Hi Mom, I am in a big problem I need help. I filed my application to uscis on June 15 (early filing) for August(charge country: Nepal) but today I received the "Request for evidence that an immigrant visa is immediately available to you such that you are eligible to adjust status". My field office is in Detroit. At this point, I am very afraid and don't know how to proceed. Are they asking me to send them a copy of the August visa bulletin? I am thinking to visit the field office itself this Monday. I kindly request you guide me on how to process this.
Respond to the RFE by explaining you utilized the early filing option based on the instructions on the USCIS’s website which says:
“As soon as a monthly Visa Bulletin is published, anyone with a lower rank number than the rank cut-off number shown in Section C is eligible to file for adjustment of status. This provides lottery winners the opportunity to file for adjustment of status up to six or seven weeks before a visa number can actually be allocated. This gives USCIS additional time to determine your eligibility for adjustment of status before the end of the fiscal year.” (Include the
website link where this is stated).
Explain you realize your AOS application could not be adjudicated before August 1st, since there was no visa allocated to your case as at when you filed (which you were eligible to do so based on the above instructions from their website), however as of August 1st there is a visa allocated to your application since your CN falls under the August cutoff numbers.
In addition to including the link as stated above, be sure to print out the page and highlight the actual section as part of your evidence. Also print out the VB and highlight Section C which shows your CN falls under the cutoff numbers for August.
Finally, include the following write-up from the
Early Filing Memo as part of your early filing defense that says (page 2):
"The rank cut-off number listed in the advance notification section indicates the DV rank cut-off numbers for the specific month covered by the advance notification. Anyone with a rank number below the listed rank cut-off number in the Visa Bulletin may file an adjustment of status application. For example, in the November 2012 Visa Bulletin, shown on page 5 of this PM, the advance notification DV rank cut-off number for Europe in December 2012 is listed as being 9,250. Therefore, immediately upon release of the November 2012 Visa Bulletin (i.e., on or about October 9, 2012), any person who could be charged to Europe who had a rank cut-off number below 9,250 was eligible to file an application for adjustment of status, even though the adjustment application could not be adjudicated to completion prior to December 1, 2012."
Also state based on when you filed, you were under the impression that IOs are required to "only review the DV applicant’s rank cut-off number for the month during which final adjudication takes place,
not the rank cut-off number listed in the current Visa Bulletin’s separate “advance notification” table or the month in which the Form I-485 adjustment application was originally filed" per page 4 of the
Early Filing Memo
Be sure to equally print out the actual
Early Filing Memo itself and include with your response (highlight the relevant sections with a Sharpie). Admittedly, they might say this is an old memo (it was issued about 10 years ago), there is no other superseding memo which over-rides what this one says AFAIK.
Best of luck!
p.s. do add your case data to the Timeline spreadsheet.
