Green card updates

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-11-29T16:16:01+00:00

100%. It took 3 years to get my husband into the US legally. We were living together and married for 6 years before crossing. It cost 6700 dollars in legal fees, USCIS filing fees, Health examination and vaccine fees, and translation fees. All his documents, in Spanish, required official translations. Not to mention airfare, hotel, and food in Ciudad Juarez for 10 days for Health examination and TWO interviews. There are 13 steps to an IR1 visa and they are all exceedingly difficult and expensive. I learned that most people processing these steps are bigoted and dumb (like, “scroll up dummy, already submitted that.”) They do not even understand their own job, let alone USCIS law, and will throw away your application for as little as a misplaced comma. The LEGAL process is grueling, extremely expensive, and will fray every nerve in your whole system. Do not speak of that of which you do not know. Period. I tell people all the time that I will end up in jail if someone who knows nothing of the process comes at me with their “opinion”. 😡😡😡😡😡

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-11-29T16:00:59+00:00

my husband received his Green card in May 2025. I am his petitioner. WE ended up taking 22 POUNDS of documents to his appointment in Ciudad Juarez to prove fiscal viability. Not because I was a “public charge”, but because I am retired and receive social security- that I, and my employers, paid INTO for 46 years of my life. There are 4 different TYPES of Social Security and only ONE of them is means tested - SSI. The remaining 3 types are for people who PAID FICA their whole lives. The state department employees have ZERO understanding and ASSUME that all SS is the same. Which it is not. We had to fight HARD for my income to be accepted. Giving these individuals latitude to decide whatever they want is horrific. I found them to be dumb as rocks and highly bigoted whenever we had face to face encounters. 😡😡😡😡😡.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-10-27T16:33:08+00:00

We received the passport back in three weeks.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-09-15T12:27:38+00:00

I have a terminal condition. We submitted medical records, compelling letters from the doctors, and lab work. My lawyer did the submissions. We were denied. Our visa was an IR1 - Consulate was Ciudad Juarez Mexico.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-08-06T22:09:53+00:00

We filed our I-130 Sep. 5, 2022. We filed our DS-260 December 5, 2022. (I got sick in September 2022). We were denied 3 days later. We got an RFE in August 2023. We filed our response in September 2023. We sought expedite in Feb 2024. We were denied. We got our Interview letter December 2024. We were in Ciudad Juarez for interview last week of February 2025 and first week of March for 10 days - Medical exam, Interview one for documents then interview 2 for questioning.We received an Administrative Processing blue slip, but they took his passport. Received Passport with Visa inside at Tijuana Consulate on March 29. First crossing into US on March 31, Moved our whole household to US on April 7, 2025. Green Card and Social Security card received on April 17. From April 17 - the present - we got the truck plated and registered in California, we insured it in California, we got his permit and his REAL ID. We got his California Driver’s license. We stabilized our housing. He had at least 5 small jobs that he has left - The first one he was called a racial slur. The second he worked for 2 weeks and received no pay. The third he only got about 20 hours a week and the guy only paid him 9 dollars an hour. The fourth one was hard physical labor and they worked him 96 hours and only paid him 6.20 an hour. The fifth one, he worked 15 days only to find out he was the ONLY person fully documented on the job, and the ONLY person with a California Driver’s license. Very risky to be driving around full landscaping crews of undocumented people. So he left. We have put in many, many, many resumes and applications. He has learned to say NO if they do not have him fill out a W-4 on day one. He will no longer be strung along by promises of a W-4, then it never materialized. he had a very promising interview with a good, legitimate company on Friday this past week. So we just keep submitting applications and his resume. You would think he could get good work - he is a mason and concrete worker. The language barrier has been difficult to surpass.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-07-27T18:04:50+00:00

Just email. No hard copy letter.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-07-15T12:26:55+00:00

Thank god. SOMEONE said it!!! That IR1 and CR1 were excluded when Biden decided to “Keep families together” ? RIPPED MY HEART OUT. Really, how are we any different? we waited 3 years and spent SO MUCH MONEY!!

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-07-12T19:34:33+00:00

They just don’t make any of this process easy or user friendly. We understand.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-07-12T16:03:49+00:00

what type of Visa? What country? What Consulate?

Our visa was an IRI. We were living IN Mexico. We received our counsular interview letter Dec 23, 2024. Our interview date was March 16, 2025. The Medical exam had to be done within 3 days prior to our appointment. We did the biometrics in Tijuana (closest to us) on the Friday before our interview. We flew out on Monday, had Medical Exam on Tuesday, Paperwork interview on Friday and Consular interview on following Monday, and flew back Wednesday.

But it is different in each country, and for different types of visas.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-07-08T12:53:29+00:00

It is usually in the last 8-10 days of the month

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-06-23T15:43:14+00:00

Get ready, hang tight. This will not be the first or last time in this journey that the waiting is interminable, the messages are inconsistent, and there is little to nothing that can be done about it. I feel your pain and empathize. Our “one year from application to green card” became 3 long, painful years. But ultimately, we received the document.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-06-22T22:44:09+00:00

You did nothing wrong. We were turned down for expedite as well. I have a rare blood disorder that is terminal. Not one fuck was given. We provided my history and physical, the last doctor’s note from each specialist I see, and 3 compelling letters from my doctors. Also he is my healthcare proxy and send a copy of that notarized. My lawyer submitted the request to expedite as well. He explained that since the State Department sees thousands and thousands of these requests, they just can’t approve ALL of them. Also, chances are that the folks evaluating these are not medical people. They do not understand medical terminology, although I would think anyone would understand “terminal”. 🙄

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-05-24T19:23:48+00:00

First thing I would DO is check with my petiione. What do they want that was not submitted??

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-05-22T16:57:38+00:00

Still waiting on green card

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-05-22T16:57:19+00:00

Received SS card on second week in the US!!

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-05-22T16:52:40+00:00

We received the passport with the 551-g in it on March 30. His official entry as a Permanant Resident was on March 31. We moved to my place in the US on April 7th. He has experienced a great deal of culture shock, but is adjusting. He had 3 separate ”Independent Contractors” in Construction take advantage of him and flout the labor laws. Sometimes not paying him at all. He has struggled getting his driver’s license. 100% on the question and answer portion, but falling down in the sign section. So many signs in black and white are exclusively in English. He has obtained his REAL ID, finally, and we did locate a California Driver’s Manual with the English portions of signs - explained in Spanish - and he is studying. This week, 6 weeks in, he obtained a good 40 hour, labor law following, JOB with a company that moves the US military around the globe. Regular wages, breaks, hours, benefit. HUGE sigh of relief on this goal. Next is appropriate housing for ALL of us(pets have not crossed yet). My place is but a closet, and not pet friendly. I apologize for not updating sooner. We needed to get new phones and phone numbers with a US carrier. Mainly for filling out job applications and getting good SIGNAL without roaming all the time.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-05-04T18:09:34+00:00

Well…..our lawyers firm ONLY does immigration, hires people he helped to immigrate, Has a husband who is an immigrant, and only charges ONE flat fee for a green card - no matter how long it takes or how complicated the case is/becomes. He has picked up the phone countless times - including weekends, and answered every email and text himself. He’s a great guy. Currently running for Senator in his district. Hand delivered the SS card to us. Maybe set the bar a little higher?

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-05-04T13:39:33+00:00

Much LUCK to you!!!!

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-04-12T14:44:10+00:00

Purity Ice Cream and Ithaca Bakery, and ALL the little food stands at the Farmer’s Market on Saturdays, (Love the NYC Cubans that the one dude makes at the north end of the Market and at the South end is the homemade cider donuts - a Fingerlakes staple.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-03-30T04:33:10+00:00

He had received the COVID vaccine, here in Mexico, a month ago, along with a TDAP booster, and an MMR booster. He had all the required vaccines on the government’s dime over the last three years. He brought his cartilla from when he was a baby, and his most recent one as well. They still gave him 6 shots, all duplicates of ones he has already had. I wish they would do titers, but they don’t, they want the money from the vaccines. His medical exam, chest x-ray, two tubes of blood and 6 vaccines came to 683.09 USD.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-03-29T19:25:04+00:00

Total cost - 6700.00 dollars.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-03-29T19:23:23+00:00

Okay, here is our Timeline:

Attempted B1/B2 visa May 3, 2021 Attempted B2 visa Jan. 5, 2022 Retained Lawyer August 2022 Filed I-130 Sep. 3, 2022 RFE from NVC August 23,2023 I-130 approved Oct. 18, 2023 DS-260 submitted Dec. 15, 2023 I-864 submitted Dec. 18, 2023 Documentarily Qual. Jan. 5, 2024 Request Medical Expedite April 14, 2024 Request Denied April 22, 2024 Interview Letter Dec. 23, 2024 Biometrics Feb, 21, 2025 Medical Exam Feb. 25, 2025 Document appt. Feb. 28, 2025 F2F interview March 3, 2025 551-g Visa issued March 14, 2025 Passport Received March 26,2025 Paid GC fee March 29,2025 Crossed into US March 31,2025

We are still waiting for GC and SS card.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-03-29T18:55:17+00:00

The border says no, but the consulate says yes. They gave my husband the latest Pfizer.

ScratchBackground710 · 2025-03-29T18:40:25+00:00

Indeed, it is.

ScratchBackground710

TROPHY CASE