Help urgently needed: the worst experience of I-140 petition on the board

panning2002

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

I must be the man with the worst luck in I-140 petition. I appreciate any suggestions regarding my case, which is still pending.

I submitted my I-140 (National Interest Waiver) to VSC in Nov. 2003 by my self (without lawyer). After a RFE (nothing but require a duplicate forms which I submited only a single copy), the case was denied in Aug. 2005 due to a major error in USCIS. The evidence referenced in the denial notice, including my gender, affiniation, research, achievement, publications are totally wrong and don't belong to me.

I called the service center about the error and they asked me to file an appeal. My appeal was transferred to AAO from VSC in Sept. 2005. After 10 months waiting, I received a notice from AAO that my case was returned to the VSC for further review in July 2006.

In the notice from AAO, it is clear that both the VSC and AAO know that "due to a clerical error, the wrong denial notice appears to have been sent to the beneficiary ... evidence was referenced that had no bearing on this case".

However, AAO did not either approve or denied my appeal. Rather, their decision is "ORDER: The director's decision is withdrawn. The petition is remanded to the director for further action in accordance with the foregoing and entry of a new decision which, if adverse to the petitioner, is to be certified to the AAO for review."

In addition, on the AAO notice, they also said "Therefore, pursuant to the director's request, this matter will be remanded. The director may request any additional evidence deemed warranted and should allow the petitioner to submit additional evidence in support of its position within a reasonable period of time. As always in these proceedings, the burden of proof rests solely with the petitioner".

So, AAO did not make any decision but sent the case back to VSC. So far it has been 2 months and nothing happened in VSC. I have no idea how long I still need to wait since there is absolute no timeline in the AAO notice.

My congressman office has called VSC for inquiry of the status, but no response.

I have visited local USCIS local office several times about the delay. They sent email to VSC for several times, no response.

I called the VSC customer service many times, but their status is still " in Sept 2005 this case was sent to our AAO for review ...". They do not know that it has been sent back to VSC for two months. I even talked with the VSC customer service supervisor, but she just said "there is nothing we can do. You can mail a status inquiry. You can also complain our service".

Recently I know the "expedite request" fax. I sent two faxes and request expedite processing of my case because it is a USCIS error last week and this monday, but no response so far.

I tried everything I know, but nothing happened. The long and desperate delay has affected my life so much. So please feel free to tell me anything that, you think, may be helpful to bring this delay anderror into their attention.

The only thing I am thinking is to drive to VSC and meet with somebody. I am wondering if somebody has ever done that? How to do that since they do not have a customer service?

I really appreciate your help.
 
How about hiring a good immigration attorney? I feel that they can really pursue such a case. It will cost money, but then anything is worth the kind of stress you are going through.
 
Hi panning,

I understand the pain you are going through. I think it is better for you to hire an immigration attorney to pursue your case. I have not heard of anybody having your situation. Hope you get some solution from this forum members too.
 
Looks like you have had lot of trouble. Lawyers can approach VSC through AILA, but it is upto you to see if you can pay.
Another option would be to use senator and congressmen help on this. There were few recent threads on this, where someone used help from Hilary Clinton. Also, there are contact details on that...
I will leave the rest to experts here...
Also post on I-140 issues forum, if you haven't
 
Thanks all for your nice reply. It was a totally mistake to start my petition in the first place without a lawyer.

Actually I am looking around for some decent lawyers. Do you know if it is too late to ask a lawyer to do anything on behalf of me since I started my petition my myself. In addition, do you have any recommended lawyers around Boston area?

Thanks again
 
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panning2002 said:
Thanks all for your nice reply. It was a totally mistake to start my petition in the first place without a lawyer.

Actually I am looking around for some decent lawyers. Do you know if it is too late to ask a lawyer to do anything on behalf of me since I started my petition my myself. In addition, do you have any recommended lawyers around Boston area?

Thanks again

Hiring a lawyer to represent your case can be done at any point in time. It does not matter that you have already filed I140. A lawyer will be happy to take on your case as long as he/she is paid for it. Make sure you hire a very good lawyer who knows immigration stuff.
 
Sorry to hear your trouble.
If I were you, I would consider filing another petition (e.g. EB1EA) while you resolve this problem.
 
EB1OR@NSC said:
Hiring a lawyer to represent your case can be done at any point in time. It does not matter that you have already filed I140. A lawyer will be happy to take on your case as long as he/she is paid for it. Make sure you hire a very good lawyer who knows immigration stuff.

Thanks for your suggestion. Do you know any good lawyer around boston?
 
leviathan said:
Sorry to hear your trouble.
If I were you, I would consider filing another petition (e.g. EB1EA) while you resolve this problem.

Thanks. I am currently working as a postdoc. I am not sure if I am qualified for EB1EA.
 
panning2002 said:
Thanks. I am currently working as a postdoc. I am not sure if I am qualified for EB1EA.

Absolutely. As long as you have enough publications, citations and strong reco letters. You need to fulfill 3 out of 10 requirements. More is better. I have a friend who got both NIW and Eb1A approved at the same time as a postdoc. If your luck favors and your application goes to TSC you have higher chance and will hear faster.
 
panning2002 said:
Thanks. I am currently working as a postdoc. I am not sure if I am qualified for EB1EA.

Any reason you think of? since how many year you have been working as a postdoc. I don't think that post doc cannot apply for EB1EA. As long as one can fulfil the criteria (atleast 3) he/she is eligible to apply.
 
eb1a-query said:
Absolutely. As long as you have enough publications, citations and strong reco letters. You need to fulfill 3 out of 10 requirements. More is better. I have a friend who got both NIW and Eb1A approved at the same time as a postdoc. If your luck favors and your application goes to TSC you have higher chance and will hear faster.

Many thanks. I have about 17 publications (first author in over half of them), about 100 citations, and 2 patents. Do you think I am qualified? I only know NIW and am not familiar with EB1. BTW, do you think my petition can go to TSC if I live in Boston? Shouldn't it always go to the terrible VSC?

Thanks again
 
Yes, you certainly qualify. It does not matter where you live now. All the I-140 petitions now should be filed to NSC (since April 01). Then NSC decides where your petition would go. It can only be processed either at NSC or at TSC. So you have 50% chance. VSC does not accept I-140 any more.

I have applied as well in E11. I have 15 publications (10 1st author), 112 citations. I have also reviewed for several journals. If you have that or you have written a review article, that will help to fulfill one criteria. If you have some awards in your field. That will also help. But this is just my personal opinion since my case is assigned to NSC and STILL pending. Other experienced people like eb1doc can help you more.
 
eb1a-query said:
Yes, you certainly qualify. It does not matter where you live now. All the I-140 petitions now should be filed to NSC (since April 01). Then NSC decides where your petition would go. It can only be processed either at NSC or at TSC. So you have 50% chance. VSC does not accept I-140 any more.

I have applied as well in E11. I have 15 publications (10 1st author), 112 citations. I have also reviewed for several journals. If you have that or you have written a review article, that will help to fulfill one criteria. If you have some awards in your field. That will also help. But this is just my personal opinion since my case is assigned to NSC and STILL pending. Other experienced people like eb1doc can help you more.

many thanks. Your background looks stronger than mine. I have a couple of good publications (impact factor > 10), but don't have any awards and have only reviewed papers for my advisor. So I think my quantification is relatively weak for EB1 but strong for NIW (biomedical related research).

Do you know if it is possible to submit another NIW while the previous one is pending? According to my limited knowledge, the new one will not be processed unless a decision is made on the previous one. Is that true?
 
I talked with a lawyer this afternoon. She won't accept the case because, according to her experience, it will be very difficult to solve it.

rather than, the lawyer suggests me to file a new petition as backup. She thinks I can submit a new NIW petition to NSC. She told me that she didn't think the old NIW will affect the new one since the new one will be in a new service center (NSC) and they won't find the pending previous one. I totally agree to file a new one, but not sure if it is true that the old one will not affect the new one if I submit it to another service center. Does anybody know that?

Thanks
 
panning2002 said:
I talked with a lawyer this afternoon. She won't accept the case because, according to her experience, it will be very difficult to solve it.

rather than, the lawyer suggests me to file a new petition as backup. She thinks I can submit a new NIW petition to NSC. She told me that she didn't think the old NIW will affect the new one since the new one will be in a new service center (NSC) and they won't find the pending previous one. I totally agree to file a new one, but not sure if it is true that the old one will not affect the new one if I submit it to another service center. Does anybody know that?

Thanks

It is true your previous NIW will not effect the new NIW. You will have to give the previous I140 case number in the new I140 form. It is required by law. But still it will not effect the new case. Its even possible that this will force them to look at the previous case and given that it was a clerical error they might even approve the old case also. I definitely think it is a good idea to file a new NIW and/or EB1A given your qualifications.

Sorry, I don't know of any lawyer in the Boston area
 
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EB1OR@NSC said:
It is true your previous NIW will not effect the new NIW. You will have to give the previous I140 case number in the new I140 form. It is required by law. But still it will not effect the new case. Its even possible that this will force them to look at the previous case and given that it was a clerical error they might even approve the old case also. I definitely think it is a good idea to file a new NIW and/or EB1A given your qualifications.

Sorry, I don't know of any lawyer in the Boston area

many thanks. The conflict of the two NIW petitions is my only concern about filing a new petition. Now it is clear and I will definitely file the new one asap.
 
Why do you need an attorney at your place to file, if you know your friends who had a good attorney, you can contact them through phone and deal. I met my attorney only once, and I know people in east dealing with attorneys in west. so only thing you have to find a reasonable, reliable attorney, anywhere in US.
 
HI,

I was sorry to read about the complications in your case. One good lawyer (we have consulted him on occasions, though I too have self-petitioned for NIW), based upon a close friend's experience, in the Boston area in Richard Costa. You could try consulting him.


By the way your qualifications seem good for EB1. Mine are not as good, but I was also advised to do a separate EB1 application.

Hope things work out for you.
 
good_y said:
Why do you need an attorney at your place to file, if you know your friends who had a good attorney, you can contact them through phone and deal. I met my attorney only once, and I know people in east dealing with attorneys in west. so only thing you have to find a reasonable, reliable attorney, anywhere in US.

That is true. Do you know any good attorney anywhere in US?

Thanks
 
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