earwig70

Hi all,

Anyone ever had trouble with lost visa paperwork? Here's my situation:

My last trip to Thailand to visit my boyfriend I became pregnant. One
month later I was on a plane back home after hiring a US immigration
lawyer in Thailand. On his suggestion, we decided to apply for a
fiance visa for my boyfriend. Our lawyer gave us an 8-10 month
estimated wait time before we could expect our petition to be reviewed
by... is it the visa processing center?... that handles visa
applications for Washington state. Until then he said all we could do
is supply any required/requested material and wait.

So, I waited. And, waited. Meanwhile, I had twins and my lawyer went
AWOL. No emails, return phone calls, etc. I finally had another
lawyer contact him. Their correspondence went on for a few months
until last month when my original lawyer withdrew from our case.
(Nearly two years after we hired him.) His reason was that he had
never had such a difficult "fall through the cracks case", and was at a
loss as to how to further help us. (Along with a bunch of bs about
having insomnia over my family's difficulties, yada, yada, yada).

Anyway-- according to Mr. Lawyer, he sent in our paperwork long ago,
but never received a receipt. Nor was he ever able to obtain one.
Which, as I understand it, is also our case number.

This long story (thank you for staying with me), leads to a short
question: Does anyone know how to track down a petition with no case
number? I'm going to try to do it myself, but I've no idea where to
begin. Any info or advise (on possible alternate visa approaches?)
would be wonderful, and greatly appreciated.

Thanks all.

-Jade

Noorah101

Hi Jade.

Try writing to the California Service Center (I think that's where your I-129F petition went....double check where Washington State sends their petitions). Include as much information about your case as you can. But, at this point, you might have to just do a whole new petition. That one, as you say, is 2 years old now. If you have seen your bf within the past 2 years, just file a new petition.

Best Wishes,
Rene

meauxna

Dang.
You do not have a lawyer at this time? And no way to reach Lawyer #1? Did you ever get any copies of ANY of your paperwork?

How long has it been since you last saw your BF in person?

You service center would be Nebraska: http://uscis.gov/graphics/fieldoffic...ka/aboutus.htm

Digging up your previous petition might take longer than starting over. If you have any proof of previous filings, it would occur to me that one would be able to make a case to USCIS Bangkok to accept a spousal I-130, if you were able to go to Thailand and marry.

If you *have* seen each other in the past 2 years, in person, but can not go to Thailand, a K-1 fiance visa would probably be the fastest. Current timelines would make it 6-8 months to a visa, but that of course can change. Again, if you had proof of previous problems, I would think a case could be made to expedite your case. Family reunification and all.

earwig70

Thank you for the info, Rene. Could you tell me what difference it
makes whether or not I've seen him in the past two years? I have, but
just barely. Another two weeks and that two years will be up.

Cheers,
Jade

ian-mstm

Then file within the next two weeks. For a fiance visa, you and your fiance must have met face to face at least once in the previous two years. This is not something that can be easily waived. If you miss this two week window, you and your fiance must see each other again prior to filing.

Ian

earwig70

Wow, thank you both. This information is really helpful. No, I don't
currently have a lawyer. Can't quite swing it financially right now.
And no, I didn't get copies of anything. In retrospect, I see I've
been embarrassingly remiss. Just handing everything over to my lawyer
like that. I just had no idea of the process and was puking my guts
out at the time and, well I've handled it really poorly. Stupid of me
and I'm kicking myself now. I'm trying to retrieve my file from my
ex-lawyer.

I'll look into the spousal I-130. I had pretty much negated travelling
to Thailand as an option (logistical nightmare with babies and job),
but if it could expedite the process enough, I'd figure out a way.
I'll also take a stab at Nebraska. Perhaps the winds of fate will blow
my petition onto the right person's desk. For now, I guess I'd better
get on refiling for that fiance visa.

I can't thank you all enough for your responses. They've taken the
edge of lost desperation away and given me something to work with.
Invaluable-- thank you so much. I continue to welcome any and all
input/related experiences/advice, whatever. You never know what might
be helpful. In fact, because I've been such a complete lame-#ss, it's
pretty much all helpful to me.

Thanks again, and take care.

-Jade

Hebapotamus42

Earwig, I think you should contact the NVC or consulate just to see if at all possible the petition has already been approved and forwarded to them. I am not familiar with processing times for CSC, but I think 2 years is quite a long time and that it's possible you were already approved if the paperwork was actually every filed. So cover all bases and check with the NVC and your consular post just in case.

earwig70

Ok you guys, I feel like way too much of an idiot to be posting here,
but the information you're offering is immeasurably helpful and
appreciated (as is your patience).

So... what's the NVC? And, when you say my consular post...?

If it means anything, my ignorance can't astound you anymore than it
has me.

Thanks a million.

-Jade

Noorah101

Hi Jade,

NVC is the National Visa Center in New Hampshire. That's where your petition would have gone for security checks once it was approved. Perhaps it's hung up at that point. Do a google search for National Visa Center for their contact information.

Consular Post would be the consulate in Thailand where the file would have gone, if it had completed the NVC stage. From there, your fiance would have been notified to fill out more forms and come for an interview. We know that didn't happen, but Heba is suggesting finding out exactly how far along in the process your petition has gone. Very good suggestions.

Meanwhile, keep working on filing that new fiance petition before your 2 weeks is up (in case you can't track down the old one). Or, think seriously about another trip to Thailand to get married and try for direct consular filing there, if they allow it.

Best Wishes,
Rene

earwig70

I'm on it. I can't thank you all enough.

Cheers,
Jade

meauxna

Heba's suggestions are great.. of course it wouldn't still be at the Service Center!
I need to add: my idea about consular processing (after marriage) in Thailand is a very extreme suggestion -- Bangkok does not normally accept I-130s except in cases of genuine residence in Thailand. Reports are that in those cases, they generally send the USC on ahead to the US to re-establish domicile. So, I would not recommend just flying over, getting married and hoping for the best. In both my expedite suggestions, I would suggest using a lawyer for guidance.

Jade: the newgroup feeds through a web portal that many of us use; you are welcome to join at www.britishexpats.com & you might find the time between posts to be faster--certainly the post quoting will make more sense

earwig70

Thanks for the follow up, Meauxna. I'll take your recommendation to
heart and consider an I-130 only as a last gasp effort. I think I'll
look into it just the same. Start educating myself on our options
while our k-1 processes.

Thank you, also, for the expat site. My gratitude for the experience,
info and advice so generously offered here is profound. Which is why
I'm a bit concerned about aggravating the members of britishexpats.com.
This is the first Usenet group I've participated in. I'm still
learning how they function, and my online etiquette is shaky at best.
But, it's my understanding that off subject posts are really annoying.
Is a British expat site an appropriate forum for my situation?

Cheers,
Jade

Noorah101

Hi Jade,

I second meauxna's suggestion to join the BritishExpats site. The marriage-based visa forum, where your post shows up, is perfect for your scenario and questions. It's not all Brits in here; there are people from everywhere sharing their immigration experiences and offering support and assistance.

Viewing and tracking your posts is much easier and faster once you're a member of BE. There's no fee involved.

Best Wishes,
Rene

meauxna

hey Jade, don't beat yourself up anymore. You didn't know, none of us did when we started! Now you can carry on in the tradition of this newsgroup and learn from those who went before you---there will be a lot of good ideas, some shaky ones, and some dumb suggestions. I'm sure you'll figure out what is best for your family.
And don't worry about Usenetiquette too much here... we've bastardized this group pretty well now and the majority of us use the BE forum to post/read. There's no requirement to be British or an Expat to use this group, or the BE forums. If you are interested in other topics than immigration, there are other fora here for you to venture to!
See you in the funny papers
meauxna

earwig70

You rock. Every last one of you.

    > See you in the funny papers :)
    > meauxna

I'll be there.
Jade