VAWA, Part 21

[Sandra G. 5,048]

7 hours ago, Precious100 said:

Hello  dear Vjf,  can unemployment benefit and small scale  pandemic unemployment assistance stop a vawa applicant from receiving green card/ citizenship

 

2ndly, can it affect you filing for someone  like spouse, parents or relatives in the future ?

 

It will not affect your Vawa case.

 

To sponsor someone you will need to make the amount specified on the poverty level guidelines.

[Sandra G. 5,048]

18 hours ago, jacobamanda63 said:

Dear Vj Family &  Sandra/ stillwinning 

    I am grateful for all of you to help us in this hard immigration processing. I can not made it so far without your help. 

as you know since I received RFE about a criminal charge as Domestic battery after my I485 interview. I was posted my questions here and got some good  advices that I need find a good criminal attorney to dismiss this case. REF dead line is 1/31/21. 

   I did found two criminal attorney and all paid them off. 

   first attorney filed my case to court asked to recall the warrant of arrest but was denied, and pre trail date and hearing date set up at 1/13 and 2/16 in 2021. he said it looks hard to dismiss my case also  I could not expedite the hearing date.  

    then I hired other  Criminal Attorney, he said could dismiss my case and get every thing done before deadline and would not let it hurts my immigration case. unfortunately since he got my paid off to him, he does not answers my email and does not answers my phone call about two weeks . I check the contact paper again and it  said this legal fees can not be refund. I feel bad this attorney does not response to me. that is really wast my time. also I don't know if I can report him to the bar of Indiana state and ask my money back because he really did nothing in the ? 

    first attorney is very nice and he contacted me and tole me how his thoughts about my case. he recommends me to  plead a guilty to get an agreement(my understanding.)  he wants to know what kind charge would not hurt my greencard case. or go to Jury trail.

 

 I really need your guys advices about my case. I do remember that Sandra said I must find a good criminal attorney to dismiss this charge. I would love to do so, too. but unfortunately that is not much time to let me find better criminal attorney and to dismiss case before 1/31/21. 

    Does USCIS allows me to extinction the RFE deadline? 

  What is best i can do? I am willing to go to Jury Trail if Judge lets me to. just worry it takes long time and could not get any results back to USCIS before 1/31/21. 

 

  Attached RFE letter and both first criminal attorney and my immigration attorney's emails about my domestic battery charge. /

this email from my first criminal attorney :

I've been thinking about your case and I must advise you that there is a small possibility that you will be incarcerated when you appear for your hearing in January.  (see the attached document, there is still a warrant for your arrest). You should bring the bond amount to the hearing so that after you are processed you can be released quickly.

 

Also, I do advise that you get an immigration attorney to assess whether a plea agreement to an A misdemeanor will hurt your immigration case.  I understand that you maintain your innocence, and that you wish to contest the case.  However this will involve significant expenses in the future, and knowing the judge in this case, he was a former prosecutor for many years and only if you get a jury trial could a jury review your case.  In short, you may have an uphill battle in trying to be found innocent, especially if you don't get a jury, and in particular if both the police officer and your ex boyfriend are available and show up to testify.  A plea agreement might be a better option for you, so I would want to know whether an A misdemeanor would impact your immigration case.  If it doesn't, then I wouldn't worry about.  Sometimes they just need documentation, that is what your letter said.  If the an A misdemeanor negatively impacts your immigration case, then we can proceed to try to win, it just might be expensive.  You should check with your immigration attorney about what should be done.

 

To win your criminal case, the first step would be to establish that the state has no witnesses.  I'm guessing that they will be able to produce the police officer because my brother in law who is a local police officer found that the officer was making digital police entries last year, so he's still probably available to testify.

 

Remember too, even though you would like to be shown innocent, this has never affected your life prior to the immigration case, and all they are asking is for proof of the outstanding warrant so that they can assess whether they will grant you the immigration status you are seeking.  If you provide the proof, then it may not really affect your case further, but you should check with your immigration lawyer.

 

Let me know your thoughts.

 

this email is from my immigration attorney:

Thanks for your message and email. 

 

Looking at the USCIS policy manual, it looks like the best outcome for her short of an outright dismissal would be a plea to a petty misdemeanor, if that is a possibility. If not, making clear that whatever happened involved no more than simple assault/battery rather than any type of aggravated offense would be next best. 

 

At worst, it appears that this would be likely to be a time limited bar to her ability to adjust status. But I assume that the clock would tick from the date of her sentencing rather than the date of the incident. 

 

All of this is within the discretion of USCIS, where they are able to weigh any mitigating factors, such as her children, her seven years of being law-abiding, her ties to the community, etc.

 

If you'd like to talk, my desk phone does not ring through to my computer, but I am able to get messages. 

 

I am very grateful for your time. help me please. 

 

 

A conviction for immigration purposes exists when a person enters a plea of guilty.

 

USCIS will consider if the  adverses factors outweigh the favorable factors.A claim of good moral character will be  evaluate on a case by case basis, but USCIS denies  cases most of the cases involving crimes  of moral turpitude.The immigration officer will consider the nature of the offense .

 

You can represent the attorney to the bar association, but I recommend that  you send him a Certified letter first asking the money back .

[Sandra G. 5,048]

On 12/6/2020 at 12:44 AM, Faith2020 said:

@sandranj hi there. I have a question based I. Your previous comment. If someone applied for asylum in the past and now have AP they can’t travel ? If yes how can they overcome that and be able to travel ?. Thank you in advance. 

You can’t travel to your home Country with a pending asylum  case.There is no way to overcome this until you become a U.S citizen, because if you withdraw the asylum case now the USCIS still can consider your asylum frivolous. If you left your Country during a CIVIL WAR then when the condition of your home Country improves you can travel there .

Edited December 7, 2020 by sandranj

[Stillwinning!!!😊 4,570]

19 hours ago, jacobamanda63 said:

Dear Vj Family &  Sandra/ stillwinning 

    I am grateful for all of you to help us in this hard immigration processing. I can not made it so far without your help. 

as you know since I received RFE about a criminal charge as Domestic battery after my I485 interview. I was posted my questions here and got some good  advices that I need find a good criminal attorney to dismiss this case. REF dead line is 1/31/21. 

   I did found two criminal attorney and all paid them off. 

   first attorney filed my case to court asked to recall the warrant of arrest but was denied, and pre trail date and hearing date set up at 1/13 and 2/16 in 2021. he said it looks hard to dismiss my case also  I could not expedite the hearing date.  

    then I hired other  Criminal Attorney, he said could dismiss my case and get every thing done before deadline and would not let it hurts my immigration case. unfortunately since he got my paid off to him, he does not answers my email and does not answers my phone call about two weeks . I check the contact paper again and it  said this legal fees can not be refund. I feel bad this attorney does not response to me. that is really wast my time. also I don't know if I can report him to the bar of Indiana state and ask my money back because he really did nothing in the ? 

    first attorney is very nice and he contacted me and tole me how his thoughts about my case. he recommends me to  plead a guilty to get an agreement(my understanding.)  he wants to know what kind charge would not hurt my greencard case. or go to Jury trail.

 

 I really need your guys advices about my case. I do remember that Sandra said I must find a good criminal attorney to dismiss this charge. I would love to do so, too. but unfortunately that is not much time to let me find better criminal attorney and to dismiss case before 1/31/21. 

    Does USCIS allows me to extinction the RFE deadline? 

  What is best i can do? I am willing to go to Jury Trail if Judge lets me to. just worry it takes long time and could not get any results back to USCIS before 1/31/21. 

 

  Attached RFE letter and both first criminal attorney and my immigration attorney's emails about my domestic battery charge. /

this email from my first criminal attorney :

I've been thinking about your case and I must advise you that there is a small possibility that you will be incarcerated when you appear for your hearing in January.  (see the attached document, there is still a warrant for your arrest). You should bring the bond amount to the hearing so that after you are processed you can be released quickly.

 

Also, I do advise that you get an immigration attorney to assess whether a plea agreement to an A misdemeanor will hurt your immigration case.  I understand that you maintain your innocence, and that you wish to contest the case.  However this will involve significant expenses in the future, and knowing the judge in this case, he was a former prosecutor for many years and only if you get a jury trial could a jury review your case.  In short, you may have an uphill battle in trying to be found innocent, especially if you don't get a jury, and in particular if both the police officer and your ex boyfriend are available and show up to testify.  A plea agreement might be a better option for you, so I would want to know whether an A misdemeanor would impact your immigration case.  If it doesn't, then I wouldn't worry about.  Sometimes they just need documentation, that is what your letter said.  If the an A misdemeanor negatively impacts your immigration case, then we can proceed to try to win, it just might be expensive.  You should check with your immigration attorney about what should be done.

 

To win your criminal case, the first step would be to establish that the state has no witnesses.  I'm guessing that they will be able to produce the police officer because my brother in law who is a local police officer found that the officer was making digital police entries last year, so he's still probably available to testify.

 

Remember too, even though you would like to be shown innocent, this has never affected your life prior to the immigration case, and all they are asking is for proof of the outstanding warrant so that they can assess whether they will grant you the immigration status you are seeking.  If you provide the proof, then it may not really affect your case further, but you should check with your immigration lawyer.

 

Let me know your thoughts.

 

this email is from my immigration attorney:

Thanks for your message and email. 

 

Looking at the USCIS policy manual, it looks like the best outcome for her short of an outright dismissal would be a plea to a petty misdemeanor, if that is a possibility. If not, making clear that whatever happened involved no more than simple assault/battery rather than any type of aggravated offense would be next best. 

 

At worst, it appears that this would be likely to be a time limited bar to her ability to adjust status. But I assume that the clock would tick from the date of her sentencing rather than the date of the incident. 

 

All of this is within the discretion of USCIS, where they are able to weigh any mitigating factors, such as her children, her seven years of being law-abiding, her ties to the community, etc.

 

If you'd like to talk, my desk phone does not ring through to my computer, but I am able to get messages. 

 

I am very grateful for your time. help me please. 

 

 

Hello dear, I'm not going to try and sweet talk this scenario..it looks messy! I only pray and hope it resolves somehow before the deadline. It's sad how unprofessional some attorneys can be..SMH!😏 good news is that there's hope. An outstanding attorney can pull it off! Do your part, let God do the rest! All the best as always!👍💕

[Stillwinning!!!😊 4,570]

9 hours ago, Precious100 said:

Hello  dear Vjf,  can unemployment benefit and small scale  pandemic unemployment assistance stop a vawa applicant from receiving green card/ citizenship

 

2ndly, can it affect you filing for someone  like spouse, parents or relatives in the future ?

 

Absolutely not hon!😊👍

[Stillwinning!!!😊 4,570]

6 hours ago, ponak98 said:

Thank you @Stillwinning!!!😊   Sent an email. Will see what they say. Do you know if I will still get my renewal EAD even though I-485 is approved now? No sign of green card receivable though. 

You will receive your GC! As long as the GC isn't produced yet, the EAD can still be sent to you!😊👍

[Stillwinning!!!😊 4,570]

4 hours ago, waqasah said:

 

Hi Vawa Family, 

I hope everyone is doing fine and I pray that this year brings lots of happiness and approvals for all of us. 

I got my work permit last year in May. I want to send the renewal application now as I have seen that it is taking almost 6 months for the renewal. I have one question. Do I have to pay the fee of renewal of work permit? I just want to make sure of it.

With a pending i485, C9 renewal should be free!😊👍

[Sandra G. 5,048]

On 12/5/2020 at 9:26 PM, God is a good God said:

I am in immigration proceedings too. Have pending i-360 since October 2019. I submitted my i-485 at USCIS irving TX last month and was accepted and received and both uscis and court sent me i-797 receipt notices. Once my 360 get approved, i can continue with uscis and my i485 will be on the queue already. This will save time to get my green card

Your case will be forwarded to VERMONT.You won’t  save time ,it’s the opposite you will waste time .It doesn’t matter if you are in removal ALL VAWA cases can be adjudicated JUST by VSC, your l485  won’t be on the queue.We had here a bunch of people that submitted to the wrong field, USCIS issued the receipt but forwarded  the case to Vermont.Just if  the law changed last night,lol.I receive  updates when the law changes.

Edited December 7, 2020 by sandranj

[Sandra G. 5,048]

On 12/5/2020 at 11:37 AM, Faith2020 said:

Thank you so much for your answer. I made an expedite request on Monday and I still haven’t received any email or response for them asking for proof of evidence or something do you think it’s normal ? 
 

Also if I may ask what did you submit as evidences when you did your expedite just to help me be prepared for everything. 

Uscis is not obligated to issue an RFE, when you state something you should submit along with your request. If they denies the request they won’t inform you either.If they approve you will know within 5/7 days.

[Sandra G. 5,048]

On 12/5/2020 at 11:40 AM, God is a good God said:

I didn't know too that it was possible. All lawyers including mine, said i must wait until my i360 is approved before filing i485. but thanks to  demise and Sandra for their advices and i contacted my lawyer to tell her to filed i485 for me at irving TX, but she said it will be rejected and she's never done that before, but i insisted that i am the one paying you and paying uscis 😂😂😂 and she finally did and it was successful@Demise@sandraj

You qualified to submit the l485 along with your Vawa petition because your spouse is a U.S citizen , but the only field that adjudicates a Vawa petition is Vermont Service Center. They  will forward your petition to Vermont.

[Sandra G. 5,048]

On 12/4/2020 at 8:54 AM, MYSTIC2429 said:

Which is what I thought, he was GC holder, I didn't have any docs of him. How can they approve my I 360 if he was not GC or a citizen. Does USCIS do mistakes like this?

I couldn’t understand your question,but USCIS won’t approve a Vawa petition if the spouse is not a GC holder or a U.S citizen. If by mistake USCIS approved  the Vawa petition and  your husband is not a green card holder or U.Citizen then the local office will deny the AOS.

 

My hair stylist got her green card (2 and 10 year) through marriage, but USCIS denied her application for naturalization because they noticed she was not divorced when she got married. The  denial happened 13 years ago but they  put her in removal just  5 months ago.

[Sandra G. 5,048]

On 12/3/2020 at 7:40 PM, MYSTIC2429 said:

Dear Ms. Sandranj

 

I am an avid reader of your suggestions, I had contacted you earlier regarding my AOS (after VAWA got approved on Oct 2019) stuck on RFE received for 7 months.

 

I filled for ombudsman, and today was my interview. Even before my interview started the officer told me there is no way my case was going to be approved today as my ex husband is not a GC holder yet, but he is still going to do my interview. He kept looking for reasons to deny my interview for eg your medical needs to be done again, I told him it was submitted within 60 days ( doc signed 10/24/19 USCIS received 12/17/19).

He then asked me all the form I 485 questions, some questions he repeatedly asked. All my answers were no, except for 1 where I worked for prison as a staff. After couple of minutes he told me your case will be sent back to VSC and they will decide the outcome.

 

I am shocked to know that after being so close I may face removal proceeding.

 

Can you please help me? My case is with catholic charities, although I appreciate all their help but I feel they aren't very proactive. Please help.

 

 

 

If your husband is not a green card holder or a U.S citizen his decision is correct,and VERMONT will cancel the approval, and they might put you in removal .I just saw now that you asked two questions , and part of my answer is above.

 

If you have a police report you can apply for U visa after the denial.But it’s mandatory to have a police report , the spouse doesn’t need to be a green card holder or citizen 

Edited December 7, 2020 by sandranj

[jacobamanda63 28]

3 hours ago, sandranj said:

A conviction for immigration purposes exists when a person enters a plea of guilty.

 

USCIS will consider if the  adverses factors outweigh the favorable factors.A claim of good moral character will be  evaluate on a case by case basis, but USCIS denies  cases most of the cases involving crimes  of moral turpitude.The immigration officer will consider the nature of the offense .

 

You can represent the attorney to the bar association, but I recommend that  you send him a Certified letter first asking the money back .

Thank you very much Dear Sandra. I checked my contract paper with the attorney who does not answers my phone and he does not response my email. there is said these fees Nonrefoudable. even he did nothing on my case ,do I have no chance to ask my legal fees back? 

 

Thank you very much for your time.I am very appreciate all you have been done for us. 

 

this is the agreement that I signed and returned it back with money order to his office. 

Client acknowledges that attorney’s acceptance of his case precludes attorney’s acceptance of other such cases.  Client agrees that since fees shall be calculated and paid on a flat fee rather than an hourly basis, attorney shall not record the time spent on behalf of client and, consequently, all fees paid are nonrefundable.

 

EXPENSES

Client acknowledges and understands that client shall be responsible for all expenses incurred by attorney, including but not limited to:  copy charges, telephone charges, court costs, witness fee, travel expenses (30 cents per mile if outside of Marion County and room and board if necessary), and postage.  Client hereby authorizes attorney to incur such expenses but shall reimburse attorney within thirty (30) days from the date client is notified thereof.  In the event Client inexcusably delays the resolution of his case, causing Attorney’s expenditure of time to increase, Client shall pay, in addition to the fees stated above, the sum of $350.00 per hour, for each such hour or any part thereof.

 

PAYMENTS

Client acknowledges and understands that under certain circumstances and at the discretion of attorney, attorney may accept partial or late payments, but that if client fails to timely make payments attorney may use all legal means of recovering sums due and client shall then become liable for the costs of collection including, but not limited to:  reasonable additional attorney fees as are necessary for the collection of the debt, costs associated with any other collection activity, collection agency fees and court costs.  Repeated efforts to collect past due fees or payments shall be charged to client at a rate of $350.00 per hour.  Such efforts may include telephone calls, letters, invoices and the like.  Client acknowledges and understands that all fees not paid within sixty (60) days from the date due shall be subject to a finance charge of 1.5% per month.  Client further acknowledges and understands that failure to pay attorney’s fee as agreed shall be considered a breach of this agreement, that all outstanding balances will then become immediately due and payable and that attorney shall immediately withdraw his appearance as counsel for client and terminate the attorney-client relationship.  

 

EXECUTION

Client acknowledges by his signature below that he has received a copy of this agreement, that he understands and acknowledges its terms and meanings, that its provisions shall be as binding upon his heirs, assigns and personal representatives as it is against him.

 

[jacobamanda63 28]

2 hours ago, Stillwinning!!!😊 said:

Hello dear, I'm not going to try and sweet talk this scenario..it looks messy! I only pray and hope it resolves somehow before the deadline. It's sad how unprofessional some attorneys can be..SMH!😏 good news is that there's hope. An outstanding attorney can pull it off! Do your part, let God do the rest! All the best as always!👍💕

Thank you very much for your prayers!

[Happy1982 124]

16 hours ago, shiva32 said:

Yes, I was talking about c09 EAD and AP. Why apply for EAD renewal so early? Your current c09 EAD probably doesnt expire till at least June of 2021, right? I thought the earliest one can apply for renewal was no more than 6 months before expiration of current EAD. 

 

Anyway, its great to be in this community with kindred spirits. 

I sent it early because last time it took almost 11 months the renewal.