Apply for expedite process when case is at service center (split post)

[Nana1978 3]

Hi, how do you apply for an expedite process if your case is still at a service center?

I'm Venezuelan and the political instability is getting worst. My mom even having money can't find food, tap water only comes once a week, they are dealing with severe shortage of medicines, power cut offs for at least 4 hours a day. People has been protesting in the streets for about a week. My son can't go to school daily because of a riot, people closing streets or the school dismissing the kids because there's no power. Besides, my dad has bladder cancer and it's hard for them to take care of my son, their fear is not being able to keep him safe. That's my worst fear too. Violent crimes are just common. Everybody has been robbed at least once in the past year. They are robbing school buses full of kids to take their allowances, cellphones, backpacks, shoes, watches. If you has nothing to give to the thieves, they will kill you.

I'm desperated, please any advice will be appreciated

Edited May 20, 2016 by Happy Chic

[Transborderwife 4,666]

I'm not certain, but I do know that people on here have not been able to get expedites in war zones.

[Boiler 43,432]

I did see that they had stopped taking on new non immigrant visa's due to lack of staff, I also doubt that an expedite would be justified but no harm trying.

[VZLAN-US-Citizen 11]

Hi, how do you apply for an expedite process if your case is still at a service center?

Nana1978,

From what I know about your case from a different thread, I know you just got your first NOA from USCIS after submitting your I-130 for your son (well, your husband did).

There is two links here that might help you:

- https://www.uscis.gov/forms/expedite-criteria

- https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume1-PartA-Chapter12.html

The first link basically lists very shortly the different criteria the USCIS uses in order to determine a case is eligible for an expedite. Such as Severe financial loss to company or ​person​;​ Emergency situation;​ Humanitarian reasons;.

The second one goes in depth about the expedite process and how to go about it. I suggest you read it in full, but here are some key point that I think my help you understand it a bit better:

- The burden is on the applicant or petitioner to demonstrate that one or more of the e​xpedite criteria have been met.​

- To make a request to expedite the processing of a domestically filed application or petition, the customer should contact the ​National Customer Service Center ​(​NCSC​)​ ​at 1-800-375-5283​. ​The NCSC forward​s​ ​the Service Request​ ​to the office with jurisdiction over the application or petition​.​ Customers may also visit a local office by scheduling an InfoPass appointment or writing a letter to the ​field office​ or ​s​ervice ​c​enter... Approval of such requests is discretionary and USCIS reserves the right to request documentation supporting the request to expedite an application or petition.​

- The two criteria that you MAY be able to use are: Emergency situation, (For example, the applicant is gravely ill.) & Humanitarian reasons (For example, outbreak of war in the home country.)... However, your dad is the one who is ill, not the applicant, and there is no official statement from our government stating that the country is actually at war.

Furthermore, from what I have read, when you apply to expedite it doesn't hurt your case either way, so you don't loose anything by trying to get it expedited. Also, these are just 'examples' but your case may include examples of emergency situations, as well as humanitarian reasons. Such as your parents being unable to provide a save and sustainable environment for your 11 year old, because your father is ill and your mother is having dificulties surviving the situation in venezuela (make sure you have several articles of newspapers in hand that explain these situations)... Each decision by USCIS is made on a case-by-case basis, so it really depends on your situation, if it is really critical that your son's case is expedited, then they will do it, if they don't feel it's critical, they might not. So try to gather as much evidence as possible as to why it's imperative that they expedite your son's case... news articles, your father's health records, your son's school attendance, etc. etc. etc. Also, they take about 30 days to make a decision, so keep that in mind.

Good luck Nana, and please let us know how everything evolves from hereon out.

​

M

[Lilian & Joshua 3]

Hello, I'm Venezuelan too and my interview is schedule for July 11, I haven't heard about anyone who applied for expedite process here in Venezuela, you could try calling USCIS or NVC, but I don't think they will actually do it even though our country is going through tough times there are other countries who are actually going through wars and worse situations; in my opinion unless the american embassy in Venezuela requires them to expedite all cases due to the situation in our country, I don't think they would do it only for one case... My advise would be to be patiente, trust me, lately the process is going really fast, our case was approved in two months, then 20 days later we had our case number and 6 days later the embassy had received it... What service center was your petition sent?