rodrigotejas

Even at that - the facts on the original I 751 would not have changed so when it comes to adjudicating the second one, wouldn't they require that the 'missed interview' issue be resolved?

Perhaps not, I'm just thinking out loud.

I raised this question with my attorney and her response was that we would explain the situation to the USCIS when the time comes. She didn't see this as a major issue.

All due respect, but you did leave the country for a month in the middle of your removal of conditions process, and IMO did not make adequate arrangements to verify your mail....like having a family member or friend check your mail and notify you of any 'important' mailings. What happened in your case is not necessarily unheard of. What confuses me is that you've waited since november for word from USCIS, and failing to receive anything you only relied on the online case status only, rather than making direct contact through calling or making an infopass appointment. Unfortunately, the wording from USCIS is absolutely correct, "the burden of proof of not receiving the interview notice lies with us" and therein lies the problem. I'm not sure that a print-out of online case status still showing 'initial review' would be considered sufficient, without additional proof of what you've done to follow-up.

I wonder did the letter you received state that your case is being forwarded to the justice department? How is it that you know this for sure? If your wife has been given 30 days for voluntary departure, it is only after those 30 days that it should go to the JD and immigration court. H.as the 30 days, which the letter states your wife has to leave the country, expired? If not, I would still make an infopass appointment and attempt to find out directly from USCIS what's what. If the fear is that your wife would be detained, you should attend in the company of legal representation, or attend the infopass appointment yourself without your wife.

Good luck

While out of the country, we had our mail on hold at the post office. I went back to the post office last week to determine if mail from the USCIC would have been sent back while our mail was being held at the post office. The post office indicated that they would have held the mail along with all of the other post that we received. The USCIS site indicates that the typical processing time for an I751 is 6 months. We are now just beginning month 6 (March). No reason to think that the letter would have arrived given it would have been month 4 when it was supposedly sent and this is the first time throughout our entire K1 process that the online status is not accurate. In fact, I suspect that the letter was never sent, which is why the online status has not been updated. My Congresswoman's office may in fact be able to help obtain evidence if this is the case.

The denial letter was accompanied by a NTA (Notice to Appear) from the DHS. The notice is titled "In removal proceedings under section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act." The date to appear is set as TBD. So, our case is, in fact, in the hands of the Justice Department.

Regarding the Infopass appointment, I tend to agree with you. I was thinking of setting it up again and going myself.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I'm curious about the attorney's logic here. Did he/she explain that at all? I think it may be too early in the morning for me to be grasping it on my own.

Essentially this is a race condition. The re-filing of the I751, 2nd biometrics, interview and approval by the USCIS vs. the scheduling of a case review with the Immigration Judge of the Justice Department. I am being told that the I751 process is faster and cheaper and will likely be completed before we ever get to Immigration court for the 1st time and certainly before any final hearing by the Judge. What a mess, all due to the reliance on the US Postal Service and a process that only attempts to contact you 1 time...

OK. Here's the latest update. Last week was not fun...

Called my Congresswoman's office. They were unable to help because our case is now with the Justice Department. They are trying, however, to see if they can get a copy of the letter and date that it was sent from USCIS. Haven't heard back from them yet.

Spoke with two attorneys. Both said to cancel the Infopass appointment. 1 of them went as far as to tell me that my wife might be detained. The second simply said that the USCIS people would not be able to help now that the case is with the Justice Department. Additionally, the Congresswoman's office also advised to not go to the Infopass appointment.

Our selected attorney advised that we could wait for the meeting with the Judge of the Justice Department, but in their experience what would happen is either a "No" decision or the sheduling of a hearing to review the case. The hearings are typically getting scheduled 1-2 years out! During this wait time my wife would not be able to leave the country.

The attorney went on to advise that the best approach is to re-file the I-751. Once receipt is received from the USCIS, the Justice Department would not be able to issue a ruling. At this point, my attorney will review with the Judge who will either terminate the Justice Department's case, allowing the new I-751 to go through the USCIS process or issue a continuance to review status 6 months or so down the road. Once the 2nd application eventually gets approved by the USCIC, then the Justice Department will terminate. Either way, we're looking at a long and costly process to get out of a situation created by the USCIC's dependancy on the USPS. By the way, the letter from the USCIS announcing the Decline of our I751 clearly states that the burden of proof of not receiving the interview notice lies with us.

I can not comprehend this process at all. Here's my recap: 1) USCIS sends interview notice by USPS without confirmation (uncertified mail). 2) USPS fails to deliver the mail. 3) Applicants check USCIS web site for case status update every week since application. 4) Status continually says "Initial Review" (e.g. no indication that an interview has been scheduled). 5) Applicants miss Interview as there is no indication of a meeting. 6) USCIS makes no attempt to contact applicants. 7) USCIS denies the I751 application, sends denial letter (which of course was received) and hands the case off to the Justice Department for "removal" proceedings. 8) Applicants are in shock and have to hand over major $$$ to lawyer and re-file the I751 application. 9) unclear what will happen next... Expired green card and a handful of papers indicating that my wife is still hear legally, but only a lawyer who deals with immigration can comprehend. Imagine if she gets pulled over for a traffic stop by our local police... I can't expect them to get it...

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

We haven't moved. One thing, is that we were out of the country from mid December through mid January and we had our mail held at the post office. I would assume that given a Feb 2 appointment, that the letter would have arrived while we were gone. Is it possible that the post office would have returned it for some reason? I'll call for the Infopass appointment today! Thanks!

I scheduled the Infopass appointment online. Scheduled for March 1st - the first available date. Does anyone recommend that we hire an immigration attorney? We are quite scared of this cirumstance as the letter states that the burden of proof on why the appointment was missed is on us.

Make an Infopass appointment asap and try to figure out what happened. Take a screen shot of the online status, it may help, and bring that along. Did you move or something that the letter could have been missed?

We haven't moved. One thing, is that we were out of the country from mid December through mid January and we had our mail held at the post office. I would assume that given a Feb 2 appointment, that the letter would have arrived while we were gone. Is it possible that the post office would have returned it for some reason? I'll call for the Infopass appointment today! Thanks!

Filed the I751 back in Sept. Paid the $495. Received the notice for biometrics and completed that in Nov. Checked the case status online every week from Dec until now and the status is 'under review'. Just received a letter stating that our petition was denied because of failure to appear at the interview on Feb 2. We never received notice of the interview and the case status online is still 'under review'. The letter goes on to say that my wife has 30 days to leave the country. What do we do?

My wife and I completed our AOS (I-485) interview on 11/14/07 at the Chicago office. The officer asked my wife and I a few questions (how/when we met, when we were married, and my wife for our phone number which she didn't know off hand without retrieving her cell phone) and took our bank statement, driver's licenses, car title and marriage certificate as evidence. The officer did not care to see our photos.

There was no decision at the end of the meeting. The officer indicated that she was going to do some additional background checks and then would provide a decision within 90 days.

I see that most people who post here received their decision on the spot at the end of the meeting - should we be concerned?

Also, the officer removed my wife's I-94 form from her passport and my wife will be traveling out of the country with just her advanced parole document/passport - will this be a problem?

Thanks for your help!

Dr LHA -

Thanks for your advice and clarification of the exit stamp process. My wife and I feel more at ease now.

Regards,

Rod

Been traveling to Argentina monthly for 5 years. The people working at the ticketing desk are definately Argentinians. They have been to training in Dallas (AA headquarters) and speak English but that doesn't guarantee that the are fluent with the U.S. immigration procedures (especially those that fall outside of the norm e.g. norm = Tourist, K-1, K-3, J-1, H-1, etc).

As for immigration when leaving... Absolutely will go through Argentina immigration. In my case (U.S. citizen) the officer will check my entry date, photo and ticket and then will stamp my passport with an exit stamp. Ditto process for my wife who holds an Argentina passport.

My wife just received her approved I-512L doc and we are planning a trip to her home country of Argentina. Because she came to the U.S. on a K-1 visa which was stamped when she arrived back in April, I am wondering what we can expect at the American Airlines ticketing counter and Argentina Immigration when she leaves Buenos Aires with this doc.

I called American Airlines today to see if there would be any issue getting her return ticket at the ticket counter using the I-512L as proof of eligibility to travel to the U.S. (along with her passport of course) and they couldn't figure out what the I-512L doc is. All the person could tell me is that a visa is required for citizens of Argentina. This worried me. I envision getting stuck at the counter trying to explain to someone who is not from the U.S. what this document is for and having them point to the K-1 visa which has already been stamped and telling us no way.

If we make it past the tick counter I am then worried about having a similar problem at the Argentina immigration when we try to exit to the plane.

What can we expect? Anyone have any problems with the I-512L out there that fall into this scenerio? Especially in Buenos Aires?

Thanks!!!!!!

Rod and Cony

My wife is from BsAs. We dealt with the embassy there and our interview went without any problems. Our only negative experiences in the process was the poor attitude of the Customs agent in Miami (which nearly left my wife deciding to go back to Argentina) and that American Airlines lost her luggage and most of her belongings.

Thank god for the the Customs agent who did her interview and processing. He was a Mexican American, spoke Spanish, and made her feel completely welcomed to the U.S.

As for American Airlines, they never did recover her lost bag. I had traveled with AA monthly to BsAs for 5 years without any problems. As luck would have it, the first problem would be on the day my wife moved from Argentina. Nice...

Great steaks!

Suerte!