them as long ast USCIS requests them and they clearly are requesting them in the instructions. But you never know with USCIS, they might not return the ones you send.

The crazy thing is that in the run up to us filing Jaycel's AOS, we watched quite a few videos and read timelines for people whose I-765 status went to approved within a couple of days after the biometrics appointment and getting the card in the mail within a couple of weeks after that. It's crazy how it can vary so wildly. The only consistent thing I can see with the ones we saw that were being approved so quickly is they are folks since the fee increases that opted to file only the I-765 and not the I-131 concurrently with their I-485. Jaycel stayed in touch with some of the women she met at her interview in the embassy that are also K-1 and 2 of them got their EADs within 6 weeks of filing.

From the instructions for Form I-129F: Item Number 4.a. Criminal Information. Indicate whether you have ever been arrested, cited, charged, indicted, convicted, fined, or imprisoned for breaking or violating any law or ordinance in any country, for any offenses other than those you have already outlined in the previous section. Unless a traffic incident was alcohol- or drug-related or involved a fine of $500 or more, you do not need to provide information on it. Item Number 4.b. Criminal History Documents. If you indicated “Yes” in Item Number 4.a., provide information that explains the circumstances, places, dates, and outcomes for each incident of arrest, citation, charge, indictment, conviction, fine, or imprisonment. You must submit court certified copies of the arrest record and/or disposition for each incident unless you submit a certified statement from the court indicating that no record exists of your arrest, citation, charge, indictment, conviction, fine, or imprisonment. If you need extra space to complete this section, use the space provided in Part 8. Additional Information I got an RFE on my I-129F for not submitting certified court records for my conviction 30+ years ago. Get certified copies and send them.

Oh ok cool! Did your EAD get approved yet?

Yeah Jaycel's Philippine DL is only good for 90 days here in Colorado. But oh well... when was your biometrics? Did you also apply for EAD?

Biometrics appointment attended and received stamp on the appointment notice. While we were still inside the Application Support Center, the case status for both the I-485 and I-765 changed to "Case Is Being Actively Reviewed By USCIS".

Did you also provide proof of current income for your wife? This is also very important.

Update to this - The new, rescheduled Biometrics Appointment notice showed up in the documents tab about 3 hours later. It replaced the original notice issued on 12/21. That one is no longer there.

Congratulations!! 🎉🍾🎊

ASAP

HAHAHAHA Yes! December 26th! And yes we will be taking Jaycel's passport, the part about her driver license I meant it to say that because of the, she is unable to driver herself to the appointment thus why we had to reschedule. We will also be taking our marriage certificate because her passport is in her maiden name.

In case anyone needs to do this.... Our status changed to "Biometrics Appointment Was Scheduled" on Friday. Within an hour we were able to see the appointment letter in the Documents tab online. We saw that it was scheduled for 01/07/2025. This was a problem as Jaycel doesn't have her driver license yet and I have work that day with meetings that would have been difficult to get out of. So we went to the online portal and under "My Account" there is a link for "Reschedule Biometrics Appointment". We went there and selected the reason for the reschedule request, put in the receipt #, the date of the original appointment, the service center and her DOB. It then gave various available dates to reschedule and when you select one, it gives the times available that day. We selected 12/26 and there were like 8 slots open that day. Once we submitted it, we got the email that "An Action Has Been Taken on Your Case". Our case status updated that Biometrics Appointment was scheduled on December 24. 2024 and about 15 minutes later we received another email that "An Action Has Been Taken on Your Case" and this was the completion of the reschedule and the notice was available for download. Be aware, you have to go back into the "Reschedule Biometrics Appointment" and look under "View Submitted Requests" in order to get the new notice. So far it has not shown up in the regular "Documents" tab.

Agree with @OldUser 100% here. You paid the attorney to file the case and the fact that they are saying they need money to respond to an RFE from the case they filed gets my back up and my suspicion-o-meter pegging at 100 that they are doing just what was said above. i.e. - Don't send the divorce decree, thus creating an "easy" RFE for them to respond to and extract more money out of you. Definitely check their status at https://www.ailalawyer.com/ and even if they are a real lawyer, I would push back hard on them charging you. On your other question, it seems like a straightforward RFE. They just need the proof of marriage termination. It's your call how you want to come at it but as far as RFEs go, that's about the clearest one I think I've ever seen as to what they need from you.

Good deal thank you for that info!

Ugh.... so sorry man. Praying for you guys and a quick resolution