Help needed once again-Urgent

[schillaci 0]

Hello all

Thanks for any help you can give me. If you have read any of my previous posts you will of course know that things have not been progressing well with our I-130 application. The latest is this.

I am back in the States now working and set up our apartment situation and bank account. It was my understanding that I was able to leave after the I-130 was submitted so that I could find employment, re-establish domicile and open a bank account.

I recieved this e-mail today.

"Please be advised that USCIS requires strong evidence of your bona fide marriage. Please forward to us evidence of any jointly, own property and any of mingled financial resources between yourself and your spouse. You may also provide evidence of travel to visit one another, phone records, past and current e-mails and/or letters to document your relationship.

Additionally, USCIS requires that you be in residence in Italy in order to have your I-130 petition adjudicated by our office. Service records indicate that you departed Italy on January 08, 2010, the same day that your I-130 petition was filed in our office, and have not returned. Please indicate where you and your spouse are currently living and provide documentation for yourself as well as a copy of your spouse’s “Permesso di soggiorno”"

I alreadu sent the bonafides of the marriage. There was no mingling of resources as I told them months ago since my wife didnt have her permesso di soggiorno (residence permit) so we couldnt open an account together. I had already sent travel info, pictures and afadavits from thrid parties to show the bonafides. I will send e-mails and phone records and resend everything I already sent. But the last part has thrown me for a loop. I talked to a woman at the embassy before I left for the States and asked if it was ok and she said yes. Maybe she thought I meant after the I-130 was approved but she was not specific so I assumed it was after it had been submited.

I am distressed. If i send them all the requested info how do I deal with the part about me being here already? I plan to write in the e-mail what I just explained but does anybody have any advice on what I should say or if there is something specific I can do? Should I go back to Italy and wait? Will they deny us the application and if so what recourse will we have? How shoudl I proceed here?

Thanks again in advance for any and all help/

[SunDrop 59]

From what I can make out, you've submitted a petition via DCF in Italy, when you are not resident there and neither is your wife?

[schillaci 0]

I am a resident there. I was there over a year when we got married and almost a year and a half when I left for the States. But they said I must BE in residence which sounds to me like I am supposed to be in Italy while we are doing the I-130 application. But I asked before I left if I was allowed to leave and I was told yes.

[txladykat 1]

No, you are allowed to leave after the I-130 is APPROVED. You are not supposed to leave when it is filed. That is the difference. You filed it, then left, without waiting for the approval. This might be a problem for you. The paperwork we received specifically said I had to remain in the country until it was approved. After the I-130 is approved, and while the rest of the process is pending, THEN you can leave the country.

[schillaci 0]

I talked to a lawyer and they told me that I was indeed wrong to come to the US before the I-130 was aproved. But I never received any inxstructions from the embassy and nowhere on the US Embassy Rome website does it say it. SO my lawyer told me to call them after I sent all the requested documents and plead my case that way and to find out what they intended to do. She said that it might be possible that they wont transfer the petition to the US or that they might just deny it and we could reapply in Italy and I would just stay until it was aproved this time.

So I called this morning and was told that it was approved! I couldnt believe it. I had everything I was going to say ready and was not going to get off the phone until I had an answer. I am still in a bit of shock. So now we wait for the packet from Naples and set up the interview.

[Marina-Del 10]

Congratulations!!! Good luck with the rest of the process...glad your mishap didn't harm your case!!!

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Fantastic news! You know, I have always seen/heard on VJ that the USC could leave the day the I-130 was filed. It came as some surprise to me when I saw you were facing a possible denial. I wonder if some consulates (like Copenhagen and Naples) have different rules than others on this?

[schillaci 0]

Well, I can't say for other Embassys, but I was surprised by that e-mail since I had asked about it and was told that I could leave. Not only that but we never received any instructions from the Embassy about how we were supposed to go about it and also nothing on the Embassy website. So I wonder if the person who sent the e-mail was mis-informed and it wasn't a problem at all anyway. Either way I am happy but the best case scenario I was hoping for when I called was for them to continue processing the petition from Rome and to not send it to the US. So you can understand how exstatic I was to hear that it was already approved.

We received the letter from Rome today so I assume we will be getting the packet from Naples soon.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Very, very cool. Congrats at overcoming this confusion!

[txladykat 1]

that is interesting, not only was it mentioned in our paperwork, but they verbally told us as well when we went and filed the I-130 in person (which is the only way you can do it in Denmark)

[Marina-Del 10]

that is interesting, not only was it mentioned in our paperwork, but they verbally told us as well when we went and filed the I-130 in person (which is the only way you can do it in Denmark)

Verbally told you what? That you could leave or that you COULDN'T leave until it was approved? And what paperwork mentioned it? Just curious...