Cheliano

On 9/27/2022 at 9:28 PM, shytown said:

Hello, sorry to hear about this bittersweet situation! I'm almost 13 months into the I-130 process still waiting for approval. Like you, I filed while I lived abroad and needed to request an address change once I moved to the US for a job via snail mail. 

 

I filed I-865 which is what you need to do if you're a citizen. Initially, the delightful folks at USCIS steered me the wrong way and told me to fill out an Alien's change of address form thinking I was not a citizen.

 

Anyway, I got a receipt fairly quickly after submission, but it's been over two months and my address is still not changed. I called them 1 month into waiting where they supposedly "manually inputted it" over the phone but this apparently accomplished nothing. Just a heads up regarding the urgency of your situation.

 

Regarding the expedite, I imagine it wouldn't hurt but it's probably not going to work. A lot of us with spouses abroad are in hardship situations, whether emotionally, financially, or all of the above and they don't care. What I'd suggest is to explore contacting an ombudsman about your situation to see if they can push USCIS. According to their homepage, one of the things they can help with is: "Certain cases involving an emergency or a hardship that fall under USCIS expedite criteria." Supposedly, they get back to you within 30 days. 

 

I hope this helps. Good luck, I know it's not easy.  

They are delightful, are they not?? Haha, the first man I talked to at USCIS assured me that I was in an illegal situation because I have 2 residences -- When I was skeptical, he said the reason he knew that is because of something he saw in the news about Hulk Hogan recently...Hmmm... Anyway...

After reading your response, I've pulled my foot off of the accelerator and have resigned myself to a rather slow process! I don't know what my new address will be yet. Might anyone know if I can put my parents' address down (the same one I use to vote and keep my license, etc)?

 

24 minutes ago, tofulollipop said:

No luck on my end. I ended up just sending an expedite request via snail mail to the Nebraska service center where our case was, which according to tracking arrived without problem as I requested a signature on delivery. Then nothing, they never contacted me or said anything regarding the expedite. Regardless, our I-130 got approved last month which was standard time based on our NOA-1. Sorry I can't provide more useful information.

Thanks for the update, in any case!

Hello! This is my first post on the forum. Thanks for any guidance!

I filed the i130 petition for my husband (Chile) in March 2022. We both live in Chile, but I have been offered a job in the US that is uniquely suited to my experience (hard to find a position like this), starting in November.

Question 1: If I go ahead with our 4-year-old son to take the job in the US while my husband works in Chile and waits for his visa here, we will go into debt every month, as the new job will not pay very much. On the other hand, I don't want to lose this job opportunity. Could this grounds for expedite due to financial hardship? I have already prepared budget examples, have the job offer letter, and a letter from the employer explaining why they need my particular skills/experience. I figure it's worth a try!

Question 2: I called USCIS about the expedite request, and they informed me that they cannot consider it right now because my mailing address on the i130 is my Chile address, not US-based. They informed me that I would need to change the address, and it can only be done via snail-mail to the Texas Service Center! Has anyone else changed their address and had any luck?

Finally, could I work with our embassy in Chile in any way?

I'm at the point where I'm just thinking about hiring a lawyer to handle the expedite request and the next steps. However, thought I'd reach out here first to see what you all thought!

On 5/25/2022 at 2:36 PM, tofulollipop said:

I just got off the phone with USCIS trying to request an expedite request. They say that since I have a non-US address on my I-130 application (I am living in Spain currently, though I am a US citizen), I will need to write postal mail to my service center to figure out how we can proceed and make an expedite request. This seems kind of silly to me that there is no way to contact the service center other than by postal mail, and not to submit a request but rather just to ask HOW I can submit a request. Has anyone had experience with this?

Hello tofulollipop! Has there been any update on your situation? I also just called USCIS trying to request an expedite, and was told the same thing. What did you end up doing? Thanks in advance for any info!

On 5/25/2022 at 4:41 PM, Devarj said:

Try working the issue with the local consulate or embassy. My expedited request was filed with the local consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. I contacted them several times with question and issues. All inquires and responses were handled by them not USCIS in USA. The I-130 was approved by them and then forwarded to NVC.

Devarj, could you share what you specifically requested, or how you worded things, in order to file an expedite with the local consulate? I am in Santiago Chile waiting on the i130 petition to be processed for my husband, and I think our situation may qualify for an expedite. Our embassy always seems closed off to such requests.