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Approved - Case History Timeline
Hi All,
We were just approved for permanent residence and I wanted to share the timeline with you, I know this was a big question for me when I first started out the process. A little background into our story: My husband is from the Netherlands. We met via gaming, dated 15 months, decided to meet in August of 2014 (he was to stay for 30 days than return) - however once being with the one person you know you're destined to be with forever, its hard to pull away - thus we opted to marry in October of 2014.
We submitted I-485, I-130, I-765 together November 27, 2014. It wasn't until February I believe, that we sent in the I-693. In regards to the I-693, we never received confirmation that this form was received so I had to purchase another copy just in case, for an additional fee. Its best to have all your basis covered when going into the immigration interview
The end of January we received the EAD card, filed for SS# in February and basically waited for USCIS to contact us for the interview, which was smooth. I'll talk more about that below.
----TIMELINE----
12/01/2014
We accepted the fingerprint fee for your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status. Our National Benefits Center location is working on your case.
-------
03/24/2015
We scheduled you for your interview and mailed you an interview notice.
-------
04/30/2015
We approved your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status.
-------
04/30/2015
We ordered your new card.
-------
Welcome Notice Was Mailed
On April 30, 2015, we registered your permanent resident status and mailed you a Welcome Notice for Receipt Number ------. Please follow the instructions in the notice. Your new permanent resident card should arrive by June 29, 2015, after this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later.
----INTERVIEW----
At first we were extremely nervous, because basically the government has the last say so in your relationship. We had all basis covered and had plan B (relocating to Netherlands) just incase we were denied for some reason. We chose to stay in the US as I'm very well established and stable here and have a child and we didn't want to have to uproot my child. Anyways - Interview day which was at the Los Angeles location, the room was quite empty - however we ended up having to wait over an hour and a half for our officer. During the wait, we saw many officers come to the door and call each couple into the room. Now lol let me say this, some of them were entirely intimidating, My husband and I would be like "please not that one, please" and a sigh of relief would come over us when we found out our name wasn't called for the "not so kind looking" officers lol nothing against them, I'm sure that is part of their persona for the specific line of work they are in.
Anyways during our wait our officer did come out of the doors and apologized for the wait and told us he would be with us within 15-20 minutes which was extremely nice. Once called, we entered this tiny room, kinda like what you see at a Car Dealership when you're filling out paperwork. There was another officer in the room as the original officer stated that he was "training", no biggie. He asked questions to verify our identities, went over the paperwork, asked questions from the paperwork on the I-485 (basically the yes or no questions asked on the form).
I had everything, I'm very well organized as I didn't want to do anything wrong to elongate this process. I did not wait for the officer to ask me for specific documents, instead - with my huge binder of paperwork, I pulled out documents, affidavits (I had three from relatives), 2014 Tax copies which had my husband on them, Copy of bank statement, credit card statement, etc.
Now I will say that since the banks now, will not give your foreigner partner an account or add them to your account without TWO forms of identification now, one has to be a State issued ID. Thus we had to wait until March to add him to my bank account, I explained this to the officer, yet I had a copy from the bank showing our joint account (I asked the bank to print a form that shows we were both on the account) as a statement was unavailable for April that shows both our names. (Again cover all basis) - I added my husband to my Paypal account and had his own credit card issued, again I had copies of this to show the officers.
Criminal History Report - they never asked for this, however I opted to show them proof as Netherlands doesn't have a issued "Criminal History Report" they give out what is called a "VOG" which basically says if you're a good citizen of the country or not. So if you're from NL, get a VOG at the Consulate, you will have to email them, pay fee, etc.
We brought this huge stack of pictures we made copies of to give the officer, it was only like $20 to get these done as I knew USCIS would want to keep them as proof. I would urge you to understand that more than likely they will do the same for you. So don't bring in anything in a photo album. They asked if my family members were at the ceremony and I had to show them pictures of my mom, sister, etc at the ceremony.
They will ask if you communicate with each others partners parents and/or family. In my case, I cannot communicate with my partners family as they only speak Turkish and/or Dutch. But I told the officer we have skyped, waved to each other on video but thats as far as communication goes for me to his family.
The officer thanked me for being so organized and said "Okay guys, I don't see a problem here so let me finish up some last minute paperwork and I'm pretty positive you will be receiving your green card in 2-3 weeks" He shook our hands and that was that.
Really the past 5 months have been so extremely stressful, between finances, having to contact another country at odd hours of the States to NL, to get specific documentation that was left behind as again, we didn't know we were going to go as far as marriage, was time consuming, exhausting. To have this last moment where the interview was over was relieving, as we left the building we stopped and embraced as our immigration journey was finally coming to an end, yet our future together was just starting.
Hope my story/timeline helps some of you - If you ever have questions regarding paperwork, etc. Google Google Google! I did all the paperwork myself and any questions I needed help on, I googled - I even came here a few times to find my answer when filling out forms. So Thank You to everyone who has ever posted information on this site, it truly DOES help <3
We were just approved for permanent residence and I wanted to share the timeline with you, I know this was a big question for me when I first started out the process. A little background into our story: My husband is from the Netherlands. We met via gaming, dated 15 months, decided to meet in August of 2014 (he was to stay for 30 days than return) - however once being with the one person you know you're destined to be with forever, its hard to pull away - thus we opted to marry in October of 2014.
We submitted I-485, I-130, I-765 together November 27, 2014. It wasn't until February I believe, that we sent in the I-693. In regards to the I-693, we never received confirmation that this form was received so I had to purchase another copy just in case, for an additional fee. Its best to have all your basis covered when going into the immigration interview
The end of January we received the EAD card, filed for SS# in February and basically waited for USCIS to contact us for the interview, which was smooth. I'll talk more about that below.
----TIMELINE----
12/01/2014
We accepted the fingerprint fee for your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status. Our National Benefits Center location is working on your case.
-------
03/24/2015
We scheduled you for your interview and mailed you an interview notice.
-------
04/30/2015
We approved your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status.
-------
04/30/2015
We ordered your new card.
-------
Welcome Notice Was Mailed
On April 30, 2015, we registered your permanent resident status and mailed you a Welcome Notice for Receipt Number ------. Please follow the instructions in the notice. Your new permanent resident card should arrive by June 29, 2015, after this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later.
----INTERVIEW----
At first we were extremely nervous, because basically the government has the last say so in your relationship. We had all basis covered and had plan B (relocating to Netherlands) just incase we were denied for some reason. We chose to stay in the US as I'm very well established and stable here and have a child and we didn't want to have to uproot my child. Anyways - Interview day which was at the Los Angeles location, the room was quite empty - however we ended up having to wait over an hour and a half for our officer. During the wait, we saw many officers come to the door and call each couple into the room. Now lol let me say this, some of them were entirely intimidating, My husband and I would be like "please not that one, please" and a sigh of relief would come over us when we found out our name wasn't called for the "not so kind looking" officers lol nothing against them, I'm sure that is part of their persona for the specific line of work they are in.
Anyways during our wait our officer did come out of the doors and apologized for the wait and told us he would be with us within 15-20 minutes which was extremely nice. Once called, we entered this tiny room, kinda like what you see at a Car Dealership when you're filling out paperwork. There was another officer in the room as the original officer stated that he was "training", no biggie. He asked questions to verify our identities, went over the paperwork, asked questions from the paperwork on the I-485 (basically the yes or no questions asked on the form).
I had everything, I'm very well organized as I didn't want to do anything wrong to elongate this process. I did not wait for the officer to ask me for specific documents, instead - with my huge binder of paperwork, I pulled out documents, affidavits (I had three from relatives), 2014 Tax copies which had my husband on them, Copy of bank statement, credit card statement, etc.
Now I will say that since the banks now, will not give your foreigner partner an account or add them to your account without TWO forms of identification now, one has to be a State issued ID. Thus we had to wait until March to add him to my bank account, I explained this to the officer, yet I had a copy from the bank showing our joint account (I asked the bank to print a form that shows we were both on the account) as a statement was unavailable for April that shows both our names. (Again cover all basis) - I added my husband to my Paypal account and had his own credit card issued, again I had copies of this to show the officers.
Criminal History Report - they never asked for this, however I opted to show them proof as Netherlands doesn't have a issued "Criminal History Report" they give out what is called a "VOG" which basically says if you're a good citizen of the country or not. So if you're from NL, get a VOG at the Consulate, you will have to email them, pay fee, etc.
We brought this huge stack of pictures we made copies of to give the officer, it was only like $20 to get these done as I knew USCIS would want to keep them as proof. I would urge you to understand that more than likely they will do the same for you. So don't bring in anything in a photo album. They asked if my family members were at the ceremony and I had to show them pictures of my mom, sister, etc at the ceremony.
They will ask if you communicate with each others partners parents and/or family. In my case, I cannot communicate with my partners family as they only speak Turkish and/or Dutch. But I told the officer we have skyped, waved to each other on video but thats as far as communication goes for me to his family.
The officer thanked me for being so organized and said "Okay guys, I don't see a problem here so let me finish up some last minute paperwork and I'm pretty positive you will be receiving your green card in 2-3 weeks" He shook our hands and that was that.
Really the past 5 months have been so extremely stressful, between finances, having to contact another country at odd hours of the States to NL, to get specific documentation that was left behind as again, we didn't know we were going to go as far as marriage, was time consuming, exhausting. To have this last moment where the interview was over was relieving, as we left the building we stopped and embraced as our immigration journey was finally coming to an end, yet our future together was just starting.
Hope my story/timeline helps some of you - If you ever have questions regarding paperwork, etc. Google Google Google! I did all the paperwork myself and any questions I needed help on, I googled - I even came here a few times to find my answer when filling out forms. So Thank You to everyone who has ever posted information on this site, it truly DOES help <3
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