Rejected I-130 - Need Advice

[Shann1430 0]

Hello All:

I'm writing for my sister-in-law who filed for the I-130 (along with the I-864) on June 5, 2009 for her husband who is currently in the U.S. on a B-2 visa from Pakistan. Here is a brief background of their stats:

-Sister-in-law is a LPR in Chicago, Illinois and is also here on political asylum. She is not able to file for naturalization until January 2010.

-Her husband was granted his B-2 visa with multiple visits in 2006 and came to the U.S. in early March after their marriage in Pakistan in February. His visa expires early September 2009.

We received the rejection notice on Monday, June 15 2009 with the following statements:

"The application/petition you filed along with any fee you submitted is being returned to you for the following reason(s):

X The check amount is incorrect or has not been provided. The correct filing fee is $355.00. Please resubmit the application/petition with the appropriate fees to the address listed on the bottom of this notice.

X Based on the information you provided, a visa number does not appear to be available for your immigration category at this time. Please file your Form I-130 at the BCIS Service Center with jurisdiction over your place of residence."

Now, the check we submitted for the I-130 was exactly what they asked for, $355.00, so I'm clueless as to why they are saying they did not receive the correct amount when they returned a $355.00 check to us. Also, we sent the I-130 to the Chicago USCIS office, so wouldn't that be our "BCIS Service Center with jurisdiction over your place of residence"? Or does this form need to be filed in her husband's home country of Pakistan?

Also, I'm assuming that once his visa expires (or even before) he will have to return home because he is unable to file an AOS due to her lack of citizenship. The only problem my sister-in-law and her husband have with that is her family's political connections in Pakistan and concern for his safety if he returns home. I know nothing about filing for asylum, so I don't even know if that's an option for him to consider.

Any advice you all could give me would be much appreciated. I don't know where to go from here with the I-130... if it should be filed in the U.S. or abroad and if he should return home immediately or stay until his visa is expired. I'm a little new to this whole process as I'm an American born citizen and never had to deal with the ups and downs of this complicated journey.

Thanks for the help!

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hello All:

I'm writing for my sister-in-law who filed for the I-130 (along with the I-864) on June 5, 2009 for her husband who is currently in the U.S. on a B-2 visa from Pakistan. Here is a brief background of their stats:

-Sister-in-law is a LPR in Chicago, Illinois and is also here on political asylum. She is not able to file for naturalization until January 2010.

-Her husband was granted his B-2 visa with multiple visits in 2006 and came to the U.S. in early March after their marriage in Pakistan in February. His visa expires early September 2009.

We received the rejection notice on Monday, June 15 2009 with the following statements:

"The application/petition you filed along with any fee you submitted is being returned to you for the following reason(s):

X The check amount is incorrect or has not been provided. The correct filing fee is $355.00. Please resubmit the application/petition with the appropriate fees to the address listed on the bottom of this notice.

X Based on the information you provided, a visa number does not appear to be available for your immigration category at this time. Please file your Form I-130 at the BCIS Service Center with jurisdiction over your place of residence."

Now, the check we submitted for the I-130 was exactly what they asked for, $355.00, so I'm clueless as to why they are saying they did not receive the correct amount when they returned a $355.00 check to us. Also, we sent the I-130 to the Chicago USCIS office, so wouldn't that be our "BCIS Service Center with jurisdiction over your place of residence"? Or does this form need to be filed in her husband's home country of Pakistan?

Also, I'm assuming that once his visa expires (or even before) he will have to return home because he is unable to file an AOS due to her lack of citizenship. The only problem my sister-in-law and her husband have with that is her family's political connections in Pakistan and concern for his safety if he returns home. I know nothing about filing for asylum, so I don't even know if that's an option for him to consider.

Any advice you all could give me would be much appreciated. I don't know where to go from here with the I-130... if it should be filed in the U.S. or abroad and if he should return home immediately or stay until his visa is expired. I'm a little new to this whole process as I'm an American born citizen and never had to deal with the ups and downs of this complicated journey.

Thanks for the help!

The letter is correct. The USCIS is a huge bureaucracy. If the fees are wrong, they may not even look at the application.

The I-864 costs $70 to file. Your SIL did not include this fee.

Your SIL would be filing as an LPR petitioning for a spouse in the F2a family preference category. A visa would not be available to her husband for at least 4 years. There are also 3 different post office boxes for Chicago. Your SIL needs to send it to the correct one. See the I-130 instructions.

----------------------

There are a few things wrong with your SIL's submission. In an F2a case, you don't file the I-864 until it is requested. That might have been a reason for the the letter. Failure to send it to the correct address will get the application kicked back because USCIS is not the post office and does not forward petitions to other parts of itself. Welcome to the world of a government bureaucracy. (Ever had to switch line at the DMV cause you got in the wrong one?)

An LPR filing for a spouse does not give the spouse any immigration rights. Your SIL's husband would have to return to his home country or he will be here illegally. It could take up to a year for your SIL to get her citizenship.

See a lawyer if asylum is being contemplated. This forum cannot provide you with help on such a complex issue.

[Shann1430 0]

Actually, I forgot to mention that the $70 I-864 fee WAS included with the pack, and that check was also returned to us.

And it looks like we are going to have to get an attorney, it's just a tad too complicated for us to decipher.

Edited June 17, 2009 by Shann1430

[Jamaican JNR 2]

To me it sounds as if you have to wait until you are a citizen before you can help your spouce. Only a USC can adjust their spouce status while in the USA, not a LPR. If your spouce leave now he runs the risk of being blocked from re entering (if he over stayed). You should consult with an immigration attorney for more information.

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Actually, I forgot to mention that the $70 I-864 fee WAS included with the pack, and that check was also returned to us.

And it looks like we are going to have to get an attorney, it's just a tad too complicated for us to decipher.

Yep - you will probably need a lawyer.

It would seem kinda fishy that your sister in law attempted AOS on a visitors visa, when that wasn't approved (LPR's can't really do that for their spouse), and they now want to attempt to claim asylum status.

Why didn't they do that in the first place? (would be the way I would be thinking)