Denied because of Adam Walsh

[Midwesterner 0]

Hi All,

 

Our application was recently denied because of Adam Walsh. My husband submitted all the needed documents except the psych eval. He spoke with an immigration lawyer and the lawyer told him to get it done asap. We were given two options. Either to appeal our case to the BIA or refile. Now, my husband and I are weighing which is the better action to take. Has anyone been to this route before? Your response would be highly appreciated. 

 

[NikLR 13,220]

Not diy.  Stick with the lawyer and prepare to never live in the USA. 

[JFH 12,189]

Agree with NikLR. You definitely need a lawyer for this and years of patience. I can think of only one case that successfully appealed an AWA denial and it took 8 years. 

 

Have you investigated the option of your husband moving to your country? 

[Going through 5,668]

The chances of an AWA case being approved is extremely slim...even with the psych evaluation.  I know it's not what you want to hear, however you can live with him in the Philippines---immigration is a two-way street.

Edited February 24, 2018 by Going through

[JFH 12,189]

10 minutes ago, Going through said:

however you can live with him in the Philippines---immigration is a two-way street.

And I would normally agree with this statement about immigration being a 2-way street. In fact, I regularly comment on here "if it's all about being together then the location doesn't matter". But when criminal history is added to the mix, immigration is not always a 2-way street. It wasn't for us. Our plan was to live in the U.K. (I'm British by birth) but my husband was denied and given a lifetime ban because of his felony - and it was theft committed in 1990! Not all countries are open to felons and in the OP's case the USC will have even more problems due to the nature of his crime. We have identified some countries where my husband would be able to live in Europe due to me being an EU citizen (I also have citizenship of another European country so will still be an EU citizen even after the U.K. withdrawal) but for those with crimes of the AWA nature, there are fewer options. 

[Midwesterner 0]

35 minutes ago, JFH said:

Agree with NikLR. You definitely need a lawyer for this and years of patience. I can think of only one case that successfully appealed an AWA denial and it took 8 years. 

 

Have you investigated the option of your husband moving to your country? 

We've been married for four years and have talked about it on and off for a long time. Unfortunately, it isn't an option for us right now. With his son still in middle school and his job, it would be difficult for him to move here. My step-son spent two summers to see how he is going to like it but the tropic is too harsh for him. 

[JFH 12,189]

1 minute ago, Midwesterner said:

We've been married for four years and have talked about it on and off for a long time. Unfortunately, it isn't an option for us right now. With his son still in middle school and his job, it would be difficult for him to move here. My step-son spent two summers to see how he is going to like it but the tropic is too harsh for him. 

Then you may need to look at other countries that would accept your husband and his conviction. Europe might be better? The climate would be better for folks from the Midwest and European countries are generally more open. Not the U.K, however! 

[Midwesterner 0]

3 minutes ago, JFH said:

Then you may need to look at other countries that would accept your husband and his conviction. Europe might be better? The climate would be better for folks from the Midwest and European countries are generally more open. Not the U.K, however! 

The thing is he never had any conviction. Even the lawyer we hired said so. My husband's job runs a stringent background check. Any conviction that would reflect on his record would disqualify him from the job. I wish it were that easy to move to another country. Thank you for your suggestion though.

[JFH 12,189]

4 minutes ago, Midwesterner said:

The thing is he never had any conviction. Even the lawyer we hired said so. My husband's job runs a stringent background check. Any conviction that would reflect on his record would disqualify him from the job. I wish it were that easy to move to another country. Thank you for your suggestion though.

There must be something on his record to cause an AWA denial. 

[Midwesterner 0]

2 minutes ago, JFH said:

There must be something on his record to cause an AWA denial. 

Is there anyway to know what the adjudicator may have found to have made that decision? Also, the AWA case that you've mentioned earlier, was his story posted on this website?

[JFH 12,189]

24 minutes ago, Midwesterner said:

Is there anyway to know what the adjudicator may have found to have made that decision? Also, the AWA case that you've mentioned earlier, was his story posted on this website?

They run a full FBI background check on the petitioner. They find everything. So something must have been recorded on his file for them to find it. AWA denials are not given lightly. Was your I-130 transferred to Vermont at any time? Great care is taken by USCIS to ensure that there is no mistaken identity (same name, same date of birth, etc). Your husband must know what they found. If he says there is nothing on his record then he's lying to you. Why do you have a lawyer if there is nothing of concern on his record? 

 

Most employers run background checks these days. But that doesn't mean that your  background is clean. My husband has a felony on his record but he works. The employer ran a background check (although my husband already volunteered the information prior to the check being performed) and he was hired as it fell within the types of crime that they are prepared to accept and/or was long enough ago that they didn't have a problem with it. Given that 1 in 8 Americans will find themselves behind bars at some point in their lives, and given that most adults of working age have a job, there are obviously many people in this country with jobs and a record of some sort. 

[Lemonslice 4,553]

3 hours ago, Midwesterner said:

Hi All,

 

Our application was recently denied because of Adam Walsh. My husband submitted all the needed documents except the psych eval. He spoke with an immigration lawyer and the lawyer told him to get it done asap. We were given two options. Either to appeal our case to the BIA or refile. Now, my husband and I are weighing which is the better action to take. Has anyone been to this route before? Your response would be highly appreciated. 

 

What do you mean by the bolded part?  Which documents?  What kind of psych eval?

[Midwesterner 0]

2 minutes ago, JFH said:

They run a full FBI background check on the petitioner. They find everything. So something must have been recorded on his file for them to find it. AWA denials are not given lightly. Was your I-130 transferred to Vermont at any time? Great care is taken by USCIS to ensure that there is no mistaken identity (same name, same date of birth, etc). Your husband must know what they found. If he says there is nothing on his record then he's lying to you. Why do you have a lawyer if there is nothing of concern on his record? 

 

Most employers run background checks these days. But that doesn't mean that your  background is clean. My husband has a felony on his record but he works. The employer ran a background check (although my husband already volunteered the information prior to the check being performed) and he was hired as it fell within the types of crime that they are prepared to accept and/or was long enough ago that they didn't have a problem with it. Given that 1 in 8 Americans will find themselves behind bars at some point in their lives, and given that most adults of working age have a job, there are obviously many people in this country with jobs and a record of some sort. 

Yes it was transferred to Vermont after sitting from the first service center for about 10 months. We did diy when we filed our papers. When we received an rfe that's the time we contacted a lawyer to pull his court record of a case that was expunged with no conviction. That was his only other court case. The other one was when he won the child custody case against his ex-fiance. Other than that, there really is nothing that we could think of. He's not in any sex offender databases nor did he establish any sexual relation with a minor.

[Villanelle 4,121]

What was the case for that was expunged with no conviction? AWA also covers prostitution among other things. 

 

[JFH 12,189]

1 hour ago, Lemonslice said:

What do you mean by the bolded part?  Which documents?  What kind of psych eval?

Good point. What documents could this mean if there is nothing on his record (as claimed by the OP and - presumably - her husband)? How can you send documents about an offense which, according to them, doesn't exist?