Waiting after Ciudad Juarez

[Anticipating 0]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site and am very excited to participate. I have been searching through past forums and have not found anything about my current situation:

My wife and I had applied for my AOS about two years ago. I was brought into the US as a minor about 18 years ago (I am now 21) and was told that I'd have to complete a waiver for remaining in the US illegaly after the age of 18. I paid a fine and handed in my waiver with a letter of forgiveness and am now waiting for approval. I was told that the wait would be from 6-9 months.

It's now 6 months later and my wife hasn't received a thing! I've been freaking out a little bit. I've been in the States my entire life and this whole experience has been a huge culture shock. I've come across some people who have told me that they've heard that the wait times are more like 1 to 2 years. Who should I believe? Is there anything I can do to speed up the process?

--Joe

Edited June 20, 2007 by Anticipating

[Allie&Leo 0]

There are many members on VJ that filed waivers in CDJ and are awaiting. KitKat is a good one to talk to. I believe CDJ is working on waivers filed July/August 2006. Wait time for waivers is about 11 to 12 months in CDJ.

you might want to check out another forum - immigrate2us.net

Allie

[kitkat1 5]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site and am very excited to participate. I have been searching through past forums and have not found anything about my current situation:

My wife and I had applied for my AOS about two years ago. I was brought into the US as a minor about 18 years ago (I am now 21) and was told that I'd have to complete a waiver for remaining in the US illegaly after the age of 18. I paid a fine and handed in my waiver with a letter of forgiveness and am now waiting for approval. I was told that the wait would be from 6-9 months.

It's now 6 months later and my wife hasn't received a thing! I've been freaking out a little bit. I've been in the States my entire life and this whole experience has been a huge culture shock. I've come across some people who have told me that they've heard that the wait times are more like 1 to 2 years. Who should I believe? Is there anything I can do to speed up the process?

--Joe

Joe, you filed for AOS in the US after entering the US illegally or with a visa? Not that it matters now, but people who entered illegally are not eligible to AOS in the US and are usually immediately deported. So you are lucky that you had the opportunity to go through consular processing in CDJ. Hardship letters are based on hardship to the US Citizen and are less about forgiveness and more about proof, with evidence, that the USC could not possibly relocate to Mexico if your visa is ultimately denied. If you hardship letter was not written by your wife and did not prove hardship to her, I would strongly recommend you send in additional evidence and a new, updated letter. An excellent guidelines is on attorny Laurel Scott's website here: http://www.visacentral.net/I601Memo.pdf

In any event, as Allie said, CDJ is currently working on waivers filed in July/August last year and they have a huge backlog. I would count on waiting several more months -- we filed a waiver based on overstay last November and don't expect to see an approval until around October - I would love to be wrong!

Good luck.

[Anticipating 0]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site and am very excited to participate. I have been searching through past forums and have not found anything about my current situation:

My wife and I had applied for my AOS about two years ago. I was brought into the US as a minor about 18 years ago (I am now 21) and was told that I'd have to complete a waiver for remaining in the US illegaly after the age of 18. I paid a fine and handed in my waiver with a letter of forgiveness and am now waiting for approval. I was told that the wait would be from 6-9 months.

It's now 6 months later and my wife hasn't received a thing! I've been freaking out a little bit. I've been in the States my entire life and this whole experience has been a huge culture shock. I've come across some people who have told me that they've heard that the wait times are more like 1 to 2 years. Who should I believe? Is there anything I can do to speed up the process?

--Joe

Joe, you filed for AOS in the US after entering the US illegally or with a visa? Not that it matters now, but people who entered illegally are not eligible to AOS in the US and are usually immediately deported. So you are lucky that you had the opportunity to go through consular processing in CDJ. Hardship letters are based on hardship to the US Citizen and are less about forgiveness and more about proof, with evidence, that the USC could not possibly relocate to Mexico if your visa is ultimately denied. If you hardship letter was not written by your wife and did not prove hardship to her, I would strongly recommend you send in additional evidence and a new, updated letter. An excellent guidelines is on attorny Laurel Scott's website here: http://www.visacentral.net/I601Memo.pdf

In any event, as Allie said, CDJ is currently working on waivers filed in July/August last year and they have a huge backlog. I would count on waiting several more months -- we filed a waiver based on overstay last November and don't expect to see an approval until around October - I would love to be wrong!

Good luck.

So who is approving the waiver? The Mexican government or the United States Government? I read the Memo Regarding Waiver of Inadmissibility you suggested and I really don't believe our waiver was as detailed. How do I update a waiver I have already submitted? Will I have to wait all over again?

[Gaby&Talbert 1]

During my wife's interview last week I met someone that was in the US illegally and he filed a 601 a year ago and just got his approval so from that example i was 1 year.

[kitkat1 5]

During my wife's interview last week I met someone that was in the US illegally and he filed a 601 a year ago and just got his approval so from that example i was 1 year.

Ciudad Juarez now has a pilot program for anyone filing currently and if the waiver is "clearly approvable" the wait time is 2 days. Those of us stuck in the backlog are still facing 9-12 month waits, plus 4 more months for visa pick up appointments.

[Gaby&Talbert 1]

I also met a few people that their spouses were in the US illegally but used the IFNOPASS to make their 601 interview a day or two after their innitial interview. I do not know the results because we left Juarez the next day after the interview.