Tom & Jen

Jen got her Green Card today! It's the permanent 10 year Green Card. Since the AOS approval date was after our two year anniversary, we got the permanent card without having to do the 2 year conditional. We got the letter to make the appointment for processing at the local office about 4 days after passing the AOS interview. We went into the Las Vegas office on 9/1/05 for the fingerprints and gave them two photos. The officer stamped the I-551 in Jen's passport good for one year. She said that sometimes the Green Card will get mailed in less than 3 months. It was less than 3 weeks! Oh, and we also got two Welcome to America letters today too. We are elated Jen's is done but we are still waiting to complete her daughter's which is still pending the security checks since she turned 14 during this whooooooooole process.

Congrats!!!!! We just passed our AOS interview today! Hope to see the welcome letter soon!

We passed our AOS Interview today!!! The IO was very pleasant. We are 2 days shy of our 2 year anniversary. The IO offered to submit our papers after the 2 year so Jen would get the 10 year Green Card. One slight snag is Jen's daughter turned 14 during this process so what she didn't before (fingerprint, medical exam, and security check) are now needed. The security check is not completed. She will need to wait until the check is completed before getting her Green Card. Here's what we prepared for the interview (With some help and advice from our CFL family. I still don't know how we would have made it through this without CFL. Thanks!!!): - Updated I-864 - Copy of submitted I-485 - All fingerprints and medical exam requests and responses - 3 year tax transcript - Employment letter - Pay stubs - Copy of all EAD documents - Birth Certificate of our baby son - Copy of life, home, and auto insurance policies - Loans and bank statements - Pictures of our wedding, reception, baby shower, trips, and other family stuff Here's what the IO asked for: - Birth Certificate of our baby son Here's the questions: Is he your son together (we brought our baby to the interview)? Was he born here? When is his birthday? Who do you work for? What do you do? That was it! My advice if you are going for the AOS interview is still to prepare everything! It seems there are so much variation between each offices and even each IO. I think if you are prepared, they know it and will not ask so much. Good luck to those of you who will be interviewing. If you have any questions, please post or send me email. We are very happy to have one more milestone done! Looks like the Citizenship is next.

After almost 2 years (23 months) after filing the I-485, we will be interviewing for the AOS on Monday! These past two years have been wonderful for us. We have a baby son and he is the love of our life. Although I wished we could have gotten the AOS interview much sooner. I started looking the the mailbox since Dec. 03. Got a few requests like needing fingerprint (twice) and medical exam (one each for Jen and her daughter). Calls to the BCIS, my lawyer, and visit to the local office basically was we need to just wait. I don't think we should have any problem with the interview but we would appreciate any last minute advice and well wishes! I'll post how our interview went.

This may seem like a silly question, but we want our daughter to devote more time to learning English and less time reading of Chinese (on the net mostly). Does anyone know how to disable the display of Chinese characters in Windows 2000 Professional? Thanks, Tom

I remember there were some threads on what English software/lessons were available but I can't seem to find them. Help!?!

We received our visa on July 21!!!!! The interview was in the morning and we picked up the visa at 4:00 PM. Jen is sitting right next to me now watching me type this message! Me and my son was waiting outside during the interview. We prepared so much evidence, emails, phone logs, pictures, etc. The VO asked 4 questions: 1. How did you meet your fiancee? 2. How long have you known your fiancee? 3. When is the last time he visited you? 4. What work do I do for a living? Then he asked to look at the I-134 and then asked Jen to come back to pick up her visa at 4:00 PM. He didn't look at any of the evidence we prepared. I will write more later on our entire process and what we have learned. Everything was all worth it!!!! Tom & Jen

We tried our best to get our P4 but never got it. We both were on the phone to try to get through to GZ on July 14. As we were trying, GZ called Jen to tell her to come pick up P4 in person on July 15. We had already planned for that and Jen already bought her and her daughter's tickets to GZ. After a 2 hour wait, she got her P4 on July 15. She got her medical checks on July 16 and will pick up the results on July 17. Me and my son will be in GZ on July 20 for her interview on July 21. Wish us luck!

Congratulations!!!!!! I would think it's P4. Let us know your interview date. We have been trying to get our P4 but Jen still does not have it. She's planning to go to GZ on July 15 to get it in person.

Daniel, Wonderful news!!!! B) I know you must be ecstatic! Looks like things are starting to move again. Good luck on your interview. I got all my tickets to go to ours. Will post our next wonderful news too.

Tom, Good for you! You did what you felt you had to do, and you got what should be done, done. I hope your efforts have helped us all in some small or big ways. Now on to the next step. Good luck!

Before we received the name check clearance and the interview date, we had made plans to go to Thailand for a two weeks vacation. I thought it would be nice we all can have a vacation together. Our plan now is for me to go to the interview with Jen then we fly to Thailand for about a week and a half. Then we (me, Jen, my son, Jen’ daughter) all fly back to the US from Thailand together. My question is: Can Jen and her daughter enter the US on the K1 visa if our immediate departure country is Thailand and not China? Common sense tells me it should not be a problem.

Congrats!! We are in the same boat you're in. I got a reply from the GZ web form that our name check was cleared on June 23. Then a week later I got another reply that the interview is scheduled for July 21. My call to DOS on June 27 was a "still pending" and "we have no record of the clearance". Since GZ is the one issuing the visa, we'll believe GZ.

Congratulations to you and Sarah!!!!!! You have been so helpful to us here on Candle. It's always wonderful when good things happen to good people. Enjoy the rest of you time in China and have a safe trip home. Tom

I received a reply from the GZ web form that our interview is scheduled for July 21!!!!! B) GZ said P4 was sent last week. I plan to be there for my laopo's interview along with my son, my mom, and my stepdad. That is really proof of our sincere relationship! Any advice would really be appreciated. We plan to bring pictures, phone logs, emails, flight tickets...

Welcome home!!! You must had a big rush of relief after getting through immigration. After you get some rest, I think we all would love to hear more about your trip and interview and what your Sweet Pea think about the US. Wish you all the success to your new life together!

Thanks for the info. Do you know who sends the name check clearance to GZ?

I just got off the phone with the DOS info line. The lady said there is "no record" of our name check clearance. I told her I received email from GZ on June 23 that the name check clearance was received. She continued to say "there is no record of it". Aren't we supposed to be in the information age???

Thanks all for the well wishes. No interview date yet. I plan to call DOS on July 27 to confirm the name check clearance and see about the interview date. Then we will try to contact GZ on July 30. I'll post any new news. Good luck to the rest of us too!

I just received the reply from the GZ web form. We got our clearance!!!!!!!!!!!! I just got off the telephone with my laopo and we both were jumping with absolute happiness!!! I was so sudden. Jen called GZ on Thursday and it was still pending. I talked to DOS on June 13 and it was still pending. Our name check was sent on March 24.

Congrats!!!!!! Bring your Sweet Pea home! We are waiting to hear about your successful trip!

I have been to DC many times. I try to find good Chinese restaurants when I travel to new cities. Sorry to say but I have not found any good Chinese restaurants in DC. I would recommend you take a little drive Alexandria. There's many great seafood restaurants and the river bank is very nice to take walks. There's also a place called Phillips that is close to the Mall that has great seafood.

Good luck!!!!!!!! I am waiting to see your last date filled: VISA 06/17/03!!!! or maybe even 06/16/03!

Our name check was started 03/24/03 also. Called DOS today, on hold 45 minutes. Still pending. All general answers to every questions, i.e. every case is different.

Happy Birthday! Good luck on your trip and interview. We are waiting to hear the great news!