Folinskyinla

Hi:

In my opinion -- changing name is really a non-issue. At least here in Los Angeles, I've never seen it held up as a problem.

As to her daughter, it would be difficult to change her name. BTW, given her age, word of warning -- CIS has LOTS of problems with K-2's 18 and over at time of the marriage to the AmCit petitioner.

JEff

Gary,

My wife retained her maiden name after our marriage and it was not an
issue with her adjustment. Her son has his biological father's surname
and we never considered changing that, also a non-issue.

Regards, JEff

Gary Morrison wrote:
    > Now that you folks have pointed out that "the task at hand" in the AOS
    > is to demonstrate having established a life together, I'm now rethinking
    > another impression I previously had.
    > Before this conversation, I was thinking that it would be unwise for my
    > fiancee to change her family name to match mine. I was concerned that
    > having a different name appear out of the blue would confuse the
    > immigration paperwork (plus, she's from China, where the tradition is
    > for women to keep their original family names when they get married).
    > However, since I now understand that we need to do as much as we can to
    > demonstrate having a new life together, it sounds like it would instead
    > be very desirable for her to change her name to match mine, because that
    > would show all the more that we've become a family.
    > Does that make sense?
    > Relatedly, would it be valuable for her daughter to change her family
    > name too? She'll be 19 years old when she arrives here, if that matters.
    > --
    > (Preferably reply to the newsgroup, please. If you reply by Email, I
    > will sincerely try to receive your message, but it will probably get
    > buried in spam.)

Gary Morrison

Folinskyinla wrote:

    > BTW,
    > given her age, word of warning -- CIS has LOTS of problems with K-2's 18
    > and over at time of the marriage to the AmCit petitioner.

What sorts of problems?

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Just Jenney

A lot of it is also covered in the K Visa FAQ to which I directed him earlier.

~ Jenney

meauxna

Here is a link to one painful story: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ight=lovenlife
Look for other posts from Girona40.

Gary Morrison

Jenney & Mark wrote:

    > A lot of it is also covered in the K Visa FAQ
    > (http://www.visajourney.com/faq/k1faq.htm) to which I directed
    > him earlier.

I'm beginning to study both, along with a whole lot of other stuff, now.

Thanks for all of the great information, everybody!

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Gary Morrison

meauxna wrote:

    > Here is a link to one painful story: http://britishexpats.com/forum/sho-
    > wthread.php?t=316031&highlight=lovenlife
    > Look for other posts from Girona40.

That's very unfortunate, but indeed a good warning, and piece of
information, for "the rest of us."

It sounds like the basic statement of the problem is that her son turned
21 during the AOS process. Am I interpreting that correctly?

Since my future step-daughter will apply shortly after she turns 19, I'm
at least *hoping* that she won't run into this problem. I think it's
pretty clear though that I'd be very well-served to find a really good
lawyer to make absolutely certain that there are no unnecessary delays
and that our case is air-tight right from the start.

Now if this were to in fact happen with my future daughter-in-law, she
would already have already entered the US and would be living with my
near-future wife and me during the two years it would take for her to
run into this situation, correct? If they were then kick her out of the
country, my immediate thought would be to try to bring her back in on a
student visa or a work visa. Does that seem plausible?

From what you folks have heard, is taking two years to complete an AOS
common, or pretty rare? One of you mentioned that it could take a few
months to a couple years, is the few-month scenario much more common?

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Noorah101

Everyone else's experience really doesn't matter here. It is all in the hands of your local district office, and their backlog at the time you file. For example, an AOS can be filed on the same day, by 2 different people, one in Bakersfield Calif, and one in New York, NY. The one in Bakersfield might take 4 months to process, and the one in NY could take 20 months. You might be in a local office that shows a 6-month backlog, but for some reason USCIS loses your file or requests an RFE and loses that, etc....which will then take a long time to fix. You just never know. What's your local office?

Rene

Gary Morrison

Noorah101 wrote:

    > Everyone else's experience really doesn't matter here. It is all in the
    > hands of your local district office, and their backlog at the time you
    > file. For example, an AOS can be filed on the same day, by 2 different
    > people, one in Bakersfield Calif, and one in New York, NY. The one in
    > Bakersfield might take 4 months to process, and the one in NY could take
    > 20 months. You might be in a local office that shows a 6-month backlog,
    > but for some reason USCIS loses your file or requests an RFE and loses
    > that, etc....which will then take a long time to fix. You just never
    > know. What's your local office?

So then is a 4 to 20 month backlog typical, or were those just
hypothetical numbers?

I'm attempting to locate and secure a good immigration lawyer, but you
folks ideas and suggestions along these lines are very helpful. So thanks!

I don't know where my local office is, but I presume it must be either
here in Austin (Texas), or possibly out in Houston. Is there any way to
find out what their current backlog is?

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Gary Morrison

Gary Morrison wrote:

    > So then is a 4 to 20 month backlog typical, or were those just
    > hypothetical numbers?

OK, that was a dumb question, since your point is that it's all the
proverbial "crap shoot."

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Noorah101

Gary,

You can look here: https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/js...ectedOffice=37 and see that for Houston, as of August, they are processing I-485's from January 2006. This gives you a very rought estimate that their backlog is around 6 months. Of course your mileage may vary, but that's a rough guideline.

The 4 months and 20 month scenarios were real for those particular local offices at one time.

Best Wishes,
Rene

Gary Morrison

Noorah101 wrote:

    > You can look here: https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/officeProces-
    > stimes.jsp?selectedOffice=37 and see that for Houston, as of August,
    > they are processing I-485's from January 2006.

Aha! Now that can be a very useful web page, I think! Thanks for the tip.

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Noorah101

www.uscis.gov in general is a very useful website. You should bookmark it and read a lot of it. Especially the parts about Adjustment of Status to Permanent Resident and Forms and Fees.

Rene