intx13

My wife was approved back in December and will go through POE on February 5th (yay!). On January 20th I will be moving apartments, so that when she goes through POE she will be giving a different destination address than was on her paperwork up to this point. Is there anything we need to do now or be aware of? Or does this have no effect at all? I will be with her at the POE.

Keep in mind that if you leave the US now (to settle affairs in your home country) and return on the VWP and then try to adjust status, that's fraud, because you entered the second time with intent to immigrate. So it's either AOS now and don't return to your home country until you have you green card or return home, settle affairs, and apply for an IR1/CR1.

When the lawyer said it's hard for her to come to the US and might delay processing, he was probably referring to Administrative Processing. You should be prepared for AP: after she passes the interview she may go through a system of namechecks and investigations. The visa is tentatively approved but won't be issued until AP finishes. She might have to mail in more documents. AP can last from months to years, but probably months since she's a woman, if she has to go through AP at all.

They never give the exact reason for being in AP, but in NEMA countries there probably isn't an exact reason. You can pretty easily guess what the usual rough reasons are.

• Being a guy.
  
• Being in a particular age range.
  
• Residence pattern with lots of moves / residence in certain locations.
  
• Ties to politically "hot" areas.
  
• Not being very westernized.
  
• Religious education.
  
• Etc.
  

Your time in AP will depend on many things.

• How common your name is.
  
• How many places you've lived.
  
• How many of those above bullet points you match.
  
• How quickly the various persons-of-interest list maintainers actually check their lists and send the results back to DHS.
  
• If there's any matches, how long it takes to investigate your background and determine you're not the person with the same name.
  
• The slow grind of bureaucracy.
  

Calling a congress-person won't speed up the actual name-checks or background investigations, but if the embassy is just dragging their feet it can help with that. It certainly can't hurt - someone else here on VJ posted that their file was done, just not assembled, and as soon as the congress-person called they finished AP. But in general, it'll finish when it's finished and not a moment sooner. Women generally have it easier / faster though.

If you're asking if USCIS or NVC will waive the requirement, they won't. One way or another, you need to get the police certificate. If it was sent with a local courier, check if they have any minimum insurance or anything. And use a different courier next time, if possible!

I wouldn't worry about getting them all done ahead of time. My wife had no records of any vaccines but the clinic doctor knew what all Malaysian babies get, what Malaysian schools give out, and what's appropriate for her age. She ended up only needing two. Plus some of the required vaccines are actually a course, but only the first is really needed for visa purposes. Normal doctors aren't always big on giving you only the first dose of a course of vaccines, but the clinic doctors don't care.

You might try calling the certified clinic and asking what vaccines they usually give before you go get a ton of shots. Ouch!

It sounds like you provided a decent amount of evidence. Are there any red flags that might be causing problems? Have you brought anyone to the US before? Has he tried to get an immigrant visa before? What are the reasons they listed in the letter?

Also, I'm not clear what you're saying. Did you get a hard (white form) denial and the embassy sent your petition back to USCIS with a recommendation to revoke? Because if that's the case, you're looking at waivers now; you can't just re-apply.

Ignore Tim/Mav. You are the only person to be judging your husband's character and his fitness to be part of your family - not strangers on the Internet. If you want to pursue this, the next step would be to follow Darnell's advice or talk to a lawyer.

What sort of ceremony are you planning in Korea? If you're ok with it being unofficial you can do a fiancee visa and have the "wedding" ceremony just before you leave for the US: visa is granted, USC travels to Korea, have wedding (minus getting a marriage certificate), fly back as a couple, go to the courthouse and become officially married, she becomes permanent resident.

Otherwise you'll have to bite the bullet and have the wedding whenever you like, then spend 9-12 months in the visa process before bringing her to the US.

I'm very sorry to hear that Two visa denials and a signed letter "admitting" to visa fraud means you are almost certainly into lawyer territory now. Hopefully someone else can point you towards someone.

You will almost certainly get better replies if you fill in some details; you can add the foreign country to your profile and people will instantly know what sort of advice to give. In general though, my understanding is that you don't need much evidence to have your I-130 approved, but in high-fraud countries you should really load up on evidence for the interview. That said, your interviewer will have reviewed your case before the interview, which means they see whatever you submitted with your I-130, too. And since people say the interviewers often make up their mind before the interview, I'd say submit whatever you have with your I-130 and bring extra copies to the interview, along with anything you come up with between now and then.

*sigh* This seems like such BS (on the gov's part, not yours). He's already employed at home, so moving here is more of a job risk than benefit. We're just trying to mitigate those risks so we don't have to spend much or any time living on my income alone. Sorry, just frustrated.

No, I agree, it is frustrating. If the evidence is there to validate the legitimacy of your relationship, other reasons to expedite should be acceptable. But I guess there's a lot of potential for abuse. Hopefully the consulate will lend an ear and you won't have to suffer unduly!

Why doesn't losing a job that you otherwise would have gotten count as "Severe financial loss to the individual?"

I suspect you would have to show tangible losses to justify an expedite request. Losing the opportunity to make money would probably not count. And at the interview stage you can't even claim that yet.

What on earth would look suspicious about this? He applied for the job nearly 6 months after we got married and filed our I-130. Presumably if the US doesn't want immigrants taking state benefits, they expect them to work, so why should looking for a job be suspicious?

As an intending immigrant, his motivations are being examined. An IR1/CR1 is a spouse visa; his motivations are expected to be a desire to be with his spouse. Bringing up his desire to get to the US quickly so as to find job opportunities puts those motivations in question. Like Penguin_ie said, an informal discussion with the consulate might be productive, but I wouldn't make a big fuss about it, even though you obviously know his desire to work comes second to his desire to be with you. You just don't want the NVC or consulate to have any doubts about that.

Yes, I believe the police certificate must be valid at the time of the interview. Some police certificates are valid for 3 months, some are valid for 6 months. If you're unsure, contact the embassy and they should be able to check if you need a new one.

Your husband will file an I-130 petition to bring the whole family to the US

uhmm... not 'an' - implying one.

Should be 'one for each human' to bring the whole family to the US.

Yes, I'm nitpicking.

Nitpicking is good! USCIS would definitely nitpick the OP when they only got one application and the OP would definitely nitpick me for giving bogus information

If you mailed the police certificates with your immigrant visa application you do not need to bring another set with you to the interview. The NVC will make sure that the police certificates are sent to the consulate.

To make sure the NVC got your police certificates, look at your interview appointment letter. It includes a list of documents and indicates which ones the NVC received and which you have to bring to the interview. Because you sent your police certificates to the NVC they should be listed as "received originals".

Finally, if you have any confusion, contact the embassy and ask what documents they have on file for you. If you need to reschedule your interview they will do so.

The "pursuit of happiness" may be a natural right but it's definitely not codified in US law. The idea that "I can do whatever I want unless it hurts someone else" is fundamental to the ideals of the US, but it doesn't trump the USC when they conflict.

I'm not a lawyer, but with a little searching I see a couple reasons why consulate decisions on immigrant visas cannot be judicially reviewed.

1. I suspect that only the foreign spouse could claim tort, and the Alien Tort Statute limits such suits to violations of international law or treaties with the US, neither of which would apply to the granting of immigrant visas. More info here.
   
2. Even if #1 didn't apply or you could file the suit yourself, the Federal Tort Claims Act does not waive government immunity for "acts or omissions" by government employees, so long as those acts fall within the duties prescribed to those employees. This applies even when the employees abuse their discretion. More info here.
   

In short, I think it's unlikely that the injury done to you would meet a judge's definition of tort and your wife is unable to sue to the US government herself because the injury done to her doesn't meet the requirements of the Alien Tort Statute. Even if you could overcome either of those things, I think the Federal Tort Claims Act gives the government immunity in a case like this.

That said, an immigration attorney could probably point you to a more specialized attorney who could give you a consultation far more accurate than my Google search skills These sorts of questions are probably beyond the experience of most of us here at VJ! (Also let me say that I don't necessarily agree with this rule, I'm just trying to interpret the reasons behind it.)

Anybody who likes widely-available health care, increased personal safety, and sending a third of their income to the Queen will be disappointed at the opportunities for personal well-being afforded by residence in the US. Anybody who likes low taxes, self-reliance, and walking through the grocery store armed to the teeth would feel under house arrest in Europe.

The question is "Is it normal to worry about these issues and should that have a bearing on my decision to immigrate?" Which is ethically better is a good question too, but I wouldn't put it ahead of being with your loved ones. There will be plenty of time to complain about the government and consider moving to Europe when you've got your green card; that's what half of us citizens spend our days doing anyway!

Anyway, here's the conclusion for the OP.

Your older child is not currently a US citizen. Your younger child might be; check the dates of your husband's travel to find out. Your children will need passports: the older child will need a Philippines passport, the younger will need a Philippines passport and, if he or she turns out to be a US citizen, a US passport too.

Your husband will file an I-130 petition to bring the whole family to the US. When approved, you will be applying for a CR-1 visa and your older child (and, if not a US citizen already, your younger child too) will be applying for a CR-2 visa.

When the visas are granted and you arrive in the US, your older child (and, if not already a US citizen already, your younger child too) will immediately become citizens-by-birth and you can apply for their US passports. You will be a PR.

No they're not naturalized, it's birthright... The US Passport is proof of Citizenship it trumps proof of Naturalization as the DOS recognizes the holder to be a US Citizen.

That's really interesting. So a kid could be a non-US citizen for the first 17 years of his life. At age 12 a kid's parent gets permanent residence by the lottery, moves to the US, and 5 years later becomes naturalized. The now-17-year-old kid comes over on a CR-2 and immediately becomes a citizen.. by birth?!

It's also odd that he or she becomes an unfettered citizen just by establishing residence in the country, but residence must be established through an immigrant visa and the associated checks. I'm not sure on what grounds a CR-2 can be denied, but it seems plausible that a child with a criminal record or association with terrorist organization or similar might not be granted, and so be denied his or her birthright of citizenship. Weird!

That paragraph fits into the context of the cable, which appears concerned with tracking and detailing consular recommendations of petition revocation (which I'm abbreviating as "consular rejections"). The cable makes a bunch of points:

• They want consulates to send their rejections to the NVC, not USCIS, because USCIS has lost rejections before and the NVC is best equipped to track them and forward them as necessary.
  
• They want consulates to remember that they should not worry about the petition - DHS/USCIS has already approved it - but rather examine additional evidence not made known to DHS/USCIS (such as the interviewee's responses to questions).
  
• They want consulates to remember that even though their decisions can't be questioned, DHS/USCIS and the State Department can be named in lawsuits for their handling of petitions and those lawsuits might rely on the facts of a consular rejection. Therefore DHS wants as specific a record of the rejection decision as possible.
  
• The rest of the cable is details about how to explain and describe rejections.
  

Just a guess, but I bet that cable was the result of lawsuits alleging improper handling of a petition by DHS/USCIS and DHS/USCIS was unable to make a strong case because they either lost the consular rejection or it was too vague. That said, I think that a lawsuit against DHS would not be a loophole by which to question the consular officer's decision. I suspect a court would insist that your suit be based on allegations against DHS specifically, regardless of the consulate's decision. The contents of the rejection could be important if they indicate mistakes made by DHS/USCIS.

In your specific situation, take a look at paragraphs 9 and 10 of that same cable, which discuss the contents of the report the consular office must provide to DHS (and make available to you). That should give you an idea of how specific the consulate will need to be when spelling out a rejection, if in fact they do recommend to the NVC that your petition be revoked (I forget where you stand right now with your case).

I'm not a lawyer or a civil servant and this is all amateur hour, but that's my speculation

it's even 'easier' than naturalization.

The child that came in on a CR-2 visa simply applies for a USA passport IN THE USA once IN the USA.

No, I'm not kidding.

Huh - but the child would be a naturalized citizen, right? But without a certificate stating so? And with a green card and foreign passport? I suppose the green card is invalidated when the US passport is issued, but still, I can think of at least one situation where proof of naturalization is required.

I'm sure you're not the only one. Even for people who find that the US offers them better opportunities, emigrating from your home country means leaving friends, family, workplace, and potentially everything you're used to. I'm sure uncertainty is common.

That said, be sure of your desires before going through the visa process. There's one couple on here that were denied a visa; the wife, when interviewed, answered (among other red flags) that she wasn't sure if she wanted to move to the US or not. I'm sure the interviewer thought "if you don't want to move to the US, why are you applying to immigrate?"

Immigrating doesn't mean you have to start the "USA! USA!" chant or think that the US provides a person with better opportunities for personal happiness than does your home country. But it does mean that you intend to establish permanent residence in the US. Your reason for that is love: love for your spouse, not necessarily love for the US government.

However' date=' as I understand it, the moment they step on US soil, the children can apply for US citizenship, given that they are under the physical custody of the USC parent. (I'm not very sure about this, though. I would appreciate it if someone can confirm/correct this.)[/quote']

The USCIS description and the law (see section 320). The OP's children will automatically become US citizens when they establish residence in the US.

So to summarize: your husband will apply for an IR1/CR1 immigrant visa for you and your children. When you all arrive in the US your children will automatically become naturalized US citizens. If it turns out your younger child is already a citizen by birth, he or she is exempt from all this and just needs a passport. (Infant passports must be adorable!)

As a side note, I don't know anything about citizenship in the Philippines, but I suspect that if your younger child is already a US citizen by birth, he or she is probably a dual citizen. Which (I think) means you want to get both a US passport and a Philippines passport for the younger child, so he or she can travel back to the Philippines at any time. (Two adorable infant passports!)

Someone with more info should probably clarify this. What does "automatic naturalization" mean? What do they do about their green card, send it back? How do they get their naturalization certificate? Do they have to do a naturalization ceremony?

So to spell out the citizenship issue:

1. Your husband spent the first 5 years of his life in the US.
   
2. After his 5th birthday but before his 6th birthday, he left the US.
   
3. After his 17th birthday but before his 18th birthday, he returned to the US. This was in 2005.
   
4. In 2005 the older of your children was born.
   
5. In 2006 your husband left the US.
   
6. In June 2011 your husband returned to the US.
   
7. In August or September 2011 your younger child was born.
   

Before your older child's birth, your husband spent 5 years in the US prior to age 14 (#1) and less than a year in the US after age 14 (#3 to #4). Your older child is definitely not a citizen by birth.

Before your younger child's birth, your husband spent 5 years in the US prior to age 14 (#1) and possibly two years in the US after age 14 (#3 to #5 plus #6 to #7). If you can pin down the dates for #3, #5, #6, and #7 you can determine whether or not your younger child is a citizen by birth.

However, both your children are under 21, unmarried, and natural children of your husband so he can apply to get one or both of them (as necessary) permanent residence status along with you.