USCIS messed up my life and they don't admit their mistake. What is my option?

[TriloByte 1,818]

Damn, OP. What a nightmare. I feel traumatized just reading all that! 

 

I really hope it works out for you, all the very best of luck, take care. 🙂

[NikLR 13,230]

On 7/2/2020 at 2:51 PM, SpanishBoyNYC said:

i did not apply for green card after marriage. i know i should have.... i already had work visa and i did not need a green card. but i applied for green card 3 years after marriage. i know i should have done it sooner...

Okay youre not understanding.  If you were MARRIED for 2 or more years when you were approved for your green card, then you should have had a 10 year green card. 

Example.

Married on July 4th, 2010

Get green card ANYTIME on or after July 4th, 2012 means a 10 year green card. 

 

If you filed the I-485, 3 years after marriage, you should have a 10 year card, not a 2 year card and NEVER should have filed the I-751!

 

The USA accepts marriage from anywhere in the world.  Your second wedding in the USA wasnt needed and in fact filing with that marriage certificate is what has messed up your life. 

 

Please fill in your timeline! 

https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=364310

 

You've made this huge mess you didnt need to!!! You need a good lawyer IMHO to fix your original green card, not trying to do this ROC.  

[mindthegap 2,590]

3 hours ago, SpanishBoyNYC said:

thank you for advise. my initial i751 was denied in march. when i search website with my a number, it says there is no case. do you know how long it takes to recieve this letter?

i keep asking but how can i make sure that i am not in court process?

 

based on my research it may take months/years to get to court. my final question: if court can make final decision, why would i just with for court? its free and it can make final decision. (of course i'm saying this because i know my marriage was real so i can prove it.) my lawyer says, i have to refile i751 no matter what. is that true? 

 

 

You are asking the same thing over and over again.

First question : 

Yes that number/website will show accurately. Yes it may take years, or may not show at all. No, there is nothing you can do. It is an entirely separate system from USCIS with a very big backlog. If it goes to court I recommend a competent lawyer experienced in immigration court  at that time.
 

Second question: The court /  an immigration judge cannot adjudicate an I-751.
You MUST have an I-751 approved to remove conditions. 
Your case was correctly denied. You can moan about it all you want, but those are the facts. 
If it goes to court, the removal should be stayed (paused) pending the adjudication of the fresh I-751 that you are about to file, but for the last time, a judge cannot make that adjudication - that is done by USCIS only.
The two processes run concurrently. 
If you have no pending I-751 at court,  unless the immigration judge looks at you favorably and chucks you a lifeline by literally telling you to file a new I-751, the probable outcome is a final order of removal, at which point you are no longer a permanent resident. 

 

I would suggest you contact an experienced and competent immigration attorney and see if there is any way of getting this addressed and nixed by pointing out the error in the original application and getting it correctly issued as a 10yr card...although how you go about overcoming what was and is clearly a willful and repeated mis-representation and concealment of pertinent and relevant facts I have no idea. 
Saying ‘lawyer told me to’ is not a get out of jail free card, as ultimately you also signed the form, attended the interviews and were untruthful. 
I hope for your sake that you have something in writing from that ‘lawyer’ who told you to do that, as it may be able to help you out. 

 I’ve heard some shady lawyer s**t before, but that is unbelievably bad. 
 

You need a long consultation with a qualified, experienced and competent immigration attorney at this point, and fast.  
Yes it will cost, but this situation is unfortunately of your own doing. 
 

On that note I’m ducking out of this thread. Replying in such detail as I have done  takes time, energy, and dredges up painful thoughts and reminders of my own experiences, which ultimately have all been totally wasted on this thread because you didn’t give all the facts upfront. 
 

bon chance. 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by mindthegap

[SpanishBoyNYC 2]

thanks for the responds. very sorry for repeated questions and confusion... i will contact another lawyer to work on initial green card. i just want to point out one thing that i was 100% truthful... and nothing we put into forms were wrong. at least, we had no idea about the mistake and at the end this mistake wasn't in my favor so its obvious that our intention was not evil. i guess we should have known that marriage in spain should be carried out here in US. i didn't do an illegal thing because i didn't marry 2 different people. it was perfectly legal to marry here but not needed. i just didn't know that marriage abroad with a non-us citizen counts so we had to start the process after our marriage in the us(which we would marry here anyways, that was the plan too) unfortunately i fallowed the bad advise from lawyer. or i should have known better..

 

thanks again, i think this forum helped me more than lawyers. 

[Lemonslice 4,922]

1 hour ago, SpanishBoyNYC said:

thanks for the responds. very sorry for repeated questions and confusion... i will contact another lawyer to work on initial green card. i just want to point out one thing that i was 100% truthful... and nothing we put into forms were wrong. at least, we had no idea about the mistake and at the end this mistake wasn't in my favor so its obvious that our intention was not evil. i guess we should have known that marriage in spain should be carried out here in US. i didn't do an illegal thing because i didn't marry 2 different people. it was perfectly legal to marry here but not needed. i just didn't know that marriage abroad with a non-us citizen counts so we had to start the process after our marriage in the us(which we would marry here anyways, that was the plan too) unfortunately i fallowed the bad advise from lawyer. or i should have known better..

 

thanks again, i think this forum helped me more than lawyers. 

You do not need to contact another lawyer, you need to contact a very competent immigration lawyer.  Interview a few of them, prepare questions.  Do not go with the first one someone recommends this time...  Wrong information when you initially filed + denied (unrequired?) ROC is starting to be layers of possible trouble. Best of luck. 

 

 

 

[Canerican 242]

4 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

You do not need to contact another lawyer, you need to contact a very competent immigration lawyer.  Interview a few of them, prepare questions.  Do not go with the first one someone recommends this time...  Wrong information when you initially filed + denied (unrequired?) ROC is starting to be layers of possible trouble. Best of luck. 

 

 

 

 

@SpanishBoyNYC,

 

Keep this in mind when interviewing the lawyers: they work for you, not the other way around. Keep past experiences in mind and as @Lemonslice said hire a competent immigration lawyer. I would hazard to say look up the process you are going through and ask the lawyer pointed questions to ensure they are aware of your situation, are knowledgable and can help. Last thing you want is to waste lots of money on a lawyer that is going to make your situation worse as others have. 

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

@SpanishBoyNYC

Despite searching the internet for hours, I was not able to find a single case similar to yours. 

 

But I found this: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/immigrants/help/legal-services/actionnyc.page

They're based in NYC and offer free immigration legal help in Spanish. You just need to schedule an appointment.

They also have information on how to avoid and report fraud from an immigration services provider.

 

[Villanelle 4,122]

On 7/4/2020 at 2:23 AM, SpanishBoyNYC said:

thanks for the responds. very sorry for repeated questions and confusion... i will contact another lawyer to work on initial green card. i just want to point out one thing that i was 100% truthful... and nothing we put into forms were wrong. at least, we had no idea about the mistake and at the end this mistake wasn't in my favor so its obvious that our intention was not evil. i guess we should have known that marriage in spain should be carried out here in US. i didn't do an illegal thing because i didn't marry 2 different people. it was perfectly legal to marry here but not needed. i just didn't know that marriage abroad with a non-us citizen counts so we had to start the process after our marriage in the us(which we would marry here anyways, that was the plan too) unfortunately i fallowed the bad advise from lawyer. or i should have known better..

 

thanks again, i think this forum helped me more than lawyers. 

But you did put incorrect information on the forms. You put you were married (for the first and only time) on the date of your remarriage in the US. You were married the first time in Spain. The US wedding was just a remarriage ceremony. Theres something called reciprocity- it means countries will accept other countries documents as valid. Think of it this way- a couple is married in Spain for 30 years, they have a bunch of kids, grandkids, etc. They decide to move to the US. Are they still married in the US or does the US consider them 2 single individuals and requires them to get married in the US? The correct answer is they are still married in the US. So you were legally married when you applied for your GC. You didnt provide the correct date of marriage. Instead you gave them the date/documents from a remarriage ceremony you had and not the original. When you did the remarriage ceremony in the US did you fill out the papers with the local court as if you were 2 single individuals free to marry or did you disclose you were already married and just doing a second ceremony here in the US (which is allowed but is different from 2 people being married for the first time). 

 

You are going to need an attny help with this to sort it all out.  Please get some free consults and post back if you can what they tell you and how they are planning to address it. 

[Kay21 19]

On 6/25/2020 at 9:53 AM, mindthegap said:

 

🙏

Thanks, still here.

As possibly the only other person on this board going through this, I am in a position to offer accurate advice based on real life experience...unlike the largely incorrect  answers based on speculation, not fact, elsewhere on the thread.

 

 

1 - no

2 - Your lawyer is incorrect. Remember that not all lawyers are created equal.

The denial letter sent out by USCIS is legally incorrect. The ONLY person who has the authority to terminate someones LPR status is an immigration judge. USCIS cannot, the director cannot, and some pro-forma letter cannot.

It is a scary letter no doubt about it, but it has no legal basis. All USCIS can do is refer you to immigration court for removal proceedings, at the conclusion of which an immigration judge can formally terminate your status (at which point you cease to be a LPR). 

As a LPR you have the absolute RIGHT to a hearing with an immigration judge.

You can also file multiple I-751s at any time prior to a final determination of removal (at which point you are no longer a LPR). Filing a waiver I-751 outside of the 90 day period required for joint filings is explicitly permitted and is even stated in the instructions:

 

3 - file a brand new I-751. Get the receipt/extension letter, go to get a stamp, and you can leave and re-enter.

The old stamp is not to be used - the new one will be hand annotated with the new refile receipt number, and also 'TC-1' indicating it is a refile/reopen.

You are not out of status and remain a LPR (genco opinion 96-12 - pasted inits entirety below) and you remain a LPR with all the rights and responsibilities of that.

You will have to have a brief visit to secondary every time you come back in the country, while they quickly verify your status (has never taken more than a couple of minutes for me)

4 - the stamp.

 

Some reading for you:

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/cisomb-conditional-residence-recommendation-final-02282013_1.pdf

and below (my bolding):

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"96-12 Status of a conditional permanent resident after denial of I-751 during pendency of review by EOIR
August 6, 1996 

Status of a Conditional Permanent
resident after denial of I-751 during
pendency of review by EOIR

Office of the
General Counsel

I. QUESTIONS

The Benefits Division requests a legal opinion concerning the following questions:
1) What is the status of a conditional permanent resident after his I-751 has been denied by the director and his case is under review by the EOIR? Is the alien entitled to an I-551 stamp, adapted to show that his case is pending? Is the alien entitled to any other benefits associated with legal permanent resident status?

2) If an Order to Show Cause has not been issued, what is the alien's status and what documentation is the alien entitled to possess?
II. SUMMARY CONCLUSION

The director should issue the Order to Show Cause at the time he or she provides written notice to the alien of the decision to deny the Form I-751.

Strictly speaking, a conditional permanent resident whose Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence (Form I-751) has been denied by the director is no longer a lawful permanent resident, as of the date of the director's notice of termination. However, because the alien has a right under statute and regulation to request review of such determination in deportation proceedings, the conditional permanent resident whose status has been terminated should be issued a temporary I-551 during the pendency of such review. INS should not approve any Petition for Alien Relative (Form I-130) filed by the alien on behalf of another alien during the pendency of such proceedings.

III. ANALYSIS

Section 216 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1186a, provides that an alien spouse who is granted permanent resident status by means of marriage to a United States citizen which took place less than two years earlier shall be granted such status on a conditional basis. Unless otherwise specified by the statute or regulations, an alien granted permanent resident status pursuant to section 216 enjoys the same rights, privileges, responsibilities, and duties as other legal permanent residents. 8 C.F.R. § 216.1

The conditional basis of residence is removed via the approval of a Petition to Remove the Conditions on Residence (Form I-751) filed by the alien and spouse within 90 days before the second anniversary of the date on which the alien obtained lawful admission for permanent residence. The director of the regional service center has been delegated sole authority to adjudicate the Form I-751. 8 C.F.R. § 216.4(c). Where the director finds derogatory information pertaining to the validity of the marriage, he or she must offer the alien the opportunity to rebut such information. Id. If the alien is unable to overcome such derogatory information, the director ''may deny the joint petition, terminate the alien's permanent residence and issue an order to show cause to initiate deportation proceedings.'' Id. (emphasis added). Moreover, if the director proceeds to deny the Form I-751, he or she must provide written notice specifying the basis for the denial to the alien ''and shall issue an order to show cause why the alien should not be deported from the United States.'' 8 C.F.R. § 216.4(d)(2) (emphasis added). This regulatory language clearly provides that once the director denies the joint petition and terminates the alien's permanent residence, an order to show cause must follow.

The regulations further specify that the alien's lawful permanent residence status is terminated as of the date of the director's written decision. 8 C.F.R. § 216.4(d)(2). As of the date of denial, the alien is ''instructed to surrender any Alien Registration Receipt Card previously issued by the Service.'' Id. Accordingly, an alien whose Form I-751 has been denied has no status as a conditional permanent resident and is not entitled to an Alien Registration Receipt Card. Therefore, in light of the termination date of an alien's lawful permanent residence, and the gap that ensues if an order to show cause is not issued, failure to timely issue the order to show cause leaves INS vulnerable should an alien file an action in mandamus to compel performance of that requirement.

Concomitantly, an alien whose Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence has been denied by the director may seek review of the decision in deportation proceedings. INA § 216(c)(3)(D), 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(c)(3)(D), 8 C.F.R. § 216.4(d)(2). In fact, the statute specifically conditions termination of permanent resident status upon review in deportation proceedings. 1 Therefore, the terminated conditional lawful permanent resident should be issued a temporary Form I-551, during the pendency of the deportation proceedings. Cf. Etuk v. Slattery, 936 F.2d 1433, 1447 (2d Cir. 1991)(''To revoke an LPR's green card pending completion of the deportation process would severely undermine the integrity of the process itself and impose significant hardship on the alien involved''). To that end, the INS' policy of placing an I-551 stamp on an alien's I-94 arrival card or passport is considered appropriate temporary evidence of legal permanent resident status during the duration of the deportation proceedings. Memorandum from James J. Hogan, INS Executive Associate Commissioner (Nov. 11, 1992), reported and reproduced in 69 Interpreter Releases 1560 (Dec. 14, 1992). Further, the temporary I-551 may be used to travel, to establish employment eligibility, or to establish lawful permanent resident status for purposes of obtaining school financial aid and other benefits."

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

Nope

 

Nope

 

Nope

 

Correct - the new one will be annotated with the new receipt number.

 

Once you have the receipt and go and get a stamp, yes.

 

No.

 

Incorrect.

 

Incorrect on both counts.

 

Yes.

Genco opinon 6-12

 

 

Yes. The I-290B you filed was largely pointless, as that is asking to reopen based on procedural errors or incorrect application of the law by USCIS, neither of which they did. 

In their opinion it is not their fault or the laws fault you did not receive the notice - I also had a 'missed' interview where they didn't send a notice, but they will claim it isn't their fault as it was sent (even if it was not).

 

 

You remain a LPR.

You will be stamped in as normal as LPR or ARC. 

 

You need a new one - it will have the new receipt number written on it, plus 'TC-1' annotation (indicating it is a denial/refile case).

 

Great sentiment, but incorrect. 

 

No.

 

 

No & no.

 

 

No

 

@mindthegap can I speak with you plz 

[rajeejunie 110]

IMO the only reason the lawyer would have asked the OP to file for new marriage license and i751 was because like the OP mentioned he was on H1 here. Technically he couldn't have filed for AOS or 10 year green card based on the previous marriage because he was here on H1already. Applying based on the previous marriage would moot his H1. 

[Vanguard 0]

can I still travel ADIT, if my I-751 petition is denial?would I bn able to come back in

I will appreciate extensive information about this

thanks

[milimelo 4,514]

5 hours ago, Vanguard said:

can I still travel ADIT, if my I-751 petition is denial?would I bn able to come back in

I will appreciate extensive information about this

thanks

No you can’t. Need to file a new I-751 to be able to get a new stamp.