Mario

Understood. Thanks for your advice!

You can apply for an emergency AP, however usually emergency APs are only granted for "death or near death relative" situations. Business trips will most likely be denied. Feel free to consult a lawyer, but I don't think it will help sadly.

If she leaves the country without I-131, she will have abandoned her AOS filing, and will have to apply for K-3 I believe to return to the country.

You need to ask yourself how pressing a need that business trip really is because leaving the US without AP will cause a world of pain and most likely separation in terms of getting the green card.

Not to get into gritty details, but this involves real estate and a possible loss of a sizable chunk of money if she is not there to close out the sale of some property. There are family complications involved too that I don't want to go into here.

Our long term planning was thrown off when USCIS "misplaced" the 129-F. A tracer had to be submitted, but it was found and expedited. The I-129F took approximately 8 months to complete when we had expected 3.

Our fault for assuming that USCIS would complete the paperwork within the published limits.

It works like this:

I-130 and I-485 are processed at the NBC, then passed onto your DO for final appraisal and interview. You can look at your local office for processing times, but they are inaccurate most often. I-130 is adjudicated at the same time as I-485 if filed concurrently, so the date for processing is the same as the I-485 one.

I-765 and I-131 are processed from start to finish at the NBC.

EDIT: VSC and CSC process I-130s that are not filed concurrently with I-485.

Hi,

We are in Baltimore and are in a similar situation. However, my wife absolutely has to be back in Korea in October for business reasons. Extrapolation of processing dates seems to indicate that it is likely her I-131 will not be complete by then.

Is it possible to request a rush on the paperwork? Some way to throw money at the problem to get it fixed faster? Should I get a lawyer involved?

If she leaves the country prior to completion of the I-131 what are our recourses? Can we finish processing it in country? Is it something I can just mail to her when it is done?

Thanks,

Mario

Do all of the I-131's go to Chicago? I am in Maryland and the instructions on the form itself seem to indicate it should be sent to the local office in Baltimore?

Thanks,

Mario

Everything goes to Chicago lockbox together, just like it says in big letters on the front of the form. The information inside the form is out of date.

Ok,

Does anyone know the pros and cons of filing the I-131 via Efile vice mailing it? Is it processed quicker?

Thanks again,

Mario

papatel,

See the introduction pages for the forms on the USCIS web site.

Yodrak

HI All,

Wondering, where do i send my I-485, EAD and Advance Parole Applications

What Service centers?

thanks

Do all of the I-131's go to Chicago? I am in Maryland and the instructions on the form itself seem to indicate it should be sent to the local office in Baltimore?

Thanks,

Mario

Your Priority Date: PTY

What does this mean, what does PTY mean?

Maybe PRIORITY?

Obtaining the police certificate is supposed to be easy- any police station, no fee, processed within 24 hours. My fiance went to the police station in his home town (quite a small place) and was told there's a new law that says they can't issue it, and the embassy knows about this law...told the same thing in a larger town nearby....says he will drive to Seoul on Monday (4 hours away) to get it. I am trying to get a hold of a person at the embassy to ask about this.....I'm pretty sure there is no new law saying they can't issue the certificate...in fact in 2005 the law was changed to say they can issue it. Frustrating!

Any updates?

I've known several other servicemembers who have married Koreans. The process is a pretty well oiled machine and typically (in Korea) you can get the marriage visa a lot quicker than a fiance one. As soon as the embassy sees that is is a military spouse it usually "wham,bam, thank you ma'am" and out the door. Usually the stall everyone runs into there is all the paperwork and hoops the local command wants to go through.

Mario

dang.....thanks for picking that up yodrak...I was sure my eyes had seen 2005 when I first read it

Tracy and Lorelle,

Why isn't the 2nd divorce decree that Mario submitted in response to the RFE OK?

Mario writes that the date of the divorce was January 21, 2005. He further writes that he responded to the RFE with a copy of the divorce decree dated February 20, 2006 - 13 months after the date of the divorce.

Yodrak

Its a moot point. Just got the notification email that her application was approved. I guess they found it....

Thanks,

Mario

Hello,

My fiance is from South Korea (I met here while I was stationed there) and I submitted the initial I-129F package to the VSC with an initial receipt date of 20 Jan 06. On 13 Feb 06 I received a RFE that said the following:

"It is noted that the document submitted as proof of the termination of the marriage between Mario xxxxx xxxxxxx and xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx filed January 24, 2005, indicates that neither party may marry again except to each other until 60 days after the date of the divorce. Since the date of the divorce is January 21, 2005, the copy issued January 24, 2005, is considered a copy of a divorce nisi, not final or absolute.

Please comply with the following request.

Submit proof of the legal termination of all prior marriages of Mario xxxx xxxxxxx."

I emailed my divorce lawyer and was told that the certified copy she sent me was the final decree and that she had no idea what USCIS was talking about. She suggested I get an updated copy of the divorce decree with a later date outside the 60 day window. I did as she suggested and mailed the certified copy of my divorce decree, dated 20 Feb 06. I also included a copy of the email from my lawyer.

I then recieved a receipt date for the RFE of 23 Feb 06. After the requisite 60 days of hearing nothing from USCIS I called on 25 April 06 to inquire as to the status of our case. This caused some sort of internal query to be sent to the VSC from which I received a letter dated 28 April 06 saying that my case "was being processed" and to call the national line again in 60 days if I have not heard from them.

Has anyone else had this sort of issue?

Would it be worth it to involve an immigration lawyer at this point? Is there anything an immigration lawyer can actually do?

If I were to drive to the VSC to attempt to run down this visa application would I be turned away?

Perhaps we would be better off writing off the 129F and marrying in Korea?

Thanks for any help in advance,

Mario