VAWA, Part 20

[Sandra G. 5,045]

On 9/7/2020 at 3:53 PM, DeadliftingDad said:

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with a VAWA case while they're residing in their home country and facing a re-entry ban.

 

I have a current I130/I485 with my spouse and I'm waiting to finish my VAWA submission.  However, I'm running out of options to live here and may need to go back to my home country (Canada). The current place I'm at is the not the best.  It's not allowing me to heal.  So one option I'm considering is going back to Canada. Problem is though if overstayed my original tourist visa and once I were to leave, I would get a 10 year re-entry ban.

 

I talked to my lawyer about this. She said it is possible to me to file my VAWA submission while in Canada, and have the re-entry ban waived because I was essentially stuck in an abusive relationship.  Has anyone had experience with this? It seems too good to be true. 

You can file form I-360 VAWA while in Canada. VAWA petitioners  do not accrue unlawful presence ok.

[Sandra G. 5,045]

On 9/7/2020 at 9:12 PM, Demise said:

Yeah the ban can be waived if you can demonstrate that an EWI or overstay were somehow related to the abuse. You do not have to file I-601, you have to attach a statement and other evidence supporting your claim with your I-485 or DS-260.

 

So for example if you are out of status because you stopped maintaining it when you married and later the abusive spouse pulled the rug from under you then you do have a case. If you overstayed before you even met the abusive spouse then no and you're best off staying in US.

 

Honestly I would recommend just staying in US so you don't have to deal with having to waive the ban. If you need a few weeks or months to chill in Canada just use advance parole and go take a vacation.

it doesn't matter if she overstayed before her marriage or not.VAWA petitioners DO NOT ACCRUE unlawful presence.

[Sandra G. 5,045]

On 9/7/2020 at 7:15 PM, gurgen said:

Hi all, wish thread #20 may bring you best of luck.

 

I need help to clarify if my proccessing time is out of the range for I-485 interview.

 

My I-485 receipt date is April 5, 2017. USCIS Office: Vermont Service Center(Already transferred to the local office)

 

So, should I select Saint Albans VT or my local office from the drop menu to see if it exceeds the proccessing time. And timeframe starts with I-485 receipt date or from the date my I-360 was approved and my case was transferred to the local office? That's kinda confusing to me.

 

Also, does contact a senator make any difference than a contacting a congressman/women? I've already did the latter and received a response from my congresswoman that my case is on queue for the interview, waiting for an empty slot.

 

Thanks again, stay safe everyone.

You need to check your local office timeline ok.

[Sandra G. 5,045]

On 9/8/2020 at 10:18 AM, tashay said:

Is there something wrong with my case I filed October 2018 and I have a lawyer,but am puzzled as to why I still haven't received anything more.I been on my 2nd Work Authorization,I got a prima facie from 2017,has expired but no update of my case or anything,is that normal? Am I the only one going through this??

I still have I-360 cases  filed in January and February  pending adjudication.

[Sandra G. 5,045]

23 hours ago, Kiesel said:

Hi Friends, 

I'm sorry to take some of your time. This is the most supportive place I've seen, and I can't be thankful enough for the everyone's positiveness. 

 

I have a couple of questions and I'm hoping you can share your thoughts/experiences with me. I spoke to a nice honest lawyer today, and she told me the following:

1. I-485 can be linked to VAWA even before attending the interview and before asking the IO to hold it in abeyance. Is this true that simply filing for VAWA and writing a letter to USCIS can link I-485 to I-360?
2. How strong can my case be, if I do not have police reports, medical reports, and affidavits?
   • I've been totally isolated from my family, friends, and my network, never called the police, and I'm being monitored all the time, so going to the hospital is not something easy I can do now. 
   • My abusive spouse is very well educated, and she has an ability to manipulate situations to shift blame and responsibility from her to me.
   • In addition to the statement I've been working on, I'm seeing a counselor, the lawyer I spoke to today will refer me to a psychologist for an evaluation, I have chats saved up with thehotline.org.
3. Any guidance you can share on protection orders? It seems like it'll cause me more trouble, and I don't want to be going back and forth in courts. 

Thank you. 

1- It's not true.You need to inform the Immigration officer, in person, that you filed form I-360,and then ask the officer to put the I-485 on hold.

2- You need to attend therapy and have psychological evaluation done, and have a diagnose of depression and/or PTSD.I would not recommend you just to get a psychological evaluation, you need to attend  5/7 therapy  sessions. 

3-File a restraining order if you fear for  your life.

[Sandra G. 5,045]

7 hours ago, Acoxy said:

Hi All,

 

I just came across this forum. How i wish i knew about this forum when i filed my application for VAWA.

 

I applied and filed my case to Vermont this year 2020, 

 

10th of February, 2020 - Receipt notification received

 

6th March 2020, - ASC Appointment notice received - could not attend due to Covid

 

26th March, 2020 - Prima Facie determination approval letter - 26th March 2020 - 26th March, 2021.

 

while i know that it takes between 16 months - 24 months to process VAWA application, i have not heard anything regarding the EAD application that was submitted with the I-360, I-485 forms. 

 

on checking the category- filled on the I-765 by my lawyer, i saw C-31. i want to ask is that the correct category to fill for me. I read through the forum and i saw people suggesting that it should have been C-09. It is really frustrating that VAWA takes a long time but not be able to work is killing. 

 

kindly help me out if there is a way i can get the EAD on time. it is exactly 7 months today.

 

many thanks  

 

 

 

They are taking 7/8 months to issue the work permit.

[Kiesel 19]

5 minutes ago, sandranj said:

1- It's not true.You need to inform the Immigration officer, in person, that you filed form I-360,and then ask the officer to put the I-485 on hold.

2- You need to attend therapy and have psychological evaluation done, and have a diagnose of depression and/or PTSD.I would not recommend you just to get a psychological evaluation, you need to attend  5/7 therapy  sessions. 

3-File a restraining order if you fear for  your life.

Thank you, Sandra! I've been attending therapy for over two months. Probably attended more than 10 sessions now. It's been helping me a lot. I'll seek psychological evaluation, and once I have everything ready, I'll send my application.

[Sandra G. 5,045]

1 hour ago, LongFlight said:

Hello everyone, first of all I am happy to be with all of you. I recently discover this website and loved it. I have been reading everyone's post for a few weeks. I want to ask a question and also share my time line. I have applied for both I485 and I 360 april 2019 and my I360 page updated to card being produced as I understand, it means they approved my I360(I am hoping I am correct) today I got another update that they send my card to my adress. So what should I expect next and how long I will wait for interview approximately. I am New York filler. Also what could be the reason for them to fail in the interview. I haven't seen anybody failed at the interview but I am still worried. Thanks in advance 

NYC is taking long time to schedule the interview ( 12/16 months).

[Kiesel 19]

3 hours ago, Demise said:

No, I'm not a lawyer. I used to work as a paralegal at an immigration law office, however most of what I know came from my own legal research. Basically at age 16 (11 years ago) I started digging into the law in hopes of finding a way to fix my own legal mess (got brought over the border when I was 11), in my digging I'd find other people who needed help and I'd dig for them. These days I know basically everything (that's not an overstatement, you can quiz me in PMs if you want) and what I don't know I can most likely find. I used to be active on Yahoo answers (was a top contributor in the Immigration section for a few years) and on DreamAct.Info (place is kinda dead these days). I migrated here because I was doing some additional readings on VAWA, saw the megathreads here and thought "yeah, I could be useful here".

 

In regards to 8 CFR 245.1(c)(8)(v), I already knew about bona fide exemption under INA 245(e)(3) however that section of law is pretty damn vague. So I looked at the associated entries in the federal register, read through it, saw that one, and thought "Yeah, I can definitely try and twist this into something that'd work for me"

 

Thank you for your kindness and help in this thread. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has benefited from reading your comments!  

[Demise 1,275]

30 minutes ago, sandranj said:

it doesn't matter if she overstayed before her marriage or not.VAWA petitioners DO NOT ACCRUE unlawful presence.

... if they can show a connection between the status violation / EWI and the abuse.

 

1. Unlawful presence followed by departure - INA 212(a)(9)(B)(v),

2. Present without admission or parole - INA 212(a)(6)(A)(ii) (this one is a dead letter for the same legal reasoning as not making this bar applicable to 245(i) adjustment since in case of VAWA applicant the exception granted in INA 245(a) to VAWA applicants who EWI'd would basically be both a basis of eligibility and ineligibility for adjustment),

3. Permanent bar - INA 212(a)(9)(C)(iii)

 

All of them require you to prove a connection between you EWI'ing, overstaying, departing, or re-EWI'ing and the abuse to grant you an exception or a waiver.

 

I'm also reading the AFM right now as well and it similarly requires you to prove connection between abuse and your status violation in order to make you exempt from the 10 year bar. Like yes normally the 10 year bar doesn't really come into play because most VAWA applicants will just adjust in US and not leave until they at very least have their advance parole in hand; but in this case this person wants to leave ASAP and complete the case from Canada which is where the 10 year bar most likely comes into play.

Edited September 10, 2020 by Demise

[Kiesel 19]

1 hour ago, Stillwinning!!!😊 said:

It don't matter if it's old or new..it will help show the history and how things deteriorated..take all you can...it will help!😊👍

Definitely will do. Because it's too much information, I've been spending so much time journaling, documenting what happens on a daily basis, and also writing about past instances. Reading through older messages takes a very long time. 

[Kiesel 19]

1 hour ago, Stillwinning!!!😊 said:

That's ok..been on a long flight from N.Y. to L.A. Phew!!! So freaking tired. I'm sure by now you got all the answers you wanted!👍😊

I got the answers I needed. Everyone here is extremely nice and supportive. Much of the thanks go to Sandra, you, and Demise, and the others who contribute on a daily basis.  

[Tatsi0830 23]

Hi fam,

 

I've got some bad update on my case =\ My 485,131,765 were rejected because the officer didn't approve a fee waiver. I haven't worked since July 2019 and I was the one who left the residence so I'm basically homeless. I have savings account that I showed with money that I got with the divorce settlement and I was planning on living off of it for 7-8 months while waiting for EAD. But now I'm either file everything again asking for waiver and hoping another officer will be kinder, or pay those fees out of that savings, which is almost 30% of what I have and need to last me until I can work 😭 And with the fees changing starting October 2 to ask for a waiver for the 2nd time would be a true Russian roulette 😥

So it is really upsetting to get that decision, plus waste so much time [everything was filed July 23].

 

Looks like it's the first bad news in this thread, sorry. At least I-360 received and pending! 

[Stillwinning!!!😊 4,570]

33 minutes ago, Kiesel said:

I got the answers I needed. Everyone here is extremely nice and supportive. Much of the thanks go to Sandra, you, and Demise, and the others who contribute on a daily basis.  

Oh even I am grateful for Sandra! She always comes through with the right legal info! Godbless her!💕💕🙏😊

[Acoxy 38]

6 hours ago, Demise said:

Never got one. I received a letter that I didn't meet the qualifications to establish PFD, it didn't have a due date so I just waited for an RFE which I got on 02/27/2020 and which I responded to on 5/21/2020.

 

Yeah, the I-765 filed with I-485 should be category code (c)(9)( ), C31 can only be issued after I-360 is approved. Take the receipt notice for I-485, make a copy, fill out another I-765 under (c)(9)( ) and send it to the VSC VAWA unit.

 

The C9 I-765 is free if you paid the fee for I-485, if you got the fee waived for I-485 you have two options, you can either pay the $410 fee, or attach another I-912 asking for a fee waiver and attach the same evidence you did to get the fee waiver the first time around. 

 

Note that you pretty much can't get an approval on I-765 without attending biometrics (or USCIS recapturing prior biometrics). ASCs are mostly open these days, so COVID or no COVID once you get the biometrics notice for this I-765, mask up, grab a pen, take this and prior biometrics notices and go do them.

Thank you very much. I actually spoke to my lawyer regarding the C(09) issue. She still insist that what she filled I.e C(31) was the right category. I will have to take my destiny in my hands and file another I-765 myself. Only thing is that Am using her address for my correspondence.