Babak Mozaffari

Hi all... I have a pending I130 and am not sure if everything is
right, or what I should do next.

My mother sponsered me under the 2B preference and I received a
priority date of Feb 8 2001. I was in the US with a student visa at
the time. In July 2002, we got a notice advising us that I am "not
eligible to file an adjustment of status application at this time" and
that the application will be stored in that office till I apply for an
immigrant visa or file an AOS. It was also stated that I could later
file an I-485 or I-824.

I moved to Canada and just recently followed up on the case by filing
an I-824, and received a notice with a different WAC number and no
priority date... is that ok? It doesn't sound right to me, I expected
to keep the same priority date.

My mother has applied to citizenship and I hope to move to first
preference while retaining priority date, any advice on that? What
comes next, and what do I need to do?

I would appreciate any advice, and am also wondering if it would be
wise to use an immigration lawyer for the remaining steps.

Regards, Babak