HoosierEh

Greetings,

Not sure if this is where we are encouraged to possibly post helpful suggestions and ideas to site changes: mine is in red.

On the personal timeline page there is no space, after outcome, to include if someone ended up filing a waiver - I think this would be very helpful in that it can give us an idea, especially in different countries, about the process time and it would help identify those of us that have had to use a waiver if we so choose it. If I were looking for advice on something I usually go with someone who has gone through it themselves. On my profile I was left to write in the comment section but we all know that can go several ways depending on how someone writes; I was denied end of interview, eventually applied for a waiver, recently approved but in all honesty I did not give dates or costs.

I am currently in Administrative Processing, this too would be evident in dates: approved from USCIS on x date, sent to Department of State Consulate in Montreal on x date then received visa on x date. The US entry is there and overall I find the layout of the page very friendly and straightforward which is helpful. I believe that Waivers were always a complicated process but are quickly becoming a necessity and very much needed in a changing immigration climate.

Thanks for your time and cheers

1 minute ago, missileman said:

LOL.......I know the sorry attorney I hired isn't part of VJ.  When I challenged my case manager with factual information I learned here (which differed from what she said), she said "Don't believe what you read on those forums"........

Oh my! I am trying not to laugh, at surely not at  you, but with you. Sounds like something my lawyer would say. Would it make you laugh to know they google themselves. Seriously they do, and anyone giving a not so good review is often met with a threat of libel action. My personal point is - how are we supposed to make an informed decision about hiring them without the bad. I read bad reviews on Amzn and still buy the item if they match my needs.

Forums are tough to read through on here, I would in all honesty just like to write my experience, my review of the firm and my outcome in the hopes of it being useful - or at least a start. The Terms of Service keep saying they can do x y and z but they don't say who 'they' are. Maybe it is like Oz and we aren't supposed to see who is behind the curtain.

I guess what has me scratching my head, as someone with family and far too much experience working with lawyers this has me confuddled:

Member Content Ownership and Rights. VisaJourney claims no ownership or control over any Content submitted, Posted or displayed by you on or through the Service.

License Grant. By Posting Content or communications on or through the Service, you automatically grant VisaJourney a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, edit, translate, distribute, perform, and display the Content or communication alone or as part of other works in any form, media, or technology whether now known or hereafter developed, and to sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of sublicensees.

Not comfortable with the modify, translate and edit parts.

So ... do you believe the stuff posted on those forums? LoL

9 minutes ago, missileman said:

Have you read the Terms of Service?  http://www.visajourney.com/content/terms/

Hi,

Thank you and yes I have read the terms of service which does not answer my question in the least - who or whom would be at the discretionary table to remove a review I write, it only says that VisaJourney has the right to remove or partially remove something I post but says there is no oversight.

Who is VisaJourney?

I'm half expecting my lawyer and his firm to be behind it ( that was a joke lol )

Greetings,

Forgive my lack of tech speak but who owns and operates this website - is it lawyers? My understanding is that most people here operating as 'moderators' are doing so out of the kindness of their hearts but when it comes down to actual oversight who do people contact?

I would like to begin to write out my waiver summary but wanted to know who oversees the website before I do. Of course I am fully aware that anything I post regarding my legal counsel will and could be held libel and that is not my intent but I do feel they are deserving of a review. Is there a page on the site where we are encouraged to post about our experience with paid lawyers? Is it allowed?

Thank you in advance

1 hour ago, Randyandyuni said:

As a veteran I will defend Roel, who I believe is the spouse of an Active Duty military,

 

What she says is true, while her delivery might not be in the spirit you would like to see, perhaps after 4 failed marriages and 2 failed attempts at bringing a spouse over it might be prudent to stop and reassess what ones goals are, ensure whatever demons are tormenting you are addressed, seek a better understanding of who you are marrying before committing to it fully. As he gets the help he so much needs he will be better equipped to deal with the stress of life and the bonding of two lives

 

I do not think it was her intent to add to his burdens but rather prevent him from adding to his own burdens, you might not like her advice but I think it was given and heartfelt.

 

OP, I hope you get the help you need and obtain relief from your pain. Take the time to think this through and be sure of your motivations for marriage, your result will be better, your marriage will be stronger and you and your partner will be happier

Hi,

I have no opinion to say if it is true or not, it's not my place to say, all I know is that in my marriage and working along side service members there are things to be considered when responding to them regardless of delivery or not, wife, veteran, mother or father of a service member. I am wife number five and my husband will tell you he is the better for it - I dont think I would deny Rick the chance while he gets help.

There are some fragile people online who in the midst of getting help might take things to heart when really all they are looking for is perhaps some guidance, to hear they have a shot and things might be okay. Yes most of us know better than to go looking for advice online but some of the people on this site that offer advice seem really put out by it and it gets tedious reading post after post of the same people (long time members) be condescending and making someone's pain their plaything - I am never surprised at wives of service members who could care less, that's what they're husbands are out dying for.

With changing immigration climate and difficulties facing even a good petition all I am saying is I think Rick deserves immigration advice, we can all agree it would be difficult but we can also hold back making emoji faces at him.

Cheers

Hi,

Fiance Visa or married visa, both applications are going to require you to submit your tax forms.  I'm sure the IRS will want all 8 years but maybe your family could assist you with this first. Then once you file for your partner as sponsors your parents will have to also supply their tax forms. 

Help your partner also make good decisions about his future in the US, understanding the consequences to working without a permit could have a long lasting impact on his life and status in the US. 

It's not easy but doing it the right way never is.  Good luck 

On 8/13/2018 at 12:53 AM, geowrian said:

It's absolutely possible they can ask about the children [ ... ] Illegal entry is not ignored, hence why the OP needs an I-601A and visa obtained while abroad.

Hi, 

Thank you for taking the time out to answer that, not that I can wrap my head around all nuances of US immigration law but I understand a bit better now. 

I  thought he was in the US illegally and knowingly bringing your children over under the care of someone else while illegally in the country was the issue. It's like denying the border service members information. 

I'm going to assume the only reason they asked me about my kids was so that it was in a file someplace once my underage children did travel to see me. I'm sure they were on the radar. They're both of age so not an issue. 

Again thank you and best of luck to the gentleman posting, didn't mean to take over with a question of my own. 

Cheers

16 hours ago, AJoy & Don said:

Appreciate any help with this. 

Nick

 

 

Hi Nick,

While writing a waiver or having to explain yourself to USCIS or any other branch of US immigration there are some really great numbers and articles that the Department of Veterans Affairs has released with research on the social and familial effect after service; they also include multiple marriages, delays in seeking assistance and stigma when isolated or alienated from others.

Using sites such as US Government, US institutions working with the US Government and of course the Veterans Affairs research will help you better back up your personal claims with evidence that you are not alone and you are not the only one going through this.

My husband says he never expected to live this long, he never planned for it, had he known he would have. I am not judging you and if you need anymore assistance for a place to look for some good evidence in you waiver or writing for help please feel free to message me privately. It would be my honour.

Warmly

J

9 hours ago, Nkeasterling44 said:

I believe the lawyer said he is eligible because he was not found guilty, the charges were reduced to threatening. I also have extreme hardship which he said could help. I take care of my elderly mother, my son is disabled and requires a special school, my son has a service dog, I suffer from mental illness and require medications and psychiatric monitoring and treatment. None of us speak Arabic which is why I cannot relocate my family there. My disabled son's father lives in USA. 

Hi, 

Okay I understand now. So what's going to happen is you and the lawyer are going to prepare to submit a waiver. Your husband is going to go to his consular interview and be denied but hopefully with an invitation to apply for the waiver. 

Of course you have to prove hardship and it sounds like you have circumstances that would crush even someone like me.  Just do your best to stay positive, for everyone, it's a long road ahead but given the chance how can you not take it! 

Good luck 

Hi, 

I've been there and yes that can be it, our canadian universities and many companies / corporations do the same. 

I was once told I had to loose the accent!

What kind of jobs if you don't mind my asking. 

2 hours ago, Nkeasterling44 said:

The crime originally was "Murder Crime in Association". It was then reduced "offense of threatening with using the are". This occurred in 2012. I was wondering if the rules are different for married vs. fisnce eligibility of a waiver.

Hi, 

Well you're married and the I130 is clear on that because it's not for engaged people. A waiver is a waiver, regardless of fiance, married or mom and dad the waiver process is burden on you both now to provide evidence the consulate wants. 

I would be concerned that the consulate said he was not eligible for one and your lawyer believes that you can. Please let us know how things progress and if you get the chance to file for a waiver. 

Best of luck 

Cheers

Hi,

I had no inclination of Googling for information when it came time for me to fix my situation. I left the US and my husband to put things right from Canada. Leaving is how I received the bar for overstay and I required a waiver to get back home so in this regard you are fortunate to have people here with sound advice. 

I just wanted to say good luck and now you know not to leave. 

Cheers

24 minutes ago, Shalom12528 said:

Good question I have to check if they asked us to or not.... When my husband first  filed for my resident visa we had a friend who was my sponcer at that time .... so but now my husband wants to file as my sponcer...... but I don't know if he is making enough..... plus we have four dependent kids ...... Thank you for the response I will be reading it

You are very welcome for the response. The big important question now is: have you (the I130) been approved?

Given  you had a friend sponsor you at the time of the application, they are by all accounts in a binding contract with the US government for that affidavit of support. What I did find is this:

" Withdrawal of Form I-864 or Form I-864A. (1) In an immigrant visa case, once the sponsor, substitute sponsor, joint sponsor, household member, or intending immigrant has presented a signed Form I-864 or Form I-864A to a Department of State officer, the sponsor, substitute sponsor, joint sponsor, or household member may disavow his or her agreement to act as sponsor, substitute sponsor, joint sponsor, or household member if he or she does so in writing and submits the document to the Department of State officer before the actual issuance of an immigrant visa to the intending immigrant. Once the intending immigrant has obtained an immigrant visa, a sponsor, substitute sponsor, joint sponsor, or household member cannot disavow his or her agreement to act as a sponsor, joint sponsor, or household member unless the person or entity who filed the visa petition withdraws the visa petition in writing, as specified in 8 CFR 205.1(a)(3)(i)(A)or 8 CFR 205.1(a)(3)(iii)(C), and also notifies the Department of State officer who issued the visa of the withdrawal of the petition"

So where does your application land - If do the math and with your husband prefer to remove the friend, it would seem you ask the friend to write a letter stating as much and send it to the proper consulate office before you are approved and issued an actual visa.

For guidelines on submitting immigrant visa-related documents to consulates, see the drop-down list on this Department of State page.

Now if your application has been approved, with the friend on it, I am lead to believe there is no way to remove the friend and put your husband on as sole sponsor. I believe he could be added as a co-sponsor but it doesn't sound like it is needed since this would imply the application was approved with the friend.

I will certainly ask a friend but the short of it is removing someone and still having your application approved and move forward doesn't happen often.

Let me know what you find out as well,

cheers

Hi!

An I601 Waiver is often presented as an option after the CR1 (spousal) application and interview process and before you could apply for the Waiver so he would have had to submit an affidavit of support already.

Were you asked to resubmit the form?

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration/immigrant-visa-for-spouse.html#4

Click on Is Residence in the U.S. Required for the U.S. Sponsor?

This will explain how to fill out this form Affidavit of Support (Form I-864 or I-864EZ)

I hope that is what you were asking for.

Cheers

6 minutes ago, geowrian said:

So if she only said they wee her kids, it's reasonable (IMHO) that she only meant she is responsible for them.

If she claimed them on paperwork as biologically hers, then that's a different situation.

Either way, it's not an issue for your visa.

Hi,

Just a question that pertains to this topic - during my interview I was asked several questions about my children and they are both over 18, live on their own/with dad. I was told that it was because they have the right to assess my application and if I have intentions of petitioning for my children in the future. Which I answered that I did not.

In this particular scenario, enter without inspection, kids brought over the border legally on a visitors visa by a guardian (and I am going to admit we do not know if this is legal guardianship through a court which would be of importance here non?) but with the intention of overstay; when the legal father is now applying for a waiver on Grounds of Inadmissibility, I would think his waiver application (like mine) does include his kids, their circumstance and guardianship.

How could an illegal parent with illegal children in the US not have them impact his application? He would have to prove legal guardianship himself ...  If the kids are here and dad has to go back to his native country, what happens to children in this scenario. Do kids in this circumstance now need waivers?

I am not being negative here I am sincerely curious how this would work and how a child's status would not impact a parents visa.

Thank you in advance,

cheers

2 hours ago, Gloinrigo said:

, I sent my I-601A in Feb 2018, by June I received a notice of my case being transferred to Poromac , as today Aug 9 2018 I haven’t heard of them yet

also

I came Without inspection , a year later my sister brought my kids with tourist visas as her children ,and they stayed after visa expired  I will have to say that in the interview for waiver ? Can I omit that fact ? I am going to be denied for that reason? 

Hi,

Earlier this year there was information released that Potomac would be processing I601A Waivers to share the load of work. You have been notified where your waiver is and now you have to do the hard work of waiting. We all do.

Cheers

Hi,

I won't make any jokes about trying to turn it on and off again  ... perhaps you need to make sure your browser is updated and allow the site to set cookies. 

Good luck 

4 hours ago, vikaare said:

Thank you. Yes I am a US citizen and my husband is in Mexico. 

I am planning to contact ohr congresswoman for help. 

Best of luck to you too. Hope you get approved! How long has it been?

My waiver was approved - it took just over 15 months but I've been in canada longer, I started the whole process from here. 

With you being the citizen I would hope you hear something soon about the expedite. 

Again, best to you!

Hi,

I (with my lawyer) submitted a written expedited request with my I-601 because my husband (the US citizen) was having surgery and some other medical issues came up. I received a notice that they recieved my packet/request but I never heard back regarding the expedited. I had been told if they are going to expedite my waiver I would get an approval notice if they do not approve the expedite they say nothing.  I left it at that and given my waiver just went through is 15 months I'd say my request wasn't approved lol

Now if you're the US citizen I hope with your situation you stand a better chance at success but if this is your waiver, you're outside of the US and your husband is the US citizen I would let the 15/20 or so business days pass before calling them to find out if they have approved your expedited request. 

It's a stressful endeavor let alone in your situation but you tried and now it's up to them - hard to accept I know. 

Best of luck and keep us posted  :  )

Hi,

I hope the extension works! I would accept the two months as generous because they could have denied her outright.  As someone with experience I was given x amount of time to visit when they could have turned me away and it was a discretionary kindness  ... 

Make sure you help her observe that departure date, especially if you do not get an extension and she does not stay one day over because it will only get worse come the next visit. 

Enjoy the family time! 

49 minutes ago, vreyna said:

In your letter detailing the situation did you express remorse? My fiance was due to not notifying status change while receiving benefits for 3 months. He is not sure whether to state  just the facts and include at the end how sorry he was about the whole thing. Or just keep it straight to the facts.

It can be difficult to separate emotions from the facts, I do not believe they expect us too - I look upon them as professionals that can see the facts through the emotion. After all this is a marathon we are on: we have feelings and those of our loved ones involved lol

Yes I apologized for my actions and fully accepted the bar I received for my overstay. I approached this with sincerity and I was and am accepting of the consequences. If I was denied a waiver I would have had to truly reconsider my future  ... I had personal beliefs and reasoning for what I did but I subverted US immigration laws and the reality of not being reunited with my husband was the consequence. I told them just that - my apology was my waiver in that sense. 

I believe that if your husband wrote a letter on how he truly felt and was not just saying the words that it would come through. Just as I believe they can read through smoke.

Oh and as an aside: I let my husband write his letter.  I did not do it for him, I did not guide him or ask to see it or anything and he didn't Google it. If they called him I wanted them to know we were serious and worth the forgiveness. 

Good luck! 

If there's anything else please feel free to ask 

6 hours ago, snurok said:

What do you mean Administrative Processing as of June 21 2018 ?

You still have not completed the process and received approval to go?

Once USCIS (US citizenship and immigration services in Nebraska) approved my waiver they send it back to the Embassy (department of state) here in Montreal and they then have their work:

The embassy will decide if I need another interview or if they require more information or updated certificates etc.

The Embassy (department of state) does what it needs to do then will inform me when to send them my passport - I'm going to consider that even a laminated page that adheres to my passport is not taken lightly. Once I get my passport back with the US visa attached I can go. 

I'm also fully aware that I can still be denied entry with an approved waiver.

As of now I've been in Administrative Processing status for a month, yes, but it all takes time. I look at it as actual paper work  : )

Hi,

Don't worry, you could not have filed for a waiver at the same time of the 130 because the embassy didn't tell you you could.  

Think of it as an invitation to file for a waiver and they let you know which ones are needed and why after the interview. 

In the meantime it's okay to start writing and collecting what you will need if they allow you to apply for a waiver but my advice is to do so knowing that your circumstances are yours (his history and offense is private I respect that) and he might be denied the option of filing a waiver. 

Good luck 

Update : I-601 Waiver (overstay) 

Husband US citizen 

I am Canadian, filing from Canada 

I-601 application accepted Nebraska Service Center on  April 24 2017 

I-601 application APPROVED June 5 2018 Montreal Embassy 

I-601 in Administrative Processing as of June 21 2018 (currently)

Cheers!