Green card woes - what to do?

[Anonymous]

You ‘abandon’ the Green Card process now after you deliberately put your undocumented son on the government’s radar he could end up flagged for deportation on the next flight.

[Anonymous]

This seems relatively new
https://helpingdesi.com/uscis-customer-service-talk-to-a-person/

Now, trackitt is another useful forum. You may get more help there than here.

Don’t hesitate to state it’s an emergency. “Yeah we don’t have the doctors note yet but I hear things are pretty bad”.

Also, not every level 2 officer is the same in terms of both compassion and competence. Took me several tries to get to someone who was actually knowledgeable, took the time to listen to me and to tell me what was doing on! He made a note on my file and when my GC didn’t get approved by the time he mentioned, I had no problem filing a “complaint” and it finally got things moving.

Again, good luck! (I am the one who suggested redbus)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is pre-covid, so maybe different now, but when I used to apply for green cards for clients (part of my pro bono work for asylum seekers), when they were waiting for travel authorization, if they had imminent travel you could write to the processing facility asking for expedited processing, citing whatever reasons you have - urgent need to travel etc. Have you done this?

I was told by Raskin's office we would need to produce some sort of proof of an emergency (eg medical diagnosis for parents). In reality, despite my FIL having had cancer in the past and the fact both of my parents in law are in their eighties, there is no immediate medical issue.

I don’t mean write to Raskin (though do that as well), I mean write to USCIS. Find a way to describe the urgency - don’t lie, obviously - but you don’t need proof because it’s not a formal process of any kind. Of course whatever proof you have will help but if you don’t have any you’re basically just appealing to them. As I said, pre-COVID I did this and the reasons weren’t real emergencies, more just important meetings or need to see elderly unwell relatives, etc. we always got the travel authorizations pretty soon after this, so it definitely used to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The last few years have been HELL on visa and green card applicants, OP.

There are hundreds of thousands of families all over the world who are currently separated because USCIS is taking way too long. Reasons for this are threefold:
1. Trump paved the way by defunding USCIS while in office.
2. Then the pandemic hit, and USCIS, operating on nothing bu fume, was forced into closing its offices. Some people worked from home, but visas and green card processing times started taking much longer.
3. Biden is not doing much to help USCIS, since it actually suits him fine to employ Americans first, and people like your son are not his administration's priority.

We are currently filing for a green card, after more than a decade on a series of visas, and our last visa filing this summer/fall was rough. We were told to expect a wait of THREE HUNDRED DAYS in our home country for the visa interview (which is merely a rubber-stamping of our already approved application, in our case). Luckily we managed to get an expedited appointment, but we had to leave our home in the US and pull our kids from school so we could stay in our home country for an indeterminate amount of time. Not knowing how long we would have to be away was incredibly stressful on our preparations for our departure. How do you plan for house and pets when you don't know when you'll return?
Anyway, it was a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone.

My oldest is applying to unis abroad, and if we're barred from leaving the US because our application is still in limbo, we will not be able to accompany him or go to him if he has any sort of problem. That's another scary thought.

Immigration lawyers have sought clarification from the US government, and indeed a group of lawyers filed suit against the Federal government on behalf of their clients stuck in never-ending visa and green card processes, to no avail.
We are just not on their radar right now.

Best of luck.

You seem to have everything about the US. Why are you working so hard to stay?

*hate, not have

Where are you getting that? We love living here. My children are American. But I'm a realist and I recognize that visas and green card processing are a category of government services that has been extremely impacted during the pandemic, and were never well funded to start with. Trump had openly xenophobic views and it made sense he didn't want to support that department, but Biden, despite being a Democrat, isn't about to be accused of giving jobs to foreigners - it's a bit like Obama quietly deporting lots of people south of the Border while in office.

I agree with the posters who said that USCIS procedures are antiquated. The interview requirement, for example, could have been waived much sooner than it was, for certain visa categories. We were among the last to be forced to leave the US, wait in our home country for a lengthy period of time, and get a ONE minute interview with a consular officer: what an upheaval of our lives for a mere show that they interviewed us! Now I understand this requirement is waived because they just couldn't go on like this. I'm sure there are many other things they could cut. Our last visa application was more than 5 inches thick, our green card file is even more incredibly detailed... at some point, they have to recognize when they've vetted a candidate enough, and just approve them already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The last few years have been HELL on visa and green card applicants, OP.

There are hundreds of thousands of families all over the world who are currently separated because USCIS is taking way too long. Reasons for this are threefold:
1. Trump paved the way by defunding USCIS while in office.
2. Then the pandemic hit, and USCIS, operating on nothing bu fume, was forced into closing its offices. Some people worked from home, but visas and green card processing times started taking much longer.
3. Biden is not doing much to help USCIS, since it actually suits him fine to employ Americans first, and people like your son are not his administration's priority.

We are currently filing for a green card, after more than a decade on a series of visas, and our last visa filing this summer/fall was rough. We were told to expect a wait of THREE HUNDRED DAYS in our home country for the visa interview (which is merely a rubber-stamping of our already approved application, in our case). Luckily we managed to get an expedited appointment, but we had to leave our home in the US and pull our kids from school so we could stay in our home country for an indeterminate amount of time. Not knowing how long we would have to be away was incredibly stressful on our preparations for our departure. How do you plan for house and pets when you don't know when you'll return?
Anyway, it was a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone.

My oldest is applying to unis abroad, and if we're barred from leaving the US because our application is still in limbo, we will not be able to accompany him or go to him if he has any sort of problem. That's another scary thought.

Immigration lawyers have sought clarification from the US government, and indeed a group of lawyers filed suit against the Federal government on behalf of their clients stuck in never-ending visa and green card processes, to no avail.
We are just not on their radar right now.

Best of luck.

You seem to have everything about the US. Why are you working so hard to stay?

*hate, not have

Where are you getting that? We love living here. My children are American. But I'm a realist and I recognize that visas and green card processing are a category of government services that has been extremely impacted during the pandemic, and were never well funded to start with. Trump had openly xenophobic views and it made sense he didn't want to support that department, but Biden, despite being a Democrat, isn't about to be accused of giving jobs to foreigners - it's a bit like Obama quietly deporting lots of people south of the Border while in office.

I agree with the posters who said that USCIS procedures are antiquated. The interview requirement, for example, could have been waived much sooner than it was, for certain visa categories. We were among the last to be forced to leave the US, wait in our home country for a lengthy period of time, and get a ONE minute interview with a consular officer: what an upheaval of our lives for a mere show that they interviewed us! Now I understand this requirement is waived because they just couldn't go on like this. I'm sure there are many other things they could cut. Our last visa application was more than 5 inches thick, our green card file is even more incredibly detailed... at some point, they have to recognize when they've vetted a candidate enough, and just approve them already.

Yeah...never going to happen. The 9/11 attackers all had perfectly valid visas while they stayed in this country and took flight lessons in North Carolina.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you just need to be patient and wait. Yes, it absolutely sucks. But so does getting Covid and it's possible the office processing these permits or green cards has had a third to half of the staff out with Covid, in ADDITION to people quitting for all kinds of various reasons. Respect the backlog. Your desire for a vacation is not more important than other people's lives.

Uh, no. USCIS red tape just sucks.

OP - the true and honest answer here is that the US immigration system is not set up for people to navigate it successfully. Unfortunately you are experiencing that in spades.

I'd search out other forums for this discussion - maybe reddit or elsewhere. Maybe speak with another attorney.

But you should be prepared to make the choice that is currently before you - abandon the green card (and the money already spent) or abandon the trip. USCIS has about $700 off of me as we were waiting on a renewal for a nanny. There's literally nothing you can do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to wait, like everyone else. I cannot believe the preciousness of your whiny post.

We got our green cards processed in Jan 2012 and had booked travel to the UK for the summer. But there was a blip on the form for my DD (the doctor checking the form had failed to mark an X by one of her current vaccinations) and her card was delayed while we had this corrected. So we canceled the whole trip - her card arriving just a day after we would have flown out.

This kind of thing happens all the time, even without a pandemic, but you have to understand that there are people desperate to be reunited with family members who are waiting under far more extreme circumstances. You are waiting for a trip back to the UK. Big flipping deal.

Just wait like everyone else. A lawyer cannot speed up a pile of forms, you're an idiot.

Well, at least OP isn't a jerk...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are thousands of people in the same boat as you, OP. This is not some unique situation. The entire green card/consular service situation is a clusterf*** right now.

I'm sure there are. I absolutely understand we may have to wait a very long time for his green card and am sure USCIS is being tested with the impact of an influx of refugee applications plus the effect of covid on staffing. The exasperating part is that the travel permit seems to be a pointless exercise. They could waive the need for travel permits and use those resources to process green cards, asylum applications, etc would make much more sense.

But then they couldn't rack up all their forfeited fees!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You ‘abandon’ the Green Card process now after you deliberately put your undocumented son on the government’s radar he could end up flagged for deportation on the next flight.

OP's child is not undocumented. The child is a dependent of a G-4 holder.

Children of G-4s are eligible to apply for green cards after a certain number of consecutive years of living in the US. When it applied to me in the 90s, it was 7 years and the clock only starting counting at age 5. So when I was 12, all we had to do was the paperwork with school records showing the proof of time in the U.S. and I was awarded a green card.

[Anonymous]

The answer is simple, stop booking ticket until he has a green card. This mess is of your own making. Processing times are insane everywhere. But booking a ticket it equally insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer is simple, stop booking ticket until he has a green card. This mess is of your own making. Processing times are insane everywhere. But booking a ticket it equally insane.

+1 100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my case the senators offices were useless. I just got form replies from both. Van Hollen was the congressman at the time and his staff were phenomenal at getting my situation resolved. I had my green card within 2 weeks. But this was before the pandemic. Raskin’s office may not be able to do much since the processing times are slow for everyone, so keep your expectations realistic.

But CVH is now the senator, so maybe he will be effective again.

[Anonymous]

Call USCIS and ask for an Infopass appointment.

[Anonymous]

OP when I was in this situation I followed the instructions and did not leave the country. Sure it was not during a pandemic but it did take years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer is simple, stop booking ticket until he has a green card. This mess is of your own making. Processing times are insane everywhere. But booking a ticket it equally insane.

+1 100%

Right? How is this so hard to understand. She wants to go on a vacation and keep booking tickets, and a vacation is so worth it to abandon the green card process which is not just about the green card, but about giving her child the option to work in two countries?
My family is in Europe, in a country that needs a visa for the U.S. Guess how many plane tickets they booked before they had the U.S. visa? None. Go on your own, op, and stop being stupid.