Hi, I'm helping my younger brother out with the denial of his form I-485.
We (step-dad, mother, younger brother, and I) have, up until this moment, been handling the case ourselves, and have been regularly (every few months) been making appointments with USCIS to get information which we couldn't clarify online or over the phone. We made it pretty far with my brother's case, and it got blown out of the water...
Our step dad petitioned for his I-130, it was approved, and then my brother came to visit the US and spoke to an officer at USCIS. We took his approved I-130 to find out whether he was eligible to apply for an i-485 or whether he should go back to his home country and await a visa. We were told that he could file for the I-485 and continue to stay and study in the US. We had some doubts about his age because he had turned 18 years old, 4 months prior and were not sure whether he was still eligible or not. After confirming though, we proceeded to file, and of course submitted his birth certificate.
It went all the way through to the interview, where he passed and was told that he just needed to re-submit a page on a medical form which the doctor forgot to tick, and that after this, he could expect his green card in the mail after some time. We submitted the document and they confirmed and wrote that the application was being processed.
He's been studying in college ever since he filed for the I-485, and all of a sudden (no prior notice), we received a decision letter in the mail ~6months later (a couple weeks ago) that his application was denied because "you have provided no evidence to indicate you are immediately entitled to an immigrant visa on any other basis. There you are not qualified to adjust, and USCIS denies your form I-485."
It's really shocking. They don't really specify why or even what evidence they expected to begin with. We were forthcoming and open about the whole thing from the start. He didn't even need to stay in the US, but based on information from USCIS (note that we confirmed twice in person, with several months in between each appointment about the case because we knew it meant him discontinuing ties in his home country, including university).
So now we want to file an I-290b but I'm not quite sure how to go about doing it. We have a few days left before we have to file it, and I've got a rough draft ready, but I have so many questions about this still about this case. Should I argue that we don't understand what evidence they expect us to provide? We suspect it could be the age thing because we approached an immigration lawyer and he was baffled at how we made it this far when we weren't supposed to have even been able to get past the first tier since he was "over 18". He suggested that since we made it this far on our own, perhaps it would be best if we continued ourselves, because he just didn't know how to go about arguing our case.
Any suggestions? I think I could also argue that we made many decisions based on information we received directly from USCIS. What we really want is for him to get his green card, but we'd also be satisfied if he could at least complete his education (he's in the middle of his semester right now), and/or if he could get a retrograde priority date for a new I-130 which we plan to file for him (where our mother, a resident, will be the petitioner). Had we known that he wasn't eligible to apply for the i-485, my mom would have filed his i-130 immediately after she received her green card.
I hope the post isn't too convoluted - I'm really too sleep deprived at the moment. I hope someone can help.
Thank you for your time!
We (step-dad, mother, younger brother, and I) have, up until this moment, been handling the case ourselves, and have been regularly (every few months) been making appointments with USCIS to get information which we couldn't clarify online or over the phone. We made it pretty far with my brother's case, and it got blown out of the water...
Our step dad petitioned for his I-130, it was approved, and then my brother came to visit the US and spoke to an officer at USCIS. We took his approved I-130 to find out whether he was eligible to apply for an i-485 or whether he should go back to his home country and await a visa. We were told that he could file for the I-485 and continue to stay and study in the US. We had some doubts about his age because he had turned 18 years old, 4 months prior and were not sure whether he was still eligible or not. After confirming though, we proceeded to file, and of course submitted his birth certificate.
It went all the way through to the interview, where he passed and was told that he just needed to re-submit a page on a medical form which the doctor forgot to tick, and that after this, he could expect his green card in the mail after some time. We submitted the document and they confirmed and wrote that the application was being processed.
He's been studying in college ever since he filed for the I-485, and all of a sudden (no prior notice), we received a decision letter in the mail ~6months later (a couple weeks ago) that his application was denied because "you have provided no evidence to indicate you are immediately entitled to an immigrant visa on any other basis. There you are not qualified to adjust, and USCIS denies your form I-485."
It's really shocking. They don't really specify why or even what evidence they expected to begin with. We were forthcoming and open about the whole thing from the start. He didn't even need to stay in the US, but based on information from USCIS (note that we confirmed twice in person, with several months in between each appointment about the case because we knew it meant him discontinuing ties in his home country, including university).
So now we want to file an I-290b but I'm not quite sure how to go about doing it. We have a few days left before we have to file it, and I've got a rough draft ready, but I have so many questions about this still about this case. Should I argue that we don't understand what evidence they expect us to provide? We suspect it could be the age thing because we approached an immigration lawyer and he was baffled at how we made it this far when we weren't supposed to have even been able to get past the first tier since he was "over 18". He suggested that since we made it this far on our own, perhaps it would be best if we continued ourselves, because he just didn't know how to go about arguing our case.
Any suggestions? I think I could also argue that we made many decisions based on information we received directly from USCIS. What we really want is for him to get his green card, but we'd also be satisfied if he could at least complete his education (he's in the middle of his semester right now), and/or if he could get a retrograde priority date for a new I-130 which we plan to file for him (where our mother, a resident, will be the petitioner). Had we known that he wasn't eligible to apply for the i-485, my mom would have filed his i-130 immediately after she received her green card.
I hope the post isn't too convoluted - I'm really too sleep deprived at the moment. I hope someone can help.
Thank you for your time!