Jveli

[dianna832]

Wish you the best of luck today!! I hope they have no proof of what they are stating!.... :hug: Let us know how it goes... :)

[dianna832]

Bump*** I'm getting nervous about this...

[Caribbeanman]

I know she have not been back to update us yet!!!..i hope it turned out ok :(

[aprilstorm]

Hope everything is ok!!!

[y14gemini]

:ditto:!! Hope everything worked out!!

[jveli]

Sorry I took so long. It was such a tiring day yesterday, the long train ride in and out...I get motion sick :sick3:...and the 4 1/2 hours sleep from the night before...my mind was mush. It was all I could do just to deal with keeping my eyes open and the kids.:dizzy:

So here is the scoop. The judge asked my husband the normal stuff, and than she stated that we were here to determine if he was 245I eligibile or not because the trial attorney was stating he was not. And what is stupid is that in the motion they never were specific what it was that made them say this. Well our lawyer handed the judge our proof which was the receipt from the 1994 filing of a I-130 and I-485 with his first wife. The judge stated that was good enough for her to show he was eligible for 245I benefits, but the trial attorney started digging through the monstrous file and it was ridiculous, and he stated that the reason Alex was not eligible was because his first petition had been denied. The judge asked for what and he said that the first wife had only submitted a photocopy of her birth certificate, that the government had sent a letter requesting what they needed and she had never replied. The judge told him that there was a big difference between a file being denied for lack of proper paper work and being denied for inadmissability (?) and/or fraud. The judge denied the trial attorney's motion to pretermit without prejudice. Meaning that if the government can get the evidence it needs than it can come back and file another motion. She stated though that she thought this would be a huge hurdle for the government to get over and prove. She pushed out our status hearing from October 14 2008 to June 2nd 2009 to give the I-130 time to be processed because she stated, "at this rate it does not look as if it will be resolved by the October date". Go figure...even the DOJ Immigration judge knows how long this crap takes. So $31.00 on train fares, a day missed from work, getting up at 4:30am, a husband that has been burning candles of the saints for the last two weeks, a nervous MIL calling all the time from her country, a husband who has been not sleeping well, grinding his teeth, tossing and turning, and getting on my last GD nerve...all because they didn't submit an origianl BC...GRRRR!

Our lawyer does not think we will hear anything more on this matter. Let us hope not. Keep your fingers crossed.

So the deal is that back in 1994 when the USC/LPR spouse that filed was from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, or Haiti, you were supposed to submit a certified copy/original birth certificate, where as now you only submit copies and bring the originals to the interview, because they were having so many problems with the birth certificates from those countrys.

So here is the next scoop. The reason that our I-130 in Vermont has just been sitting there for 7 months now is because the "file of Alex" that immigration keeps on each person has been sitting in Boston in the trial attorney division because they needed the file because we were in court in December 2007, January 2008, and instead sending it on its way...they didn't because the trial attorney knew they would be filing the motion to pretermit. So yesterday, our lawyer asked the trial attorney if he could please bring the file down to such and such office so it could be sent out to Vermont to this woman...he even knew her name...to adjudicate our I-130. He said he wants to get the entire file/situation back to Boston but we are all stuck until the I-130 is done in Vermont. The trial attorney said he wasn't sure if he could do that yet. :pullinghair: :censored: :bang:

So I asked our lawyer rhetorically, "so you mean to tell me nothing has been done in Vermont/I-130 because the trial attorney had that file...couldn't someone make a photcopy of the damn thing?!?" He said no, that the original file had to be used at each step of the way. :wha:

He also said he would love to have a copy of the file, but that can take up to 8 months to get a copy...once your make the request the file is shipped off to Missouri where they photo copy things for immigration...and gets in line behind all the other files waiting to be copied. Again, I said you got to be kidding me! Eight months to get a fricking file photocopied, could we find a less efficient way to run an operation. :wha::curse:

His repsonse was that is the whole reason he did not request one before because he didn't want to slow things down...he thought our I-130 would have been at the local office in Boston by now.

[Pinkpig]

Jveli,

Thanks for sharing.

It just gets more absurd, doesn't it?

I agree with you, can it get any less efficient?

I do not want my government running anything else.

Dealing with immigration has opened my eyes wide to how ineffectively our government works.

Absolute nonsense!!!!

Hope things start to move for you soon.

Good Luck!

[Caribbeanman]

Jveli, remembered that A file situation with my case all to well.

The local office could not conduct my interview b/c they told me they had to send the file back b/c they needed it for my hearing after the file had been sitting there for 2 weeks before i had to make an appt to find out what's going on.

[jveli]

Oh...so they call it an A file...and yes I do remember your situation I just didn't put two and two together.

I just do not understand why things have to take so damn long. Our lawyer said that they need to revamp the process for people who are in removal proceedings because it is clogging up the court system. Those I-130s should be processed by the centers quickly and moved on to the local office where the court hearings, interviews, and actual adjudication of I-130s etc. are conducted.

Who knows. He says he might put in a phone call to his old boss to see if he can get the file out of the trial attorney division and shipped out to Vermont but he has to think about it...he only has so many chips he can cash in...and I understand this...but good God.

[y14gemini]

I am glad that everything went in your favor at court! :) I am just sorry the process is so slow and a bunch of nonsense!

[dianna832]

Oh Jveli!!! Nice to see you have posted.. :) We were kinda worried here... Well.. I'm glad and now relieved that the trail attorney did not find anything to have your case terminated... I'm happy that everything went well :D

Now back to that waiting game!!:waiting::waiting:

[katy_brovig]

Jveli, thanks so, so much for sharing. I truly hope that after all that, you've been able to RELAX, for goodness sake. I really feel for you. This is CRAZY! I can't believe how utterly whack this system is ... I also hope it brings you some sense of relief that the judge wasn't buying the trial attorney's spiel. It sounds like really good news. (Speaking of immigration court judges, which one did you have? My husband went before Judge Kramer there in Boston.)

Also, thanks for the heads up re. the A file. I actually did ask our lawyer whether she knows for sure if ours is physically at VSC. She said it is, but will ask again at her next InfoPass appt. to make sure. (My husband's last court date was in March, so I'm thinking SURELY it's back at VSC by now.)

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks again for sharing, and congratulations for getting through that. Now let's just pray the teeth-grinding stops! :)

[jveli]

Katy- You are very welcome. Sharing is venting to me, it helps me get all the bad stuff out or at least some of it. Life is tough all around right now. I just wish it would let up some. Anyways...the judge we had was Robyn Fedder...we have her everytime we go. She seems nice enough, straight forward. And she was right, there is a big difference between my husbands first marriage being inadmissable or fraudelent, and it being denied because they submitted a photocopied BC instead of a original.

It just shows you how far the government will go to find any reason to send "those immigrants" home. Pisses me off! Why don't they go after some immigrant who is a criminal, who is a danger to society? You know why? Because the "law abiding" undocumented immigrants are easier to find, easier to bring in, easier to intimidate. Why? Because they have jobs, families, kids, friends, they have made a life for themselves. In our country they catch the undocumented criminals make them serve their time in our jails and prisons, waste more of our money, and than send the criminals back to their country...after they have wasted thousands of dollars...mind you the average inmate cost the average system $29,000 per year and that was from a study a couple years old. All the while giving the illegal a chance to file motions, etc. Attempting to free themselves from all their situations, while the hardworking immigrants get the shaft.

[Caribbeanman]

Ok Jveli and Kathy something to keep a note of.


If after numerous hearings and the I-130 is still not approved the Judge will administratively close the case.The reason is they cannot keep a case on the docket for long periods,now when the I-130 is approved your lawyers will have to file a motion to recalendar.When the case is back in the immigration court 99% of the times you DO NOT get the same Judge that you had originally....something to keep in mind and i thought i should share that with you all.

[jveli]

Interesting. I wonder if the judge administratively closing the case has anything to do with the 6th Amendment right to a speedy trial.

[katy_brovig]

In our country they catch the undocumented criminals make them serve their time in our jails and prisons, waste more of our money, and than send the criminals back to their country...after they have wasted thousands of dollars...mind you the average inmate cost the average system $29,000 per year and that was from a study a couple years old. All the while giving the illegal a chance to file motions, etc. Attempting to free themselves from all their situations, while the hardworking immigrants get the shaft.

I hear you! That's one of the things that's killing me about this system, that we are just so very powerless and at the mercy of a very slow, lumbering, and kinda silly bureaucracy. I hate to say it, but this is why I give props to McCain. He may be wimping out now, but for a while there, he really put his senate seat on the line to try and push immigration reform. No matter how much he frustrates me on other issues, I'll always see that as pretty courageous. He was forced to become an expert on immigration, being from a border state. I haven't heard much from Obama on immigration reform (aside from a few sentences here and there), but I'm definitely eager to see if he's got a well-formulated plan.

Anyway, Jveli, I wanted to let you know (since you're also at VSC) that our I-130 was FINALLY transferred to the local office (in our case, Houston) so we can be scheduled for an interview. I'm not sure if you're also waiting for your case to be transferred, but if you are, I'm hoping this means they're working on the pile of files for I-130s for people in removal proceedings.

[jveli]

Katy- I am glad to hear that your I-130 was processed and transferred. However, for us, considering that as of Thursday June 19th the "A file" was still sitting in the possession of the trial attorney division my assumption is it will be a while before our case is transferred...I hope by the end of the summer.

[james]

glad to hear it all worked out~

[Kolken]

Jveli,

Thanks for sharing.

It just gets more absurd, doesn't it?

I agree with you, can it get any less efficient?

I do not want my government running anything else.

Dealing with immigration has opened my eyes wide to how ineffectively our government works.

Absolute nonsense!!!!

Hope things start to move for you soon.

Good Luck!

Quoted for truth.

[Kolken]

I haven't heard much from Obama on immigration reform (aside from a few sentences here and there), but I'm definitely eager to see if he's got a well-formulated plan.

Obama's entire platform is based on a catch phrase.

If you want to vote for someone who actually understands the immigration problem, and has rolled up their sleeves in an attempt to find a solution, McCain is your only option.

[Caribbeanman]

Kolken,I have heard some lawyers say that you really do not know if the fingerprints/namecheck is cleared until you go to the actual hearing,would you say that is somewhat accurate?

[katy_brovig]

If you want to vote for someone who actually understands the immigration problem, and has rolled up their sleeves in an attempt to find a solution, McCain is your only option.

And yet he wasn't able to pass any legislation, either, and that was with Bush's support. I really thought the stars were aligned for it to happen. Beginning to think there's no way during my lifetime any real reform will ever hit the books. Shoot, with what I'm hearing from Jveli, USCIS functions with circa 1982 technology. It's not a nimble beast, that USCIS, to say nothing of the politics.

Speaking of which, I asked the media relations guy about that whole "can't do anything with your file if we don't have the original" stuff that Jveli talked about. (That really blew my mind.) Not that this is good news, but it's something. What he said:

Different agencies needing the same file at the same time is a problem we talked about before. We are about a year into a pilot program to digitizing A-files so we can work on cases at the same time as the trial lawyers. But until that program is ready for prime time, we have to use the same process we have for decades.

I don't know what the process is that USCIS has used for decades, but I'm gathering it's not exactly on the cutting edge.