I-131 Expedite submitted, but might need alternate solutions

[musicmaniac42 5]

Hello, all,

I'll share our situation, and I'll try to include all the detail I can. I'd appreciate suggestions or ideas.

My wife came to the US from France in April on a K-1 visa, and we were married in May. We filed for AOS in early June, including work authorization and an I-131 permission to travel. We got our NOA on all three of those petitions on June 8. She had her biometrics appointment with USCIS yesterday, and everything went smoothly. But here are the complications...

My wife has to return to France for her only sister's wedding, which will be on July 27. Between our wedding and her sister's wedding, we knew there would be a fairly small window of time. We had no idea until after we filed the EAD/AOS/AP that it would take the government at least 3 months to make a decision regarding the AP. You can say we were stupid, naive, and should've filed earlier, I've seen that a lot on the forums. But we filed as soon as we got married, and her sister's wedding was already in the works. There is no way we could have given ourselves more time, short of ordering her sister not to get married until we (or, the US Government) deemed it appropriate. Here's a sequence of events...

1) My wife was chosen as a witness at the wedding, meaning her presence is required at the ceremony to make the marriage official in France. Since we were unable to wait until September for the advance parole, we called USCIS to expedite our case. The agent I called took our information over the phone and submitted our expedite request.

2) Later that day, we received documentation from France proving that the marriage is taking place and my wife's role in it. The letter is from the mayor of the town where the wedding will take place. In short, the letter affirms that the wedding is happening on July 27th, and that my wife is obligated to be present in order to legalize/validate her sister's marriage.

3) At the biometrics appointment, we spoke with the agent at the USCIS office window and told them our situation, and we tried to submit the letter, our added proof for our case. When the expedite request was made via telephone, they didn't take any other information from us besides, "It's extremely important that she be present at the wedding." The USCIS officer told us to fax the documents along with an explanatory letter to the National Service Center, which we did yesterday evening.

4) I received an email this morning stating our request for an expedited AP had been denied because we didn't submit any evidence to establish any urgency or emergency.

5) I called USCIS after receiving the email to find out if our proof had even been considered. When I explained our proof of urgency to them (the mayor's letter), the agent on the phone seemed convinced, and told me to mail all our documents (NOA for I-131, letter from the mayor (with translated version), flight/travel documents, and a letter explaining the situation) to the Benefits Center in Missouri. I mailed all that as soon as I was off the phone, and the envelope should arrive there by Friday.

We have plane tickets to leave for France on July 18, and she is extremely worried about being prevented from going. If needed, she doesn't mind losing her plane ticket and buying a new one (she can leave for France as late as July 25). Also, we don't mind if there's a separation for us for some months following the travel... it would be worth it. However, the possibility of being shut out of the US for a year is inconceivable, considering the further delay it would put on her career and immigration aspirations.

On the one side, her family is putting on the pressure to go, and she can't imagine missing the wedding and disappointing quite literally everyone in her family. As she has said, if she can't go, then the wedding won't be validated. All the money spent so far would be wasted, and the hundreds of guests would need to be notified (including the other international guests who have already bought their tickets). If this were merely a question of, "We just really really want to go! France is so beautiful this time of year!" then I wouldn't expect any sort of special treatment. However, as we've demonstrated, it is vital to the marriage that she attend the wedding, as a legal duty to her sister.

Therefore, here's my question: are there any possible options if this most recent expedite request is denied? Is USCIS really so inhuman and without compassion as to tear apart a legal union and a family for no other reason than not being able to wait 3 months? If she is denied, can we appeal directly to our Indianapolis USCIS office? Or would we need to go to the Chicago USCIS office? Or any other office? Who actually has the authority to listen to our case and grant the confounded piece of paper? We've become quite desperate and haven't ruled out anything, including calling every legislator we can find, beginning a petition group, or even going to the USCIS office and hunger striking. Attending the wedding is that important to us. This whole situation (not to mention all the headaches from getting the K-1) has already put on so much stress, difficulty, and pain that we're looking for any possibilities.

As a side question, does anyone know why USCIS is so strict about leaving the country in the first place? My wife will not be going to any terrorist summer camps, and she won't be meeting with any revolutionary neo-Nazi leaders. Are they concerned about people getting benefits of residence but living abroad?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks for reading the long explanation.

[canadian_wife 1,827]

Make an infopass apt. bring your plane tickets and explain your situation

Good luck

[amykathleen2005 441]

I would say the same, make an InfoPass appointment at your local office. However, your wife's sister was not required to choose her sister as the witness (especially considering if she wasn't sure if she was going to even be there). The circumstances are not dire so USCIS does not have to grant it but hopefully a personable agent will be able to give you the AP you need.

[Gosia & Tito 199]

Make an infopass apt. bring your plane tickets and explain your situation

Good luck

I she absolutely, 100

If she absolutely 100% must go, I'd be planning on a CR-1 -just in case-. They can take your letter and explanation, but from what I've seen, unless there is a life or death situation, it would not be granted. Not sure that a legal duty to her sister would qualify as emergency under USCIS guides.

She will not be prevented from leaving, coming back is the problem.

I do not know why exactly USCIS does not allow for anyone in AOS to leave country, but that applies to everyone. My wife hat to stay put last year when I was going to a family reunion in another country.

Playing devil's advocate: can another person be designated witness? WHat happens if the designated witness becomes severely ill or unable to participate? There's got to be a way to deal with unexpected situations. Your job here is to have something to counter each argument you might get from USCIS in an Infopass, inclusive to the one about 'you should've filed earlier' (see below), such that they will have to approve.

As for what to do, since the trip is around the corner, I'd get another INfopass for early next week or even this, to inquiry in a pending case. Allow enough time for the wheels of USCIS to slowly move and still be able to get a response -positive one hopefully-. Nothing worst than getting an approval but the administrative process of creating the AP holds you down.

[JohnR! 5,495]

On the one side, her family is putting on the pressure to go, and she can't imagine missing the wedding and disappointing quite literally everyone in her family. As she has said, if she can't go, then the wedding won't be validated. All the money spent so far would be wasted, and the hundreds of guests would need to be notified (including the other international guests who have already bought their tickets). If this were merely a question of, "We just really really want to go! France is so beautiful this time of year!" then I wouldn't expect any sort of special treatment. However, as we've demonstrated, it is vital to the marriage that she attend the wedding, as a legal duty to her sister.

InfoPass X 3.

On the paragraph above, it might behoove your sister to let her sister know there is a possibility she is not able to attend the wedding, so that another witness may step in if needed. Luckily for her, French law allows for a minimum of 2 and a max of 4 witnesses so she has room to wiggle.

Best of luck!

[musicmaniac42 5]

Thank you all very much for your suggestions! We will try the InfoPass appointment, and give them everything we can, including reasons to possible objections they might have. We know we're basically at their mercy, and it's miserable to feel so powerless, but we know we're not the only ones who have experienced this.

One point for clarification: let's imagine we go to the InfoPass appointment, we speak to the representative at the window, and we are able to convince them that we are deserving of the AP approval. Would the agent have the authority to grant us the AP on the spot? I understand we would have to wait for the actual physical paper to process, but does the agent have the power to give us approval? If they tell us, "Yes, your case is exceptional and tragic and we'd love to help, but we can't authorize anything for you," would they just be feeding us a "please, go away!" line?

Thanks again to you canadian wife, amykathleen, gosia/tito, and gegel for your advice!

[amykathleen2005 441]

I believe they can give it right then and there.