DENIED 129F NO RFE

[Andie 147]

There is no reason to take offense at my comments, I was not being critical of you.

For her to become an LPR nowish she will need more than to simply be in the country before she turns 21. She needs to be here and have filed for AOS. Put simply that isn't going to happen.

I was critical of the USCIS Misinformation line and the drivel they fed you.

I'll repeat what I said:

If she arrives in the US before her 21st birthday...

Your US Citizen Husband can't petition for her because he married you after her 18th birthday.

You can petition her but since you are an LPR she will be in a family preference category and no immediate Visa number is available so she will have to wait years for a Visa number. While waiting she can't simply overstay her visa because the overstay would actually make her inadmissible and bar her AOS.

By the time you become a US Citizen, she will be over 21 and again subject to a family preference category.

If by positive feedback only you mean you want someone to tell you that you can get her here before her 21st birthday and then get her LPR status then no honest VJ member will give you that.

Even if you were able to get an expedite (which I can't imagine for this reason) getting from initial petition approval through the NVC to Consulate processing in 4 weeks is simply physically impossible.

In the meantime we have actually spoken to a lawyer. That is no longer the process or requirement. There have been changes to USCIS procedure and the only requirement is to arrive in the country before the 21st birthday. Nor is there a requirement for me to be a citizen. http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/docs/Matter-of-Le-Statement-6-29-2011.pdf

It is not a case of just wanting to hear what we want to hear... it is a matter of not needing peoples negative opinions when we would rather receive accurate factual advice. I am sure most people requesting assistance are aware of the problems they are facing.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

In the meantime we have actually spoken to a lawyer. That is no longer the process or requirement. There have been changes to USCIS procedure and the only requirement is to arrive in the country before the 21st birthday. Nor is there a requirement for me to be a citizen. http://www.americani...t-6-29-2011.pdf

It is not a case of just wanting to hear what we want to hear... it is a matter of not needing peoples negative opinions when we would rather receive accurate factual advice. I am sure most people requesting assistance are aware of the problems they are facing.

Even with that you daughter must enter the US with a K-2 Visa before her 21st birthday. See the part where it says K-2 Visa Holder's age is fixed at the time they enter the US?

You will not be able to get through Petition Adjudication, NVC pass through, in country Medical & Consulate Interview in less 4 weeks. If she enters on a tourist Visa then she can't adjust status based on a K-2 Visa as she'd need to return to your country for the Visa interview and even if the Tourist Visa entry froze her age (which it doesn't) then once she leaves for the interview (K visas must be processed at the consulate) she would lose that.

So you're right the very recent decision does changes things a little bit but not enough to help you.

[jac_chappin 24]

OP - Do you mean she'll be 21 in 2012 or is it really next month?

If next month, even with the petition being approved, it's impossible to have everything completed by her 21st b-day.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Do NOT file a motion to reopen. It costs nearly twice as much as filing a new I-129F, and takes longer to adjudicate. Just file a new I-129F. This time make sure you include all of the required documents and evidence.

When you said your step-daughter was turning "1" was that a typo? First, she isn't your step-daughter yet unless you've already gotten married, in which case you can't file an I-129F. Second, any age except 21 would not be relevant to a K1 petition. How old is your fiancee's daughter?

Good advice. USCIS can deny petitions when no benefit is clearly eligible. If you did not submit ANY supporting documents they can make this decision. Filing a new petition will be faster, cheaper, better. FWIW there was virtually no chance your step daughter to be would have been issued a visa anyway. Given that it is currently taking 5-7 months for petition approval, plus NVC time plus consulate time it never really wa realisitic to expect that.

[Enigma11561 336]

Even if you filed correctly, not missing any documents, and everything went smoothly, there simply is/was not enough time to go through all the procedures in order for her to arrive before turning 21. Sorry, but the big issue is that you filed about 6 months too late.

[Sergi9 110]

We petitioned thru Texas and was forwarded to Vermont in March for my fiance' in NZ and her

After sending the request we discovered we had left the supporting docs out of the package.

I sent a second envelope direct to Vermont and never received a receipt.

July 10th I called to see if the docs had met up with the petition and the officer siad he would have to expedite it to see.

The next day they denied the expedite and sent a letter.

On the 18th the letter arrived and online they posted denial of the I-129F entirely.

Today I called and escalated to a tier two officer who said we would have to wait till the denial letter arrived but that it was probably due to the docs not being located.

He suggested that we should have called as soon as we discovered them missing and he would have sent out an RFE...(We did not know that we could call them at the time.)

He suggested I petition to re open as soon as the letter arrives and send duplicate info.

When I told him that my step daughter was turning 1 Aug 18th and needed to be in USA to qualify for perm status he suggested possibly sending her on a tourist visa.

That seems risky as she could end up here and her mom might have problems with the I-129F.

Has anyone had any experience with a denial without a DOE NOA2 or RFE being sent?

call USCIS ombudsman ASAP. Do this along with all other things you are doing to protect the step daughter status

[VanessaTony 3,567]

In the meantime we have actually spoken to a lawyer. That is no longer the process or requirement. There have been changes to USCIS procedure and the only requirement is to arrive in the country before the 21st birthday. Nor is there a requirement for me to be a citizen. http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/docs/Matter-of-Le-Statement-6-29-2011.pdf

It is not a case of just wanting to hear what we want to hear... it is a matter of not needing peoples negative opinions when we would rather receive accurate factual advice. I am sure most people requesting assistance are aware of the problems they are facing.

Just to reiterate, unless there was another typo and you meant she's turning 21 next year (2012) then there is NO WAY you will get the K2 approved and have her enter before August 18th 2011. It's her ENTRY date that matters, not the date that you APPLY for the visa. While the new ruling WILL help you if she turns 21 next year, it does nothing for you now when she doesn't have a visa.

[Casprd 167]

Absolutely don't send the daughter on a tourist visa with the intent to adjust. You can read in one of the other posts what the consequences of that would be. You're risking a lifetime ban for her and probably you also for something like that.

[Andie 147]

Good advice. USCIS can deny petitions when no benefit is clearly eligible. If you did not submit ANY supporting documents they can make this decision. Filing a new petition will be faster, cheaper, better. FWIW there was virtually no chance your step daughter to be would have been issued a visa anyway. Given that it is currently taking 5-7 months for petition approval, plus NVC time plus consulate time it never really wa realisitic to expect that.

FYI every case is different, every embassy is different.. we had already made it to the front in VSC. Our Embassy has processed interviews within a week and they'll expedite them in special cases and can and has issued the visa the next day after a successful interview. The medical can be done in a day. It is unnecessary to make broad sweeping statements that don't necessarily apply to call cases.

[Andie 147]

call USCIS ombudsman ASAP. Do this along with all other things you are doing to protect the step daughter status

Thank you we will try this and contact Senators as well. Anything can only help at this stage...

appreciate your comment.

[Andie 147]

Absolutely don't send the daughter on a tourist visa with the intent to adjust. You can read in one of the other posts what the consequences of that would be. You're risking a lifetime ban for her and probably you also for something like that.

No we don't intend to do anything illegal of this nature... we just wondered if anyone had an idea why the Tier 2 person would have suggested this.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

In the meantime we have actually spoken to a lawyer. That is no longer the process or requirement. There have been changes to USCIS procedure and the only requirement is to arrive in the country before the 21st birthday. Nor is there a requirement for me to be a citizen. http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/docs/Matter-of-Le-Statement-6-29-2011.pdf

It is not a case of just wanting to hear what we want to hear... it is a matter of not needing peoples negative opinions when we would rather receive accurate factual advice. I am sure most people requesting assistance are aware of the problems they are facing.

Don't be too harsh on other VJ members. The policy for K2's is very new. Many here probably hadn't heard about it yet.

Your petition was denied, so you are currently standing at square 1. If you file a motion to reopen then you have to wait for USCIS to adjudicate your motion. If they approve it then you still have to wait for them to adjudicate your petition. Filing a new petition will cost less, and you'll get to skip the part where they have to adjudicate your motion to reopen. You can get them to expedite processing of the I-129F if you note that there is a potential age-out issue with the K2 derivative, but I honestly don't think you can push it through fast enough to get your daughter into the US before she's 21.

In order for your daughter to be eligible to adjust, based on the new policy, she'd need to enter the US with her K2 visa before her 21st birthday. She cannot simply enter with a tourist visa because a tourist visa does not provide any path for her to immigrate. She's not an immediate relative of a US citizen (spouse, minor child, or parent), and she won't be an immediate relative of a US citizen even after you marry your fiance. You would have had to marry him before your daughter was 18. The K2 is a unique exception among visas in that it allows a child of a beneficiary to come to the US and adjust status even though the qualifying marriage took place after the child was 18. But the caveat is that the child must enter the US with the K2 visa before they are 21 years old.

This means you need to get through three agencies in two different departments of the US government, in addition to the time it takes the documents to travel between the agencies. The typical timeline currently is 5 to 6 months to get the petition approved, 2 to 4 weeks for the petition to travel through the NVC and arrive at the consulate, a month or so for the consulate to send packet 3 and for you to respond, two months before the scheduled interview, and then whatever time it takes to receive the visa, arrange travel, and travel to the US. If you managed to get all of this done before your daughter's 21st birthday then it would be a new record. In briefly looking through the VJ timelines, the fastest K1 I could find, from petition to visa, was 91 days. The current average is 219 days.

[Kengux 3]

In your best interest, your option is to file another K1 and include all the missing docs this time.

However, your daughter cannot be a beneficiary of K2 as she'd have turned 18 by August. So the bitter truth is that your daughter may have to wait until u become a LPR or a USC to be able to petition her.

And as others have said, it will take years for her to come based on family category which she has fallen now.

There's no fast track about this and the option of her taking a tourist visa cannot be guaranteed a visa cos she would need to prove that she would return to her country of birth, which over time has been a major issue for denial cos alot of people cant prove this.

Goodluck!

[Kengux 3]

In your best interest, your option is to file another K1 and include all the missing docs this time.

However, your daughter cannot be a beneficiary of K2 as she'd have turned 18 by August. So the bitter truth is that your daughter may have to wait until u become a LPR or a USC to be able to petition her.

And as others have said, it will take years for her to come based on family category which she has fallen now.

There's no fast track about this and the option of her taking a tourist visa cannot be guaranteed a visa cos she would need to prove that she would return to her country of birth, which over time has been a major issue for denial cos alot of people cant prove this.

Goodluck!

[Kevmach 2]

Even if she comes on a tourist visa she won't be able to stay and adjust status.

Yes I understand and that's why I asked the question why would he (tier two immigration officer) suggest that...