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But for an unlucky few, the U.S. government may revoke (or cancel) a previously approved petition. You will have some warning, fortunately. Prior to revoking, the government sends a letter called a Notice of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) to the petitioner (the U.S.-based person who applied for a foreign family member).
The petition will be returned to DOS's National Visa Center (NVC) for shipment to the appropriate consulate with the USCIS letter of reaffirmation, a copy of the letter of intent to revoke and the petitioner's response. The NVC will then forward the petition to the consular office.
In other instances, the consular officer may tentatively approve the visa, then later initiate the revocation process after discovering new and unfavorable information. Before returning a case to USCIS, the consulate must first inform the visa applicant, so receiving the NOIR from USCIS should come as no surprise.
Although you cannot arbitrarily revoke your sponsorship, if both the sponsor and the sponsored immigrant agree to have the sponsorship canceled, they can offer a written request to the USCIS, who will, in almost all cases, agree to the petition. This may be unlikely, however, as immigrants rarely voluntarily relinquish hard-to-obtain sponsorships.
If Your Visa Is Canceled or Revoked, What Should You Do? When a visa is canceled, the visa holder must leave the U.S. at once – or delay his or her plans to enter the U.S. – until that person has applied for and been approved for a new visa.
The law allows eligible persons to seek a visa reinstatement following revocation. Others may apply for a new visa. In many cases, a waiver of inadmissibility must be applied for in conjunction with the reinstatement petition or new visa application.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has the authority to approve immigrant visa petitions. It also has the authority to revoke such petitions, in certain circumstances. Unfortunately, revocations may occur in error or in violation of immigration laws and procedures.
Visa sponsorships cannot be revoked arbitrarily. There must be evidence-backed reasons behind the revocation. If both of the parties (i.e., the sponsor and immigrant) agree to the revocation, the sponsorship can be canceled by sending in a written request to the USCIS.
Generally, you must file an appeal within 30 days from the date of the decision (not the date you received the decision). A shorter appeal period may apply to some cases such as the revocation of the approval of a petition, which has a 15-day deadline. Your decision will tell you how long you have to file the appeal.
To check on the status of your U.S. Visa application: United States: Contact the National Visa Center (NVC) at 1-603-334-0700 for immigrant visas. For nonimmigrant visas, call 1-603-334-0888. Or use the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC).
A person whose license has been revoked or suspended may petition the agency for reinstatement or reduction of penalty after a period of not less than one year has elapsed from the effective date of the decision or from the date of the denial of a similar petition.
What To Do If You Receive A Notice of Intent to Revoke. If you receive a NOIR, you typically have 30 days to respond to the government. You should immediately take your notice to a skilled immigration attorney, along with any additional documents, applications and evidence for your immigration petitions.
A Notice of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) is a communication sent by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to a petitioner about a previously approved petition, telling him or her that the USCIS intends to revoke the petition, along with the reasons for revocation, and giving the petitioner a fixed amount of ...
Sponsored immigrants may sue their sponsor(s) if the sponsor(s) fails to support the sponsored immigrant and his or her family at 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline during the period in which the affidavit of support is in effect.
Consequences of Withdrawing I-130 Withdrawing an I-130 petition can result in penalties, including jail time and fines. This most often occurs when the I-130 was submitted with fraudulent information. In addition to this, USCIS can block you from petitioning for a future family member or spouse.
The sponsor's responsibility lasts until the immigrant becomes a U.S. citizen, has earned 40 work quarters credited toward Social Security (a work quarter is about three months, so this means about ten years of work), dies, or permanently leaves the United States.
In other instances, the approval of an immigrant visa petition may be revoked upon notice ("revocation on notice") by issuing a Notice of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) to the petitioner. See 8 CFR 205.2. The NOIR will explain the reasons the approved petition should be revoked and will give the petitioner a reasonable period of time to submit evidence to show why the petition should not be revoked. The petitioner must respond within the time allotted. An extension may be granted at the discretion of USCIS if the petitioner needs additional time to obtain documentation from abroad or for other meritorious reasons; however, the petitioner must respond in a timely manner to the NOIR by the stated deadline, and provide a reason for requesting the extra time.
If, based on the evidence received, the USCIS officer determines that the approval should not be revoked, the petitioner will receive a notice advising of the decision to reaffirm the petition.
Reasons for Revocation. When USCIS has previously approved an immigrant visa petition, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) may grant a family-based or employment-based immigrant visa to the petition's beneficiary and qualified derivatives.
A petitioner is defined as the family member or employer (or the employer's agent) who submitted the petition to USCIS. A beneficiary is an alien family member or employee who will seek admission to the United States upon approval of the petition and issuance of the appropriate visa from DOS.
If USCIS is aware of such circumstances, USCIS will send a notice of the automatic revocation to the consular office having jurisdiction over the visa application, with a copy to the petitioner's last known address. In other instances, the approval of an immigrant visa petition may be revoked upon notice ("revocation on notice") ...
The consular officer may accept the petition as valid and adjudicate the visa application to completion, or present to USCIS new evidence that was not previously considered. In the latter case, USCIS will determine whether such evidence supports revocation of the petition.
If the petition has not yet been approved, USCIS will almost certainly deny it, and you will not be able to go forward with your plans to immigrate.
At the early end of the process, the whole reason this person or entity is called the "petitioner" is that the first application that must be filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to start off your immigration process is a petition (usually on Form I-140 if the employer is the petitioner, or I-130 if a family member is). Your family member or employer prepares and signs it, without your help.
petitioner is threatening to withdraw the petition, sign onto a joint I-751 petition, or otherwise refuse to cooperate in your case, speak to an experienced U.S. immigration attorney. The attorney can fully analyze what stage of the process you are at, what your rights are at this point, and what the best strategy might be going forward.
If you've been sponsored for U.S. immigration (actually, the proper word is petitioned), your sponsor/petitioner was most likely either a U.S. employer or a family member who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. It's very important, under the immigration laws, to have your petitioner's cooperation. ...
government to provide financial backup for you for approximately ten years, in order to avoid the possibility that you will need to receive public assistance. This is done on Form I-864, the Affidavit of Support.
If you got as far as an approved petition (most likely based on the petitioner having filed USCIS Form I-130 or I-140), that's good, but it may not ultimately help much.
If instead of permanent residence you obtained conditional residence based on marriage to a U.S. citizen, the situation gets a little trickier. You and your spouse would normally be expected, near the end of your two-year period of conditional residency, to submit a joint petition on Form I-751, signed by both of you and enclosing various documents showing that you're still married.
If a consular officer discovers during the course of a visa interview that the underlying petition should not have been approved, or is no longer approvable, s/he will send it back to USCIS to further consider. According to USCIS, there are five reasons:
USCIS sent a Notice of Intent to Revoke to our client, to give him an opportunity to explain why he believed he could sponsor them. USCIS revoked the petitions of the two parents (we eventually succeeded in getting the petition approved and the parent is now in the U.S. with a green card.
The NVC says its normal processing time, if further information is NOT required, is within 15 days.
For example, if USCIS determines there is no marriage fraud and the couple is eligible, it will reaffirm the petition, return it to the NVC, which then returns it to the consulate. The consulate should not question the bona fides or genuineness of the relationship again unless new evidence comes to light.
The State Department staff must write a memorandum detailing the reasons for the return to USCIS. Then the file is sent back to the National Visa Center (NVC) which checks to make sure the file is in order. If everything is ok, the NVC sends it back to the USCIS service center that originally approved the petition. The NVC says its normal processing time, if further information is NOT required, is within 15 days.
But sometimes the visa is denied and the file is sent back to USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). This is called a “consular return” – the consulate returns the file which either reaffirms (confirms the approval) or revokes the petition. In this post I’m only going to discuss the process for immigrant – green card – visas, although this can also happen with some non-immigrant visas.
The agency says it tries to handle consular returns on a first in, first out basis. If you receive a Notice of Intent to Revoke (NOIR), you will have 30 days to respond, and USCIS says it tries to respond to the NOIR within 120 days of receipt.
It can take over six months for the case to transfer from the consulate to USCIS, and for USCIS to actually issue the Notice of Intent to Revoke.
Once you have submitted your rebuttal to the NOIR, prepare for a lengthy waiting game. There is no statutory length of time within which USCIS must render a decision. Because the agency may be investigating your and the beneficiary's background (and collaborating with the consulate overseas), it's not uncommon for applicants to wait over a year before receiving a decision.
A Notice of Intent to Revoke letter is sent by USCIS to the petitioner of a previously approved visa petition, stating that USCIS plans to revoke it , due to the discovery of new, derogatory information. Although the allegations contained in the NOIR often refer ti things that arose at or following the foreign beneficiary's consular interview, the consulate itself cannot issue a NOIR. Instead, the consulate must return the entire application to USCIS along with the results of any investigation.
After USCIS has approved an I-130 petition, it normally forwards the case to the U.S. Department of State for additional processing. This typically culminates with a consular officer interviewing the foreign beneficiary prior to issuing a visa. It is at this stage that issues most commonly arise.
If your NOIR response is unsatisfactory and USCIS revokes your petition, you will have only 15 days in which to file an appeal. Given this short time frame, you may wish to consult with a qualified immigration attorney. If the final decision by USCIS relies upon derogatory evidence that was not clearly provided to the you in the NOIR, you will have a strong argument on appeal.
A NOIR is also different from a determination of inadmissibility, in which the consulate bars someone from immigrating based on criminal history, drug abuse, serious medical problems, or other characteristics laid out in the law. Unlike revocation, a consular determination of inadmissibility does not cancel out the underlying petition.
You will have some warning, fortunately. Prior to revoking, the government sends a letter called a Notice of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) to the petitioner (the U.S.-based person who applied for a foreign family member).
The form used to sponsor an immigrant, USCIS Form I-864, an affidavit pledging support for the immigrant, is legally binding. A sponsor who violates the agreement can be sued for damages by the immigrant and by any agency that provides the immigrant benefits.
Sponsorship is indefinite and ends only under certain conditions: If you become divorced from the immigrant and they remarry; if they become a U.S. citizen; if they lose their permanent resident status; and if they die.
Applicants for an immigrant visa in the United States usually require a sponsor. This sponsor can be a relative--either a spouse, parent or child--or an employer. Family members must either be U.S. citizens or have permanent resident status (a "green card") and be able to support the immigrant enough to prevent them becoming a financial burden on the state. Employers must provide a job for the immigrant that cannot be filled by a current U.S. citizen or green-card holder. Because sponsorship is legally binding once issued, it is very difficult for sponsors to revoke it.
citizen or green-card holder. Because sponsorship is legally binding once issued, it is very difficult for sponsors to revoke it. If the application for sponsorship has not been filed or is still pending, petition to have it withdrawn.
I would argue the attorney represents both of you for the purpose of this filing (who paid doesn't necessarily control who an attorney legally represents). This means the attorney can't do anything which favors one of you over the other/disadvantages either of you. An attorney who handled the original petition...
Generally, the attorney represents a petitioner in I-130 process and both spouses in adjustment application. Most attorneys have it explained in representation agreement and ask both spouses to waive the potential conflict of interest.
You have a correct way of perceiving this potential conflict of interests. Initially, a licensed counsel represents BOTH Petitioner and Beneficiary in an adjustment of status case as all parties complete signed G-28 forms for that purpose. However, if Petitioner decides to "drop a I-130 Petition and start a dissolution of marriage process (divorce in vernacular) that naturally creates a conflict of interests....
Depends on the contract you signed other the attorney. Dual representation is allowed for as long as the interests are aligned. Once not, it is up to that contract.
Common mistakes clients complain of include the attorney failing to respond to requests for evidence, not submitting the required documentation along with the immigration application, or not competently explaining options available in removal proceedings.
A Denial Does Not Automatically Mean Your Attorney Made Mistakes. If you received a denial of your immigration case, appeal, motion, or application from the U.S. government, your attorney might seem like the natural person to blame. But don't be too quick to assume that your attorney made mistakes just because you did not receive ...
To be considered "ineffective," the attorney's poor performance (or lack of performance) must have materially affected ...
However, if your visa was denied because you clearly didn't meet the basic educational requirements, and your attorney told you that you would qualify for the work visa based on the information that you provided, you might be able to get other forms of relief, such as a refund of legal fees and application fees.
report whether a complaint of ethical or legal violations has been filed with the professional bar where your attorney is licensed to practice law, and if not, why you did not do so.
In some cases, the "lawyer" might not have been a licensed attorney in the first place. These "immigration consultants" are also known as notarios in the Spanish-speaking community. An immigration consultant could have made mistakes in your case or even charged you lots of money to apply for benefits for which you did not qualify, which put you at risk of being placed into removal proceedings.
Unfortunately, the courts have held that if you knew that your representative was not licensed to practice law and you hired him or her regardless, you cannot reopen your case based on "ineffective assistance of counsel.".
When your case is not being processed. Many clients seek legal assistance from White & Associates when their immigration cases are not being processed by the USCIS or consulate in a timely manner. Often, the government does not act upon naturalization, adjustment of status applications or on visa applications.
Upon receiving a complaint filed with the Federal Court, the government must answer within sixty days of the complaint. These lawsuits force the government to finally take action. It is important to remember that the court cannot force the USCIS or the consulate to make a decision in your favor.
Step 1: The first step to take when processing a case that has gone beyond the stated time is to make inquiries with the USCIS or consulate. It is best to document these inquiries.
Filing a suit against the USCIS or appropriate US Consulate may be the only way to get your case processed because the Federal Court can oblige the USCIS or US Consulate to review your application/petition and make a final decision within a short period of time (usually within sixty days).
If the lawsuit is resolved by a judge’s decision in favor of the client, we also request the court to direct the government to reimburse the client for legal fees.
Cases may also be delayed by FBI background checks. In visa cases, the applications are temporarily denied and placed on hold under Section 221 (g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. In these instances, there is essentially only one action that the applicant can take to force the agency to act — file a lawsuit.
If the petitioner dies, the applicant typically must obtain a substitute sponsor to continue to be eligible for adjustment of status. A substitute sponsor is needed even if the deceased petitioner has completed the Affidavit of Support.
A beneficiary of a pending or approved family-based immigrant visa petition, including both the principal beneficiary and any derivative beneficiaries; Any derivative beneficiary of a pending or approved employment-based immigrant visa petition;
If a pending petition or application to which INA 204 (l) applies is denied despite INA 204 (l), the applica nt may not obtain approval of a waiver or other relief under INA 204 (l).
If the applicant establishes the proof required, an officer may favorably exercise discretion to reopen the petition or application, and make a new decision in light of the law.
The death of the qualifying relative does not relieve the applicant of the need to have a valid and enforce able Affidavit of Support ( Form I-864 ), if required. [22] The Affidavit of Support establishes that the sponsored applicant is not likely to become a public charge and therefore is not inadmissible on such ground. [23]
It is not necessary for the waiver or other relief application to have been pending when the qualifying relative died. A waiver or other relief application may be approved despite the death of the qualifying relative if: A petition or adjustment application was pending or approved when the qualifying relative died; and.
In the past, a petition could not be approved if the petitioner died while the petition remained pending. [1] In 2009, Congress addressed this scenario with a new statutory provision, INA 204 (l). [2] This provision gave noncitizens the ability to seek an immigration benefit through a deceased qualifying relative in certain circumstances.