cavanami Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 Bring the wife to the USA and she can get a temp "green card" and thus start to work right away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 Uh, that's what I said... Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expat Posted June 26, 2008 Report Share Posted June 26, 2008 Wow, thanks for the info gentlemen. Quite a relief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khun_khon_neua Posted June 26, 2008 Report Share Posted June 26, 2008 I see that the interview is done under oath. When you and former Mrs. Tiger did this, did they ask her if at time she entered the country on the tourist visa, was there an intent to apply for the change of status? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 Nope. The interview lasted about 30 seconds, and consisted of "What's your husband's mother's name?" and "How long have you been married?" and "Do you like it here?" and "Where did you get that nice bracelet?" LOL, but jing jing. And it was a dude doing the interview. We used a local lawyer, but it was likely not necessary. Cheers, SD -- we had been married for 10 years at the time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted June 28, 2008 Report Share Posted June 28, 2008 I did one interview, twenty years ago mind you, but it was a slam dunk easy. We were both together in the same room with a lady doing the interview. Simple questions, all of about two...how long have you been married (errr, it's right in front of you on the marriage cert), do you like the USA...OK, done and finished! Of course, this was pre-9/11 and when you could actually walk in to any US gov office and see a person, not this "make an appointment", wait two weeks, can't even get into a US gov building without an appointment, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSTEACH Posted June 28, 2008 Report Share Posted June 28, 2008 I think decisions at AOS interviews are pretty much decided before you ever go for the interview based on information contained on her petition. The questions are more of a formality. My wife's lasted maybe 10 minutes, most of that putting a temporary I-551 stamp in her passport and talking about New Orleans post Katrina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean Posted June 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 Well, the next stage of the immigration process for my wife and her 3 kids begins next month, by filing the I-751. Once approved, this will remove the temporary restriction on their Permanent Residency visas and they will be issued 10 year Green Cards. The immigration rules state that anyone married under 2 years from the date of entering the U.S. will receive 2 year Green Cards, instead of the normal 10 year cards. In my case, my wife and the kids were approved in August, 2008, which meant they had 6 months to enter the U.S. or they would have to start from square one again. My wife and I were married on december 15, 2006, which means if we had waited until december 15 or 16, 2008 to enter, they would have been issued 10 year P.R. visas. Since I didn't know that (and certainly no one at the embassy in Bangkok offered that info), we all entered on October 18, 2008. By the time I did find out, it would have cost me more to change the airline tickets than the $785 it will cost me to file the I-751 (basic fee of $465 per application plus $80 per person for the biometric crap). Not thrilled but I figure that, since I can apply up to 90 days in advance of the Oct. 18 expiration date, the wife an kids will have their 10 year green cards by October. In reading over reports of those that have gone through this, the process takes 6 months to a year. While this process goes on, immigration sends you a letter extending the original green card by 1 year. Hopefully, this means that my oldest step-daughter will receive all the financial aid she received last year for college, as the only thing holding up her application for aid at the JoCo that she goes to is the expiration of her residency visa in the middle of this fall semester. There is some documentation required for the I-751 but it isn't nearly as bad as what was required at the interview process at the Bangkok Embassy in July, 2008. There might be an interview required but I would doubt it, as I can provide a rental lease for the last 2 years with both of our names on it, a car in both of our names (and insurance) and a birth certificate for our son. I assume that those that got married quickly and immediately applied for the PR visa would be the one's interviewed but I wouldn't put anything past Immigration/homeland security. All that they should have to do is show up for their biometrics appointment and have their fingerprints and photos taken. I already decided that my wife and kids will apply for citizenship as soon as possible. I believe that they can apply as soon as 3 years from the date that they entered the U.S. (Oct. 18, 2011). It will make things a lot easier for the 2 youngest kids to apply for financial help with college, among other benefits. And no more having to renew their PR visas every 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted June 19, 2010 Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 Sounds like you got everything working in your favor. As for Immigration - everything seemed to us as hurry and then stop - like stop for a long time then restart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
passingthru69 Posted June 19, 2010 Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 Dean, When my wife got her 2 year card I was stressing out on the papers being right. Then we apply for her 10 year card. More money, Gee go figure. Any how do the boi metrics again. Letter states interview in Jacksonville, Fl. again. Well learned from before you can go to any center on the date on letter. We did hers in Houston,Tx. No bigge We then get her letter stating the one year ext. due to the backlog. Well guess what? 3 months later her 10 year card shows up in the mail. So do not really believe the letter about maybe 1 year wait time. The only time we had a hassle was when we came back from Canada. Border patrol thought the ext. letter was a fake. Took about 45 mins. for them to believe that a letter from them was real. Gotta love our goverment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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