Demise

The 5 year rule for sponsoring a spouse after you got your green card via marriage is only applicable to permanent residents. If you naturalize then it's no longer applicable and you would be able to sponsor your new spouse without any additional requirements. Moreover the act of naturalization would move the spouse from F2A to IR. F2A is currently backlogged, IR has no numerical limitations. Be mindful of any stepchildren, any unmarried under 21 would get to tag along on their parent's F2A petition, after naturalization any that were under 18 when you married would need their own I-130, if there's any that were over 18 when you married but are still under 21 then K-1 visa would be a better option to let them tag along.

Regarding USCIS being late on the receipt: Technically those things are supposed to be dated as of the day they arrived. However, parents of US Citizens are immediate relatives and as such are eligible to adjust their status after an overstay similar to spouses. So if USCIS processes it late or is late on issuing the notice or you drop the ball and file late, then that's ultimately no big deal, just make sure your parent avoids the 100 mile of border area where CBP has jurisdiction until the I-485 receipt notice arrives. That being said, option #3 would likely be the best. Alternatively, you could hire a lawyer and fill out G-28, the lawyer will get a duplicate of any notice sent to you so if one fails to arrive the other should.

Immigration judges have no jurisdiction in matters of citizenship. Even when you get sworn in as a citizen that's before an Article III court. If you try to naturalize or claim derived citizenship as a defense to removal the judge can only postpone until USCIS or DOS resolves the matter. If you naturalized by fraud then it's an article III court that has to void your naturalization before an immigration judge can order you removed. Likely what she'd have to do is either file N-600 to get USCIS to issue a certificate of citizenship, or try with the NY passport office to fight the decision like yeah kid was here when he was 1, he wouldn't remember and answered incorrectly, but originally moved to establish residency until unforeseen circumstances forced them to move back. Last option is to sue the state department in federal court.

Yeah. Lets say that PD takes 41 months and USCIS sits on it for 36 months, that's 5 months that'd count towards his CSPA age which would come out to under 21 so yeah he'd be covered. Like lets say your wife gets her visa, arrives, and files in June. She can file with the stamped immigrant visa, she doesn't have to wait on the physical green card. June 2024 + 41 months = November 2027 Approx age in November 2027 = 23 years 1 month old Minus time I-130 pending (lets presume 3 years) = 20 years 1 month old So CSPA would apply and he would be able to immigrate as an F2A. Lets just hope that F2A backlogs don't get any worse and that USCIS will keep sitting on applications like this for a long time.

Small correction, I counted wrong, he's turning 20 this year, so born 2004, so he'll be 21 on October 22, 2025, and in the example provided it should be 2028 rather than 2029, but all the other math holds.

He'd be 22 then and naturalization would move him over to F1. Age at parent's naturalization overwrites normal Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) age. If CSPA age would let him immigrate as an F2A it's instrumental to not naturalize until the son is in US. CSPA Age is calculated as follows: Actual age on the date the priority date became current or date the I-130 was approved if the category is current minus time the I-130 was pending. So: Her son's birthday is October 22nd Lets say your wife enters as a permanent resident and files an I-130 on June 22nd. The I-130 current processing for F2A child varies on service center, but it's over 3 years across the board (my guess is that USCIS sits on applications like this to allow more to fall under CSPA). Lets just say USCIS sits on it for exactly 3 years. That means that the son would be covered under CSPA until he's 24 years old on October 22, 2029. Priority dates only move on the 1st of the month, so his priority date would have to become current (according to the final action dates chart) by October 1st, 2029. Then he has 1 year to file DS-260 to lock in his age, assuming he didn't file early under the dates for filing chart in case of which he's good to go once the priority date becomes current. He should do this ASAP since a retrogression would prevent him from filing, but it wouldn't knock him off once he's already locked in. He has to remain unmarried until he's in US. Your wife should not naturalize until he's in US.

"Name was updated" and "address was applied" are basically looked at and did nothing status updates, my guess is that in their system putting the case back in the queue involves doing something to it, and these are the simplest options available. Basically - someone took it off the queue to look at it to see if it warrants an expedite and ticked the option for name update in order to put it back.

Answer no. That question is mainly meant to weed out people who came as IR or F2A spouses (VAWA spouses also count), divorced, and are now trying to sponsor a new spouse where there's additional requirements (be an LPR for 5+ years, naturalize, spouse died, or you prove by clear and convincing evidence that the previous marriage was not entered into to avoid immigration laws). This section is not applicable for derivative spouses in any category that allows them, and it's not applicable to sponsoring one's child anyways.

Bring an I-360 receipt notice to the interview and have them switch the I-485 over. If she doesn't have the receipt letter instead tell them that it was filed/will be filed, and to hold the I-485 in abeyance and she'll get them the I-360 ASAP. Then mail in a copy to the field office that did the interview. This is what's known as transfer for underlying basis, I-485 doesn't get denied, it just gets moved from one petition to the other and USCIS won't place someone with a pending I-485 into removal proceedings. On the bright side one does not have to pay another filing fee for I-485 while doing so. On the other side, obviously nothing can be done about the I-485 until the I-360 is approved, so the I-485 will get sent to Vermont or Nebraska and sit there until I-360 is approved.

I'm guessing this is regarding the new fee schedule, you'll be fine:

You are misreading what you are posting. There's a difference between being a relative (i.e. having some sort of family connection), being a relative who can sponsor (USC parent, USC spouse, USC son/daughter, USC sibling over 21, LPR parent, LPR spouse) and being a qualified relative for a waiver, which for fraud waivers is limited solely to USC/LPR spouses and parents of the applicant/beneficiary. No idea where you are getting that: 1. He's not a biological son 2. That'd matter in the first place, adopted children can sponsor their parents, as can children that were legitimated despite lack of a blood relation, as can stepchildren as long as the marriage was entered before the child's 18th birthday, divorce or death of the parent doesn't automatically terminate a stepchild-stepparent relationship either. Moreover, the sponsor and the qualifying relative do not have to be the same person. So it is possible for a USC son/daughter to petition the mother in IR5 and for her LPR spouse to be the qualifying relative for a waiver. Doesn't even have to be a family sponsorship category.

Son/daughter/child simply isn't a qualifying relative for a misrepresentation waiver (INA 212(i)). Only spouse/parent(s) are. Same with unlawful presence waivers. Child/son/daughter is a qualifying relative for CIMT waivers for example.

I half suspect that they put the estimated time on like the 95th percentile (they claim that it's the 80% mark but I don't think that's very accurate). Basically they get to tell most service request "sit down and wait" since most except the unlucky few will fall within their claimed time limit. Now, I'm not exactly sure how long it takes I-360 lately since I haven't been paying close attention to it. Mine was approved back in 2020 after 27 months and I was quite the outlier. On the flip side my local field office lists 17.5 months for I-485, I filed mine back in mid-June 2023 and have an interview at end of April. Last part is that they recently (1-1.5 years ago?) switched systems and basically ended up adopting a last-in-first-out approach on applications. Basically whatever is in the new system gets processed fairly quickly, whatever is left behind in the old system gets worked on very slowly, the overestimate on processing times likely is meant to keep people quiet in the old slow queue.

Yeah

Got an interview notice. That's annoying, I thought that getting an RFE for medicals means it was waived. Oh well.

No. "US Person" means solely from the tax law perspective and that includes permanent residents and then everyone else that has lived more than enough days in US to be considered a resident for taxation, pretty much in order to be considered a "non-resident alien" and get to skip on taxes you have to essentially come and go very infrequently. So yeah, she can sign it without any issues, she's claiming to be "or US person" so there's no false claim of citizenship going on here.

The green card being produced is a bit of a legal fiction from USCIS. That's just when they order it to be printed, it likely doesn't exist until the day when they mail it out.

Then there's no underlying petition in that case. Part 2, she'll tick box 1.f. box 1 for "The Cuban Adjustment Act", Part 2, items 3 for the receipt number and date of the underlying petition will just be left blank or she can write "N/A" in there.

Yeah that's the C31 EAD. Basically there's a box on the I-360 for VAWA cases "I'm in the United States and request an Employment Authorization Document" if you tick it, upon I-360 approval they will issue you a C31 EAD. You can have multiple EADs, just use the C09 one since it's the better deal.

Block her and forget her, if she keeps trying otherwise then get a family lawyer and have them send her a cease and desist, followed by filing a no contact or restraining order. USCIS is prohibited by law from taking anything the abuser says into account for VAWA cases, similarly USCIS as a matter of policy doesn't take former spouses seriously because if they had to investigate every marriage that went sideways with a salty US Citizen then that'd be literally the only thing they'd be doing.

Biggest issue is just getting there. Probably should designate Almaty, Kazakhstan or Tashkent, Uzbekistan as the processing post. Warsaw, Poland is the currently designated as the processing post for Russian citizens but Poland basically bans Russians from entry, though that could be worked around by flying to any other Schengen Zone country (e.g. Germany) and crossing over the border into Poland (internal borders for Schengen are unstaffed and don't perform any kind of inspection). Alternatively you could probably just put Moscow, Russia as the post and deal with it once the time for an interview comes. What you put on the I-130 is more of gentle suggestion than a strict requirement on the state department, they will schedule it wherever they see fit and if that doesn't work for you for any reason you have to argue with the state department to move it elsewhere. Only thing that designating the post on the form does is tell USCIS "this person is abroad, forward this I-130 to the national visa center on approval" with the alternate option being "this person is in US, hold onto it for AOS".

You probably are, it's common for one spouse to take another's last name on marriage (generally wife taking husband's with other options being possible), if the photos and dob match, and you have a marriage certificate that bridges the two names then the airline will understand that this is the same person. Their biggest concern is boarding people who are not authorized the enter US because they get fined for that.

My guess is that the agent that held your I-485 pending an I-360 ticked the wrong box.

Write in the letter that you switched to VAWA I-360. The RFE incorrectly identified you as a widow(er) of a US Citizen. But I-360 approval notice, I-864W, and a short statement is all you'll need. Worst case they'll interview you and you can correct the I-485 at the interview, or they'll RFE or NOID you for a new form I-485.

Yeah they will. Just include a copy of the RFE. USCIS is notorious for having no idea what to do with unsolicited submissions, with the RFE they will immediately know that this goes to this case, oh there's an already a response, attach this one too.