Info on an i130 application.

él statutorio

Hi folks,

I'm looking for a bit of a steer here. My wife (a US citizen) submitted an application for an i130 back at the start of January.

We're trying to get an update as to where the application is in the system as when we applied the government sites estimate was 5 months.

I have tried calling the embassy here in Dublin for some info but it just seems to be an endless soul destroying loop of automated answering systems.

The email we got today (after requesting a status update) from the Dept of Homeland Security was pretty useless as it basically said "pending adjudication. We regret that we are unable to provide you with a completion date at this time."

Has anyone any ideas?

iusedtoknow

It can be pending for as long as it is pending

have you checked https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/Dashboard/CaseStatus.do

It will give you a bit of insight into where it is in process

él statutorio

is it a "how long is a piece of string" situation?

silja

You are looking at about a year from submitting the first paperwork to interview- 5- 6 months at USCIS, 2-3 months at NVC, and then 2-3 months to get the paperwork to the embassy and them to schedule your interview.

él statutorio

Thanks for that silja, I was under the impression it took less time. Am I correct in saying that I can get a temporary work visa while the i130 is being processed?

silja

No, you cannot move to the US or live or work there until you have the spousal visa.
You CAN use the visa waiver program to visit for Christmas, or to attend job interviews, but you cannot work till you have the visa (visa gives you automatic greencard upon entry to the USA).

spideog7

Harsh... I got the whole process completed in under 3 months from sending in the application to getting the green card in the post. I was doing an adjustment of status along with the I130 though.

muff03

spideog7 wrote: »

Harsh... I got the whole process completed in under 3 months from sending in the application to getting the green card in the post. I was doing an adjustment of status along with the I130 though.

Whoa, we were hit with the government shutdown. We're a year and a half down the road and still not finished!

él statutorio

silja wrote: »

No, you cannot move to the US or live or work there until you have the spousal visa.
You CAN use the visa waiver program to visit for Christmas, or to attend job interviews, but you cannot work till you have the visa (visa gives you automatic greencard upon entry to the USA).

A K3 visa would count as a spousal visa though wouldn't it?

silja

The K3 visa is obsolete, as it takes as long as the CR-1 nowadays. Plus with the K3 you have to do AOS after you arrive in the USA, so it actually takes longer until you can work.

él statutorio

balls!

Not the answer that I wanted

I wish I could find out what the hold up is, so bloody frustrating.

To top it off I've actually been offered a job over there too but I can't even give them an estimate of a start date.

spideog7

muff03 wrote: »

Whoa, we were hit with the government shutdown. We're a year and a half down the road and still not finished!

I actually had my interview right in the middle of the shutdown. USCIS didn't shut down as it isn't federally funded it's self funded, paid for by applicants like me and you.

silja

él statutorio wrote: »

balls!
I wish I could find out what the hold up is, so bloody frustrating.

It isn't really a hold up, it is just how long it takes because of the amount of petitions they get.

DaisyD2

A US family member was over 2yrs married before his overseas wife was allowed join him & I believe they tried Fiance visa prior to marriage - just celebrated 10yrs.

System is not designed to provide you with information on where you are in the queue, its a waiting game but I would seriously caution anyone about even looking for employment during the process because imo it is seriously frowned upon

él statutorio

DaisyD2 wrote: »

A US family member was over 2yrs married before his overseas wife was allowed join him & I believe they tried Fiance visa prior to marriage - just celebrated 10yrs.

System is not designed to provide you with information on where you are in the queue, its a waiting game but I would seriously caution anyone about even looking for employment during the process because imo it is seriously frowned upon

2years, oh dear. We were married in 2011 over there and we have a 2 year old child (born here but has both passports).

Incidentally,I didn't actually go job hunting, I met someone socially which inadvertently led to a fantastic job offer.

ProudDUB

él statutorio wrote: »

balls!

Not the answer that I wanted

I wish I could find out what the hold up is, so bloody frustrating.

To top it off I've actually been offered a job over there too but I can't even give them an estimate of a start date.

OP, are you and your wife here in Dublin? As your wife is a US citizen, she can go to the US Embassy, walk straight into it and talk to someone about any issues she may have. As a US citizen, she doesn't have to make an appointment in advance in order to speak to the staff there. I don't know how much information a staffer in the Embassy here, will be able to give her about the application, especially if it is being processed back in the US. But they may be able to tell her something.

DaisyD2

él statutorio wrote: »

Incidentally,I didn't actually go job hunting, I met someone socially which inadvertently led to a fantastic job offer.

Didn't mean to imply you had,

Hopefully you won't be waiting too long & offer will still be there

él statutorio

ProudDUB wrote: »

OP, are you and your wife here in Dublin? As your wife is a US citizen, she can go to the US Embassy, walk straight into it and talk to someone about any issues she may have. As a US citizen, she doesn't have to make an appointment in advance in order to speak to the staff there. I don't know how much information a staffer in the Embassy here, will be able to give her about the application, especially if it is being processed back in the US. But they may be able to tell her something.

Yeah we live in Dublin, I didn't know that, I thought we needed an appointment in advance. I'll be calling her now!

Thank you!

*edit* turns out she needs an appointment. She went up there today

ProudDUB

Did she really? Surprised to hear that. The two times I needed to speak to someone there, I was able to just walk straight in. I had to take a ticket and wait in the waiting area until someone was free to speak to me. Both times, I was in and out in under a hour.

Was it because she was asking about a visa application? Maybe they have so many of them, they have a set system in place to deal with them. (I was only asking boring questions about filing my taxes from Ireland. So maybe they don't get a lot of people walking in off the street to ask about that.) Was she at least able to make an appointment.

él statutorio

OK, back to this again.

Here's my current status.

As of last Friday, my I 130 petition has been approved by USCIS.

As I understand it, my application is now with the NVC, they will then process it (presumably) and then pass the details to the embassy in Dublin.
Assuming this is correct, does anyone know how long it might take the NVC to do whatever they have to do and pass it along to Dublin?

Once it gets to Dublin I believe it take up to 6 weeks for them process the application (according to the Information Unit in the Dublin Embassy) and at this point I do an interview and medical and presumably get a work Visa?

Does this all sound correct or am I missing some steps?

silja

Wait, a work visa? I thought you are being petitioned for a spousal visa?
NVC is where your wife will send in the I-864 affadavit of support and those docs. Usually takes no longer than 2 months.

él statutorio

silja wrote: »

Wait, a work visa? I thought you are being petitioned for a spousal visa?
NVC is where your wife will send in the I-864 affadavit of support and those docs. Usually takes no longer than 2 months.

Sorry Silja,

I'm confusing myself at this stage From being told it was a simple speedy process initially, the whole thing is a pain in the swiss....

You're right, I'm applying for a spousal visa. I am hoping to work over there once the visa arrives though.

silja

Yeah the working bit is no probs- the spousal visa leads to greencard upon entry (you will get a stamp in your passport that acts as temp green card until the physical card arrives a couple of months later), so you can work the day you arrive if you can find a job.

él statutorio

silja wrote: »

Yeah the working bit is no probs- the spousal visa leads to greencard upon entry (you will get a stamp in your passport that acts as temp green card until the physical card arrives a couple of months later), so you can work the day you arrive if you can find a job.

Well that's something.

The irritating bit is that I've got an excellent job offer over there but I don't think I can get them to keep the position open past the end of August.

I've gotta hope it gets done by then

My wife and daughter are moving over in about 3 weeks and I intend to follow them in mid August (on an ESTA til the visa gets sorted, I know I can't work).

I'm wondering if it'd be better to leave the application with me applying from this side and fly home for the interview or if it'd be faster if I changed it to me applying from the US?

silja

You can't apply from the USA. It is visa fraud to use the visa waiver to enter the USA with the intent of staying, you could face a lifetime ban for that.
What you *could* do is ask for an expedite based on financial loss- you have a job offer that may be withdrawn. Usually expedites are only granted for military service of emergent health reasons, but it's worth a try, especially at the embassy level if you can be flexible and basically show up for the interview at short notice if they have a cancelation.

él statutorio

I was speaking to the NVC about expediting it last night, i didn't think about financial loss tbh, it's certainly worth a try. I'll be as flexible as the embassy needs me to be, I can be out there at 45 mins notice!

Thanks so much for your advice on this.

jjbrien

You might want to now start prepairing for your medical. I gathered up my vaccination records etc a while before the medical needed to be done. So id advise you to contact your local health centre to get your records now.

él statutorio

jjbrien wrote: »

You might want to now start prepairing for your medical. I gathered up my vaccination records etc a while before the medical needed to be done. So id advise you to contact your local health centre to get your records now.

Good thinking, I never realised I'd have to start digging up vaccination records. IS that something that my regular GP would have or am I looking at contacting the local health board? (or possibly the local health board where i grew up?)

silja

Yeah your GP from childhood, if still practiising or if another took over his office, should have it.

crapmanjoe

I had no records at all of any vaccines but my doc ran a blood test (was like a 100 bucks extra) and it showed all the vaccines still present so I had no issues!

él statutorio

crapmanjoe wrote: »

I had no records at all of any vaccines but my doc ran a blood test (was like a 100 bucks extra) and it showed all the vaccines still present so I had no issues!

That might be the best option, my GP from childhood is long dead and I don't know who took over from him.

jjbrien

I was told by my childhood doctor to contact the local HSE clinic where i grew up they had all the vaccination records they just emailed me copies.

spideog7

él statutorio wrote: »

My wife and daughter are moving over in about 3 weeks and I intend to follow them in mid August (on an ESTA til the visa gets sorted, I know I can't work).

I'd be wary of travelling to the US on the ESTA with an application processing. I've heard of people doing it but just make sure to have all of your documentation in order and be aware that you will probably have to return to complete the process.

él statutorio

We've decided to get a lawyer involved, I think I underestimated the complexity of the whole process.

I'll keep this thread updated though, just in case anyone else has issues.

él statutorio

So, the best the lawyer can come up with is for me to head to the states and apply for an i485 once I'm there.

That'd have me being able to work 90 days after the application is received.

Not sure where that leaves me as I don't know if that route would be any better than the current i130 application.

silja

Do NOT listen to that lawyer, that would be visa fraud.

él statutorio

silja wrote: »

Do NOT listen to that lawyer, that would be visa fraud.

Ok, I'm confused here, I thought I had to be in the US to file an i485? (and an i765)

How does that get filed in that case?

spideog7

As mentioned above that is fraud and USCIS will flag it immediately and almost certainly bar you from entry for a decade if not for life.

él statutorio

Just did some reading and that confirms it.

There must be some confusion with the lawyer because they came highly recommended.

*edit*
conflicting info out there
http://www.pugetsoundlegal.net/2013/07/09/i-came-to-the-u-s-on-esta-can-i-adjust-status/

silja

You CAN adjust status inside the USA, but it is meant for very special circumstances, such as you visit the US with your US spouse and their parent gets sick and you two need to stay there to take care of them, or war breaks out in your home country and you cannot go back. If you enter the USA on the visa waiver program or a tourist visa with the intent of staying, that is visa fraud, illegal, and can get you a lfie time ban. Do not risk it.

spideog7

silja wrote: »

You CAN adjust status inside the USA, but it is meant for very special circumstances, such as you visit the US with your US spouse and their parent gets sick and you two need to stay there to take care of them, or war breaks out in your home country and you cannot go back. If you enter the USA on the visa waiver program or a tourist visa with the intent of staying, that is visa fraud, illegal, and can get you a lfie time ban. Do not risk it.

Yes the fraudulent part is telling them you only intended staying for less than 90 days for vacation (when entering on the ESTA).

él statutorio

I'm going to speak to the lawyer tonight as there must be some confusion somewhere. It's a large law firm in SF that does a lot of immigration work so you'd hope they know what they're doing.

As a precaution I've fired off a mail to a different firm as well.

jjbrien

I stongly recommend you not going ahead with the i485. By filing an I130 already you have signaled your intent to reside in the USA permanently which would go agaist you if you entered on the visa waver and then tried to file an i485

él statutorio

jjbrien wrote: »

I stongly recommend you not going ahead with the i485. By filing an I130 already you have signaled your intent to reside in the USA permanently which would go agaist you if you entered on the visa waver and then tried to file an i485

I don't think I'll go down that route unless both sets of lawyers say it's a viable option.

From what I've read, in California it seems that it's technically possible to do an i485 alright, but, that doesn't necessarily mean I should be doing it.

silja

él statutorio wrote: »

From what I've read, in California it seems that it's technically possible to do an i485 alright, but, that doesn't necessarily mean I should be doing it.

This.
It is technically possible, but it is illegal and while some people get away with it, it is a) immoral to break the law, this not something boards.ie condones or instructs and b) can lead to a lifetime ban.

él statutorio

silja wrote: »

This.
It is technically possible, but it is illegal and while some people get away with it, it is a) immoral to break the law, this not something boards.ie condones or instructs and b) can lead to a lifetime ban.

Right, I've spoken to two different lawyers. Both have said that it IS possible to file an i485 while on the VWP and it's NOT illegal. He said it's all about how the application is structured, along the lines of "I didn't plan on staying but when I got here I changed my mind". It all sounds very lawyer-ish and it's not something I'd advocate anyone doing on their own and certainly not without an immigration lawyer advising it.

However, the guy I spoke to yesterday said it probably wouldn't benefit me anyway as it'd be 90 days from when I file an i485 before I'd have a work visa. He reckoned that sticking with the system I'm currently in would probably be faster. I can travel in on an ESTA next month and as long as I have a return ticket I'll be fine. I'd essentially be flying back to Dublin for the interview & medical.
He said they could do an i485 application for me when I land but it'd probably be money down the drain as my i130 would most likely get to me first.

So, the question I forgot to ask the lawyer is, once I get the I130, do my interview in Dublin and it's all signed off, is it then just a matter of getting to the US and starting work?

spideog7

él statutorio wrote: »

Right, I've spoken to two different lawyers. Both have said that it IS possible to file an i485 while on the VWP and it's NOT illegal. He said it's all about how the application is structured, along the lines of "I didn't plan on staying but when I got here I changed my mind". It all sounds very lawyer-ish

Yes but that would be a lie, you know it and the lawyer knows it, because you have already made it clear to him and indeed on here that you had planned on staying. Lying in your visa application is fraud and grounds for a lifetime ban.

That lawyer sounds like he's full of sh*t, but then again he is a lawyer so I guess that goes without saying.

OP most of the folks advising you here have gone through the same process with all the forms and money that entails. It's not a complex process you just have to do what they ask when they ask and wait until they get to your application. You won't get much pity here if you begin to circumvent the rules that are clearly in place.

silja

él statutorio wrote: »

So, the question I forgot to ask the lawyer is, once I get the I130, do my interview in Dublin and it's all signed off, is it then just a matter of getting to the US and starting work?

Yep! If you pass the interview- which is very rarely an issue- you will get your passport back with the visa in it about 1-2 weeks later, via post. You travel to the USA and at immigration, they will give you a stamp on the visa page which acts as a temporary greencard till your physical one arrives. You are authorised to work and travel right away, though most employers will want your social security number, which you can get from the SS office about ten days after arrival.

él statutorio

spideog7 wrote: »

Yes but that would be a lie, you know it and the lawyer knows it, because you have already made it clear to him and indeed on here that you had planned on staying. Lying in your visa application is fraud and grounds for a lifetime ban.

That lawyer sounds like he's full of sh*t, but then again he is a lawyer so I guess that goes without saying.

OP most of the folks advising you here have gone through the same process with all the forms and money that entails. It's not a complex process you just have to do what they ask when they ask and wait until they get to your application. You won't get much pity here if you begin to circumvent the rules that are clearly in place.

I'm not circumventing any rules, nor do I plan to.

I appreciate all the advice on this thread, I hold my hands up in saying that I hadn't done my homework on the application process before we applied. In hindsight I probably should've engaged a professional from the start, or at the very least I should've fired up a post here.

I agree with your assessment of the lawyer though. It may be "legal" but to be honest I'm not entirely comfortable with the ethics of it. I just wanted to know what options were available. (it confirms my opinion of lawyers though which i suspect are similar to yours)

At this point, I think the most practical option for me is to go over on an ESTA, with a return ticket and fly home for the interview in Dublin which will hopefully be inside of the 90 days. (failing that I'll have to make a second return trip)

I guess I'll have to view it as an extended holiday and an opportunity to spend some quality time with my daughter. I'll speak to the company that made me the job offer and explain the situation, if they can accommodate me and hold the position open til the visa gets sorted then that'd be a win.

él statutorio

silja wrote: »

Yep! If you pass the interview- which is very rarely an issue- you will get your passport back with the visa in it about 1-2 weeks later, via post. You travel to the USA and at immigration, they will give you a stamp on the visa page which acts as a temporary greencard till your physical one arrives. You are authorised to work and travel right away, though most employers will want your social security number, which you can get from the SS office about ten days after arrival.

Thanks Silja,

The advice I got from that lawyer last night was basically to hound the NVC regularly as they can move cases along (it's at the whim of whoever you call apparently). I suppose it can't hurt anyway.

Once the application is kicked over to Dublin I'm in the home stretch! I don't anticipate any issues with the interview but if anyone has any advice on that I'll be happy to take it on board.

silja

él statutorio wrote: »

The advice I got from that lawyer last night was basically to hound the NVC regularly as they can move cases along (it's at the whim of whoever you call apparently). I suppose it can't hurt anyway.

Well I am glad you didn't hire that lawyer cause that is not true either. NVC has a callcenter, they can't do much other than look up the computer. If you plan on asking for an expedite based on financial hardship, it wil go to a officer, away from the call center.