Domestic Air Travel, Expired K-1/I-94, No AOS NOA Yet

[Eric Bargemann 48]

Hi everyone,

 

My wife and I are slightly concerned. We submitted our completed AOS paperwork to our attorney for his final review/signature/sendoff on 09/03/19 and have yet to receive confirmation from him that he received the packet (thus, it has still not been sent to USCIS). We have an upcoming trip to Denver (10/5) and I am worried about us not receiving the NOA by that time. My wife's I-94 expires 09/18. We of course have a copy of our marriage certificate but at this point that's all. Our attorney has advised in the past that in the event we do not have the NOA in time, he can provide us with a letter to provide to TSA (if they inquire) confirming AOS process has been inititated. My question though is -- is that sufficient? Has anyone had success with this method (atty letter) in the past? Are there still risks posed by us flying domestically with no AOS NOA yet?

 

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Eric Bargemann

[payxibka 10,047]

9 minutes ago, Eric Bargemann said:

Hi everyone,

 

My wife and I are slightly concerned. We submitted our completed AOS paperwork to our attorney for his final review/signature/sendoff on 09/03/19 and have yet to receive confirmation from him that he received the packet (thus, it has still not been sent to USCIS). We have an upcoming trip to Denver (10/5) and I am worried about us not receiving the NOA by that time. My wife's I-94 expires 09/18. We of course have a copy of our marriage certificate but at this point that's all. Our attorney has advised in the past that in the event we do not have the NOA in time, he can provide us with a letter to provide to TSA (if they inquire) confirming AOS process has been inititated. My question though is -- is that sufficient? Has anyone had success with this method (atty letter) in the past? Are there still risks posed by us flying domestically with no AOS NOA yet?

 

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Why hasn't it been sent?  We got our NOA1 within a week of submission .  There is always a risk.

Edited September 12, 2019 by payxibka

[Crazy Cat 42,056]

7 minutes ago, Eric Bargemann said:

Our attorney has advised in the past that in the event we do not have the NOA in time, he can provide us with a letter to provide to TSA (if they inquire) confirming AOS process has been inititated.

Your attorney is wrong........Once the I-94 has expired, your wife is out of status and subject to deportation.......until the I-485 is filed....only the I-797 is evidence of having filed.......It probably won't be an issue with TSA........but CBP is a different matter......

Edited September 12, 2019 by missileman

[Eric Bargemann 48]

2 minutes ago, missileman said:

Your attorney is wrong........Once the I-94 has expired, your wife is out of status and subject to deportation.......until the I-485 is filed....only the I-797 is evidence of having filed.......It probably won't be an issue with TSA........but CBP is a different matter......

If we're flying just from PHX to DEN, we'd only be passing through TSA. So as long as her foreign passport (which remains current/valid) matches the name on her ticket (which it does), should we be okay?

[Eric Bargemann 48]

4 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Why hasn't it been sent?  We got our NOA1 within a week of submission .  There is always a risk.

We completed everything already, but our attorney still needs to sign the docs himself before he then sends it off to USCIS.

 

You received your NOA1 in 1 week? Whew, so there is hope after all! I was hearing 3-4 week timeframes.

[payxibka 10,047]

2 minutes ago, Eric Bargemann said:

If we're flying just from PHX to DEN, we'd only be passing through TSA. So as long as her foreign passport (which remains current/valid) matches the name on her ticket (which it does), should we be okay?

Most do without issue.   However,  the CBP has been known to "hangout" at the TSA checkpoint from time to time 

[Crazy Cat 42,056]

2 minutes ago, Eric Bargemann said:

If we're flying just from PHX to DEN, we'd only be passing through TSA. So as long as her foreign passport (which remains current/valid) matches the name on her ticket (which it does), should we be okay?

Probably won't be an issue........but this thread is interesting:

 

 

[payxibka 10,047]

1 minute ago, Eric Bargemann said:

We completed everything already, but our attorney still needs to sign the docs himself before he then sends it off to USCIS.

 

You received your NOA1 in 1 week? Whew, so there is hope after all! I was hearing 3-4 week timeframes.

Been people all over the board, but it is possible 

[USS_Voyager 1,972]

12 minutes ago, Eric Bargemann said:

he can provide us with a letter to provide to TSA

The TSA has nothing to do with it. The CBP or ICE are the ones you should be worried about. The lawyer's letter means nothing. However, I believe they (CBP/ICE) have the ability to verify that an I-485 is pending for such person. The question is,  if she is stopped and detained, how much time is she gonna spend in detention until someone gets around to verify her status. Could be few hours or few days. In rare circumstances, ICE has actually detained US citizens for weeks/months.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/07/23/francisco-erwin-galicia-ice-cpb-us-citizen-detained-texas/?noredirect=on

[payxibka 10,047]

Annectodaly,  it seems that individuals who submit via FedEx or UPS take longer to proces.   We did USPS 2/3 day priority mail 

[Eric Bargemann 48]

Just spoke with our attorney. He confirmed as long as our AOS has been filed with USCIS (which it will be by the time of our trip), we will be fine. Worst case, if questioned, they'd have to look it up in the system if we didn't receive our NOA yet. The letter from him would be basically just to further support/reinforce that we have already filed AOS/are awaiting the NOA. 

 

Question answered. Thanks for the input everyone!

[payxibka 10,047]

If it was me,  I'd be removing the attorney from my case and filing the application tomorrow since it appears to be ready to go. 

 

What the attorney should be doing is reviewing and sending rather than charging you an additional fee for writing some letter 

 

Just my opinion 

[Crazy Cat 42,056]

 

21 minutes ago, Eric Bargemann said:

Just spoke with our attorney. He confirmed as long as our AOS has been filed with USCIS (which it will be by the time of our trip), we will be fine. Worst case, if questioned, they'd have to look it up in the system if we didn't receive our NOA yet. The letter from him would be basically just to further support/reinforce that we have already filed AOS/are awaiting the NOA. 

 

Question answered. Thanks for the input everyone!

 This is what can happen if the AOS is delayed..........the OP spent 5 weeks in jail..........I would demand that the AOS be filed asap.

Edited September 12, 2019 by missileman

[Going through 5,671]

31 minutes ago, Eric Bargemann said:

Just spoke with our attorney. He confirmed as long as our AOS has been filed with USCIS (which it will be by the time of our trip), we will be fine. Worst case, if questioned, they'd have to look it up in the system if we didn't receive our NOA yet. The letter from him would be basically just to further support/reinforce that we have already filed AOS/are awaiting the NOA. 

 

Question answered. Thanks for the input everyone!

I would suggest questioning the attorney on why he needs more than a week to review, sign, and mail it off.

The fact that it's been over a week and he's yet to confirm he's even RECEIVED the package from you to review is disturbing in itself.

[Eric Bargemann 48]

He isn't charging us anything extra for the letter (if it's even necessary--we could very well have our NOA by then), and confirmed he is indeed filing it ASAP. We have over 3 weeks until the trip so I'm not worried about USCIS receiving the file in that timeframe. The OP in the attached topic had not actually filed AOS yet (was awaiting some tax documents), which is a different circumstance altogether. I was just concerned about not yet having the NOA while AOS was already filed.