Any immigration/green card experts out there?

[NewJeffCT]

Are there any immigration experts out there? I got married almost three years ago – in November of 2001 - to a woman that came to the United States as a foreign student. We filled out all of the appropriate green card forms and filed them with the INS in January of 2002.

We made no mistakes with any of the forms we submitted to the INS (or, its new incarnation – the Bureau of Citizenship & Immigration Services, I think), and we had our interview in October of 2002. She was 5 months pregnant at the interview with our daughter who was born in February of 2003.

For some reason that nobody can explain to us, my wife's background check has not yet been completed. It normally takes a few months and the entire green card process is supposed to take less than a year. If we talk to the Regional INS office in Vermont, it has been completed. But, if we talk to the local office in Hartford, they say it has not been completed and will not allow us to do anything further until it is completed. In the meantime, two friends of ours in similar situation (woman came here as a student from the same country, got married to a US citizen) that got married 1 year and 18 months after us already have their green cards.

We have talked to our local US Congressman (John Larson), and a person in his office has been very helpful, but she also seems to be getting the runaround as well. She says my wife's file is in some sort of Black Hole.

My questions are:
1) If our Congressman's office is getting the runaround, is there anything we can do further?
2) Can we by-pass the entire green card process and have my wife file directly for citizenship on our third anniversary (through marriage, I am pretty sure you have to wait three years to apply for citizenship)

The BCIS website is pretty Byzantine in its complexity, and calling the BCIS itself for information is really a crapshoot, as most of the time you get rude & dismissive responses from them.

Thanks

[sui generis]

1. a couple of things are required here

"If we talk to the Regional INS office in Vermont, it has been completed."

Get the Regional INS office to procure the information they are using to make this claim. Also, talk to the admin and find out where / what office / department, etc. has this information. Also tell them that the local office does not have a copy or access to this information. You may have to sit there for a few hours, but I recommend doing this in person.

Finally, tell whoever you speak with that you have a US Congressman working on this on your behalf, and that more than reasonable time has passed and it needs to get resolved.

Interview the people you talk to. Ask them, "who did you call just now, what do they do, what department are they in?"

"What is the normal process when the forms are submitted? Who gets them. Who makes copies? Who enters them into the system? Who gets them next? What happens then? What if the paperwork gets lost? How do you know it isn't lost?"

Map out the entire process and completely test their knowledge. Remember, your tax dollars are paying for this service. Go down there and make a polite but stubborn nuisance until you have some answers.

[lil-petunia]

2. 5 yrs.

plus, they are busy with HSO crappola. The normal process is longer and more error prone than ever before.
There are ways to accellerate the process, but you really need to consider getting an immigration atty.

[NewJeffCT]

4. 5 years as a resident

But, I think certain things are waived after 3 years of marriage to a US citizen (me)... my wife has been here for over 5 years.

[russian33]

3. It was my understanding, that if a person marries a US citizen..

..they automatically become a citizen (probably have to file for it).

If not, we had to wait 5 years from the day we arrived before we became citizen.

[omshanti]

5. hell no! you have to go through the green card process...

then wait 5 years before you can file to become a citizen.

No such thing as "automatic"

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

6. HI... immigration paralegal here!

First of all, immediately file a FOIA (freedom of information act) request. It's free. USCIS has 30 days to respond and provide you with copies of everything they have on file relative to your wife's alien relative petition (Form I-130, that you filed on her behalf) and application for adjustment of status (Form I-485, that she files). Secondly, marriage based adjustment of status cases should be filed with your local office, not the regional office. That is definitely a long time for this type of case.

At the interview, was your wife's passport stamped with anything?

If even the Congressman's office is getting the runaround, there is a possibility that your wife's file may have been lost or misplaced (which really is an euphemism for "lost").


In cases such as this, every law firm I have worked for (I have over 5 years of experience solely in immigration) has always refiled the case, providing copies of efforts to get an answer (such as copies of a FOIA request, letter from congressional liaison, etc.).

If you'd like, I could help you for free (but you still are responsible for the filing fees, photographs, etc.) with all the forms, etc.

Please see if anything was stamped in your wife's passport and let me know.

[lil-petunia]

7. yeah, like tourist visa, student visa, transit visa, etc

It makes HUGE difference.