Be Thankful you are blessed...

[DianaP 0]

Hello VJ friends;

Here is a long story that I hope by posting in VJ I can help someone in the future to avoid the mistakes that I did...

In 1998 at the age of 16 I was already leaving in the US under a HB2 visa ( as my mother had HB1, working visa)... I met and felt in love with a handsome american man he was 21, we dated for a couple of years got engaged and then married, our relationship was witnessed by many friends and we became parts of each others family... We had a gorgeous wedding ceremony with 150 guests, ... We had a hppy married life, he filled the whole I-485 includinh the I-130 package and I received my first green card in the year 2000 ( temporary residency as we had less than two years of marriage the card would expire in 2003)

I thought I was the happiest and luckiest woman in Earth, in June of 2003 ( 3 months before my green card expired we jointly filled the I-751 as it is required), in early July of 2003 I uncovered an affair he was having with a co-worker devastated I kicked him out of the house (since it was my apartment where we lived together) but I still loved him and as a last try before we actually filled for divorce we seeked marriage counseling, in late July we got divorced by a simplified disolution of marriage ( which in FL is the quickest and cheapest way to get divorced as it only takes 7 days)

I mailed USCIS a letter explaining what had happened with a copy of my final divorce decree.

In 2004 I started dating Luis, a new friend I had met at work, we dated for year before we moved in together and had our own company... we traveled through Europe several times through our relationship... ( and every year as my I-751 was pending and I had never heard back from USCIS I would go to my local USCIS office, Miami, to inquiry about what was going on... they would tell me not to worry everything was fine and stamp my passaport I-751 pending authrorized for work and travel) In 2006 I got pregnant by Luis, in October of 2006 our son was born in Miami, in January 2007 Luis and I got married... A month after we got married I was served with a Notice to Appear in front of a Homeland Security Judge...

Having no clue what that was about I seeked an immigration lawyer, after speaking with several , Luis and I chose the one we felt more onfortable with... Well she informed us that my I-751 was denied and they said because my divorce was never finalized.... ( which was not true since I got divorced in 2003 and mailed them a copy of the divorce decree right after that)... But the way they analyzed was that in June when I jointly filled the I-751 with my first husband we were already planning to get divorced in July and would be of absolutly no use for me to explain to them that only once I uncovered his affair in July that option arose for the first time in my mind... so my only option here was for Luis to file a new I-130 for me.

Luis ( my present husband and father of my son) filled the I-130 back in February of 2007 it was sent to the CSV which they transfered to Miami (our local office) whom transfered to VSC ( where it is still pending today)

In Spetember of 2007 in front of the homeland security judge even though we had an I-130 pending I was only presented with the options of being deported or choosing volutanrily leave with no bam period, which obviously between the two I choose voluntarily leave and left to Brazil with our baby son as Luis had to now stay behind (in Miami) and work his butt off in order to support me and our son in Brazil as well as maintain all financial obligations in the States with a sole income ( when I was the majoritarian of the income provider in our house)...

Not being enough he (my husband Luis) felt into a severe depression as the months passed by and he missed out on our son s first word, first steps etc... Making even more difficult to maintain a job and finally loosing our house for foreclosure.

We constantly called USCIS, Senators, COngressmans , had attorneys and everything possible and imaginable to inquiry about our petition.

Due to our emergent circunstances they approved an expedite request for the I-130 on January 2008...

Well only today, still no news as of when our family will be reunited...

My husband now just received an RFE requesting proof that my prior relationship and marriage ( with that guy I met TEN 10 YEARS AGO and being divorced for over 5 FIVE WHOLE YEARS) ... they send a request of two pages of evidence from affidavits to joint property, joint this and that... Well I gathered as much as I could but it is just obvious that I could not have it all in that list as we were very young and did not own anything together first of all, we were completed broke and further not even the IRS had records of that long ago as they only keep records for 6 years... Allstate only keeps for 5 years and Sprint got sold out to ATT who no longer keeps residencial phone records for SPrint old customers.... Other than all of that it is just common sense and logical that I did not carry memorobilia of my ex husband while I am now remarried and ALSO I have moved to a different country ( moving costs internationally are very expensive I had to consolidate everything to avoid going bankrupt and therefore threw away all cards, love letters and any old junk...) Well all I could get my hands on is 10 affidavits of people who knew us and attended our wedding, Affidavit of the pastor of the church we frequented and the minister who married us, affidavit of the marriage counselor I saw with my husband before divorcing him, condominium bill in both of our names, 3 years of income taxes filled jointly, TONS of pictures with each others families, weddings pics, when we dated, when we travelled etc...

NOW consider yourself very lucky to be waiting a few months for an approval of your petition... Lets raise your hands and thank God that none of this has ever happened to you...

My family is torn apart for almost a year now, because USCIS made the wrong assumptions and in error denied my I-751 ( which is a type of petition which a decision that can not be contested) , now for God s sake after 10 years they ask me for proof of my relationship with a man I divorced 5 years ago and has nothing to do with the I-130 we (my family) is waiting for now since February of 2007.

Their excuse is that before adjuticating this petition they need to make sure my first marriage did not infringe with USCIS laws... HELLO was that not done before they granted my first green card....

BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF US.... I am not giving up, I may have been a victim of this stupid system, but I am still very hopeful and confident that all will be sorted out and they will soon recognize their mistake and reunite our family soon.

BEST ADVICE FROM THIS STORY:

If you have a petition pending never leave the US ( if are in removal proceedings and have a petition pending you can request a rescheduling of your appearance until your petition is adjuticated) ---- I did not know this until recently.

Be persistent, be courageous, be always honest, NEVER hide or lie to USCIS and everything will eventually work out... ( See even though it is after 10 years I still can prove my first marriage was of bona fide and it will match all the info I gave them 8 years ago).

Thank you for reading and sorry it is so long....