hankster

Congratulations!!!!

Yes. We filed EAD prior to AOS. We have been to 2 biometric appointments.

Dan, my friend, CONGRATULATIONS!!! to You and YU From Hank and Lily A Happy Day indeed!!

................................................... CONGRATULATIONS!!! ...............................................

Damn Hankster! You guys are zipping through this process!!!! My wife has her biometrics appointment 9/6/07 but still no interview date yet. Are you guys in the USCIS system yet? We still can't view our case number online yet, so we can't get any case status. We did receive a NOA1 on 7/23/07 in our mailbox. The NOTICE Date on the NOA1 was 7/19/07. We sent our I-485 application on 7/10/07. It was received by USCIS on 7/12/07. Sir, yes........so far so good. Unlike the visa process, I haven't tracked the AOS on the USCIS site. My wife and son had their biometrics on Aug. 25 and the interview notice came the same day. Interview is on Sept. 25 in Memphis. BTW, mchina34, we recieved the NOA1 for AOS yesterday (Aug 30). Received date of 7/22 Notice Date of Aug 28. Like others have stated, they're very late for NOA1's. Hank

We never got a NOA 1 for I-485. Mailed I-485 July 20 - Check cashed Aug 6 - Biometrics letter received Aug. 10 - Interview letter received Aug. 25. Still no NOA 1

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I was wondering why I got duplicates for biometrics. Now I know.

Good find, Sir.

Congratulations!

Wow! Thanks for steering me to this link, Dan. I didn't know any of this concerning the TN Certificate for Driving. I assumed Lily would take her green card in, when she gets it, and exchange the Certificate for Driving for a real Driver's License. I read all 6 pages of this thread. Is it your interpretation that on Oct. 1, 2007 it will be a moot point? thanks, Hank

tsap, Dave always writes in a way I wish I could to express my sentiments, so I'll borrow his words to express my thoughts. I remember sitting in that coffee shop back in Feb. If your results had been mine, I know I wouldn't have handled it as well as you. Hang in there. Hank

Steve, As Lily would say, "no sorry" This examiner wasn't near as bad as the first. Lily did ask me after the test what "rot" meant. I didn't know and asked under what circumstances the examiner used this word. After she acted it out, I realized the examiner had told her to turn "rot" at the traffic "lot". Hay............ah wuz bornt hyere........ah shud uv knowt ta lurn ma little lao po whut rot wuz.

She passed! For those who read this post:Failed Driving Test (without ever driving) You may recall that the TN driver examiner wouldn't let Lily start the test because Lily couldn't understand her severe East TN accent. I rescheduled the exam for this morning at 8 am at a different examing station in the small town of Rockwood TN. Yesterday I had called the help-line for the TN Dept of Safety in Nashville and after holding for 15 minutes, I spoke with a rep. I explained the way Lily was treated last time, and asked her if there was a way to avoid this, such as having an interpretor (me) in the car. She put me on hold to ask a supervisor then came back on and said that no one was allowed in the car except the examiner and examinee. She went on to explain that the examiner should be able to communicate using hand signals. I asked her what to do if Lily was refused again and she replied that I should immediately ask to speak to the supervisor at that station. Lily and I arrived early and filled out the application. When the female examiner came out, I asked her to speak slowly and use hand signals. She replied that Lily must be able to understand voice instructions. I pleasantly explained in a non-threatening tone that I had called Nashville and was told differently. I don't know if this worked or if the examiner happened to be a more tolerant and patient lady than we had the first go-round. (I could tell she honesly liked Lily when we were filling the application). After checking turn signals, headlights, etc, they exited the parking lot and returned in about 15 minutes. The examiner told me "She Passed. The only thing she did wrong was crossed some railroad tracks too fast and shook the car fairly hard" After they took Lily's photo, the examiner brought the new license out and handed it to Lily. Lily said, "thank you so much......I want to hug you"..............the lady smiled and let her. The examiner cracked up when I said, "My dear, you can not hug the police" Lily is ecstatic and is currently calling all family/friends in China. The last episode had really cracked her confidence.

I'm glad you brought that up ... it's a real pet peeve with me ... My ex remembered all of my transgressions, real or imagined, forever. If she reach a slow point in criticizing me for current events, without skipping a beat, she could reach back 5-10-15 years and dredge something forward. It's one of the main reasons I divorced her. With Lao Po ... totally the opposite ... if something is decided, it's decided ... or as she says "it's finished". I think others have reported similar behavior by their Chinese wives. It's a great trait and makes our marriage much better. My Lily is exactly this way............when "it's finished....it's finished." I was wondering if this is a trait of chinese women in general. I was in the same situation as Jim's description of his ex...........soooooooo ........believe me, I love this about my Lao Po. BTW to stay on topic, Lily is very frugal with the shopping...coupons, sales, etc. She'll always argue with me about spending money on her or our son. Just yesterday we went to a framing shop, because I wanted to have a watercolor that our son had painted framed. When she heard the price, she stopped the transaction and gave me her usual solution.........."I will buy this so cheap when we go back China"

Lily and I attended our son, James' "end of ESL summer school" play last month. James played Pa Ingalls and a Korean girl played Ma Ingalls. Laura was played by a little girl from Sudan. Besides the ESL teacher, I was the only Caucasian in attendance. The play was well performed by all the ESL students and I enjoyed it immensely. I must admit, I had to bite my cheek to refrain from laughing out loud when my son James recited in his chinese accent, "Gee Maw, I'm all tuckered out". I was deeply moved by the effort and attitude of these new young americans.

AMEN!!!

:cheering: :) Congratulations!!! ;) :cheering:

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Hank and Lily

You're right Jim, and I did try this approach to a certain extent when we were doing the pre-test paperwork, telling the examiner I must speak clearly and without contractions when communicating with Lily. She ignored me! I think my biggest mistake was scheduling the test at 4:30 pm. I believe it was the last appointment of the day and the examiner just wanted out of there so she used the communication issue to knock off a little early. Especially considering that they have to be able to deal with deaf people. Most of the driving testers are adequately fluent in 'pointing' to be able to get through a driving test with anyone. That's what I thought too, Randy. I know several deaf people with Licenses. Yes, Lily had driven in china. Had a chinese License. It Ourtta, Steve. A good drank uv splo might'a hepped.

Lily passed the written part of the TN driver's license test a couple of weeks ago and received her learner's permit. I scheduled the driving portion for yesterday. We arrived on time and filled out the paperwork with the female examiner. I noticed her East TN accent was very heavy and Lily was having trouble understanding her. Hell, I was born here, and I was having trouble understanding her. Lily reads and writes english very good, and can understand most people's spoken english with no problem. The examiner took Lily to the car and said, "go o'var an git in". Lily said very pleasantly, "sorry I donot understand". I started to interpret for Lily, but the examiner told me to stay 20 ft. away. The examiner barked another instruction which I couldn't make out at that distance, and again Lily didn't understand. At this point, the examiner turned to me, waved her hands like an umpire calling someone "safe", and said, "No communication, No Test. She'll keel both of us'ns. Yuns needs to larn hern batter anglish" (I'm not exaggerating). I started to lose it and you can guess what I wanted to say to her, but I maintained. Hell, we got thru the GUZ ordeal with no problem, so I know we can deal with this. I'm glad I didn't lose it because the examiner apparently had discretionary authority to not mark this down as a "failed" test. She said we would be able to to reschedule and retake the test anytime, but we should "larn hern batter anglish" for the next time. We left with Lily in tears. Took me the rest of the day to make her feel better and realize it wasn't her fault. We'll reschedule at a different examing station in a couple of weeks. Hank

It is a scam!! My friend who is married to a HK lady, used and recommended the CS who I had trouble with. He and his wife went to their AOS interview a couple of weeks ago and got blue slipped because the CS had left so many items blank on his I-693 (his wife had the full physical by this CS, which was required in her case). My friend stormed the Doc's office when he got back to Knoxville, but the doc wouldn't see him. The doc subsequently Did fill out the paperwork correctly and my friend sent it to Memphis. They were just notified that they will receive the GC within 60 days. What a hassle!...and a 2 month delay because a CS who was smart enough to graduate from Medical School doesn't know or doesn't care about USCIS requirements for which she was designated to understand and provide.

All right, Sir!! Looks like I have procrastinated longer than you. My two I-485's will go in tomorrow or Friday. The idiotic Civil Surgeon set us back about a month, but I have also drug my feet on this. We're still beating the $1010 deadline, though! Hope yours sails through. Hank

You're ok to go. The chinese visa states: "enter before" the expiration date. Hank

Jim, Lily passed the TN Driver's license written test last week and received her "TN Certificate for Driving" learner's permit. She had her Chinese driver's license certified translated document, but they didn't want to see it. She was never on 001, but her chinese friends who are all knowing about all USA things had told her before she left china to have this done and she would be able to get her TN license with no trouble. Of course this wasn't the case, but nevertheless, she is very proud of having passed the written portion. I'm very proud of her too, as she had studied hard and only missed 6 out of 60 questions. TN will issue a "Certificate for Driving" without a green card or SS number. It states on the front "For Driving Purposes only..Not for Identification" We've been on a few driving runs already, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to "unteach" her chinese driving techniques Hank