joannaliu

Congratulations to you and Griz. Hope the lucky charm will continue shining on me:). We submitted our application on 3/9 and receive acknowledgment on 3/11 and biometric done on 4/26. Joanna Got home and we received our welcome letter with no interview. Griz you are my lucky charm!

First Thanks to Tine and Ella for their helpful checklist. I did essentially the same.Here are the Q&A (all in Chinese) 1) why do you want to go to the US? ---visit my daughter 2) what does she do in the US? ---working in Vermont. My mom said the VO didn't understand her Mandarin for Vermont, she tried a few times to make it clear. 3)Why doesn't your husband want to go? ---He has to work and has to cook for my other daughter and son. We decide to visit one by one. (Mom said the VO was really happy about her answer at this point because he was smiling.) Then VO asked for my passport, visa and green card information and took a while before he came back and congratulated my mom on getting the visa. That's all he asked. It was a smooth interview. I am proud of my mom for trying so hard to work on her Mandarin.

If the invitation letter states that the main purpose for my mom to visit us is to attend commencement on this specific date, but she ends up not being able to come on time, will that affect her entry or next time visit? Anybody knows? Joanna

What if you change the name on the green card, but the Chinese passport is still the maid name. WIll that cause problem traveling to China¡¡£á£î£ä¡¡£â£á£ã£ë¡¡£ô£ï¡¡£ô£è£å¡¡£Ó£ô£á£ô£å£ó? If we don't change the name on I-751, will that cost additional money if I¡¡£ä£å£ã£é£ä£å¡¡£ô£ï¡¡£ã£è£á£î£ç£å¡¡£÷£è£å£î¡¡£É¡¡£ç£å£ô¡¡£î£á£ô£õ£ò£á£ì£é£ú£å£ä£¿

Dnoblett, you are super.. thanks for explaining..I won't panic any more:). Joanna Correct, passport can expire the day after entry to China or USA. It just needs to be valid to travel. The 6 month validity has only to do with the issuance of a visa, you have a green-card, so no visa is needed to leave China or enter the USA.

does that mean I shouldn't have any problem entering China? How about reentering the U.S.? With 3 months left in the passport and my green card, will the U.S. let me in? My wife is in China now, her passport expires this August, while there she simply renewed her passport in home town. Saved us from a trip down to NYC. The 6 month validity has to do with the US consulate putting a visa in the passport. I can have a few days left and you can still travel with it. Also normal practice when renewing a passport it the agency (Consulate or passport office) will invalidate the old one by punching a hole in or cutting a corner off, they will then give the old one back to you, along with a new passport.

My Chinese passport will be expired in May 2011 and I have planned a trip to China in early Feb, 2011 for Spring Festival. I just read somewhere that the passport has to be valid for 6 months at least in order to enter China and reenter U.S. Is that true? I am a 2 year green card holder. The consulate I can renew my passport is NY consulate and I was told that their process is really slow. I don't know whether I should risk the possibility of not having a passport. Will they take away your old passport? Any inputs will be greatly appreciated. Joanna

Thanks to all for helping answer the questions. Now it does bring up another question: my passport will not expire until May, 2011. Can I change it this March or April, a year before the expiration? We are going to New york for a vacation and thought it might be nice to do it then rather than make a special trip just for the passport issue. Anybody knows?

My jurisdiction is in WA, but I live in VT now. My question is that whether passport renewal is limited to my green card jurisdiction? I can go to New York Chinese embassy if the answer is no, otherwise it will be more complicated because Chinese embassy requires citizen's presence for renewing or getting passport in the US. There is no way for me to fly back to SF now. Anybody knows? Thanks Joanna

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And regarding the poverty guidance, can you please explain the $27,562 for 4 people? Does that mean I or us have to make $27,562 per year or save that much money per year? Is that amount of money before tax or after tax? I am curious to know because it seems that my incomes can meet the requirement. Maybe the problem is that I am not a US citizen now.

Thanks for your information. Are they going to live here permanently? Can you please send me the process information? There is a long way away for me to apply for US citizenship, but still curious about how short your process it is. It took you only 4.5 months to apply for the parents to immigrate here? That's unbelievably short. It seems that the only problem for us now is that sponsor part. My husband is a law school student. He doesn't make any money. Maybe we should wait until he graduates and gets his job. Is the paperwork complicated? If you can, can you please send me the general process information. Thanks in advance.

Hey guys, I am not sure where to appropriately put this topic, but my husband and I are planning to get my parents to the US to start a Chinese restaurant with me. I have several questions in terms of the possibilities. 1)I am a 2-year green card holder, have been working in a law school as a full time employee since my arrival. My husband is a law school student. He said in order to apply for the parents to immigrate here, I have to be an American citizen and we have to make enough money to sponsor them as he did to me when he tried to bring me here. So that brings me the second question. 2) Can green card holder apply for parents to immigrate? 3) What is the poverty line? How much do I have to make per year in order to be my parents' sponsor? 4) I have two other siblings in China who both work now but don't have their own family. Will the VO create obstacles for my parents by asking why my parents will "abandon" my two other siblings in China and immigrate to the US? Honestly they move here just to make money by opening a Chinese restaurant. My parents have managed a small restaurant since I started my memory. They are hard working people, but have been struggling for life. I just think it is unfair that they work so hard but gain so little profits. And hope to bring them to this fairly fair land to make some decent money. Any other suggestions will be appreciated in terms of the application process or the feasibility to apply for them as a green card holder. BTW, my parents are both young enough to make a living here. They haven't reached 50. thanks Joanna

Don't worry too much Missingyou. I had the exact same situations and worries when we decided to change the appointment because our reason is not exact fit to the emergency. But we got our appointment rescheduled any way and went smooth. I don't think your husband can go to the interview by himself as it states if the interview is based on marriage, the spouse MUST come. So I am thinking when you decide to reschedule the appointment, your doctor's statement, any documents to prove that you can not travel within the next few months and indicate when is a good time for you to travel. That's a better reason than ours, actually. We gave them two date periods: either between May-August or Christmas time when we are back to WA. And they did give us a date in the middle of May. Good luck! If you have any other worries, please let me know. Joanna

Excellent anniversary gift for both of you! Congratulations!

Zhen ai bu pa huo lian! Congrats heyjimi!

is it normal to give out the I-551 the same day of the interview? Does that mean the actual card will not arrive for a long time? I am interested to know these.

Alright, I guess it is I-551. The card is like this: on the left of the card has my picture I submitted when we applied for the AOS; on the right, it goes: Upon endorsement, serves as temporary I-551 evidencing permanent residency for one year. Issue date: officer: (name) employment authorized valid until: (a date) below is my information. The top info is sealed with USCIS stamp. I am not sure whether is normal or not. I got it the same day I had the interview. Is I-551 green card? If not, what is it? Anyone has the same experience? What is card called? Why is as good as green card? I haven't thought of these questions until you guys brought this up.

She didn't put anything in my passport. I am not sure what I-551 is. Maybe what I have now is I-551. She just told us with what I have now, I can travel freely and work legally. The card I have got is as good as green card. It is a temporary greencard until I receive the actual card. The border will recognize that when I travel outside of the country. I am not sure what's going on exactly. It doesn't sound like what my friends told me before. What's worthy mentioning is that the officer told us the office of the production of green card is under construction in Yakima which means that we may not get the actual green card in half a year but again she emphasized that with what I have in my hand, I can do whatever a green card holder can do. My interview was conducted in Yakima, WA and the officer told me that the green card will be actually green. But many friends told me that the green card is alike work card. Apparently there are some changes in Yakima USCIS, not sure it is just this office or all the rest ones.

I got my green card yesterday and my interview was on the same day. My hubby and I prepared lots of evidence to prove the relationship. But the officer didn't ask for any. The whole process was so easy. (enter the office) Officer: "take a seat" Me: (point at the seat) "here?" Officer: "you can sit anywhere you want except my seat" (laughing); Can I see your IDs". my husband and I both took out the IDs. I took out all the stuff I've got since I arrived in the US including VT ID, SSN, work card and my passport. My husband: "honey, you only need your passport." Officer: "you know what, I do need your work card! But don't worry, I will give you something more valuable." (I kinda of knowing what she means by saying something more valuable) Then she started to prepare me a sealed card that is as good as green card which has my info on it:"This is the easiest case I've had today" The rest of the conversation was so pleasant which has nothing to do with the proof the relationship. We were so happy.

Hi guys, As some of you may have noticed in my previous post on postponing my GC interview, we went through Info pass in St.Albane's Homeland Security in Vermont in early or middle March. Our interview date was originally on April 2 which has passed already. The guy at the infopass was very accommodating. He answered our questions nicely. My husband and I just assumed that rearrangement of the interview date will proceed faster in Vermont than in Washington since VT is much smaller and there are not as many people. So with that guy's instruction, we wrote down our available time on a piece of paper which is any time before May and after September and decided to transfer the interview to Vermont since we work and study here but our jurisdiction is still in WA. My concern is that 1/1.5 months has passed and we still haven't heard a word from any place. Should we just wait patiently? How long does it normally take for a rearrangement? Is VT really faster than WA? I am really concern about this because I plan to go back to China for a visit in December and I didn't apply for AP. I am getting antsy!

I wish it were a welcome letter. It would save me so much trouble. My husband believes that before April 2nd, we should be able to receive a rescheduling date. Otherwise, we can fly back to WA for the interview. I wish I could go to the post office now and take out the letter he sent out today and force him to go to the interview with me. Btw, I plan to go back to China in Jan, 2010. Can I apply for AP now? I can't count on the GC now. RFE = Request For Evidence. Welcome Letter = Approval Without Interview, this is common for those adjusting from a K-Visa. The "Welcome to America" letter is the I-797 Notice you get when the green card is approved for ANY I-485 or I-130 application. It says basically that the green card is in the mail (or at least in production). http://www.welcometousa.gov/