I-130 APPROVED and then DENIED ??!?!?!??! HELP!!!!

[Becca&Nikola 2]

Hello guys…we just got a notice from USCS and we are very upset and confused…Please any advice or do you guys know what is going on here ?!!

Long story short:

Me and my husband went for an interview on August 4th to our local immigration office. We have been asked a bunch of questions and everything went pretty much normal. We submitted our documents showing our relationship and everything. Anyways, two days after interview we received a letter asking for an additional document. Since my husband was in a removal proceedings they asked for the Request for Bona Fide Marriage Exemption Letter for 204(g) cases pursuit to 8CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii)(A) and 8CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii)(B) . We mailed that letter on August 8th and we were waiting for decision!

We were checking our status online almost every day and then it finally happened, our status was saying :

On September 25th, 2014, we mailed you a notice that we have approved the I-130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN

We were so excited and next day we had some friends over so we wanted to celebrate and finally show them our approval so we opened our case status again and we were kinda confused by seeing different update:

On September 26th, 2014 we mailed you a notice informing you that your I-130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN was reopened.

We were really confused why would they change it within one day but we kinda thought that they approved it but then reopened it because my husband had to close his removal case with the Immigration Judge so we guessed that was the reason!

Anyhow after a few days we finally received actual letters from USCS

First one:

Notice of Action

Notice Type: Approval Notice Section: Husband or wife of U.S. Citizen 201(b) INA

The above petition has been approved.

Second one:

Notice of Action

This courtesy notice is to advice you of action taken on this case. The official notice has been mailed to the authorized representative. Any relevant documentation included i notice was also mailed as part of the official notice.

After review, we have reopened the above application or petition, or reconsidering the decision previously issued. You will receive a notice under separate cover once all action has been completed.

Note: The first letter asking us for additional document (Bona Fide Letter) was sent from our local immigration office and another two letters (Notice of Action) were sent from Department of Homeland Security, Missouri !!!

So, today we got a letter from our local immigration office saying: NOTICE OF ITENET TO DENY PETITION FOR ALIEN RELATIVE

WE ARE SHOCKED AND VERY STRESSED RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THIS IS ALL SO CONFUSING Please anyone on here had a similar case or any idea what is going on. It's saturday and we can not wait till Monday to call our lawyer so we are seeking help or advice from you guys… Our hearts are literally broken and this pain won't go away since we've got approved and now intent to deny … I don't wish this to anyone ((((

[Hypnos 6,576]

As I said during your previous thread here, if filing for AoS when the alien is already in removal proceedings, a higher threshold of proof is required to show that your marriage is legitimate. It sounds as if, in this case, USCIS do not believe you have met that burden, and have denied your I-130 accordingly.

Edited November 1, 2014 by Hypnos

[Becca&Nikola 2]

Hypnos we have submitted as much as we had… If we are poor and don't have a house under our name or property, or thousands of dollars on our joint account - is that mean that our marriage is not bona fide?

I dont understand what we need to show them???

We had our lease agreement that we live together as well as lease renewal

Joint bank account

Old auto insurance

New auto insurance

Life Insurance policy (together)

Hospital Bills

Pictures through all these years together

Affidavit of Bona Fide marriage from some friends and our priest from church

Driver License's showing the same address

We really don't have that much money to buy house or something together. We live with my husbands parents and we share apartment. All utility bills are under my husband mother name since she lived in that apartment even before we got married. My husband doesn't work because he doesn't have a work permit and I work for $8.50/hr which leaves us to cover our life and auto insurance, food and gas !

[Hypnos 6,576]

If you have submitted all of that evidence and USCIS are still not convinced then there is not going to be much you can do. The law is clear that you must show "by clear and convincing evidence" that your marriage is bona fide if you marry when the alien is already in removal proceedings, for the exact reason that people do not just go around and find / pay a willing American to marry in order to stave off deportation.

Hopefully your attorney will be able to be of some assistance; you may be able to appeal the decision to the EOIR or another appellate body.

[Becca&Nikola 2]

If you have submitted all of that evidence and USCIS are still not convinced then there is not going to be much you can do. The law is clear that you must show "by clear and convincing evidence" that your marriage is bona fide if you marry when the alien is already in removal proceedings, for the exact reason that people do not just go around and find / pay a willing American to marry in order to stave off deportation.

Hopefully your attorney will be able to be of some assistance; you may be able to appeal the decision to the EOIR or another appellate body.

Hypnos it does say we have 30 days to appeal this intent and submit additional evidence...

But WHAT else do we need to convince them this IS a bona fide marriage. After our interview we got a health insurance since I was able to get one through my new job. So that is something new that we can send… But I don't really know if that one thing can change their mind … Would it help to get affidavit of bona fide marriage from ALL our neighbors ? There is like at least 7 neighbors who live around our apartment and who see us every single day together… With some of them we are not even friends but we can ask them to write it since they REALLY DO see us living together…?

What else would be considered as a higher threshold of proof?? Proofs such as??

THANK YOU

[Hypnos 6,576]

At this point I'm really not sure. No one can say "provide X, Y, and Z", as it varies from one case to the next.

You may need to look into living together overseas, perhaps your husband's home country or another country.

[tj86 16]

Sorry to hear about your dilemma, but you should seek an attorney. Your case can be approved, you just have to fight for it. Only an attorney can give you the advice that you need. Keep positive. I had a similar case, I had my proceedings terminated now I am adjusting so it's possible. Don't give up keep fighting.

[Hypnos 6,576]

OP already has an attorney, as stated.

[Becca&Nikola 2]

At this point I'm really not sure. No one can say "provide X, Y, and Z", as it varies from one case to the next.

You may need to look into living together overseas, perhaps your husband's home country or another country.

Yeah we know cases varies but at this point we are both BLANK with our minds so we are desperate to even try asking sucha questions !!! Anyways Hypnos thank you so much we really appreciate your time!

Sorry to hear about your dilemma, but you should seek an attorney. Your case can be approved, you just have to fight for it. Only an attorney can give you the advice that you need. Keep positive. I had a similar case, I had my proceedings terminated now I am adjusting so it's possible. Don't give up keep fighting.

tj86 Thank you so much for your words…And yeah we do have an attorney, it's just that we received this letter today and as you know it's Saturday so we can't hear from our lawyer until Monday Anyways, how was your case similar ? What happened if you don't mind sharing your story ?

[blest.but.strest 50]

Hypnos we have submitted as much as we had… If we are poor and don't have a house under our name or property, or thousands of dollars on our joint account - is that mean that our marriage is not bona fide?

I dont understand what we need to show them???

We had our lease agreement that we live together as well as lease renewal

Joint bank account

Old auto insurance

New auto insurance

Life Insurance policy (together)

Hospital Bills

Pictures through all these years together

Affidavit of Bona Fide marriage from some friends and our priest from church

Driver License's showing the same address

We really don't have that much money to buy house or something together. We live with my husbands parents and we share apartment. All utility bills are under my husband mother name since she lived in that apartment even before we got married. My husband doesn't work because he doesn't have a work permit and I work for $8.50/hr which leaves us to cover our life and auto insurance, food and gas !

What about tax returns, joint credit card accounts, 2 credit cards with different names but same card number on it, more affidavits from your family and friends, if you guys have 2 cars show the 2 registrations with the same address on it, gym card memberships, bills of furniture or electronics that you guys bought together and have your names on it... there's always a way to show more, anything and everything you can provide at this point will help. Your lawyer should help you write the response to the NOID, it's very difficult to do alone.

Good luck

[Team MicVic! 46]

Hello guyswe just got a notice from USCS and we are very upset and confusedPlease any advice or do you guys know what is going on here ?!!

Long story short:

Me and my husband went for an interview on August 4th to our local immigration office. We have been asked a bunch of questions and everything went pretty much normal. We submitted our documents showing our relationship and everything. Anyways, two days after interview we received a letter asking for an additional document. Since my husband was in a removal proceedings they asked for the Request for Bona Fide Marriage Exemption Letter for 204(g) cases pursuit to 8CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii)(A) and 8CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii)(B) . We mailed that letter on August 8th and we were waiting for decision!

We were checking our status online almost every day and then it finally happened, our status was saying :

On September 25th, 2014, we mailed you a notice that we have approved the I-130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN

We were so excited and next day we had some friends over so we wanted to celebrate and finally show them our approval so we opened our case status again and we were kinda confused by seeing different update:

On September 26th, 2014 we mailed you a notice informing you that your I-130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN was reopened.

We were really confused why would they change it within one day but we kinda thought that they approved it but then reopened it because my husband had to close his removal case with the Immigration Judge so we guessed that was the reason!

Anyhow after a few days we finally received actual letters from USCS

First one:

Notice of Action

Notice Type: Approval Notice Section: Husband or wife of U.S. Citizen 201(b) INA

The above petition has been approved.

Second one:

Notice of Action

This courtesy notice is to advice you of action taken on this case. The official notice has been mailed to the authorized representative. Any relevant documentation included i notice was also mailed as part of the official notice.

After review, we have reopened the above application or petition, or reconsidering the decision previously issued. You will receive a notice under separate cover once all action has been completed.

Note: The first letter asking us for additional document (Bona Fide Letter) was sent from our local immigration office and another two letters (Notice of Action) were sent from Department of Homeland Security, Missouri !!!

So, today we got a letter from our local immigration office saying: NOTICE OF ITENET TO DENY PETITION FOR ALIEN RELATIVE

WE ARE SHOCKED AND VERY STRESSED RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THIS IS ALL SO CONFUSING Please anyone on here had a similar case or any idea what is going on. It's saturday and we can not wait till Monday to call our lawyer so we are seeking help or advice from you guys Our hearts are literally broken and this pain won't go away since we've got approved and now intent to deny I don't wish this to anyone ((((

Hello! Im sorry you are experiencing this nightmare especially at a time when the office is closed. My advice is hang on tight to the approval letter. It may be an inadvertent mix up between cases. I mean how can they approve you then revoke it a few days later? Sounds to me like they're may be a mix up with someone elses case. I called the other day and asked why did I receive a text stating the alien registration number changed. Well a service request was made and two days later I received an email that they accidentally assigned my husband an a# which belonged to someone else so once they noticed the error they corrected it. So anything is possible. Try to relax a little until you can get some answers on Monday. From what you described, you guys sent in sufficient proof. Good luck!

[tj86 16]

Yeah we know cases varies but at this point we are both BLANK with our minds so we are desperate to even try asking sucha questions !!! Anyways Hypnos thank you so much we really appreciate your time!

tj86 Thank you so much for your wordsAnd yeah we do have an attorney, it's just that we received this letter today and as you know it's Saturday so we can't hear from our lawyer until Monday Anyways, how was your case similar ? What happened if you don't mind sharing your story ?

What is a bona fide exemption letter?

[tj86 16]

Hello! Im sorry you are experiencing this nightmare especially at a time when the office is closed. My advice is hang on tight to the approval letter. It may be an inadvertent mix up between cases. I mean how can they approve you then revoke it a few days later? Sounds to me like they're may be a mix up with someone elses case. I called the other day and asked why did I receive a text stating the alien registration number changed. Well a service request was made and two days later I received an email that they accidentally assigned my husband an a# which belonged to someone else so once they noticed the error they corrected it. So anything is possible. Try to relax a little until you can get some answers on Monday. From what you described, you guys sent in sufficient proof. Good luck!

I agree you should try to relax and wait til Monday morning to know reason of denial.it might be an error.

[Becca&Nikola 2]

What about tax returns, joint credit card accounts, 2 credit cards with different names but same card number on it, more affidavits from your family and friends, if you guys have 2 cars show the 2 registrations with the same address on it, gym card memberships, bills of furniture or electronics that you guys bought together and have your names on it... there's always a way to show more, anything and everything you can provide at this point will help. Your lawyer should help you write the response to the NOID, it's very difficult to do alone.

Good luck

blest.but.strest Thank you for your answer … Well things are really complicated with our situation (well not really complicated but in a way of providing more evidence it is)

Here is why:

When my husband came to the USA he came to visit his mother and his stepfather so he was living with them in their apartment. Long story short we met fell in love and decided to get married. After our wedding I moved into his apartment and we do have our own room, bathroom and really enough space for both of us (we are not complaining and I really love his parents, such a great people and they accepted me into their home with nothing but love and support ) So as I moved into his apartment all bills (cable, internet, land line phone, electricity) was and still are under his parents name. Also all furniture was already there and we didn't buy anything except a new bed and we do have a recipe but we paid it with cash so it didint really helped (obviously). They did added me on the apartment lease and we provided that document as well as every lease renewal! We do have both Driver Licenses with the same address ! We provided a joint back account with debit cards (our names and same account number) two access bank cards (again our names and same number)

We do have a car but its under his mother name since she bought him that car because he doesn't have a SSN and he couldn't buy it himself (NO SSN NO CREDIT) His parents have their own car but we ALL have same insurance with ALL our names on the policy …. Also, we provided them our old car insurance, again our names on the policy.

Also we provided our Life Insurance policy with our names!

Tax returns thats a problem since i was studying for the first two year of our marriage, and then I couldn't find a job until our interview which was on August 4th and I got a job on August 6th so now we got a health insurance so thats a new evidence we can send !!!

Other then that we can't really think of anything else since we are not really rich but we do not need a lot of money to be happy !!!! We do have each other and that what it matters !!!

Hello! Im sorry you are experiencing this nightmare especially at a time when the office is closed. My advice is hang on tight to the approval letter. It may be an inadvertent mix up between cases. I mean how can they approve you then revoke it a few days later? Sounds to me like they're may be a mix up with someone elses case. I called the other day and asked why did I receive a text stating the alien registration number changed. Well a service request was made and two days later I received an email that they accidentally assigned my husband an a# which belonged to someone else so once they noticed the error they corrected it. So anything is possible. Try to relax a little until you can get some answers on Monday. From what you described, you guys sent in sufficient proof. Good luck!

team MicVic Thank you soooo much!!! You have no idea what are we going through. We were so happy when we saw our online status "APPROVED" and then two months later we are receiving this letter we are literally devastated !!!

[Becca&Nikola 2]

What is a bona fide exemption letter?

When beneficiary is under removal proceedings then petitioner has to write a Bona Fide Exemption Letter where he/she basically states that he/she didn't enter marriage just to help beneficiary to obtain his/her green card etc… It is something required by the law and we did sent that letter !!! So right after our interview (I guess our lawyer forgot submit that ) we got mail from USCIS asking for that letter, so everything seems alright, like if they wanted to deny us they would have done it without asking for that letter…. But yeah we sent it and a few weeks later we saw our online status saying APPROVED …. Then next day it was REOPENED