Buendia

Steph -

I am so sorry! I hope you hear something soon...

Our appt. with the Albuquerque office is this coming Wednesday. We'll be filing our I-485 (with the approved I-130) and will be requesting interim EAD the same day. I will let everyone knows how it goes with this service center, but I have to tell you, in light of Steph's experiences, we are so scared!

This is the only local service center I've heard of so far that asks you to wait 2 weeks for an interim EAD. Has anyone had experience with other service centers that don't give you the interim the same day?

I'll be posting on here Wednesday evening. And if anything goes wrong, I'll be contacting our congressman (we live in Santa Fe, and hence a different district than Steph in Albuquerque, and it turns out we have a much, much, much better Congressperson in many ways).

inquisitive40

Has the OP applied to I-485? If not I REALLY think that is where his problem lay.
Patrick

stephiefrank

Hi There
I really hope it goes well for you on Wednesday, glad you have an appointment, when I went as a walk in it took us 2 and a half hours to be seen.
If you are filing your AOS maybe things will turn out a little better than us, but I have to agree Heather Wilson is our Rep here and her office hasnt been helpful at all.
Take care and Good Luck
Steph

inquisitive40

Have you filed an I-485 yet?
Patrick

stephiefrank

No we havent applied for our I-485, we didnt have the money and we were waiting on our I-130 which is now approved. Unfortunately I didnt discover this web site until too late, I wish I had as the information and support people give is wonderful. I guess I was VERY naive in thinking, well they gave me a visa for 2 years, surely they will let me support myself while my husband is at school...boy was I wrong!!
Steph

Buendia

It's not clear to me that's really what the USCIS expects... There seem to be several ways to obtain a greencard after entering on a K3. One way is to file your I-485 right away (with the I-765 for the EAD). But some service centers don't allow you to do this without an approved I-130. And it's certainly an option to wait until the I-130 is approved and do Consular Processing. Lots of people have done this and gotten their interim EAD and regular EAD.

We filed the I-765 as soon as possible (a few days after entering the US on the K3 visa) and waited for our I-130 to be approved rather than filing a whole new one with the I-485. So now we have an appt. to file the I-485.

I think it's a lot more common for people to enter the country on a tourist visa or Visa waiver and then adjust status, and I think part of the confusion at local service centers is the relative rarity of the K3. Especially here in New Mexico which I'm sure has a lot fewer K1s or K3s than larger states...

We're making our trip to Albuquerque without a lot of hope, and with Congressman Tom Udall's immigration liaison's phone number in my palm pilot...

meauxna

Steph, it wouldn't be a DCF since you would have an approved I-130. But you would be able to do Consular Processing and get an Immigrant Visa abroad. That will convert to PR status on your entry.

inquisitive40

I think part of USCIS reasoning might be that without the I-485 being filed (and yes some centers do not allow you to file I-130 and I-485 together), they give priority to people with the I-485 filed because those people are on the way to full adjustment of status, whereas with no I-485 filed the preson has not even started that process and so is not a priority to them.

Sucks BUT seems their train of thought, I have watched K-3s on this forum and they really seem to be the slowest way to finalize the AOS process, many taking years to complete. TOTALLY sucks,,

Sorry
Patrick

inquisitive40

Yes this group has been a great resource for us all and it REALLY sucks when people arrive here and then discover that something in their filing may not be 100% the norm. Having said that, does your local center allow filing of I-130 and I-485 at the same time?
Patrick

Buendia

It is pretty annoying if that's the case... I wonder if they'll feel differently about our case because we'll be filing the I-485 the same day we ask for the interim EAD...?? I guess we'll see.

inquisitive40

I hope so for your sake,, seems a ton of people have EAD delays, one would think coming in on a K visa that the EAD would just sail through. How does the USCIS think couples are supposed to be able to survive financially without getting their EAD, one income here in the US is just so difficult to survive here (I should know )
Patrick

USA & Pakistan

You are sooo right! Especially if they are going back to Ireland anyway! It sounds like the perfect answer.

Marnee

Buendia

So true. We're doing ok, but just from sheer luck - I just signed a contract with the City of Santa Fe to design a fire station - how cool (first meeting with the Chief is next week)! So my business is going well (I still think some of this is to do with the website David did for me and his excellent help writing proposals to get new projects). And David is writing book #2 so at least he's busy. But it's still hard sometimes (both emotionally and financially), and I know it's a lot harder for most people.

I think the K1 and K3 visas should come with EADs. You could fill out the I-765 at the same time as the I-129f and they could be processed together.

inquisitive40

Well especially the fact that a K-1 can work for the first 3 months here (Correct?) , they really should have work authorisation built into these visas.
Patrick

meauxna

OK, I don't want to get anyone stirred up here;l I may have completely misunderstood what I read, however...
It appeared to me that the 8 CFR 274a gives K3 the same work authorization 'incident to status' as it does K1.

K1 status only lasts 90 days, but K3 is 2 years.
The only real benefit to this that I can see is if the K3 spouse wants to be self employed, or works for an employer that does not require seeing the EAD proof of that status. I'm really hoping MrF will drop by this and add a comment...