Unique and Special Case.. Expert Advised Request

[amkhan 108]

Hi VJs

I need a special advised since you guys are more experienced on your cases.. l have discussed my case earlier here but no one gave me a good reply.. anyhow I am going to share it here again so you experts can advised so I can have some kind of peace in my life…

My wife filed a petition for me on 24^th of December 2014 and that’s our priority date as well but our NO1 date was 12^th of Jan 2015 our file is laying in Vermont Service Center, after 5 months in 30^th of May, we contact USCIS that why our case if not approve and it’s been a 5 months the agency person over the phone she opened us the inquiry file with referral number… after 2 week we have received a USCIS letter from Memphis Tennessee and its stating below words.

Thank you for contacting USCIS concerning the above referenced application. Below is the summary of what we have found and how the issue has been resolved or additional action required.

What we have done:

USCIS has reviewed your service request, according to USCIS records, your application is still pending at the USCIS Memphis field office (MEM). At this time, we anticipate you should receive a notice of interview from USCIS within two hundred forty days of this notice, Please be advised that posted processing times are goals based on Field Office averages. These goals are subject to change and can vary from office to office. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by delays in processing

WHAT you can Do

If you do not receive a notice of interview from USCIS by the time specified above, please contact the national customer service center at the phone number below.

So, we discussed this issue with our lawyer and he was little pissed over our contact with USCIS as he said we should not contacted them ever and now we have a red flag on our case and our lawyer cannot grantee how long this case will take to resolve, However he asked not to contact USCIS anymore he will do this job and wait for further actions from USCIS.

Someone please advise who ever been on similar situation.

Now my concern is why do they need an interview at this stage with my wife. Second how long this will take more to get approve, third after this interview my case will be faster or will be slow as hell here.... or they will always doubt on us and red flag will be there on my interview as well.

I will be really thankful as I am not getting proper answer from anyone… your help require here.

[Unidentified 2,930]

Contacting USCIS about your case does not put a red flag on it. Your lawyer doesn't know what he's talking about. It is perfectly normal for a couple to want to ask how their petition is going.

I can't help you with the questions about interview etc as I do not have experience with that type of visa. I just wanted to let you know that being given a red flag for asking about your case is bs.

[mallafri76 1,012]

I don't understand why your lawyer can't explain this to you? I mean it's what you pay him for, right?!

I've never heard of anyone getting a red flag because they contacted US immigrations about their case. I'm guessing the lawyer said that because he wants you using him instead of doing this on your own.

I don't have personal knowledge of being called for an interview as part of the I-130 petition, although a quick Google search did tell me the main reason why most people are called for these interviews. Hopefully, someone with personal knowledge will come along and share it soon.

Good luck!

Edited June 20, 2015 by mallafri76

[Soloenta 2,218]

Contacting USCIS about your case does not put a red flag on it. Your lawyer doesn't know what he's talking about. It is perfectly normal for a couple to want to ask how their petition is going.

I can't help you with the questions about interview etc as I do not have experience with that type of visa. I just wanted to let you know that being given a red flag for asking about your case is bs.

I agree with Maria&Sewe, i suggest your wife visit her Congress person or Senator see what they can do. Sometimes a letter from them will speed things up but not always. It's worth a try and good luck to you.

[Unidentified 2,930]

I agree with Maria&Sewe, i suggest your wife visit her Congress person or Senator see what they can do. Sometimes a letter from them will speed things up but not always. It's worth a try and good luck to you.

Yes, contacting your congressman or Senator can do quite a bit. I've seen a few petitions who clearly went through a bit faster because they had involved their representatives. But yes, it is not always guaranteed to speed things up but it doesn't hurt to try! It won't slow things down

[amkhan 108]

Well you guys are right but my lawyer is asking not to do anything till July after July he will do what ever is require to do.. i know lawyers do not care if case is getting late or anything yes in same part lawyer get pissed why are we directly involving with USCIS so now we have decided to stop contacting USCIS lets see what our lawyer willing to do in since we have paid him.

[Soloenta 2,218]

Well you guys are right but my lawyer is asking not to do anything till July after July he will do what ever is require to do.. i know lawyers do not care if case is getting late or anything yes in same part lawyer get pissed why are we directly involving with USCIS so now we have decided to stop contacting USCIS lets see what our lawyer willing to do in since we have paid him.

I'm sorry but just because this person is a lawyer doesn't mean he/she knows what they're doing. From what I can tell this person has no clue. It's your right to call with or without a lawyer and it does not do anything for or against your case to call. Ultimately it's up to you to do everything your lawyer says but something so important should not be left to someone that has nothing invested in the process but money. You/wife needs to keep up with what is going on. Many have had to wait months due to their lawyers a waste of time money and their sanity. Good luck to you and don't let anyone take your rights away from you.

Just a friendly suggestion, fire your lawyer and get one that is on your side. An angry lawyer is of no benefit to anyone. Just saying, he is getting paid, you should be the angry one.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Soloenta

[Unidentified 2,930]

Well you guys are right but my lawyer is asking not to do anything till July after July he will do what ever is require to do.. i know lawyers do not care if case is getting late or anything yes in same part lawyer get pissed why are we directly involving with USCIS so now we have decided to stop contacting USCIS lets see what our lawyer willing to do in since we have paid him.

What kind of lawyer is he? How much experience does he have with immigration?

This is a process that you guys can easily do on your own with some support from Visajourney. If I were you, I would not waste another cent on a lawyer who doesn't know what he's talking about. There are so many stories on there about lawyers messing up.

[Expat1 971]

Hi VJs

I need a special advised since you guys are more experienced on your cases.. l have discussed my case earlier here but no one gave me a good reply.. anyhow I am going to share it here again so you experts can advised so I can have some kind of peace in my life…

My wife filed a petition for me on 24^th of December 2014 and that’s our priority date as well but our NO1 date was 12^th of Jan 2015 our file is laying in Vermont Service Center, after 5 months in 30^th of May, we contact USCIS that why our case if not approve and it’s been a 5 months the agency person over the phone she opened us the inquiry file with referral number… after 2 week we have received a USCIS letter from Memphis Tennessee and its stating below words.

Thank you for contacting USCIS concerning the above referenced application. Below is the summary of what we have found and how the issue has been resolved or additional action required.

What we have done:

USCIS has reviewed your service request, according to USCIS records, your application is still pending at the USCIS Memphis field office (MEM). At this time, we anticipate you should receive a notice of interview from USCIS within two hundred forty days of this notice, Please be advised that posted processing times are goals based on Field Office averages. These goals are subject to change and can vary from office to office. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by delays in processing

WHAT you can Do

If you do not receive a notice of interview from USCIS by the time specified above, please contact the national customer service center at the phone number below.

So, we discussed this issue with our lawyer and he was little pissed over our contact with USCIS as he said we should not contacted them ever and now we have a red flag on our case and our lawyer cannot grantee how long this case will take to resolve, However he asked not to contact USCIS anymore he will do this job and wait for further actions from USCIS.

Someone please advise who ever been on similar situation.

Now my concern is why do they need an interview at this stage with my wife. Second how long this will take more to get approve, third after this interview my case will be faster or will be slow as hell here.... or they will always doubt on us and red flag will be there on my interview as well.

I will be really thankful as I am not getting proper answer from anyone… your help require here.

hahahahahahahahahaha....................What an idiot. "Red flag"

Tell your lawyer I contacted USCIS about 50 times. NOT contacting them is probably more unusual than contacting them.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Expat1

[amkhan 108]

I'm sorry but just because this person is a lawyer doesn't mean he/she knows what they're doing. From what I can tell this person has no clue. It's your right to call with or without a lawyer and it does not do anything for or against your case to call. Ultimately it's up to you to do everything your lawyer says but something so important should not be left to someone that has nothing invested in the process but money. You/wife needs to keep up with what is going on. Many have had to wait months due to their lawyers a waste of time money and their sanity. Good luck to you and don't let anyone take your rights away from you.

Just a friendly suggestion, fire your lawyer and get one that is on your side. An angry lawyer is of no benefit to anyone. Just saying, he is getting paid, you should be the angry one.

we cant fire him already paid his full fee in advance so i want to see how long he will wait if nothing happen till july then diff i will use our rights to flight for rights at this moment we r waiting for the interveiw letter from local USCIS office.

[Expat1 971]

we cant fire him already paid his full fee in advance so i want to see how long he will wait if nothing happen till july then diff i will use our rights to flight for rights at this moment we r waiting for the interveiw letter from local USCIS office.

Here is what I know for fact.

Calling USCIS about the status of your case does not affect your case, does not affect your processing time, and does not put a "red flag" on your file. Your lawyer gave you inaccurate information.

There is no reason to give you inaccurate information unless he is hiding something. It is possible that your case was delayed because of RFE, or some other reason related to an incomplete application, and he does not want you to know about it. It wouldn't be the first time a lawyer farbed up a simple procedure that anyone who can read, write, and fill out basic forms can do themselves.

[Villanelle 4,122]

Well this post is going slightly repetitive now- I think its been established that calling USCIS does not put a red flag into your file.

It seems the lawyer was upset because you called USCIS directly instead of contacting them (the lawyer) for info. Most lawyers expect to be used exclusively- So they expect all contact to go through them for continuity purposes and so they have control of it. Its why you pay them- for their expertise and guidence. If you are not satisfied get another lawyer.

You have clearly been told at this point you are at the field office awaiting an interview. There is nothing anyone can do to speed up them assigning you an interview slot. Apparently that office is very busy. You will just have to wait for a slot to open.

It is unfortunate your lawyer did not obtain this information for you and you had to obtain it on your own. Again, if you are unhappy with the lawyer not keeping you informed you can switch or discuss with the lawyer what your expectations were and how you feel they failed and perhaps in the future you can work together better if you feel since you already paid switching is not an option...

As for what the interview is- it appears you filed the CR1. That you are outside of the country and the interview is just for your spouse in the US for the 130. Correct?

I am going to be direct here- this means they had issues with her 130. They want to talk to her in person to verify some details. This is not good. This does not happen for the majority of applicants. This typically happens when they suspect fraud or have a serious issue about the validity of things. So something is "off".

Here is a general page with information covering the topic. You should note 130 interviews can occur when both parties are in the US or when its just the one spouse. You would be the latter. The article covers both scenarios.

If you provide more information on why you believe you your spouse was called in for this interview people here can assist you with specific advice beyond what was written in the article.

BUT since you have a lawyer- they should be preparing your spouse for this interview. It also may explain why they got upset that you called USCIS- as if you have a 'special case' with a lot of red flags that needs professional handling- it makes sense that they want to ensure all contact is through them.

http://suburbanimmigrationlaw.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-to-expect-from-i-130-interview.html

[Boiler 45,468]

They asked for an update, that is all.

Now logic suggest that there are competent lawyers out there and that people who post on this site mainly are the ones who have dealt with incompetent ones.

Now obviously what the lawyer said is untrue, quite why he said what he said is open to debate. If it is because he thinks that is the truth or is hiding a screw up that would worry me.

[DC85 113]

First : How your wife obtained her citizenship ? is it by birth or naturalization ? You need to provide information in order for us to help you.

They don't usually send petitions to the local office only when they are something wrong with the case. so, providing some background on your relation would be helpful.

Regarding your lawyer, If i were you I would fire this lawyer asap, sometimes lawyers screw up cases, you should educate yourself about the process and the procedure. Don't follow your lawyer blindly.

Let your wife call the lawyer and inform him that she no longer wants to retain his service. Let her ask for a partial refund, if he refused, she can contact the state bar on this. they take lawyer's misconduct very serious.

Good luck.

[DC85 113]

This is an excellent information. But, you always can swtich lawyers. Also, you have the right to request a copy of your file from your lawyer

Well this post is going slightly repetitive now- I think its been established that calling USCIS does not put a red flag into your file.

It seems the lawyer was upset because you called USCIS directly instead of contacting them (the lawyer) for info. Most lawyers expect to be used exclusively- So they expect all contact to go through them for continuity purposes and so they have control of it. Its why you pay them- for their expertise and guidence. If you are not satisfied get another lawyer.

You have clearly been told at this point you are at the field office awaiting an interview. There is nothing anyone can do to speed up them assigning you an interview slot. Apparently that office is very busy. You will just have to wait for a slot to open.

It is unfortunate your lawyer did not obtain this information for you and you had to obtain it on your own. Again, if you are unhappy with the lawyer not keeping you informed you can switch or discuss with the lawyer what your expectations were and how you feel they failed and perhaps in the future you can work together better if you feel since you already paid switching is not an option...

As for what the interview is- it appears you filed the CR1. That you are outside of the country and the interview is just for your spouse in the US for the 130. Correct?

I am going to be direct here- this means they had issues with her 130. They want to talk to her in person to verify some details. This is not good. This does not happen for the majority of applicants. This typically happens when they suspect fraud or have a serious issue about the validity of things. So something is "off".

Here is a general page with information covering the topic. You should note 130 interviews can occur when both parties are in the US or when its just the one spouse. You would be the latter. The article covers both scenarios.

If you provide more information on why you believe you your spouse was called in for this interview people here can assist you with specific advice beyond what was written in the article.

BUT since you have a lawyer- they should be preparing your spouse for this interview. It also may explain why they got upset that you called USCIS- as if you have a 'special case' with a lot of red flags that needs professional handling- it makes sense that they want to ensure all contact is through them.

http://suburbanimmigrationlaw.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-to-expect-from-i-130-interview.html