Demise

11 hours ago, MariaWithQuestion said:

Hi people of visajourney, i am uneducated about visa stuff and i would like some help with one question i have.

I had f1 visa 3 years ago. I went to usa for language school which was supposed to be 12 months.

After 4 months of studying, I returned back to my country because of family issues. 

I could not go back to my school and usa to complete my visa and school program. i stayed in my country.

I informed my school officials about not returning and they were happy to terminate my I20.

Nobody told me there is a problem but I never returned back to usa for school.

I never overstayed, i just didn't complete my school and returned early.

 

Is this a visa violation? will this affect my future visa applications?

I don't think I needed to contact us embassy or any other office about not returning to usa, but i am not sure if i made a mistake.

I wonder if not returning school and not staying in the usa until the end date of I20 is illegal or anything.

can someone please tell me your opinion? thank you.

No, that's not a visa violation. You did everything right, left the country and dropped out. You never fell out of status or anything.

As an aside that's not relevant to your case, even if you were to overstay, drop out, or otherwise violate your F-1 by for example working, it still wouldn't be a factor. F-1s are weird when it comes to calculating unlawful presence for re-entry bars and for the most part it that doesn't kick in until you get ordered removed or apply for something with USCIS and get denied. We've had a few people here who overstayed by years and left to do consular processing for an immigrant visa, or overstayed, did I-485, were denied, left within 180 days of the denial, and could do consular just fine.

12 hours ago, Aussielad said:

Correct up until a point. CRBA is not as easy as it seems due to the fact that his original proof of U.S. citizenship is required, plus both parents would have to appear before a consulate official. Also remember that she would also need his proof that he has had 5 years of continual U.S. residency through taxes, transcripts, etc, etc, which she does not have access too. 

My point was more that people get too hung up on CRBA when it is not the be-all-end-all document for children born abroad, nor does the proof have to be obtained before turning 18, only the legitimization needs to happen before then.

Still, you're right, baby mama can't make the kid a US Citizen without cooperation from the father. I even went digging into the USCIS policy manual and DOS foreign affairs manual, and conferring citizenship onto a foreign out of wedlock child requires US Father to agree to financially support said child. Now we can argue that agreement means, out of court settlement would likely tick that box, being outright ordered to pay would not.

You want my take on it all? Get the matters of custody and child support get sorted by a court. Give the mother the stuff to get the kid their citizenship or get the kid a US passport while they're in US. No point in punishing the kid due to mother being a dumbo. I definitely do agree that she's asking for King's Ransom there, child support payment of $1500 would require one to be making over $150k a year, and I think that's the only thing worth fighting against.

8 hours ago, Inzya said:

I have finally received my receipts in the mail today. I also received a letter from uscis saying that they have transferred my I-485 application from Nebraska to Vermont service center “in order to speed up processing”. Weird.

Although I have filled up an electronic notification form I haven’t received any email or text messages from them, so keep checking your mailbox.

This one is just out right hilarious because it looks like they moved VAWA over to Nebraska in order to exactly that, now it turns out that Nebraska can't handle it.

Doubly stupid because in a case like mine with an approved I-360 all they need to do is process the payment and pass it onward to the NBC.

18 minutes ago, Sandra G. said:

Recently I  encountered a case similar to yours. After waiting 10 weeks for the receipt to be issued, I inquired USCIS and they mentioned "resubmit the application". You were instructed to inquire within 60 days, then wait a few more weeks. I had more than 20 cases for which the receipts took five months to be issued. 

Yeah I'll wait and then keep harassing them. Bit annoying that I can't get an answer if they even got my mail or not. Definite yes would be wait, definite no would be refile, but this is just wait and hope they get their affairs in order.

On 8/7/2023 at 8:22 AM, MontseLe said:

I am getting a little frustrated I applied for VAWA back in October 2020. I have received a work permit maybe 8 months after applying and renewed it once as well. This is the status of my VAWA online and has been for 34 months now. Does this mean they have never asked for extra evidence or anything at all? 
 

 

Yeah, that is literally the "We received it" status for I-360. If they'd RFE you it'd say that they RFE'd you. If they'd approve it, it'd say that they mailed you the card.

Anyways, looks like it's still a ways away before when you can inquire what's the hold up. The humanitarian section of USCIS kinda sucks:

19 minutes ago, MCOBAQ said:

Non-immigration and non-family lawyer here. As others have said, and based on the facts we have, the child is not a USC and cannot become one unless your friend is willing to execute the proper papers and stand before a consular officer. No family court judge can confer US citizenship or even compel your friend to jump through those hoops. Likewise, the child would not be entitled to US social security or Medicaid benefits. 
Since your friend and Colombiana were never married, she has no claim to his house. Depending on what state he’s in, he may also have homestead protections which would prevent anyone (even a family court judge) from giving the house to Colombiana. 
Your friend may well owe child support, and there are international laws in place whereby a US family court could enforce the child support orders of a Colombiana court - if Colombiana ever got such an order. I doubt a Colombian court is going to award her the king’s ransom (appropriate word for what she’s trying to do here) that she’s asking for. 
Most importantly, and especially so in light of your friend’s government job, he needs to see a couple of lawyers (immigration and family). This will give him some good information, when knowledge is power. It should also give him some confidence and peace of mind.  I wish him good luck. 

The only thing missing for the kid to become a US Citizen is some kind of acknowledgement of paternity and the father voluntarily agreeing to financially support the kid (whether he actually does or not). Getting a CRBA makes everything easier but isn't a must and there's other ways to get documentary proof (apply for a US passport or file N-600) but the support requirement can't be bypassed (aside death) or coerced.

Still, Colombia isn't the right venue for child support here. US doesn't have reciprocity with it and a court in Colombia has no personal jurisdiction over a US Citizen living in US. Similarly a court in Georgia would lack personal jurisdiction over the father unless he has significant ties to Georgia, so only court that could order child support would be one in the state where he lives. The others could really only resolve the matters of custody and that's about that.

Then finally, if there is a dispute regarding custody matters that's a whole another can of worms that would need a good international family lawyer.

So it all really depends on what OP's friend wants. Does he want the kid? If not then do nothing. If yes then wait until he gets sued in a US court and counter-sue for custody. He could likely also sue in Colombia but I feel like courts there probably wouldn't be too keen on giving the kid to a foreigner.

2 hours ago, Inzya said:

Hey! As I have previously mentioned they have received my I-485 application on June 14.

They have just recently charged my cc on July 28th.

Still no receipt.

I would suggest you to wait a bit longer since they have received your application later than mine if I remember correctly. Hopefully they process your payment this week 🤞

Best of luck 🍀 

 

Yeah this is pretty much the only reason why I'm just still anxiously waiting. Someone else mentioned it takes them like 6-8 weeks to issue a receipt notice which is completely ridiculous.

17 hours ago, Marceloabl said:

Hello all, my fiancé is from Brazil and he will be coming to the US mid next year for adjustment of status. My question is, with the I-131, the Reentry permit, can we apply for that at the same time as his adjustment of status forms? All I’ve found online is that the Reentry permit is for those who are residents already, and with my fiancé needing to return to Brazil after receiving his green card to complete one last year of schooling, I am trying to figure this out.

 

The alternative, from my understanding, is that if we cannot file the I-131 with his adjustment of status, we have to wait for him to receive his green card and then apply for the Reentry permit. Thoughts? 

 

Thanks!

Why does he need a re-entry permit? That's a document to take a trip that's between 1 and 2 years long without abandoning your permanent residency.

If he needs to travel in the meantime he'd file I-131 but for advance parole, not a re-entry permit.

20 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Are you sure the transaction didn't get flagged as fradulent and credit card payment got declined? This is a fairly common thing when paying USCIS fees with credit cards.

Yeah I'm sure, I have email and text alerts set up for declined/blocked transactions and they should appear in the logs too. Moreover, USCIS does a tiny amount of processing on a rejected application since they will give you a rejection notice with a number on it (not sure if it's a receipt number or some other internal control number). The fact that it just went fully poof after USPS delivered it to their PO Box makes me suspect that that it's just laying somewhere on some stack somewhere.

Online filing for I-485s can't come fast enough. Have to do something extraordinary to lose a digital application but I'm sure they'd still manage.

1 minute ago, balo101 said:

Sorry to hear that. How did you pay them? check or credit card?

Credit card, I've been looking at my statements daily to see if they finally charged it. So right now I'm just wondering if I should wait, or if I should just refile, the issue is that I don't want to get double charged because you know, $1225 is a decent chunk of money.

23 hours ago, jamaica fineness said:

Hi ladies & gentlemen can anyone help me with this question?

what forms & documents do you need to file for a derivative child overseas under the age of 21

 

                                          (approved vawa / green card holder)

                                                               Thank you 

I-824 to pass the case to DOS so your kid can follow to join.

Include the following:

Copy of Birth certificate of the kid with translation if not in English

Copy of your green card

Copy of your kid's passport (if available)

Copy of I-360 approval notice

Then it's going to be a DS-260, I-864W, and whatever form they do their medicals on.

Filing I-824 satisfies the "sought to acquire" requirement in CSPA, so as long as they don't marry they should be able to tag along as an IB2 without issue.

Welp. I'm kinda at a loss here. I followed up with my senator to see what the hell is going on with my I-485. Got a response that "we have no record of a receipt being issued, I'll tell the mailroom to try to look for it, check back in 60 days".

On 8/2/2023 at 10:15 PM, OlesiaP said:

Hi! I came to the USA on Fiance visa, got married, applied AOS but then husband died, I notified USCIS and they request a substitute sponsor from the relatives which I do not have. His family also can not help. How can I stay here legally? I read about widow petition. Who know more?

Well here's the thing, if you were petitioned on I-130, the death would automatically turn that into a widow I-360 and USCIS would at most want an I-864W from you.

But since you were petitioned as a fiance (i.e. on an I-129F) there's no real procedure for turning an I-129F into an I-360. Yes, K-1/2 visas are weird.

So you've got two options:

1. Find someone else to sign an I-864 for you, that can be any US Citizen or Permanent Resident over the age of 18 who makes enough to be at or above 125% of US Poverty Line. Got an uncle, friend, friend/relative of your late spouse, anyone? Ask them, worst they'll do is say no.

2. File I-360 as a widow, include a copy of your marriage certificate, proof of your late spouse's citizenship, and proof of death.

Then once you get the I-360 receipt notice, write to the service center that has your I-485 asking to transfer the underlying basis for adjustment from I-129F to I-360 and include copy of the I-360 receipt notice and form I-864W. If you have an interview coming up, go there, and give it those to them in person. If you don't have it yet, ask them to hold it for 30 days so you can get these.

For those that need it: Transfer of Underlying Basis

Since you're looking to switch from one category where any overstay issues aren't a factor to another, and both the I-129F and I-360 originate from the same person that got you the K-1 there'd be no issues with switching it over, provided it doesn't get denied by then.

I would wait until October before panicking to see what the bulletin does for real. I can definitely imagine scenarios where USCIS and DOS issued too many in one go (keep in mind that we're still working through the bottleneck from the pandemic) and had to retrogress to stay under the statutory cap.

CSPA age is Age on the first day the priority date becomes current minus time I-130 was pending.

Since it was pending for 2 years 2 months you have until you're 23 years and 2 months old for the priority date to become current and then you have 1 year to file DS-260 to lock that in place. Past that point it really doesn't matter when it actually gets issued.

You are unlikely to age out in this case. Just stay unmarried and if you do turn 21, make sure your father doesn't naturalize until you're in US since the age at naturalization does override the CSPA age. Alternatively yeah if he's able to naturalize before you turn 21 you'd be upgraded to IR2 which don't age out at all.

17 hours ago, Psychokarken said:

She didn’t take my last name. She is still using her ex husband last name.

Okay yeah in that case put that as the current name and the maiden name under previous names used and that's that.

21 hours ago, Psychokarken said:

My wife was divorced and she kept using her ex husband last name. 

She has this name on all the documents we are going to submit.

The only document that still has her old name is her birth certificate. 

We don’t know what to put in the section where it asks for other names that have been used.

Also do we need a proof of name change? And if we do what would it be? Because she didn’t change her name through a court. She changed it through a social security office.

Thanks!

Other names used is self-explanatory. Put her maiden name, and her previous married name there.

For evidence of name changes:

Maiden -> First Married: Marriage certificate to her ex, also include a copy of her divorce order showing that she's free to marry.

First married -> Second Married: Marriage certificate between you two.

You can also put an explanation in the last page of the form explaining "I was born Jane Doe, married to Tom Smith, took his last name, divorced, didn't go back to my maiden name, then I married to my current spouse Andy Jones, and took his last name."

17 hours ago, I485Applicant said:

Hello friends!

 

I have a question from a family member.

 

If I came here on a K1 Visa, got married to a US citizen, and am going to apply for an I-485 with my spouse - I heard it is possible for my spouse to withdraw my application. Is there any way to prevent that? Can I prevent my US citizen spouse from withdrawing my I-485 application before I get my green card?

Spouse can withdraw I-864 and without that the AOS is toast and you can't really replace that. Like you can't have some other sponsor take it over.

Still, I need to ask what prompted this question? Are you worried about something specific?

9 hours ago, Family said:

As I understand it, K-1 spouse  need a new basis to adjust ( a new USC husband)..a bit premature since OP just married ..and not sure bonafides would pass either @Timona’s infamous test or USCIS threshold…for what I presume is a very short lived marriage. Add to that the fact that when a USC pet/spouse “ withdraws “ anything ( I-130 , I-129 F) ..the first thing they pull is financial support…

Hopefully OP clears up a few details.

 

K-1s can actually adjust via the marriage to the original petitioner despite a divorce if the basis for adjustment is the I-129F (Matter of Sesay), the thing is that would still require cooperation from the original petitioner in not pulling the I-864. Getting a new husband actually won't work for AOS since K-1s and K-2s can only adjust via marriage to the original petitioner (this can be the original I-129F, an I-130, or a widow(er) or VAWA I-360).

In cases where K-1 enters and ends up marrying someone else you actually have to proceed as if you entered without inspection with the caveat that a VAWA I-360 still wouldn't let you adjust and you'd need to do consular and seek exemption from the unlawful presence bar if applicable. Same thing with K-2s, just for parent's marriage.

20 minutes ago, Jennah22 said:

 

 

 

 Can someone advice me what evidence needed to submit wit form 864W? 

 

Nothing, just fill it out, check box 1.d., sign, and send it out.

On 7/17/2023 at 8:21 AM, Princeadem said:

They have congratulated me and I submitted my passport for visa. I received a message from them that my wife’s earnings seemed below eligibility therefore my passport was returned. But her income was more than 50k , we were surprised with the decision. I believe there is more to that as she earned above poverty level 

Yeah that's weird, did she include a copy of her taxes and was there a financial cosponsor (yes I know there shouldn't be)? Does she have any kids? Any capital losses that'd decrease the Adjusted Gross Income or anything?

On 7/16/2023 at 10:24 PM, Princeadem said:

There is no polygamy here as we are the same in question. She was my fiancé and now we are married. She filed for me as fiancée 

Just file I-130/I-130A and if the question comes up down the line just explain that you misunderstood the process.

5 hours ago, hummingbird0909 said:

Hi, this is really unfortunate, but our I-612 got denied recently. (EH waiver to a USC spouse) What are our options moving forward? any advice? our lawyer mentioned re applying. Our initial and very emotional thought is to just go home and serve the 2 yrs. But the lawyer mentioned that by doing that, we would have to overcome another waiver w/c is the I-601 and that can add 1-3+ years (processing time rn) to the 2years.  We are at lost right nowx and we are still waiting on the denial letter to come thru mail. so we are still confused on what grounds did they deny our waiver to. 

 

Please if anybody is on the same boat, or had been thru this situation. We would greatly appreciate any input. 

Can you get a no objection statement from your country's consulate? That's the generally easier option instead of doing I-612 for J-1/2 foreign residency requirement.

15 minutes ago, Inzya said:

Hi Demise. Did you hear from them by any chance? They have received my package on June 14th and still nothing 😕

Nothing, messaged my senator yesterday to have them follow up.

Just now, Darryl_F said:

My divorce lawyer was not an immigration lawyer. However, I did talk to an immigration lawyer (didn't use them). And they told me I had to pay this for the obligation of support for 10 years. Which, he stated was unrelated to my divorce settlement. So that's where I got that info. 

Seriously, get a second opinion. It also possible that you misunderstood "being on the hook for and have to make at least 125% of poverty line" for "you have to pay 125% of poverty line".