Military Member I-130 Appealed

[superbike81 0]

This is a long(ish) story but I'll try to keep it short and to the point:

- Wife is Japanese, I'm an American citizen serving in the USAF stationed in Japan. We've been married for nearly 5 years.

- Due to budget cuts, I've been informed that my military separation date has been moved up to May 31st, 2013. Original date was May 16, 2014.

- No previous divorces, no criminal record, 2 children that are ours, both born here in Japan but already have US passports.

- We filed our I-130 and received our acceptance later with a date of December 27, 2011

- Received a request for additional evidence

- Received a letter of denial because we did not provide one of the requested evidence forms (I still maintain that we did include everything that was asked for, but that is beside the point for now)

- Filed the form EOIR-29 Appeal which was accepted August 27, 2012

- Received my notice a week ago that I was being discharged from the military early (budget/personell cuts)

- Military legal office has been zero help, they told me to contact an immigration attorney in my home state.

- Requested our case to be expedited but the immigration service officer I spoke with said our case doesn't qualify as an emergency so can't do expedited processing.

- Case status is still "Initial Review"

My questions/concerns:

1) Can I apply for a K-3 Visa while I have a pending appeal, the website seems to make it seem like it's only if you have an I-130 processing. We do have our original I-130 acceptance letter, but does the appeal negate that now?

2) I've read mixed information about my wife entering the US on a tourist visa during the process. If I have a pending K-3, can the tourist visa be converted to a K-3 visa without her returning to Japan. My wife has family in Japan, Japanese bank accounts, etc, would that qualify as "strong ties" to Japan?

3) We will be living in the Seattle area, if the process isn't complete by the time her tourist visa expires, can we just go stay in Canada for a night and then come back on a renewed tourist visa? Or does she have to return to Japan?

4) Can the K-3 visa be expedited so it could be done before May 31st? Note: We don't have functioning US Consulate for visa inquiries here in Okinawa, they just tell us to call the USCIS help line.

5) This "Affidavit of Support" worries me as well. Since I'm being discharged from the military, as of May 31st I will not have a job, although we do have roughly $40,000 in savings and will initially be living with my father who makes >100k a year. Will this be enough for them to approve it?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm trying to avoid spending thousands of dollars on an attorney since I'm being involuntarily separated from the military.

Is my best bet just to contact an attorney? Is trying to get something done inside of 60 days a hopeless endeavor? Or is there a chance we might get something done? I'm just worried about my family being separated for months or even a year or more due to military budget cuts. It just doesn't seem fair.

Thanks for any help!

Jason

[Jawaree 719]

Go to iimigrate2us and pose this most important question to the atty there, Laurel is her name, she will answer your question

is a competent atty. U have to put your question in by Tues, she takes the onlune questions Wed . mornings and U can ask some

of your questions at that site. Look for Chat logs to post thread. Your case needs an atty to eyeball ...best wishes.. I think your dad

is good for co-sponsor

[del-2-5-2014 1,340]

Jason, thanks for the service. I cannot believe that a serviceman was not expedited.

Good luck.

[dwheels76 5,486]

This is a long(ish) story but I'll try to keep it short and to the point:

- Wife is Japanese, I'm an American citizen serving in the USAF stationed in Japan. We've been married for nearly 5 years.

- Due to budget cuts, I've been informed that my military separation date has been moved up to May 31st, 2013. Original date was May 16, 2014.

- No previous divorces, no criminal record, 2 children that are ours, both born here in Japan but already have US passports.

- We filed our I-130 and received our acceptance later with a date of December 27, 2011

- Received a request for additional evidence

- Received a letter of denial because we did not provide one of the requested evidence forms (I still maintain that we did include everything that was asked for, but that is beside the point for now)

- Filed the form EOIR-29 Appeal which was accepted August 27, 2012

- Received my notice a week ago that I was being discharged from the military early (budget/personell cuts)

- Military legal office has been zero help, they told me to contact an immigration attorney in my home state.

- Requested our case to be expedited but the immigration service officer I spoke with said our case doesn't qualify as an emergency so can't do expedited processing.

- Case status is still "Initial Review"

My questions/concerns:

1) Can I apply for a K-3 Visa while I have a pending appeal, the website seems to make it seem like it's only if you have an I-130 processing. We do have our original I-130 acceptance letter, but does the appeal negate that now?

2) I've read mixed information about my wife entering the US on a tourist visa during the process. If I have a pending K-3, can the tourist visa be converted to a K-3 visa without her returning to Japan. My wife has family in Japan, Japanese bank accounts, etc, would that qualify as "strong ties" to Japan?

3) We will be living in the Seattle area, if the process isn't complete by the time her tourist visa expires, can we just go stay in Canada for a night and then come back on a renewed tourist visa? Or does she have to return to Japan?

4) Can the K-3 visa be expedited so it could be done before May 31st? Note: We don't have functioning US Consulate for visa inquiries here in Okinawa, they just tell us to call the USCIS help line.

5) This "Affidavit of Support" worries me as well. Since I'm being discharged from the military, as of May 31st I will not have a job, although we do have roughly $40,000 in savings and will initially be living with my father who makes >100k a year. Will this be enough for them to approve it?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm trying to avoid spending thousands of dollars on an attorney since I'm being involuntarily separated from the military.

Is my best bet just to contact an attorney? Is trying to get something done inside of 60 days a hopeless endeavor? Or is there a chance we might get something done? I'm just worried about my family being separated for months or even a year or more due to military budget cuts. It just doesn't seem fair.

Thanks for any help!

Jason

You need to call USCIS tomorrow and stipulate you are active military duty stationed abroad (who knows they may have overlooked that).

1) Can I apply for a K-3 Visa while I have a pending appeal? K3 Visa in about 99% of cases will be administratively closed at NVC. It's no longer a viable Visa.

2) I've read mixed information about my wife entering the US on a tourist visa during the process. If I have a pending K-3, can the tourist visa be converted to a K-3 visa without her returning to Japan. My wife has family in Japan, Japanese bank accounts, etc, would that qualify as "strong ties" to Japan? She can visit while your petition is in process. Just at the border (airport she just shows strong country ties)

3) We will be living in the Seattle area, if the process isn't complete by the time her tourist visa expires, can we just go stay in Canada for a night and then come back on a renewed tourist visa? Or does she have to return to Japan? Is renewing a tourist visa that simple? don't know sorry.

4) Can the K-3 visa be expedited so it could be done before May 31st? If you wanted to try for K3 (I would not do it with your I-130 in the system) you would file the I-129F same conditions apply to expedite.

5) This "Affidavit of Support" worries me as well. Since I'm being discharged from the military, as of May 31st I will not have a job, although we do have roughly $40,000 in savings and will initially be living with my father who makes >100k a year. Will this be enough for them to approve it? Yes Dad can be your sponsor

Is my best bet just to contact an attorney? Is trying to get something done inside of 60 days a hopeless endeavor? Or is there a chance we might get something done? I'm just worried about my family being separated for months or even a year or more due to military budget cuts. It just doesn't seem fair. Doesn't hurt to do a consult with an attorney. Seems that RFE than appeal clogged things up.

The real experts will come and see this (it is weekend) and be more of help to you.

Thank you USAF Sir for your service. I was raised in Japan with a daddy in USAF (Tachikawa and Yokota AFB)

[NikLR 13,234]

1) K3 is an obsolete visa - it will not make anything faster for you.

2) A tourist visa cannot be converted into a spouse visa unless there is not immigration intent, which there obviously is.

3) I'm unsure if this will work. I don't know what kind of visa the US requires of Japanese citizens or how they need to go about getting them.

4) If you're unable to get a military expedite or another kind of expedite that falls within the USCIS criteria, no, you won't be able to speed anything up

5) Without income you will need assets or a joint sponsor. I suggest asking your father to do so while you're trying to find a job. I won't say it will be easy to do so. My husband, who was also USAF, was without work from Jan until Sept. He had about 4 interviews, but was also looking for work a bit better than Walmart. Between flying both of us back and forth (mostly me), buying a vehicle and just daily expenses, he used up most of his savings within tthe year. Had he not had a wife who supported herself otherwise, it would have been used up t

Would you be able to stay in Japan with your wife until the I-130 petition is approved? I'm not sure what kind of visa Japan may require of citizens from other countries but it might be worth looking into so that you can lessen the separation time.

I agree, you need to call the USCIS and request the expedite, speak to a Tier 2 (an ISO).

Edited March 25, 2013 by NikiR

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

The K3 is no longer an option to speed things along. It was when a CR1 took years but they have roughly the same time frame.

You will need a joint sponsor , your assets are not enough to qualify on your own. Your family is probably the best option.

Hopping the border will not reset your allowed presense in the US. She must leave the US to any place she is allowed. The rough rule is she must spend as much time out of the US as in. If your I130 is still in process that may not make much difference.

She will probably have hard time entering the US, USC spouse, two USC children, no job ? back home ,husband just discharged .. There is at least a 50% chance she will not be allowed to enter. Have a backup plan.