The Hartford Office Sent my unapproved I-130 to Copenhagen

[AmyWrites 593]

Holy #######, I'm so sorry. I'd contact the embassy also.

[Hypnos 6,576]

I've had very similar issues (my cases have been pushed around from pillar to post, including being sent to Vermont and Houston instead of Dallas).

The DHS Ombudsman is the way to go with this. Submit a request for help online here: https://cisomb.dhs.gov/oca/form7001.aspx

Good luck!

[Villanelle 4,122]

Hartford is not your 'local office' as you dont reside in Hartford. You reside overseas. You went through h*ll trying to get your address changed to the overseas address (remember?) Your 'local office' where the petition should be adjudicated is Sweden. They have jurisdiction over your petition.

You are correct- the embassy wont handle the visa aspect until the petition has been approved.

But heres what happened:

You sent in your petition to NBC. You sent in an expedite request. NBC didnt approve the expedite. They sent it to the 'local office' based on the address on file for you, to approve/process/adjudicate. It was a an address in CT, so it went to Hartford on Jan 23.

Hartford thought about your expedite request from Jan 23 until Feb 15. On Feb 15th they realized they can not process your expedite because your address was then correctly changed to Denmark, so they sent your case to what they thought was the 'local office', Copenhagen.

I honestly dont think Copenhagen is your local office, because exactly like you said- they dont handle IV cases. Even the phone rep didnt seem to think it shouldve went there.

It needs to go to the place that has jurisdiction over the 130s for where you live... as I was typing this I did a quick search and this came up. http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=36dc6c0fe7f5d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=1ac900c262197210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

It seems like the London Field Office has jurisdiction over 130 petitions for people who reside in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

Form I-130

The London Field Office accepts I-130 or I-360 petitions from U.S. citizens who reside in our jurisdiction.

"Who can file their I-130/I-360 at the London Field Office?

The USCIS London Field Office has jurisdiction for adjudicating I-130 and I-360 petitions from U.S. citizens who have permission to reside AND who do principally reside in the United Kingdom."

I understand you do not live in the UK. The above quote means you can not file directly at the London Field Office, but at the top of the page, it clearly states they have jurisdiction over people who reside in multiple areas, and yours is included.

The quote then goes on to say "U.S. citizens who reside overseas where there is no USCIS Field Office may be eligible to file with the Department of State at the American Embassy. Please see that Embassy's webpage for local filing procedures at http://travel.state.gov. Referring those not in the UK to file at their local Embassies and not come to the London Field Office because only UKers can file there.

So now I think you may be going to London to get your 130 approved.

Edited February 20, 2013 by capri

[MrsB2012 10]

Nola- what a nightmare! So sorry you've had such a runaround with your case. Hope you get some answers quickly!

[The Mean Lady 604]

#### it

move to uk and dcf

[Alaska2012 462]

Nola, instead of emailing Copenhagen call them if possible. Or even better, if you are not too far from there try and get an appointment and go talk to someone there. If they do have your file they can send it to Sweden and I do know for a fact that Stockholm and Copenhagen work pretty close together. In normal cases Stockholm can't do much since they closed the dcf, but I also know that when there has been major screw ups Stockholm have done all they can to speed things up and above all they try to help. Get your stuff there I think is your best bet!

[aprice138 16]

I think you should definitely file for an expedite after it gets back to where it SHOULD be (NBC is my guess). Because of their error, you've been delayed longer than if the case stayed put.

Ugh, what a pain!

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

I've had very similar issues (my cases have been pushed around from pillar to post, including being sent to Vermont and Houston instead of Dallas).

The DHS Ombudsman is the way to go with this. Submit a request for help online here: https://cisomb.dhs.gov/oca/form7001.aspx

Good luck!

I can't get that to work on any browser for some reason, but I've got the PDF and I'll fax it over tomorrow (or today for me).

Hartford is not your 'local office' as you dont reside in Hartford. You reside overseas. You went through h*ll trying to get your address changed to the overseas address (remember?) Your 'local office' where the petition should be adjudicated is Sweden. They have jurisdiction over your petition.

You are correct- the embassy wont handle the visa aspect until the petition has been approved.

But heres what happened:

You sent in your petition to NBC. You sent in an expedite request. NBC didnt approve the expedite. They sent it to the 'local office' based on the address on file for you, to approve/process/adjudicate. It was a an address in CT, so it went to Hartford on Jan 23.

Hartford thought about your expedite request from Jan 23 until Feb 15. On Feb 15th they realized they can not process your expedite because your address was then correctly changed to Denmark, so they sent your case to what they thought was the 'local office', Copenhagen.

So now I think you may be going to London to get your 130 approved.

Well, by EU standards, my country of residence is the UK (I'm not sure they'd agree with that), but that is a rather complex issue that I didn't get into on my paperwork save my long expedite request. I'm not officially registered as a resident in Denmark. I'm actually getting around to doing it this week, but I had thought we would have been gone sooner so I didn't bother before.

Perhaps I should be processed at the London Field Office? Hopefully tomorrow will bring some clarification on what is really going on with my petition. Perhaps they thought our situation warranted consular processing? I have no idea and nobody except some IO in Connecticut seems to know either.

As of this evening, my address was still in CT according to USCIS. They haven't changed it back, although all the other paperwork would say otherwise including the expedite request.

What I'm stuck with in this, is that none of the other file from abroads were routed to foreign field offices or embassies. They were all approved at NBC.

If we get consular processing and that is a big IF, it would be a good thing, I think. However, I can't see how this would be....I mean, we have hundreds of I-130 cases here on VJ and thousands going back and I haven't been able to find anything about people getting special consular processing and we are certainly not special enough for it, IMO.

This is the last status update that we got from the liaison on February 6th:

According to the National Benefits Center, the address on the petition was NOT changed back to Denmark on the 23rd because there was miscommunication and the whole file was sent to the Hartford USCIS office on that exact date, instead of being sent to the NVC and subsequently abroad to Denmark.

which in and of itself has some flaws, but I don't know. Maybe the Representative will be better with these immigration issues?

#### it

move to uk and dcf

I've thought about it, but it isn't as easy as it sounds. Easiest would actually be Germany, because the hubsters could still keep a job in Denmark, but we'd be resident in Germany and eligible for DCF. Ridiculous how these things work, isn't it? I think we'll just have to suck it up with this petition unless it really goes off the tracks, though.

Maybe the ISO was hallucinating? That is my best guess of the day. I wish we had a time machine and I could back to October and tell my silly self to wait out the I-129F that got approved smoothly. We'd be in America now

Nola, instead of emailing Copenhagen call them if possible. Or even better, if you are not too far from there try and get an appointment and go talk to someone there. If they do have your file they can send it to Sweden and I do know for a fact that Stockholm and Copenhagen work pretty close together. In normal cases Stockholm can't do much since they closed the dcf, but I also know that when there has been major screw ups Stockholm have done all they can to speed things up and above all they try to help. Get your stuff there I think is your best bet!

We'll get on it later today.

[indiana_sweetie 120]

I hope this all gets sorted out soon

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Incredibly helpful response from Stockholm is

Dear Madam,

Unfortunately the Embassy does not have access to the first part of the adjudication process of an I-130 petition. We must therefore kindly ask that you reach out to USCIS direcly regarding any status updates: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=ddce0b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=ddce0b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD

Sincerely,

Immigrant Visa Unit

U.S. Embassy Stockholm, Sweden

Which is what I thought in the first place.

[*Snowdrop* 604]

Incredibly helpful response from Stockholm is

Dear Madam,

Unfortunately the Embassy does not have access to the first part of the adjudication process of an I-130 petition. We must therefore kindly ask that you reach out to USCIS direcly regarding any status updates: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=ddce0b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=ddce0b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD

Sincerely,

Immigrant Visa Unit

U.S. Embassy Stockholm, Sweden

Which is what I thought in the first place.

That sounds like a stock response from someone who has not read your email properly or understood it.

This whole situation is crazy.

Can you Mum do an infopass appointment for you now? Does she understand enough about the situation to advocate on your behalf?

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

That sounds like a stock response from someone who has not read your email properly or understood it.

This whole situation is crazy.

Can you Mum do an infopass appointment for you now? Does she understand enough about the situation to advocate on your behalf?

I think she said that she might last night and she does have a POA for me. Question is, will they speak to her?

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

And it just gets curiouser and curiouser

Hartford would not adjudicate the application because your husband is living abroad. The correct place for the application to be is in the Embassy in Denmark. The file was sent to Hartford on the same day you changed the address back to the Denmark one, and once it became aware your husband was abroad, it needed to send the application abroad. Local offices do not adjudicate I-130 applications for petitioners/beneficiaries who live abroad.

Here is the response from Hartford, received on Feb 13th. I haven’t been in the office since then, which is why you have not received this response yet.

*****

Good Afternoon Jennie,

I am contacting you in regards to your inquiry on the I-130 petition filed for B****. This case will be sent to the closest embassy or consulate in Denmark for processing. USCIS does not have jurisdiction if both the petitioner and the beneficiary are residing aboard (with the exception of Canada).

If you have any further questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.

Thank you and have a great day.

Immigration Services Analyst/ Congressional Liaison

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services

Hartford Field Office

Edited February 20, 2013 by Nola123

[Villanelle 4,122]

According to your timeline:

mailed 130 Nov 1 w/foreign address

Dec 15 changed petitioners address to CT (that would make Hartford your local office)

Jan 23 Hartford got your case with the expedite request but then you also requested to have your address changed back to Denmark, which made Hartford no longer have jurisdiction.

Feb 15 your address change took effect so Hartford had to release the case- they sent it to where they thought it should go- Copenhagen.

IMO Copenhagen is the wrong place. I really do think the London Field office has jurisdiction over your petition based on the address you provided.

Im really not sure why you are saying things like "What I'm stuck with in this, is that none of the other file from abroads were routed to foreign field offices or embassies. They were all approved at NBC."

This is not true. They stopped notifying people when their files were transferred from NBC to field offices for processing. If you check that memo when they shifted the workload, youll see it says "Stand-Alone Immediate Relative I-130s will be transferred from the Service Center to the National Benefits Center (NBC), and then routed to the appropriate Field Office. Customers will receive a notice indicating the case was transferred to the NBC, but that notice will not indicate the final local Field Office location.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=c3c7ca7c5fed9310VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e7801c2c9be44210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

So it goes to the NBC and then to the field office that has jurisdiction. they dont tell you when its going or where its going. it goes when NBC is done with their review (when theyre done reviewing, issuing RFEs etc)

They sent you to Hartford because your address was in CT.

According to the letter ( According to the National Benefits Center, the address on the petition was NOT changed back to Denmark on the 23rd because there was miscommunication and the whole file was sent to the Hartford USCIS office on that exact date, instead of being sent to the NVC and subsequently abroad to Denmark.) and your timeline- this is accurate. They sent the file to Hartford on the 23rd because on the 23rd you were listed as a CT address. If you were listed as a Denmark address you wouldve went to the office that has jurisdiction over there. There are different procedures for people already in the US vs people overseas.

Hopefully when Copenhagen gets the file they will immediately forward it to London field office because thats who does it for the area.

You could try contacting Copenhagen and telling them you were advised your file is being sent there and you know they dont process 130s and you are inquiring what will happen when its received. Is it going to be sent to London? returned to NBC? returned to Hartford? How quickly will they take action? Stress you have an expedite and see what kind of info they can give you even if its just general information about what happens when they get a case that they dont process.

Then I would contact London and see if they have any means of retrieving your case manually themselves since they seem to be the ones that should be adjudicating it. Maybe they can just reach in and grab it or request it somehow.

[oohpartiv 484]

And it just gets curiouser and curiouser

Hartford would not adjudicate the application because your husband is living abroad. The correct place for the application to be is in the Embassy in Denmark. The file was sent to Hartford on the same day you changed the address back to the Denmark one, and once it became aware your husband was abroad, it needed to send the application abroad. Local offices do not adjudicate I-130 applications for petitioners/beneficiaries who live abroad.

Huh?

1. Wouldn't it be obvious that your husband is abroad, considering he's the beneficiary?

2. If local offices aren't allowed to adjudicate applications where both parties are abroad, why not just send it back to NBC? All the other "filed abroad" cases I've seen lately have been approved just fine at NBC... NEVER heard of it getting sent abroad to get processed. How bizarre.

Edited February 20, 2013 by oohpartiv