AnneA

Devastating. What options do we have? Thinking of bringing him to the EU instead

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

If that's the case I want our fees returned asap

I'm 67 years old, and I have never seen anything quite like this.  It sucks, but it is what it is.   All any of us can really do is to stay safe, help others when we can, and stay busy.  This WILL pass in the coming months, and things will return to "normal"......

Is this pandemic serious? Absolutely!
 
Will some people die? Unfortunately yes!
 
However watching cable news one would think the world is ending. However China with a population of 1.3 billion recorded 3000 dead and new infections are now 19 a day. That’s in a population of 1.3 billion. 
 
I know some Americans just love to disparage China and doubt their numbers and its their prerogative. However China has closed all twelve emergency hospitals they built. That’s conclusive evidence they’ve tamed this devil virus. South Korea has this thing under control from just three weeks ago.
 
My takeaway from this is, the Sky is not falling, the world is not ending, and the 24/7 news cycle helps nobody but the cable channels. China slew this dragon in three months, the United States ultimately will overcome this in a few months. 
 
Nine months from now there will be a population boom boom from people being stuck indoors. Life surely will return to normal and the doomsday preachers will crawl into their holes.
 
 

This morning I got a text that our I-130 cases were approved. Our receipt date was August 8th. We had receipt numbers that started with IOE, but the receipt notices came from Nebraska - so I had assumed it was subject to the long wait time. But surprise! The cases were suddenly approved this morning.
 
I *just* got back from visiting them in Philippines 1.5 weeks ago... now I'll be going back to get them soon
 

Usually by showing evidence of being in the US at some time after said date. Or if you have the info about the canceled flight, that would be part of it, too.
Like I noted, it should get resolved even if it happens. USCIS is not oblivious to mistakes with I-94s. But avoiding the RFE (or outright denial + needing to appeal) is a lot better than being in that position of having to show you didn't do something.

You need to file a police report. That will speak volumes for any further issues down the road. File it sooner rather than later so you have the third party (the police) as witnessess that it happened. If you don't, it's just his word against yours. 

Okay well that’s sad that op would wish that with a child in the mix. It would lose a parent one way or the other. 

I certainly understand your anger about it all, however, dealing with Immigration, "assumptions" does not hold water.  When it says "Residence",  a K1 is not a resident, they are a non-resident immigrant until which time they have their AOS. (Adjustment of Status from non immigrant to LPR).    When we went for wifes AOS, the IO told us, do not send in paperwork even a day before as they will just cash the check, say thank you and give you a letter to try again tomorrow.   I thank my stars I found this site early, back before filing for I-129 as there are people here that to me have more smarts than some of those so called lawyers will ever have, and there are some great people here who offer guidance for free from the "Been There Done That" crowd.  Best of luck to you and yours.

Thank you. 
Maybe I will be the one person who can comeback with positive news or some kind of news to help others in the future. 

Am I understanding correctly that they want to bring back separate filing fees for the I-765 and I-131 when filing concurrently with the I-485?
 
Page 81 of the proposed rule: "DHS proposes to require separate filing fees when filing Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization and Form I-131, Application for Travel Document concurrently with a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, or after USCIS accepts their Form I-485 and while it is still pending."
 
That would make things even more difficult for those adjusting from K-1 visas (and probably other visa types that I have no knowledge about). 

We laughed till we cried 😂

We are not laughing at you. We are laughing from keeping from crying....

So....just increase the fees massively for everybody and they can hire more people to make it go faster?
There are technical challenges with this approach. The reason it take so long right now is because of the backlog, not really so much because of ongoing petitions. The latest stats I've seen (https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/Reports and Studies/Immigration Forms Data/All Form Types/Quarterly_All_Forms_FY19Q3.pdf) show they are processing roughly as many new forms as they are taking in, and sometimes more than they are taking in. Hiring a bunch of people to go through this would only be a temporary piece - once they get through the backlog, there's very little for them to do. And the lead time for hiring people (based on previous posts from a former IO) is several months before they can even take on the first form. It's hard to find a workforce to train for that long for a position that may only be around for several months then have little to do.
 
The main issue, IMHO, is lack of planning in most cases. They are always slow to respond to changes in workloads, and have no planning for anything unexpected. That's why have such large backlogs in the first place, which is the real issue...not so much their ability to handle the current processing load.