Anonymous wrote:OP, here are several things:
1) immigration attorneys are useless in situations like this (they are useful in others though)
2) you need to keep phoning USCIS, if need be, tell them closer to summer that it’s an emergency and have them give you an in person appointment to get some sort of stamp or emergency travel document
3) DO NOT enter as a visa holder! This will cancel out your application for the green card. Seek emergency travel document.
4) immigration forums like redbus and others are super useful in giving tips. Try to find out how to reach a human at USCIS.
5) the first human you reach at USCIS may not help you. You need to ask for a level 2 officer. The first POC is usually just a customer service “specialist” who knows nothing
6) I have heard that nowadays they don’t connect you but offer a callback

Good luck! Your only hope is reaching USCIS via phone. Don’t listen to people who tell you to respect the backlog. Your documents might never get processed if you don’t hustle

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?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly might consider going to visit family without your son?

It's something that crossed my mind but I think my son would be devastated.

Anonymous wrote:I would absolutely prioritize your child's legal status over vacation. The situation sucks and the system is broken.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have green cards or are you on visas? What status did your son have before you applied for his green card?

this? As someone who was a green card holder now a dual citizen ( UK/US) I’m confused about this too.

We are all on G4 visas. DH and I are not eligible for green cards.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:I would push harder at Raskins' office and email the senators as well. Call, email, etc. Can't hurt.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I’m so sorry. The delays are really brutal. My friend was visiting his in laws and waiting for his new wife’s green card to clear when the pandemic hit. He has to return to the US for work in person last year. She was FINALLY allowed to join him this month. Hoping your son is able to travel this summer and the green card gets sorted sometime.

Anonymous wrote:I get your frustration, OP, but you can visit virtually on Zoom. Is it the same? Of course not. Is it a reasonable thing to do in a pandemic when it is impossible to risk international travel without jeopardizing your DS' future status? Yes.

If neither your lawyer nor your representatives can help expedite the process, I don't know what you expect DCUM to do except offer reasonable alternatives. Another reasonable alternative is to leave your DS in the US with friends or family while you visit.

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.

Me again. Just want to note that my children are US citizens, so they can leave and come back whenever they want. My husband and myself are the visa-holders and green card applicants.