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DV 2022 AOS (Adjustment of Status) Only

Diamond_Water said:
@Sm1smom
sorry for double post, can I also include the copy of the lawyer's contract as an additional document?
Because I want to write it in the cover letter

Should I send the document separately or everything be in one envelope?
Because my parents received the letter separately
Click to expand...
I guess if you can successfully argue the no fault provision of the USCIS manual, that may be the miracle you’re looking for. Per the USCIS manual, a no fault provision may be used to overcome failure to continuously maintain lawful immigration status:

“An applicant’s failure to continuously maintain lawful immigration status or violation of nonimmigrant status may be excused only for the particular period of time under consideration if the applicant’s failure or violation was through no fault of his or her own or for technical reasons. [25]
The meaning of “other than through no fault of his or her own or for technical reasons” is limited to the following circumstances:[26]
  • Inaction of another person or organization designated by regulation to act on behalf of an applicant or over whose actions the applicant has no control, if the inaction is acknowledged by that person or organization; [27]”
www.uscis.gov

Chapter 4 - Status and Nonimmigrant Visa Violations (INA 245(c)(2) and INA 245(c)(8))

Any adjustment applicant is ineligible to adjust status under INA 245(a)
www.uscis.gov

A major obstacle I see here is getting the lawyer to acknowledge the inaction on their part though.

EDIT:
The manual has this exception listed though which may make your argument mute:
“This exception generally does not apply to most claims that an applicant’s attorney or representative provided ineffective counsel or failed to file an application or other documents to USCIS on the applicant’s behalf. [32] The applicant and the attorney or representative are both responsible for complying with all applicable USCIS filing requirements and official correspondence or requests for information, and the applicant has control over the actions of the representative.”
 
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Sm1smom said:
I guess if you can successfully argue the no fault provision of the USCIS manual, that may be the miracle you’re looking for. Per the USCIS manual, a no fault provision may be used to overcome failure to continuously maintain lawful immigration status:

“An applicant’s failure to continuously maintain lawful immigration status or violation of nonimmigrant status may be excused only for the particular period of time under consideration if the applicant’s failure or violation was through no fault of his or her own or for technical reasons. [25]
The meaning of “other than through no fault of his or her own or for technical reasons” is limited to the following circumstances:[26]
  • Inaction of another person or organization designated by regulation to act on behalf of an applicant or over whose actions the applicant has no control, if the inaction is acknowledged by that person or organization; [27]”
www.uscis.gov

Chapter 4 - Status and Nonimmigrant Visa Violations (INA 245(c)(2) and INA 245(c)(8))

Any adjustment applicant is ineligible to adjust status under INA 245(a)
www.uscis.gov

A major obstacle I see here is getting the lawyer to acknowledge the inaction on their part though. If you can get them to acknowledge that, I see the light at the end of the tunnel for your parents’ case,
Click to expand...
Does a lawyer meet the fact of ”designated by regulation to act on behalf of an applicant or over whose actions the applicant has no control” ?
 
Diamond_Water said:
Yeah, that's what we're trying to do
because other than that, they're trying to maintain their status
Click to expand...
SusieQQQ said:
Thanks - i had expected they would consider the applicant has control over the attorney (despite in practice i think many people might not feel that way, especially when they feel not in a position to make demands)
Click to expand...

That almost happened to my wife once. She was applying for an F-2 visa, and my school's international students' office helped to prepare our package and reviewed it. We put the forms in an envelope and sent them out, only to receive a "rejected because I did not sign" update two days before her status expired. So, not a lawyer, but a senior staff member whose job was to make sure the application is complete. We're lucky to be able to send a new application on time. Two more days of delay and our whole life would have been changed for the worst.

PS: Praying for your parents, hope they get through this.
 
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!!! my status just changed to

New Card Is Being Produced​

thank you to everyone here for answering (and asking!) basically every possible question. I got a lot of clarity and answers to questions I didn't end up needing to ask by searching old posts and following everyones journey.
I definitely did not stay calm throughout all of this even though I ultimately had a pretty smooth process, hope everyone else is holding up ok and my fingers are crossed tightly for all still waiting!!
 
namyahc1 said:
!!! my status just changed to

New Card Is Being Produced​

thank you to everyone here for answering (and asking!) basically every possible question. I got a lot of clarity and answers to questions I didn't end up needing to ask by searching old posts and following everyones journey.
I definitely did not stay calm throughout all of this even though I ultimately had a pretty smooth process, hope everyone else is holding up ok and my fingers are crossed tightly for all still waiting!!
Click to expand...
Congratulations!
 
Hello, dear members. My case was approved last week, and I would like to say thank you for this wonderful forum that gives so much useful information. Special thanks to Mom and Susie for taking your time and guiding so many people here.

Let me share my experience as well in case it helps someone.

Lawyers can be a scam. When I found out that I was selected, a friend of mine suggested using his lawyer to file my case. At that moment I didn’t know about this forum, so I agreed to have a conversation with the lawyer and see if I like him or not. Even though I didn’t know about the forum, I learned some information about AOS in the US on YouTube. A girl made a video about her DV AOS experience and she filed her case without a lawyer. Later in the comments, I saw that she mentioned that she used help from this forum, and this is how I found this wonderful community. Going back to that lawyer, I had a call with him and he immediately said that he was ready to take my case and that we should file ASAP and I would get my EAD in a couple of months. I must say here that it was June/July 21 and our fiscal year didn’t even start yet lol. He said that his service costs $900 plus I need to pay for my case delivery via mail. Of course, I asked him if he was familiar with DV AOS cases and he told me that he has them every year and his favorite one was when there were no available visas left, he sent the case to the court, came there, and told the judge to give visa and judge gave visa to a woman and her family. This sounded to me like some kind of a scam, so I spoke with my friend again and he said that this guy is not even a lawyer but a paralegal. I decided to keep looking or trying to apply by myself. Spoiler: I didn’t look and applied by myself. Later on, when I started reading this forum I saw old members mention that usually there are around 100 cases per year within the US… which makes it impossible for that guy to have a client every year lol honestly I doubt that he had any cases at all. But the craziest part is about fighting for a visa like he is a magician. How would he change immigration rules? Just a big mouth lol and thanks again guys, especially Susie and Mom for saying the brutal truth about “lawyers” like this.

If you are new and just found this forum, spend some time reading the previous year's thread. I’ve read all pages of DV21 and honestly, I found answers to all my questions. Literally all. Those questions were asked in every possible format, so you get any kind of answers which makes it easier to understand the process of AOS. If you find this forum late when you are close to the end of the fiscal year or your case is already in the process, of course it is easier just to ask question directly. I was saving all posts about my FO or how people assemble/fill out their cases and it helped me to prepare my forms and case itself.

Be patient and be grateful. I became current early but due to personal reasons, I applied only in January. After about a month I was scheduled for a bio appointment and after that, it was silent till July. In July I received my interview notice and then I got medical RFE and waited almost a month for any update after. Did it feel like it was a long wait time? Yes. Was it a long wait time? No. When I was reading the previous year's thread, I saw one phrase that stuck in my head. I don’t remember it word for word but the main idea was “keep in mind that we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to get our GC just in one year while other people go through several years just waiting for the interview and so on”. So yes, keep doing as much as possible but also be patient.

Interview experience. My interview was very simple and was less than 30 minutes. My IO asked for my date of birth, I provided new documents that I had, and we went through a couple of yes/no questions.

RFE experience. Well, getting RFE was my fault. I was mad at myself for this if you can, please, don’t make my mistake lol So I got RFE in 2 days after my interview and it said that I need to go back to my CS because he missed checkboxes on a couple of vaccines. I got all vaccines but he didn’t put the right mark on “age-inappropriate”. I am saying that this was my fault because when I did my medical, I didn’t ask for a copy. Don’t be me and ask for it, double check everything after. It will save your time!

Last but not least. I’ll go through all my documents and notes to build a timeline of my case and will add everything to the timesheet.

I wish good luck to everyone who is in the process still! Hopefully you’ll get a good news very soon as well.
 
Pizzapie said:
Be patient and be grateful. I became current early but due to personal reasons, I applied only in January. After about a month I was scheduled for a bio appointment and after that, it was silent till July. In July I received my interview notice and then I got medical RFE and waited almost a month for any update after. Did it feel like it was a long wait time? Yes. Was it a long wait time? No. When I was reading the previous year's thread, I saw one phrase that stuck in my head. I don’t remember it word for word but the main idea was “keep in mind that we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to get our GC just in one year while other people go through several years just waiting for the interview and so on”. So yes, keep doing as much as possible but also be patient.
Click to expand...
Yours is a great post and I agree mostly with everything in it. Yet, the process was so nerve-racking for me precisely because it was a limited time offer - everything or nothing kind of a situation. My case hasn't been picked up in H1 lottery for a few years in the row, yet it was not even close to the level of frustration when comparing to the DV ride. That being said, it'd probably be somewhat comforting to learn about approval ratios, at least for this forum's population. If in the end only about 1-2% of people on average miss out on the opportunity (for a variety of reasons; I made this number up), then likely you don't have to eat yourself and just let the process flow. With the recent rumor about potential visa shortage, I couldn't help but noticed the quickly increasing level of anxiety (understandable).
 
Pizzapie said:
Hello, dear members. My case was approved last week, and I would like to say thank you for this wonderful forum that gives so much useful information. Special thanks to Mom and Susie for taking your time and guiding so many people here.

Let me share my experience as well in case it helps someone.

Lawyers can be a scam. When I found out that I was selected, a friend of mine suggested using his lawyer to file my case. At that moment I didn’t know about this forum, so I agreed to have a conversation with the lawyer and see if I like him or not. Even though I didn’t know about the forum, I learned some information about AOS in the US on YouTube. A girl made a video about her DV AOS experience and she filed her case without a lawyer. Later in the comments, I saw that she mentioned that she used help from this forum, and this is how I found this wonderful community. Going back to that lawyer, I had a call with him and he immediately said that he was ready to take my case and that we should file ASAP and I would get my EAD in a couple of months. I must say here that it was June/July 21 and our fiscal year didn’t even start yet lol. He said that his service costs $900 plus I need to pay for my case delivery via mail. Of course, I asked him if he was familiar with DV AOS cases and he told me that he has them every year and his favorite one was when there were no available visas left, he sent the case to the court, came there, and told the judge to give visa and judge gave visa to a woman and her family. This sounded to me like some kind of a scam, so I spoke with my friend again and he said that this guy is not even a lawyer but a paralegal. I decided to keep looking or trying to apply by myself. Spoiler: I didn’t look and applied by myself. Later on, when I started reading this forum I saw old members mention that usually there are around 100 cases per year within the US… which makes it impossible for that guy to have a client every year lol honestly I doubt that he had any cases at all. But the craziest part is about fighting for a visa like he is a magician. How would he change immigration rules? Just a big mouth lol and thanks again guys, especially Susie and Mom for saying the brutal truth about “lawyers” like this.

If you are new and just found this forum, spend some time reading the previous year's thread. I’ve read all pages of DV21 and honestly, I found answers to all my questions. Literally all. Those questions were asked in every possible format, so you get any kind of answers which makes it easier to understand the process of AOS. If you find this forum late when you are close to the end of the fiscal year or your case is already in the process, of course it is easier just to ask question directly. I was saving all posts about my FO or how people assemble/fill out their cases and it helped me to prepare my forms and case itself.

Be patient and be grateful. I became current early but due to personal reasons, I applied only in January. After about a month I was scheduled for a bio appointment and after that, it was silent till July. In July I received my interview notice and then I got medical RFE and waited almost a month for any update after. Did it feel like it was a long wait time? Yes. Was it a long wait time? No. When I was reading the previous year's thread, I saw one phrase that stuck in my head. I don’t remember it word for word but the main idea was “keep in mind that we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to get our GC just in one year while other people go through several years just waiting for the interview and so on”. So yes, keep doing as much as possible but also be patient.

Interview experience. My interview was very simple and was less than 30 minutes. My IO asked for my date of birth, I provided new documents that I had, and we went through a couple of yes/no questions.

RFE experience. Well, getting RFE was my fault. I was mad at myself for this if you can, please, don’t make my mistake lol So I got RFE in 2 days after my interview and it said that I need to go back to my CS because he missed checkboxes on a couple of vaccines. I got all vaccines but he didn’t put the right mark on “age-inappropriate”. I am saying that this was my fault because when I did my medical, I didn’t ask for a copy. Don’t be me and ask for it, double check everything after. It will save your time!

Last but not least. I’ll go through all my documents and notes to build a timeline of my case and will add everything to the timesheet.

I wish good luck to everyone who is in the process still! Hopefully you’ll get a good news very soon as well.
Click to expand...
Great ! Thanks so much for that!
Can you please send the link of the YouTube video you watched of the girl doing her AOS? This will probably help us having another person experience. Thank you and super happy for you !
 
lolopolo said:
Yours is a great post and I agree mostly with everything in it. Yet, the process was so nerve-racking for me precisely because it was a limited time offer - everything or nothing kind of a situation. My case hasn't been picked up in H1 lottery for a few years in the row, yet it was not even close to the level of frustration when comparing to the DV ride. That being said, it'd probably be somewhat comforting to learn about approval ratios, at least for this forum's population. If in the end only about 1-2% of people on average miss out on the opportunity (for a variety of reasons; I made this number up), then likely you don't have to eat yourself and just let the process flow. With the recent rumor about potential visa shortage, I couldn't help but noticed the quickly increasing level of anxiety (understandable).
Click to expand...
Not gonna lie, when I saw first messages about the situation with visas this year, I stressed as well. By the way, congratulation on your approval!

P.S. cartoon on your profile picture is one of my favorite lol
 
Pizzapie said:
Hello, dear members. My case was approved last week, and I would like to say thank you for this wonderful forum that gives so much useful information. Special thanks to Mom and Susie for taking your time and guiding so many people here.

Let me share my experience as well in case it helps someone.

Lawyers can be a scam. When I found out that I was selected, a friend of mine suggested using his lawyer to file my case. At that moment I didn’t know about this forum, so I agreed to have a conversation with the lawyer and see if I like him or not. Even though I didn’t know about the forum, I learned some information about AOS in the US on YouTube. A girl made a video about her DV AOS experience and she filed her case without a lawyer. Later in the comments, I saw that she mentioned that she used help from this forum, and this is how I found this wonderful community. Going back to that lawyer, I had a call with him and he immediately said that he was ready to take my case and that we should file ASAP and I would get my EAD in a couple of months. I must say here that it was June/July 21 and our fiscal year didn’t even start yet lol. He said that his service costs $900 plus I need to pay for my case delivery via mail. Of course, I asked him if he was familiar with DV AOS cases and he told me that he has them every year and his favorite one was when there were no available visas left, he sent the case to the court, came there, and told the judge to give visa and judge gave visa to a woman and her family. This sounded to me like some kind of a scam, so I spoke with my friend again and he said that this guy is not even a lawyer but a paralegal. I decided to keep looking or trying to apply by myself. Spoiler: I didn’t look and applied by myself. Later on, when I started reading this forum I saw old members mention that usually there are around 100 cases per year within the US… which makes it impossible for that guy to have a client every year lol honestly I doubt that he had any cases at all. But the craziest part is about fighting for a visa like he is a magician. How would he change immigration rules? Just a big mouth lol and thanks again guys, especially Susie and Mom for saying the brutal truth about “lawyers” like this.

If you are new and just found this forum, spend some time reading the previous year's thread. I’ve read all pages of DV21 and honestly, I found answers to all my questions. Literally all. Those questions were asked in every possible format, so you get any kind of answers which makes it easier to understand the process of AOS. If you find this forum late when you are close to the end of the fiscal year or your case is already in the process, of course it is easier just to ask question directly. I was saving all posts about my FO or how people assemble/fill out their cases and it helped me to prepare my forms and case itself.

Be patient and be grateful. I became current early but due to personal reasons, I applied only in January. After about a month I was scheduled for a bio appointment and after that, it was silent till July. In July I received my interview notice and then I got medical RFE and waited almost a month for any update after. Did it feel like it was a long wait time? Yes. Was it a long wait time? No. When I was reading the previous year's thread, I saw one phrase that stuck in my head. I don’t remember it word for word but the main idea was “keep in mind that we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to get our GC just in one year while other people go through several years just waiting for the interview and so on”. So yes, keep doing as much as possible but also be patient.

Interview experience. My interview was very simple and was less than 30 minutes. My IO asked for my date of birth, I provided new documents that I had, and we went through a couple of yes/no questions.

RFE experience. Well, getting RFE was my fault. I was mad at myself for this if you can, please, don’t make my mistake lol So I got RFE in 2 days after my interview and it said that I need to go back to my CS because he missed checkboxes on a couple of vaccines. I got all vaccines but he didn’t put the right mark on “age-inappropriate”. I am saying that this was my fault because when I did my medical, I didn’t ask for a copy. Don’t be me and ask for it, double check everything after. It will save your time!

Last but not least. I’ll go through all my documents and notes to build a timeline of my case and will add everything to the timesheet.

I wish good luck to everyone who is in the process still! Hopefully you’ll get a good news very soon as well.
Click to expand...
Congratulations and thanks for the update. Glad to know you did not fall for the crook claiming to be a law with DV based AOS experience. Your friend who introduced this crook to your as a lawyer (knowing he’s just a paralegal) also deserves a knock on the head.
 
Dear all, I am pleased to share with you the great news that my family's case has been approved last week, Tuesday, and we received our green card on Saturday, 08/27/2022. I cannot thank @Sm1smom enough for her incredible help! Sm1smom, you are an example that our world is blessed with people who do good things for others with pure altrustic motive! May your days be brighter!
 
dan_dv_gc said:
Dear all, I am pleased to share with you the great news that my family's case has been approved last week, Tuesday, and we received our green card on Saturday, 08/27/2022. I cannot thank @Sm1smom enough for her incredible help! Sm1smom, you are an example that our world is blessed with people who do good things for others with pure altrustic motive! May your days be brighter!
Click to expand...
Congratulations. Thanks for the update, prayer and feedback. And do practice art of "paying it forward" whenever you can.
 
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