Applying for the green card in US ep.3

Before you start …

I am an international student from South Korea, working on my PhD. Thus, my visa status in the state is F-1. I am applying for the green card through marriage with my wife. I have been living with her since 2014 and we have a child together. Please consider my specific situation applying for the permanent residency (a.k.a. green card) in US.

I would like to post some date marks in here as there has been some progress on my application status.

1. When package sent to USCIS: Jan 4th 2018
2. When package received by USCIS: Jan 5th 2018
3. When text/email notices sent: Jan 11th 2018
4. When physical notices mailed: Jan 15th 2018
5. When finger print notice received: Jan 26th 2018
6. When finger print notice scheduled: Feb 7th 2018

I have to say that the process is being done quicker than I thought it would be. Currently, I am waiting for the finger print appointment. This is their way to check my criminal background and/or register my biometric information in their system to specially screen me. The physical notice that I received is form I-737c. This form is to inform petitioner/applicant next action that they need to take.

If the green card application is not family-based (like my case), you file I-130 first and then wait for I-737c to be arrived. This notice is one of the required documents of I-485. However, when you apply it as a direct family member, you don’t have to wait this procedure and file I-130 and I-485 together without I-737c. This is called concurrent filing procedure, which speeds up the application process a lot more. Here is the link of forum that I read to prepare my case: https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showthread.php/93775-Concurrent-filing-of-I-130-I-485-I-131-I-765

This helpful post gives you an example of filing method and the cover letter. Since you will have to include butt tons of papers and documents, it is recommended to include a cover letter as you can see in the above post. It’s beneficial for both USCIS and you to make sure all required materials are presented in the package.

Applying for the green card in US ep.2

Before you start …

I am an international student from South Korea, working on my PhD. Thus, my visa status in the state is F-1. I am applying for the green card through marriage with my wife. I have been living with her since 2014 and we have a child together. Please consider my specific situation applying for the permanent residency (a.k.a. green card) in US.

I finally packaged everything (including fees) and sent it out. Today is January 4th. In this post, I would like to talk about the form I-693 (Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record). Disclaimer: You don’t have to include I-693 when you file I-485 because it takes time to finish I-693. They will let you know when your I-485 is being processed and need the medical record of yours. Then, you can process I-693.

US government wants to make sure that the intended immigrant (you, non-us citizen) is disease-free (at least from the severe ones or the ones can be spread easily) when they would like to be “the one”, the green card holder. So basically, you have to go to “designated” doctors (a doctor who US government gave an authority to inspect this applicant. They are called “civil surgeon) and ask them to fill it out for you. Of course, they will do some examination such as if you have any physical or psychological problem etc. The list of required vaccinations and tests can be found from the instruction document of I-693.

One thing that I found surprising is that you can’t use any insurance for this process (vaccines or doctor’s visit) and they are extremely pricey. You must have a vaccination record with you to prevent to pay things again. Unlucky for me, I am from South Korea and I don’t  have such record and lucky for me, my school’s student medical center provides most of required vaccines for free. Here is the list of vaccines that I got for this purposes.

• Measles, Mumps & Rubella (MMR)
• Meningococcal Conjugate Vaccine
• PPD test
• Tdap Vaccine
• Varicella Zoster Vaccine (Chickenpox)
• TB test done (negative)

With this vaccine record, all I needed was urine test for sexually transmitted disease. Before you go to civil surgeon, make sure there is a way to get these required vaccines for free or at least, discounted price. It is important for you to make a call and ask how much do they cost before you visit a doctor because there might be many civil surgeons in your area and their price are also different. One place that I asked the quotes told me that I need to pay ~$320 and I ended up paying $150 in different clinic (doctor’s visit + urine test).

Just 2 days After the test, I was called that result was in and I was able to get sealed and signed I-693 from the clinic.

In the next post, I will talk about concurrent filling (filling I-130 and I-485 as a package) and cover letter.