BJMing

Thanks for the reply! That is very helpful!

Just wanted to add on to this. I got my IR-1 visa which looks just like the attached above, and entered the US on June 29th. I received my green card within 2 weeks of arrival. I was given a form to complete and pay for my green card at my visa interview in Guangzhou. The accompanying document said I can apply for it before or after my arrival to the US but it is recommended that I apply before my arrival, which I did. I then received my SSN in July, less than a month after I arrived. Hope this helps! Separately, I have an IR-1 visa just like the one above which says "SERVES AS TEMPORARY I-551 EVIDENCING PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR 1 YEAR". I assume this 1 year of PR is overridden by the 10 year green card I received. Since the IV visa says it expires in November (for my case), how do I travel in and out of the US? If I travel out of the US in November and then return and present my passport at the border at arrival in December, the visa will have expired by then. Or do I not need to present my passport and IV on arrival?

Just wanted to give everyone an update on this topic. We went to the US consulate this week to file CRBA and get first passports for the kids and fortunately after a 2.5 hour wait, they were approved. We couldn't find any direct evidence of my husband's physical presence in the US during this first 7 years. He does have passports from age 10 to present and university transcripts which proves that he was in the US for just under 4 years before the children were born. So this is what we submitted: 1. College transcripts of husband's father during the time before my husband was born and till age 5. 2. Husband's original birth certificate 3. Stack of photos of my husband taken when he was a child in the US. We included a couple of birthday photos with his name on his birthday cake. 4. All original passports of my husband with entry stamps to the US from the age of 10 till birth of first child. 5. Husband's college transcripts. 6. Pre-natal records, scans for each child, photos of my pregnancies, family photos showing the kids growing up. 7. A long declaration on the last page (the additional information sheet) of the CRBA form DS-2029 explaining the evidence we present and why we presented them, and a calculation/estimation of the total number of days of physical presence. We really made an effort to present as much relevant evidence as we could gather. Even though we did not have any records of my husband's physical presence in the US during his first 6 years, we wrote that it was because he did not go to daycare back then but hoped that his father's college transcripts will help support that. The officer who interviewed us was very thorough. She said we presented a lot of evidence but reprimanded us for applying when the kids were 8 and 10 instead of when they were babies. She asked us why and we just told her the truth. We explained that we thought we had the choice to do so up until the children were 18 so we didn't see the urgency, but now that we want to move to the US, we would like to get the passports ASAP. She also asked the kids a few questions. My suggestion to anyone who ever gets into the same situation or when dealing with the US consulate is to present as much relevant evidence as possible in an orderly manner, summarise the evidence for the officers, present to the officer that you have made your best effort to gather the evidence/documents and why you might be presenting alternatives, remain calm and tell the truth. I'm relieved that this has go through smoothly. Next step is my visa interview in GZ!

Thanks Randy, this sounds promising. I did speak to an immigration lawyer and he said we should go for the CRBA and that there shouldn’t be any trouble with filing for the kids even though they are already 8 and 10. I hope that is the case.

Thanks Randy. I read your first reply and was relieved but then read your second and was immediately worried. I read that we can file CRBA for the child up till he/she is 18. Do you know of any cases where the family had issues when they filed so late?

This is my first post. I’ve gotten a ton of valuable information from this community and so far I’ve been able to find answers to all my questions here! However I’ve hit a roadblock and we are working on a tight timeline so I need some help. My husband was born in the US and lived there till he was 6 years old before leaving due to his dads work which brought him to many countries. He returned to the US at age 17 for university for 4 years. During university he traveled in and out of the US to visit his family. After that he moved back home and never lived or worked in the US but would travel back for business or pleasure. He definitely meets the 5 year physical (incl 2 years after age 14) presence requirement for our children to receive CBRA. However he does not have his first passport which shows his first 6 full years in the US. He has his university transcripts and passports showing his total presence in the US after age 14 to be just under 4 years. We have been married for 15 years and have two children born in China, aged 8 and 10. We live in Beijing but never went to the US consulate there to register their birth. We never went through the CRBA process because we could not provide evidence of the total 5 years physical presence before the children worn born. My husband found work in the US and left in January to start a new job there. Myself and the kids are still in China trying to get our PR or passports to join him. We hope to leave in June after the school year so that the children can start school in the US in August. Since we did not file CRBA, in December he filed a petition for all three of us to obtain immigrant visas. The process has been smooth and quick. We received notice to book our interviews in early March and I’m busy gathering all the documents for the interview which we plan to schedule in May. However, after much research and talking to someone in a similar situation it seems that we need to prove that our CRBA was denied and its not our own choice to choose either CRBA or I-130. My husband will be back in May to try filing CRBA and get US passports for the children. If that is denied then he should get a letter of denial which we will present at our immigrant visa interview. My questions are: 1. Is this a feasible plan? 2. If CRBA is denied, do we get the denial letter on that day? Because we would like to go for our medical and immigrant interview ASAP after the denial. 3. Will Guangzhou accept the denial letter at the interview or was it supposed to be submitted at petition time? I wonder why they didn’t ask for that when it’s clear that my husband is a US citizen through birth in the US. 4. If we go our our visa interview in mid May, would we be able to leave China on the last week of June?