JayJay2o

@Boiler @nastra30 thank you so much for all the replies. Yes I had no idea we weren’t going to be qualified for the I-601. On a side note, I do not know how to edit my post so I just want to point out that I have a correction: where it says February 2021 that was a typo it’s supposedly February 2022. Thank you again all for being helpful. I hope this topic will help the future applicants who are in the same situation as I am. I will try to post update for my parents’ case on here when the time comes.

@nastra30 First of all I would like to say thank you very much for your response. To answer your question about the status of my parents’ case from the USCIS, it states that both of their I-130 petitions have been approved and forwarded to NVC for consular processing. No further updates after that. From the CEAC, it states that both DS260 immigrant visa was refused at interview (my parents both got a letter that simply states that they were refused a visa because they were subject to 3-year ban due to overstay of over 180 days but less than 1 year and that they may file for I-601 waiver to overcome the 3-year bar) no further information after that.

Good evening, I would like to ask this question here and hope to find an answer because I do not have the funds to hire a lawyer. I am a naturalized US Citizen from Vietnamese descent and I applied for my parents' I-130 petition which was approved in October 2022; but ultimately, they were denied a visa at the consulate level interview in January 2023 due to an overstay of over 180 days but less than 1 year. They overstayed because at the time during covid we could not afford the tickets to fly them back to Vietnam before overstaying their visa (the country took advantage of the situation for the most desperate ones and the cheapest one-way flight we could find at the time was $15,000 per person!!!). They have a 3-year bar in which I assume it ends in September 2025 (their tourist visa expired in February 2021 they left the US in September 2022). The CO said they are eligible for I-601 waiver. When I looked into the waiver at the time it would take about 34 months before they would look at the applications so I decided for my parents to wait out their 3-year bar because I did not want to wait out the I-601 processing time. Now here are my questions: 1. After the 3-year bar is served, do I still need to file I-601 for them anyways (I do not think so based on my research, but I wanted to ask for a second opinion about this in case I am wrong)? 2. Since they were barred from entering the US due to overstay, does that mean the I-130 becomes void, and that I need to file new I-130 along with new DS260 for my parents? 3. If the I-130 is still valid, then I am assuming that I only need to file new DS260 for both of my parents? Please advise. Thank you very much and I am looking forward to future answers.