Have any of you any experience with changing address *before* you received your green cards? Are there any tips, hints or horror stories that I should know about? -?
As far as I gather it is as simple as sending in an AR-11 form to the local field offices but I just don't trust the INS to get things right... especially now they've shaken everything up by transitioning to the DOHS.
My wife and I have finally got the ticket out of the south and are headed up to Milwaukee at the end of this month... but I'm still waiting for the card. It's been almost two years now so I hope it will arrive soon but we are a little worried that it could miss us in the mail or something like that.
Well, I changed my address with the INS by sending in that form - but I wasn't applying for anything at the time.
Can you just send in the form and then have the post office hold/forward all your mail? They seem to be very good about it, so anything that still gets sent to your old place will get to you pretty quickly. It's free in NJ, don't know about where you are.
Good luck!
Stel.
You don't have a lot of choice in the matter short of cancelling your move. The law requires you to file a change of address notice with the BCIS within one week of your move.
You can also have your mail forwarded by USPS, so if your green card is destined for your old address, you should still get it at your new one.
Unless your green card is on the verge of being issued, your file will probably be moved to Wisconsin where the processing will start from scratch, more or less.
I'm puzzled by your 2-year wait. I've received 3 green cards in my time and they've all arrived within about 6 weeks of the application date. If you have been approved for I-551 (ie have the 1-year stamp in your passport), you should be able to get a new stamp fairly easily (well, you have to stand in a queue for several hours) in Wisconsin. Technically, the lack of green card shouldn't be a showstopper for you.
I filed AR-11 a few weeks ago and my conditions removal petition thingy is still pending.......I wrote asking them if they could please hurry up (yeah right) so I could visit the office nearby if need be rather than having to drive 4 hours to Chicago. They acknowledged receipt of this letter telling me they're still working on petitions from June 2002. Only thing is this letter was forwarded tome from our old address so I rekcon the change of address just hasn't gone through with them yet. I'm not worrying about it yet.
I'm puzzled by your 2-year wait. I've received 3 green cards in my time and they've all arrived within about 6 weeks of the application date. If you have been approved for I-551 (ie have the 1-year stamp in your passport), you should be able to get a new stamp fairly easily (well, you have to stand in a queue for several hours) in Wisconsin. Technically, the lack of green card shouldn't be a showstopper for you.
I came over on an I129F fiance visa, which means I automatically got residency as soon as my wife and I were married. The green card though, takes up to 2 years to process with this visa. We've had inconcievable amounts of interviews and the ins has "lost" my fingerprints three times. I wish I could bloody sue them for petrol money and time lost off work whilst going the 8 hr drive back and forth to the charlotte field office for every one of thier screw ups! :evil:
I came over on an I129F fiance visa, which means I automatically got residency as soon as my wife and I were married. The green card though, takes up to 2 years to process with this visa. We've had inconcievable amounts of interviews and the ins has "lost" my fingerprints three times. I wish I could bloody sue them for petrol money and time lost off work whilst going the 8 hr drive back and forth to the charlotte field office for every one of thier screw ups! :evil:
If you haven't actually been approved for AOS yet - ie if you don't have an I-551 stamp in your passport - your move will probably slow down your green card wait quite considerably.
The bright side is that, with a 2 year wait, when you do finally get approved, it will be for an unconditional green card. Nothing worse than getting approved at 1 year 11 months, then having to go through the removal of conditions process 2 years later.
Nothing worse than getting approved at 1 year 11 months, then having to go through the removal of conditions process 2 years later.
I was just 11 days short :roll:
I was just 11 days short :roll:
Bummer :(
I'm not familiar with the "removal of conditions" part, what's this entail?
I'm not familiar with the "removal of conditions" part, what's this entail?
When you are apply for permanent residency based on marriage, it is conditional upon how long you have been married in order to protect against marriages of convenience.
If you have been married for less than two years when you present yourself for either an immigrant visa or AOS, you have to prove that your marriage is a valid one. If permanent residency is granted at this point, it is only valid for two years, at which stage you have to apply for unconditional residency showing that you indeed have a valid marriage or, if your marriage has dissolved that you entered into it in good faith.
The visa status for a conditional permanent resident is CR-1, compared to a IR-1 for the regular spousal visa.
Conditional permanent residency is only a factor in spousal visas.
So I'm a CR-1 waiting to become an IR-1 then I presume......never knew there was another way other than the old K1 route we did.