USCIS.gov site instruction for filing I-130
See "Special Instructions"



The Special Instructions have been amended. The instruction in this post no longer applies.

Does anyone know yet what is happening to those petitions sent in prior to January 26th? Are they also getting sent to the US for processing? Or will they be processed at USCIS Offices abroad? It looks like in Amy's case in Albania, they are getting sent to Vienna...but what about petitions that were filed at USCIS offices? We sent ours to Frankfurt in early December. If it was sent to USCIS then, does that mean it might just be processed there as it normally would have been?

Thanks,
Mary

The information from Kiev is that the files that they have are going to Moscow. So if they are consistent then hopefully they are spreading the "pain" and using all available resources rather than bring them all back here.

Last time I contact Kyiv was on thursday, and the only thing they told me was they were going to wait a few days for instructions then send to Moscow. Question to you, if you heard more than that, such as what process will it undergo in Moscow. Will they have to assign number, background check, then send to NVC, wait for reply from NVC, send in I-864 fees to NVC,........ or are they just going to send to Moscow, perform background check then send back to Kyiv?

We will be very fortunate if they just do background check then send back, it should only delay us a little. Its a good law and agree with it 100%, just mishandled. But time to move foward from that. I am planning to contact them again Monday to check status of our petition. It was already approved on the 23rd, we were just sitting first in-line to get interview, now we hear it is going to be thrown in a box with everyone elses. Hope they keep some kind of order of reciept. Thanks in advance for any info. John

Mary,

I sent in my I-130 to the Rome District USCIS Office on the 17th of Jan.

I called on the 26th and they said that there would be no change in our process,

(mind you that our petition has nt even been approved yet.)

Why or How? Not sure. Sorry.


Breezy

fwaguy, John, and Breezy,
It's reassuring to hear that the USCIS Offices in Moscow and Rome can still process I-130s that have already been filed. I'm hoping that's the same thing for Frankfurt. I tried emailing them last week, but so far no response.

Thanks so much for the information...and good luck to all of you!
Mary

Frankfurt should be the same, but keep trying the embassy next week. I feel we will all get our answers to whats going on with already approved I-130's next week. Let us know what you hear.

Good news for us: I heard back from USCIS in Frankfurt today. They said because we had already filed our petition, the changes should not affect us. I still can't help feeling badly, though, for everyone who'd planned on filing petitions abroad through DCF.

Just womdering,
So, this did not affect you because of the PLACE you filed or becuase of the DATE you filed?

According to the email I received from Frankfurt, it's because of the date. From meauxna's post, it doesn't look like people are allowed anymore to file the I-130 at USCIS Offices in Europe. I'm not sure why this is the case. But it does look like USCIS Offices in Europe are allowed the process I-130s that were filed prior to Condoleeza Rice's memo last week.

Thanks Meauxna

I just got this email yesterday:

Hello,
if you are a permanent resident in Germany you are welcome to file the I-130
with us.
Sincerely
Tatiana Munser-Harris
Immigration Assistant

____________________Reply Separator____________________
Subject: Filing Question
Author: <SMTP:starfish324@§§§§.com>
Date: 1/26/2007 2:40 AM

Good Morning,

I read that it is no longer possible to file the 1-130 directly with the
consulate in Frankfurt. It is still possible to file with your office in
Germany
though if I have German permanant residency, correct?

Thank you

The instructions in the original post have been taken down from uscis.gov as of today.

Don't anyone dare ask where they are supposed to file an I-130 today---who knows?! Proceed at your own risk

The official word at least regarding former soviet union and european countries is the following.

There is discussion currently going on between Department of State and USCIS regarding how and if Consular sections will continue to accept I-130 petions. These discussions are taking high priority and a decision is expected very soon.

People are being told if there is no USCIS office in your country then hold on to your petition for just a little longer. Or you can file with a USCIS office in the USA.

A decision has been highly expected to be given this week. But where this week is comming to a close it might be next week. Anyways considering how much faster an overseas office processes these in comparison to a stateside office I would just be patient for another week and wait to see what the operational decision is going to be.

Where are you getting your info from? My embassy (Tokyo) is still saying to send the I-130 to USCIS in California. I've already sent mine in, and am hoping that after approval USCIS will send it back to my embassy.

I am not 100% sure, but I've been told by both Albania and Vienna that because we were approved for our I130 before July 27, our case will proceed in Albania... But I will continue to call and email to be sure. We have now been waiting on packet 4 for almost 3 months.

We followed the London Embassy guide and mailed to Nebraska > they sent it to California and they sent it back by DHL to us in the UK saying file in London....
I have sent it to London as their latest advice by email is now different to their website - and I have a thing against incomplete circles

They will send it to Condo-lease-a -rice-paddy so she can pad her bum out with it cos she is too thin some say ...

It will be another nice summer in the yookay I am sure and the dollar will collapse 10% so my piggy bank will convert better...


alan

I get my information from USCIS in Moscow, Russia. I know Tokyo is under a different district that Moscow is, so maybe they are telling people there to send it to the states.

Moscow though is still accepting petitions from those living within the Russian Federation.

Sadly there still has been no word about if Moscow will start accepting petitions from other countries under their area, or in Consulates and other Embassies will start accepting petions and then forward them to a USCIS office.

As to the other item you mentioned about sending your petition to California. They will eventualy send the petition back to the closest consulate or embassy where the benificiary resides. You could however also file the I-29f with a stateside office to get her back to the states sooner.

Anyways I hope that helps.

I am assuming you are filing the I-130 petition. London has a USCIS office it is small but I would think that all the Rome district offices like London would accept petitions from people residing in that country.

Now if you don't normaly live in England and just went there for a visit to get married and only your spouse is a long term resident of that country then you may be forced to file in the states.

Give them a call and talk to them in person. Sometimes when stateside offices give you the run around they might make an exception to the filing rules, but that's up to their discretion.

GROUNDHOG DAY !!!

Thanks for that - we sent the I-130 to London last Friday so we should have something from them in the next few days to say what they are doing with it ....I also sent an email to them and they say THEY will send the petition to the US again ...I suppose there is a small chance they will take it in London after all this intra-continental run around. However, I reckon they will forward it to the US with a letter to say don't send it back to us yet again - like groundhog day.

The worst thing would be for London to send it back to us and say file in Nebraska again
The next worst thing would be for London to send it to the US and for Nebraska/California to send it back to us again

How we break out of this loop I don't know - I am hopeful though as London do seem particularly helpful so I am not totally dismayed... I am not hoping for the best (DCF) - just an NOA1 by some route....


How weird that all we want is NOA 1 and we are finding that so hard to achieve - it should be the easiest stage - so we can see the mountain we have to climb

I contrast this process with us getting the UK residency in 20 minutes at the UK Consulate in Chicago - I mentioned that once and some acidic VYer replied to the effect that 'well of course - who wants to live in the UK - it's a dump'. I didn't like that because I am not one of those who sets off to live in another country and starts bad-mouthing their birth country - however, I am straying from the point.....
alan