GP1977

I don't think hiring an attorney will get you a better outcome.  They will do the same thing you will do, except you will care and be more persistent than an attorney.
 
  I would keep on calling the records department and asking for a supervisor.  If they tell you no, ask again.  Call back and get their supervisor.  Ask them.  Ask for their supervisor.  Keep going up the chain of command.  They are a public servant and work for the taxpayers. 
 
I had a DUI which I was found not guilty of and expunged 14 years ago and didn't appear on a fingerprint FBI and state background check.  I lost my expungement order.   No records existed at the courthouse and my attorney didn't have a copy either.   I had to keep calling the courthouse and the clerk there basically told me to stop calling and she can't help me and i am out of luck.   Well I took it up the chain of command until I got to the office of the chief judge for the highest court in the state.  Guess what, I got my letter.  It was a huge pain in the ### but if you are persistent you will get what you want but you have to keep asking and it will be a time drain.  Dont take no for an answer.  When there is a will, there is a way.
 
Finally, even if you can't get the documents keep records of all of your communication with the agency.    Read this part of the USCIS manual and it talks about if a document isn't available they want to see either a certified letter that it isn't or repeated efforts made to obtain that document.
 
USCIS Manual 
https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-2061/0-0-0-2073.html#0-0-0-312
      (f)     Primary and Secondary Evidence     .            
 Closely related to the best evidence rule is the concept of primary and secondary evidence. Primary evidence is evidence which on its face proves a fact. For example, the divorce certificate is primary evidence of a divorce. Secondary evidence is evidence which makes it more likely that the fact sought to be proven by the primary evidence is true, but cannot do so on its own face, without any external reference. In the above example, church records showing that an individual was divorced at a certain time w ould be secondary evidence of the divorce. You will often encounter situations in which primary evidence is unavailable. This gives rise to a presumption of ineligibility                 , which is the applicant or petitioner’s burden to overcome.                     Title                     8 CFR 103.2(b)(2)                     sets out the procedures relating to unavailability of documents. A petitioner or applicant cannot simply assert that the primary evidence does not exist. The absence of a primary record, instead, must be proven either:                                 ·                 By a written statement from the appropriate issuing authority attesting to the fact that no record exists or can be located, or that the record sought was part of some segment of records which were lost or destroyed; or                    
          ·                 By evidence (such as an affidavit) "that repeated good faith attempts were made to obtain the required document or record."                    

The USC needs to file the petition- not you.   A lawyer cannot help with AP.   Syrians are heavily vetted, and there is no way around that.
 
If you are not married, you cannot be petitioned for a CR-1.

False.  A lawyer can speed up AP in certain cases.  The State Dept has a history of sitting on cases from certain countries - Syria being one of them.  If the case is in extended AP - a lawyer can file a writ - that doesn't guarantee an outcome but will force the state department to make a decision.  Check out Hacking Immigration law for real life situations where this applies. 

Thank you it s very informative and it s a relief… cause to go through the process in Ukraine a real headache 
Appreciate your help 🙌

My wife never changed her internal or international Ukrainian passport. She left it under her maiden name as its too much of a hastle.

We never changed anything on our marriage certificate.  However, when she went to renew her Ukrainian International passport she did have to get the marriage certificate apiostled and there was a company that did this.  this was becuase she did the renewal in the US and they wanted proof of living in the US - Greencard and Marriage certificate.  
 
You can also check out the link below
https://dmsu.gov.ua/poslugi/pasport-gromadyanina-ukrajni/id-oformlennya-pasporta-gromadyanina-ukrajni-u-formi-kartki-u-razi-obminu-pasporta-zamist-vtrachenogo-abo-vikradenogo.html
 

Pre-war many Ukrainians would go work in Europe for a good part of the year. Save Money. Repeat for a year years.   Buy an apartment with cash.  Actually most apartments are traded in USD, Second in Euro.  Now they own it debt free.
 
It isnt sunshine and roses but outside of the frontlines it isn't what the media portrays. My wife's friend opened a salon 6 months ago and every day she is booked doing facials, massages, skin care treatments.  Her schedule is booked two weeks out. 

Pre-war many Ukrainians would go work in Europe for a good part of the year. Save Money. Repeat for a year years.   Buy an apartment with cash.  Actually most apartments are traded in USD, Second in Euro.  Now they own it debt free.
 
It isnt sunshine and roses but outside of the frontlines it isn't what the media portrays. My wife's friend opened a salon 6 months ago and every day she is booked doing facials, massages, skin care treatments.  Her schedule is booked two weeks out. 

My limited understanding of Ukraine and dual citizenship - If you have citizenship from another country and wish to obtain Ukrainian citizenship you must revoke the other country citizenship first.
If you already have Ukrainian citizenship and obtain citizenship of another country - there is not a law against not reporting it (Unless you are in certain levels of the government) but the citizenship of the other country wont be recognized for conducting certain types of legal transactions in Ukraine.

On a US passport on the biometrics page it has a line that says "Place of Birth".
The only reason you wouldn't be a citizen of that country would be if you renounced your citizenship.

She isn't worried about entering the US, would just show her US passport.
 
Was asking for people w/ experience in this situation not what would have been easier or not easier to do.
 
 
Thank you!

Correct.  We tend to describe it to others as dual citizenship, but in reality, Russia only recognizes my wife as their citizen, and similar for the US, but neither requires one to give up any other citizenships so my wife has two passports.  And like Ukraine, it is a real pain to change a last name in a Russian passport.
 
Good Luck!

Similar situation in Russia, though when entering Russia, my wife presents both passports and she does not have any issues (maybe a 5 minute wait the first time).
 
Good Luck!

I am a very persistent individual and have lived my life by when there is a will there is a way.  And you really can't accept no for an answer.
 
I wanted to give an update on my wife obtaining her Green Card.  For those of you that aren’t familiar with Baltimore they are unlike many offices in that they do not approve a GC on the spot.  Their standard MO is to give a letter saying that they need to review the case and to allow them 120 days to make a decision.   There are some exceptions but this seems to be done the majority of the time.  The letter which we were given actually told us to please wait at least 120 days and at that point we may make an inquiry through the national customer service center or we may request an infopass appointment.  The letter was had the name of the local field office director in Baltimore.   At 122 days I called the national customer service center requesting an infopass appointment, was routed to tier 2, and was told its not a thing to request an infopass for case update.  I asked for him to please explain to me why the field office director would have letters issued with his name and title on the bottom of the letter if its not a thing?  They Tier 2 officer kept on talking in circles and really couldn’t give me an answer.  I asked him for the email address for the officer handling my case so I could reach out directly.  He said he didn’t have it.  I asked for him to call the local Baltimore field office.  They said he can’t do it but maybe he supervisor could.   So he put me on hold and got his supervisor.
 
This supervisor told me the same thing.  That the prior officer was correct and that infopass appointments are not for case status updates and he couldn’t speak to the letter that I received.  He told me I could complain to the ombudsman about the letter.  I told him I have no interest in making a complaint as that does not solve my issue at hand.  He then advised for me to make an online inquiry.  I told him we both know that it’s a waste of time and it wont get anyone moving on the case.  He didn’t acknowledge this directly but seemed to agree with me.  I asked him to call the local office and the officer handling my case to see what was going on.  He said he couldn’t do that.  I asked him what else I could do.  He advised for me to write a letter to the local field office director that was listed on the case.  I basically did a pre writ of mandamus letter.  Outlined my concerns and said I was reaching out prior to filing a writ of mandamus and that I wanted the case to be adjudicated as its been over 120 days since the interview.  I found the email address for the field office director online and sent it to him via email and also sent signed receipt certified mail delivery via USPS.  That letter was received on Monday and this morning the case was updated to “New Card is being produced”.
 
Hope this helps someone else.

The interview was very easy. We had a female officer. Officer Hyde was her name probably in her early 30’s if I remember correctly but she was a much easier interview then what I have heard from other offices. Here is what happened below and my wife would be more than happy to speak with you to answer any questions if you would like.
 
Was in the room for about 30 minutes. Very very easy process. She went over the application line by line and asked me (the US citizen the names of her parents) and asked Iryna for my Date of Birth, her date of entry into the US, which airport she arrived in the US and our date of marriage. She asked for additional documents and we provided joint bank statements for both checking and savings, authorized user on credit card, joint car insurance, joint tax return for 2018, life insurance beneficiary , 401K beneficiary, joint health and dental insurance, joint insurance on engagement ring, about 80 photos of us together (of which she only wanted to keep about 15 or so because it would make the file too big). She said we had plenty of other evidence. Said everything looks great and that Baltimore policy does not too approve on the spot and gave us a letter which says to give them 120 days to review everything to make their decision. She advised it shouldn’t take nearly that long as this file seems pretty straightforward and she wished us good luck. All in all a very very easy process.

 

I am a very persistent individual and have lived my life by when there is a will there is a way.  And you really can't accept no for an answer.
 
I wanted to give an update on my wife obtaining her Green Card.  For those of you that aren’t familiar with Baltimore they are unlike many offices in that they do not approve a GC on the spot.  Their standard MO is to give a letter saying that they need to review the case and to allow them 120 days to make a decision.   There are some exceptions but this seems to be done the majority of the time.  The letter which we were given actually told us to please wait at least 120 days and at that point we may make an inquiry through the national customer service center or we may request an infopass appointment.  The letter was had the name of the local field office director in Baltimore.   At 122 days I called the national customer service center requesting an infopass appointment, was routed to tier 2, and was told its not a thing to request an infopass for case update.  I asked for him to please explain to me why the field office director would have letters issued with his name and title on the bottom of the letter if its not a thing?  They Tier 2 officer kept on talking in circles and really couldn’t give me an answer.  I asked him for the email address for the officer handling my case so I could reach out directly.  He said he didn’t have it.  I asked for him to call the local Baltimore field office.  They said he can’t do it but maybe he supervisor could.   So he put me on hold and got his supervisor.
 
This supervisor told me the same thing.  That the prior officer was correct and that infopass appointments are not for case status updates and he couldn’t speak to the letter that I received.  He told me I could complain to the ombudsman about the letter.  I told him I have no interest in making a complaint as that does not solve my issue at hand.  He then advised for me to make an online inquiry.  I told him we both know that it’s a waste of time and it wont get anyone moving on the case.  He didn’t acknowledge this directly but seemed to agree with me.  I asked him to call the local office and the officer handling my case to see what was going on.  He said he couldn’t do that.  I asked him what else I could do.  He advised for me to write a letter to the local field office director that was listed on the case.  I basically did a pre writ of mandamus letter.  Outlined my concerns and said I was reaching out prior to filing a writ of mandamus and that I wanted the case to be adjudicated as its been over 120 days since the interview.  I found the email address for the field office director online and sent it to him via email and also sent signed receipt certified mail delivery via USPS.  That letter was received on Monday and this morning the case was updated to “New Card is being produced”.
 
Hope this helps someone else.

We’re not doing any sort of a ceremony here in Colombia. I’m just hopeful for her to get the K1 visa, her and our son can get to the US and we’ll have the wedding shortly afterwards. We’re trying to get her aunt and uncle a tourist visa so they can attend the ceremony in the US, they raised my fiance after her mom and dad essentially abandoned her. 
 
 
I work as a pilot for a cargo airline, there’s a reason that if we go to Africa, we have the resources to be able to bribe our way out of most situations. Money talks. One crew from another airline, was in Lagos was robbed at gunpoint, on the airplane, and had to fly back to Europe with just their underwear and passports. Everything else, including their clothing was stolen. That stuff doesn’t happen in other parts of the world. I’ve never seen rampant corruption as I have in Africa. 

Of course Americans lie just like any other nationalities.   However, corruption is much more rampant in African countries than in Western Countries.   The majority of African's accept it as a normal way of life.  The same couldn't be said for Western countries.
 
Also, the examples you mentioned are people who are not applying for an immigration benefit.  Remember that there is nothing in the Constitution that grants someone from another country the right to immigrate here.  Therefore, their needs to be a heavy vetting process and someone who has been caught in a material representation lie, shouldn't be allowed.
 
 
 

Zero value add.
 
Do you think the OP is going to take unsolicited financial advice from a stranger on an internet forum when they didn't seek out financial advice? LOL
 
 

Good to see the forum rule about personal attacks being consistently enforced 🙄

Was the OP asking for immigration advice or counseling/marriage advice?

Was the OP asking for immigration advice or counseling/marriage advice?

Was the OP asking for immigration advice or counseling/marriage advice?

Was the OP asking for immigration advice or counseling/marriage advice?

I asked what the OP was asking. Take it how you want.
 
 

Was the OP asking for immigration advice or counseling/marriage advice?