We have a valid advance parole form but the I-94 was taken during the greencard interview. Due to fingerprinting delays we were not yet given the approval and the stamp. Next week we're planning to go to Canada by car. When re-entering the U.S. is it good enough to simply have the AP form or must the I-94 be in the passport as well?
Thanks,
Matt

I guess you didn't see my post last week. Nicola will probably have to fill in a new
I-94 before entering the US. She may or may not be charged $6 for this.

One other thing: Rita mentioned that you posted your interview experience but I
couldn't find that post - either on my ISP's newsserver or on deja.com. Did you post
it and, if so, could you re-post it?

Andy.

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

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Aug 7 AOS interview
 

Hey Andy, I can repost our experience and I can also put it up on the AOS experiences page. I'm using this British Expats website to connect to this newsgroup and it only keeps a few days worth of posts before they go away. I don't think I have the original posting but I can tell you the gist of the interview here. By the way, I don't know if you saw my post about the fingerprints only taking 1 day? Here it is:
>>
1-day processing of fingerprints, that's right, only 1 day!
I went to the office to drop off my 1999 tax forms as we did not have that for the interview last week. I was hoping to catch Officer Williams (the nicest INS employee ever) at Arlington INS since she did our greencard interview. I waited around in the room for one of the officers to stick their head out. Since I was not sure if the fingerprint results were back, I asked for the I-94 we gave to the officer so that we could use AP at the Canadian border for our trip next week. This officer stated that we did not need the I-94, just the AP. I don't know if that's true or not but it didn't sit right with me. Not knowing what else to do I started to head out the door when Officer Williams said hello to me! I explained the situation and she took me back to her office. She seemed to agree with me that the I-94 is necessary when showing the AP, but she said to wait and proceeded to look in her computer.
We had gone to the fingerprinting appointment in Alexandria the Tuesday morning of the greencard interview. I thought there was little to no chance that these results would be back even though the fingerprints were done directly onto a computer.
She tells me that fingerprinting used to take up to 120 days when they did them on paper, because they'd have to send them to a service center and then forward them to the FBI and receive those results from the FBI. Nowadays, everything is done electronically. The Wednesday evening the results came back! Luckily, I brought Nicola's passport with me and she stamped it with the temporary I-551 stamp!! She also gave us a form telling us to file to remove conditions in 1 year 9 months.
I couldn't believe how fast that was. If anyone has electronic fingerprinting done, expect to have the results in only a couple of days!
Glad to be done with the process for a couple of years,
Matt
>>

Anyway, that was the result of my second trip (Nicola didn't need to come with me) where they put the stamp in her passport.
On July 31 we were sent 2 letters that arrived on Aug 1 the first stating that our AOS interview would be on Aug 7 at 11:20AM. The second stated that we could go in for fingerprints at the ASC in Alexandria anytime between Aug 7-11. Speaking with our lawyer we decided to go to the ASC before the AOS interview on Aug 7. We waited about 45 minutes before Nicola got called to an electronic fingerprinting machine and we were out the door to get to Ballston for the 11:20 interview. We met our lawyer's assistant at the door and went to room #311 with all of our documents. The interview letter asked for passport, I-94, form 9003 (which goes to the IRS) and there was a second sheet asking to bring in copies of birth certificates, marriage certificate, notarized copies of 3 affidavits from friends (the only thing we needed to notarize), photographs of wedding and us together, joint utility bills, insurance and bank documents (we did not need a specific letter from the bank manager) and all the other stuff it asks for.
Strangely, the interview letter had a blank checkbox for last 3 years tax returns and immunizations. While we did not need the immunization info we most certainly had to have my last 3 years tax returns. They had 1996-1998 returns but not 1999 or 2000 so I brought 2000 and had to come back with the 1999 return.
The officer had to swear us in asking if all of our responses would be truthful. She asked a few questions, where do we work, how did we meet each other, when did we get married, that was about it. Most of the interview seemed to focus on whether all the paperwork was in order. I wasn't as bummed out about the 1999 return because I knew there was no way they'd have the fingerprint results from earlier that morning so we'd have to come back anyway.
The thing we were most concerned about the whole time is whether we'd actually get seen! We didn't have our interview until about 1:20 so we waited 2 hours. Our attorney's assistant had to go into the interview with 2 other clients of theirs that had later appointment times but got seen first! When we finally got called in I was concerned that the assistant should join us but Nicola made a good point that we should get in while we had the chance. The interview was basically over by the time the assistant got out of the other interview, we told her everything went smoothly and that we just needed to wait on the tax form and the fingerprints.
-Matt

Thanks for posting that! Obviously no hard questions?

I'll have all the tax returns (the 2000 return was filed electronically so I'll be
interested to see how they deal with that) ready for them. Since Deana's given up
work now to look after Caroline I'll be using my income exclusively (although each
year they have tax returns for she would clearly be above the 125% level) so I'll
take all of mine that I've ever filed just in case.

Of course, by the time we're called I might have filed 2001 taxes! I forget when you
& Nicola initially filed the paperwork. I know it was a little before me, but what
month was it?

Congrats once again and have a good vacation in Canada.

Andy.

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

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>>
Thanks for posting that! Obviously no hard questions?
>>
No, nothing hard at all! The officer was very nice and apologized for the delay and the evident mis-communications between the INS office and the ASC for fingerprinting.

>>
I'll have all the tax returns (the 2000 return was filed electronically so I'll be
interested to see how they deal with that) ready for them. Since Deana's given up
work now to look after Caroline I'll be using my income exclusively (although each
year they have tax returns for she would clearly be above the 125% level) so I'll
take all of mine that I've ever filed just in case.
>>
We filed our 2000 return through Turbotax and it printed out the actual 1040 form for us. If you don't have that, you can order Transcripts through the IRS over the phone or you can go to Skyline to pick them up in person (same day I'm told).
The INS officer gave me the address:
One Skyline Place
5205 Leesburg Pike, Suite 902
Baileys Crossroads, VA 22041

My 1996-1999 tax returns I gave them were IRS transcripts (not the actual 1040 forms) and they accepted them at the INS without any problems.

Apart from seeing that we filed together they didn't care a whole lot about Nicola's income (since mine was sufficient). They did ask for her 3 most recent paystubs (mine as well) but I imagine if Deana is not working they may not ask for hers.

>>
Of course, by the time we're called I might have filed 2001 taxes! I forget when you
& Nicola initially filed the paperwork. I know it was a little before me, but what
month was it?
>>
We filed the beginning of February 2000. So it was 18 months later that the interview occurred. I thought I heard someone say their interview at Arlington had them waiting for 17 months, but I wouldn't expect it any earlier than that.

>>
Congrats once again and have a good vacation in Canada.
>>
Thanks! Fortunately, we're flying to Seattle there and staying there most of the time so it wouldn't have been a total loss not to make it up to Canada, but we still wanted to go if we could.

-Matt

When returning from Canada by car the first time my husband used his AP - we were
directed to come inside the office where the agent simply reviewed his passport,
removed the I-94 and stamped his papers. He was not issued a new I-94. He crossed a
few times after that and the agents just glanced at the passport and AP and sent him
on his way. When we renewed his AP and used it driving to Canada - same procedure,
review the passport and stamp the AP. He hasn't had an I-94 since the one he received
when he entered on his K-1. Take Care. Shelley

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[usenetquote2]> > We have a valid advance parole form but the I-94 was taken during the greencard[/usenetquote2]
[usenetquote2]> > interview. Due to fingerprinting delays we were not yet given the approval and[/usenetquote2]
[usenetquote2]> > the stamp. Next week we're planning to go to Canada by car. When re-entering the[/usenetquote2]
[usenetquote2]> > U.S. is it good enough to simply have the AP form or must the I-94 be in the[/usenetquote2]
[usenetquote2]> > passport as well? Thanks, Matt[/usenetquote2]
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Now that is surprising. We always use the Lake Champlain crossing and with the first and second A/P use, Jim received two I-94's on each one. One on the top left and one on the bottom right. Didn't cost a cent but the time involved to park the car and go into the building and have them do the processing.

Hey now with the "transparent border" between Can/Am almost a reality, probably won't even be given that.

Rita