Stephen + Elisha

We need to adopt Americas approach.

You mean Swiss cheese border security, on top of which we reward all the lawbreakers with amnesty every 20 years or so?! As they say in South Philly, God forbit!

First of all, you probably need a lawyer. Waivers are serious business.

Second, the good news for you is that USCIS has an expedited waiver process in place at CDJ. Quoting from http://www.scottimmigration.net/content/i601memo :

Waiver Pilot Program in Ciudad Juarez Since March 6, 2007, I-601 waiver applicants in Mexico have benefitted from the Waiver Pilot Program in which they may be able to obtain waiver approval a few days from the time of filing. This is a very exciting program as it makes the process much more practical for many applicants who normally would be unwilling or unable to leave their families, especially small children, for an extended period of time in order to go through the waiver process voluntarily.

At the K or immigrant visa interview, once the alien is found inadmissible, he/she will be able to file the I-601 at a waiver appointment at the consulate about 5-8 weeks following the interview. If it is clearly approvable, the alien will be able to get his/her K or immigrant visa relatively quickly – in about a week. If it is not approved it will neither be denied. Rather, it will be referred and placed into the normal, longer process.

Waiver appointments must be made by phone by calling 1-800-919-1754 from the US or 01-477-788-70-70 from Mexico. Have a credit card handy because they will charge you $7 for the call. Currently one must wait until after the consular interview before scheduling the waiver appointment.

At the waiver appointment, the waiver must be clearly approvable, which means it is now more important than ever to prepare a quality waiver packet for Mexican cases with plenty of supporting documentation. If the packet is not clearly approvable, it will not be denied, but it will be referred to the normal waiver process, which could take 12 months or more. If your case gets referred, this should be an indication to you that you need to amend the packet to make it stronger. Some cases, no matter how well you prepare, may not be clearly approvable due to the facts of the case. For example, if your client has two DUI convictions then regardless of the hardships and the evidence, it will be referred.

And what is DOS? I already have my case approved I have an interview scheduled for feb 24th. And do I have to wait 10 years to apply for a waiver??

DOS = Department of State. A Department of State Consular Officer at the USCON Ciudad Juarez will adjudicate your visa application. As others have stated, he/she will find you inadmissible and deny your application.

so when should a waiver be submitted... right from the start or do you wait until you are asked to submit one??

You have to wait until the finding of inadmissibility is made. Since the OP knows that he has an overstay with an associated 10-year ban, he can come prepared to the interview with the waiver paperwork.

while im not disagreeing about this... should this not of been spotted at USCIS level as the OP already has NOA2??

Not necessarily. The USCIS process primarily determines eligibility for the benefit. In the case of family-based immigration petitions, that means verifying the relationship. DOS determines the eligibility for the visa, which takes into account any grounds of inadmissibility on the part of the beneficiary.

As she is the sponsor, she needs to file an I-864. As you are a household member of the sponsor whose income will be used to meet the public charge requirements, you need to file I-864A.

You sent your petition to the Lewisville, Texas Lockbox Facility, not a USCIS Field Office or Service Center in Texas. Lockbox facilities process the payment and forward the petition to a service center or local office for further processing. As the previous poster correctly stated, your WAC receipt number indicates that your petition is being processed at the California Service Center.

You are indeed good to go.

Spouse or Child of a Member of the U.S. Armed Forces or Civilian Employee of the U.S. Government Stationed Abroad - If you are the spouse or child of a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or of a civilian employee of the U.S. Government stationed abroad on official orders, you may use your Permanent Resident Card, Form I-551, to enter the U.S. even if it has expired. Therefore, you would not need a Returning Resident (SB-1) immigrant visa, as long as you:

• Have not abandoned your LPR status; and
• Your spouse or parent is returning to the U.S.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_1333.html

First of all, forget about the K-3. It's essentially an obsolete visa. If you get married first, you'll be filing for a CR-1 Conditional Resident immigrant visa.

Yes, it always goes through NVC, even if your NOA2 says it's sent to the Consulate.

Correct. Despite the misleading wording on the NOA2, all approved petitions go to NVC from whence they are forwarded onward to the consulate. If you need to redirect the petition to a different consulate, NVC is the place to intercept it. Start calling Monday as you planned.

She told me to submit the adjustment of status on my own with out of the I 130 and to inform her when I get denied so she can prove she was right.

Ughhhhhh This lawyer is driving me crazy

This is your chance to get your money back! Make a wager with her... tell her you'll file for AOS on your own without an I-130, and if you're approved without it she'll return everything you've paid her so far. If you get denied for failure to file the I-130 concurrently, you'll pay her what she would have charged to file it for you.

(Sucker bet, really, but she sounds stupid enough to take it)

Merci, didopage! If I plan to support my fiancee generally, though, would that then mean that I do not plan to make a specific contribution? In other words, what's mine is hers and what's hers is mine. To me, a specific contribution says that you're helping someone do something in particular and only that, which is not the case.

It's a confusing and somewhat ambiguous question...

This is the way I read it too. It also doesn't really apply to our situation, as the I-134 is generally used for non-immigrant visas and while the K-1 is technically a non-immigrant visa, it presumes immigrant intent.

So, when I was doing this back in 2009, I followed the example provided in the VJ example forms library. I didn't check either box, and in the space provided I wrote "N/A - K-1 visa process for permanent residence." We had no problem.

Which affidavit of support, the I-134 or I-864? It would help to know at what stage of the visa process you currently are.

What does the blue slip actually say? What did they check as the reason for the denial/AP?

How long was the overstay?

What exactly do you mean by "being reported by US government employee for overstay"?

You need to provide more details if you want to receive meaningful answers to your questions.

I understand that you're trying to help, Thomas, but you're very confused. The fact that it takes 2 years to get a 10-year green card without conditions is irrelevant. You can travel freely upon receiving the 2-year conditional green card, which is currently taking about 3-4 months from the time of AOS filing. Moreover, you can file for AP concurrently with the AOS filing, and the AP typically takes only 2-3 months from the time of filing. There is no need to demonstrate "extreme circumstances" to obtain AP; having a pending/concurrently filed AOS application is all that's necessary.

And finally... we're talking about K-1 visas here, not F-1. Different animal entirely.

No, Thomas, you're not getting it at all.

You enter, you get married, you file for AOS. You have 90 days to marry upon entry on the K-1, but there's nothing to stop you from doing it sooner. As soon as you marry, you can file for AOS. You file for AP concurrently with AOS. AP typically takes 2-3 months, GC 3-4 months. So, even assuming you take the whole 90 days from entry to marry and file for AOS, you're still looking at a maximum of 5-6 months where you can't leave the country. That's a far cry from your "1-2 years" nonsense.

The answer to this question probably depends a great deal upon the state of your relationship with your spouse. Obviously the marriage is breaking up, but are you parting on amicable terms or is it contentious? Consider that if you file for ROC jointly, your spouse would need to sign the application with you and appear with you at any potential interview (not everyone gets interviewed for ROC, but it can and does happen). Is this something your spouse would agree to do? If you have doubts about the cooperation on a joint filing, you probably need to get the divorce under way so you can file under the waiver provisions.

In addition, Leatherneck's advice above is good. Start gathering your evidence now.

If you read the NOA 1 it clearly states that you cannot check until after biometrics is completed and by using the number on the biometrics sheet.

It clearly states that you use the number on the biometrics appointment notice, but it says nothing about being unable to check until after biometrics is completed.

Upon receipt of your ASC appointment notice, you can find the status of your case on-line at www.uscis.gov. To view the status of your case, enter the application number found at the top of the ASC appointment notice.

That being said, we weren't able to check our status right away upon receiving the biometrics appointment notice. It took a few more days for it to show up in the system, but it's there now—and our biometrics appointment isn't until March 1.

You can apply to (get your 10 year Green Card) 'remove conditions' 90 before your card expires. Apply to ROC before your card expires, do not wait.

You've misunderstood the question. The OP holds a CR1 visa, she has not yet entered the United States. This April 8th is her second wedding anniversary. She's asking whether it's advisable to defer her entry until April 8 or after so that she can get a 10-year GC and avoid the ROC process.

We got expedited thru nvc thank God. For those following my journey i just wanted to say that now is game on and hope for a expite on the waiver also. Geez soomuch still to do. Can anyone enlighten me on RIO requirements for docs?Should I schedule my medical even though i dont have an interview yet? We are being expedited so maybe interview will be march?

Why do you need a waiver?

Whoever says "the signature confirmation delays the receipt of your applications", I dare them to show evidence because it does not. The express mail with a signature confirmation is guaranteed delivery, no delays at all.

You obviously don't understand how signature confirmation and post office boxes interrelate. The post office guarantees no delays in delivery. They cannot and will not be held responsible for the availability of the recipient to take delivery. If you require a signature, the recipient must take delivery in person. When you send something to a post office box and you've required the post office to obtain signature confirmation, they cannot simply deliver the item to the post office box. Instead, the post office leaves a notice in the box stating that the recipient has a mailpiece that requires a signature. The recipient must then pick up that mailpiece and sign for it.

Now think about this for a minute. The USCIS service centers receive hundreds if not thousands of mailpieces every day. If someone at the post office thinks to notify the person picking up the USCIS service center mail that there are signature-required pieces waiting, they may not lose a day. But this assumes that both USPS and USCIS are on the ball. We're talking about two government agencies here. Seriously.

So if the postal clek doesn't tell the USCIS person that there are signature-required pieces waiting, then the mail just gets taken out of the PO box and back to the service center for sorting. In that case, they won't realize they have signature-required pieces back at the post office until they've started sorting the mail from the PO box and put aside the notices. Then their options are either to go BACK to the post office that day or (more likely) pick up the items the next day. Voila, there's your lost day—"guaranteed delivery, no delays at all" notwithstanding.

If the car registration is in your name only, skip it. If it doesn't have both your names, it's not meaningful as evidence.

Submission of passport-size photos with the I-751 is only required when filing from outside the United States while living abroad on government orders. Otherwise they're not necessary.

I just checked the N-400 form and there's a part where you have to fill in dates and how many days you were actually out of the U.S. I don't think it'll be a big deal if you haven't been outside of the U.S. for more than 6 months?

Nothing to worry about, methinks. For naturalization based on marriage to a US citizen, the requirements are:

• 3 years as a lawful permanent resident
• Present in the United States for at least 18 months out of the 3 years
• No absences from the US of more than 1 year without an approved Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes

The Naturalization Eligibility Worksheet has all the info you need.

Save money, and use Priority Mail with confirmation. The package is going to take months to process, so why spend the extra $15 just to get it a day sooner. By the way, requiring a signature will add another day or two to the processing, as they can't get a signature to release the package until the next business day.

The OP stated that the GC expires February 16. Monday is the 13th. If we were in that situation, I think we'd spend the extra $15.

Again, if you do use Express Mail, make sure you don't require a signature on delivery. On the older Express Mail labels (like the one I posted above), you had to tick the "Waiver of Signature" box and sign below it. Apparently on Express Mail labels printed after January 2012, they've reversed it and you now have to tick a box if you want a signature. Read the form carefully and make sure you're not asking for a signature on delivery or you're liable to waste a day.