Me Voy

My husband received his AOS approval yesterday from the San Francisco
INS. Our interview was October 22nd. The reason for the delay was that
the officer wanted our baby's birth certificate. I was pregnant when I
filed the original K1 petition 2 years ago and said so in a special
letter I included with the petition. Since the baby was born here and
my then-fiance didn't arrive until 5 months after the birth I didn't
think to bring the birth certificate to the interview. It wasn't on
the list of things and my son is a US citizen. Anyway, the officer
told us at the interview that she would have approved us on the spot
if we had the birth cert, and to please send it registered mail to her
attention. We did and approximately 2 weeks later received the
approval letter that says we can come down to have his passport
stamped.

A few months ago I posted about his papers being confiscated by the US
POE when he entered from Cuba, and so therefore he did not have his
proof of immunizations that the interview letter said to bring. We
decided to bite the bullet and have him take the shots again from an
INS doc. None of the docs that I found through the INS would just do
the shots, they would only do the entire exam. We were lucky to find a
doc who works with an immigrants' rights group and so the entire exam
with shots was $140, instead of $280-320 as other places had quoted.

At the interview the office did not have the original immunization
paperwork from Cuba, and DID ASK for it. When we gave her the sealed
envelope she did mention that he didn't need to take the entire
physical over again. She was suprised when I told her that all of the
INS docs had told me it was the total exam with shots or nothing.

Lastly, a question: The stamp that my husband will get in his passport
while we wait for the real green card is as good as a green card in
regards to traveling outside the country, correct? They might just ask
a few more questions upon re-entry but technically he is good to
travel??? He is a musician and the group will be touring to Asia soon,
so I want to be sure. Of course he will still need to get any necesary
visas for the country he needs to visit.

Thanks!

Andy Platt

"me voy" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > My husband received his AOS approval yesterday from the San Francisco
    > INS. Our interview was October 22nd. The reason for the delay was that
    > the officer wanted our baby's birth certificate. I was pregnant when I
    > filed the original K1 petition 2 years ago and said so in a special
    > letter I included with the petition. Since the baby was born here and
    > my then-fiance didn't arrive until 5 months after the birth I didn't
    > think to bring the birth certificate to the interview. It wasn't on
    > the list of things and my son is a US citizen. Anyway, the officer
    > told us at the interview that she would have approved us on the spot

Congrats. Arlington INS certainly asked for any birth certificates of
children on their proof of evidence list - in fact it was the second thing
the interviewer asked us for (right after my passport).

    > Lastly, a question: The stamp that my husband will get in his passport
    > while we wait for the real green card is as good as a green card in
    > regards to traveling outside the country, correct? They might just ask
    > a few more questions upon re-entry but technically he is good to
    > travel??? He is a musician and the group will be touring to Asia soon,
    > so I want to be sure. Of course he will still need to get any necesary
    > visas for the country he needs to visit.

Yes, it's fine to travel on it; some airlines might not be as familiar with
it but if he is travelling from an airport with lots of flights to the US
they'll know about it!

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.

Caro

How long did you wait for your interview at the San Francisco office from the date you filed your AOS? I filed about a year ago (but in Detroit), and I am trying to get a sense as to when I could have my AOS interview in San Francisco (as I moved).

Thanks,
Caroline

Caro

Forgot to answer your question. Yes the stamp is like the real green card, so he can travel without any problem once he has the stamp in his passport. People who have used the stamp to travel will be more knowledgable as to whether he needs other documents with the stamp to travel (approval letter for example?).

Caroline

Shannon

I thought the stamp was all that was required. However, I just returned from a trip to the UK and when we passed the POE at Seattle the officer looked in my passport, checked the stamp and then asked to see my greencard. I do not know what would have happened if I didn't have it on me.

Anyone else been asked for the card?

Shannon