meauxna

Hi Lisa, welcome.

ok, your case is a little bit messed up but I'm sure you'll be able to get it sorted if you stick with it.
You're right.. the NVC thinks you are going to apply for a visa. Don't do it. Do NOT leave the US without a green card or a lawyer.

What happened to the Notice of Receipt I-797C for your I-485?
The I-485 is your application for Permanent Residence (green card) and it should have been 'processed' within about 6 months from filing.
Get all of these letters, copies of forms you've filed etc together in one place if you haven't already.

Next thing is to stop calling the 1-800 customer service. They are not going to be able to help you.

Next is to determine your Local Office in Conn and make an "InfoPass" appointment so you can go in (or your husband) and find out what is going on from people who can do something about it.

You need to find out what happened to your I-485.
You need to have the i-130 transferred back to USCIS to join with the old I-485 or a new one.

This is a special customer service line for military members:

Military Help Line

See if they can help your husband.

There is also the JAG office on base; they may be helpful or not so helpful. Try anyway.

One thing that does NOT make sense is that you went for biometrics.. the only thing that would trigger that is I-485, I-765 (did you apply for a work permit?) and maybe I-131. Did you file any of those?

That $80 you already sent in.. that is gone. That was a fee related to the visa that you are not going to apply for.

Bottom line is that you are the Immediate Relative of a US citizen. (your DH is a citizen, yes?)
As such, you should not have had anything like this long of a wait unless you made an error in your paperwork. Since that is likely, the very best thing for you is to get with a professional who can look at your paperwork and spot the error.
You've got the military JAG.
You've got Catholic Charities, or other immigrant assistance groups.
You've got a private lawyer option.

WhatEVER you do, from now on, you need to be in charge of your own immigration stuff, and babysit it even if someone else is doing it.

The last bit, about Document production or oath ceremony? Also very, very confusing. You need someone to help you, and this kind of online help might not be the best. We can help you learn the lingo, and what to be looking for, but you need someone who is qualified to put their eyes on your paper, IMO.

Nice to meetcha!

Lisa_delo

Thank you so much for you response meauxna!

Yes DH is American and we also have 3 kids 5 and under all born here

I'm going to get my DH to make an appointment on base with the JAG and see what they can do to help us.

We did file for the work permit, but we received a letter straight away saying it was not approved because the I-485 hadn't been filed yet....

"What happened to the Notice of Receipt I-797C for your I-485?"


I know we have it somewhere just need to find it!

You have give us a lot to think about and I will update when we know what is happening!

Again thanks for your time!

BritishGuy36

As it can't be emphasized enough in such a case, I will reiterate - do NOT leave the US for ANY reason - even a family member funeral etc, unless you are prepared to not get back in for a long time - UNTIL you have green card in hand.

As you've massively overstayed on the VWP, you would incur a 10-year ban from entering the US - and after the 10 years is up they may still not let you in as their view will be that you've heavily abused the system.

That being said, as others above me stated this is fixable. It's in more of a mess than we usually hear about though. I would agree that dropping $100 on a consultation with an immigration lawyer and showing him all the paperwork you have would be money well spent.

But at this point, I wouldn't stress about it too much. You've already filed some paperwork, you just need to get it straightened out, then in a few months you'll be sorted. It's unlikely they will initiate removal proceedings against you.

If you want to get together all your paperwork and post a better, more accurate account of where and when things happened and paperwork was filed, you may get more good input here. Don't post exact dates, just the month is fine.

crg

Meauxna already asked but I didn't see the answer anywhere.

Is this military man a US citizen, or does he have a green card?

Lisa_delo

He's American, was born here in CA, been serving in the Navy for last 12 years.

Rete

So glad you signed up, Lisa.

I could make a few assumptions but they would only be assumptions. One assumption is that since they were processing it as if you were out of the country you would not be eligibile to file for adjustment of status. But then again we have seen (although very rare) that USCIS plays a game with some aliens and tells them they have to go to their country to finalize the I-130 with an immediate relative visa knowing full well that they would then be banned from re-entry. Did they play this game with you? Don't know. Or were your petitions actually mishandled and separated two years ago and that is the cause of the problem.

Whatever the case, you are best served to follow the advice offered by a few of us and that is to get legal assistance with your case. I don't have faith in JAG as I have not seen them help anyone in the military with immigration issues during my 12 years on the forum. Since you are stateside you can get private assistance and Meauxna outlined discounted/low cost alteratives for you.

Whatever you do, as pointed out above, do not under any circumstances leave the US without first having the green card in your possession.

ian-mstm

This seems to be the crux upon which they're basing their decisions. They are suggesting you didn't file the I-485... and it's probably now in the system that way. You must find the receipt showing that you did, in fact, file it. After that, I believe everything should fall into place.

Ian

ian-mstm

We don't know that. She married prior to the expiry of the VWP but we don't know whether she filed the AOS paperwork prior to the expiry of the VWP. If she did file prior to expiry, there is no overstay. If she filed within 180 days of the expiry, there's an overstay but no ban. At any rate, an overstay is forgiven for the spouse of a USC.

Still, as you suggest - she should not leave the US under any circumstances whatsoever until she has a GC in her hand.

Ian

Noorah101

Did you file the I-130, I-485, and I-765 all in the same package to the same address? This would have been the correct method for adjustment of status.

It sounds like you filed an I-130 and I-485 separately.

If you did file them together, then somehow USCIS mistakenly got them separated.

Rene

Rete

Also the I-485 filing was not complete and would have definitely generated a RFE. They did not include the medical or the I-864 with the package. It might be that they were sent an RFE for these items and never go the mailing. If so and they didn't respond, the I-485 would have been "binned".

crg

She supposedly entered 7 years ago. I suspect there was a massive overstay. Based on how long she has been in the country, it is extremely unlikely that this paperwork was submitted in a timely manner.

I can see another potential problem here. There was a brief period of time in the early 2000's between the Visa Waiver Pilot Program and the Visa Waiver Permanent Program where the VWP was expired and suspended.

That created problems because there was no way to lawfully admit VWP applicants. Instead of having thousands of people cancel their vacation until the VWP could be reinstated by Congress, the border guards paroled people into the US. The parole changes how they are treated when encountered in the US as overstays or when they apply for benefits.

This person may not have been admitted to the United States when they entered. I'd check the passport for a stamp with a CP notation indicating a conditional parole. It's not highly likely that this happened, but could be a possibility.

meauxna

It reads like the I-485 was neer received.

It still doesn't explain why the I-130 has taken this long to get to its current state, but if the family moved.. maybe?

I hope Lisa sticks with it so they can get the situation sorted. And crg, thanks for bringing that up about the VWPP.. it crossed my mind but it's hard to believe it's been that many years now! And I forgot about that little gap in time.