ALL F4s

[iJustMadeThis 2]

I looked at the explanations regarding LIFE Act. Basically, the idea is:

An applicant may qualify for adjustment of status to that of a LPR, if (s)he is the beneficiary of a non-frivolous immigrant visa petition (I-130, I-140, etc.), that was filed before April 30, 2001. The petition need not have been approved, but must have been eligible for approval at the time of filing.

So basically, when the act was announced at the end of 2000, immigrants still had plenty of time to file I-130 petitions for their undocumented relatives. I also read from another source that the USCIS received almost a million petitions before Apr 30th 2001, and some of them were "bare" petitions (came with no supporting documents, only I-130 form). Therefore, I believe there were quite a few Hispanic petitioner who took advantage of this act and filed petition for their undocumented siblings. Note this LIFE Act is still effective, meaning once those petitions with 2001-ish PD got current a few month ago, those undocumented people (if they are still residing in United States, and I believe most of them do) can file AOS with USCIS according to LIFE Act, regardless of their illegal immigration status.

Please also correct me if someone has better insights into this thing.

Following is from USCIS on LIFE Act (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=6c6c3a4107083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=6c6c3a4107083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD):

Eligibility Criteria

You may be eligible to receive a green card through Section 245(i) if you:

• Are the beneficiary of a qualified immigrant petition (Form I-130 or I-140) or application for labor certification (Form ETA-750) filed on or before April 30, 2001
• Were physically present in the United States on December 21, 2000, if you are the principal beneficiary and the petition was filed between January 15, 1998, and April 30, 2001
• Are currently the beneficiary of a qualifying immigrant petition (either the original Form I-130 or I-140 through which you are grandfathered or through a subsequently filed immigrant petition)
• Have a visa immediately available to you
• Are admissible to the United States

========================================================

I think the reason why they said any petition "filed before April 30, 2001" is accepted under LIFE Act was to primarily benefit the immediate relatives to US citizens (parents, spouses, minor children) who have visas immediately available to them (and non-immediate ones whose PDs are current at that the time LIFE Act was enacted), as stated in above excerpt from USCIS (one I highlighted in red, bolded).

That's why I think vast majority of the non-immediate relatives (F2[A,B], F3, F4, and other EB categories) won't have benefited from LIFE Act (therefore couldn't have caused slow PD movement we see today). It is quite possible that many people who were ineligible under this Act thought they were and had themselves be petitioned for immigrant visa for whatever category they thought they could make into. If that were the case, we'd see the thousands of petitions and AOS being denied around this time, resulting in fast advancement of PD.

Now, I may be wrong about this; maybe the LIFE Act did save everyone. For instance, the eligibility doesn't explicitly say that Act excludes non-immediate relatives. Besides, there's minimum of 226,000 visas reserved for family preference categories, and regardless of how many immediate relatives are issued green cards, 65,000 F4 won't have had their quota reduced in any way. Otherwise the only (and highly unlikely) explanation for this slow movement would be beneficiaries bringing unusually high number of derivatives with them.

I do hope that I am wrong; we'll see in coming weeks and months to come. And from looking at other sources myself, I'm coming to believe that I am (hurrah!).

Edited July 17, 2013 by iJustMadeThis

[lengygf 25]

Following is from USCIS on LIFE Act (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=6c6c3a4107083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=6c6c3a4107083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD):

Eligibility Criteria

You may be eligible to receive a green card through Section 245(i) if you:

• Are the beneficiary of a qualified immigrant petition (Form I-130 or I-140) or application for labor certification (Form ETA-750) filed on or before April 30, 2001
• Were physically present in the United States on December 21, 2000, if you are the principal beneficiary and the petition was filed between January 15, 1998, and April 30, 2001
• Are currently the beneficiary of a qualifying immigrant petition (either the original Form I-130 or I-140 through which you are grandfathered or through a subsequently filed immigrant petition)
• Have a visa immediately available to you
• Are admissible to the United States

========================================================

I think the reason why they said any petition "filed before April 30, 2001" is accepted under LIFE Act was to primarily benefit the immediate relatives to US citizens (parents, spouses, minor children) who have visas immediately available to them (and non-immediate ones whose PDs are current at that the time LIFE Act was enacted), as stated in above excerpt from USCIS (one I highlighted in red, bolded).

That's why I think vast majority of the non-immediate relatives (F2[A,B], F3, F4, and other EB categories) won't have benefited from LIFE Act (therefore couldn't have caused slow PD movement we see today). It is quite possible that many people who were ineligible under this Act thought they were and had themselves be petitioned for immigrant visa for whatever category they thought they could make into. If that were the case, we'd see the thousands of petitions and AOS being denied around this time, resulting in fast advancement of PD.

Now, I may be wrong about this; maybe the LIFE Act did save everyone. For instance, the eligibility doesn't explicitly say that Act excludes non-immediate relatives. Besides, there's minimum of 226,000 visas reserved for family preference categories, and regardless of how many immediate relatives are issued green cards, 65,000 F4 won't have had their quota reduced in any way. Otherwise the only (and highly unlikely) explanation for this slow movement would be beneficiaries bringing unusually high number of derivatives with them.

I do hope that I am wrong; we'll see in coming weeks and months to come. And from looking at other sources myself, I'm coming to believe that I am (hurrah!).

Well, I believe the red sentence that "Have a visa number immediately available to you" is corresponding to the sentence that "You may be eligible to receive a green card through Section 245(i) “. This means, in order to RECEIVE A GREEN CARD, you must have an eligible petition, and the visa number must be immediately available to you (i.e. PD is current) so you can file AOS. That is in accordance with the procedure of filing I-485, that the PD must be current before anybody files an I-485. Otherwise, it will be rejected.

Moreover, for this year, such slow movement of PD in F4 hasn't happen before as far as I know; even in the worst years in the past few decades, there was still 4-6 months movement annually, and this would only occur approximately every 5-6 years. So I believe something must have happened back in 2001.

Now, I believe these are no longer important. We've already moved past Apr 30th 2001, and the PD is moving forward again. July VB has signal steady movement (3-5 weeks) up till October. I believe it is important to note that October is included, b/c it's the beginning of the new fiscal year where another 65K visa are available. If in October, PD moves forward for another several weeks, then we might expect to have steady movement in the next fiscal year.

Edited July 17, 2013 by lengygf

[iJustMadeThis 2]

Well, I believe the red sentence that "Have a visa number immediately available to you" is corresponding to the sentence that "You may be eligible to receive a green card through Section 245(i) “. This means, in order to RECEIVE A GREEN CARD, you must have an eligible petition, and the visa number must be immediately available to you (i.e. PD is current) so you can file AOS. That is in accordance with the procedure of filing I-485, that the PD must be current before anybody files an I-485. Otherwise, it will be rejected.

Moreover, for this year, such slow movement of PD in F4 hasn't happen before as far as I know; even in the worst years in the past few decades, there was still 4-6 months movement annually, and this would only occur approximately every 5-6 years. So I believe something must have happened back in 2001.

Now, I believe these are no longer important. We've already moved past Apr 30th 2001, and the PD is moving forward again. July VB has signal steady movement (3-5 weeks) up till October. I believe it is important to note that October is included, b/c it's the beginning of the new fiscal year where another 65K visa are available. If in October, PD moves forward for another several weeks, then we might expect to have steady movement in the next fiscal year.

I'm not sure if I'm understanding you right; correct me if I'm wrong.

Like you said, the PD should've been current by the time LIFE Act was enacted (otherwise not accepted), which means, except for the immediate relatives, those in preference categories must've been petitioned years before. That means all the F1 to F4 petitions that were filed at this time on behalf of undocumented immigrants should've been rejected by now, meaning there's no extraordinarily high number of these preference-category petitions for 2001 PD and that means the PD shouldn't have been moving this slowly for past months (so as to why it's moving this slow, I don't know).

As you expected, according to MyPriority.com (which compiles USCIS statistics dating back to 1998), FY2001 saw total F4 movement of 4 months (even less than this year at this rate) which was when LIFE Act was enacted to benefit eligible undocumented immigrants. That's probably why FY2001 saw such a slow movement overall.

I guess we can only wait.

*edited: crossed out what I wanted to retract. I think I just understood your reply... I think?

Edited July 17, 2013 by iJustMadeThis

[lengygf 25]

I'm not sure if I'm understanding you right; correct me if I'm wrong.

Like you said, the PD should've been current by the time LIFE Act was enacted (otherwise not accepted), which means, except for the immediate relatives, those in preference categories must've been petitioned years before. That means all the F1 to F4 petitions that were filed at this time on behalf of undocumented immigrants should've been rejected by now, meaning there's no extraordinarily high number of these preference-category petitions for 2001 PD and that means the PD shouldn't have been moving this slowly for past months (so as to why it's moving this slow, I don't know).

As you expected, according to MyPriority.com (which compiles USCIS statistics dating back to 1998), FY2001 saw total F4 movement of 4 months (even less than this year at this rate) which was when LIFE Act was enacted to benefit eligible undocumented immigrants. That's probably why FY2001 saw such a slow movement overall.

I guess we can only wait.

*edited: crossed out what I wanted to retract. I think I just understood your reply... I think?

Yeah I think you got the point now. The procedure for petitioning people already living in United States (for example, F4) is:

Filing I-130: Petition for Alien Relative, obtain a priority date

Petition approved, case file retained by USCIS (IF on I-130 the petitioner indicates the beneficiary is outside US, the case will go to NVC)

Wait for PD to become current

File I-485: Application for Adjustment of Status

USCIS processes and approves I-485

Become LPR

Only with an approved I485 can one becomes a LPR.

Honestly I've been waiting for this for almost 3 years. My PD is June 2003, when it was approved in 2010, I was in my second year of college in United States, and was planning on going to work with GC after I graduate. Now, due to this slow movement in VB, I had to start doing my Master's program from last fall. What a tragedy! I am absolutely not interested in academia and just wanna get the GC and go to work in the industry!

[iJustMadeThis 2]

Yeah I think you got the point now. The procedure for petitioning people already living in United States (for example, F4) is:

Filing I-130: Petition for Alien Relative, obtain a priority date

Petition approved, case file retained by USCIS (IF on I-130 the petitioner indicates the beneficiary is outside US, the case will go to NVC)

Wait for PD to become current

File I-485: Application for Adjustment of Status

USCIS processes and approves I-485

Become LPR

Only with an approved I485 can one becomes a LPR.

Honestly I've been waiting for this for almost 3 years. My PD is June 2003, when it was approved in 2010, I was in my second year of college in United States, and was planning on going to work with GC after I graduate. Now, due to this slow movement in VB, I had to start doing my Master's program from last fall. What a tragedy! I am absolutely not interested in academia and just wanna get the GC and go to work in the industry!

Hey, same here! I'm studying as well - junior in bachelor's degree.

Let's hope for the best. Above all, for the CIR to pass soon.

I am concerned though: if a lot of AOSes are approved for LIFE Act beneficiaries during past months (when PD was stuck at/around May 1st, 2001 for LIFE Act, presumably), that's that many fewer visas available for F4 for the remainder of this fiscal year under existing quota. Let's hope for no stalling or retrogression to occur again...

[Visa Grant 78]

its not true not a single person in that range was issued a visa. my pd is 27 aug 2001 and didn't receive any interview even and u r talking about visa lol. All the people in that range of pd will be current again and will get interview and visa after .

Well, all the calculations and assumptions are done based on the data available with the USCIS/NVC....I will be more than happy if all the F4 filers in whatever range they are in should get their Visas..Good Luck..

[Visa Grant 78]

Yeah I think you got the point now. The procedure for petitioning people already living in United States (for example, F4) is:

Filing I-130: Petition for Alien Relative, obtain a priority date

Petition approved, case file retained by USCIS (IF on I-130 the petitioner indicates the beneficiary is outside US, the case will go to NVC)

Wait for PD to become current

File I-485: Application for Adjustment of Status

USCIS processes and approves I-485

Become LPR

Only with an approved I485 can one becomes a LPR.

Honestly I've been waiting for this for almost 3 years. My PD is June 2003, when it was approved in 2010, I was in my second year of college in United States, and was planning on going to work with GC after I graduate. Now, due to this slow movement in VB, I had to start doing my Master's program from last fall. What a tragedy! I am absolutely not interested in academia and just wanna get the GC and go to work in the industry!

Another thing to note is that even the petitions which are filed by April 30th 2001 do stand a chance as per the USCIS rules to retain their peitions for a year.April 30th 2002.So, the petitions which were filed before April 30th 2001 and came back to track their cases before April 30th 2002 will also be cleared..So, my take is The F4 visa movement will be the same till the visa bulletin is past April 2002..

Good Luck..

[iJustMadeThis 2]

Another thing to note is that even the petitions which are filed by April 30th 2001 do stand a chance as per the USCIS rules to retain their peitions for a year.April 30th 2002.So, the petitions which were filed before April 30th 2001 and came back to track their cases before April 30th 2002 will also be cleared..So, my take is The F4 visa movement will be the same till the visa bulletin is past April 2002..

Good Luck..

It's possible that most of the LIFE Act beneficiaries were already given the immigrant visas back in late FY2010 and early FY2011 when F4 PD was well past April 30th, 2001. The slow PD movement we see today could be due to the residual LIFE Act beneficiaries who were unable to be fully adjusted in their status three years ago due to the Great Retrogression. If that's the case, PD for F4 should move at normal pace of 3-5 week/month from now, especially with three to four previous months having stalled.

Something intriguing I found from USCIS data (http://www.travel.st...wide_online.pdf):

Around PD April 30, 2001 (LIFE Act PD) for all Family-based categories (F1 to F4), PD movements either did not/rarely move for months AND/OR saw a large retrogression soon afterwards.

• F1: Stuck at April of 2001 for 14 months over FY2005 and FY2006, then retrogression of about three years three months later.
• F2A: Did not stall when LIFE Act PD approached, but 3-year retrogression soon after quickly moving across the Life Act PD, and PD was "Unavailable" for two months in late FY2006.
• F2B: PD moved much more quickly than F2A did during its LIFE Act PD, but retrogressed by two years in FY2011 a year after.
• F3: PD moved really slowly before LIFE Act PD (avg. of 2 weeks/month over two years) and retrogressed by 1 year in FY2010 after being stuck in May 1st, 2001 PD for months shortly beforehand.
• F4: PD moved over 30 months in FY2010 over LIFE Act PD, then retrogressed by two years shortly after.

It's as if all the retrogression across family-based categories occurred around LIFE Act PD of April 30th, 2001.

Of course, there were some other retrogression and stalling after the ones above, but aftermath was generally normal-paced.

Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? Only time will tell!

[jolly786 96]

CIR will delay for 1 month and will likely pass in September 2013....

[savvy.boy 13]

CIR will delay for 1 month and will likely pass in September 2013....

it will not pass.

Dead on arrival.

Nothing would pass.

Hip Hip Hurray......................

[iJustMadeThis 2]

CIR will delay for 1 month and will likely pass in September 2013....

I'll bet that the CIR (not Senate's but the conferenced version) will not become law till this December at best.

Best-case scenario:

-July: House committee passes its piecemeal bills

-August: N/A

-September/October: House votes on its piecemeal bills after possible amendments, delayed by Farm bill debate

-November/December: Conference, delayed by end-of-the-year debt ceiling & borrowing debate

-December: Senate & House vote on final bill for the president to sign.

[jolly786 96]

it will not pass.

Dead on arrival.

Nothing would pass.

Hip Hip Hurray......................

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/obama-immigration-reform_n_3606965.html?ir=Latino+Voices

[AHMED042 1]

sorry..so sad...you are not eligible under CSPA.....

but why is there any reason

[jolly786 96]

but why is there any reason

you can check your cspa eligibility on the below link :-

http://www.--.com/immigrant-visa/cspa-calculator/

[hiiifrndzzz 5]

Looking forward to get current in next month....!