geeandtee

After having our AOS denied and the subsequent appeal denied and then overturned in 2009, after losing my job in 2010, after receiving a notification for a biometrics appointment that we didn't attend because we were a week away from returning to the UK, after all the expense and crap and hassle of returning to live in the UK, I thought it was all behind us.

Until this morning when I received this email from our immigration attorney back in the US.

"Tell me this email is still good. Greencards were granted"



I always thought, if you didn't attend the biometrics appointment you were considered to have abandoned your application? Or could this all be because the Very Important Person who quashed the AOS denial made sure we got the GCs anyway?

ETA: Have just checked the USCIS web site and, yup, decision issued on 4th May. AOS approved.

I'm gobsmacked.

andy1

F-ing hell !!..get them sent home in the mail ! that just sums up USCIS , i had the same bull to be honest , also back in U.K. now , PM me and maybe we can have a chinwag ?

goldenstate31

I dont know about you, but I'm a real believer in 'whats meant to be' i followed your story last year
could it be that, well, you were meant to come back to the UK for a while, but now theres an opportunity for you to get ya butt back there!?

fatbrit

Fun! Wonder if they'd actually be good as you haven't lived here for the best part of a year. No idea of the answer.....but presumably your lawyer would.

Jerseygirl

Wow that's a turn up for the books. Would you move back to the US if you have GCs?

geeandtee

God, knows Fatbrit. The USCIS will forever remain a mystery to me.

We're not going back. Our son is so settled here, he has more friends than he ever had in Coolidge and he's in a great school and doing well. Hubby loves being able to walk to the pub for a pint and watching Match of the Day and racing. I just love the greenery and the rain (when we get it). i really can't complain when my daily commute takes me over the top of the Downs, down leafy lanes all full of spring blossoms and cow parsley.

Nah, even if the GCs were still good, pfffffffft.

MsElui

bloody hell - thats a right turn up.

meauxna

See? We did want you here afterall.

What a crazy thing.

crg

If it makes you feel better, you may not have been able to benefit from the approval of the I-485if it were erroneously approved. Typically, a departure without a parole letter with a pending I-485 would cause the applicaton to be abandoned.

geeandtee

Thank you! It does make me feel better.

sir_eccles

A quick thought.

Are GCs actually in production and being sent out? It wasn't clear from your email, especially considering you said you didn't go to biometrics. So the following blathering could be moot...

The USPS can sometimes be a little unpredictable in how it handles undeliverable mail. Particularly, federal mail shouldn't be forwarded. I know from experience though that in certain parts of the country that doesn't necessarily mean it will be returned to sender (*cough*Brookyln*cough*). My worry is that GCs with your name on could end up anywhere, a potential serious ID theft issue.

geeandtee

They're not in production. I checked the status update on the USCIS website. Everything goes to our attorney. Before we left AZ I went to our local post office and they stopped delivering to that address the day we left. Everything is 'return to sender'

JAJ

If there is no plan to return to the USA, would it be a good idea to document this and ask USCIS to revoke the approval? Or if USCIS say it's valid, file an I-407 to abandon the green card?

The reason for this is that they are purportedly liable now for US federal tax, and if they are sure they are not going to want to move back to the USA, this is something that perhaps should be removed.

Something to discuss with the lawyer?

crg

If they don't plan to go back, the lawyer could write a letter explaining the client had departed and, in doing so, abandoned the I-485.

Even if they had an interest in going back, and a card arrived in the mail, it could be problamatic to use this "approval" to do so. I woulnd't want to move everyone back to the US with all of my stuff with the shadow hanging over my head that CIS/CBP/ICE/DHS would eventually realize the error in approving the application and pulling the carpet out from under me and my family.

I'm not sure how active the IRS is in persuing people overseas for tax liabilities unless there is a ton of money to go after. There are so many LPRs who don't live in the US, and don't file taxes as it is. If it were happening, we'd be seeing numerous posts here of people who are being confronted by the IRS over such things. That just hasn't been happening.

JAJ

I can't speak for the USA specifically, but in most common law jurisdictions the courts would take a dim view of this kind of action (retrospective voiding of something obtained in good faith), even if an immigration or other benefit occurred due to a procedural irregularity. And USCIS might not wish to advertise the fact it made a mistake.

But I'd agree that if they wanted to use the green cards, they should get some very good legal advice on this subject. I'd think the problem in this case is that USCIC were probably never advised of the departure from the USA.