I've had a TN Visa for the last 2 years and got switched to H-1B status on 10/1/2024. I am currently employed in the US and pay taxes to the IRS.

As a hobby, I play online poker after working hours almost every day. With just 2 months left in 2024, I am projecting to declare a little under $200,000 in poker income this year. I'd like to say that I am a recreational player since it is not my main income, but the reality is that I have a coach and study with other poker players that play for a living.

My main focus is to get a green card and I do not want to jeopardize this. I was planning on declaring my side income as a professional gambler and write off software, coaching, and other various business expenses, but is this illegal?

Can I declare my extra income as gambling winnings as a non-professional and not write off any expenses? Are there any workarounds where I can continue to gamble legally daily and remain on an H-1B visa, such as opening an LLC? Do I need to completely stop playing poker?

We both have muslim parents and her dad has met me and not approved because im still young and in college.

She's set to graduate this semester and wants to pursue her masters out of country for better job prospects knowing of her 10 year ban

We are planning to get a court marriage done before that would happen but would that work? Can we just sign the papers saying we're married and then I can fill out the forms for her AoS?

I figured she cant leave the US in that time but would there be any ramifications for this specific approach?

Hi married to my husband for 6 years and almost had my green card for a little more than 2 years. Will be filing citizenship next year. We always file taxes together. But since he lost her job and wants to go back to school we decided to file taxes separately next year. I know doesn’t make a lot of difference. Just decided to file separately no big reason. Will that affect my citizenship application?

I applied and i forgot my confirmation number disnt save picture and electricity went out now i cant get retrieve the data by any means

I applied for 2026 when i opened for confirmation password i found it is only for 2025 when will they open for 2026

My mom was born in the USA and my dad was born in Mexico, I scheduled an appointment at the consulate and I can’t find a clear concise list of documents I need.

• do I need my dads birth certificate? I don’t have a relationship with him anymore so it could be difficult and they were married before I was born and I’m able to get the marriage certificate.

• when they say we need to bring 2 copies do they mean 2 official copies or can I bring 1 set of originals and just scan them through a printer?

• how much cash should I bring for fees?

Howdy,

My (American) parents have an adopted daughter from Bulgaria. I'm reading conflicting information on whether this can allow them Bulgarian citizenship and, thus, residency rights in the EU. Can jus sanguinis flow backward from a child to a parent? Thanks.

I'm British born and my father is an American and my mother is British. They have never been married.

I was born after 1986.

My dad appears as an "informant" on my British birth certificate. Does this count as an "acknowledgement of paternity under oath" as required for me to be eligible for US citizenship? My dad satisfies the 5 year policy. Can my dad sponsor me for a green card while I'm in the USA if I'm between 18 and 21?

We have recently gotten the documentarily complete status on my husband's I130 visa application. Since I am having a very complicated pregnancy we wanted to expedite the interview date. Along with a doctor's note throughly explaining our situation and how I need my husband's care and assistance during this time, the Ankara US embassy decided on rejecting our expedite letter and noted that they were current giving out dates for applicants who have been documentarily complete in JULY 2023! So this means we have to wait another 15 months for my husband to get an interview scheduled. We filed for the I130 in June 2023! This is complete an utter nonsense! According to there pace my husband will only be able to hold our daughter when she turns 1.5 years old. Now I have no choice but to go back and give birth in Turkey. This is extremely inhumane Ankara US Embassy!

hello!

submitting my AOS and curious how much informaron has to be shown on our joint bank accounts that i am submitting as proof?

the dates and both our names are clearly visible on the joint bank documents but i blacked out everything else (transactions, account numbers, etc) for privacy.

anyone else who has submitted AOS and included your shared bank documents, did you leave everything exposed? or did you also black out all the sensitive info?

detailed responses appreciated, much thanks!

Hey guys

I'm 24, working at one of the "big four" as a network engineer. I have 4.5 years of experience working at this field and I am considering immigration to the US under a work visa.

I am currently looking at H1-B visa (considering I will find a job that will apply for me).

I don't have a bachelors degree (I hold a CCNP and PCNSE certifications) and only have 4.5 years of experience. Is it still possible for me to obtain this visa? how difficult can it be? Thank you !!!!

I'm going to became a student in Austria in 2026-2027. I'm Russian transgender bisexual adult and I've been thinking about getting asylum since none of those things are legal in my country and gender/sexuality are considered viable reasons for the application. What I'm worried about is not being able to visit my family back in Russia. The info I read online is a little contradicting so I wanted to make sure.

Edit: thanks for the answer!

Hey Guys,

So I am based in Colombia. I need to get an appointment for my B1/B2 visa renewal. But the wait time is forever, a couple of years. I was wondering if you know if I could travel to another country to get my visa. Go to the UK for example for some time, get the visa, and fly back. Has anyone done something similar before?

I am a Canadian citizen and recently got a job offer and my TN visa is stamped as well. I was born in Kuwait.

I am happy to come back to Canada and retire here. But what are my options to obtain a US Green Card while I am in US on TN visa? I am hoping that my employer at some point applies for H1B visa for me, but that is not certain.

I am already married with a child, so gaining US citizenship via marriage is ruled out :)

Hello everyone.

How can I find the refusal rate by citizenship and year for F-1 students? The only information I have is the refusal rate for B visa.

Thank you.

on my UK passport, it says given names and it has my first name and my middle name there...

so it says (example)

GIVEN NAMES: JOHN DOE

SURNAME: SMITH

but my name is john. i use doe as the middle name, do i put it in the middle name on the form even though it doesnt say middle name in my passport? or do i put both john and doe as the first name?

thank you!

Hi all -

TLDR; my mom has had a seizure in the US while visiting some family and has some bleeding on the brain.

I am urgently trying to fly to Denver to help escort her home and make sure all is okay.

I applied for an ESTA yesterday and I am boarding a flight tonight to connect via Heathrow but my application states:

“AUTHORIZATION PENDING

Your travel authorization is under review because an immediate determination could not be made. This response does not indicate negative findings. A determination will be available within 72 hours. Return to this website to retrieve and view the ESTA status of a previously submitted authorization for one or for a group of two or more persons.”

Can anyone give me insight into how to expedite the ESTA on a weekend? I have called my local embassy and spoke to a special agent, they can’t assist.

I won’t be allowed to connect in London if not received in the next 12 hours or so

Thanks so much

I got my marriage based Green Card 3 years ago( the 2 years conditional one since we were married for less than 2 yr at the time of the interview. I applied for removal of conditions and they send me a letter stating that I got a 4 year extension on the actual green card while I wait for an interview to be scheduled.

The situation I’m in is that in papers, I don’t have the name on my husband’s apartment lease, even though we are still married and happy.

We were both living and working in Tx at the same company, my husband got fired so found another job in Texas, about 400 miles away ( where I work is such a small town will almost zero good options outside of this one company) We got an apartment in both our names.
I kept my job( still work there) since my schedule allows me to travel ( I work 8 days straight, and have 6 days off). The tricky part is that my husband’s company moved from Texas to California mid March. Since I work in Texas, I didn’t wanted my name on the lease ( California has state taxes) but I’ve been flying ( instead of driving) twice a month to my husband. The job I do now is extremely satisfying, pays me well and the immigration waiting times are way shorter in Texas. So was a bunch of reasons why I didn’t moved my residency. ( Also I’m still waiting for my kid immigration case to get approved so I don’t want to move my case, changing the address with uscis)

Now that I want to file the naturalization form, will this be a problem? I read that they want us to share a residence with our spouse. How do I prove that my marriage is real, it’s just the circumstances that makes me stay a Texas resident. Except when I’m at work, I’m always with my husband and we have everything else genuine, family events, holidays whatever. We lived together for over 3 years before the move.

Do I still qualify?

Question is Child 2 a citizen? Can child 2 file n-600?

Timeline:
1957 woman was born in foreign country to a married US military and foreign citizen. Has foreign birth cert and Consular Report of Birth Abroad, so woman is citizen.
1957-1966 lived in foreign county on base.
1966-1969 lived in another foreign county base.
1970-1974 USA
1974-1986 lived in foreign county married has two children.
1976 has child out of wedlock child Has foreign birth cert and Consular Report of Birth Abroad.
1978 married foreign citizen father.
1983 has another child. Child has foreign birth cert and does not have birth abroad cert.
1986 family moved to US.
1986 Father and child 2 received permanent residency status and maintained status.
1986-Present - lived in USA.
2000 - CCA was passed - child 2 was under 18 on February 27 2001.

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-h-chapter-3#footnote-19

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-h-chapter-4

My husband got a pulled over, and got a DUI late August 2024 his case just got resolved October 24, 2024, and his case got lowered to wreck-less driving (his whole case a very simple DUI) He has a 24 month probation period of having good conduct and no other criminal offenses, he doesn’t have to be checking in with an officer at all. He only got a fee to pay and 2 good conduct classes and 24 hours of community service.

However we have been waiting for his appointment in Juarez for his green card for 4 years now and he finally got it! It’s scheduled this November 2024, we are in a very very time crunch because his criminal lawyer (which he is also an immigration lawyer) said everything should be fine if he pays the fees and gets a approval letter from probation he should be fine to leave the country and he should be able to get his GC just fine. On the to other end his immigration lawyer we have had for the past years said not to go to Juarez because the medical appointment won’t like he’s on probation and the probation is the only issue and that we should wait 24 months until trying again for an interview? We have gotten opinions from people around us who have gotten their GC and have DUIs and they all mentioned how his DUI was very simple and as long as he gets a approval to leave from probation there should be no issue. His immigration lawyer was really no help other than telling us we have to sign a waiver if we plan to go without their legal advice and once we’re there they won’t be able to help us anymore.

Any help or opinions on this would great!!!

When my wife and I enter the US for the first time on her IR1 visa we're planning on visiting my parents through the holidays and waiting there until her physical green card arrives. Then we'll go up to the state of my domicile and go through the process of getting her a state ID/DL.

Does that present any issue at all? If so, we could theoretically fly up to my state of domicile first and get her state ID, and then go spend time with my folks from there, but it would be a lot of extra flying we would like to avoid if it doesn't cause any problems.

Hi everyone,

I just received my US IR1 immigrant visa in my passport through consular processing from Nicaragua. Our plan is to permanently relocate to the US on January 16, 2025. However, I’m considering making a quick trip to the US sooner, mainly to activate the visa and trigger the mailing of my green card and SSN, which my family in the US can receive for me. This would allow me to begin my job search earlier.

Is it okay to enter the US, get the visa stamped, and leave the same day? My visa states that once it’s stamped upon entry, it functions as a green card for one year. Has anyone done this, and is there any downside or risk to this approach?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

A family member is applying to get the K-1 Visa and already tried to send the birth certificate multiple times, so my question is, is there any limit on how many times can upload those? And, does the application expire if the docs are not submitted correctly or not submitted at all? How long does it take?

I am an H1B visa holder with a Green Card through Employment Authorization Document (EAD). Although I have an EAD, I haven't used it yet and continue to work under my H1B visa due to delays in Advanced Parole (AP) processing. I'm exploring investment options for tax-saving purposes and came across solar farms, which offer significant tax advantages in the first year. However, my concern is whether my spouse (also on an H1B) and I can invest in solar farms without jeopardizing our Green Card status.

I did not file i485 at the same time bc it’s my understanding that since he entered unlawfully he may not qualify for an adjustment of status, based on reading through the i130 instructions. So now my (and his) concern is that his i485 will be denied or it will have extra hurdles. We would like to be as prepared as possible, can anyone share their personal experience if you were in a similar situation ?

I should mention, my moms i485 was recently approved but she did enter US lawfully so we filed i130/i485 at same time. They are divorced. Dad also mentioned he entered US previously on a tourist visa but left to visit family and when he tried to re-enter with same valid visa they denied him entry and later on is when re-entered unlawfully. This was at least 30 yrs ago.

Hi everyone, as the rhetoric from the trump party as become increasingly vitriolic, I’m worried about my risk of being deported though my wife and I are legal citizens, along with my son who was born in the US.

If we have to claim asylum in Canada if the mass deportation turns into an ethnic cleansing, what is the process? Do we just get over the border and when stopped ask for asylum? How much cash should we take with us?

I’m worried this will turn into a repeat of my parents’ experience escaping their home country with nothing but a suitcase and some money, so want to be prepared for the worst. Thanks.

I'm in Canada. Can I cross the US border from Canada with an expired green card? I've been out of the country for 2 years. Also, it seems I might be a citizen.

My mother naturalized in 2013 and I was under 18 at the time. I graduated high school and college in Massachusetts and left to work for two years outside the US.

I am not sure what "resided" in the US means. It doesn't say what time limit is long enough to be considered a citizen.

I am located in Germany and I've been working for an American company as a software engineer since almost 7 years ago (with an M.Sc. in computer science). I would like to immigrate to the USA through my job. From what I have found on Dep. of State website, the company needs to sponser the visa process. My company does have lots of positions in the US, but it does not sponser US visa for any of those positions unfortunately. Now, the question is, is there any way that I can hire an attorney and sponser my own visa to move to the USA? My long-term goal is to get the green card. I know, however, that the most approriate visa type for my case would be L-1B which is a non-immigrant visa type.

I am a burma national who got here in the U.S. on dec 2022, stayed here as a student for over a year and left to renew the F-1 visa on july 2024 and came back with a new F-1 visa on august 2024. Am I eligible for TPS and how do I prove that I only left to renew my visa and what should I say in the form i-821 to show my eligibility?

Is this possible to take the hiset/tasc exam on tourist visa? If so how american emplyers see it in general, i mean would you say they honor this pretty much the same way as act exam and can i take both of hiset and tasc exams?

I am based in Taiwan and want to get green card through investor program.

I am considering to hire a Taiwanese immigration consulting firm to help me throughout this process.

The company cooperates with a firm called EB5 Capital based in Washington state. I have done some research about the firm and sent some inquiries regarding the way they select developers and everything seems legit.

However, to give me a peace of mind and move toward with the company, I would like to see if there is anyone here who has used this firm before or has done research on the firm as well?