awch

I spoke with the doctor at the clinic yesterday. Apparently he does not have TB right now but has been exposed to it at some time in the past. (Possibly a vaccination?) So he needs to have a 9 month treatment for prevention. The doctor stressed to me that this is a procedural thing. After he finishes the treatment he will get a certificate stating that he has taken the prevention because he if he ever has to have a TB test again, it will always show up positive, so he can just show them this certificate. Also, this will protect him from TB for the rest of his life. The medicine he has to take are antibiotics and vitamins which are only $13 a month, but he has to get bloodwork done every 6 weeks which will add up in costs. Hopefully I'll get hired in at my job next week and get insurance which will cover that. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Thanks for the concern everyone. I'm afraid we can't go to another doctor as they won't give us the vaccination supplement needed for AOS until my husband signs up for a 9 month treatment plan. I will speak with my husband more about this after work and possibly call the clinic myself. They did look at his X-Rays from GZ which show that he has no abnormalities, but those were taken 6 months ago. Also I have an interview to get hired in at my job next week so hopefully health insurance will be coming our way soon. Thanks again for the advice and concern.

He went home to get his X-rays from the med exam in GZ. I think they will probably make him get new ones though. Like I said though, I have had a cough for a few months.. so I'm worried, maybe I'm being a hypochondriac.... anyways he is at the doctor's now and will call me back in a few hours to let me know.

Sorry, I'm not sure what all the shots he got were. I will ask him. But- we have bad news. My husband just called me and told me he tested positive for TB. We can't get the vaccination supplement unless he signs up for a 9 month treatment. We don't have any insurance! He is going back to the doctor right now to make sure he really has it... and I'm doubly worried cuz if he has it I probably do too and that's why I cough all the time.

My husband had 4 shots. Thanks, I feel better now.

Sorry- maybe that wasn't clear. He was told that he doesn't need all of the vaccinations on the immigration site- not that he has them already.

My husband had his vaccinations yesterday. I wasn't able to go with him so I printed off everything he would need from the USCIS website, including a list of the vaccinations he needs. At the surgeon general he was told that he doesn't need all of the vaccinations that were on the list I printed from the website because he is too old. Does anyone know if this will be a problem? I don't want his AOS papers returned because of this. Thanks.

Thanks.... that is something else that I want to ask about; what is the timeline we are looking at? After we mail in the I-485 package, he will be scheduled for fingerprints.... and then what? The interview comes next? Where does EAD fit into all that? We are planning on filing that electronically, is that just a one step thing? Like we file, then he is either approved or not? Also an FYI: according to some emails going around on CUC there is a new I-485 form and fee as of Oct 1, 2005. The old ones will be invalid after that date. The new form can be downloaded from the UCSIC website.

A few questions on this. 1. Form G-325A: will my husband have a file number if he has not submitted anything in the US yet? Where is that file number to be found if he should have one? 2. 2 photographs: what kind of photos? Like passport pictures or pictures of us together? 3. Birth certificate- do we have to send in the real thing or can it be a copy? 4. I-485 form and fingerprint fee: Do we have to do the fingerprinting first or just pay the fee? If we have to do it first.... how? Thanks....

The woman who told him that does live in California... that explains it.....

My husband was told something similiar to this from a woman he met on 001. She told him he must get a driver's license before the 90 days of the K-1 are up. Of course, it's not true.....

Thanks.. that's extremely helpful... what is a RFE?? And what exactly do we have to do at the surgeon general? Thanks again.

Well, we finally got our JOP marriage done today. So now we can start filing the paperwork. According to VJ, we need to print and fill out the following: 1. G-325a 2. I-864 3. I-485 4. I-765 (optional) 5. I-131 (optional) Do we have to fill out 4 copies of the G-325A, like for did for the original petition? Do I have to fill them out too, or only for my husband? Is there a list somewhere of the other stuff we have to send in, like birth and marriage certificates? Also, when does he have to get his surgeon general thing done? Will that include vaccinations?? If there is a link to this stuff somewhere else, please point me in the right direction... On VJ it says you can e-file the EAD. Has anyone done this or heard of this before? Thanks.

We didn't bring my husband's cuz we thought he wouldn't need it.... well it turned out there are a few cases in which he could use it for ID and we didn't have it. So I say, take it and if you don't need it... that's fine but if you do need it you'll have it.

No joke on that. My last few months in China I was working out a lot and actually got quite a lot of muscle in my arms. My husband's mother kept telling me how fat I was- "yi dian ye bu shou" (not even a little bit thin). And when we were looking at our wedding pictures his mom told me I looked too fat in my qipao dress and that only thin people should wear them. My mom thinks it's hilarious because I have always been abnormally thin. But just not in China.

Check yr messages.

Maybe you could do the paperwork, i.e. a justice of the peace marriage first, in order to speed things up. Maybe even do that in another county or state.

Thanks for the support everyone. I guess I should have waited with my predictions of doom as today turned out to be a wonderful day. First of all, I got hired into the job I wanted. Secondly, we went to the SSN office and my fiance was in the system! So his card will be mailed to him within 10 days. The clerk at the SSN office tried to phrophisize doom by saying at first that it could "take years" for him to be in the system but I knew that she was just trying to scare us. She did try to tell us we had to be married to get the SSN card but I think I impressed her with how much I knew about it- I told her I had done a lot of research and I was pretty sure we didn't have to be married for the card. In the end, everything worked out. And then, when we got home- the boxes had arrived! YEAH! Birth certificate is here! Tomorrow we will go to get the marriage license and then I will take a day off next week to go to Justice of the Peace. So everything looks like it's going to work out happily, though I'll keep my fingers crossed till everything is actually finished..... Thanks again for all the support and advice... it feels great to have a happy ending.

Thanks for the advice everyone... I think we will try the SSN office tomorrow without the birth certificate. Just now I was lying in bed, so angry with myself for not carrying those documents with us... I couldn't even sleep. I am worried a lot about not making the 90 day cut off though hopefully in retrospect the worry will prove needless. That's a good idea, to try to get the marriage license somewhere else. I will look up the rules for Michigan. I don't understand the logic for the state of Illinois- if you don't have a US passport, ID card or driver's license then you must have 2 of other documents: birth certificate, baptismal records, foreign passport or consulate ID card. It frustrates me that they will accept bapstismal records but not the K-1 visa as a form of ID. We also tried to get his state ID card but he needs his SSN card to get one, and it seems he can't get his SSN card without the birth certificate.... It's so frustrating- I guess we'll try for the SSN card tomorow but I don't have any hopes that it will work with the luck we've had so far. Thanks again for the advice. If the box doesn't come by Tuesday then we are going to ask his mom to get another birth certificate and mail it to us express. Oh, and I'm going to explain in my job interview tomorrow that I will need a day off or more to take care of my paperwork. I feel bad asking for time off when first starting a job... but hopefully I can convey the importance of it.

The problem is I might start working on Monday... I won't have any time off to do everything..... And our other box came within a week which is why I'm worried. Guess I should wait till the 20th to be really worried.....

We are having major paperwork headaches. It's mostly my fault- stupid me put all of his visa papers, including his birth certificate, in the box to mail here- and it's still not here. It should be here by the 20th, but we're getting worried. So.. without his birth certificate, we don't have proper ID to get our marriage license. It's totally ridiculous- they will accept baptismal papers but he can't use his K-1 visa as a secondary ID. Also, I need to get my drivers license and SSN card replaced since they were stolen a long time ago- but I want to change my name... so I can't get any of those without getting married first. We were hoping XM would be able to get his SSN card tomorrow- since it will be 2 weeks by then... but I just checked the paper on SSN card they gave us at customs and it says he needs his birth certificate. Besides kicking myself in the head for mailing that stuff instead of carrying it with us.... any advice?? Anyone have experience where the birth certificate wasn't asked for? Thanks....

Thanks for the info.

Not sure how it works or what kind of church it is... but there's a church right across the street from my school. People often have weddings there.

You can substitute water for the alcohol. His mom has already informed us that's what we'll be doing.

We are K-1 and our Chinese ceremony is in a few days... on Sunday. His parents rented the entire floor of a restaurant. There will be about 130 people. I will wear 3 dresses- he will have 2 outfits. I'm told we won't have time to eat cuz we will be busy toasting everyone, but everyone else will eat. There will be an MC to keep us all entertained. There will be a photographer. That's all I know... I can update more after the wedding.