S Mehdi

On 10/13/2021 at 10:54 AM, kayjee said:

Anyone still with biometrics done and status on USCIS still stuck at "Case received" . I see some people have status change in a few days. This is so stupid on part of USCIS.

We only depend upon a latter and for some reason if one of these letter gets lost. We would be missing our appointment.   Just a little concerned . Got my biometrics done and case is still stuck at Received  since MARCH. arrghhh !!!

Yes sir, same situation.

Hey, any update from any of you all? Did you receive an interview?

My in-laws DQ'd October 2020. Priority Date is May 2018. Trying to figure out what I should expect.

Any SRC filers who still haven't had approval? My case was received on Feb 12 and sent to the Texas Service Center. I received a letter saying biometrics were waived, but the only case status is still "Your Case Was Received".

42 minutes ago, treppenwitz said:

Is it listed in the last page?

Sadly, no. The only addresses listed on the RFE letter is on the top of the letter, basically the "FROM" section:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

P.O. Box 82521
Lincoln, NE 68501-2521

No instruction at all on where to send it to. Wondering if I should just send it to this address. Maybe I should speak to an agent on the customer service line? I tried that but couldn't get past the IVR. Maybe I should get an InfoPass appointment?

Thank you for your response.

I got an RFE requesting my birth certificate for an I-485 I had filed for my mother. The letter says I should respond with the envelope that was sent with the RFE, but there was either no envelope OR I misplaced it.

I read many threads here that talk about using your own envelope but my problem is: Where do I send it? The same place I sent the original application? The "from" address on the RFE letter? Maybe all of them? Not sure because I don't have that envelope.

I wanted to share my experience with the AOS interview because I had a pretty positive experience. People tend to post here if they have problems and for that reason, reading through can be scary so I just wanted to drop a positive one too.

My wife and I went to the interview around 10:15, 15 minutes before the scheduled time. Got processed by a nice and welcoming gentleman who asked us to wait in the lobby. We had to wait an hour and a half for the interviewer to call out my name. We responded to her and both of us were excited to finally have our turn.

She walked us to the interview room and we started having a friendly conversation while we were walking to the interview room, just general conversation about our day which my wife initiated (she's a very friendly and talkative person). We got the interview room and she asked us if we wanted to submit any more documentation, which we did. She looked at each of the documents and we continuously explained what each document was (joint bank account, pictures, shared auto insurance etc). We kept talking and joking as well. She asked us the date we got married. I told her the date and also told her (laughingly) that we had  to memorize the date before coming to the interview (which was true) because the wedding itself wasn't a special date for us since we didn't have any family in the US. My wife commented that we celebrate the date I proposed to her as our anniversary instead.

She then walked through a list of questions like have I ever committed a crime, etc. (standard questions). My wife and I did keep interacting and joking throughout.

She then told us that she has to wait for my I-129F file to come through before making a decision - she said that she knows exactly what's in there and doesn't really need the file, but it's a process requirement so we might have to wait a couple weeks before seeing a decision.

That's it. No trick questions, no detailed probing or anything. I think it makes a difference if you look excited and interact naturally with each other. She was so nice and polite and it was a pleasure having a conversation with her. A few times my wife and I would just bring up some random story about a fun thing we did or our dog and it was so nice talking to her that I felt like staying in a little longer and chat with her.

She came with us to show us out to the door and asked us how we feel working at the same place (we'd mentioned somewhere while chatting that we work at the same place). She asked the question with genuine curiosity. I told her that we were a little afraid at first that you know, how would it be being together ALL of the time, but we're on different projects and sit in different parts of the floor but it's great being able to interact during the day and grab lunch together and I wouldn't have it any other way.

We thanked her and left. Still not approved but I'm positive we will be unless there's some documentary requirement that we need to complete.

Just thought I'd share specifically for anyone who's worried about the interview - if your case is genuine you likely won't have many problems  .. I was worried too because we don't have a joint lease, car's only on her name, I didn't have originals of many documents they had asked to bring, but none of that was a concern.

I am sorry but i feel this story is flawed. In my honest Opinion, USC specially from Asian countries are usually very skeptical in sponsoring some one from those part of the world. Honestly, think about that gentleman went all the way and filed K-1- which is itself 7-8 months process and then brought her here to just beat her up ? and get himself into domestic violence issues. Seems kind of difficult to swallow. U visa is very difficult to get and since she is on K-1 She cannot change her visa status to F-1. Her best bet is to secure her religious divorce on piece of paper and go back.

I understand where you're coming from - but you'll be surprised if you've seen what I've seen. This is not an isolated incident, this is a pattern. Men with control issues marry a woman back home in Pakistan, pressure, manipulate or love-talk her into filing a wrong visa (such as F1 or K1) to make sure their spouse is not empowered. Some are smart enough to see through the wrong visa, but others, sadly, are very naive. It's not that they bring their wives just to beat them up, they just want a wife that they have complete control over and if they don't like the wife they just imported, they can just ship her back without having to go through a divorce lawsuit.

I even know someone who's parents forced her to drop out of university and told her that the only way she can complete her education is if she agrees to marry a man of their choice and go to the US on a student visa to live with him. It puts you in a tough situation when your own support network gives you a choice between lying to USCIS or forcing you to stop your education, so I'm not going to judge her until we have the full story.

I want to thank everyone for their opinion. It gives me a very clear direction on how to help her out. Maybe she herself wants to go back and maybe it's for the best. I will just try to make sure she is able to figure out her address and we can get the right authorities involved and have justice delivered, whatever it may be.

On your second note you said that her in-laws filed, and if she came on a K-1, then her "fiance"/Guyshewassupposetomarry was the one who filed. Who did the paperwork on her end over in Pakistan? The police report, the writing and signing of the letter of intent stating she was single, legally able to marry, and will marry the guy who petitioned for her within 90 days of coming into the country? She went and did medical.

There's a lot of things she did on her own and she talked to the CO's who explained the visa, even at POE the CBP officer usually explains the purpose of the visa. It seems very strange that she knows so little about a process she was pretty involved in, especially in the later stages.

With that said, her story sounds odd for a K-1. Either your not understanding something or she's not saying everything or she literally is that oblivious, but either way, without her marrying her fiance that she promised to marry she has no route to the US and should leave/will be told to leave at some point. Even with VAWA she would have had to have married him, which she didn't. She has no path to stay in the US, regardless of her situation in Pakistan, USCIS doesn't really care.

Technically you could just call the cops and say you know a woman is being held against her will once you find her location, but then you would have to hope your friend cooperated with the cops to get her out of there and from what you say she probably wouldn't. But either way, it will all end in her going back to Pakistan.

I see. I only have information in bits and pieces for now, but this is helpful.

Do you at least know in what city she is residing? It may be possible to at least get her a local shelter to go to for now so she can begin to evaluate options/get in touch with representation.

Yes, I know the city and I know shelters there too. Problem is, she can't leave on her own so we are trying to find a way to intervene on her behalf. Abusive families literally keep the victim imprisoned. I've seen cases where the mother-in-law would even force the victim to ask permission to use the restroom and keep the restroom door open and stand outside to make sure the victim is unable to use a phone or anything. It's not like she can just walk out of there.

Current status: she's basically their slave labor for now until they decide to ship her back to Pakistan and drop her to the airport.

that's not how a hardship waiver works. she doesn't have a qualifying relative to apply, I don't believe VAWA does that. her ignorance of the law isn't a reason for it

VAWA petitioners don't need qualifying relatives and unlike the usual waiver, they can demonstrate hardship to themselves.

All she has to do is open up google maps. It will show her computer/phone location and she can tell you where she is at.

I can't believe I didn't think of that. Thank you, that's very helpful.

And thank you for your responses. I will read up on what her options are in regards to misrepresentation. Since she qualifies for VAWA, she might be able get a waiver for misrepresentation as she can demonstrate "extreme hardship" to her in case she is deported given the fact that she (i) lost her parents several years ago, (ii) her remaining relatives in Pakistan didn't really care enough to counsel her or research the visa her in-laws were filing for her, or the ramifications of misrepresenting to USCIS, (iii) the socioeconomic situation in Pakistan, and (iv) she was likely pressured/manipulated into lying to USCIS by her in-laws.

In any case, she needs good legal counsel as soon as she's out of this situation.

And yes, they never married after she came to the US on a K-1 visa. From what I gather, she didn't really know what the visa was actually about.

Being a pakistani and marrying a divorced pakistani is a red flag and surely will put u in Ap for months even years. So do lots of research...

What is Ap? Would be glad if you could give a starting point ... As far as I understand, what should matter here is the visa interview. Could there be other delays as well?

Have you met?

Yes, last met March 2014 and would probably meet again in June/July 2015.

Thank you both .. And especially proudly Canadian for your detailed response. Very helpful.

I think the main points remain that if we get married in June 2015 and file for the spouse visa and later upgrade to citizen when she gets her citizenship ... Is that going to be any faster than waiting for her to become a USC and then filing a fiance visa?

I'm in Pakistan and my girlfriend is in the United States. We are not married or engaged yet, but we can get either married or engaged in June 2015 if there are no other options. She got her green card under the Violence Against Women Act (She was previously force-married to a horrible, abusive US citizen) and can apply for citizenship in December 2015.

My questions are:

• When she applies for her Citizenship in Dec 2015, how long before she receives her citizenship and be able to file for me?
• If we get married in June 2015 and apply for a marriage-based visa, is it going to be any faster than applying for the same after her citizenship?
• Will it be faster to wait for her to get citizenship and file a fiance visa for me? If we plan for this, we won't marry in June but just have an engagement instead.
• What if I apply for a student visa before we are married or engaged and get denied? Will the denied visa affect our ability to obtain a spouse or fiance visa? Is it even legal to apply for a student visa if your girlfriend is in the US?

I'm really confused here and your help can save us months! Would be really grateful if someone can guide me here.