Demise

"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.

Yeah you can go around your lawyer. Generally I'd say that is not the best idea but given the situation (very easy form and lawyer that demands an outrageous payment for what's not even 5 minutes of work) I think it's justified.

You can say that as well, just explain the situation for why there's two responses to the RFE in your own words. The I-360 submitted with the previous response should be enough for that, if you are unsure, no harm in sending another copy.

Okay yeah, since you are switching from I-130 with an I-864 to an I-360 then you will need an I-864W, I-360 notice is proof of eligibility for exemption, but you still have to explicitly request an exemption via form I-864W. So basically: Print out the RFE Fill out, print, and sign form I-864 Print a short statement explaining the circumstances: "Lawyer responded to the attached RFE by providing medical and I-360 approval notice. Lawyer claims that USCIS called him regarding the I-864, so now I am submitting I-864W in addition to the previous submission by my lawyer". Then sign it. Then mail off of this to the USCIS office listed on the RFE.

"Submit all showing you are exempt from filing a form I-864". Hmm, now this is a good question, when did you file I-485, there was a period of time back when I-944 was a thing where seeking this exemption was just a checkbox on form I-485 itself, after they stopped requiring I-944 they just started asking for I-864W again. But if we were to take what the lawyer said at face value, where USCIS did explicitly request an I-864W, print out the RFE notice, fill out and sign form I-864W, attach a note that this is additional submission following submitting the medical alone, and send it out.

Yeah that's a good point. Immigration doesn't call you outside of some really unusual circumstances.

The RFE will say to submit an I-864. The correct thing to do in that case is to instead submit I-864W. The form is trivial: Fill out your personal information in Part 1. In part 2 tick box 1.d., sign and date under Requestor's Signature (Part 3, 6.a., 6.b.). Charging $1000 for this is just malpractice. Now, USCIS should've sent a copy of the RFE notice to your mailing address. If you didn't receive it, demand a copy from the lawyer and sent it in yourself. If you can't then figure out where your application is (ask a congressman or senator for help) and send it in as an unsolicited submission, attach a letter stating that your lawyer is giving you the runaround and failed to submit I-864 with the RFE so here you are submitting an I-864W of your own accord. You can also likely just give the I-864W to your congressman/senator and ask them to get it to USCIS on your behalf.