Demise

16 hours ago, God’s Grace27 said:

Hi guys, I received an update on my VAWA case status stating that my name was updated, although I haven't changed my name or address recently. The only recent update was my lawyer filing for expedited processing in January, which was denied. Any idea what this update means?

 

Thank you 

"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.

20 hours ago, momshie said:

Hi,

On I-30 form on the class admission; petitioner for child over 21yrs is under F32 category (petitioner arrived as derivative of spouse) do we answer Yes or No on the question "Did you gain lawful permanent residence status through marriage to US citizen or lawful permanent residence".  The answer seems Yes but would come to mind that this could be more directly related to those who has been petition directly by their spouse. 

 

 

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.

On 4/5/2024 at 9:26 AM, Adri.usa said:

if she files the vawa and tells them at the second interview that her vawa was filed would she still be put in removal or can they hold the I- 485 until after vawa approval?

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:

10 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

He is your biological child?  if yes,  then

He is USC or LPR?  If yes,  then

then he qualifies as relative

 

INA 212(i)(1)

• Qualifying relatives are generally limited to applicants’ U.S. citizen and LPR spouses and parents.

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-9-part-b-chapter-1

then

If he does not qualify as not your biological son,  u can forget this petition (IR5)

the USC father can come and marry and file a spouse visa 

go thru the long process and if mentioned to apply for the waiver at interview,  then file one

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.

18 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

 

Info on the reason for the misrep would be very helpful so that people can advise you better, and also info on why your son isn't a qualifying relative? t. 

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.

17 hours ago, Justwaiting516 said:

Hi all,

 

I went on the uscis site and it has now updated our form's processing time to 39 months, up from 37.5 last month. Has anyone heard what is happening with uscis this year, I thought the processing time was supposed to speed up because they hired a whole different team (HART) to be processing the vawa forms but it just seems like the wait time keeps going higher and higher.

 

@Demise

 

Thanks and hope y'all have a great week.

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.

35 minutes ago, J2020 said:

Is Covid vaccine still a requirement?

Yeah

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

7 hours ago, New display name said:

She received her Conditional permanent residence in 2021, we filed removal of conditions in 2023, removal of conditions is currently pending, can she she sign this form? Will it be considered claim of citizenship? 

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.

On 3/20/2024 at 12:35 PM, FirstTimer said:

 

Green Card was produced on March 8th, 2024 and on March 12th, 2024 Case was approved. But since than no update. 

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.

3 hours ago, wazzujoel said:

 

Thank you @Boiler and @Crazy Cat! 

 

Yes she is filing under CAA 1 day after the 1 year anniversary of arriving in the US. She arrived 4/7/2023, and it will be post marked 4/8/2024. 

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.

On 3/15/2024 at 2:30 PM, Dreamer7 said:

Feb 2022 i360 was showing “approved” today I got another notification “new card is being produced” 

Is this for ead? I’ve already got renewed ead which is good for 5 years

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.

5 minutes ago, Mahi Bansi said:

Hi fam!

 

I request if you can provide your opinion to my situation as I’m getting a little anxious. So, my ex-wife has been an abuser all through my marriage. I filed for Vawa in March-2022 and is still under process. I got separated in Jan-2022 and filed for divorce which got finalized in Sep-2023. I made sure to send her the original copy by mail, and pdf copy by email as well as through phone the day I received the divorce degree. She texted me a week ago asking about divorce and emailed me at same time asking to contact here otherwise threatening to get government involved. She says she wants to address something immediately and urgently but we have already divorced and maybe she forgot we got divorced because in the email she said “hey its your wife here”. I’m getting very anxious because I don’t want any contact with her. Should I not respond at all or should I just respond to never contact me as we are divorced and attach divorce copy along with proof that I sent her those last year. I am scared as she is crazy and might try to reach out to govt (USCIS) to harm me. She threatened the same when we lived together. Please advice. 

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.

13 hours ago, quistarrok said:

Sister and her husband are both Russians. US embassy in Russia is closed. That it why they will need to get immigrant visa in 3rd country and I need to pick US embassy in a 3rd country. Any potential issues here with US embassy in 3rd country?

 

They enter DV lottery every year.  

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".

47 minutes ago, jaysaldi said:

 

 

This is what she has done for the last two years, when the green card that authorizes entry to the USA bears a different name from her Cambodian passport.  She carries the marriage certificate.

 

But in those situations, she would be "flying on the Cambodian passport" under her maiden name and CBP would get its advance passenger information of her arriving on the Cambodian passport, despite her having green card in married name.

 

I just thought maybe the process might have to be different now. Like she can't show passport A to match the booking and then   show passport B in new name as proof she can enter the country. I worry the airline won't allow it.  Maybe I'm overthinking this.

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.

6 minutes ago, FirstTimer said:

That's another point why RFE is considering me the widow of a US Citizen... 

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

13 minutes ago, FirstTimer said:

Kindly have a look at the Initial RFE received for I485 asking for medical. Let me know if I have to submit any other documents

 

.

RFE.pdfRFE.pdf 

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.

Just now, FirstTimer said:

It's like a weird situation now. The attorney takes advantage of his services by asking $1000 for filling a form which doesn't take more than 5 minutes. 

The question here is that if  I send it by myself with express mail, do you think the immigration officer will accept this response? 

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.

1 minute ago, FirstTimer said:

I864W is pretty simple and I have already filled it out. I am shocked that my attorney is asking $1000 just to fill it.
Can I simply sign and send it to USCIS with a copy of the RFE and I360 Approval Notice? without including my attorney?

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.

2 minutes ago, FirstTimer said:

 

Can i say that my attorney didn't include I864W when Response to RFE was submitted by me? Also, do I have to include any supporting document I864W?

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.

14 minutes ago, FirstTimer said:

I filled out complete package I130, I131, I765, I864, and I485 in December 2019 then in November 2020 I filled out I360 and asked the Interview officer to hold on to my I485.

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.

9 minutes ago, FirstTimer said:

 

I didn't receive RFE regarding I864. The only RFE I received after I360 approval was asking for medical and medical was submitted. I am attaching the copy of RFE where they asked me for medical. 
Also, I received call from my attorney and they said immigration required I864 or I am not sure if she told me incorrectly and it's I864W. At this stage can I change my attorney because $1000 is too much for filling a form.

"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.

39 minutes ago, balo101 said:

i agree what @Demise said.

I am just wondering why would immigration call him to ask for that? wouldn't they send RFE?

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

11 hours ago, FirstTimer said:

Hello Family

After I360 approval my attorney received RFE for medical which says send us I864 affidavit of support or I360 approval notice.

In response to RFE medical was submitted with I360 approval notice. But today my attorney called me that they received call from immigration and my attorney said that immigration is about to denied my Green Card because I didn’t include I864 affidavit of support. My attorney asking me $1000 for I864 application. But when my I360 is approved why I need I864 affidavit of support?

can someone explain here. 
what I am thinking is that attorney is Lieing to me they might have received my Green Card and asking me for $1000.

can someone explain how could Uscis ask for I864 affidavit of support once I360 is approved… 

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.