NOA2 says beneficiary is in US but he is not

[Tristan1978 133]

On 07/04/2018 at 1:04 AM, pushbrk said:

Look carefully at your copy of the I-130 and see if you indicated he was in the US at the time of filing.  Look also at what you entered in the section about adjusting status or consular processing.  If the first says no, and the second clearly indicates consular processing instead of adjusting status (meaning there is no city/state entered in the adjusting status field) then this is a USCIS mistake.  Call them, get a tier two representative try to resolve this.

 

If you indicated he was in the US but got the consular processing right, do the same.

 

If you indicated that he was in the US AND put something in the adjustment of status fields, then don't expect success with a phone call. Expect to file the I-824, as it was YOUR mistake, not theirs.

Hi Pushbrk, 

 

Can you tell from the below if my I-130 was correctly filled in for consular processing?

 

Thanks 

T

[Tristan1978 133]

On 13/04/2018 at 12:36 AM, mmoraila said:

Just as an FYI--and in case you use it to help others in the future--USCIS did not budge on our petition until we contacted our congressman. 

 

Yes, it was their mistake, as countless immigration lawyers told me (I am a recent law graduate myself, and this was the first time I  officially submitted these kinds of documents, ironically for myself). 

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

Hi, I think I may be in the same situation.... How did you contact your congressman and what state are you in? 

[pushbrk 12,143]

1 hour ago, Tristan1978 said:

Hi Pushbrk, 

 

Can you tell from the below if my I-130 was correctly filled in for consular processing?

 

Thanks 

T

No.  It is not.  There should have been nothing or "Not Applicable" where you entered Los Angeles.

[Tristan1978 133]

11 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

No.  It is not.  There should have been nothing or "Not Applicable" where you entered Los Angeles.

So this is definitely my attorneys fault and not the USCIS as he told us.... We filed the I-824 back in Nov 2017, is there any more we can do?

[pushbrk 12,143]

11 hours ago, Tristan1978 said:

So this is definitely my attorneys fault and not the USCIS as he told us.... We filed the I-824 back in Nov 2017, is there any more we can do?

Not that I'm aware of.  There's no way to know for certain whose "fault" it is because you don't have the thoughts of the person who decided what to do with the petition.  However, the petition was completed incorrectly.

[mmoraila 1]

14 hours ago, Tristan1978 said:

Hi, I think I may be in the same situation.... How did you contact your congressman and what state are you in? 

Hi Tristan, I am in AZ and I just did a quick google search for my congressman’s office number. Spoke with someone there and they were very helpful. 

 

However, it is important to note that USCIS made a mistake by saying the beneficiary was in the US, we did not make any mistakes on the petition submitted and our petition clearly stated he was not in the US. They were slow on reviewing it (they obviously wanted us to pay to have our petition forwarded) and did not review it until our congressman’s office called, but once they reviewed it, they forwarded it to NVC that same day. 

[mmoraila 1]

13 hours ago, Tristan1978 said:

So this is definitely my attorneys fault and not the USCIS as he told us.... We filed the I-824 back in Nov 2017, is there any more we can do?

I think all you can do is wait now  since the petition was completed incorrectly, you’ll have to follow up with whatever is happening with your I-824. I do think your congressman or senator or ombudsman may be able to get more information if they call. Don’t contact all three!! Only choose one. They may not be able to expedite anything because your petition was filled out incorrectly, but they may get more info than you. 

 

For our case, we specifically indicated the beneficiary was outside the US, that we needed our petition forwarded for consular processing, N/A on the adjustment of status question, etc. There were no contradictions on our petition and everything was clear, but I think they saw a very young couple who completed the petition without anyone’s help and just assumed we would make a mistake or cough up the fee for the i-824. 

 

I called everyday for three weeks and was ignored. They kept “reviewing” our case and sent us two more, incorrect and different NOA2. Finally, our congressman called and the case was forwarded that same day. 

 

If USCIS is stubborn when they’re at fault, they’re definitely not going to budge when a petition is filed incorrectly  

[pushbrk 12,143]

It can probably be successfully argued that the beneficiary's address indicates they are not in the US and  it is a USCIS mistake.  If you want somebody from congress involved, I would start with the senior US Senator from your state.  If their office gets involved, they usually get the quickest action.

[mmoraila 1]

You can also try going to a local USCIS field office, if there's one near you