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Debate on why there is a petition stage for an Immigrant Visa

Debate on why there is a petition stage for an Immigrant Visa

Old Jan 30th 2012, 5:45 pm
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Default Debate on why there is a petition stage for an Immigrant Visa

Originally Posted by ian-mstm
What? Not so. The US citizen doesn't need a birth certificate! All that is ever required is that the USC can prove citizenship... and a US passport will do that.

Ian
Oh right. That's quite puzzling then. I once asked on here why they have the 'petition' stage on the visa process at all (the UK has no equiv) and was told by an immigration lawyer that is was a kind of check up on the USC, to see if they are 'wanted' or owe child support etc. (Cheeky if you ask me to more than double the amount of time it takes to get the visa when they should be able to check these things anyway for example when the USC applies for a passport, but anyway...)

Now, if the USC wanted to avoid getting caught out for child suuport, outstanding arrest warrant etc, all he'd have to do is change his name legally. If the US is the same as the UK, then previous names do not appear on the passport (I don't think MIL's maiden mame does). Thus they would only check the name on the passport. (I could be wrong and there could be a central register of all name changes but more than likely as it is a state-by-state thing, like marriage, there is no such thing to be able to check, same as the UK).

So, they want the UKC (or other foreign nationality) to provide a long form birth certificate and marriage certs/deed polls etc, so they can check on all names they have been known by, but not the USC?
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Old Jan 30th 2012, 5:59 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

The petitions require the USC to provide "Other Names Used" for themself as well as for the alien. Misrepresentation, if discovered, carries severe consequences - often more sever than whatever it was that was misrepresented.

The purpose of the petition is to establish that a relationship exists between the petitioner and the beneficiary - a relationship of a type that qualifies the alien to apply for an immigrant visa (I-130) or a non-immigrant K visa (I-129f). Perhaps in the UK this step is rolled into the visa application itself.

Regards, JEff
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Old Jan 30th 2012, 6:05 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Originally Posted by jeffreyhy
The purpose of the petition is to establish that a relationship exists between the petitioner and the beneficiary - a relationship of a type that qualifies the alien to apply for an immigrant visa (I-130) or a non-immigrant K visa (I-129f). Perhaps in the UK this step is rolled into the visa application itself.

Regards, JEff
Yeah it's simple enough esp for Spouse visas - check the marriage certificate! Why does that take 5 months??
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Old Jan 30th 2012, 6:10 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Checking the information doesn't take 5 months. What takes 5 months is waiting in line behind thousands of other people to get your information checked.

Regards, JEff


Originally Posted by Squirrel
Yeah it's simple enough esp for Spouse visas - check the marriage certificate! Why does that take 5 months??
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Old Jan 30th 2012, 8:04 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Originally Posted by jeffreyhy
Checking the information doesn't take 5 months. What takes 5 months is waiting in line behind thousands of other people to get your information checked.

Regards, JEff
How come the ConOff can't just check it at the visa interview?
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Old Jan 30th 2012, 8:29 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Originally Posted by Squirrel
How come the ConOff can't just check it at the visa interview?
Because then it would be too late. The marital relationship needs to be established (by viewing the marriage certificate) *before* the beneficiary will be allowed to apply for a visa.

Also, two different agencies are involved. USCIS is the agency that handles the petition, checking the documents to establish the marital relationship, and approving the petition. Dept of State (DOS) is the agency involved in issuing a visa. The ConOff works for DOS, but it's USCIS' job to check the marriage certificate.

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Old Jan 30th 2012, 8:32 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Because the law wasn't written that way.

Don't ask why not - I don't think anyone here at BE was a member of Congress at the time. But there is some logic to determining whether or not a person qualifies to apply for a visa before letting them apply.

Regards, JEff


Originally Posted by Squirrel
How come the ConOff can't just check it at the visa interview?
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Old Jan 30th 2012, 9:41 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

It does seem daft though. If you get them to pay the fee upfront, then if they DON'T qualify at the time of the interview, it will be their fee they've wasted. Besides, I really doubt many people would apply who don't qualify, as it would just be a waste of their time and money when they were turned down at the interview.

Just out of interest, do any other countries have a 'petition' stage? The UK doesn't, you just fill in and submit the application form and pay online, book a biometrics appointment, go to that, submit your original documents by courier, and usually a few days later the visa is issued. It doesn't usually take more than a couple of weeks from start to finish. The US process seems stone age in comparison.

How about Canada and Australia? Do you have to 'apply for permission to apply' there?
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Old Jan 30th 2012, 9:46 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Originally Posted by Squirrel
It does seem daft though. If you get them to pay the fee upfront, then if they DON'T qualify at the time of the interview, it will be their fee they've wasted. Besides, I really doubt many people would apply who don't qualify, as it would just be a waste of their time and money when they were turned down at the interview.
You'd be surprised how many people probably apply who don't qualify. Don't forget, the I-130 is not just for spouses, but for ANY family-based immigrant visa (parents, children (including step children), siblings, spouses). So, the I-130 goes through the petition phase to make sure that the USC (or LPR in some cases) qualifies to bring over that particular family member at that time. Otherwise, why bother going through a more complicated visa application process, when there's no point, as they don't qualify to even GET the visa?

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Old Jan 30th 2012, 10:06 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Originally Posted by Noorah101
You'd be surprised how many people probably apply who don't qualify. Don't forget, the I-130 is not just for spouses, but for ANY family-based immigrant visa (parents, children (including step children), siblings, spouses). So, the I-130 goes through the petition phase to make sure that the USC (or LPR in some cases) qualifies to bring over that particular family member at that time. Otherwise, why bother going through a more complicated visa application process, when there's no point, as they don't qualify to even GET the visa?

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Yes but that's their loss surely? It seems unfair to make genuine couples wait months longer just for that.
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Old Jan 30th 2012, 10:18 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Originally Posted by Squirrel
Yes but that's their loss surely? It seems unfair to make genuine couples wait months longer just for that.
Whose loss? I guess in my mind, I'd rather know sooner whether I qualify to bring my relative here or not, rather than waiting all the way up to the day of the visa interview. I mean, why make my relative bother applying for a visa if they don't qualify for one? That's just even more disappointing than knowing ahead of time.

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Old Jan 30th 2012, 10:25 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Originally Posted by Squirrel
The US process seems stone age in comparison.
Respectfully, people aren't killing themselves for the chance to get into the UK, Canada, or Australia. Many people would kill, literally, for a chance to get to the US... or would die trying.

Your comments demonstrate an unrealistic and naive understanding of US immigration.

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Old Jan 30th 2012, 10:53 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Well it makes no bones to me if it takes 25 years for people to get US spouse visas or if they even abolish them. I just don't think someone could be mistaken in thinking if they are a USC and they marry a foreigner that they 'might not' be eligible to apply for a visa and be 'disappointed' to find that is not the case. I think the US Immigration system COULD be streamlined, but there is no incentive to do it because the US could care less how long it takes. And 'respectfully' people would and have died trying to get to the UK (frozen on aeroplane wheels, suffocated in lorries etc) and the US does not have a monopoly on that. Ask any of the people camped at Sangette outside Calais who've crossed the borders of loads of other countries trying desperately to get to the UK.

I know however that most regulars on this forum would defend US Immigration if they brought in a new rule that you need to donate a kidney to get a green card, because US Immigration is 100% perfect and there is not a thing that could be bettered about it.

I am done with this thread.
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Old Jan 30th 2012, 11:05 pm
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Originally Posted by Squirrel
I just don't think someone could be mistaken in thinking if they are a USC and they marry a foreigner that they 'might not' be eligible to apply for a visa and be 'disappointed' to find that is not the case.
I agree, most USC's who marry a foreigner assume that the USC and the foreigner are both eligible. However, that's not always the case.

Plus, I think I was just pointing out that the I-130 is used for many other family-based immigration scenarios, so it's not really possible to separate out the spouse ones from the other ones, ahead of time...that's why everything goes to USCIS first, to see who is eligible and who is not.

It's just because of the large backlog of I-130's in the system that it takes 5 months to get around to your particular case. There are a gazillion other I-130's (not all of them spouse cases) ahead of you.

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Old Jan 31st 2012, 3:17 am
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Default Re: A Couple of Questions re filing the I-130

Well, Ms Squirrel, believe it or not, there are foreigners who would marry a US citizen solely because it is the easiest way to immigrate to the USA. And there are US citizens who would marry such foreigners for the money they are offered to do so.

Such marriages do not qualify the foreigner to immigrate to the USA.

So the question is - what type of marriage is yours? And what type of marriage are all those others?

Regards, JEff


Originally Posted by Squirrel
Well it makes no bones to me if it takes 25 years for people to get US spouse visas or if they even abolish them. I just don't think someone could be mistaken in thinking if they are a USC and they marry a foreigner that they 'might not' be eligible to apply for a visa and be 'disappointed' to find that is not the case.
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