The 2010 London Waiver List

[Andrew-Traci 5]

Congrats, J nurse, TexasBantam and Andrew and Traci I only wish Julie were with us in our approved Gang, I'm sure you're all with me in combining our thoughts and prayers for the best outcome for here and her Irishman.. Now comes the hard part..living with each other, and if you're not married already - going thru with that ! and applying for AOS - which is even more intense than the original petition stuff..wishing you all an easy POE and the best of luck for the future

Hi C2CG -

Thank you so much. It was very sad that a favorable outcome was not given to JustJ, however I continue to hold out hope that good results are going to come her way. She so deserves an approval.

So glad you have continued to keep in touch. It is nice to know how fellow VJers are doing once they receive approval and go off to start their new lives. I wish you all the best. I am sure that we will all have to deal with our own personal adjustment periods once we are finally "living together." I fully anticipate it and honestly am looking forward to dealing with normal every day stresses as oppossed to immigration stresses.

Please do keep in touch - I am particularly interested in how you fare, as Andrew and I are looking to move to Texas. Another VJer from the UK is there as well. We just may have to plan a VJ Meeting once we are all settled.

I have truly appreciated all of the words of encouragement we have received from all of you during our long waiting period, and am looking forward to being able to relax with my wonderful hubby and look back upon our journey as a life experience we will be able to share with our family and friends for many years to come. I have no regrets - the wait was well worth it.

Take Care C2CG,

Traci xx

[Andrew-Traci 5]

I-601 WAIVER UPDATE FOR FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2010

Hi Everyone,

Andrew is not available today, so I am temporarily filling in for him There has been an update today - one week since our last one on July 23, 2010.

Here are the changes:

No new cases completed.

1 case from Copenhagen Under Review

2 cases from London added to Pending - LND2009 855 028 & LND2007 627 005

I will leave the spreadsheet to be updated by our wonderful Spreadsheet King

To the two added to the pending list welcome and sorry you have had to join us. Hope USCIS continues to update us weekly.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Traci - aka the Spreadsheet King's Better Half

[jnurse68 0]

Congrats, J nurse, TexasBantam and Andrew and Traci I only wish Julie were with us in our approved Gang, I'm sure you're all with me in combining our thoughts and prayers for the best outcome for here and her Irishman.. Now comes the hard part..living with each other, and if you're not married already - going thru with that ! and applying for AOS - which is even more intense than the original petition stuff..wishing you all an easy POE and the best of luck for the future

Thank you c2c i hope youre doing well and adjusting to all the changes here positively.I still have hope for justj it will all work out well in the end and our prayers are with her and hubby.We have been married over 2 years so i also hope we dont have to deal with the uscis after my husband gets here.take care now,we will keep in touch.

[Andrew-Traci 5]

I-601 WAIVER UPDATE FOR FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2010

Sorry - Just realized that I had the date of the last update wrong on previous post..corrected to the 16th - this is why I let Andrew do the updates

Hi Everyone,

Andrew is not available today, so I am temporarily filling in for him There has been an update today - one week since our last one on July 16, 2010.

Here are the changes:

No new cases completed.

1 case from Copenhagen Under Review

2 cases from London added to Pending - LND2009 855 028 & LND2007 627 005

I will leave the spreadsheet to be updated by our wonderful Spreadsheet King

To the two added to the pending list welcome and sorry you have had to join us. Hope USCIS continues to update us weekly.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Traci - aka the Spreadsheet King's Better Half

Edited July 23, 2010 by Andrew-Traci

[Traci - Andrew 14]

I-601 Status Updated 23rd July 2010

Hi, Sorry for this short update post, as I am away from my main PC, however my wife Traci sent out a post when the update first appeared.

Now I have updated the Spreadsheet and put this together:

Summery

1 x Denmark case moved from Pending to Under Review

2 x New Pending cases added, LND2009 855 029 + LND2007 627 005 (Welcome)

Of course you can check your case as usual on the updated spreadsheet: I-601 Spreadsheet Updated 23rd July 2010

Sorry to all the rest of you on the list... USCIS must have worn themselves out since the last lot of updates..

Take care

Andrew

[JustJ 0]

Oh look, someone mentions "Irish sausages" and I miraculously reappear.

Thanks to all of you for remembering me, and thanks especially for your prayers. We need them.

Clearly, with all of these UK moves to Texas, I am going to have to invest in a box of cowboy hats.

I'm glad you're all still here, and C2C, it was lovely to see an update from you. One of the things I complained about when Hubby was here visiting was his tea cup (always on the furniture with no coaster). I would give ANYTHING to have him slopping a big mug of tea from one end of this house to another right now. When you reach a bump in your relationship, just think back to how hard you fought to be together, and I'll bet whatever you are facing will pale in comparison to the 601 struggle.

As for us, wow. What a whirlwind these past 6 weeks have been. It took me a good week to start eating again, then another 2-3 weeks of therapy to be able to function properly. I really just wanted to die. God has other plans for me, I guess, because here I am.

We did hire Mr. Heller as our attorney, and he has been wonderful. He spent an awful lot of time answering what must have seemed to him an unending series of questions. He did a really good job for us, and he's hopeful. I, however, am not. If you've been in this thread for a while, you know that I have had way too many "ups" that turned to "downs" in very cruel ways. It nearly killed me, and as a result, I refuse to have hope. The entire process has been so unfair to us, and having hired a good attorney NOW, I truly do see the differences. It is so hard to tell when you have hired a good attorney. I mean, how do you really know? Our first one talked the good talk, but when there are mere days before the interview and the waiver packet isn't complete, you know there's a problem. He just threw it together. I wrote my own hardship letter, my husband wrote his own letter, and all the attorney did was type up the 601 form. I paid him thousands to fill in forms that I could have filled out myself. He offered no guidance on the hardship letters or anything. He filed no legal memorandum or anything. It was all done last-minute, and we paid the price for it. This time around, we received much more guidance, and Mr. Heller seems to be not only an intelligent man, but a compassionate one, which is sorely needed when one is as tender as I am these days.

So, we did get the appeal filed on time. So far, I have not received anything to indicate that it has been received by the AAO, so I don't know if that means London is reviewing it, or if the AAO is just backed up in sending cards. All I know is that when I turn the key in my post office box, you would swear there's a hornet's nest in there.

The stress of all of this has been unGodly. I continue to suffer horrific bouts of anxiety and depression, and it is really hard to find the motivation to do much of anything. I truly need the harvest from my garden to get me through, but with everything that has happened, it's nothing but weeds. I try very hard to stay focused at my job, and I'm lucky that my boss is very understanding, but my job requires me to be compassionate and mentally sharp, and as you might imagine, I'm neither of those things right now.

That's the news from Happyville.

[jnurse68 0]

Oh look, someone mentions "Irish sausages" and I miraculously reappear.

Thanks to all of you for remembering me, and thanks especially for your prayers. We need them.

Clearly, with all of these UK moves to Texas, I am going to have to invest in a box of cowboy hats.

I'm glad you're all still here, and C2C, it was lovely to see an update from you. One of the things I complained about when Hubby was here visiting was his tea cup (always on the furniture with no coaster). I would give ANYTHING to have him slopping a big mug of tea from one end of this house to another right now. When you reach a bump in your relationship, just think back to how hard you fought to be together, and I'll bet whatever you are facing will pale in comparison to the 601 struggle.

As for us, wow. What a whirlwind these past 6 weeks have been. It took me a good week to start eating again, then another 2-3 weeks of therapy to be able to function properly. I really just wanted to die. God has other plans for me, I guess, because here I am.

We did hire Mr. Heller as our attorney, and he has been wonderful. He spent an awful lot of time answering what must have seemed to him an unending series of questions. He did a really good job for us, and he's hopeful. I, however, am not. If you've been in this thread for a while, you know that I have had way too many "ups" that turned to "downs" in very cruel ways. It nearly killed me, and as a result, I refuse to have hope. The entire process has been so unfair to us, and having hired a good attorney NOW, I truly do see the differences. It is so hard to tell when you have hired a good attorney. I mean, how do you really know? Our first one talked the good talk, but when there are mere days before the interview and the waiver packet isn't complete, you know there's a problem. He just threw it together. I wrote my own hardship letter, my husband wrote his own letter, and all the attorney did was type up the 601 form. I paid him thousands to fill in forms that I could have filled out myself. He offered no guidance on the hardship letters or anything. He filed no legal memorandum or anything. It was all done last-minute, and we paid the price for it. This time around, we received much more guidance, and Mr. Heller seems to be not only an intelligent man, but a compassionate one, which is sorely needed when one is as tender as I am these days.

So, we did get the appeal filed on time. So far, I have not received anything to indicate that it has been received by the AAO, so I don't know if that means London is reviewing it, or if the AAO is just backed up in sending cards. All I know is that when I turn the key in my post office box, you would swear there's a hornet's nest in there.

The stress of all of this has been unGodly. I continue to suffer horrific bouts of anxiety and depression, and it is really hard to find the motivation to do much of anything. I truly need the harvest from my garden to get me through, but with everything that has happened, it's nothing but weeds. I try very hard to stay focused at my job, and I'm lucky that my boss is very understanding, but my job requires me to be compassionate and mentally sharp, and as you might imagine, I'm neither of those things right now.

That's the news from Happyville.

Thats our gal,you fall,dust yourself and get right back up again ,good on yer JustJ,stay strong and have a little faith and hope in your new attorney Mr Heller im sure he wont leave any stone unturned.Im glad you filed the appeal on time it will all be worth it in the end.Stay strong JustJ we all continue to think of you and pray for you and hubby.

[Justine+David 218]

I'm glad that you have a new lawyer who sounds better than your other one

Do you know timeline wise how long it takes once the AAO accepts it/reviews it?

How's your mom?

[JustJ 0]

Thanks for asking. The summer was hard on Mom. She's very short of breath, and now she needs a knee replacement. We told her that we were approved (when we thought we were), and so she suffered the same let-down that we did. I wasn't going to say anything to her, and was going to just surprise her when my husband walked through the door, but he couldn't contain himself, and he called her to say, "Put the potpie on, Mom!" Ten minutes later, I had to call her and explain that we had been misinformed. It was an excruciatingly brutal day, let me tell you. We're all still reeling from it.

Current processing time for AAO appeals is 26 months. From what I understand, London will have a chance to review it first before sending it on. I can't have hope, though, because of what has already happened to us. Seems like we have the worst luck.....

[JustJ 0]

Well, so much for that. Our file was sent to AAO before the dust settled.

There is no justice for us or for the people depending on us.

I'm happy for those of you who have been approved. I just don't know why we warranted such obvious abuse at the

USCIS.

[carlhales 0]

Well, so much for that. Our file was sent to AAO before the dust settled.

There is no justice for us or for the people depending on us.

I'm happy for those of you who have been approved. I just don't know why we warranted such obvious abuse at the

USCIS.

the appeal process at the AAO is about 26 months at the moment

[JustJ 0]

the appeal process at the AAO is about 26 months at the moment

Yep.

[Traci - Andrew 14]

Yep.

Hey Julie

Just hang on in there, think of this process as a very long winded one and some are very lucky and manage to get away with a shorter timescale, my own thoughts on this is that the USCIS is like a bucking bull and we are the riders, some get thrown off quickly and they sail straight through, some get thrown off and hurt, they are the ones that get refused, and some manage to make it to the end but to do this some of the ones that got thrown off and hurt have to get right back on again.

After all the USCIS's role is to keep everyone they can out of the USA, some make it through easy as they are squeaky clean, others like myself have some past problems and they used these against us to make us wait 2.5 years, you are more unfortunate than us as some of your documentation is not available, so this gives them even more reason to try and slow things further.

But from what I have read on this forum and others, is that there is still hope, the AAO do overturn decisions and this will surely be what happens to you in a while when they manage to reach your case, now that you have a decent immigration lawyer and more support documentation for you extreme hardship case.

Anyway both Traci and I are going to keep in touch to make sure that you always have someone to talk to that has gone through the same thing, I am just glad that our case did not get refused and sent to the AAO with yours.. but just keep in mind we are here for you.

Take care

Andrew

[JustJ 0]

I am glad, as well, that your case did not get sent to the AAO. You cannot imagine what it feels like to know that you are swimming in a barrel with all of the drug dealers, rapists, child molesters, and human traffickers from across the globe who didn't make it through USCIS.

I would like to know what we have done that is so bad that this has happened to us. I make no excuse for my husband's past crimes, nor does he. But the USCIS has made a serious error here. How in the Hell can you deem someone inadmissible because of non-CIMT arrests, particularly ones for which there is no evidence other than the applicant's honest admission of them!

I love Ireland. I'm an artist and a writer. What better place for me than the Emerald Isle? If I could go, I would have been there already.

I am so disappointed in this system right now that I can't even think straight. I'm sure everybody reading this will think that there has to be more to this story. There isn't. I'm wondering if it's time to go to the media or to demand a face-to-face meeting with my representative. Somebody should have to face my entire family & community and tell us why this is happening to us. What if I arranged a demonstration outside his office with everybody I know?

Ideas welcome.

[carlhales 0]

I am glad, as well, that your case did not get sent to the AAO. You cannot imagine what it feels like to know that you are swimming in a barrel with all of the drug dealers, rapists, child molesters, and human traffickers from across the globe who didn't make it through USCIS.

I would like to know what we have done that is so bad that this has happened to us. I make no excuse for my husband's past crimes, nor does he. But the USCIS has made a serious error here. How in the Hell can you deem someone inadmissible because of non-CIMT arrests, particularly ones for which there is no evidence other than the applicant's honest admission of them!

I love Ireland. I'm an artist and a writer. What better place for me than the Emerald Isle? If I could go, I would have been there already.

I am so disappointed in this system right now that I can't even think straight. I'm sure everybody reading this will think that there has to be more to this story. There isn't. I'm wondering if it's time to go to the media or to demand a face-to-face meeting with my representative. Somebody should have to face my entire family & community and tell us why this is happening to us. What if I arranged a demonstration outside his office with everybody I know?

Ideas welcome.

the media would be good and a few high profile actors or actressess and maybe stonewall or anesty international could help i agree, we paid our dues for the crimes we committed but to the USCIS we are still as guilty as charged regardless of how long ago it was...