AmyAndDoug

Haha, ok, I'll just submit everything they ask for, whether they've been submitted or not. thanks again, guys! =)

Thanks, dnoblett! The thing is, we already submitted the IRS transcripts for both my husband and his parents (co-sponsor) for the most recent 3 yrs, not just 1 year. We don't understand why they're still asking for them. @_@ My husband's worried that the USCIS is challenging him because he's a full time student and has only summer internship income. We can only provide his parents' employment letter and pay stubs, and maybe also a couple of his internship pay stubs. He's afraid that they're not enough evidence. =(

We got a letter from the USCIS today asking for "initial evidence." Altho the letter title was for I-485, it also says they will process my I-765 within 90 days of receiving the "missing initial evidence." =( My husband is in MBA, and only has income from his 10-week internship this summer. So we had his parents be the co-sponsor. We already submitted both my husband's and his parents' W-2's and IRS for the past 3 years. But this letter still asks for the tax returns for the most recent year. Do they not find them so many pages??? >_< Besides the tax returns, they also ask for: 1. Letter of employment including: date of employment, nature of the job, wages, # of hrs/week, future prospects. 2. pay stubs for the past 6 months. Is there anything I should/can provide in addition of what they've asked to help strength my case?

my case (both I-485 and I-765) weren't posted in the system until around a week after my bio. And I haven't received any notice of trasferring to CSC.

Thanks, dnoblett! I bookmarked that file right away. =) I didn't see 18 months anywhere in the "physical presence" area though... I did see in the chart that I cannot make any trip outside of the U.S. for more than 6 months in order to keep the "continuous residence" requirement. and also to reside inside the U.S. for at least 3 months right before I apply for naturalization. Making me think that what if I live in the U.S. continuously for the first 18 months (or 2 years) after I get my green card. And then we can move back to China for my husband's career, but I can make frequent/short trips back to the U.S. in order to meet the "continuous residence" requirement. Will that work? =P I just don't want to pull my husband's career back due to my naturalization. U.S. eoconomy's not good right now, and China is booming...

Dear Sweetcherry, I'm so sorry to hear about your heartbreaking experience, especially that I am a woman myself. Like all the experienced others have said, the white slip should be from the age, lack of income, and lack of family support of your fiance. The VO certainly has no right to decide whether you're ready to get married. But he does work for his country and needs to make sure that the person immigrating will not become a burden of U.S. taxpayers. Sure your fiance doesn't need to pay tution, but raising a family in the U.S. can cost a lot of money, and while you both don't have the ability to generate any income, he does take a practical stand. If his family isn't even supporting you two financially, he might also think that you are too young/naive to know how difficult life can be with you both in school, have no income at all, and have no parents to support you. Friends can only help to an extend, they can't solve all your realistic troubles... When I was 20 years old, I thought I loved a guy and I almost married him. Now I'm 25 and I look back, I am truly glad that I didn't end up marrying that guy. In fact, I don't even think the feeling I had for him was called "love" in the more mature definition of love that I have today. Of course, I am not doubting your love, everyone has a different experience and path in love, no story is the same. But you are young, still not finished with education yet, and have not learned to support yourself in every way and build up a family. Love is a beautiful thing that time can testify it's truth. However, a successful marriage doesn't only require love, it also requires maturity, endurance, commitment, life skills, knowledge, wisdom, and a lot of other things. Your love with your finance will be proven with time, and you will gain all these necessary qualities during this time. Believe that if you are meant to be together, you will be at the end. Don't let this disappointment drag you down. The things that don't defeat you will only make you stronger, and in your case, also will make your love stronger. For example, tsap seui and his love =).

Congratulations, Roger and June! I'm from near Shenyang, too. Thanks - tsap seui~ =P The 1 bedroom apt I rented from Mr. Yang did have internet, just needed to plug in the cable into your laptop. If any problem, his wife is better in IT to help. =)

Thanks AmyAndDoug. So how much is the doctor charging you for doing the complete physical + vaccination shots? Pete - please refer to post #3 of this spread for the details of my medical at Dr. Lin's.

hmm, I didn't mean "returning the case," I meant like holding it and asking for a new medical in order to process the case. Lawyer said it's new. He's an old friend of my mom's for over 10 years, wouldn't lie to us. However, Pete, I wouldn't recommend him just because people in CFL seem to know better of the specifics of K1/K3/I-130 than he does. The other lawyer he hired to do this type of cases is on maternity leave. The main lawyer knows the more common visas well but clueless in our kinda of visas. He charged us $750 for K3 and another $750 for I-130, that is a cheap "friend price." But he really didn't do much since the I-130 lawyer went on maternity leave soon after she filed for us at the USCIS. So everything after USCIS I did myself with the help of CFL.

I don't think this is accurate. The instructions for the I-693 on the USCIS website have a FAQ which states the following: Here is the link http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-693instr.pdf Read questions 1-3 in section III FAQ Our lawyer said it is what they say on the website but his clients have encountered cases where USCIS returned their case asking for a new medical exam done by a designated civil surgeon here. when I went to the doctor, he said the same thing, cuz many things can be "fake," they don't trust the medical record from overseas anymore.

Pete: Dr. George B Lin 17-23 East Broadway, Suite 301, New York, NY 10002 (212) 233-6585

Yes, our lawyer said that the law has changed, now that they require the medical exam be done by a civil surgeon in the U.S., don't count the record from China anymore. That's why I had to do the medical exam all over again in Chinatown. But some of the immunization shots I believe are only once in a lifetime. Some have time limits, I remember my civil surgeon looked at the date of my last shot for some immunization and said "you're lucky, just right before the 10 (or 5 I forgot) year limit, don't need to take it again this time." I think the reason your wife needs to do everything all over again is that she didn't have to do them in the U.S. when you filed AOS.

If you're cost conscoius, then try those in Chinatown. They're a lot cheaper but don't expect any good service. My husband got into an argument with the doctor's wife because I asked her nicely to see my results and she refused with a nasty attitude saying that I wouldn't know how to read them anyway. But we got it done. I had most of my vaccinations done the last time I came into the states, only one shot not on my college record was chicken pox. so he did the check up again which costs $100, and the checkup for whether I needed that other shot was $50 (turned out I didn't need it cuz I've already had chicken pox when I was little). So total was $150. He was the cheapest doctor approved by USCIS in Chinatown that we called. If you want, I can go look for his contact info and give it to you.

yea... Actually "Wong" is the Taiwanese or Hongkongnese spelling of the word "king" in Chinese. "Wang" is the mainland China spelling for the same word. I'm a Wang. =)

and in addition to still being married to the same petitioner, I do need to reside inside the U.S. for at least half year during each of those 3 years in order to be eligible, right? This is annoying, because we want to move back to Shanghai but stuck here all for that passport. I have a friend whose husband switched job to McKinsey Shanghai almost 2 year after her green card. Then he began to travel everywhere depending on each consulting project, and my friend followed her husband to each project location. Then they both forgot to remove conditions (due to too much traveling I guess). So now her green card is expired and she needs to reapply again! She said it's taking really long... that's why we should all be very careful on this. haha

how to determine the speed of name checks? popular names take longer since takes longer to screen?

OK thanks! I guess it's not too bad if I can wait another 2+ years to do all the annoying paper works again... But then by the time I receive my permanent green card, it'll soon reach the 3 years, then time to apply for naturalization. Boo, another big chunk of $$$ and more annoying paper work with more waiting...

OH! Thanks~ =)

My K-3 expires in April, 2010, so still 2 yrs to go since I just came. I don't know what happened to my I-130...@_@ It was approved at USCIS at the same time as the K-3. But I guess they just assumed that we'd go with the I-129F, so we never heard about the I-130 again haha. I hope it won't be sent to GUZ then...??? I wanted to hold off on the I-485 too. But I still needed to apply for the EAD card since I wanted to start working asap (bored to death everyday!), which would cost almost $350 alone, but free if applied with I-485. And Doug kept saying to not drag on the green card in case we need it some day (e.g. traveling or moving back to China together). So now I'm going to do my biometrics today (for both I 485 & I 765), should be getting the EAD card within 1~1.5 month, just wondering if there's any way to prolong the I-485. =P I guess if I do get an interview later on, I can reschedule it to a later time and reschedule again if not late enough, that will work? haha... =P

We sent in the I-485 application late May. By March 12, 2009, we'll be married for 2 years. I was just doing the calculations the other day, and realized that it might be just about 90 days before our 2 years that we get my conditional GC. Then we'll have to do a lot more paper work and pay $500+ to remove the conditions. That's just painful, especially it'll be right around the 90 days before 2 years. Even if it's around the 90 days, they'll still give us the conditional GC not the 10-yr, right? Is there any way to delay this process so we can get the 10-year GC altogether? =P

Congratulations! =) I notice that lately the process has been a lot faster, like for those who filed in the 2nd half of 2007. Good for you guys! I think the AOS is speeded up this year too, so good for us. =)

what?! I have to wait til I get my EAD card? they won't update it for me without the EAD??? And it'll still say "not valid for employment without DHS authorization" even if I bring the EAD? @_@ Yeah sucks OK... =( Thanks!

what?! I have to wait til I get my EAD card? they won't update it for me without the EAD??? And it'll still say "not valid for employment without DHS authorization" even if I bring the EAD? @_@

Correct that is the wording for all NON-Immigrant K-Visa holders until they have green-card. After getting green-card you should visit SSA and get the card replaced with one without the notation. Having one without the notation is useful in several situations like: For example. Renewing a driver's license. (Card with no notation and ID, gets a DL with longer expiration date in most states) Continued employment when removing conditions. (I-9 used by employer indicates no DHS work auth needed to be shown like a green-card, if SSA card has no notation, and a photo ID is provided like State ID) Hmm...DHS authorization is the EAD card? So I just bring my passport (with I-94 and visa inside), birth certificate, old SS card, and U.S. driver's license? And also fill out the change request form downloaded from the internet. That's all?

You guys just got me really confused... The "not for employed" on SS, is that for K-1 or also for K-3? Cuz according to the paper I got when I went to picked up the visa in GUZ, it says to go get the SS card as soon as I get in and it should be able to let me work. I've lived in the U.S. before and have a SS card that says "not valid for employment" cuz i was on student visa before. Now that I'm back, I'm hoping to go update my SS card so that it doesn't say "not for employment". Am I misunderstanding it or will that be the case? @_@