CyberSamurai013

So, I checked our case status this morning for the family-based I-485 application for AOS. It showed a processing time of 3 months and I was excited because we are on step 3 (interview). An hour later, we got an email and upon reviewing the update I see we have an RFE. Evidently, USCIS says I cannot sponsor my wife because I do not make 125% of the poverty level for our family size. I make about double that (233%). The error likely comes from the fact that my IRS papers say $0 due to my income being non-taxable. I sent income verification letters from the VA and SSA as well as bank statements showing that I make about $70k a year in non-taxable income. Additionally, our attorney sent them a letter with the initial filing saying the same. He told us that we would dispute it but I will most likely need a co-sponsor. I do not have one as I have no family or friends and shouldn't need one simply because someone at USCIS is unable to read or comprehend the reality of the situation. I am beyond angry as this will substantially delay our case and we cannot afford the delay.

Thank you, TBoneTX! I have been working hard on this to get it done properly and did not want to take chances due to our situation being unusual.

Update: We completed the civil surgeon exam for $300 including tests and vaccines. We also found an attorney through a law school clinic who is going to take our case pro bono. I had already prepared all of the documents for our packet so I turned them over to the attorney who seemed ecstatic that I had done so. It is a pretty straightforward I-485 Adjustment of Status packet that most of you had already advised us to do. All of the other avenues are either not applicable to our case or will take too much time and money to pursue. Thank you all for your advice and support!

Thank you all for your replies, I appreciate them and your advice! I spoke to the attorney again and with the information you guys presented here, we were able to decide that the only real route for us is the file the I-485 and to use the approved I-130 from her IR-1 case for the packet. The attorney did mention the possibility of parole in place but that does not apply to us as she has already been inspected and paroled under the humanitarian parole. We are going today for the civil surgeon appointment and then we will file the I-485 packet.

I do not know where to post this so I am putting it here. Some of this I have asked before but we have new information, an evolved situation, and new advice from attorneys so I am seeking guidance here because I do not know which path to proceed with and have limited time and resources. Any information or advice is welcome! The summary of our case history is as follows: My wife (Russian citizen, possibly stateless) first came to America in 2011 on a K-1 fiancee visa. We married and she received her conditional green card. We lived in America together until personal issues caused us to separate and her to return to Russia with our daughter in 2014 a few months before we were to file for the removal of conditions on her green card. I remained in America and filed when it was time but was told that they could not process it as my wife left the country. I moved to Russia in 2015 where we reconciled and had a second child together. When the Ukraine war started in March of 2022, we filed for an IR-1 spousal visa and humanitarian parole. We never heard anything about the humanitarian parole but later found out it was approved in March of 2023 but never sent to the Embassy and we were never notified. We continued the IR-1 process and she did the medical and interview at the US consulate in Almaty, Kazakhstan in March 2023. They suspended processing as they demanded original copies of my divorce decree from my previous marriage and we could not get those documents to them due to the sanctions. DHL was the only company willing to attempt delivery and the documents were seized at the Kazakh border by customs who refused to release them. While this was happening, we were forced to flee Russia under emergency conditions due to political persecution and threatened imprisonment/execution in July 2023. We fled to the US embassy in Astana where my wife was given a new emergency humanitarian parole valid for 2 years. We entered the US in August 2023 and she was inspected and paroled for said 2 years. As of July 2023, her IR-1 case on the CEAC website shows refused as the status but we have never received any documentation regarding this. My initial plan of action was to file an I-485 to adjust her status based on being an immediate relative (spouse) of a US citizen and using the I-130 that we filed with her IR-1 visa application. I have been told by an immigration attorney that her green card from 2011-2014 should still exist but in a 'suspended' state. That we could file an I-751 to remove the conditions but upon reading the instructions it states you can only do so within 90 days of returning to the US. We are outside of that window and I was not aware that this was a possibility until today. I was also told by the same attorney that we can file an I-824 to request action on her IR-1 visa and effectively have it transferred from the US consulate in Kazakhstan to the USCIS here in America but upon reading those instructions it states this does not apply to denied or pending applications and only approved ones. It is my understanding that the I-485 is the only real option open to us but I am not sure if that is true and am seeking opinions on this. I was also told that the medical exam she had done in Kazakhstan in March 2023 is still valid for the I-485 as they are now valid for 2 years instead of 6 months. Even if that is the case, we do not have a completed I-693 as everything there was done electronically. All we do have is her vaccination record for all the vaccines she received. I assume she will need a new civil surgeon appointment for the I-693 to submit with the I-485. Please correct me if I am wrong. I have written several letters and made several phone calls to the State Department, USCIS, and multiple US consulates regarding our case but have not been able to determine the correct course of action as most of my inquiries go unanswered. At this point, I plan to just proceed with the I-485 as it seems to me it is the only valid option.

Of course it is /s. lol They get every penny they can from us. Thank you!

Does anyone know if there is currently any way to obtain a waiver for the COVID-19 'vaccine' requirement for an adjustment of status (I-485)?

I-485 is on there.

Negative. We have the means for support moving forward, but cannot wait to file the I-485 and do not have the means currently to pay all the associated fees due to the emergency situation that occurred. My wife is a political refugee and we were forced to flee political persecution, and threatened wrongful detention and death. We just arrived less than a month ago in America and were forced to completely start our lives over from nothing. We had to leave everything behind when we fled.

Roger, thank you. Apologies. The waiver would be for the I-485, I-864, and I-765.

My wife is here on an emergency humanitarian parole that is valid for 2 years. Unfortunately, she does not have any other status currently and we need to file immediately for her adjustment of status. We are going to file a fee waiver request (I-912) as we qualify under 2 of the 3 categories due to our emergency situation. If granted, does the fee waiver also cover the civil surgeon exam? Also, will it hurt her AOS request to file the fee waiver request despite indigency not being one of our conditions?

Thank you! My wife did have to do her medical in Almaty. They stated they would not accept it from another country, even Russia. They will supposedly mail the passport to a DHL pickup point in Kazakhstan but not to Russia. Unfortunately, we had an emergency and had to go a different route at the last minute so I do not know about timeline once the visa is issued.

Absolutely. Also, feel free to DM me if you want to. Our situation was also very rare so we had to request representative assistance. If you go the websites for your Senators and the Congress people for your district, there should be a section for 'government agency assistance'. Go there and complete the inquiry form then submit it. They will contact you to request additional information and you can explain things in detail. One thing to note is that you should use only 1 representative at a time. Otherwise, it complicates things and causes delays. We contacted our Congresswoman at first but eventually switched to our Senator as the situation evolved. We started by filing everything online and via mail to the USCIS in America as DCF filing was impossible in Russia due to the embassy being effectively closed. We did this right after the war in Ukraine started. We filed for both an IR-1 immigrant visa and humanitarian parole based on the situation. We requested expedited processing and also had our Congresswoman request it as well via the method I described above. Our case was eventually sent to Warsaw for the interview but we could not go there as Russians were unable to get visas for Poland. We requested the US embassy in Almaty take our case and they refused. We asked our Congresswoman to intervene and she was able to get them to reluctantly take our case. This was a few months before cases were being redirected there so now it may not be an issue. Unfortunately, our situation in Russia worsened and we needed immediate assistance so we went to the embassy in Astana. We contacted our Senator (via the method above) and physically went to the embassy to seek assistance. We also had friends and family in America calling our Senator as well and I called USCIS directly. My wife was granted an emergency humanitarian parole and we came to America. We are in the process of adjusting her status now. Please understand that we were fleeing political persecution and threatened wrongful detention as well as threats to our lives and those of our children. I don't want to go into too much detail but the State Department and FBI deemed them credible threats so we were justified in our actions. I say this because going to the embassy for non-emergency situations is not recommended. Anyone can request representative assistance with government agencies though and the method I stated above is the standard process to do so. Also, FYI, we were living in Russia together for almost a decade. I had a PRP, my wife is Russian, and our kids are dual citizens.

Unfortunately, we had an emergency situation occur and ended up leaving Russia via a humanitarian parole.

We did finally get our case accepted in Almaty, Kazakhstan but it took Senatorial and Congressional intervention to do so.