ROC Package

Well, it's finally been done. The ROC package has finally been sent! It ended up being around 2.5 inches thick and weighing in a little over 3 pounds. Instead of paying nearly $50 to overnight it to California, I decided to pay the $13 for it to arrive Thursday. Figured it was only one day longer.

Here are two pictures of the final package:

And follows is what was included in the package (in order):

-$590 check
-cover letter
-I-751 form
-copy of front and back of my green card
-copy of marriage certificate
-copy of joint tax return transcripts for 2010, 2011, 2012
-copy of lease agreement (2011 to present)
-copy of driver's licenses showing common address
-copy of first car insurance ID card with my name added
-copy of most recent statement for car insurance with both our names listed on the current policy
-copy of car title listing us both as owners
-copy of this year's benefits of my husband's through his employer listing me as a dependent as well as beneficiary of his life insurance
-copy of my living will, listing my husband as beneficiary
-copy of my husband's living will, listing me as beneficiary
-screenshot of our ISP account, listing us both as "users" (since only one name can be on the statements)
-screenshot from early 2011 on Verizon listing both our numbers (I initially had this for evidence for our interview in Canada)
-statement from late 2011 from Verizon listing the same two numbers
-statement from early 2013 from Verizon with my name listed in the In Care Of portion
-copy of my bank statements from 2011-2013
-copy of my husband's bank statements from 2011-2013
-copy of recent relationship change application at our bank making each other joint owners on our checking/savings accounts
-copy of bank account details for checking/savings account, listing both our names as joint owners
-copy of check submitted for payment showing both our names
-original affidavit from a couple that live about 2 hours away whom we visit every few months
-original affidavit from my husband's uncle and wife, whom we lived with for awhile, as well as his uncle being my teacher at school
-original affidavit from a couple that live in Minnesota (near the Canadian border!) that we see only about once a year, but speak to them online almost once a day
-copy of my college acceptance letter and unofficial transcript to show I've established here in town
-copy of 15 pictures (with captions) throughout our marriage, starting once I moved here

Definitely a good chunk of evidence. I am nervous about a few things though:

1. We only have this year's benefits of my husband's listing me as dependent/beneficiary, even though I was added when he first began working there in the summer of 2010. But my husband keeps like no records, and if he does, it's lost as he's not organized like me XD Plus, we're not on each other's health insurance plans. He has his own, and I had mine through my employer as it was only $40/month. Although, it recently ended at the end of March as I wasn't eligible for this year's as I wasn't working a high enough average of hours, so I'm currently without. But adding myself on his will cost I think he said an additional $100-200 per month. Which is ridiculous in my opinion as the only time I see a doctor is once yearly for a renewed prescription of birth control. And since it's only around $200 for that, it's almost better at this point to just save each month some money as an emergency fund. But, anyways, I digress!

2. Our living wills were only done (and signed) last week, so it may seem a little late for the reviewing officer.

3. We don't have our utilities, ISP, and phone statements in both our names, as they only allow one name for each. I did provide an explanation about this, so I'm hoping it's alright.

4. Our bank accounts were just made joint about 3 weeks ago. So, like the living wills, it may seem a little late. But for us, non-joint accounts worked for us. And I always helped pay some of the bills by just transferring the money to my husband's accounts as all the bills were already set up in his name and account before I moved here. I provided an explanation of this, but you never know with these people.

Anyways, the package has been sent and I know I should stop worrying as I won't hear anything back for quite a few months (like, end of the year). I've been following an April filers thread for ROC, and everyone (except for those that filed the very first few days of the month) is still waiting for their receipt notices. Which makes me a little antsy as my green card expires on May 12th, just under 2 weeks. Hoping CSC cleans up their act real soon. Because if I need to make an InfoPass appointment to get my passport stamped to extend my green card, I have to travel to Minneapolis, which is about a 6 hour drive away O_o

Alright, this is a long enough post, I'll stop typing now. I'll update once my package has arrived at CSC, once my check has been cashed, once I've gotten the receipt notice, once I've gotten the biometrics notice, and of course once I'm approved :)

~Lindsay

New I-751 Form

About 2 weeks ago, USCIS released an updated I-751 form (and instructions). The fee ($590) is still the same. Previously, the form was one column and the instructions were two columns. Now, the new form is two columns and the instructions are one column. They flip-flopped in layout.

I much prefer the older form (it was easier to read in my opinion), but I prefer the new instructions. So, basically, I prefer the one column layout.

What's new with the I-751 form though is that it's now asking for an email address. Which might indicate something (like emailing you when they receive the package or something, who knows).

Anyways, I should be sending my own ROC package out tomorrow. I'll write up a blog post then about what I included and such.

~Lindsay

USCIS Immigrant Fee

So, back in December, USCIS released information on a new $165 immigrant fee that took affect on February 1st, 2013. Now, one must pay this fee after they receive their visa package after a successful interview and before they immigrate to the US. At the interview, they hand out a notice explaining what the fee is and how/when to pay it. If you'd like to read it now, please click here. (Huge thank you to VJ member MsHogan for scanning and sending me this document, I truly appreciate it!) You can also read information about the fee on USCIS's website, here.

~Lindsay

Tax transcript

Real quick update. Just got our 2012 tax transcript in the mail today. Requested it on the 21st, so a little over one week to receive, which is a little slower than previous times. It is mid-tax season though, so completely understandable.

~Lindsay

Passport update

Well, my initial passport application got rejected by Passport Canada due to my passport photos. They said my eyes weren't fully visible (like a little, itty bitty part was hidden) and there was a flash on my forehead (you can see the photo for yourself a few posts below or by clicking here to go to that post). D'oh >_< So, I went back to Walmart where I had the photos done and got a refund as my photos were rejected because of them, wasting me both time and money.

For round two, I went to Walgreens. They weren't 100% positive they did Canadian sizes, but lo and behold, their photo machines had an international section for passport photos, Canada being one of the countries. So, got those done and this time, kept my glasses off, to prevent any errors. You can see these photos below (again, excuse the meh expression):

I then mailed my passport application in again, keeping my fingers crossed. I didn't bother paying $30 this time for it to arrive within 5 days. So, I paid like less than $5 instead for it to arrive in a week, and no tracking. I kept all fingers crossed it would get there.

After like a week or two after sending in my passport on January 25th, I began to call Passport Canada twice a week to see if they had received it. Finally, around mid-February, they told me they had received it on February 7th and they were just beginning to process it. So, I started to call once a day to get status updates. I felt like I was going through NVC all over again!

A few days after they told me they received it, I saw my credit card had been charged the C$97 fee from Passport Canada. I called up asap and found they had accepted my application, phew!

And just last week, they told me they had ordered for my passport to be printed. And then last Friday, they told me they had shipped it! After getting a very long tracking number for FedEx (and when I say long, I mean like 30+ digits long!), I tracked my passport. Yesterday, it arrived safely at my apartment and I finally had a passport again! What a relief!

Enjoy the photo below of my brand new, shiny passport :)

~Lindsay

Tax update

Well, we had sent our tax return online on February 2nd. TurboTax finally sent it on February 14 (since we had education credits and IRS was only accepting those kind of returns on the 14th). On the 21st, our refund got approved, and my husband got the amount deposited over the weekend!

I ordered 2012 tax transcripts for my ROC package on the 21st, so I'm thinking they'll arrive sometime this week, as it's never taken longer than a week to arrive (for us anyways). I'll leave an update once I do get them.

~Lindsay

P.S. My checking account is looking real nice and my husband still needs one more day to transfer the rest of my portion of the refund :)

Taxes

Well, we finally submitted our taxes about an hour ago online through Turbo Tax. Expected refund: $2860 :) Since I had education credits and the IRS are only processing education credits starting mid-February, it'll still be awhile before we get our refund. Which I'm a little bummed about as I wanted to 1). use the money to pay for ROC, and 2). request a tax transcript to show we filed married filing jointly. So, either I wait until early March (which is when Turbo Tax said we should expect our refund) to file for ROC, or file early, taking money from my savings account (or something) and just simply send our tax return (instead of a tax transcript). Guess I'll just play by ear and see what happens...

~Lindsay