Waiver form

[Jill Mackie 76]

7 minutes ago, mattelo said:

Before my K1 interview we knew each other for 2.5 years. I had been married for 1 year and known him for 4 years when I got the AOS interview. It's been 4 years we've been married now, 7 since we met, and they're still giving me trouble, so I don't think it's related. I also have a ton of evidence, including tax reports, 401K with him as my dependent, insurance policies with both of our names, a power of attorney, a will, thousands of letters, hundreds of pictures, list of all of our phone calls (over 3,000), list of all of our visits (close to 300), etc. The adjudicator at my latest interview told me himself that I had more proof than necessary, so............. yeah. Clearly, I don't think the history in my case, no matter how good, is helping.

Seems to me like this adjudicator has more of a personal issue with you being married to an inmate than anything else , with that amount of evidence you should have been approved without problems. Your attorney should look to take legal action of some sort against this adjudicator , it seems to personal and that they're looking for anything to just deny you and that seems a little odd to me . Something doesn't seem right to me .

 

[mattelo 45]

11 hours ago, Jill Mackie said:

Seems to me like this adjudicator has more of a personal issue with you being married to an inmate than anything else , with that amount of evidence you should have been approved without problems. Your attorney should look to take legal action of some sort against this adjudicator , it seems to personal and that they're looking for anything to just deny you and that seems a little odd to me . Something doesn't seem right to me .

 

He actually ended up being quite nice to me (after we talked about the criminal case and he realized I was very involved and fighting to correct a miscarriage of justice), but wouldn't budge on the fact that we don't live together and might never live together. So I got an RFE. But now my husband does have a release date and could actually be out by the end of the year so I'm pretty confident that everything is going to be okay.

 

Even if he were to still deny my green card, I would definitely appeal their decision and I'm ready to go to court! 😉 I got my husband's criminal conviction overturned, so I'm not going to be afraid of some stupid immigration case haha

[Jill Mackie 76]

27 minutes ago, mattelo said:

He actually ended up being quite nice to me (after we talked about the criminal case and he realized I was very involved and fighting to correct a miscarriage of justice), but wouldn't budge on the fact that we don't live together and might never live together. So I got an RFE. But now my husband does have a release date and could actually be out by the end of the year so I'm pretty confident that everything is going to be okay.

 

Even if he were to still deny my green card, I would definitely appeal their decision and I'm ready to go to court! 😉 I got my husband's criminal conviction overturned, so I'm not going to be afraid of some stupid immigration case haha

Are their any laws that state if you don'tive with your spouse you are denied a green card ? I'm not understanding how this adjudicator could deny you on that , like I mentioned death row inmates have successfully petitioned their spouses as have some life sentences .

[mattelo 45]

13 minutes ago, Jill Mackie said:

Are their any laws that state if you don'tive with your spouse you are denied a green card ? I'm not understanding how this adjudicator could deny you on that , like I mentioned death row inmates have successfully petitioned their spouses as have some life sentences .

He has not denied anything at this time. I was sent a RFE.

 

And at first, he said that the fact that we were not living together was an issue. My attorney said that it was not, there are many cases of people who do not live together, for plenty of reasons (not necessarily incarceration). Then the adjudicator said our case was different because my husband had LWOP so we might never get to live together one day. That rule, he completely made it up, even my attorney said so! But there's nothing we can do about this at this point because we can only appeal when they deny your request, which they haven't done in my case (yet?).

 

Like I said, they make you go through plenty of hoops. In the end, we will win this case because the law is on our side, yes. What I'm saying here is to just be prepared to have to go through the hoops.

[Jill Mackie 76]

13 minutes ago, mattelo said:

He has not denied anything at this time. I was sent a RFE.

 

And at first, he said that the fact that we were not living together was an issue. My attorney said that it was not, there are many cases of people who do not live together, for plenty of reasons (not necessarily incarceration). Then the adjudicator said our case was different because my husband had LWOP so we might never get to live together one day. That rule, he completely made it up, even my attorney said so! But there's nothing we can do about this at this point because we can only appeal when they deny your request, which they haven't done in my case (yet?).

 

Like I said, they make you go through plenty of hoops. In the end, we will win this case because the law is on our side, yes. What I'm saying here is to just be prepared to have to go through the hoops.

I misunderstood you , I thought your green card was denied and you had to appeal it? I thought when you appealed your 2 year green card was approved . What RFE did they request 

[mattelo 45]

5 minutes ago, Jill Mackie said:

I misunderstood you , I thought your green card was denied and you had to appeal it? I thought when you appealed your 2 year green card was approved . What RFE did they request 

My very first green card was denied. That's when I had to deal with that lady who was new and didn't know what she was doing. They denied my green card then. I appealed it, won the case.

 

The adjudicator I'm talking about now, the one who gave me a hard time about not living with my husband, is the one I saw during my ROC interview for my 10-year GC. I got this interview in April, and received an RFE in June. The RFE they sent is just a standard letter, nothing particular or specific to my case in it.

[Rocio0010 5,573]

I found a thread in ***removed*** with somebody that is in your same situation, or similar at least. I hope you can see it! https://www.***removed***/experiences/post/Spouse-in-jail-340993/

[Jill Mackie 76]

5 minutes ago, ra0010 said:

I found a thread in ***removed*** with somebody that is in your same situation, or similar at least. I hope you can see it! https://www.***removed***/experiences/post/Spouse-in-jail-340993/

@ra0010 thank you so much !! This gives me hope .

[Rocio0010 5,573]

10 minutes ago, Jill Mackie said:

@ra0010 thank you so much !! This gives me hope .

And actually on that thread they post the USCIS manual, which has a short section on spouses of inmates. 
also, I have been browsing USCIS manual to see if I can find something related to the requirement of living together. There used to be something about it, or so I thought, but I can’t find it. However, I think in the US it is fairly normal for spouses to live separately for some Periods of time, so it would be unfair if it is an issue.

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

10 minutes ago, Jill Mackie said:

@ra0010 thank you so much !! This gives me hope .

@Jill Mackie that thread has excellent advice. I particularly like #5 and #9. #5 just gently reminds the officer that at the end of the day IF your removal causes hardship to the US Citizen, they would have to let you stay. 

 

#9. I tell everyone this. Narrate your evidence. Sometimes people just send a stack of papers and do not include a narrative or explanation of what the evidence is proof of. Including dates is KEY when explaining what the evidence means. 

 

Very nice find @ra0010! @Jill Mackie, I would hop over to that other site and reach out to the person who posted the original message and also reach out to the one who gave extensive advice. He/she said they knew of 4 other cases who got approved following his/her method. 

 

What I do think is different and will work to your advantage is that you told USCIS from the get go that your husband is in prison. In addition, you filed the I-130 first. If they approve it in a month or two as we are hoping, then your relationship will already be vetted by the time you get to your I-485 interview. 

 

[Rocio0010 5,573]

32 minutes ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

@Jill Mackie that thread has excellent advice. I particularly like #5 and #9. #5 just gently reminds the officer that at the end of the day IF your removal causes hardship to the US Citizen, they would have to let you stay. 

 

#9. I tell everyone this. Narrate your evidence. Sometimes people just send a stack of papers and do not include a narrative or explanation of what the evidence is proof of. Including dates is KEY when explaining what the evidence means. 

 

Very nice find @ra0010! @Jill Mackie, I would hop over to that other site and reach out to the person who posted the original message and also reach out to the one who gave extensive advice. He/she said they knew of 4 other cases who got approved following his/her method. 

 

What I do think is different and will work to your advantage is that you told USCIS from the get go that your husband is in prison. In addition, you filed the I-130 first. If they approve it in a month or two as we are hoping, then your relationship will already be vetted by the time you get to your I-485 interview. 

 

Number 9 is key. That’s what I mean with sometimes USCIS officers don’t know about specific cases, so that is why being overly prepared and organized is KEY. My AOS case was pretty simple, except that I had a J1 visa with a two- year home residence requirement once my program is done. I cannot even begin to explain how much I frontloaded my application with evidence that I did follow this requirement! I sent work certificate showing that I’d been working in my hometown during those two years, plus a letter of the director of the program stating that I did indeed fulfill that requirement as well. Notarized and everything. Then I also organized my packet with front letters and side tabs with names of each document. I also included a certified translation of my bc and guess what… I got a RFE for that lol. Me and my friend were indeed preparing our application at the same time and were both bummed when I got my RFE lol. Anyhow, my point is, make a narrative that is easy to follow and organize your evidence!

[NikkiR123 35]

30 minutes ago, ra0010 said:

Number 9 is key. That’s what I mean with sometimes USCIS officers don’t know about specific cases, so that is why being overly prepared and organized is KEY. My AOS case was pretty simple, except that I had a J1 visa with a two- year home residence requirement once my program is done. I cannot even begin to explain how much I frontloaded my application with evidence that I did follow this requirement! I sent work certificate showing that I’d been working in my hometown during those two years, plus a letter of the director of the program stating that I did indeed fulfill that requirement as well. Notarized and everything. Then I also organized my packet with front letters and side tabs with names of each document. I also included a certified translation of my bc and guess what… I got a RFE for that lol. Me and my friend were indeed preparing our application at the same time and were both bummed when I got my RFE lol. Anyhow, my point is, make a narrative that is easy to follow and organize your evidence!

@Jill Mackie Guuuuurl, girl!!! You are a creating an issue that hasn't even happened yet , I don't know about you, but I believe what you put out into the universe you get back, and you're already putting out bad vibes and creating something that hasn't even happened yet. You're focusing on a bad experience that happened to another person but at the same time you know spouses of Death Row and lifers have successfully got green cards , why don't you focus on those positive outcomes instead of one negative one which really wasn't too bad because @mattelo still got her green card . I seriously and honestly don't think  ( @USC4SPOUSE and @ra0010 can chime in here) they can simply deny you because you don't live with your husband, why,  BECAUSE others who don't live with their spouses have had green cards approved  what would make their cases any different to yours? You've submitted , I think you said 450+ pages of evidence to support your marriage  and like @USC4SPOUSE said you've told them from the get go your husband is in prison . If they deny you alone on that, that would be discrimination ( again @USC4SPOUSE and @ra0010 can chime in)  and there are legal avenues you can take to get that overturned as @mattelo has done herself. . Unfortunately there are people in positions at USCIS who's personal opinions interfere with their professional ones and again if you get someone like that, there are legal avenues you can take especially if you have the evidence to back up your marriage. @ra0010 is correct they dont know about your case write a letter explaining everything , write a waiver and include the passage from the USCIS manual about incarcerated persons , they would not have included that if a person in prison was not allowed to petition a loved one and again ITS ALREADY BEEN DONE , its not illegal and you're not the first one. now calm down you're not at that point yet.

 

 

 

[Rocio0010 5,573]

15 minutes ago, NikkiR123 said:

they can simply deny you because you don't live with your husband,

I think the key here is not so much to focus on the fact that she doesn’t live with the husband, but to show plans of living together once he’s out of jail. Maybe write a letter explaining when he’ll be out of jail and what the plans are? I

 

I have read of cases were couples don’t live together -mainly because of work or studies- and most of them were able to prove visits to each other, and also a time frame of when they’d be living together .

And again, like I said, Jim Hacking is one (if not the most experienced immigration attorney, he has a YouTube channel) and he does offer free consultation. Might be worth trying! I know I would, for added piece of mind!

[NikkiR123 35]

2 hours ago, mattelo said:

My very first green card was denied. That's when I had to deal with that lady who was new and didn't know what she was doing. They denied my green card then. I appealed it, won the case.

 

The adjudicator I'm talking about now, the one who gave me a hard time about not living with my husband, is the one I saw during my ROC interview for my 10-year GC. I got this interview in April, and received an RFE in June. The RFE they sent is just a standard letter, nothing particular or specific to my case in it.

so they denied your original green card because your husband did not attend the interview and that was the only reason?

[NikkiR123 35]

1 minute ago, ra0010 said:

I think the key here is not so much to focus on the fact that she doesn’t live with the husband, but to show plans of living together once he’s out of jail. Maybe write a letter explaining when he’ll be out of jail and what the plans are? I

 

I have read of cases were couples don’t live together -mainly because of work or studies- and most of them were able to prove visits to each other, and also a time frame of when they’d be living together .

And again, like I said, Jim Hacking is one (if not the most experienced immigration attorney, he has a YouTube channel) and he does offer free consultation. Might be worth trying! I know I would, for added piece of mind!

yeah but that may be the problem , what if he isn't getting out?