Expedite Request Process Help!!!

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blizzard102

Registered Users (C)
Dear Reader,

I am a college student who is in a very competitive program through which about 25 applicants from around the country will get admission into the Medical College of Virginia. But the catch is the we have to permanent residents and that hasn't happened yet. We are on the final stages of it just waiting for the I485 approval!
I recently called the USCIS and talked to one of the customer representatives and told them that I would like to petition for my application processing to be expedited because if I do not have my Greencard by June 1st, 2009 I will lose my spot in medical school; I will lose everything that I have worked for until now.
After I explained my situation a little bit, she took down all my information and submitted the application under the "Extreme Emergency" category and she said that I would hear back from the Agency in 5 days.

My question, I hope you can get to this on time, is what do you think the next step of the process will be? How should I prepare for this? What is the likelihood that my request will be granted? What documents do I need?

I can definitely use any advise, input, criticism at this point. I am a 20 year old kid who is completely lost and is desperately looking for some kind of direction! Please help and God Bless
 
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They couldn't care less about the negative consequence of their slow processing. I would be shocked if they grant you expedited processing. If its that easy everyone would ask for it.
 
wow not assuring but thank you for your post!

How freqeuntly do they grant the expedite request? Have you heard of cases where they have granted it?
 
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blizzard102 said:
wow not assuring but thank you for your post!

How freqeuntly do they grant the expedite request? Have you heard of cases where they have granted it?
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To the best of my knowledge, no expedite processing for I485 approval except under very limited circumstances mainly for major benefit of US (Nobel prize winner, athlete almost 100% will win Olympic medal and can carry the flag of US in the opening ceremony, unique economist who can fix the economy of US during those days …..etc). This is because you are fighting with three main issues: Security check up which no way to be expedited or get around it, priority date which is a federal law and unless legislated no one can be approved before that and the least important is your place in the line and how many applicants applied before you which you may get around if there is an emergent, humanitarian, very big real economic loss and so on. Not because you just want to join medical school with many thousands more or less highly qualified applying for the same spot and ready to take it and at the same time those medical school can sponsor you visa if you are that competitive candidate (many study in US medical schools with visa). Additionally almost all GC applicants want their GC to improve their quality of life by joining better quality of job, better education opportunity and so on . Any how good luck.
 
good god! by sound of things in think i have a snowball's chance in hell for things to work out!
woow i guess that puts things in perspective a bit... Thank you for being honest...

I guess I better start training for the olympics :(

Thank you again for your post
 
blizzard102,
I would say go with the conviction that you have to get USCIS to expedite your application. Of course, USCIS doesn't expedite every request that they receive, see here for more details: http://www.binghamton.edu/isss/new/2006/OPTWorkAth.htm
Few things to keep in mind:
How long has been your I-485 application been pending? If it's been more than six months, the name check/background check will not be an issue that will stop USCIS from adjudicating your AOS/I-485.
Are you the primary applicant? If yes, fine. If yous is a dependent application, the primary has to be approved first.
Is your priority date current? If so, good.
In other words, you want to make sure that in absence of any expedited treatment, your application is approvable. Now once you have figured that out, talk to your congress person and ask for their help in expediting your application. Try your best to convince them that this is really a life altering issue for you and you will be greatly harmed if a decision is not made on your I-485.
Good luck.
blizzard102 said:
good god! by sound of things in think i have a snowball's chance in hell for things to work out!
woow i guess that puts things in perspective a bit... Thank you for being honest...

I guess I better start training for the olympics :(

Thank you again for your post
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Thank you very much!

Thank you jefkorn! your input at least give me a little hope...

anyways here is the timeline for the different facets of the applicaiton:

3. I140 – immigration petition applied - June 20,2007
4. I140 – immigration petition approved - February 28,2008
5. Employment Authorization applied - June 20,2007
6. Employment Authorization approved – August 10,,2007
7. Travel Authorization (advance parole) applied – June 20,2007
8. Travel Authorization (advance parole) approved – August 03,2007
9. Social Security # allocated - August 22,2007.
10. I485 – adjustment of Status applied June 20,2007 (concurrent filing with I140)

I am not the primary Applicant since I was on H4 status depending on my father's H1 visa.

However, when I asked the customer service agent at the USCIS they said that I could submit the petition for my case. I don't know whether this is true or not but that is what she said.

I did not submit the petition through Fax because they have new rules now, which require the and expedite request petition should be done over the phone.

They said I would hear back in 5 days but nothing yet. I submitted it on Thursday Oct 23rd, 2008. So im still keeping my fingers crossed!!

Thank you again for your input....
 
good luck. keep in mind that you could convince your college program to accept you on EAD.
As far as USCIS, don't have big hopes. they dont care. there are emergency cases where people could loose their status, still they dont care. Probably because none of these employees know what it is to be like us. I wish they knew they are dealing with lives and not papers, and some training on the consequences of their actions.
 
blizzard102 said:
Thank you jefkorn! your input at least give me a little hope...

anyways here is the timeline for the different facets of the applicaiton:

3. I140 – immigration petition applied - June 20,2007
4. I140 – immigration petition approved - February 28,2008
5. Employment Authorization applied - June 20,2007
6. Employment Authorization approved – August 10,,2007
7. Travel Authorization (advance parole) applied – June 20,2007
8. Travel Authorization (advance parole) approved – August 03,2007
9. Social Security # allocated - August 22,2007.
10. I485 – adjustment of Status applied June 20,2007 (concurrent filing with I140)

I am not the primary Applicant since I was on H4 status depending on my father's H1 visa.

However, when I asked the customer service agent at the USCIS they said that I could submit the petition for my case. I don't know whether this is true or not but that is what she said.

I did not submit the petition through Fax because they have new rules now, which require the and expedite request petition should be done over the phone.

They said I would hear back in 5 days but nothing yet. I submitted it on Thursday Oct 23rd, 2008. So im still keeping my fingers crossed!!

Thank you again for your input....
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Unless you are from India or China, I think you have a very good chance of getting your green cards before June 1 2009 even without expedited processing. If you are from India or China though, and your father's I-140 is in a non-EB-1 category, I'm afraid things might be a little tough.
 
Thank you all again for your responses...

So I learned that even after the priority date becomes current, there is still about 6-8 months of processing time left....

And I am from India, so the priority date is not going to come anytime soon, because as of the November Bulletin, I think it is on October 2001 (Please correct me if I am wrong)

So things are not looking good... but I guess one never knows what is going to happen...
 
Strictly speaking, when your Priority date becomes current according to the published visa bulletin, you I-485 is eligible for final adjudication starting the first of the month following the month in which the visa bulletin is published. Now USCIS **should** adjudicate your I-485 and approve it if it's approvable BUT it doesn't always do that with a level of consistency and predictability that you would expect. The situation is better for those who go for consular processing (CP) in which applicant has to appear for an interview at the US consulate abroad as opposed to adjustment of status(AOS) which is done while the applicant remains in US. In case of CP, the consulates almost always schedule an interview within 60 days of dates becoming current and close out (adjudicate/approve) cases. See here for more details on CP: http://immigration-information.com/forums/showthread.php?t=536
If you priority date is not current, sadly there isn't much you can do at this point. If you are married to someone whose country of birth is other than India you can use something called cross chargeability that allows you to utilize your spouse's priority date which could save you a lot of wait for your own priority date to become current. Look it up in this forum or online, you will find what it is.
blizzard102 said:
Thank you all again for your responses...

So I learned that even after the priority date becomes current, there is still about 6-8 months of processing time left....

And I am from India, so the priority date is not going to come anytime soon, because as of the November Bulletin, I think it is on October 2001 (Please correct me if I am wrong)

So things are not looking good... but I guess one never knows what is going to happen...
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So I guess I can't do anything till the priority date come here...

and then there adjudication process after....

Had anyone heard anything about a Pre-adjudicate process where all the processing is done before hand and then as soon as the date hits, then its will take considerably less time to go forward from there....

Also does anyone have any tips on contacting politicians such as senators, and representatives etc.?

What is the most effective way of doing this?


Thank you all again for all your help and input... I do look forward to any input...
 
Forget about USCIS, they won't do anything to expedite your case. There are thousands of people in the immigration queue whose situations worse than yours, who have been waiting longer than you.

But you may possibly have some success with the college. After you are accepted (not before! don't give them a reason to reject you beforehand), talk to a senior admissions officer or another senior official at the college, in person if possible, and explain your situation. It is possible they can be convinced to accept you with your pending Adjustment of Status and EAD.

And if that doesn't work, ask for deferred admission (allowing you to start 1 or 2 years later).

And apply to other schools. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Budget cuts or some other unforeseen circumstance occurring before you start could cause them to cut the number of people accepted to 15 or 20, and you lose your spot.
 
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okay so there has been some developments....

I just talked to my dad and today we got a letter from USCIS saying that they recognize that this is an emergency and they need more documentation... or something to that sense...

has anyone heard of someone getting this notice? I was browsing the forum earlier this month and i think i saw this on some thread....
does anyone know about this letter?

Is this some generic letter that they send out before they reject you?

Or does this letter actually mean something?

another thing... what kind of documentations should i send them?

thank you all again for your help...
 
did you raise an SR on this?. It could be just another letter. but be positive and provide evidence why you think it is emergency. I would get help from a lawyer to draft it. May be there is a real one out there who think for poor applicants.who knows
 
Provide them the proof of your circumstances, They want to make sure that you are trying to get them to expedite your case because of something which will constitute an emergency. Don't give them any reason to doubt your claim and keep up positive attitude. You should be good. I'm not sure if you need to hire a lawyer to do all this. Draft a cover letter re-iterating the gravity of your situation and summarize the supporting evidence. You may want to get letter or some sort of communication, from the college where you are trying to apply. It should essentially state that you will not be admitted unless you have a GC.
 
False Alert :(

Thank you everyone for all your enthusiastic replies and advice. I really appreciate all of your support and prayers.

But unfortunately after I myself read the actual letter that was sent, I realized that it was a rejection letter. I just kind of jumped the gun a little bit when I heard something from my dad.

"Due to the high volume of the expedite request for this case type, we are strictly enforcing the criteria that has been set for these expedite requests. While your situation appears serious, you have not provided evidence of an extreme emergent need."

But I'm not going to lose hope. I am waiting for the election to be over so that I can start contacting politicians.

I had a question, what is the average processing time for the application after the priority date is current? I have heard different numbers and I would just like to know...

I will keep all of you guys posted and thank you again for helping me in a very important and turbulent phase of my life.
 
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