neeuq

hi all, thank you for looking out and providing me as much information as possible. 

however, i do have documentation from uscis indicating that my legal status in the US expired july 2016. therefore, my overstay was less than a year. i have not been back in the US for 4 years, and probably more with this wait, so am well past the 3 year ban point. 
 

I know i am responsible for this mishap, but i am just saying  it was not intentional or on purpose at all. at such a young age, it is hard to know all the rules. but i have been honest and transparent with nvc/uscis/consulate and wanting to do everything with integrity before i immigrate back. 

31 minutes ago, arken said:

It seems we are scaring OP even further but it's good to face it early than late.

 

OP: Not to get another shock at the F2B interview about 2 yr overstay and resulting ban, can you confirm again if your dad got GC toward mid 2015?

 

uff this is not helping my anxiety.

yes he got his gc in mid 2015. he was sponsored by  my sister when she became a citizen 

9 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Yes, it’s unfortunate that someone (a parent I have to presume) dropped the ball during your process that led to all these issues. (I’m also not entirely clear why/how you had a parent that was a green card holder not a TN  yet you were still on TD, but I guess none of that matters now.) Hopefully Montreal makes better progress at clearing its backlog and your wait time ends up being significantly less than what it currently looks like - good luck.

i am not blaming anyone - immigration laws aren’t clear and they shouldn’t have sent me to get my pictures and biometrics done only to find out later what the issue was. i know it’s on me but still, should’ve been flagged right away. 
 

my dad had a TN before he got his green card and once he became LPR, he sponsored me right away in july 2015. i was still able to live in the US with my TD expiring in july 2016 (it was a 3 year long visa). it was dumb of me to assume i was “in between” status, but obviously lesson learned. i haven’t tried to go back as i want to do everything the right and honest way. but as years go by, you lose energy and batteries and also the will to live and keep going. it’s really tough, i really hope they figure it out soon as quebec has basically been open for a while now and  vaccination rates are high. 

14 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

arken is correct, you sent your docs in after your stay expired so you were already out of status (hence the denial) and that counts from the day your authorized stay ended till the day you left. (surprised you have lawyers saying that, lockbox afaik does not check to see if you are in authorized stay, that is a determination for the IO to make. In any case it is only the length and not the fact of overstay that is in question here)

 

Both the overstay and the obvious immigrant intent strongly motivate against you getting a b visa.

thats a bummer 😞

23 minutes ago, arken said:

So you overstayed for 11.5 months. Remember, you are using "accidental overstay" wording. 11.5 months of overstay cannot be accidental in immigration world.

 

So you will have 3 yrs ban, good thing it's already past 3 years since when you left. So i believe you should have no issues for F2B but B2 visa chance is zero.

 

 

some attorneys have said it’s still not clear what are my actual months considering my documents were accepted and i was sent for my biometrics. but any way, that was over  4 years ago. but im guessing it will hurt my chances of a visitor visa 

10 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

The fact of an overstay will probably make a B visa difficult.

(By accidental I guess you mean you didn’t understand you were in overstay, unfortunately that’s not how immigration works. You are expected to know the terms of your visa.)

 

Why do you think it might take two years to interview for F2B? You are already current and in the queue for scheduling as I understand.

 

 

because montreal is slow, and they are only on july 2019 DQ’s for   family preference visas 

43 minutes ago, EmilyW said:

It might be easier for them to visit you, I suspect.

Yes, I know. I just really want to go back to the place I grew up and was raised.. I need to recharge my batteries from this trauma of separation and immigration issues.  

46 minutes ago, arken said:

These will probably affect negatively for your B2 visa. 
If you overstayed last time, B2 visa approval is unlikely.Even if your B2 is denied, it won't affect your F2B if that's what you are concerned about.

 

For how long did you overstay? That will affect whether you can be granted the F2B visa or if there will be a bar for some years.

June 2016: Sent my I-485 for F2A. They returned it and told me to stay put and do nothing until my PD becomes current.
July 19, 2016: TD Visa expired.
October 2016: PD becomes current, sent my documents. Get approval + biometrics date.
November 2016: Complete biometrics.
January 2017: Get an RFE to show legal status.
March 2017: File RFE to claim that overstay was on accident and I have always legally resided in the U.S.
April 2017: I-485 denied because I was out of status. No ban was issued. No removal proceedings.
July 7, 2017: Left U.S. never came back. 

March 2018: Filed I-601 Waiver to overcome 3-year ban.
February 2019: RFE for I-601 Waiver asking for formal finding of inadmissibility

May 2019: filed the response to RFE for the I-601 waiver 

August 2019: Denial of 1-601 Waiver because I was never formally removed.

March 2020: Filed I-824 to transfer case to the consular processing. Moved to F2B category.

September 11, 2020: NVC Welcome Letter - Received steps to submit documents and applications.

Feb 11, 2021: Documentarily qualified. 

PD: July 2, 2015
DQ: Feb 11, 2021
Consulate: Montreal

I am currently awaiting an interview at the Montreal consulate for an F2B Visa.

I have lived in the U.S. for 20 years of my life, but voluntarily left when I accidentally overstayed my TD visa while in the process of F2A visa. They had accepted all my documents and then told me much later that I don't qualify because of this misunderstanding. They never issued a ban, and I voluntarily left to Canada 4 years ago and transferred my case to consular processing. My entire immediate family is there and most of them are citizens. I have no one here with me in Canada - I have been alone for the last several years.

Now with the backlog, I am getting quite stressed with this family separation. I haven't been able to go see my family, friends, and community in 4 years. I never attempted to visit as I did not want to risk this case, and I want to do everything honestly and legally. But now,  my health is really bad and I need to see my family.

I am considering applying for a B2 tourist visa so I can at least go visit and come back. I have a job, apartment, everything here in Canada as proof that I will return. The thing is the next tourist visa interview isn't until next year (all across consulates in Canada), and I want to know if it's worth paying for. Will my F2B happen before then? Or should I try for the visitor visa because F2B might not happen for maybe 2 years? Not sure what to do 😕 

 

21 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

Only under 21 children of USCs are prioritized above those of LPRs.

21 hours ago, nastra30 said:

No, that's not how it works for adult children. There4, make sure to stay in F2B category which is to your advantage right now based on the visa bulletin.

The rules are the same pre-covid, in-covid, post-covid, unless somehow miraculously congress makes some changes. 

got it, thanks for the help. when do you think i'd get an interview? 

8 minutes ago, nastra30 said:

Usually you'll have to contact NVC that petitioner has naturalized and therefore you wish to be considered for F1 category, and this was my believe as well. Until my sister had a similar situation as yours and that's when it occurred to me that sometimes (or maybe always, but I'm not sure) USCIS will let NVC know of the petitioner's naturalization.

My sister did get a letter in the mail (this is those days NVC mostly notified people by snail mail, lol) notifying her of change in visa classification. We(including Petitioner) then made a follow-up inquiry and that's when NVC let us know it was a category change from F2B to F1. She then wrote to USCIS to revert her back to F2B which was current (based on priority date) at the time. And she migrated  to the US a year earlier based on F2B.

 

ahhh okay gotcha. yeah i just don't know everything seems to have changed because of the pandemic. i just thought they might consider/ prioritize children of U.S. citizens than perm residents. idk really - just trying to go back home as soon as i can 😕

2 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

I’m not sure why they implied that they aren’t issuing any F visas (at least that was my understanding of “once the F categories start being processed”, because the issuance statistics for Montreal show they are. I assume they are issuing in proportion to what the queue looks like because there are a lot (relatively) of F3 and F4 and not very many F1 or F2 (though I am led to believe the “FX” category is also F2). Obviously IR are the largest categories https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/MonthlyIVIssuances/JUNE 2021 - IV Issuances by Post and Visa Class.pdf

(Note that even in a normal year they do not issue a huge amount of F1 and F2 through Montreal, example same month  a couple of years back they issued 9 F1s, 3 F2s and 10 FXs. So I am not sure they are really even strangling these categories much, more like they are just not making up for the backlog? )

uff, that sucks. i lived in the US for 20 years of my life (on TD visas - I am 26 now) and had to leave to resolve this. I haven't been able to go home in the last 4 years and I can't believe I will have to wait more years just to get an interview  my entire family is in the States - either citizens or as permanent residents (these 2 are almost citizens, too). i've been by myself and alone - can't even go visit because it's so complicated and delayed as well, sigh.

1 hour ago, nastra30 said:

 

 

this is really helpful, thanks. when they get notified someone becomes a citizen, would they send me an email or message about it?

3 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

The difference in priority dates in the latest visa bulletin between what is current now for F2B vs F1. Of course there is no guarantee it will stay the same gap, F1 could either speed up or slow down vs F2B over that time. But IMO opinion the gap makes no difference, what matters is that you are in a category that is current right now for you and the one you are thinking of changing to isn’t, and you will get no change in priority from changing categories. I honestly don’t understand why you are even considering this. The difference is why we have so many people applying to retain F2B rather than move to F1 because the latter has been roughly a year slower than F2B for quite a while now.

gotcha. i thought you meant that family preference interviews will start in 10 months. 

9 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Nope, you cannot get an interview until your priority date is current in table A. The commentary in the visa bulletin also makes that clear: under table A it says “”Numbers are authorized for issuance only for applicants whose priority date is earlier than the final action date listed below.” All table B means - and you even noted that is called the “dates for filing” table - is that you can submit documents in preparation for your number getting current in table A. So all you would be doing  by moving to F1 is swopping being somewhere in the current queue waiting for an interview slot to open, to moving to the front of a different queue where interview slots will only open in (depending on exact progress) maybe 10 months time.

where did you get 10 months from? 

5 hours ago, nastra30 said:

At the moment your interview will happen sooner in F2B category than F1 based on priority date.

It's possible USCIS/NVC on their own may automatically upgrade you to F1 category. If that happens you have to write them asking to remain in F2B category because staying in F2B favors you.

19 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

You can’t interview before you are current. F1 is only current to Nov 2014 at present, F2B to Sept 2015. I can’t see how moving from a category where you are already current to one where you probably have many months to get there, is going to speed up your case.

i am aware of this, which is why i ask.

but i also see it's current in the other bulletin - "dates for filing."

i'm also not sure how relevant the priority date is once you're documentarily qualified. because it seems they're giving interviews by when you got your documents approved/qualified. 

Just now, payxibka said:

The petition is at NVC, so you let them know.  Montreal is notoriously slow regardless of visa type. 

yes, i would definitely let them know. just wondering if DQ'd.   F1's get more priority than F2B's.

Hello,

I am currently in F2B category.

DQ is Feb 11, 2021.
Priority date  is July 2, 2015.

I am waiting in the queue to get an interview at the Montreal, Canada consulate. I am wondering if I should change to F1 since my father (he is my petitioner) is a citizen now. Do you think it will help me move up the queue? My documents are all approved and qualified, I am just waiting to be called for an interview, and of course I want it to happen sooner than later.

Thanks
 

if your case is in montreal, that means your interview is happening soon. 

i'm assuming your family visited you... or were you able to visit them? 

my PD is july 2, 2015. so not sure about visa bulletin since it's been on july 2015 for a year now. they just moved to august 2015. i don't know what's happening.

the waiver is old news.

i am waiting now to get an interview. but i am explaining how my journey is, and how frustrated i feel being alone in all of this. 

It was filed on behalf of my mother, who is an LPR. The psychologist submitted a report on how impaired her mental health is because of my leaving. And we explained also how my parents are lacking support because I am gone.

The waiver was because i THOUGHT i was banned for 3 years since I accidentally overstayed on my Canadian visa. 

My PD is current. July 2, 2015

They denied my I-601 and STATED the reason was because I was never formally removed from the U.S. I explained my whole situation in a 80-page submission, with attorney and psychologist letters, to allow me to go back. But they didn't accept it. 

I understand I am in F2B because F1 is slower. I was just addressing how my mental health is suffering from all of this. I am sure others are feeling the same way.

Hello,

I am wondering if there is a support group out there.. I feel so alone and devastated about these delays and I haven’t been home in 4 years. No one I am close to understands what I am going through and I wonder if there is a group on whatsapp or something to freely discuss and share frustrations with this system. Please let me know or maybe we can create one. Thanks

Here is a bit of my story:(I am waiting for f2B) 

I've lived in the States for 20 years of my life (I'm 26 now), and the reason I left was because I didn't renew my Canadian TD visa while I was processing my first AOS application. They denied it because I wasn't in status. I thought I'd be banned for 3 years so I voluntarily left and was advised by my attorney to do so. I wasn't formally removed and lawyer advised me to file a I-601 waiver to go back but they denied it because I wasn't formally taken out  of the States.
I was f2A and aged out.

I don't know if I could've gone back to visit..but I waited another year for a lawyer who ghosted me (who was paid and everything) and finally  transferred my case through I-824 on my own to consular processing last year and thought I'd be home by now. The delays are killing me. My mental health is so bad, because my whole family and community is there, and I'm so tired of waiting and being away from them. My father and sister are US citizens, my mom is currently in queue to interview for her citizenship, and my  sister is on her way to citizenship as well. I'm the one who got stuck out and waiting  

I’ve done therapy over the years, I’ve tried my best to be positive and hopeful but I am losing all of it now and just constantly feeling down and negative all the time. I am not around any family  and it really sucks and I am so exhausted 

Hi,

Has anyone received any updates on F2B interviews at Montreal consulate?

I've been waiting to go back home for 4 years now...

I've lived in the States for 20 years of my life (I'm 26 now), and the reason I left was because I didn't renew my Canadian TD visa while I was processing my first AOS application. They denied it because I wasn't in status. I thought I'd be banned for 3 years so I voluntarily left and was advised by my attorney to do so. I wasn't formally removed and lawyer advised me to file a I-601 waiver to go back but they denied it because I wasn't formally taken out  of the States.

I don't know if I could've gone back to visit..but I waited another year for a lawyer who ghosted me (who was paid and everything) and finally  transferred my case through I-824 on my own to consular processing last year and thought I'd be home by now. The delays are killing me. My mental health is so bad, because my whole family and community is there, and I'm so tired of waiting and being away from them. My father and sister are US citizens, my mom is currently in queue to interview for her citizenship, and my  sister is on her way to citizenship as well. I'm the one who got stuck out and waiting

I just want to know more or less when my interview will be.

Please let me know if any one has any updates. Thank you so much.

Got it!

I wish I could know when my interview will be 😕