Demise

That'd actually make sense. I-485 originated in Irving, TX, but all the time it was in the VAWA unit at VSC it'd be outside of the view of most regular employees. Upon denial it likely got bounced back where it came from originally (so, Irving, TX). So upon filing the I-290B the local office or Irving had no idea what to do with it, and bounced it to the AAO, which then sent it to Vermont. Whoever handled the service request just can't see the transfer to the VAWA unit (because of the privacy protections) and just told you what they can see. So, long story short, to check what's actually going on you'll need a senator or congressman to inquire on your behalf. Normal service requests and infopasses fail on VAWA cases. VAWA unit is also pretty bad at responding directly to applicants so the only way to get an answer as to what's going on is to get congressional help (privacy release lets the representative inquire about a VAWA case and USCIS legally has to take congressional inquiries seriously).

C10 is pending cancellation of removal. You can try asking your congressman/senator to inquire on your behalf and see what happens. Just give them any reason why you need the employment authorization. Still, why are you doing COR? There's only a few good reasons to do it: 1. You are inadmissible and don't qualify for a waiver, which for VAWA is very few things since you can overcome things like a permanent bar with an I-601 (in other contexts it's COR or leave for 10 years and then file I-212). 2. The 2 year filing deadline after termination of marriage has lapsed. 3. You were never married (or believed you were married (i.e. bigamy)) and are instead claiming by a mutual out of wedlock child of an abusive USC/LPR. 4. K-1/2 entrants who (or whose parent) married someone wouldn't be eligible to AOS but should be eligible for COR. Unless this is VAWA NACARA which I'll be honest, you'd be the first I've ever seen. You could maybe try a mandamus. Depends if you are confident that it can be approved with no further RFE or NOID. Mandamus just forces a decision, that decision can be good or bad. Also, 1 year on an I-601 isn't obscene so the lawsuit likely wouldn't get far. Main question here is what's the status of the I-601? I-290B reopened the I-485, but approval of the I-290B/I-485 hinges on the I-601. Also I'm really curious about why your case is currently at the AAO. I-485s normally don't end up there (mainly because most grants of AOS are discretionary and don't give you the option to appeal) unless the service center has no idea what to do about you and needs an advisory opinion.

The depends where you count from. Entry? A smidge under 20 years. From I-360 filling? A bit under 6 years (though that was on me since I didn't want to deal with courts for a while, Trump's former AG made getting a termination next to impossible). From I-485 filing? Around 1 year.

If I were to guess they decided that you need an interview, scheduled it, and then caught themselves for some reason. My guess is that the reason for this is because you transferred the underlying basis for the I-485, it was filled out for an I-130, but you are adjusting via an I-360, so plenty of answers on it are just no longer accurate. USCIS doesn't RFE for amended forms (outside of I-864s and I-693s) as far as I know so the only option for them to fix it is summon you for an interview, do the corrections on the spot, and have you sign for them. Then there might be other things they wish to question you over like an EWI, prior removal proceedings, arrests, or convictions. It might also be just plain old bad luck or your case being crazy enough that it makes good training material. When I had my interview the office was empty aside like 2 others who I gather were an asylum case and a marriage case. My own was a VAWA adjustment, after an EWI, after terminating messy removal proceedings (EWI, detained on entry, bailed out, ordered removed in-absentia, reopened, admin closed, recalendared, terminated). There were two trainees present during mine. So I guess I was summoned specifically because I was good training material. When they schedule you really depends on the office in question. If it's somewhere busy like NYC then yeah you'll be waiting for a while. If it's somewhere less busy (like, lets say Boise, ID) then it might be a few weeks out, my own (Minneapolis, MN) was pretty quick. So what can you do? Not much. You can try to maybe preempt the whole I-485 correction process by taking an I-485, filling it out as it stands currently for adjustment on I-360, write AMENDED on top of the first page, include an I-864W if you haven't already, provide documents for anything bad that's new like arrests or convictions, date and sign. Write a cover letter explaining that you are providing an amended I-485 due to a change of underlying basis, other possible factors like a divorce, and just passage of time. Mail that to the field office and who knows, maybe it'll be enough for them to just skip the interview and approve you. Otherwise it is just hurry up and wait. Yeah I know, it sucks, when I filed mine I was checking the status almost daily unless I knew the case literally can't move. So checking daily between submission and RFE for medicals, checking daily between when I sent in the RFE and when I got called in for an interview, and then checking daily between the interview and when the green card finally was mailed (bonus points that I was in the middle closing on a house and moving at the time, the day it was scheduled to arrive I took off from work, went to the old apartment, and would check the tracker between packing and moving down all the remaining stuff, all in all my 7 seater SUV was barely legal to drive, back is completely full, can't see out the rear view mirror, I can barely see out the right one because there's an AC unit in the passenger seat). So yeah, it is anxiety inducing but the relief when it's all done is just incredible.

I wouldn't really put too much weight on the order they arrived in. Emails can be weird, I've definitely had emails come in wrong order previously. Same as I've had emails somehow get stuck and arrive a few days later. Check what it says on uscis.gov for the case status. It could be that they scheduled an interview, looked it over again, and decided that you don't need one or they put some invalid day in (e.g. on a holiday) and cancelled it. It is usually a request for initial evidence since technically it is something that should've been submitted with the I-485.

Not sure why it'd end up in premium processing specifically since premium processing isn't available for VAWA, my guess is that someone checked the wrong box when moving it to Nebraska. It wouldn't hurt to ask your congressman or senator to inquire on your behalf as to what happened there exactly. That being said, Nebraska has a humanitarian unit similar to one in Vermont that deals with VAWA, SIJ, U-visas, T-visas, and possibly some others. The forms do get shuffled around to basically balance the load between the two centers. Processing time I'm not sure, on the bright side as long as you filed for the renewal while the prior c09 was still valid then the extension letter serves as automatic extension for 180 days.

This is one of those reasons to hang onto an old passport that was used to enter into US, since even if you can't find the I-94, the stamp itself is generally enough to prove at least the procedural regularity in admission (you showed up, presented yourself to CBP or in the year 2000 to the INS, and were allowed to enter) which is generally enough for marriage AOS. When it comes to searching online, electronic I-94s became a thing in 2013, so the system likely won't return anything no matter how you try to twist or misspell the name. There's also the big question of how long those entries remain searchable and if they were ported over in the first place. You can try searching for his parents info if he came with them, if you can find their record that'll help in locating his. So, first order of business would be to file FOIA with CBP. That can either be done by filing a paper G-693 or via SecureRelease: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/faq. Provide as much information as you can to help locate the record like name, date of birth, country of nationality, port of entry, approximate date of entry or range, and information of other people who entered at the same time (like if husband came with parents that information can help track down the record). Another option would be file a FOIA with USCIS for a copy of his A-file. This is unlikely to pull down his I-94 or other record of entry but who knows, maybe he submitted it previously when he first applied for DACA or at least listed the numbers to get another FOIA with CBP going or to file I-102 should that fail.

In general for a child to derive citizenship via a parent all of these have to be true 1. You're a US Citizen (whether by birth, naturalization, or operation of law) 2. Child is a permanent resident 3. Child is living in your physical and legal custody 4. Child is under 18 So in this case: As long as the child is under 18, living with you, and you naturalize while she's under 18 then yes, she will become a citizen by operation of law. USCIS won't issue you anything at your naturalization. You will either need to file N-600 for a certificate of citizenship or apply for a US passport for her.

It takes a while for it to move between "card was produced" and sending out the approval notice. My own was approved in November 2020, I didn't get the I-360 approval notice until March 2021. That being said, the card being printed means it was approved, you simply cannot be issued a C31 without the I-360 being approved. What to do about it really just depends on what the circumstances of your case are: If you already filed I-485 (concurrently with I-360, while I-360 was pending, or transferred an I-485 from a different petition to I-360), then you don't need to do anything. If you haven't filed I-485 yet: If you are able to file with USCIS (not in removal proceedings, didn't enter as a K-1/2 who failed to adjust via the fiance/parent's fiance) - then you can just file I-485 with just the receipt If you are in removal proceedings then you unfortunately have to wait on the approval notice to seek a termination. I'd recommend asking a senator/congressman to nudge USCIS to send you the approval notice. If you are straight up ineligible to file for AOS because you entered as K-1/2 and the VAWA claim came from abuse by some other US Citizen or LPR then it depends if you denoted whether you will file for AOS or do consular processing on the I-360. If you said you'll AOS then you'll need to wait for the notice and file I-824. If you said you'll do consular processing then you don't need to anything, USCIS will forward the petition to the NVC. If you are inadmissible for one of the kiss of death inadmissibilities like false claim of citizenship, then you're basically just screwed and the best you can do is just keep renewing the C31 because there just isn't anything that can be done. You can try to file and argue that it doesn't apply (e.g. due to a timely retraction, or someone acting on your behalf made it) but all in all in a situation like this you're likely just completely screwed.

It depends on what they want to do with you because there's 2 way about this: They can either swear you in the same day right after the interview, or they can send you to a mass ceremony where they'll swear you and a few dozens of others together. In the first case it should be after the 3 year mark. In the second case it can be before, the ceremony should be after the 3 year mark. Should they stray from this (like try to swear you in before the 3 year mark), you should push back and ask them to reschedule and if they still push ask for it in writing that the IO understands that you haven't hit the 3 year mark yet and chooses to naturalize you regardless. There have been horror stories where they naturalized someone too early and then tried to claw it back later, even though you'd likely prevail in court (denaturalization has to come from an article III court, and they do have power over matters of citizenship so you could seek relief like changing the date on the certificate) it's just a massive pain in the rear to have to end up there because the OI can't count. You know, it's like that joke "What nobody wants but everyone wants to win? A lawsuit.".

It can be anything really. Plenty of people get status updates of "updated name" or "updated address" or similar. My suspicion is that in majority of cases that's just a do-nothing status update, basically someone took it off the stack for some reason, and in order to put it back they need to do something to it, and just clicking on update name and then apply is the least intrusive option. So unless someone is actively trying to screw with you and would actually risk jailtime to set your name to something stupid, I wouldn't worry about it.

I-360: $0 I-485: $0 I-765: $0 I-131: $0 I-864W: $0 I-693: $0 to file, civil surgeon will charge you for the medical exam Fee schedule can be found here, and while the fee hikes here and there have been a net negative basically all VAWA forms are free now. Only exception being N-400 and I-290B. Everything else: waivers like I-601, I-601A, I-212 and any related forms like renewal/replacement I-765/I-131, I-751, or I-824 are also free. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/g-1055.pdf

Priority date has to be current as per the "dates for filing" table or just current in general in order to file I-485. Aside for a I-526 (and maybe some EB-4s since there's like 30 of them) you don't need the petition in question to be approved first and can file while its pending. Currently the dates for filing dates for F2A are like 3 months back. So in theory you could file an F2A I-130 or I-360 and then a few months later file I-485 once the chart catches up. In this case if an I-130 was filed then the I-360 can inherit the priority date even if the petition was denied, withdrawn, or revoked, make sure to attach a copy of the receipt or some other information to help track it down and file I-485 concurrently with the I-360. https://niwaplibrary.wcl.american.edu/wp-content/uploads/Aleinikoff__41696_1B42EBEED3605.pdf

Nope. Unless you snuck out of the country they'll know when you entered, when you expired, and when you left. Even if you did that and somehow there's no record of your departure, they'll just put the burden of proof on you to prove when you left.

I mean it all depends on your specific circumstances. Like why did you fall out of status (ideally due to no fault of your own) and whatever you have to return to in your country of origin, like family, house, job lined up after you graduate, that sort of thing. Well, stay not really since you'd still be out of status and could be deported. It's a fuzzy thing since there's being in US illegally and then there's the whole thing of accruing unlawful presence where 180 days trigger a 3 year ban and over a year triggers a 10 year ban. Only thing you got lucky on by happening to overstay an F-1 rather than any other visa is that those are not applicable to you since due a quirk of regulations you never accrued any unlawful presence despite being in US illegaly, so you didn't get outright banned but you will still have an uphill battle to convince a consular officer that you will come to US, do your studies, and leave on time.

Unlawful presence doesn't start ticking for D/S admission until either: 1. USCIS makes a formal finding of being out of status while seeking some other benefit (e.g. denies AOS) 2. IJ enters a removal order Then it starts ticking from the following day, so even if there's a formal finding, that finding is not retroactive giving one plenty of time to leave before a re-entry ban would become a problem (though in removal proceedings one should probably seek VD to avoid the bar associated with getting deported). There was a period of time in 2018-2020 when the policy was that it starts counting from when one is out of status (i.e. when one drops out or the date on I-20 or DS-2019 has lapsed), however that was enjoined and later vacated and USCIS returned to a prior 2008 policy, so currently this memo is controlling: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/memos/revision_redesign_AFM.PDF. This part (status violation / unlawful presence inadmissibility) wasn't migrated into the policy manual yet so old AFM remains controlling: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-manual-afm/afm40-external.pdf (page 79). DOS's FAM has a similar section but digging through that is a pain. So, OP isn't inadmissible for unlawful presence regardless of how long they've been out of status, but getting another F-1 after an overstay likely won't fly since it is not a dual-intent visa, and in general any prior status violations make getting any non-dual-intent visas exceptionally difficult since you have to prove that you won't just overstay again.

This is one of those fuzzy questions because as you noted every country has their own immigration system and may or may not have a similar status to that of a permanent resident and may have different qualifications for naturalization. That being said, I think that living there for a number of years where you successfully renewed multiple times (and likely can just keep renewing forever), are leasing a place to live, and had a kid who's a citizen of Barbados, are all good arguments to bring up when asking for the transfer. Ultimately it is up to the NVC and the consulate in question whether or not to take your case. So all in all, you should ask (this is one of those situations where the worst they can do is say no), give them proof that you've live and have lived there legally for a while, some print out of how the visa policy works, proof that kid is a local citizen, proof that you're renting a place, and otherwise just living there indefinitely as whatever visitors you are. Then just hope for the best but do prepare for having to take a trip to Lagos for your husband's IR1 visa.

Not applicable in this case. You can submit the I-864 or you can submit I-864EZ if all of these are true: You are the petitioner, your income is documented on a W-2, only 1 person is immigrating on the basis of the petition. You only need to submit one of these. Now, I hadn't worked with the DOS visa portal thing in many years. If it gives you an option to delete the entry for the I-864EZ then yeah delete it. If it doesn't let you get rid of it or submit without it then just put your I-864 in there too just so you can continue.

No, this was for the specific scenario J2020 asked about. They're doing immigrant visa processing (left US, filed I-360 from abroad, were approved while abroad, do DS-260 rather than I-485, get an IB1 visa, come back to US). In this case the resident since date is when they return to US on the IB1 immigrant visa. For those of us who are/did I-485 in US the resident since date is the date the I-485 is approved. There are some uncommon scenarios where the resident since date is backdated but none of them apply for VAWA cases. So no, nobody doing VAWA can have it backdated to some other date in the past.

So - strictly speaking nothing prevents you from using his income for the I-864 provided that he's authorized to work in the US (and the AOS based EAD would count there). The biggest issue is just how AOS packets are processed: These will normally go through some sort of first review where the service center will look at the documents submitted and check off the boxes (proof of marriage, proof of your citizenship, proof of his admission, proof of his identity, his birth certificate, are the forms filled out correctly, do you make enough to satisfy the I-864, etc). That's generally the point where they'll approve the EAD (and AP if applied for) and forward the I-130/I-485 to the field office for further processing or RFE/NOID it if something's missing. So the issue lays right above in the bolded part. If it passes through this first review and his EAD is approved and he's working by the time the interview rolls around then yeah sure you can use his income. So all in all, you'll need to be working at the time you file for his AOS, but can instead rely on his own income by the time it gets to the interview. Also, you should check if your employer offers short or long term disability, it does beat FMLA since you can get paid during it.

From the day you enter the US. That'll also be your resident since date on your green card.

Neither. The visa is valid for the first entry until the expiration date printed on it (so if it says lets say Expiration Date: 2/12/2025 you have to enter US on the immigrant visa on or before 2/12/25). Your green card will be issued for 10 years. LPR status doesn't expire. After the first entry they'll stamp it and the now used immigrant visa + endorsement stamp is a temporary 1 year proof of LPR status. During that year you can use the stamped immigrant visa in place of a green card for stuff like getting a SSN, working, international travel, etc. This is just gap coverage so you have proof that you're an LPR between entry and when your physical green card is printed and mailed to you.

1. Yeah it remains valid. Nothing prevents you from holding multiple EAD categories at the same time. 2. Probably a few weeks for it to work its way out of VSC into NBC and then to the field office. 3. Depends. VAWA cases tend to get waived interviews though it depends, for example if you entered without inspection they will most likely interview you.

USCIS will forward the remainder of the I-360 for your kid(s) to the NVC, which will then forward it to whichever consulate that has jurisdiction. Then they'll contact you regarding paying for the DS-260 and submitting the documents (which will be stuff like proof of relation (consulate might insist on DNA testing if you're from a high fraud country), medical exam, I-864W). So you'll pay for those, file the DS-260s for your kids (or they can file if they're adults by now), and they'll get their consular interview, attend (you should go there if they're minors), get their immigrant visas, then you'll pay the immigrant fee (which is what you pay USCIS to print the green cards) and bring them over to the US. They'll be LPRs as soon as they enter. You might want to break this question off into its own thread somewhere in the NVC or Bringing families of LPRs to America sections. Most of us here hadn't had to deal with this so most of us don't have first hand experiences. FTJ is pretty much the same regardless of category, literally the only difference between FTJ on a VAWA I-360 vs an I-130 or I-140 or I-526 is that you just need to attach an I-864W.

Personally I'd leave filing with the court as a plan B if you somehow can't get a termination, I just find it a more of a pain since you have to keep court dates and you are in removal proceedings so if the court denies your AOS for some reason you will likely need to do some other finagling (cancellation of removal, get another administrative closure for an I-601A). If USCIS denies you then well, you can get a de novo review at the court if they place you in removal proceedings again. Now there are some cases where you have to file with the court: e.g. you end up in removal proceedings as an LPR and seek AOS (and possibly some waivers), yeah USCIS doesn't let you re-adjust, courts do. Or you have something like a permanent bar where the only thing that can jump over it is cancellation of removal. I doubt any apply here. So honestly, just seek a termination - if you get it file with USCIS, if you don't then file with the court.