mstuckaNOSPAM

Kind folks,

I might've been called a reject at one point in my life, but I never
had it confirmed by the U.S. government. Now that I have ... =)

We got several applications rejected because of problems with one
application, and could _really_ use some advice. We're terrified about the
potential for lost, and badly needed, household income.

I married a Brazilian lady on Feb. 20, and we filed a bunch of paperwork
on Feb. 23 at the Providence, R.I., office. Providence told us they just
had changed their system ("It should be better!") and sent everything off
now. The EADs, which had taken a coupla days, well, we took five weeks to
get our receipts back. So much for the receipt guaranteed within three
weeks ...

At ANYRATE, every application was rejected, possibly because we sent in
the wrong fees for the I-485, at $220. I missed the fingerprinting fee in
the instruction and, indeed, the instructions were _wrong_. Filing fee is
now $255.

Every other application was also rejected: "The check amount is incorrect
or has not been provided. THe correct filing fee is ___. Please resubmit
the application/petition with the appropriate fees to the address listed
on the bottom of this notice."

That's off the I-130 rejection letter, demanding $130, with the required
$130 money order courteously stapled by the U.S. BCIS underneath. As I
understand it, my I-130 should have been considered before her I-485,
anyway, but no such luck.

Similar things happened with I-765 EAD and I-131 AP, at least one of which
requires the I-485.

So, the questions:
Now what? (beyond, get money orders for the right fee)

Is there any way to stay considered with a Feb. 23 application date on the
EAD, if there was no problem with the I-765 application?

Can a I-485 rejection railroad an I-765 application?

Is there any way to get back in the game with the Feb. 23 date on the
other paperwork, including the I-130?


Any help and advice would be greatly, greatly appreciated.


Mike and Suze


--
Mike Stucka / mstucka at math.luc.edu
This person runs on ethanol, an environmentally friendly alternative fuel.

Sylvia Ottemoeller

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

    > I might've been called a reject at one point in my life, but I never
    > had it confirmed by the U.S. government. Now that I have ... =)
    > We got several applications rejected because of problems with one
    > application, and could _really_ use some advice. We're terrified about the
    > potential for lost, and badly needed, household income.
    > I married a Brazilian lady on Feb. 20, and we filed a bunch of paperwork
    > on Feb. 23 at the Providence, R.I., office. Providence told us they just
    > had changed their system ("It should be better!") and sent everything off
    > now. The EADs, which had taken a coupla days, well, we took five weeks to
    > get our receipts back. So much for the receipt guaranteed within three
    > weeks ...
    > At ANYRATE, every application was rejected, possibly because we sent in
    > the wrong fees for the I-485, at $220. I missed the fingerprinting fee in
    > the instruction and, indeed, the instructions were _wrong_. Filing fee is
    > now $255.
    > Every other application was also rejected: "The check amount is incorrect
    > or has not been provided. THe correct filing fee is ___. Please resubmit
    > the application/petition with the appropriate fees to the address listed
    > on the bottom of this notice."
    > That's off the I-130 rejection letter, demanding $130, with the required
    > $130 money order courteously stapled by the U.S. BCIS underneath. As I
    > understand it, my I-130 should have been considered before her I-485,
    > anyway, but no such luck.

An I-130 petition can be accepted if filed by itself at a USCIS Service
Center, but an I-130 cannot be accepted by itself at a USCIS District
Office. The district office can only accept an I-130 with a properly filed
I-485. They had to send the I-130 back to you.

    > Similar things happened with I-765 EAD and I-131 AP, at least one of which
    > requires the I-485.

Both the I-765 and the I-131 depend upon being filed simultaneously with, or
later than, a properly filed I-485.

    > So, the questions:
    > Now what? (beyond, get money orders for the right fee)
    > Is there any way to stay considered with a Feb. 23 application date on the
    > EAD, if there was no problem with the I-765 application?

Probably not.

    > Can a I-485 rejection railroad an I-765 application?

I don't know what you mean by this.

    > Is there any way to get back in the game with the Feb. 23 date on the
    > other paperwork, including the I-130?

Probably not.

    > Any help and advice would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

I suggest that you consult with a good immigration attorney, even if only to
look over your paperwork after you have prepared it. In Los Angeles, where
attorneys are pretty expensive, the lawyer's fee for preparing and filing
the package, plus appearing with you at the interview, would have been about
$1500. Just imagine, your spouse could have earned at least that amount of
money if she had not lost the time in obtaining the work authorization.

Also, you could have made other mistakes in the package which could affect
you later.

Folinskyinla

Hi Sylvia:

Los Angeles immigration attrorneys are not all THAT expensive! It depends on the case and competence. Of course, I am a glutton for punishment and take weird cases. ;-) But Matt Udall is in Pasadena and his fees are reasonable.

Nonetheless, if the guys case is pretty straigtforward, the CIS gave him an insturction sheet on exactly what to do. It is probably "shooting fish in a barrel." But if it gets rejected again -- then he does need an attorney.

mstuckaNOSPAM

I thank you both, kindly.

To the best of my knowledge, our case is fairly straightforward now.
However, she may be at risk of losing her L-1 job, making the EAD more
critical. I suspect we'll be talking more about the possibility of getting
an attorney.


Much obliged,
Mike for Mike n Suze

--
Mike Stucka / mstucka at math.luc.edu
This person runs on ethanol, an environmentally friendly alternative fuel.

mstuckaNOSPAM

Just a follow-up.

We reapplied April 2, got NOAs dated April 14. The last, for the EAD, came
in the mail a few days after the first batch with two postmarks, my wife
says. Odd.

At any rate, the BCIS most certainly got our recipts out within the
promised three-week timeframe, less than the five weeks on the rejected
bunch. I think they're saying 30-90 days on the EAD.

Fingerprinting is right around the corner from our old apartment, two-hour
delay on an appointment one month out.

We'll be transfering the case from Providence to Boston when we move.

Things are looking much, much better.

Thanks for all your help!
Mike

--
Mike Stucka / mstucka at math.luc.edu
This person runs on ethanol, an environmentally friendly alternative fuel.