I-485 Rejected. Please help!!!

L

lboro

Registered Users (C)
Here is my story:

My I-130 was approved in 2004, while my wife was still a Green Card Holder and about a month ago she became a US Citizen so I decided to immediately file I-485 with all other necessary applications and documents.

However, today I got the packet back with the enclosed rejection notice, which says the following: “based on the information you provided, your priority date does not appear to be current”. :(

My understanding is that since my wife is a US Citizen now (I enclosed the copy of her Naturalization Certificate along with the filed I-485) I do not have to wait for my priority date and the visa number is available immediately to me. I’d like to add that we tried to inform the Department of State National Visa Center about her becoming a US Citizen and upgrade the petition, but they don’t care since they claim that they never received our I-130 approved back in 2004 (it looks like it got lost). We have also called the USCIS customer service but they keep saying that we have to inform the NVC first about my wife becoming a US Citizen. So it looks like this: NVC sends us to USCIS and when we call USCIS they send us back to NVC

What should I do in this case? :confused: Should I just ignore the already approved (in 2004) I-130 that was based on the category of spouse of Permanent Resident and file a new I-130 which this time would be based on the category of spouse of US Citizen?

I really don’t understand why they rejected my application. It looks like they just ignored or overlooked the fact that my spouse became a US citizen and they still treat me as a spouse of a Permanent Resident

What should I do now? Please help!!!
:(:(:(
 
How to upgrade I-130 with Service Center?

No, I did not. I was under the impression that I should upgrade my petition with the NVC, not the Service Center. How do I upgrade it? Is there any special form that I can use for that purpose?

Thanks for a quick response.
 
Have you enclosed the notice of approval of your I-130? If you file the I-485 without the I-130 then you need to include the notice of approval of her petition. It clearly asks you on the I-485 form about how you are filing the AOS. If you answer concurrently with I-130 then you should have it there. If not then you should have the approval notice. You definitely had to upgrade the status of the I-130 before filing the AOS. If I were you, I'd file the package again with a new I-130. The worst thing that can happen is that the USCIS will tell you that they have it on record, which is less likely since they lost it. Good luck.
 
There are two different offices that process your I-130 when she was a GC holder and another as a spouse of a US citizen. They don't know that she is a USC and they just look that you have a petition pending...you did not file any I-130 upgrading the case.

The course of action is that she upgrade her I-130 to spouse of a US citizen and once she received the notification then you send your I-485, copy of the I-130 and everything else. Or just do a search about those cases...are pretty common. But you can't just send an I-485 as it is...they don't know that she is a USC regardless that you are sending that info...they check their systems about your case and in their system your I-130 is based as your wife being a GC holder.

Surprise? don't be...that's the way it is.
 
Really confused

Thanks all for your responses.

Zuzkin,

Yes, I did enclose the notice of approval of my I-130 and the copy of my wife’s naturalization certificate, but they just ignored it or overlooked it. :confused:

Cherr1980,

I guess you might be right, they just look into their system and don’t care that she is really a US citizen now. But that’s so ridiculous!!:mad:

I did really extensive search on this forum and did not find anybody else who had similar situation to mine (I-130 approved and presumably sent to NVC, but it turns out that NVC never received it and thus knows nothing about my case). I am really confused now. I now I should upgrade my petition to a spouse of a US Citizen category first, but it’s not that simple. As I wrote in my original post, no one wants to really talk to me about upgrading my case. I have called NVC and USCIS several times and spoke with several different people and got several different responses. NVC does not want to upgrade my petition, because they say they can’t upgrade something they never received. USCIS in turn says that they can do nothing about it, because they already forwarded my case to NVC and I should talk to them now. Talking to these people is like talking pre-programmed machines, not real people!!

That’s why I’ve sent my I-485 directly to Chicago lockbox without upgrading the petition first, because they didn't allow me to do it! I guess there two choices now, either file a new I-130 based on the category of a US citizen or just wait until my priority date comes. It’s so crazy that I have certain rights, but I can’t exercise them , because of ignorance of some people.:mad:
 
I am in a similar situation and there are others also in this forum.
My wife's i130 got approved while I had my GC and then I got naturalized a few months ago. There is not process for upgrading the I130 if you are in USA, that only happens if you need to do consular processing.
We consulted a lawyer initially who did not recommend we do anything special other than file for 485 with the I130 approval notice.
You I485 was not rejected, only the application was returned. I feel
1.Ask USCIS to send a copy of I130 again
2.Get an Infopass and take all your documentation in person and ask an IO what needs to be done.
3.Consult a lawyer(Not that I think they can do things different, except maybe their voice will be heard or listened to by INS if you use them).
The forum has countless folks who are frustrated or do not get a proper answer talking to USCIS on the phone, while infopass is different, since you get a immigration office and not a help desk assistant.
 
Thanks whitemimauz3!

The service center that approved my case was California Service Center so it looks like I should use this form.

However this form says that approved I-130 should be upgraded at Department of State's NVC, which does not help my case, because I tried doing that and they refused upgrading my I-130 since they claim they never received it.

I've just found this: http://www.immihelp.com/greencard/familybasedimmigration/misc.html#upgrade

Text for the link says the following:
Even though not required, as soon as you become a US citizen, notify NVC and send them a copy of your naturalization certificate and your I-130 approval notice. The National Visas Center (NVC) will upgrade your status to immediate relative. NVC will send the beneficiary any additional forms and information that may be required.

According to this the upgrade of approved I-130 may be done, but is not required. So I understand that upgrade should not be a prerequisite to filing the I-485 after the petitioner becomes a US citizen. It means that they shouldn't reject my case (or rather I hope it means that).

Anyway, I am resending the whole packet again on Monday with sticky notes put all over the application, because it looks like they never even read my cover letter :mad:. We'll see what happens.
 
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