Hi everyone,
Some background first: I'm an F-1 student with expected graduation from graduate school in April 2016. My F-1 visa expired in August 2015, but I have a valid I-20 that expires in August 2017, and have never been out of status. My spouse is a US citizen (by birth). We recently got married with my spouses' family serving as witnesses. We're getting ready to concurrently file our AoS paper work and have some forms related as well as general questions.
[These questions might have been asked before, but please bear with me if this is redundant. I hope some of the answers to the questions below help other AoS applicants.]
Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative):
Section C (Information about your relative) item 14 asks for "Date arrived" to the US and "Date authorized stay expired, or will expire, as shown on Form I-94 or I-95": Do I write the first time I entered the US in the date arrived section, or the most recent arrival?
For the authorized stay expiration, should I write down the expiration date that is listed on my I-20?
Since my I-20 is valid but F-1 visa has expired, do I need to send in a copy of my current I-20 to prove that I'm not out of status? Do I need to include all past I-20s I've had in the application packet?
We're including copies of marriage certificate, joint lease, joint bank account, shared cell phone plan, shared auto insurance, affidavit by both of our families, and a friend, mails and letters addressed to both of us, receipt of engagement jewelry purchase, driver's license showing same residential address. Will this be sufficient for the initial application and we can provide more evidence (text screenshots, phone calls made, joint tax filing for next year, etc.) at our interview? Based on my internet search, I've seen people include too little and got asked for more evidence, to people who submitted hundreds of pages in proof. I want to show our marriage is genuine, but I don't want to make it too much work for the immigration officer by submitting enormous amount of pages for the initial application.
Form I-485 (Adjustment of Status, the following questions are mostly about form I-864, Affidavit of support):
On Form I-864, if I'm the only principal immigrant and Part 2 (Information about the principal immigrant) is filled out, do I still have to fill out Part 3 (Information about the immigrants you are sponsoring) with my information there (albeit it is redundant)?
In the instruction sheet, under the checklist "For SOME sponsors" it lists the submission of the US citizen's copy of birth certificate, and passport. I'm not sure if we fall under the "SOME sponsors" category or not, but better be safe and submit a copy of the US national's birth certificate and passport anyway (biographical and visa stamp pages)?
Form I-765 (EAD):
I've had EAD before from OPT, so I will include a copy of my previous EAD card. Since this submission is via AoS, I don't need to submit I-20s, etc., with this application, correct?
Form I-131 (Application for travel document):
I'm applying for advance parole if any emergency comes up and I have to leave the US while my application is pending. Therefore, I don't have any specific location or dates for the trip. The "Date of intended departure" field on the form only accepts numbers, so should I just write TBD once I print out the form? What should I fill in Part 4 "Information about your proposed travel"?
Part 7 "Complete only if applying for advance parole" asks to explain on a separate sheet of paper, how I qualify for an advance parole document and what circumstances warrant issuance of advance parole. Do I have to fill this out? If yes, do I just write on a separate sheet that I'm applying for advance parole if any emergency comes up while I'm waiting for my GC?
General questions:
Should I include a G-1145 per form and attach it to the front of each form submission, or just submit 1 G-1145 for the whole packet?
I don't have a middle name, so I leave these fields blank instead of writing "None" or "N/A", correct?
Can I include both checks in one envelope or one check per envelope?
Once I graduate in April 2016, and if I don't have my EAD with me by then, I will not be considered out of status past graduation since I'm already in the process of adjusting my status based on marriage to a US citizen, correct?
Thank you so much for your answers and suggestions!
Some background first: I'm an F-1 student with expected graduation from graduate school in April 2016. My F-1 visa expired in August 2015, but I have a valid I-20 that expires in August 2017, and have never been out of status. My spouse is a US citizen (by birth). We recently got married with my spouses' family serving as witnesses. We're getting ready to concurrently file our AoS paper work and have some forms related as well as general questions.
[These questions might have been asked before, but please bear with me if this is redundant. I hope some of the answers to the questions below help other AoS applicants.]
Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative):
Section C (Information about your relative) item 14 asks for "Date arrived" to the US and "Date authorized stay expired, or will expire, as shown on Form I-94 or I-95": Do I write the first time I entered the US in the date arrived section, or the most recent arrival?
For the authorized stay expiration, should I write down the expiration date that is listed on my I-20?
Since my I-20 is valid but F-1 visa has expired, do I need to send in a copy of my current I-20 to prove that I'm not out of status? Do I need to include all past I-20s I've had in the application packet?
We're including copies of marriage certificate, joint lease, joint bank account, shared cell phone plan, shared auto insurance, affidavit by both of our families, and a friend, mails and letters addressed to both of us, receipt of engagement jewelry purchase, driver's license showing same residential address. Will this be sufficient for the initial application and we can provide more evidence (text screenshots, phone calls made, joint tax filing for next year, etc.) at our interview? Based on my internet search, I've seen people include too little and got asked for more evidence, to people who submitted hundreds of pages in proof. I want to show our marriage is genuine, but I don't want to make it too much work for the immigration officer by submitting enormous amount of pages for the initial application.
Form I-485 (Adjustment of Status, the following questions are mostly about form I-864, Affidavit of support):
On Form I-864, if I'm the only principal immigrant and Part 2 (Information about the principal immigrant) is filled out, do I still have to fill out Part 3 (Information about the immigrants you are sponsoring) with my information there (albeit it is redundant)?
In the instruction sheet, under the checklist "For SOME sponsors" it lists the submission of the US citizen's copy of birth certificate, and passport. I'm not sure if we fall under the "SOME sponsors" category or not, but better be safe and submit a copy of the US national's birth certificate and passport anyway (biographical and visa stamp pages)?
Form I-765 (EAD):
I've had EAD before from OPT, so I will include a copy of my previous EAD card. Since this submission is via AoS, I don't need to submit I-20s, etc., with this application, correct?
Form I-131 (Application for travel document):
I'm applying for advance parole if any emergency comes up and I have to leave the US while my application is pending. Therefore, I don't have any specific location or dates for the trip. The "Date of intended departure" field on the form only accepts numbers, so should I just write TBD once I print out the form? What should I fill in Part 4 "Information about your proposed travel"?
Part 7 "Complete only if applying for advance parole" asks to explain on a separate sheet of paper, how I qualify for an advance parole document and what circumstances warrant issuance of advance parole. Do I have to fill this out? If yes, do I just write on a separate sheet that I'm applying for advance parole if any emergency comes up while I'm waiting for my GC?
General questions:
Should I include a G-1145 per form and attach it to the front of each form submission, or just submit 1 G-1145 for the whole packet?
I don't have a middle name, so I leave these fields blank instead of writing "None" or "N/A", correct?
Can I include both checks in one envelope or one check per envelope?
Once I graduate in April 2016, and if I don't have my EAD with me by then, I will not be considered out of status past graduation since I'm already in the process of adjusting my status based on marriage to a US citizen, correct?
Thank you so much for your answers and suggestions!
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