I-130 receipt notice legal forms

[RABBITDANCE 0]

When we applied online for the I-130 we immediately received a document called "receipt notice".   

 

In order to keep my wife living with me in Germany, due to her passport being from a country on a restrict country list, she is required by the German government to provide a document that will qualify her to stay in Germany under SOFA status as a dependent.

 

I have not yet found the exact German regulation for this restriction, but the US Army Passport/SOFA card office has a form that says what is required is  "COPY OF FORM I-171H (Notice of Approval, I-797C (Must be an Approval Action) OR I-130 (Approval of Action)".   I have not found the regulations this form is based on and have not gotten good information from the staff who may not even know the origin of this phrase on their forms or know the facts that well about what counts as valid.

 

But what I am trying to determine is if I can make a legal case that "receipt notice" meets "I-130 (Approval of Action)"  requirement.  

 

Has anyone been in a similar situation or understand the USCIS forms well enough to help me make a case that we can stay together in Germany since we have the "receipt notice"? 

 

Or is there anyone with an understanding of the history of UCSIS forms to verify that what is described on the US Army SOFA checklist form is really legally the same as the receipt notice, which might be a newer USCIS document that replaced the document indicated on the SOFA checklist for restricted country passports?

 

Thank you for your helping to keep us together while we wait endlessly for our  I-130 approval.

 

 

[SalishSea 18,083]

8 minutes ago, RABBITDANCE said:

When we applied online for the I-130 we immediately received a document called "receipt notice".   

 

In order to keep my wife living with me in Germany, due to her passport being from a country on a restrict country list, she is required by the German government to provide a document that will qualify her to stay in Germany under SOFA status as a dependent.

 

I have not yet found the exact German regulation for this restriction, but the US Army Passport/SOFA card office has a form that says what is required is  "COPY OF FORM I-171H (Notice of Approval, I-797C (Must be an Approval Action) OR I-130 (Approval of Action)".   I have not found the regulations this form is based on and have not gotten good information from the staff who may not even know the origin of this phrase on their forms or know the facts that well about what counts as valid.

 

But what I am trying to determine is if I can make a legal case that "receipt notice" meets "I-130 (Approval of Action)"  requirement.  

 

Has anyone been in a similar situation or understand the USCIS forms well enough to help me make a case that we can stay together in Germany since we have the "receipt notice"? 

 

Or is there anyone with an understanding of the history of UCSIS forms to verify that what is described on the US Army SOFA checklist form is really legally the same as the receipt notice, which might be a newer USCIS document that replaced the document indicated on the SOFA checklist for restricted country passports?

 

Thank you for your helping to keep us together while we wait endlessly for our  I-130 approval.

 

 

I can’t see how the initial receipt notice for the petition could count as a petition approval notice for your purpose.   ‘NOA-1’ simply confirms receipt and acceptance of the petition, while ‘NOA-2’ is a petition approval.   Totally different documents.

[RABBITDANCE 0]

7 minutes ago, SalishSea said:

I can’t see how the initial receipt notice for the petition could count as a petition approval notice for your purpose.   ‘NOA-1’ simply confirms receipt and acceptance of the petition, while ‘NOA-2’ is a petition approval.   Totally different documents.

That's how it appears, but I'm not convinced because these forms have changed over time and the Army's checklist is likely base on the way things used to be done and might not match the actual German or US Army regulations.  I also know it can be accepted by the German government and has been, so the issue is about proving it to the Army staff who are not necessarily knowledgeable.

[SalishSea 18,083]

1 minute ago, RABBITDANCE said:

That's how it appears, but I'm not convinced because these forms have changed over time and the Army's checklist is likely base on the way things used to be done and might not match the actual German or US Army regulations.  I also know it can be accepted by the German government and has been, so the issue is about proving it to the Army staff who are not necessarily knowledgeable.

The forms have not changed in at least the last ten years.

 

Why not just submit them and see?

[RABBITDANCE 0]

11 minutes ago, SalishSea said:

The forms have not changed in at least the last ten years.

 

Why not just submit them and see?

I cannot submit the forms to the German government.   I have to go through a firewall of people who do not even now the rules or necessarily care.  So I need to convince the firewall that this form will be accepted by the German government, which, I know for a fact it sometime is.  So I need to build a case to prove that. 

 

The I-130 ONLINE application is very new so I did not know they used the same form as they did 10 years ago, but in any case, the Army's SOFA office checklist is probably twice as old as that, and what it says on the form does not necessarily correspond with the regulations of the Army or of the German government on restricted country passports. Someone may have just written the form not knowing the underlying rules (this happens often).  I know someone else who got another part of the form changed by correcting the staff recently.  

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 06:45 PM by RABBITDANCE