F4 priority date passed 7 years ago but did not receive any notice

K

kirankb

New Member
My Dad's F4 was filed by her sister(US citizen) in April 1995. I have been having hard time tracing the case now. I have sent email to NVC about status of the case.

As of October 2010, F-4 visa for India is on priority date of Dec 2001. That is petition date of 1995 should have received the visa 6 or 7 years back.

I reached Chennai Consulate but then they pointed me back to NVC and I am not getting any feedback from NVC.

Couple of friends suggested me to work with an immigration lawyer to trace the case and get it approved.

Please advice.
 
Do you have an old INS case number? If so, file an I-824 with USCIS for action on an approved petition. You are in a danger zone since so much time has passed. If there was a change of address that never got reported, they may have previously attempted contact in the past and gave up. Don't know how they would treat that situation.
 
Actually, the F4 PD of April 1995 became current on Sept 1, 2006 (see Sept 2006 bulletin) , little over 4 years ago, not 7 years as you are suggesting. Either cases, it's been a long time.
 
Don't worry, once your dad's F-4 petition is approved, your dad has a lifetime to apply , there is no expiration. BUT no where in your post does it mention if the petition was approved or not, was it?
Good Luck

p.s., you don't need an attorney!
 
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from my understanding, he has one year to adjust status once a visa # is available. in your case, its been four...
 
enochy said:
from my understanding, he has one year to adjust status once a visa # is available. in your case, its been four...
Click to expand...

I believe that is for the derivatives. I know for a fact that the OP's dad can file an I-485 whenever he wants.
 
Thank you all for the response.
I am having hard time tracing the case status. We don't know for sure whether it was approved or pending.
I sent an email to NVC inquiring about case status but I never get a response. I tried calling them but it puts me on hold for a long time.
 
This is what we heard from NVC. The case is terminated and destroyed because we didn't respond within a year. Honestly, we did not receive any notification because the address where we used to live does not exist anymore.

Is it possible to work with a lawyer and he can do something about this case? May be Rajiv Khanna can help in this?

> The referenced application for an immigrant visa went through the
> termination process and was destroyed in accordance with INA 203(g). An
> alien's registration for an immigrant visa shall be terminated if, within
> one year after notification of the availability of an immigrant visa, the
> applicant fails to apply for an immigrant visa.
>
>
>
> If the beneficiary wishes to immigrate, the petitioner must file a new
> petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS -formerly known
> as INS). You may contact them at 1 (800) 375-5283 or visit the CIS web site
> for additional information at uscis.gov.
 
kirankb said:
This is what we heard from NVC. The case is terminated and destroyed because we didn't respond within a year. Honestly, we did not receive any notification because the address where we used to live does not exist anymore.
Click to expand...

Did you ever notify them of your new address?
 
We did not notify of the address change. We changed so many times.

Is this case completely destroyed as they say? Or is there any possibility to fight for it with the help of a lawyer?

I don't want to shed some money for consultation, processing, etc when there is no hope.

Please advice.
 
INA 203

(g) Lists.- For purposes of carrying out the Secretary's responsibilities in the orderly administration of this section, the Secretary of State may make reasonable estimates of the anticipated numbers of visas to be issued during any quarter of any fiscal year within each of the categories under subsections (a), (b), and (c) and to rely upon such estimates in authorizing the issuance of visas. The Secretary of State shall terminate the registration of any alien who fails to apply for an immigrant visa within one year following notification to the alien of the availability of such visa, but the Secretary shall reinstate the registration of any such alien who establishes within 2 years following the date of notification of the availability of such visa that such failure to apply was due to circumstances beyond the alien's control.
 
SEE:
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2010/08/20/09-15672.pdf A case from Aug. 2010, about a case dating back to notices sent in 2000.

This is a recent case about a similar situation In the cited case, the State Department did NOT send anything to the beneficiary, instead, they mailed to the attorney hired by the petitioner to file to I-130. THAT was improper notification. If you can find out how and to whom notice was actually sent and it turns out that they did not actually send anything to the beneficiary, then you have a case for re-instatement of the petition with the original priority date. It would probably require reconstructing the petition and evidence. It is worth exploring with an attorney.
 
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