sonicgihad

Yeah I opted to wait. This way I have 2 things to validate what the RFE is looking for. I feel that they made an error in reviewing my decree though.

It really does suck that the RFE delayed me by about 3 weeks or so but compared to if this had been adjudicated on it's 5th month plus RFE delay,I'm still ahead by about 2+ months. We're still blessed.

Thanx Guys! This is good news! Now I just need to get pass my RFE but was hoping my Senator could speed things up next week since CSC made an error in reading my divorce decree.

I'll be back home the second week of april. if not for an RFE 2 weeks ago we are probably well on our way now. It would be so cool if she could come with me when i go back to the states in mid to late april!

Once NVC receives the case, how realistic is it to get everything done in 3 to 4 weeks?

My daughter was born in the Philippines, all i did was go to the US embassy with the child, birth certificata and my proof of citizenship and i think i got the passport the same day. I dont remember that part since that was 11 years ago.

Im not sure why the consulate would have any say on pursuing the CRBA while there's a K1 in process as they are 2 seperate cases. The non-us parent does not get instant benefit from the child and besides its the child's right as an american.

I did some reseach today and found Illinois law/statutes that affirms the validity of my judgment even though it did not clearly specify the language USCIS was looking for. Anyway, I put together the letter and a copy of the statute and was gonna send it in today but got to the Post office and realized I left my wallet at home. BUMMER!!!

I also have a hearing scheduled on Monday to have the judgment amended, since it's only a couple of days, should I just wait and see what happens with my otion if I can get a legal document adding the language they are looking for or should I submit what I have now?

......

I'm not quite sure how to handle this. I was thinking of trying to get my case worker at my senator's office see if through her channel she'd be able to get the point through that what I submitted was in fact a valid divorce decree. There wouldn't be a judgement for dissolution if nothing was dissolved so I find that a little frustrating. I understand the language may have been missed but there would not have been a judgement if nothing was adjydged or ordered and the title says it all. Does that make sense??? I'm just worried that I'm gonna go back to court and get it amended then that still would not satisfy the RFE.

It looked like the correct document to me. Rather than reopen the case, I would ask if there's a way to get the court clerk to provide confirmation that the divorce has been recorded and that this is the correct document. I couldn't hurt to try.

When it comes to documenting State or local Court actions, its best not to put too much stock in expertise coming from another State. I was trying to kindly say that when I indicated "Decree Absolute" was a pretty rare term in the USA, to my knowledge only used in a State that refers to itself as a "Commonwealth". It's a British terminology used when the decree is issued with a waiting period. 50 States = a minimum of 50 different answers to "What is a Certified Copy of a Divorce Decree?"

I tried to get something really. I spoke to the supervisor and asked if they could get me a letter stating that it's the correct document but they said they can't really do anything for me. There's normally a certificate filed but my extremely competent lawyer did not fill one out. They said that the fact that the decree is titled "Judgement for dissolution of marriage" that should be enough in the state of Illinois. If you think about it, if a divorce was not granted then there wouldn't be a need to have a judgement or a decree. The only thing they did was give me a number and said to have immigration call them to confirm but I dunno if the Officer would actually take the time to pick up the phone and do that. I wanna get this thing rolling I really don't want to wait till the 27th. I contacted my case worker at the senator's office. I'm gonna explain the situation and see if CSC would accept a phone call to the county records to verify that it is in fact the right document.

So, everyone was wrong who had money in the pot. I got an RFE for something else.

so what was it for?

Mine was that my divorce decree did not say anything about the divorce. I have to wait till the 27th to go to court and get it corrected then send the amended decree in. Hope that satisfies that.

I went to the county coury's records division and unfortunately, this is it! There's no certificate no other type of documenation to confirm the divorce. I was adviced to reopen the case and have the judge appent the decree... I cant go bak in till the 27th thats an additional 10 day delay... Oh well!!!

Mine weren't a problem.

I'm sure you'll be fine.

This is what happens when you get drunk and pass out at a sharpee factory.

This is your divorce agreement (nisi). Every State has a time period from filing the nisi, until the divorce becomes Absolute Divorce. You must return to the court and request the 1 page certificate which certifies this divorce as final, ie nisi conditions have been meet, generally meaning an amount of time has passed.

Barron's Law Dictionary:

nisi

Top Home > Library > Law & Legal Issues > Law Dictionary (n¯e 9 -s¯e)—Lat.: unless; “It is used in law after ‘decree,’ ‘order,’ ‘rule’ to indicate [that the adjudication referred to] shall take permanent effect at a specified time unless cause is shown why it should not or unless it is changed by further proceedings.” 215 A. 2d 779, 783. A “decree nisi” usually refers to a conditional divorce, becoming absolute upon the expiration of a stipulated period unless cause to the contrary is shown within the time period. 92 A. 791, 793. See also decree [decree nisi].

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nisi#ixzz1mc30jGLN

Thanx. I'll find out tomorrow when I go tomy county! Hope I was just a dummy and sent them thewrong doc.

My daughter was born in the Philippines. I went to the US embassy and reported a child birth abroad. You'd be able to get your child a passport and a Child birth abroad certificate (which will act as her proof of citizenship since her birth certificate will be Indonesian) when you go to the US Embassy in Indonesia. You don't need to worry about petitioning for your child or adding him/her as K2. I just don't remember if you're fiancee can file the birth abroad for you but I think you'd have to do it in person since you're the US citizen but dont quote me on that. Go check out the US Embassy site in Indonesia. I suggest when your fiancee goes for her interview, plan on being there so you can file for your child, then bring em both home with you when you return. btw, I filed for my daughter's child birth abroad status when she was 10 months old. I don't know if that's different for every country.

Congratulations!

Here's what I have...

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Nope. You can't choose your service center. You send it to a sorting facility in Texas and they forward it to the right servicing center which in your case is going to be California.

So they are now asking for Divorce Decree. The document you sent was Decree Absolute. The Divorce Decree is the long document that you, your ex, (perhaps lawyers) and the judge signed the day you divorced, this is the Agreement, the Rule of Law post marriage. (ie child support or visitation terms etc... is in this document, maybe 10-30 pages or so) They are not asking for another Decree Absolute, you already sent them this.

I'm not familiar with what the difference is between a decree and decree absolute. What I sent them I thought was the final decree/judgement. The ruling was made by the judge on the last day of trial then we came back to court a month or so later to have the judgement signed. Being such a noob at divorces, I had no clue what to look for in decrees. The doc I sent had the right title, it addressed issues of custody, child support, tax filing, each parties personal posessions, each parties own debt, me relinquishing any claim on a property we owned, child's college education and how the case will be handled and who will have jurisdiction from thenon out. but it did not outline/state that the marriage has been dissolved. Looking at thi document, one might think it was implied but it wasn't there. My atty sucked, I wish I bought a Lambo instead and just represented myself.

This is extremely frustrating. I called USCIS and I spoke to an officer that sounded like he had no clue what he was saying and when he was unsure of his answer, he'd mumble. I surprisingly kept my cool and was extremely polite no matter how frustrated I got.

I dunno how to handle this really, I'm gonna go to my county in the morning to see if they can provide me any document at all. I'm also going to call my contact at my Senator's office and I will file my petition to amend the decree tomorrow just in case that's what's needed so I can get things inmotion. I already know the ex-wife is not gonna sign anything so forget about an agreed order.

PS, sounds to me like your Decree Absolute was fine, however the Service Center was not happy with the expedite over-ride so they slapped you with a RFE. Just speculation...

Ha ha! I knew they'll find a way to stick it to me!

RFE

Marriage Termination: Submit a legible copy of the final divorce decree signed by the judge or magistrate that shows proof of filing, issued by the civil authorities, that terminated the prior marriage between john smith and mary smith.

Please note: the documentation that you submitted does not contain the language that the marriage was in fact dissolved or terminated, etc.

I submitted a cerrified copy from the courts with stamp and clerk's signature. The title of the decree is "Judgement for dissolution of marriage". Ordered May 6, 2011.

It is missing the excat verbiage that john and mary smith are divorced... Its implied but not explicitly written.

Got my RFE hard copy today. As it turned out, my divorce did not say anything about the divorce. My attorney was horrible!!! I scheduled an emergency hearing to have our judge amend the decree to clearly state that the marriage between john an mary smith has been dissolved!

Its all there though, the title of the decree is judgement for dissolution, custody and child support was addressed, so was the cause of the divorce.

I am filing a petition to amend the decree and to clearly state that the marriage has been dissolved retroactive the date of the actual divorce and also to have the amendment filed along with the original decree.

Do you guys think this will be enough? I dont want the uscis to say, i wasnt officially divorced due to the missing verbiage and deny my petition.

NOA1 on Nov 14 and an RFE on Feb 10. Hard copy has yet to arrive! So anxious!

My petition was expedited but I got an RFE, will the processing of my RFE be expedited as well or will that fall under normal processing time?

I still haven't gotten the hard copy yet. Has anyone ever had any success in contacting USCIS to get any info prior to getting the mailed NOA's?

I'm about to be in the same boat. I got an SMS and email saying an RFE is on the way. !@#$%^&*()

I was pretty darned careful about everything I included. The real pain is they could have included the info in the email that's in the letter. Then I could be working on getting whatever they want that I'm lacking. I HATE not knowing what the $%(*) it is that I messed up on.

I'll follow up with more info as I get it.

good luck.

Cebu seems to be a popular place to have fiancee's

joelb

Same here! I have been racking my brain since Friday afternoon trying to figure out what else they want cuz I went all out psycho on our packet. I had boarding passes with date+year with seats next to each other and 4 sets of travel docs from all my visits but I think it may be her passport as well since we met in Singapore and has moved to Cebu, Philippines since. I actually thought it would be impossible for me to get an RFE with the type and amount of docs I sent in. I guess I was wrong. Anyway, yeah Cebu seem to be a popular place.

I had already asked my fiancee to scan her passport and email them to me so just in case that is what the RFE is for, I'd be able to FedEx it the same day.

I'm on the same boat. I got a text last friday that there was an update then I saw an RFE. I have called the cust service line 3x to try to get something but I wasnt able to. I just received a letter from my senator today that my petition was expedited and was assigned to an officer. Too bad they found something to RFE. It could havebeen an approval already but oh well.

So I think I have been torturing myself for about 24 hours now racking my brain trying to figure out what my RFE could be for. I went all OCD on the forms when I sent them in and I just looked at the copies of what I sent and it looks like everything is there. The two possible problem areas I can think of are:

1) I was born in the Philippines so my middle name is actually my mom's maiden name. When I moved to Chicago in the 80's I started to refrain from using my mother's mainden name as part of my name. When I got my naturalization, I didn't make a name change or officially drop the maiden name but continued on not using it. My passport, driver's license, all legal docs only reflect my First & Last name (no middle whatsoever). So I'm thinking this may have been what caused the RFE.

Question: I spoke to a couple immigration attys that told me that shouldn't be an issue but if it turns out to be the culprit for the RFE, how do I address that? Do I simply get a new DL and passport that will now show my mother's maiden name or can I get an affidavit from myself and maybe some third parties to state I am who I say I am.

2) The G325A from the Philippines took 3 weeks to get here and when I got them there were a few errors and I had to manipulate the doc a little bit but I didn't hand-write the corrections, I still printed it using a computer but there was a small portion that I had to use White out so that may have trigerred that as well but I guess I wont know till I get the letter.

I know it's all speculatioin at this point but would like to have a game plan if the above scenarios do present themselves next week, the latter being the easiest cuz we'll just redo the forms and have her FedEx them to me.

I wasn't hoping for an RFE but with the agony associated with this process, this RFE actually gave me just that... hope.

OP disclosed that the expedited request was due to illness, not sure if it was the petitioneror or the OP that is ill. Anyway, if it's the petitioner, that could qualify as an exception to the "having to have met in person in the last 2 years prior to petition" requirement. Or even if it's the OP who is able to travel, depending on the details of the circumstances that delayed the meeting due to illness, it could qualify as an excempt too i would think.