Need help, please. I-751 was approved but failed to inform USCIS.

[geowrian 22,336]

44 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

If there is such a requirement, other than the applicant having to go it alone, please find and post that requirement.

Per the USCIS Policy Manual (https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-g-chapter-5)

Quote

In order for USCIS to approve the petition to remove conditions, the CPR must establish that:

• The marriage upon which the CPR admitted to the United States was valid;
• The marriage has not been terminated; and
• The marriage was not entered into for purposes of evading the immigration laws of the United States.

and INA 216 (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1186a&num=0&edition=prelim).

Edit: Note that it does not state "had not been terminated at the time of filing". It uses present tense with regards to when approving the petition.

 

It does not explicitly state that this only applies at the time of filing or until adjudicated. However, BIA rulings have interpreted it as the latter.

See  Matter of Tea (https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/INT/HTML/INT/0-0-0-7314/0-0-0-14984.html#0-0-0-1391

Quote

An alien becomes statutorily ineligible for approval of a joint petition under section 216(c)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(c)(1) (1988), where the marriage has been terminated prior to adjudication of the petition by the immigration judge.

Edit: I would note that it refers to the IJ above, but it would also reasonably apply to USCIS decisions.

Edited December 6, 2019 by geowrian

[Burnpro23 37]

22 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

? Marriage/divorce databases = isn't a thing.

It is a thing. Every state keeps record of all marriages/divorces same for birth/deaths and bunch of other records. How do you think uscis checks marriage certificates for i485 applications? If they don’t people will just fake them

[Mollie09 1,543]

26 minutes ago, Burnpro23 said:

It is a thing. Every state keeps record of all marriages/divorces same for birth/deaths and bunch of other records. How do you think uscis checks marriage certificates for i485 applications? If they don’t people will just fake them

Uh, they don't. Do you have a source for this? These records are kept at a county level.

Edited December 6, 2019 by Mollie09

[geowrian 22,336]

31 minutes ago, Burnpro23 said:

It is a thing. Every state keeps record of all marriages/divorces same for birth/deaths and bunch of other records. How do you think uscis checks marriage certificates for i485 applications? If they don’t people will just fake them

I'd love to see said database for PA. Per state law, they are retained by the individual county courthouses. PA does make some of the information available online, especially newer records. Those online records are also not an official record - they are for convenience. The sole official source lives in my county's computer system and whatever storage/archival source they use for the paper documents.

 

They check the marriage certificates by requiring a certified copy (Edit: photocopy of a certified copy can be accepted) to be submitted. They can then validate said copy against known versions.

 

Obviously if they did check some database that had this info, situations like the OP's wouldn't happen (barring a timing issue). But the OPs' situation is the norm when somebody does not get an RFE or interview and does not inform USCIS on their own.

Edited December 6, 2019 by geowrian

[SalishSea 16,945]

27 minutes ago, Burnpro23 said:

It is a thing. Every state keeps record of all marriages/divorces same for birth/deaths and bunch of other records. How do you think uscis checks marriage certificates for i485 applications? If they don’t people will just fake them

LOL.  Yes, each states has a department of vital records for such things.  No, USCIS does not independently verify each one.  This is why it is prudent to send a certified copy, or a quality photocopy of a certified copy.  Do you really think they would have time to do that?

[Georgia16 2,858]

Here is one example of how it can go. I also remember another case she was from hawaii but can't find her thread. She had problems at the N-400 interview (5 year rule) as the co could she the divorce was finalised before she was approved for a joint petition. 

 

[Dashinka 23,397]

5 minutes ago, geowrian said:

I'd love to see said database for PA. Per state law, they are retained by the individual county courthouses. PA does make some of the information available online, especially newer records. Those online records are also not an official record - they are for convenience. The sole official source lives in my county's computer system and whatever storage/archival source they use for the paper documents.

 

They check the marriage certificates by requiring a certified copy (Edit: photocopy of a certified copy can be accepted) to be submitted. They can then validate said copy against known versions.

 

Obviously if they did check some database that had this info, situations like the OP's wouldn't happen (barring a timing issue). But the OPs' situation is the norm when somebody does not get an RFE or interview and does not inform USCIS on their own.

Can you imagine if USCIS did check all the available marriage/divorce databases (I agree, marriages are not recorded federally, so there is no single database) and discovered a couple that had common names matching someone filing AOS or ROC and denied such action erroneously?

[Mollie09 1,543]

16 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

LOL.  Yes, each states has a department of vital records for such things.  No, USCIS does not independently verify each one.  This is why it is prudent to send a certified copy, or a quality photocopy of a certified copy.  Do you really think they would have time to do that?

When I went to Mass Vital Records, they just called the county to search their records lol

[arken 4,197]

42 minutes ago, Burnpro23 said:

It is a thing. Every state keeps record of all marriages/divorces same for birth/deaths and bunch of other records. How do you think uscis checks marriage certificates for i485 applications? If they don’t people will just fake them

If that’s the case how does uscis checks marriage certificates of people married overseas? Is it that uscis gives overseas marriage a pass but investigates domestic marriages? The answer is No, they don’t check such that’s why they just don’t rely on marriage certificate but whole lot of bonafide relationship evidences.

[Burnpro23 37]

Yeah uscis doesn’t check anything that you guys send them. They just take your word for it lol

[Villanelle 4,121]

4 hours ago, kazunzun said:

I just called but the rep said since it's approved, there's nothing she can do. I explained that I didn't inform my divorce prior to the approval but she kept saying it's been approved, so I should be okay...

I asked her to make an appointment for Infopass, but she said she can't. I was to told to call back Monday morning to talk to level 2 officer. 

Can I just go to a local representative? I had no idea where and how but.. Is it the local immigration office?? I also like to someone in person to make sure they know I try to get it fixed.

Yes you need to speak to a T2 to get an infopass. Often you have to wait for a call back from a T2 which can take several hours so make sure you have plenty of free time to do this. If you miss their callback you have to start over. by asking for a T2 again!  As I said you can go to 3 possible people for help. 2 senators and 1 rep. Use google to find out who your local reps are. They should have a website with info on immigration assistance. Often they have a form you need to fill out (on the website) its a release for permission to speak to USCIS for you. You may or may not have to go in person to their office. If possible I would go in person as this is a complex issue, but if you can not they may be able to help you over the phone. They will have a worker in their office who handles this. They have a direct contact line to an immigration liaison at USCIS and will be able to submit your waiver 751+divorce decree along with a letter of explanation on how it was approved in error. Then you wait to see what happens. The good thing about doing that way is you will have documentation from the congresspersons office about what you submitted and their response. Some reps are better then others when dealing with USCIS. It doesnt matter their political affiliation or yours. Check the forums for your reps to see if anyone posted good or bad info about how they helped or failed to help and check out their websites for info on hours and days you could do a walk in. 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

Per the USCIS Policy Manual (https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-g-chapter-5)

and INA 216 (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1186a&num=0&edition=prelim).

Edit: Note that it does not state "had not been terminated at the time of filing". It uses present tense with regards to when approving the petition.

 

It does not explicitly state that this only applies at the time of filing or until adjudicated. However, BIA rulings have interpreted it as the latter.

See  Matter of Tea (https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/INT/HTML/INT/0-0-0-7314/0-0-0-14984.html#0-0-0-1391

Edit: I would note that it refers to the IJ above, but it would also reasonably apply to USCIS decisions.

Good stuff

 

The reason I went the other way is because INA (which is the underlying law) specifically precedes their conditions with “the 2-year anniversary of the marriage” setting an “as-of” date in the code itself.  Going by INA this couple filed truthfully and properly however had they interviewed USCIS would have issued an RFE.

 

Amazing that USCIS re-interpreted that to mean 1-2 years later or whenever they feel like picking up and reviewing the application.

 

The referenced court case seems to retroactively strip the validity of the initial petition which, if true, means OP is in serious trouble.

 

 

[Dashinka 23,397]

30 minutes ago, Villanelle said:

Yes you need to speak to a T2 to get an infopass. Often you have to wait for a call back from a T2 which can take several hours so make sure you have plenty of free time to do this. If you miss their callback you have to start over. by asking for a T2 again!  As I said you can go to 3 possible people for help. 2 senators and 1 rep. Use google to find out who your local reps are. They should have a website with info on immigration assistance. Often they have a form you need to fill out (on the website) its a release for permission to speak to USCIS for you. You may or may not have to go in person to their office. If possible I would go in person as this is a complex issue, but if you can not they may be able to help you over the phone. They will have a worker in their office who handles this. They have a direct contact line to an immigration liaison at USCIS and will be able to submit your waiver 751+divorce decree along with a letter of explanation on how it was approved in error. Then you wait to see what happens. The good thing about doing that way is you will have documentation from the congresspersons office about what you submitted and their response. Some reps are better then others when dealing with USCIS. It doesnt matter their political affiliation or yours. Check the forums for your reps to see if anyone posted good or bad info about how they helped or failed to help and check out their websites for info on hours and days you could do a walk in. 

Just curious, could the USCIS Ombudsman help?  Usually they are more for hold ups, but maybe this is something they can help with.

[SunflowerSweet 1,321]

This is sort of hijack-y, but asking for a friend, if OP had let USCIS know ASAP as soon as they had the finalized divorce degree in hand and switched to a divorce waiver at that point, would they have been in the clear?

 

What if the case was decided and the card was sent out in between filing and finalization? Your technically, legally still married at that point I believe in the eyes of immigration, right? In other instances when you need to prove you are free to marry you need finalized divorce records, so that seems to be their definition. So if they receive the 10 year card based on a joint marriage filing while still married, is that kosher?

 

I already mentioned how states with long divorce waiting periods make this process sort of a nightmare, so I want to know what the best plan going forward would be if a friend were in a similar situation. 

Edited December 6, 2019 by MorganandMichael

[Villanelle 4,121]

Just now, Bill & Katya said:

Just curious, could the USCIS Ombudsman help?  Usually they are more for hold ups, but maybe this is something they can help with.

Its usually best not to have too many cooks in the kitchen! The ombudsman could also provide help theoretically since they have more of a focus of procedures and policy issues, however they are only able to be contacted online (cant do a walk in) and they have a somewhat long response wait time and overall longer assistance wait time. The Ombudsman has tons of requests for help where the congressperson would have much less so they would be able to help quicker and in a more personal way/// If for whatever reason the congressman is unable to get this resolved or the final resolution is 'do nothing',  then they can either do nothing at that point or contact the ombudsman. (https://www.dhs.gov/case-assistance)