USCIS Green Card Approval

I should point out at the start of this post that, as usual, this is an account of my own personal experience, it is not an official guide.  Your experience of getting USCIS green card approval may well be different to mine.  My account does, however, give you a general idea of the sort of things that can happen and where possible, I mention other possibilities that I have read about in my research, which didn’t happen to me personally.

As I mentioned in my post on the biometrics appointment, I didn’t received temporary work and travel permits, despite applying for them – instead I was “fast-tracked” straight to getting my USCIS green card.  “Fast-tracked” is a relative concept in this case, however, as it still took months before my green card was processed.

(Getting the temporary work and travel permits normally isn’t much of an advantage, anyway, as they usually take almost as long to process as the green card for most people in my situation, according to the research that I had done.  So I didn’t feel that I had missed out on anything by not getting them.)

One good thing, however, was that I went straight to the approval letter stage and I didn’t have to attend a USCIS green card interview.  From what I know, the green card interview is no more difficult than the K1 visa interview, but I would still have had the hassle of having to ask my wife to take time off work and drive us up to the USCIS office in a neighbouring city, as we had to do with the biometrics appointment.

Anyway, as I said, I got my green card approval letter, which welcomed me to the USA and explained that I would be receiving my USCIS green card within three weeks (as it happened, the card actually arrived just three days later).  My green card is only valid for two years, however, and I will need to apply for a permanent replacement before it runs out.  (Obtaining the replacement is a relatively cheap and easy process, I believe).

Once I had my green card, I went to my local social security office and applied for a replacement social security card.  This was because my original card was stamped: “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION”.  Now that I had a green card, I was able to swap it for a regular social security card without the stamp on it, free of charge.

The USCIS Biometrics Appointment

Four months after I sent off my I-485Green Card Application, as well as my applications for temporary travel and work permits, known as the I-131 Advance Parole (AP) and the I-765 Employment Authorization (EAD), I received a letter inviting me to attend a USCIS biometrics appointment. 

It was good news, as it meant that I was getting closer to obtaining my green card, but also a bit of a pain as it meant my wife taking time off work to drive me to the nearest USCIS office, which was an hour and a half away. There was a stark warning on the USCIS biometrics appointment letter warning me that my application would be considered abandoned if I missed the appointment, so we set off an hour and a half early, giving us plenty of time to find the USCIS center and also some leeway in case there were any unforeseen travel problems.

The biometrics appointment is pretty straightforward and essentially just about getting your photo, fingerprints, iris scans, etc. taken.  In my experience, it is essentially the same information as was collected from me at customs when I entered the US for visits (except this time I had paid the USCIS for the privilege).

We got to the USCIS office without problems.  After coming through security at the door, I was given a form to fill out and told to wait.  There were lots of people booked for the same time, so they gave people waiting numbers according to a first-come-first-served basis.  Like with the London Embassy, there were security restrictions on electronic devices, so my wife and I left our ipods etc in the car and took in some books to read.

I was only kept waiting for ten minutes, however, and then sent through to a backroom where a lady collected my biometrics.  One worrying thing that she pointed out, that I hadn’t realized, was that my USCIS biometrics appointment was only for my green card.  Normally, she told me, she processed two lots of biometrics for people in my situation, one for the green card application and one for the temporary travel and work permits.  She asked me if I had received any other letters and I told her no.  She explained that it was therefore possible that I might be invited to go for a second biometrics appointment at some point in the future. 

I was less than happy at the prospect of my wife having to take another day off work and both of us traveling to the USCIS office again.  Plus it could cause a delay in the process.  I tried to get some advice and information off the biometrics lady, regarding what I should I do, but she said that she was unable to tell me anything more  and I should just wait to be contacted by the USCIS (to be fair, I think she just had the task of collecting the biometrics and had no access to my files, or knowledge of my case).

Despite my wife having taken an entire day of work, the actual biometrics appointment only took about 25 minutes.  I was still thinking about what the biometrics lady had said when I got home.  Then I remembered that I had received another letter from the USCIS a couple of months earlier, telling me that they were transferring my green card application to California to speed it up (I live in Florida).  Taking into account what the lady at the biometrics had said, my guess was that the USCIS were maybe skipping the temporary work and travel applications and just focusing on sorting out my I-485 green card.  My guess would later turn out to be correct.

(I wasn’t too disappointed with this situation. Although my research had recommended putting in the I-131 Advance Parole (AP) and the I-765 Employment Authorization (EAD) applications in with the I-485 Green Card Application, basically because they are free to apply for if submitted this way, my research also suggested that the temporary work and travel permits usually take almost as long to process as the actual Green Card, so were of very limited practical value to me anyway.)

Fiance visa or marriage visa?

Once you and your partner have made the decision that you would like to cement your relationship and live in the US together, you have to decide which visa that you are going to apply for.  There are so many visas that it can seem like a daunting prospect.  

I thought that I would look at the options that were on offer from the USCIS for my wife and I, including whether to apply for a US immigrant visa or a non-immigrant visa, and also whether to go for a fiance visa or a marriage visa?  I will then explain how we came to our decision, in the hope that it might help other couples.

US Immigrant visa or US Non-immigrant visa?

The first thing that my wife and I found out was that US visas are split into two main groups: immigrant visas and non-immigrant visas.  Immigrant visas are for people who want to live in the US indefinitely, whereas non-immigrant visas are for people who want to live in the US temporarily for a specific purpose such as studying, or working for an employer.  

US immigrant visas are usually more expensive and time-consuming to obtain, as far as I am aware, but once you have gone through the process, you can usually become a lawful permanent resident, get your green card, and live and work in the US indefinitely, provided you keep to some basic conditions.

Although a non-immigrant visa is generally cheaper and quicker to get, there are problems if you wish to live in the US with your American fiancee, or fiance indefinitely, as a non-immigrant visa will almost certainly be temporary and you will also most likely be tied to a specific job, or study course.  Although they can often be renewed in some circumstances, it’s bound to be problematic in the long run. 

 

Fiance visa or marriage visa?

My wife and I decided that if we were to be together longterm, then we would have to get married.  This wasn’t a problem for us as we were already committed to being in a lifelong relationship.  The only question was whether we got married first and then I moved to the USA using a marriage visa, or whether I went to the USA with a fiance visa and got married there.    

We discovered that the main practical difference between the two types of visa was that with a K1 fiance visa, I had to move to the US with the undertaking that I would marry my fiancee within 90 days, whereas with the marriage visa, my fiancee and I would have to get married first and then apply for the visa.

The K1 Fiance Visa, which is what we eventually went for, is technically only a non-immigrant visa, but in practice it allowed me to enter the US and get married (we had to get married within 90 days of me entering the USA) and then, once I was married, I was able to apply for a Green Card in order to achieve LPR (Lawful Permanent Residency).  LPR means that you can live and work in the USA indefinitely, provided that you don’t breach certain basic rules.

The reason for our decision to go for a K1 Fiance Visa was that the research we did at the time suggested that the K1 Fiance Visa would work out to be both cheaper and quicker to get than a marriage visa.  The advantage of getting married first and then applying for a marriage visa, which we did not choose, is that I would have got a green card as soon as I arrived in the US, whereas with the fiance visa, I had to go through the I-485 Green Card Application process once I arrived.  

It is important to note, however, that you won't get a fiance visa without meeting the K1 Fiance Visa requirements.

Meeting the K1 Fiance Visa Requirements

Every US immigrant who wants a visa has to meet the specific visa requirements set by the US authorities.  In the case of my wife and I, it was the K1 Fiance Visa requirements that were the relevant ones.  We had to be sure that we met those requirements before we began the process that would eventually allow us to get married and live in the USA together.

Although getting a K1 Fiance visa is more expensive and takes longer than just getting a temporary visa for work or study, you can work and live in the USA more or less indefinitely once you have used your K1 Fiance Visa to enter the USA, got married and have gone through the I-485 green card application procedure.

There were four main K1 Fiance Visa requirements that my wife and I had to meet:

• Firstly, we had to show that we were legally eligible to wed under the laws of the US and my home country, the UK.  This was pretty straightforward for us as neither my fiancee nor I had been married before, so there were no messy ongoing divorces that could potentially get in our way, or anything like that.  (We were both well over the minimum age for marriage as well, I might add!)
  
• Secondly, we had to agree to get married within 90 days of me arriving in the US.  This also was no problem for us.  We were already engaged by that point and had decided upon a very small wedding ceremony, as the thought of trying to organize a big wedding would have been too daunting, distracting and, frankly, expensive for us.  We therefore opted for a simple civil ceremony attended by just a handful of friends.  Done this way, getting married in the US is pretty inexpensive and straightforward, I found, although the rules, costs and legalities do vary from state to state.  We were married in Florida and found the process quick and easy and not at all a strain on our wallets.
  
• The third of the K1 Fiance Visa requirements that I was required to meet was that I would use the K1 Fiance Visa to enter the USA with the sole intention of marrying my fiancee.  I am not a visa lawyer or a US immigration attorney, but I would guess that this clause is meant to help stop people misusing the K1 Fiance Visa.
  
• The fourth and final of the K1 Fiance Visa requirements was that my wife and I had met up during the two years before we filed for the K1 fiance visa.  We fulfilled this requirement and could prove that we had met up more than once over the time period mentioned with flight tickets, photographs, etc.  (I believe that this condition can be waived under certain circumstances, such as if your country or religion has customs that forbid a couple meeting up before marriage, or when the requirement might cause extreme hardship for the US citizen - but you would really have to check this up with the USCIS.)

Getting visa photos that fit the US visa photo requirements

One problem that you will probably come across quite quickly when you begin the process of applying for a K1 Fiance Visa is obtaining visa photos that fit the US visa photo requirements.  This was certainly the case for me, being British, as the US visa photo size and shape is completely different to the official photos that are used in Britain for official documents such as passports, driving licenses, etc.  This means that getting a photo for US visa from an automatic photo booth is not an option as the photos produced will not meet the visa photo specifications required for the USCIS documents.

You therefore have two options.  Either you pay someone to take and edit the photos for you so that they fit all the US visa photo specifications, or you do the photos yourself.  I chose the latter option, to do the photos myself, but whichever option you go for, I would strongly recommend that you make sure that have the finished photo(s) in a digital format – this means that you can use them again and again.  

You can also have extra back up copies on hand easily, if they are in digital format, because you can save them online, on a laptop, email them to yourself, and/or put them on a memory stick, as well as having your photos printed out in paper formats.  Even after I arrived in the US, I still needed photos for things such as the green card application and other official documents.

As I said, I chose to do the photo myself.  It is not that difficult, provided you follow all the instructions and make sure that you meet all the US visa photo requirements.  I will confess that I do have an advantage over many people in that I enjoy digital photography and have experience of basic photo editing, but the process really is not really too taxing.  I will take you through what I did.

First of all, visited the USCIS website and made sure that I had all the up to date information about the visa photo requirements.  Then I made sure that I had arranged the physical space so that the photo for visa would meet the requirements – for example, in the instructions I was given, it said that the background had to be white, or off white, and well lit, so that shadows were minimized (the best way to tackle shadows is to have two sources of light, one on either side of the person who’s picture is being taken).  It is worth spending time setting up the area where your photo will be taken, as you don’t want to end up having to do it all again.  It is also best to read through all the rules in advance for similar reasons.  As well as being a pain, having your photo rejected may slow the whole K1 Fiance visa process.

I got a friend to take the visa photos.  Again, there were rules for how I had to sit and comport myself, although most of them were fairly obvious.  My friend took half a dozen photos and I picked the best photo for US visa from them.

The photo had to fit the visa photo size requirements, which meant for me that I had to crop it to make it into a 2 inch by 2 inch square (51mm by 51mm).  I used Adobe Photoshop to do it, but there are plenty of free cropping tools available online nowadays, including online cropping tools at US Consular websites.  I think you can also scan an existing photo, or submit your photo in a digital format nowadays, but you would have to check up on the rules regarding that, as I don’t know for sure.  I printed my photos out on photo paper, cut them out, and submitted them in paper form.

I-485 Green Card Application and I-684 Affidavit of Support

Unfortunately, the bureaucracy didn’t stop for me once I had entered the US with my K1 Fiance Visa and got married.  The K1 Fiance Visa can only be used once, so having entered the USA and got married, its use was essentially over, although I did, of course, keep all my documents in case they were needed for proof further down the line (the I-94 inside my passport, for instance, was essential later for proving that I had entered the country legally, as was the I-797 approval notice that was received by my wife at the end of the I-129 petition process).  Anyway, I was now ready for the next stage after getting married in the US (Florida), making my I-485 Green Card application for permanent residency, known as an adjustment of status or AOS.  If that was successful, then I would receive a USCIS Green Card and be classified as a resident alien by the USCIS.  Along with the I-485 Green Card application, I also applied for Advance Parole (AP) and Employment Authorization (EAD), as there was no fee to pay if I filed them at the same time as my application for adjustment of status (AOS).

The I-485 Green Card application is a thick form with lots of questions, but I had got used to filling out those when undergoing the K1 Fiance Visa Process.  What was a pain about applying for Adjustment of Status, in my wife and I’s experience, was putting together all the masses of evidence that was needed to go with the accompanying I-684 Affidavit of Support.  As well as providing proof that we were are married, my wife also had to present proof that she was financially solvent and able to support me.  This basically involves collecting together piles of tax returns that have to be sorted through and copied, as well as letters from my wife’s boss and months and months of bank statements, amongst other things.  I also had to include the I-693 vaccination supplement, a copy of my I-94, the I-684 Affidavit of Support, along with copies of all the bank, employment, and tax documents.  We also included evidence of our relationship, including: copy of marriage license, wedding cards and photos, letter from bank showing we had a joint bank account and a few other things, such as the I-797. 

As I mentioned, as well as the green card application, I also put in applications for temporary travel documents and temporary employment permission, known as I-131 Advance Parole (AP) and the I-765 Employment Authorization (EAD), so that I have the option of traveling and working while we wait for the adjustment of status application to be processed, although in practice the AP and EAD can also take months to be processed.  I thought it was worth putting them in, however, as there were no extra costs, given that they were filed with my I-485 and I-684.

The whole package of five application forms and status adjustment evidence was so big and heavy it cost us $14 for the postage!  (That was on top of the $980 we had to pay for the processing of the application!)  There is also a small fee at this point that you have to pay towards the biometrics that you will have to get later.  We actually forgot to include this the first time round and were sent a letter saying that they wouldn’t start processing our forms until they had received it.  They also send letters acknowledging receipt of the various forms.

The next stage after this is the biometrics appointment.  They send a letter inviting you when they are ready.  It took over four months for me just to get the I-131 Advance Parole (AP) and the I-765 Employment Authorization (EAD), never mind the Adjustment of Status, so try to keep patient!

USCIS I-693 form and Vaccination Supplement

After getting married in the USA (Florida), I now had to file an I-485 Green Card application for permanent residency.  This is also called seeking an adjustment of status (AOS).  If all went well with that, then I would be issued with a USCIS Green Card.  Before I could do that, however, I needed to get certification to show that all my vaccinations and health checks etc. were in order.  This was to be done with a USCIS I-693 form, I discovered, which I had to get filled out and then include when I sent in the I-485 Green Card application package. 

As I had had a K1 Fiance Visa Medical Exam back in London only a few months prior and had brought my copy of the vaccinations sheet with me to the USA, that made things a little easier when sorting out the USCIS I-693 form.  Essentially, because I had had my K1Fiance Visa Medical Exam within 12 months previous to putting in my I-485 Green Card application, I didn’t need to undergo another medical (phew!) and I only needed the USCIS i-693 supplemental form filling out, not the entire I-693 form.

The I-693 supplemental form relates only to the vaccination supplement part of the form and has to be filled out by a designated civil surgeon, which basically means a USCIS approved doctor.  There is a list of practices on the USCIS website that I used to help me find a designated civil surgeon.  Apparently, prices vary considerably, so you are supposed to shop around.  In my small city, however, there were only two practices with a designated civil surgeon and one of them never answered my calls, so I didn’t have a great deal of choice.  The price wasn’t bad, however.  I forget what the fee was but it was somewhere in the region of $35.  I had to keep telling them that I only needed the I-693 supplemental form doing, however, and did not require the entire medical (which would have cost considerably more and was completely unnecessary in my case).

Anyway, I booked an appointment and it was all very straightforward.  As it had already been determined that I met the US vaccination requirements for the medical exam back in London, I just took along my passport as ID and my copy of the vaccine worksheet that I had been given to me after my London medical and they copied my details from the vaccine worksheet over onto the USCIS I-693 supplement.   I didn’t need any extra vaccinations.  The I-693 supplement was then stamped and signed by the designated civil surgeon and I was given a sealed envelope that I was told under no circumstances should I open. 

Now that I had sorted out my USCIS i-693 supplemental form, I was ready to put together my I-485 Green Card application package.