Need Help Again

[Jacidy 0]

Hi everyone,

I have posted a few times on here and always gotten great help, so here I go again. I'm currently in the process of trying to get residency in the US. I obtained a lawyer who "helped" me with my paperwork, received my I-485 and I-765 receipts, and my husband got his I-130 receipt in the mail, went to do my biometrics, and couldn't because I do not have a government issued ID. At that point, my husband contacted another lawyer who said I need to get my passport. (Long story short, I came to the US on my mother's, who has since passed, and the passport expired). The new lawyer said that my first lawyer should have told me from the beginning that I needed my passport before she proceeded since I do not have any other ID. Anyway, I have since sent my application for the passport (a month ago), but now I'm worried that my application is going to become abandoned!!! The new lawyer said to write a letter to USCIS explaining all of this, but I have researched that on the internet, and don't even know where to send the letter to, and it seems as though that wouldn't help anyway. Does anyone have any information about this?

Thanks so much.

[JimVaPhuong 4,864]

I'm not sure what their policy is on this because that section of the Adjudicators Field Manual is redacted in the public version. They do consider your application to have been abandoned if you don't submit biometrics, but they usually give you a window of time to complete it. There was a VJ member recently who missed their biometrics appointment because they were out of town both when the appointment letter was delivered and on the day of the appointment. They walked into an ASC office in the town they were in and submitted the biometrics without any problem. By that time I believe they were a couple of weeks late.

I would recommend you make an InfoPass appointment at your local USCIS field office and explain your situation. Even without being able to see what the Adjudicators Field Manual says about this, I'm guessing they have the discretion to give you a little extra time to get the documents you need. Don't send a letter. Go talk to them face-to-face.