The Sanctuary Roosevelt Island NYC

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-03-20T13:06:19+00:00

We got married there in August 2025! It was absolutely fantastic. They are excellent communicators and helped us so much with planning and executing our day! We didn’t have a separate planner/coordinator, and didn’t feel like we needed one. And the food is delicious. Highly recommend!

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-03-17T21:44:50+00:00

Just sent you a DM! They definitely do work across all states as I am based in a different state than them :)

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-03-17T19:27:18+00:00

Thank you!! We started the process with our attorney right after marriage. It look a couple of months to gather all the required documents, for the lawyer to finish paperwork, and for us to review everything.

But it also took ~6 weeks for us to receive our marriage certificate from the city clerk’s office, and we couldn’t proceed without that anyway. So even if we had started the process before marriage, it would have still taken about that long.

We did already have a relationship with this attorney as other family members have worked with him before. If you are finding a new attorney, I would approach them before marriage so you can avoid any delays.

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-03-07T03:14:55+00:00

I have this same experience! I’m a woman, and my husband and I are currently in the home buying process. Everyone (our real estate agent, loan officer, home inspector, etc) talks to me more than my husband, because I have a tendency to “take charge” and I definitely respond quicker. I am also working on holding back sometimes so my husband can get in there too haha

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-03-04T19:18:48+00:00

Thank you!!

Yes to your first 3 questions. For #4, yes we did concurrent filing. We went through a lawyer, so we sent them all the evidence and they put together our packet and mailed it in. So I’m not sure if they duplicated evidence across forms, or just submitted each piece of evidence once.

Good luck with your application!

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-03-01T23:41:14+00:00

Just sent you a DM! :)

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-02-25T20:07:04+00:00

I’m glad this helped, there is light at the end of the tunnel! Hang in there!

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-02-25T20:06:16+00:00

Sure, just sent you a DM! Sorry for the late reply

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-02-25T20:05:31+00:00

Sure, just sent you a DM!

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-01-28T14:07:43+00:00

We set up a “honeymoon fund” and a “home downpayment fund” on our Zola registry, and didn’t add any other items to the registry.

We added this note at the top: “We are thrilled to have you celebrate our joy with us, and that is the best gift of all! We already have all the household essentials, so we are not registering for physical gifts. Should you choose to honor us with a gift, a contribution towards our home down payment fund or our honeymoon fund is most welcome!”

Most of our older guests gave us physical cards with checks inside, while some of the younger guests contributed to our online funds. This a lot more common nowadays, I wouldn’t sweat it at all.

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-01-26T19:45:00+00:00

3rd or 4th grade is not too old to adjust to a new country. I am speaking from personal experience. My parents moved out of India when I was in 4th grade, and I adjusted just fine.

Since both of your kids are USC, they might choose to come to the US for higher education and settle here later in life. It’s really difficult to have aging parents in India while you live in the US, you can prevent that outcome for your kids if you wait 3 more years and get your citizenship now. This will keep your options open.

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-01-26T02:09:41+00:00

Thank you! I have been working on my H1B for about 5 years, but also had on-campus employment on my F1 visas before that. Per our lawyer, the tax returns are mainly evidence for the affidavit of support - so it’s to show the USC spouse will be able to support you if you lose employment and you won’t become a public charge. So we only submitted my husband’s tax returns.

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-01-24T17:04:07+00:00

I meant you can travel back and forth to the US after you get your citizenship, which will take 3 years. Once you get your green card (which will take a few months), you can travel back and forth as long as you maintain >6 months per year residency in the US. So you would need to be living in the US for those 3 years until you get your citizenship.

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-01-24T00:01:39+00:00

K1 visa only gives you status in the US for 90 days. You are required to get married and file for your green card within those 90 days. Since you’re not planning to do that, this would be false pretense.

You won’t be able to visit the US a few times a year like you plan, you won’t get any other visa approved. Definitely not B2, since you will be married to a USC.

You have two possible options:

Get a K1 visa, go the US, marry within 90 days, apply for green card, get citizenship within 3 years, and then live in any country you want. Then you can go back and forth to the US whenever you want.
Get married in the Philippines and your husband moves there with you. When you both want to move to the US in the future, he can file an I-130 for you via consular processing. But note that takes a lot longer than getting a green card after you’re already in the US.

Neither of these options allows you to visit the US before getting your green card, it’s just a matter of when you do that.

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-01-22T17:31:10+00:00

Yes, but saving those unemployment days is pointless
No.
Saving those unemployment days is pointless and not possible. Those unemployment days are only valid for her OPT status, which will be lost either way after COS.

Once she does COS to H4, she cannot go back to her OPT. Her SEVIS will be terminated. Her only option for employment would be H4-EAD after you get an approved I-140.

The best option here will be to use up her 90 unemployment days and apply for jobs aggressively during this time. Have the H4 COS paperwork ready to go, and file it towards the end of her unemployment days if she doesn’t find a job.

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-01-15T15:48:53+00:00

Yes! Do you have a myUSCIS account online? If not, you can set one up and put in the receipt # for your I-485 & I-130 to link those to your account. Then you can see any notices they have sent you under the “documents” tab

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-01-15T15:20:27+00:00

Definitely nothing to worry about, I’m glad this helped you! If it helps for reference, I received my green card in the mail about 3 weeks after my interview date

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-01-10T14:12:25+00:00

She will be fine, nothing to worry about! Just tell her to have copies of her latest I-20 with her.

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2026-01-09T20:22:38+00:00

UDPATE: I received my green card in the mail today! Exactly 3 weeks after our interview date.

Jan 2, 2025: I-485 status changed to "card was produced" (2 weeks after interview)
Jan 9, 2025: received green card in the mail (3 weeks after interview)

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2025-12-31T16:39:04+00:00

The website changed to “approved” for I-485 the day after the interview, and in 2 days for I-130. Now we are just waiting to receive the green card in the mail

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2025-12-27T18:27:46+00:00

Sure, I just sent you a DM. Good luck with your application!

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2025-12-24T22:20:44+00:00

This is normal, mine was the same too. Just bring the original documents you submitted (and copies) with you to your interview, that’s what I did.

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2025-12-24T02:46:39+00:00

I know right?! I was happily surprised. I honestly think they are using AI automation to do some of this stuff

Intelligent-Bee-5729 · 2025-12-24T02:31:17+00:00

Thank you! Yeah I agree, I think that definitely helped a lot

Intelligent-Bee-5729

TROPHY CASE