I-160 notice

[Used to be broken 147]

Your in the same boat as I am, we can afford an Attorney but where we live we cant get one, you say its an affordability situation, seek your information as best as you can, I know having an attorney will in the end be beneficial but for the people who dont have that luxury provide your proof of Hardship as best as you can, think of everything, reading on this website there have been past cases who have been approved of a I-601 without a Attorney so try and stay focused and positive, thats all any of us can do.

Good Luck Canadian in GA

? This makes no sense. Attorneys listed with AILA can work anywhere, even overseas, there is a US Attorney working in London on I601's. The Immigration Law is Federal any licensed and practicing Immigration attorney can work on your case regardless of where you live. Most of the Immigration attorneys who handle I601 cases work long distance cases, if you have the means and a check or credit card to pay the retainer you have representation no matter where you live.

[Used to be broken 147]

thank you poohbie10! good luck to you too!

I am going to sit down tomrrow with the I-601 and go over it with my husband, he is good with words, and also my 16yr old step daughter wants to write a letter to go with it. giving her story if I had to leave, that will cause her harship. I would think being seperated from your family is harship enough!--- but i know jsut stating that isnt as easy- its like these immigration officers dont have a heart sometimes (yeah Im writting this as being upset) but I couldnt do that job knowing that a click of a button- deny- that I could ruin someones lives!

anywhoo! I am going to wait to see that the request does- ( when i called the USCIS and asked the officer to re consider) I should get it by the end of next week, and see what that says, then from there, but im starting my i-601 just in case.

its just so hard to focus on anything elese, putting up the xmas tree today- not being happy. it sucks! I just hope it all works out!

....and for you too Poohbie10!

You need to do more research on the I601, your step daughter is not a qualifying relative and no amount of good penmanship will gain her letter any consideration of her hardship if you have to leave. If she is going to write a letter have her explain how your leaving will create a hardship on your spouse. The only hardship they can legally consider is your spouses as he is the qualifying relative, any difficulty your step daughter has is only considered in so much as it causes hardship to your spouse.

Again, the form itself is just a form, the "proof" is the evidence in support of the assertions you lay out in your letter. The letter should be written by your spouse and offer his perspective on what hardships, emotional, financial, logistical, job related etc, he will face if you two are separated, AND why he cannot live in your country with you. Hint, if his ex-wife or mother of the child is in a joint custody arrangement then get her to spell out under no circumstances will she permit the child to travel to visit or live in your country. Even if there is no joint custody it takes two parents to allow international travel, and she can prevent it. Get a signed notarized affidavit from here to include in the packet.

Go to I2us.net read some approved and denied letters and the feedback they give on them to get a sense of what you are dealing with here.

[Poohbie10 0]

? This makes no sense. Attorneys listed with AILA can work anywhere, even overseas, there is a US Attorney working in London on I601's. The Immigration Law is Federal any licensed and practicing Immigration attorney can work on your case regardless of where you live. Most of the Immigration attorneys who handle I601 cases work long distance cases, if you have the means and a check or credit card to pay the retainer you have representation no matter where you live.

Brokenfamily

I realise what your saying, we have in fact inquired about this and were advised the timeframe of when we would actually assisted by an attorney in the US was too long to wait, I only had 2 weeks to supply my I-601 and with my partners Military orders about to expire we had to do what we could on our own, we seeked an Attorney in Japan but it was a case of "Lost in Translation" so now we have done what we can to prove Hardship and frankly if the USCIS dept see's that our case was not strong enough there is nothing more we could do, we will appeal and in my own country I will be getting an Immigration Attorney, there should be no reason to why our waiver should not be approved if they can approved people who have been convicted of assualt within the past 5 years then there should be no reason to why they wont approve my case which there was NO conviction and was over 12 years ago. If you dont mind me asking Brokenfamily can you explain your waiver case? Was it anything like Canadian in GA's or mine? I have appreciated your insight and knowledge about all of this.

[Canadian in GA 34]

You need to do more research on the I601, your step daughter is not a qualifying relative and no amount of good penmanship will gain her letter any consideration of her hardship if you have to leave. If she is going to write a letter have her explain how your leaving will create a hardship on your spouse. The only hardship they can legally consider is your spouses as he is the qualifying relative, any difficulty your step daughter has is only considered in so much as it causes hardship to your spouse.

Again, the form itself is just a form, the "proof" is the evidence in support of the assertions you lay out in your letter. The letter should be written by your spouse and offer his perspective on what hardships, emotional, financial, logistical, job related etc, he will face if you two are separated, AND why he cannot live in your country with you. Hint, if his ex-wife or mother of the child is in a joint custody arrangement then get her to spell out under no circumstances will she permit the child to travel to visit or live in your country. Even if there is no joint custody it takes two parents to allow international travel, and she can prevent it. Get a signed notarized affidavit from here to include in the packet.

Go to I2us.net read some approved and denied letters and the feedback they give on them to get a sense of what you are dealing with here.

that really doesnt make any sense, she is part of my family- so only my husband would qualify? I would think that the childrents inpact would be more extreeme hardship...in a normal persons mind it would. of course I am going to get my husband to prove extreeme hardship. i thought maybe that with her letter, it wouldnt hurt to include.

[Used to be broken 147]

that really doesnt make any sense, she is part of my family- so only my husband would qualify? I would think that the childrents inpact would be more extreeme hardship...in a normal persons mind it would. of course I am going to get my husband to prove extreeme hardship. i thought maybe that with her letter, it wouldnt hurt to include.

I know the standard of "extreme hardship" is a difficult one for the mind to grasp in these unusual circumstances. In your mind the separation of the family especially a new couple with children to raise is "extreme'. However the argument and the decision doesn't take place in the forum of your opinion, its a LEGAL PROCEEDING.

Your case is going to an adjudicator, think of this as a court proceeding. The "judge" is the adjudicator, the US Congress has authority to regulate Immigration in the US and the DHS in its auspices of USCIS will apply the case law relevant to your case and judge the merits using existing case law and precedent. You are going to court but you will not be there in person, your I601 will represent you. There is an appeal process if you do not get a yes. The appeal process is lenghty and taking about 2 years right now, so get it right the first time or avoid it by getting early intervention by an attorney.

If you are going to represent yourself you need to understand what flies and does not fly as an argument, and WHO THE QUALIFYING RELATIVEis, because you can put tons of work into this and get a denial based on the argument not fitting the legal standard.

Once you prove the hardship using evidence in support of your contentions the adjudicator can find hardship but still not approve waiver because it is a DISCRETIONARY RELIEF. So there are two parts*, one is the proving of hardship, the second is proving you are worthy of positive discretion.

*you also have to approach the I601 in two parts, one proving your spouse cannot live with you in your country, and two why your spouse cannot live without you here in the US.

Edited December 1, 2010 by brokenfamily

[Canadian in GA 34]

Just did my biometrics for the I-601, and almost done with the I-601 application. going to send it out next week, as the deadline is the 22nd. went to an info pass appoinmtnet today and got some advise. so things are looking up. ill keep everyone posted.

[Sergi9 110]

Just did my biometrics for the I-601, and almost done with the I-601 application. going to send it out next week, as the deadline is the 22nd. went to an info pass appoinmtnet today and got some advise. so things are looking up. ill keep everyone posted.

good luck ! I don't know if I posted it but, I did some research on the "qualifying relative" and for CIMT you can use spouse, children and parent. Not sure how they will view step child but probably same as child so use her as well. It all "adds up" and so they count "cumulative harship" or in their words "in the aggregate" so the more evidence and affidavits the better to prove your case.