Time for approval of "exceptional circumstance" DCF in London from another country? Or from any USCIS office?

[pyridine 12]

10 hours ago, geowrian said:

Agreed - sounds like a long shot. Here's the USCIS memo on the current process and the criteria for what qualifies as an exceptional circumstance:

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/2011/August/Locally-Filed_I-130s_Interim_PM_Approved_for_Pubic_Comment_8-8-11.pdf

 

While not completely exhaustive, these are the types of things they look for:

"The following are some examples of exceptional circumstances when USCIS will likely authorize DOS to accept and process an I-130 petition.

 

Military emergencies: A U.S. service member overseas be comes aware of a new deployment or transfer with very little notice. This should be an exception to the regular relocation process for most service members.

Medical emergencies: A petitioner or beneficiary is facing an urgent medical emergency that requires immediate travel. This includes the situation where a petitioner or beneficiary is pregnant and delaying travel may create a medical risk or extreme hardship for the mother or child.

Threats to personal safety: A petitioner or beneficiary is facing an imminent threat to personal safety.

Cases close to aging out: A beneficiary is within a few months of aging out of eligibility.

Cases where the petitioner has recently naturalized: A petitioner and family have traveled for the immigrant visa interview, but the petitioner has naturalized and the family member(s) requires a new, stand-alone petition;

Cases involving the adoption of a child: A petitioner who has adopted a child locally and has an imminent need to depart the country. This exception should only be considered if the child has been in the petitioner’s legal and physical custody for at least two years and the petitioner has a full and final adoption decree on behalf of the child."

Geowrian - this more recent memo from 2012 (https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/2012/May/DOS-I130May1412.pdf) lists as an exceptional circumstance (and that year they changed the wording in the DOS Foreign Affairs Manual, as it shows further down in the document):

 

"Short notice of position relocation: A U.S. Citizen petitioner, living and working abroad, who receives a job relocation within the same company or subsidiary to the United States, or an offer of a new job in the United States with very little notice."

 

This was not allowed in 2011 because they only stopped having DCF sometime around 2011-2012 in ALL countries by default, so they needed to add this or else it would screw an awful lot of people over horribly who are US citizens residing abroad and married to non-citizens. There are people responding here who have done this, although it is relatively rare and hard to find information. I have not at least heard of anyone who has submitted this for one of these legitimate reasons and had it denied. I asked the attorney if 3 months notice would constitute "short notice" and she said there is no definition but through her network she knew this was a usual time frame for being approved for this. 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2017 by pyridine

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

2 hours ago, pyridine said:

Thank you N-o-l-a!  Exactly the sort of information I was looking for and glad to find someone who did this or something similar with another USCIS office before. I'm sorry about the error you had - since you say you've never heard of a similar case, do you know of others who have done this and not had any problems? You had to go to Stockholm for the medical exam? (ugh, not close).

 

I'm still kind of new to all the jargon despite having had a major dealing with the dreaded "INS" in the 90s.  Is the basic procedure here that the embassy in Denmark first asks USCIS London for permission to do DCF and then the I-130 gets submitted to the embassy, or does it go to the USCIS office? And then the interview is also in Copenhagen? I was confused whether things actually happen largely in Denmark or the UK. So when you say 1 day to approve the I-130, that was 1 day after you submitted the paperwork...to the embassy? And the interview is where the visa is issued, and all of that only took 1 month once you had permission to do DCF? That's really fast! 

The US embassy in Denmark do not have an immigrant visa section. These are processed in Stockholm, Sweden for Denmark,  Norway and Sweden.

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

4 hours ago, pyridine said:

Thank you N-o-l-a!  Exactly the sort of information I was looking for and glad to find someone who did this or something similar with another USCIS office before. I'm sorry about the error you had - since you say you've never heard of a similar case, do you know of others who have done this and not had any problems? You had to go to Stockholm for the medical exam? (ugh, not close).

 

I'm still kind of new to all the jargon despite having had a major dealing with the dreaded "INS" in the 90s.  Is the basic procedure here that the embassy in Denmark first asks USCIS London for permission to do DCF and then the I-130 gets submitted to the embassy, or does it go to the USCIS office? And then the interview is also in Copenhagen? I was confused whether things actually happen largely in Denmark or the UK. So when you say 1 day to approve the I-130, that was 1 day after you submitted the paperwork...to the embassy? And the interview is where the visa is issued, and all of that only took 1 month once you had permission to do DCF? That's really fast! 

The medical is done in Denmark, sorry if that was not clear.  I do not know of anyone else who was allowed a special case DCF since routine DCF was done away with in Denmark.    There are already scant few I-130s from that area, so it would be hard to find something comparable.

 

The USCIS office in London processes the I-130.  The embassy in Stockholm will process everything else for the visa and the interview.  They contact you after received the approved I-130.

Suss&Camm is correct that Denmark no longer processes IV cases.

 

We had a slightly different path than yours, so I can't really compare the "permission" element.  Ours was a very weird case that illustrated why having small local offices in the US pick up the load of I-130s off of the big service centers is a very bad idea.  They've changed that policy since 2012/2013, so I suspect no one else has basically been told they must DCF despite not living in a DCF country.

 

[TNJ17 1,329]

Why not accept the job and file for a spouse visa? You can always fly back and forth for visits. It’s tough being apart but like someone else mentioned you can always visit. 

[Orangesapples 1,954]

10 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

Why not accept the job and file for a spouse visa? You can always fly back and forth for visits. It’s tough being apart but like someone else mentioned you can always visit. 

Because if it's possible, it will be much better if they are not apart. Why do you want everyone to wait for a year? What's wrong with people not being separated from their loved ones? 

[pyridine 12]

37 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

Why not accept the job and file for a spouse visa? You can always fly back and forth for visits. It’s tough being apart but like someone else mentioned you can always visit. 

We already had a long distance relationship before I moved abroad (I moved here to end that) and before we were married, and my husband was already in the US working for 7 months without me a couple years ago  - it's not something I want to do again. We have other very good private reasons that I shouldn't have to explain to anyone here, and I can't just hop on a flight and go 18-20 hours traveling time each way to visit when I'm brand new at a job. I'm simply asking for information from people who have done this before, not for ridiculous suggestions on how to increase the filing time from 4-6 months to 1 year+, when a route is available to get the spousal visa by DCF with an allowed circumstance that is "usually approved".

 

25 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

Because if it's possible, it will be much better if they are not apart. Why do you want everyone to wait for a year? What's wrong with people not being separated from their loved ones? 

Exactly.

Edited November 27, 2017 by pyridine

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

43 minutes ago, pyridine said:

We already had a long distance relationship before I moved abroad (I moved here to end that) and before we were married, and my husband was already in the US working for 7 months without me a couple years ago  - it's not something I want to do again. We have other very good private reasons that I shouldn't have to explain to anyone here, and I can't just hop on a flight and go 18-20 hours traveling time each way to visit when I'm brand new at a job. I'm simply asking for information from people who have done this before, not for ridiculous suggestions on how to increase the filing time from 4-6 months to 1 year+, when a route is available to get the spousal visa by DCF with an allowed circumstance that is "usually approved".

 

 

There aren't really statistics to back up that DCF is usually approved for application in those circumstances.  Approved in general at the interview, yes.

And I have no idea where 4-6 months comes from.  That is sometimes the lower end of the processing time of CR1s when filed from abroad to a lockbox in America, if the petitioner is lucky.  That would be the standard route for your circumstances.

Edited November 27, 2017 by N-o-l-a

[Nitas_man 3,100]

7 hours ago, pyridine said:

Thanks Nitas_man. Could you explain what is Packet III? I was told to expect a 4-6 months (probably as a somewhat pessimistic estimate and I think the attorney was thinking this would be at London USCIS? She was comparing with other UK DCF cases) minus the petition to get DCF approved. I know the time can vary substantially, but it means a lot to me to hear that some people get the approval to do DCF in only a week (this was my main question). I just want to make sure a usual time frame for this is not on the order of 2-3 months, although I know sh*t happens. I think that the embassy in Denmark will be a better place to do this than most. Is it correct that the I-130 and everything ends up getting processed at the embassy rather than the USCIS office? That was something that wasn't clear to me and I am more optimistic if this is actually done in Denmark vs. in the UK.

Packet III is a list of documents that you have to put together in a package in order to get ready for an interview. 

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/immigrant-process/interview/prepare/interview-preparation-required-documents.html

 

If they give you permission to file there, get the medical / police done as soon as they accept the I130.  Once they tell you that they have processed it then let them know you're ready for interview.

Good luck

[pyridine 12]

20 minutes ago, N-o-l-a said:

 

There aren't really statistics to back up that DCF is usually approved for application in those circumstances.  Approved in general at the interview, yes.

And I have no idea where 4-6 months comes from.  That is sometimes the lower end of the processing time of CR1s when filed from abroad to a lockbox in America, if the petitioner is lucky.  That would be the standard route for your circumstances.

I'm sure I'll never find any real statistics because there just aren't enough, but the memo from DOS just lists this situation as one for which they "will likely authorize DOS to accept and process an I-130 petition". The 4-6 months is from an immigration attorney and I believe is only her best estimate of the time to get through the DCF process at USCIS London. Although I don't actually have any idea where this process happens now and if that timeline applies at all. She said the big unknown was the time to get approval to file DCF from USCIS once the embassy requests it, which would add to those 4-6 months.

 

I'm aware of the Chicago Lockbox being the usual route, and it's what I'm trying to avoid if at all possible because it takes so damn long. If we would have to be separated for upwards of a year, I would absolutely not take this job and we would instead just decide at some point "we go back to the US regardless of our employment situations once you get the visa" and we apply for it and just do it once it's approved. I have enough money in savings to sponsor him (1.5X poverty level for 2 years), fortunately, if we had to go that way. 

Edited November 27, 2017 by pyridine

[pyridine 12]

1 hour ago, Nitas_man said:

Packet III is a list of documents that you have to put together in a package in order to get ready for an interview. 

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/immigrant-process/interview/prepare/interview-preparation-required-documents.html

 

If they give you permission to file there, get the medical / police done as soon as they accept the I130.  Once they tell you that they have processed it then let them know you're ready for interview.

Good luck

So the packet III comes after the I-130 approval? I thought just getting to that point takes the most time (3+ months), so it sucks that you add possibly months onto that, but might be in line with the immigration attorney's time estimate. 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

8 hours ago, pyridine said:

So the packet III comes after the I-130 approval? I thought just getting to that point takes the most time (3+ months), so it sucks that you add possibly months onto that, but might be in line with the immigration attorney's time estimate. 

I didn't add any months.  My guesstimate was two months.  The Packet III is just a list of documents you have to get together to get ready for the application and interview.  They usually email the list to you a couple of days after your I130 is accepted/processed.

You guys need to have everything but the medical ready before you file the I130 and as soon as they accept it go ahead and get the medical as soon as you get a case number and apply for the visa.  The medical is linked to the embassy case number.  In our experience NVC was skipped, we paid all of the fees at the embassy except for the new green card fee but you can pay that online.

We got a form "ready to interview" that we filled out, scanned, and emailed to the embassy after everything was done.

Police certificate is good for a year, medical is good for 6 months.  The visa expires with the medical so you have to be in the US within 6 months of the medical exam. 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2017 by Nitas_man

[pyridine 12]

7 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

I didn't add any months.  My guesstimate was two months.  The Packet III is just a list of documents you have to get together to get ready for the application and interview.  They usually email the list to you a couple of days after your I130 is accepted/processed.

You guys need to have everything but the medical ready before you file the I130 and as soon as they accept it go ahead and get the medical as soon as you get a case number and apply for the visa.  The medical is linked to the embassy case number.  In our experience NVC was skipped, we paid all of the fees at the embassy except for the new green card fee but you can pay that online.

We got a form "ready to interview" that we filled out, scanned, and emailed to the embassy after everything was done.

Police certificate is good for a year, medical is good for 6 months.  The visa expires with the medical so you have to be in the US within 6 months of the medical exam. 

 

 

It sounds like a lot of this package is mainly for the interview, no? I was reading the I-130 instructions. Like the annoying stuff about the spouse including military records, police record etc are only required for the interview. Those will take more time to get those together...his country has slow bureaucracy, may even have to travel there to get all of it and it all needs translation. His country had mandatory military service and that info is now stored in some museum. The list for the I-130 is more reasonable and we could have that all together within a week or so, just need one document translated and I have to make an expedited order for one document.

Edited November 28, 2017 by pyridine

[Nitas_man 3,100]

17 hours ago, pyridine said:

It sounds like a lot of this package is mainly for the interview, no? I was reading the I-130 instructions. Like the annoying stuff about the spouse including military records, police record etc are only required for the interview. Those will take more time to get those together...his country has slow bureaucracy, may even have to travel there to get all of it and it all needs translation. His country had mandatory military service and that info is now stored in some museum. The list for the I-130 is more reasonable and we could have that all together within a week or so, just need one document translated and I have to make an expedited order for one document.

Yes.  I am trying to advise you that you need to be able to file "ready for interview" as soon as your petition is approved, get immediately put on the interview schedule, and the visa will be issued a week or two after the interview.  That means taking a couple hundred dollar gamble that you will be in the US within 6 months of medical exam which I advise taking as soon as you're assigned a case number.

 

This is the fastest way possible that I know of and I've been seeing people suddenly clearing the ME for various reasons for 7 years.

 

Most of the time between DCF petition and interview is spent on gathering those documents, getting a police certificate, and getting a medical exam.  I know how fast it can be because I deliberately delayed processing by holding off on the medical for a couple of months because I thought it would take awhile for the embassy to process the petition, etc and they did it in days instead of the weeks we estimated.  So gather them now.  Gather address history now.  Get the police certificate now.  Take the medical as soon as you get an embassy case number and parallel to filling out the IV application online. 

Edited November 29, 2017 by Nitas_man