Are DCF under exceptional circumstances still being processed now?

[anxious alpaca 0]

Does anyone know if I-130 petition filed through DCF under exceptional circumstances is still being processed right now?

 

I filed mine directly at a U.S. consulate/embassy after USCIS was closed due to covid-19, but now I'm wondering if this is going to take longer than just filing directly with USCIS. Any advice/insight greatly appreciated.

Edited April 30, 2020 by anxious alpaca
grammar

[millefleur 5,035]

DCF is generally much faster but given this whole pandemic situation it's hard to say. Which Embassy are you dealing with? 

[anxious alpaca 0]

3 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Which Embassy are you dealing with? 

Montreal, Canada. Couldn't find much information on forums about it.

[millefleur 5,035]

21 minutes ago, anxious alpaca said:

Montreal, Canada. Couldn't find much information on forums about it.

What was the exceptional circumstance you applied under? If it is considered "emergency" then the DCF still might make more sense.

[toothpicks 38]

I'm not sure about Canada, but we filed DCF under emergency circumstances in Turkey. Email the immigrant visa unit at your embassy, explain your circumstances, and ask if you could file the I-130 with them, if you believe your circumstances qualify. 

 

Our process took approximately 2 weeks.

Filed I-130: April 15th

CR-1 Interview: April 22nd

My husband then went to administrative processing, but was approved 3 days later.

[toothpicks 38]

Sorry, I didn't read your post as clearly. Did you contact your embassy before you filed with them?

[anxious alpaca 0]

1 hour ago, toothpicks said:

I'm not sure about Canada, but we filed DCF under emergency circumstances in Turkey. Email the immigrant visa unit at your embassy, explain your circumstances, and ask if you could file the I-130 with them, if you believe your circumstances qualify. 

 

Our process took approximately 2 weeks.

Filed I-130: April 15th

CR-1 Interview: April 22nd

My husband then went to administrative processing, but was approved 3 days later.

Oh my goodness thank you for posting this, you have no idea how relieved and reassuring this is for me. I contacted the Consulate and got their permission to file I-130 beforehand. This was after all the offices were shut due to COVID. I filed it 2 weeks ago. However when I emailed this week to ask about the status of my petition (as I didn't get any email notifications), they replied saying that they are not processing any routine visa apps due to covid. I replied requesting that my petition to be processed urgently due to the circumstances I'm facing, but have yet to hear back from them.

 

Out of curiosity, what was the nature of your emergency circumstance?

[toothpicks 38]

1 hour ago, anxious alpaca said:

Oh my goodness thank you for posting this, you have no idea how relieved and reassuring this is for me. I contacted the Consulate and got their permission to file I-130 beforehand. This was after all the offices were shut due to COVID. I filed it 2 weeks ago. However when I emailed this week to ask about the status of my petition (as I didn't get any email notifications), they replied saying that they are not processing any routine visa apps due to covid. I replied requesting that my petition to be processed urgently due to the circumstances I'm facing, but have yet to hear back from them.

 

Out of curiosity, what was the nature of your emergency circumstance?

When did you ask for an expedite?

 

My husband and I are looking to evacuate Turkey and return back to the US as soon as possible because of COVID-19. We have no other family in Turkey, and my work contract would have ended soon, at which point we would have had no income. I wasn't able to leave my husband behind, as he is diabetic and is at risk to more serious complications from COVID-19. I contacted both the American Citizenship Services and the Immigrant Visa departments, as we had already filed an I-130 in February, asking for assistance. The Immigrant Visa Department scheduled me an appointment the next week so that I could file the I-130 in person. We're just packing and waiting for the passport in the mail now, thankfully.

[os306 103]

2 hours ago, toothpicks said:

When did you ask for an expedite?

 

My husband and I are looking to evacuate Turkey and return back to the US as soon as possible because of COVID-19. We have no other family in Turkey, and my work contract would have ended soon, at which point we would have had no income. I wasn't able to leave my husband behind, as he is diabetic and is at risk to more serious complications from COVID-19. I contacted both the American Citizenship Services and the Immigrant Visa departments, as we had already filed an I-130 in February, asking for assistance. The Immigrant Visa Department scheduled me an appointment the next week so that I could file the I-130 in person. We're just packing and waiting for the passport in the mail now, thankfully.

Hi toothpicks,

 

I'm glad that your Embassy was responsive and was able to help you out in this tricky situation. Out of interest - were you still required to fill out form I-864 and provide supporting documentation (e.g. your tax transcripts for the past three years)? If so, how were you able to get all your documents together in such a short period of time? We haven't been able to obtain tax transcripts as the IRS phone line isn't being manned, so we're waiting until things settle down a bit.

 

Also - was your husband asked to provide Form DS-5540 at the time of the interview and/or show evidence that he would obtain health insurance within 30 days of arrival into the US?

 

Hoping his passport comes in the mail very soon!

 

[toothpicks 38]

18 minutes ago, os306 said:

Hi toothpicks,

 

I'm glad that your Embassy was responsive and was able to help you out in this tricky situation. Out of interest - were you still required to fill out form I-864 and provide supporting documentation (e.g. your tax transcripts for the past three years)? If so, how were you able to get all your documents together in such a short period of time? We haven't been able to obtain tax transcripts as the IRS phone line isn't being manned, so we're waiting until things settle down a bit.

 

Also - was your husband asked to provide Form DS-5540 at the time of the interview and/or show evidence that he would obtain health insurance within 30 days of arrival into the US?

 

Hoping his passport comes in the mail very soon!

 

Yes, we still had to fill out the I-864 form with supporting documents. Since I have been living and working in Turkey, I had been getting paid in Turkish liras, which meant that I was not required to file taxes since I didn't earn the minimum required to file. I still filed and just keep all my tax returns on google drive, however. I also contacted my accountant for my 2019 tax returns, and she scanned them over to me. Since I didn't make enough, a family member was my joint sponsor, and she also keeps all her tax returns on file.

 

We weren't asked to fill out the DS-5540 form. I was sure that my husband's diabetic diagnosis would result in more evidence of not being a public charge, but the Embassy was more interested in his Syrian nationality than anything.

 

Thank you  I hope all goes well for you, too! 

Edited May 2, 2020 by toothpicks

[os306 103]

1 hour ago, toothpicks said:

Yes, we still had to fill out the I-864 form with supporting documents. Since I have been living and working in Turkey, I had been getting paid in Turkish liras, which meant that I was not required to file taxes since I didn't earn the minimum required to file. I still filed and just keep all my tax returns on google drive, however. I also contacted my accountant for my 2019 tax returns, and she scanned them over to me. Since I didn't make enough, a family member was my joint sponsor, and she also keeps all her tax returns on file.

 

We weren't asked to fill out the DS-5540 form. I was sure that my husband's diabetic diagnosis would result in more evidence of not being a public charge, but the Embassy was more interested in his Syrian nationality than anything.

 

Thank you  I hope all goes well for you, too! 

Thanks for the info- it’s great that you were able to get everything sorted out so quickly.

 

It sounds like the US Embassy in Turkey was happy with accepting a copy of your IRS tax return (i.e. your 1040) which is good. Unfortunately the London Embassy has been asking people to provide an actual IRS tax transcript recently (as this is proof that you’ve actually filed whereas anyone could theoretically just fill out a tax return). 

 

We will be using a family member as a joint sponsor too. In addition to your joint sponsor’s tax returns, did you provide 6 months of pay stubs and a letter from their employer or did the Consular Officer not even ask about this? 

[David and Anna 118]

Does anyone know if USCIS has issued to the local embassy's any sort of authorization that might allow for a wider group of "emergency" DCF I-130 filings at the local embassy as a result of the virus pandemic?

 

I'm asking about an order that would have been issued under this policy statement from the USCIS handbook:

 

Generally, DOS will process Form I-130 locally if the petition falls under blanket authorization criteria, as defined by USCIS:  

Temporary blanket authorizations for instances of prolonged or severe civil strife or a natural disaster;

 

I haven't been able to find anything, but I did find something that stated that any MD's that are wanting to immigrate can get emergency filing at their local embassy....but my local embassy has been non-responsive thus far...so I'm digging  for more support to provide them in hopes it spurs them along...its a long shot that someone here has seen something, but thought I'd ask...TIA

[anxious alpaca 0]

1 hour ago, David and Anna said:

Does anyone know if USCIS has issued to the local embassy's any sort of authorization that might allow for a wider group of "emergency" DCF I-130 filings at the local embassy as a result of the virus pandemic?

 

I'm asking about an order that would have been issued under this policy statement from the USCIS handbook:

 

Generally, DOS will process Form I-130 locally if the petition falls under blanket authorization criteria, as defined by USCIS:  

Temporary blanket authorizations for instances of prolonged or severe civil strife or a natural disaster;

 

I haven't been able to find anything, but I did find something that stated that any MD's that are wanting to immigrate can get emergency filing at their local embassy....but my local embassy has been non-responsive thus far...so I'm digging  for more support to provide them in hopes it spurs them along...its a long shot that someone here has seen something, but thought I'd ask...TIA

I got permission to file I-130 through DCF after offices were shut due to covid. But since filing in mid-April, I haven't heard any update on my petition despite regularly emailing the consulate. The last I heard was that my request to expedite processing of my petition was being forwarded to the visa unit. Not sure what that means, and haven't heard from the visa unit.

 

For context, I'm an MD due to start working at a hospital in New York City in June. I filed through one of the "exceptional circumstances" listed by USCIS (short notice of job relocation). But I'm not sure my petition will be processed on time before my husband and I are supposed to move... If anyone has any advice on how I can expedite the process I'd love to hear it!

[David and Anna 118]

34 minutes ago, anxious alpaca said:

I got permission to file I-130 through DCF after offices were shut due to covid. But since filing in mid-April, I haven't heard any update on my petition despite regularly emailing the consulate. The last I heard was that my request to expedite processing of my petition was being forwarded to the visa unit. Not sure what that means, and haven't heard from the visa unit.

 

For context, I'm an MD due to start working at a hospital in New York City in June. I filed through one of the "exceptional circumstances" listed by USCIS (short notice of job relocation). But I'm not sure my petition will be processed on time before my husband and I are supposed to move... If anyone has any advice on how I can expedite the process I'd love to hear it!

Thank you for the reply.  In fact, that is pretty much the "exception" reason I'm looking for.  My fiance (not married yet) is an MD and we are attempting to check into the potential to use that exception to get to the USA sooner.  The London embassy has replied to my emails saying that they are not even doing emergency visa's at the moment.  No idea if that is fact or if it varies from embassy to embassy (I suspect it does).  I will send you a pm later to ask a few questions about your circumstances.  Thanks again.

[anxious alpaca 0]

1 minute ago, David and Anna said:

Thank you for the reply.  In fact, that is pretty much the "exception" reason I'm looking for.  My fiance (not married yet) is an MD and we are attempting to check into the potential to use that exception to get to the USA sooner.  The London embassy has replied to my emails saying that they are not even doing emergency visa's at the moment.  No idea if that is fact or if it varies from embassy to embassy (I suspect it does).  I will send you a pm later to ask a few questions about your circumstances.  Thanks again.

Sounds good, I look forward to your pm.