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Just an update.. my husband and I hired Jim Hacking Law Firm to file our writ of mandamus, and we just received his visa in the mail.

I just wanted to add that something similar happened to my husband and myself. We had hired a lawyer for his previous divorce (also in Nigeria). When we gave the documents to our lawyer in the US, he told us we basically didn’t have the right documents and that we needed the divorce absolute (I think that’s the name) and then we would have to get remarried for it to count. We luckily did all of that before filing. I say that to say that not everybody is fraudulently obtaining divorce decrees on purpose, unfortunately the lawyers are greedy and cutting corners there. Anyway, good luck to yall on this long journey!

She basically said his case was unique and she needed a second opinion on it, and this was after calling someone over and being there for over 3 hours. She didn't mention a waiver and said we would hear something soon, but I guess her definition of soon is different from ours.

@Family Ok, we've looked over the link you sent, and that makes a lot of sense. We were wanting to start the process of the waiver but were told by our attorney and a different attorney that we can't file a waiver until we are told that a waiver is needed. Also so prior to him getting arrested he hadn't been in any trouble. He got arrested for driving with a fake license and once they realized he was out of status he was moved to the immigration holding facility

@jan22 Also, do you know how they might calculate the overstay (based on my previous post)? My husband was out of status for 7 months, then got locked up. He asked for voluntary departure and wasn't released until after 5 months.

@jan22 This was very informative. Thank you for this! I have never heard of the Bureau of Consular Affairs, but what you're saying does make a lot of sense. Do you know if there's usually a timeframe for when that bureau gets back to the officers? At this point, we're going on 3 months with no word from them. Also, could we possibly reach out to them directly?

@Boiler nope, not a citizen or pr

@Boiler Yes

I believe they have sent it back. I did e-mail the Sydney consulate and they said we are in administrative processing and we will be contacted once there is an answer for us.

@Boiler I do believe it matters whether or not it is AP, because with AP, we may just be waiting until they are doing checks and getting back to us, but if it's not AP and he needs a waiver, that's something we would rather know now than later. Also, I'm completely aware and know what's going on with our case, so that's why I wanted to see if anyone has been in this situation so we can know if this might be a way of prolonging our case or what. And I get it..no one will know exactly because they aren't USCIS. I was just wondering if anyone heard the ‘need to speak to the attorney line.’

Yeah, so there are a couple of red flags on his case, mainly from when he stayed in America, which we knew going into this. The interview itself was short and she didn't need to see much of our evidence about the legitimacy of our marriage; it was more so questions regarding when he was in America, but she was nice. I was just wondering if anyone had heard of an officer needing to request more assistance. Thanks!

Hi everyone. I was looking for feedback on how my husband and I should proceed. My husband had his interview at the beginning of January 2024, and the immigration officer basically told him that based on his case, she would need to send over his case to the attorney and get feedback. She said he wasn't in administrative processing and that the attorney moved quickly. She gave him a green piece of paper, and at the bottom it has a check mark by three things: one being 'administrative processing refer to the reverse side of this letter’ but then on the back she put a big x over the administrative processing. I reached out after a week because I was a bit confused and was told they would get back to us when an outcome was reached. So I guess what I want to know is: has anyone ever heard of something similar? Needing to speak to the attorney (which atty I’m not 100% certain) for insight on a case? Do we just sit around and wait, or do we do periodic check-ins? We have been waiting for a while, and I'm honestly ready to get back home, but I don't want to go without him.

Oh ok yeah the category does matter.. I didn’t even think of that. We are I-130 & thank you!

Came to update.. we received an interview letter a couple of days ago. Our interview is scheduled for January 9th

@chy8 we have an interview for January 9th, I reached out to them via the website and filled out a form and the same day got an e-mail with our scheduled interview

We were were dq September 2023. Have you gotten an interview yet?

We were curious about any updates regarding the current wait times for appointment dates at the Sydney consulate. We were recently notified that we have been deemed documentarily qualified, and we are interested in getting an estimate of how long we might expect to wait for an appointment.

Hello! My husband, originally from Nigeria, was out of status and spent time in jail. He requested voluntary departure before the one-year mark, but he was not sent back to his country until after one year had passed. Our attorney has stated that we may or may not have to file a waiver since my husband did request to leave the country beforehand. Has anyone seen or been in a situation like this and a waiver was not required?