I-485 denied twice

H

habiba

New Member
Hello all,
I am in a bit of a complex situation and don't know what to do. I have been married to my husband a US citizen for over three years and have yet to receive a green card. We were denied our I-130 and I-485 in the state of GA because the service did not believe the marriage was bona fide. Admittedly, this was our fault as we did not prepare properly and provide suitable evidence due to the fact that we believed that after 3 years of dating there was no way we could go wrong. Unfortunately, because of the lack of proper legal representation and our own ignorance we were ultimately denied. By this time I had acquired the services of a lawyer and we had moved to NY, our lawyer advised us to ignore the opportunity to appeal and instead told us to reapply for both the I-130 and I-485 in New York. Unfortunately, about a month later I received a notice to appear in front of the immigration judge but was not given a date. A couple of months later I received instructions for fingerprinting and an interview date was set in the state of NY. However, a week before the interview I received a letter stating that the interview was canceled and my I-485 petition was denied. Later that month I received a letter asking me to appear in front of an immigration judge in late October in the state of GA. The judge refused to grant continuation on the case and refused to allow it to be moved to NY instead she gave me the choice of either voluntary departure or an order of removal, we chose the order of removal because my lawyer said we could appeal the decision which we have. However, I'm concerned because I am not sure the lawyer is going about things the right way, he insists that I have an I-130 interview pending and once that's approved I should have no problems. But in the meanwhile, I cannot work or do anything at all because I am seemingly out of status and I have no funds to survive in this situation much longer. Is my lawyer right? Is there nothing I can do but wait? My husband and I are still married and this union is very much legit. Thank you, I know this is quite lengthy.
 
If your husband is your sponsor and is going to furnish an I-864, he should be taking care of you financially and ensuring you survive this situation.

habiba said:
I am seemingly out of status and I have no funds to survive in this situation much longer.
Click to expand...
 
the first time i was denied was because the service did not believe the marriage was legit, the second time was because i was in removal proceedings.
 
Thank Habiba for sharing with us. We are going to have our interview soon. What happened to you really concerns us. You seem to have solid case with more than 3 years marriage.

Can you provide us more insight on how to better prepare our interview and what really caused your first denial?
 
I think an attorney would have been very beneficial for us. We went in there basically thinking the interview was going to be a piece of cake as we had been dating for three years and at the time of our interview married for close to one year, so we didn't review questions. Perhaps the biggest advice I can provide is that you keep your answers as simple as possible, do not elaborate and if you do not remember something, state exactly that! Seems simple enough but unfortunately we thought the more we shared,the better it would be.
 
OP, I may sound harsh but what happened to you is NOT the result of ignorance, rather lack of respect for a system that was put in place to allow people to enjoy privileges that change lives. Here's why I think it is:

It's understandable that you didn't know about the immigration laws and experiences, as there were no reason to think the outcome would be unfavorable since you were (are) in a bona-fide marriage. But, once you got the I-130 denial, and the subsequent I-485 denial - did you care to find your status and what you could do and could not do? You just moved to NY as if nothing happened and continued life. This attitude is what brought you here today.

You are now out-of-status, and have been staying here illegally. Your lawyer is right - you need to fight the deportation. I think the way he is going to go about it is based on that pending I-130. If the I-130 gets approved, he would most likely do an MTR based on the approved I-130 and ask for relief from deportation, and file I-485 directly with DoJ judge. At that point, the judge will most likely grant it and you will become an LPR.

However, given the judge's unwillingness to grant a continuation while your I-130 is pending, I think you have an uphill battle coming up.
 
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