What do we do now?

[jjmagee 0]

I am a US citizen and I married my husband (same sex marriage) in September 2013 in California. We started filing the immigration paperwork soon thereafter. Here is where we are in the process:

He received his work permit etc. in February and we had our AOS/i-130 interview on June 5th. The agent wanted more information because she had issues with the fact that I had been married to a woman for more than 20 years and wanted to make sure our marriage is legitimate (not a problem). She made it very clear that while our case is unique, she will only give us the same level of scrutiny she gives to everyone else. So...We tried to believe her and we made it clear we only wanted to do things the right way and if she needs more information that we would do our best to provide it.

We waited around for her to type up the RFE, went home, and got to work on getting the additional verifications. We submitted every thing we could possibly get to verify the legitimacy of our relationship, although we had already given her a huge number of documents etc. We received delivery confirmation from the USPS that they received the documents on June 12th. It has now been 3 1/2 weeks, but we have heard not one thing. Our case status on USCIS website has not been updated and when we call, nobody can tell us anything.

We have tried to call to verify that they have the information, but have been told that we need to make an infopass appointment if we need any other information. However, when I tried to make an infopass appointment I was told that even if we go in that they won't be able to tell us anything because our case is with the agent and it's all one her timetable. I asked how long she can take before making a decision and was told, in no uncertain terms, "she will take as long as she needs".

Basically, my husband is frantic and I am getting very worried as well. We could really use some insight and confidence that everything will be okay. How long before we should get really concerned? What more can we do? Please give us some guidance. Thank you so much.

Edited July 8, 2014 by jjmagee

[Pitaya 2,576]

What type of visa is your husband adjusting from?

[jjmagee 0]

He came here originally on a tourist visa, but overstayed after we met.

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

Less than 4 weeks for a complicated case is nothing, people has been waiting even for years. All you can do now is to wait.

[jjmagee 0]

We do not mind waiting if we have to, but we would like to be sure she actually has the documents we submitted. USCIS will not even verify that they have received them and there is no way to verify. Yes, we kept copies, but the only proof we have they were delivered is that the USPS says they were. This is why we are frustrated and nervous.

[Pitaya 2,576]

~Moved from Family-based AOS to WST-based AOS Forum~

~Adjusting from tourist visa~

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

Sorry but there is no way you can find out if she has received it. My case status never changed until approval, I had RFE too. Some employees are too busy to update info on the system, I guess. We are talking about manually input here, no such automatic update.

[jjmagee 0]

Wow...I guess we will just continue to wait. Hopefully it gets resolved pretty quickly because we have non-refundable plane tickets to Chile in December. An immigration attorney friend of mine told me there would be no problem in getting things taken care of way before that, but if it's not approved before we are to leave, we just won't go. Oh well, I guess we have no other choice.

[genddob 10]

You do know they arrived due to USPS confirmation as I understand it. Jumping to "I hope it's approved by December" is a little alarmist... it's only July.

[jjmagee 0]

You do know they arrived due to USPS confirmation as I understand it. Jumping to "I hope it's approved by December" is a little alarmist... it's only July.

I don't know if it's alarmist or not. I was told it will take as long as it takes and I do know that some people have waited well over a year after submitting the RFE documents. I have never been through this before, and I was hoping someone with experience in this area could give me some reassurance that everything would work out. Yes, I am concerned that it might take too long for us to go in December...hopefully my fears are unfounded and she approves the GC very soon, but there is nothing that says she has to.

And as for the USPS verifying they delivered it, how do I know it didn't get put on the wrong desk and is just collecting dust never to be looked at again? An immigration attorney acquaintance of mine says that he has seen submitted documents mysteriously disappear once they arrived at the USCIS office. I don't want to accuse anyone of doing something like that, but I do wish there was some way that to find out for sure that the documents I submitted did make it to the correct place.

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

I don't know if it's alarmist or not. I was told it will take as long as it takes and I do know that some people have waited well over a year after submitting the RFE documents. I have never been through this before, and I was hoping someone with experience in this area could give me some reassurance that everything would work out. Yes, I am concerned that it might take too long for us to go in December...hopefully my fears are unfounded and she approves the GC very soon, but there is nothing that says she has to.

And as for the USPS verifying they delivered it, how do I know it didn't get put on the wrong desk and is just collecting dust never to be looked at again? An immigration attorney acquaintance of mine says that he has seen submitted documents mysteriously disappear once they arrived at the USCIS office. I don't want to accuse anyone of doing something like that, but I do wish there was some way that to find out for sure that the documents I submitted did make it to the correct place.

RFE responses vary cases to cases, my RFEs were really fast (I was lucky because it took only 10 days for every case, someone waits for months for same RFE requirements.) If your interviewer is a responsible person, she will update your online status MANUALLY. Otherwise, we can't do anything other than waiting and praying. I was paranoid too because my RFE response status wasn't never changed, but suddenly I received texts emails for approval. Good luck.