Vawa Part 5

[Hypnos 6,578]

An I-765 is only fee-free if you have paid the fee for your I-485 previously. Since you haven't, you will need to include an I-912 fee waiver request alongside the I-765.

[Sandra G. 5,057]

hopeholder you said "They say i cannot file for adjustment of status abroad through council and in America in same time so they give me three options.." well you cannot file AOS abroad. You filed I-824 for your kids as a derivative beneficiaries, and they will do Consular Processing. As i mentioned before NVC will forward the I-824 to the US consulate abroad just when your I485 is adjudicated.

It's ok to file I-824 when pending I-485, because the NVC will not process the I-824 until final adjudication of your AOS. Considering what you said i believe you made some mistake filing I-824.

Edited December 30, 2014 by sandranj

[lank 16]

nicesky, I waived fees for filing I-485. I renewed my work authorization just recently and did not pay any fee either. I did the filing myself. I filed on September 10 and was approved on December 3. It took about 84 days to approve. I read on-line that you can call and place service request with uscis if your application is pending for more than 75 days. I called them after 80 days being pending, on Friday, and they approved it few days later, on Monday. Good luck!

[leilabird 18]

Just wanted to share something interesting happened. My boyfriend is from Arizona, we went to Arizona to visit his family for Christmas. He had told me that there's alot of DHS checkpoints in Arizona and they are very annoying and most of all they break the law of traveling free the USA. He said we had the right not to answer any questions when we didn't break the law.

On the way to vist his family, we got stopped at a check point. The DHS officer asked him whether or not he was a US citizen. (He is a US citizen by the way). But he said " I don't have to answer the question". Then the officer asked me if i was a US citizen. Before I said any words my boyfriend reminded me briefly that I did not have to answer. Since I am not a US citizen, I said "I am not"

The officer told us to pull over to the side to verify my immigration status. I did not bring any of my papers with me but I told the officer that I have a pending I485 with USCIS. He asked me what it was. I said "the green card application". All I had was the passport with the expired visa on it and the marriage license that shows my maiden name has charged. The officer talked to someone on the phone for about an hour to verify whether or not I was telling the truth!!!!! The whole drama lasted about 2 hours.

Finally they told us to go.

My boyfriend was very upset with them.

On the way back, after we visited his family, we got pulled over at a the same checkpoint. This time we were prepared.

The officer asked my boyfriend if he was a US citizen. He said "I don't have to answer". Then he asked me the same question. I stayed silent. The officer look at my boyfriend and said " Does she speak English? " My boyfriend said " What made you think she doesn't speak English?" The officer said "Well, umm she doesn't look US citizen". My bf said " How does US citizen look like?" The officer said " Is she a US citizen? " My boyfriend said "I have no right to speak for her, do we have the right to remain silent if we are detained? Are we detained?"

The officer said "Yes" My bf said "What grounds?" .....the officer said "you are refusing to answer the question" My bf said "Is it against the law?"

So this went on and on..... My boyfriend kept refusing to tell them whether or not he was a US citizen. I just stayed silent.

another officer came and told us we were free to go.

oh I forgot to mention that the officer wanted to check our vehicle. My boyfriend asked them to show warrant to search his vehicle. The officers could not search our vehicle.

Edited December 30, 2014 by leilabird

[Tink88_ 9]

I got my Prima Facie !! The whole time I was so worried that I may have made any mistakes or that they may think what has happened was not that bad...

I am so very happy right now. I do know it is not over yet, but it is a start!!

Does anyone know what I have/can do now about the EAD?

I had filed it with the AOS on October 6th and my AOS has a RFE for the affidativ of support, which I cannot reply to, as I do not have anyone to sponsor me with a qualifying income. (The AOS was filed before my husband got arrested for domestic abuse) I had included a waiver with my VAWA application for the I-864, but have not heard back about it yet. The RFE I had received on the 5th of November. What should I do about that?

And will they still issue me an EAD, even with a RFE for my AOS?

With the Prima Facie I can get an EAD right?

I have already passed my Biometrics on November 14th...

I am sorry my writing is so confusing, but I am just very confused about everything...

[Tink88_ 9]

By the way,

leilabird, the exact same happened to me when I was in El Paso, visiting my sister.

I flew back yesterday and got detained for a little, as my K-1 in my Passport is expired and I had no other documents with me from USCIS.

They took ages to find my case... It was a very horrible experience!!

[melanieuk 19]

I got my Prima Facie !! The whole time I was so worried that I may have made any mistakes or that they may think what has happened was not that bad...

I am so very happy right now. I do know it is not over yet, but it is a start!!

Does anyone know what I have/can do now about the EAD?

I had filed it with the AOS on October 6th and my AOS has a RFE for the affidativ of support, which I cannot reply to, as I do not have anyone to sponsor me with a qualifying income. (The AOS was filed before my husband got arrested for domestic abuse) I had included a waiver with my VAWA application for the I-864, but have not heard back about it yet. The RFE I had received on the 5th of November. What should I do about that?

And will they still issue me an EAD, even with a RFE for my AOS?

With the Prima Facie I can get an EAD right?

I have already passed my Biometrics on November 14th...

I am sorry my writing is so confusing, but I am just very confused about everything...

Congrats. I'd advise you to answer the RFE by explaining that you have a pending vawa petition. You don't want to have that initial AOS denied, because you may get placed in deportation proceedings and it complicates your last AOS pettion.

Edited December 30, 2014 by melanieuk

[melanieuk 19]

And you cannot get a work permit based on the prima facie. The prima facie just lets you know that you have submitted all the necessary requirements to have your petition considered, but it doesn't mean it will get approved. You can also use it for public benefits depending on the state you live in.

[leilabird 18]

By the way,

leilabird, the exact same happened to me when I was in El Paso, visiting my sister.

I flew back yesterday and got detained for a little, as my K-1 in my Passport is expired and I had no other documents with me from USCIS.

They took ages to find my case... It was a very horrible experience!!

Tink88, I did not know I had the right not to answer and continue my road trip w/o my time being wasted by the DHS officers either. The point of me posting this was that as an immigrant, I thought it was important to know my rights on this soil. My bf pointed out to me that, it doesn't matter how I look, what language I am speaking, I should not be detained for no reason in the USA.

That checkpoint was not at the border btw

[melanieuk 19]

Tink88, I did not know I had the right not to answer and continue my road trip w/o my time being wasted by the DHS officers either. The point of me posting this was that as an immigrant, I thought it was important to know my rights on this soil. My bf pointed out to me that, it doesn't matter how I look, what language I am speaking, I should not be detained for no reason in the USA.

That checkpoint was not at the border btw

Leilabird, I have not looked into this yet, but I know Arizona has very harsh laws towards illegal immigrants. But it seems to me that you may have the right of not answering their questions, but according to the state laws, they may hold you for questioning because of it. And it would have saved you some time if you had answered since they held you and found out anyways

Edited December 30, 2014 by melanieuk

[melanieuk 19]

This is quite confusing.

They let him leave and therefore acknowledged they have no right to interrogate anyone about their citizenship status. What a messed up situation.

[leilabird 18]

When I answered their question, they wasted our 2 hours. When I did not answer their question, it took us only 15 minutes to get thru the check point.

[leilabird 18]

Any country has to have their national security preventing illegal immigration and other issues come along with it. You have to have grounds to detain someone, but US border patrol detains people for no probable cause or mere suspicion at the checkpoints. For example in the UK, the police officers will not check your ID or arrest you unless you broke the law. Instead of pointless check points unlike the US, for example the UK officers work with bus pass inspectors, if someone failed to show a valid bus pass on the public transportation then the police have every right to verify his/her status in that country. That's one of their tricks to find illegal immigrants and how they do is absolutely not against the human rights.

Edited December 30, 2014 by leilabird

[blest.but.strest 50]

Just wanted to share something interesting happened. My boyfriend is from Arizona, we went to Arizona to visit his family for Christmas. He had told me that there's alot of DHS checkpoints in Arizona and they are very annoying and most of all they break the law of traveling free the USA. He said we had the right not to answer any questions when we didn't break the law.

On the way to vist his family, we got stopped at a check point. The DHS officer asked him whether or not he was a US citizen. (He is a US citizen by the way). But he said " I don't have to answer the question". Then the officer asked me if i was a US citizen. Before I said any words my boyfriend reminded me briefly that I did not have to answer. Since I am not a US citizen, I said "I am not"

The officer told us to pull over to the side to verify my immigration status. I did not bring any of my papers with me but I told the officer that I have a pending I485 with USCIS. He asked me what it was. I said "the green card application". All I had was the passport with the expired visa on it and the marriage license that shows my maiden name has charged. The officer talked to someone on the phone for about an hour to verify whether or not I was telling the truth!!!!! The whole drama lasted about 2 hours.

Finally they told us to go.

My boyfriend was very upset with them.

On the way back, after we visited his family, we got pulled over at a the same checkpoint. This time we were prepared.

The officer asked my boyfriend if he was a US citizen. He said "I don't have to answer". Then he asked me the same question. I stayed silent. The officer look at my boyfriend and said " Does she speak English? " My boyfriend said " What made you think she doesn't speak English?" The officer said "Well, umm she doesn't look US citizen". My bf said " How does US citizen look like?" The officer said " Is she a US citizen? " My boyfriend said "I have no right to speak for her, do we have the right to remain silent if we are detained? Are we detained?"

The officer said "Yes" My bf said "What grounds?" .....the officer said "you are refusing to answer the question" My bf said "Is it against the law?"

So this went on and on..... My boyfriend kept refusing to tell them whether or not he was a US citizen. I just stayed silent.

another officer came and told us we were free to go.

oh I forgot to mention that the officer wanted to check our vehicle. My boyfriend asked them to show warrant to search his vehicle. The officers could not search our vehicle.

Hey Leilabird,

I went through one of these "illegal" checkpoints when I was driving in Texas a couple years ago, but the officer let me go within 15 seconds after telling me that he was "strictly looking for Mexicans". (pretty racist remark)

Before my trip to Texas, I had heard of pastor Steven Anderson, a USC (a Caucasian male) that got tazed and beat up by border patrol and police at one of these checkpoints just for not wanting to answer their questions and eventually not wanting to get out of his car back in 2008. Youtube it, the whole video of the incident is online, as well as his trial.

That video was very scary to me and that's why I opted to just answer the question.

Edited December 30, 2014 by blest.but.strest

[Sandra G. 5,057]

think 88 did you change your address filing AR 11, regarding your I-485?, if you did not change the address then they will mail everything to your husband,he probably will not tell you and your AOS will be denied, and they will start removal proceedings against you.

After changing the address online wait 10 days and go to infopass to confirm if they changed the address,most of the time they don't update,because of that i recommend you go to infopass after changing the address online.