Adjustment of Status Interview

[Howard]

Gerlie and I had her Adjustment of Status interview last week.

Gerlie had been making herself nervous for a few weeks prior to the interview only to find out it was very easy and that it would go just like I told her it would  The officer was very nice, but had had a very tough case earlier in the day which put him way behind.  We had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes and watch just about everyone in the place go in and out before they got to us :x   He did get huge points for actually explaining that to us and even apologizing for the delay and any inconvenience that it might has caused us!  That's right... some one affiliated with USCIS apologized for inconveniencing us!!!  THAT took long enough! Hahahahahahaaa

For those that are worried that they haven't accumulated enough evidence for their AOS interview, the only new docs we had to submit were bank statements with both our names on them, a few check stubs from a part time job Gerlie has been working and an employment letter from that employer.  The officer us told that if she takes another medical exam - the one she had for her K-1 was 20 months old because of the 90-days the consulate in Manila dicked us around and because I didn't file the AOS docs right away.  I was trying to accumulate proof of a vaild relationship... DOH - and gets her vaccinations - she didn't do that when she had the chance in Manila, for whatever reason - we will pass easily  :lol:

Moral to the story?  A) Even though it's tempting to take a break from the frustration that is USCIS after you're successfully married, get it over with!  File your AOS as soon as your are eligible.  If they ask why you don't have more evidence, tell them that you haven't been married that long  :wink: and B) Have your wife get her vaccinations in Manila.  It's much less expense and hassle.  Immigration Doctors, since they have you by the BALLS, don't take medical insurance.  So if you put yourself in this situation, like we did, it's on your dime.  This can be VERY annoying if you own a small business that struggles to provide health care for your employees and yourself!  We do have friends that were in a similar situation - she needed vaccinations - and found a doctor that would allow their family physician to give the vaccinations, putting them on their health insurance   Their doctor forwarded the information and the USCIS doctor signed off on everything for $30.00.  I will be contacting him next week to see if he will do the same for us.  I will let you guys know how it goes

There was, of course, one negative to the interview.  It seems, in following Filipino tradition, we created more work for ourselves.  When we filed for our marriage liscense we did the Filipino thing and moved Gerlie's last name to her middle name and changed her last name to mine, which the fine, hardworking employees of the City of Detroit, County of Wayne were not supposed to let us do!  Two other couples tried.  One was told at the marriage liscense bureau in their county, not the same county as we are in, that it wasn't possible and the other was stopped by a friend who knew the rule that they are suddenly enforcing, against the tradition of my wife's native country.  Another couple, from Colorado, did the same thing we did and it went unnoticed.  I guess I'll have to hold my breath for them to find Oil in Davao so that the USCIS will bend over backwards to not offend anyone's native traditions from the Philippines  :x  

So here's the problem.  I used the marriage liscense as the document to get every other piece of ID my wife has.  Her State ID, driver's liscense, social security card, insurance documents, etc...  not to mention our marriage liscense, all say Gerlie B. and her green card will say Gerlie M.  Think that will be a problem???

I called the USCIS 800 number and was told by the first Immigration Officer that I talked to that "... that's ridiculous!" her words not mine, "he can do that!".  She then transferred me to a supervisor, who was very crabby by the way, who listened, asked a few questions like he was asking an idiot what 2+2 was and kept getting 5 as the answer!, only to say that he didn't have any power to over ride his decision.  The gist of his reply was that the Immigration Officer had the power to make the change, but he would not come right and say it plainly, he just kept pausing like he was restraining himself from saying too much and then saying he was "sorry" but he didn't have the power to override the officer in charge of our case.  He then explained to me that our approval or denial was based almost entirely on the discretion of that officer with a 'so shut the F up!' kind of attitude.

So now the plan is to get the medical, the vaccinations and submit them to get the green card with the wrong middle name on it and then use that to change all of the other identification that we have to the name that the USCIS has decided is most appropriate for my wife.  Really, Gerlie isn't all that upset by this, thankfully she takes things pretty well as long as I am calm  :wink: I think it's bull, but maybe the officer is the one who's in the right here.  I trust him more than the gangsta who paid less attention to us than the fine sista he was hittin' at the computer next to him that processed our marriage liscense.  If he would have done his job we wouldn't be discussing this now.

For the record, I am planning another update on a less official level for the very near future, I just wanted to write this one first for anyone who needs this information in dealing with their AOS and USCIS

Other than that... life is so good that I'm not sure that I'm me anymore  Hahahahahaha  I'm not sure that that makes a lot of sense, but it does to me

Keep the Faith!

H

[Ray]

Hi Howard, thanks for the update. Glad to hear that things are going well.

Good advice about the vaccinations in Manila. I always try to encourage guys to MAKE her get the shots. A quirk in the law allows K-visa applicants to skip the shots and get them later in the States if they so desire. St. Luke’s has a contract with the embassy to do medical exams for $95 a pop, which includes any and all needed vaccinations. So if St. Luke’s were to convince the girls to wait and get their shots later, they could save a tidy sum of money on shots and pocket the profit. Since a lot of the ladies are deathly afraid of shots, all they have to do is pull out the 24 in. prop needle and hold it up in front of them while they explain the option to get the shots later in the U.S.

The law says that a K-visa holder does not have to get another medical exam if it has been less than one year between the visa medical overseas and the date of filing the AOS petition. They still must catch up on any needed shots though. I guess you found out the hard way that it works like that.

For the married name change, I guess some states do not allow the bride to change her middle name after marriage, but I think this is rarely if ever enforced. A lot of countries besides the Philippines have a tradition of using the maiden last name as the new middle name. The idiot at CIS was wrong to force her to use her original middle name. As far as you guys changing all of Girlie’s official docs to match the new Green Card, my advice is DON’T DO IT!!!

When she needs to renew her passport, she will find out that the Philippine Consulate is going to REQUIRE her to follow the Filipino customary method of using the maiden last name as the new married middle name. It’s the law in the Philippines and she is a Filipino citizen still. I don’t think she will have any big problems if she keeps her name the way she chose when you married. The fact that the Green Card is different is really mostly CIS’s problem. When she travels, she will be using the name on her passport or driver’s license and I don’t think the Green Card discrepancy will cause any major concerns, but she should carry extra documents just in case it comes up. She should probably change her passport to her new married name soon anyway and report her marriage to the Philippine Consulate at the same time.

When and if she applies for naturalization, she will have the option one time to change her name to just about anything she likes, except maybe Osama Bin Laden. She will be eligible to apply for citizenship in about 3 years.

Ray

[flipflop]

Rays advise is always good. When my wife went through this she kept her original middle name. I was more concerened with the process going forward than her return to the PI. A different MN I saw as a glitch that would upset or stall the process on this end. I also made sure she got her shots in Manila probably on advise i got here from Ray. IMO the Neb service center and the place in Detroit have done every little thing on time and according to the policy and protocol  I had read on form s and at sites. I followed directions meticulously right down to punching the two holes at the top of the paper work and binding it in the binder like they would use so shuffling of the paper work would be easy for them.  While Detroit is a long drive for me I have never spent more than two hours in the facility and never had one problem. I see alot of Arabs in the place so I think they are on their best behaivior watching things closely and not letting back logs and such remove focus from the job at hand. My wife has passed the naturalization test and should be sworn with in the next year and I repeat I did not have one single set back in the immigration process. As a  former radioman in the USN I was a beauracratic clerk as part of my duties so that helped. I knew how screwed up things can get with even the smallest error so I left nothing to chance.

My wifes passport will expire soon so after shes becomes a citizen i will take that last piece of advise from Ray and get her a new one, with her original middle name.

[Keith]

Congrats Howard!  I am glad the two of you're doing well.  You guys are on your second year now. wow!  Seems like yesterday that you and I were talking on the phone before Gerlie arrived.  

Keith