Elliott

I will be getting married in September 2001 on K-1 Visa status. Do I apply for the
EAD and AOS at a local INS office or at my Regional Service Center? (Lincoln,
Nebraska). Please help! Is there anything left at all I have to file to Lincoln?
Also, what's preferred-- to present the forms in person, or mail them? Is either the
quicker method? Thanks very much in advance! Elliott.

Alvena Ferreira

Elliott wrote:
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You always file everything at the local INS district office UNLESS you are in the
Baltimore office jurisdiction (which you are not). You have nothing to file at NSC
UNTIL you get ready to file for removal of conditions on your 2-year green card
(within 90 days before your 2-year card will expire). It's going to be a while before
you reach that stage, so don't worry about NSC for now.

It is always best to file in person, as this speeds the processing and some offices
give the EAD in person on the same day you file...however, not all INS offices allow
filing in person. Some office require that you mail in your forms. You can find the
experiences of others at local INS offices here: http://www.kamya.com/aos/ Perhaps if
you check you can find an experience or two from your office which will give you some
helpful filng tips.

Alvena
===
I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice; this is my personal opinion, posted
for the purpose of discussion only:
===
K-1 FAQ: http://www.k1faq.com Timelines: http://www.wkh.org/ A great K-1 Site:
http://pages.prodigy.net/alixtcat/immigrat.htm Marriage Visa Pages:
http://www.mindspring.com/~docsteen/...o/visainfo.htm
===

Rete

You will not be dealing with the service center again until after you have received your green card. If it is conditional, meaning you interviewed prior to your second wedding anniversary, then you will apply there for the removal of the conditions one year and nine months before the expiration of the green card.

From this point onward you will be dealing with your local INS office. You will file your I-485, I-765, I-131 and I-864 with them. Remember to send them only "copies" of the supporting documentation and leave the originals to be brought to the AOS interview.

As for preference in mailing or in-person delivery I don't have a clue which local INS office you will be using and therefore cannot hazard even a guess. My suggestion is that you look up the AOS filing experiences for the INS office you will be using and go from there.

http://www.kamya.com/aos/


Rita

Elliott

Thanks very much Alvena! I don't know what I'd do without the kindness of
knowledgable folks to help me out! By the way, I used (of my own free will and
volition of course and realizing it did not constitute legal adivce) *winks* your old
website that they inexplicably removed -- to get this far and it's been a grand slam
so far. You did an infinitely good thing for all us stricken with long-distance love.
God Bless.

Sweatpea

Rete <[email protected]>
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***************

Hi Rita,

We plan to file AOS, EAD, AP in person in Philadelphia later this month... You wrote:
"Remember to send them only "copies" of the supporting documentation and leave the
originals to be brought to the AOS interview." When we file in person, does this mean
that we include a photocopy of the certified copy of the marriage certificate? And
then bring the certified copy along to the AOS interview? The certified copies of the
marriage certificate are $15.00 each and we're trying to figure out how many we need.
I don't want to include one with the application and bring another one to the AOS
interview if only a copy is needed with the application.

Not trying to be a pain... I guess I'm just a bit confused because I thought that we
assemble everything and submit it all at once, except for the things that we wouldn't
have yet (like the wedding photos, etc.) and those things we'd bring to the
interview. Should we submit the IRS tax transcripts & notarized tax returns with my
Affidavit of Support or just photo copies and take the "originals" (the ones with the
actual notarized stamp) along to the interview?

Can you clarify? In the meantime, I'm going to check out the site that you referenced
in your post.

Thanks!

-Sweetpea

Rete

You don't need a certified copy. You need a xerox copy which shows the certification or registration marks on the original marriage certificate. Think that is what confuses people the most -- the terms "certified" and "copy". The marriage certificate you get after the marriage will so the registration marks and seal of the office that filed the marriage on the state books. This is known to some as the certified or registered "copy". We received three of these at no charge after our wedding. It varies from state to state, from town to town, etc. Figure you need to "show" one to Social Security if the name needs to be changed on the card, one for the motor vehicle department same reason, one for passport same reason, one for credit cards same reason, one for INS. With the exception of the credit card companies and INS, originals were returned by all. And as for INS we sent a copy with the "original" petition, brought the original with us to the interview and brought the original back home with us.

For the I-864 you have to include EITHER the tax transcripts and/or the actual filed tax form and supporting W-2's. The I-864 is incomplete without the tax returns/transcripts and will not be accepted for filing.

As you are going to Philly to file in person, assemble your original petitions with copies of supporting documents. This will be given to the INS.

For yourself assemble an exact duplicate package with a "copy" of the original petitions and with the "originals" of the supporting documentation. THIS WILL GO HOME WITH YOU BUT SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PHILLY INS WHEN YOU FILE. This is so if they want to see the original there and then, you have it with you.

Also WHY are you notarizing the tax transcripts? Only the I-864 itself has to be notarized. You do NOT have to notarize anything else. Save your time and money.

Hope this helps

Rita

Grinch

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I filed at Philly. I gave them photocopies of everything when I handed in the forms.
They took the original of the things they needed at the interview. If you want your
EAD on the day of filing go early they stop issuing them at
1.00 pm

Grinch