DD13

My wife and her children came via Humanitarian parole in April, 2022 (pre- United for Ukraine). We married in June and applied for AOS in October. My wife received her green card this February and I am wondering if the kids' will take much longer. Does anyone have any ideas?

done five months ago

Yes, they are spouse and children and we filed all of those forms four months ago. Their I-94s expire in April and I was contemplating I-539 but it seems that would be a waste of time and money. I believe there is a new procedure forthcoming for Ukrainians in their situation to remain past their expiration date, but nothing as yet. Meanwhile, my wife wants to work but needs a driver's license which necessitates a SS#. Is there anyone else in this situation who has learned anything different?

Take a look...Options For Ukrainians With Expiring Parole - LINU (linforukraine.org)

Yes, they are spouse and children and we filed all of those forms four months ago. Their I-94s expire in April and I was contemplating I-539 but it seems that would be a waste of time and money. I believe there is a new procedure forthcoming for Ukrainians in their situation to remain past their expiration date, but nothing as yet. Meanwhile, my wife wants to work but needs a driver's license which necessitates a SS#. Is there anyone else in this situation who has learned anything different?

So, don't worry about the 1-94 expiring?

Hey folks,

My Ukrainian family entered the U.S. last year as humanitarian parolees and were granted 1-94 cards. We are going through the I-485 process, however the I-94s will expire in April. I believe we need to file I-539s to extend their status but am not certain. The instructions list those who should file and I don't really see our category. 

Can anyone clarify this for me? 

Thanks!

My fiance and children are in the USA through Humanitarian Parole. We will be married next month and I wonder if anyone can guide us through the best route to permanent residence and eventually green cards. We still have a pending K1 petition and I understand we need to cancel that to move forward but I want to be sure of the correct path to take. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

6 hours ago, Lonny&Kris said:

Thank you so much! Yes we are looking forward to some rest before we move ahead with marriage and adjustment of status

Thank you! I am pretty sure the church we got in contact with is called spring of life church based in Sacramento I believe. If you call I am sure someone will be able to answer your questions or point you in the right direction for help. There are many churches working together and offering their services to help right now. I heard there are a growing number of Ukrainians waiting at the border, so unless they have added more border guards to help process cases, you may have to wait more than a day at the border, but it could definitely be worth it if you don't want to wait for normal k1 processing times, but that of course is up to you and what you and your partner are willing to endure at the border. 

One more question, please. I know it is still early, but do you know exactly what humanitarian parole means for her and for her future immigration status?

On 4/4/2022 at 1:02 PM, Lonny&Kris said:

Just wanted to post and update for anyone who was interested. I left the U.S to be with my fiancé in Wroclaw Poland, where she fled after the war started. We were together there for about 3 weeks while waiting for results from our expedite request (still waiting, although I'm pretty sure we have to do things differently now).  We both decided to try to cross the Mexican Tijuana border after a family member got in contact with a pastor who was in the news for his church helping Ukrainians cross. We joined a telegram group full of Ukrainians who were asking questions about the process and those who have already crossed. After some discussion about how things work and if we could feasibly make the journey, we started to book our tickets. This part wasn't easy due to travel restrictions and other details that aren't so important. On March 26th until the morning of March 27th, we started booking tickets for March 28th to get from Poland to Tijuana. Not everyone booked there tickets the same way we did, but we took the advice of the telegram group which was to book round trip tickets, and a hotel room in Cancun. The reason we did that is for when we had to talk with Mexican Border patrol at the airport, we could show we had a plan to be there and a plan to return. We chose to go to Cancun like many others because at the time there was a risk if flying directly to Tijuana, that we would be denied entry. Apparently the thinking was it will be more believable to fly into Cancun "for vacation" first. I'm pretty sure this is no longer the case, and it is possible to fly directly to Tijuana (But I can't be 100% sure).  After about 1 day worth of layovers in different airports and about 1 day of flying we arrived in Tijuana at about 5 pm. We were met there by members of different churches who were working together to organize transportation to the border. People with children were prioritized, especially with younger children, and also pregnant women. At around 10 pm, after a few groups before us were transported to the border, it was our turn. We had the option to either wait at the border, or try to arrange a hotel and private transportation the next day, because it was highly unlikely any of us would be able to cross quickly. We chose to go directly to the border and not risk doing things differently,  which could have possibly resulted in an even longer time at the border. The situation at the border was shocking to say the least. I don't know what I was expecting honestly but it was an eye opening experience. The organizers and even some locals did there best to provide food and blankets for people, but people were crammed into this small narrow building that had 1 bathroom without a door handle on it. The floors cement and hard to get any sleep on. I can go into much more detail but will not to keep this long story as brief as possible, just know the situation was far from good or comfortable, and in my humble opinion, borderline inhumane. I can say that it seemed like more supplies were coming as time went on, and they were doing their best to make the situation as comfortable as possible (Children's comfort was also prioritized and most Ukrainians worked together to ensure everyone had what they needed). After staying overnight and waiting about 14 or 15 hours, the group we were assigned to was chosen to go next. We walked out of the refugee camp for lack of a better term, and made our way directly to the border. Here we were chosen in small groups within our group of 30 or so people to interview with the 3 border guards assigned to handle Ukrainian cases. We waited at this border entrance for around 8 hours while many other people were entering in front of us for normal immigrations purposes during this whole time. Finally after so many hours and such a long journey, my fiancé was able to interview with a border guard, while I had to cross through a different area like normal U.S citizens. After about 30 mins of waiting for her, she was granted humanitarian parole and crossed over. We were met by more Ukrainians and church members who helped us arranged 2 nights with a host family so we could avoid spending more on hotels and transportation to the airport. We arrived in my home state of Maine a coupled days ago and are trying to get settled in. We will look into acquiring the services of an immigration attorney soon to see what our next step is to allow her to legally stay here permanently, as I'm pretty sure our current K1 application will no longer be valid. Anyways I'm sorry for such a long post, just thought I'd share some of our story and the information gathered along the way for anyone who was interested. Good luck to anyone attempting to get to the U.S through this method and to everyone who is currently waiting for their cases to move along.

Congratulations to both of you!

One question, though. My Ukrainian fiance and I are ready to give up on the K-1 process and are considering the Mexico option. I'm worried about the border scenario and, may I ask, can  you tell me the name of the church that assisted you there? I would feel better with some local assistance. Thanks very much and best of luck!

yes, I've spoken to them and emailed them several times...

My fiance and I have been waiting on a K-1 answer since July. She has fled from Ukraine to the Netherlands and we tried to expedite her visa with paperwork and with our congressperson but have heard nothing. We wonder if there is any other reasonable avenue we should take (refugee, probation, Mexican border, etc) or is it more prudent to wait out the K1 process?

Any help is greatly appreciated.