Need Advise

[Phillip2]

The lawyer I used for this process made a big mistake. She failed to mail in a separate I-130 for my stepson. However, I have overcome all the problems she created for me. My stepson's case is in Chinese customs still for about 6 more weeks. Should I go forward with the interview or delay it until his clears customs? This would add about 2 to 3 more motnths to our process I am sure.

 

However, my wife has an interview set for 5/21/09. I don't know if I should delay her case until my stepson's case clears Chinese customs. Or to go ahead with the interview as scheduleded and be there with my wife.

 

She would stay in China until his interview before coming to America. I would be there for her's and not his. I am not worried about the money as it has no meaning at this point. I have not seen my wife since December and I am very anxious to be with her again.

 

Or do they make you wait at the Embassy regardless until his case clears customs?

[IllinoisDave]

The lawyer I used for this process made a big mistake. She failed to mail in a separate I-130 for my stepson. However, I have overcome all the problems she created for me. My stepson's case is in Chinese customs still for about 6 more weeks. Should I go forward with the interview or delay it until his clears customs? This would add about 2 to 3 more motnths to our process I am sure.

 

However, my wife has an interview set for 5/21/09. I don't know if I should delay her case until my stepson's case clears Chinese customs. Or to go ahead with the interview as scheduleded and be there with my wife.

 

She would stay in China until his interview before coming to America. I would be there for her's and not his. I am not worried about the money as it has no meaning at this point. I have not seen my wife since December and I am very anxious to be with her again.

 

Or do they make you wait at the Embassy regardless until his case clears customs?

Hey Phillip.

We were K1 so I'm not too familiar with the whole step-child thing. Someone will be around soon to give you a definitive answer. But I'll just add my two cents and say that it's usually the case that you should not cancel a scheduled interview. I could be wrong. If I am someone will correct me soon enough. Best of luck with your situation.

[Guest Pommey]

um...... i would do hers, then his when it comes through.

[Randy W]

The lawyer I used for this process made a big mistake. She failed to mail in a separate I-130 for my stepson. However, I have overcome all the problems she created for me. My stepson's case is in Chinese customs still for about 6 more weeks. Should I go forward with the interview or delay it until his clears customs? This would add about 2 to 3 more motnths to our process I am sure.

 

However, my wife has an interview set for 5/21/09. I don't know if I should delay her case until my stepson's case clears Chinese customs. Or to go ahead with the interview as scheduleded and be there with my wife.

 

She would stay in China until his interview before coming to America. I would be there for her's and not his. I am not worried about the money as it has no meaning at this point. I have not seen my wife since December and I am very anxious to be with her again.

 

Or do they make you wait at the Embassy regardless until his case clears customs?

 

 

Your question is very unclear - yes you can delay her case if you choose. Seems like it would depend on your personal circumstances.

 

Nobody "waits at the consulate" for anything, unless you mean for an interview date?

 

The two cases are independent, since you submitted them that way. Your wife's visa will be multiple entry. She can easily return to China if needed.

 

If you're concerned about timing, I think she has six months to use the visa.

[warpedbored]

If the Child's case is in GZ awaiting customs then it is not likely to take six months until his interview. I would go ahead with your wife's interview and have her wait for his. If it looks like it will take more than 6 months then as Randy mentioned she can come to the US then fly back to China for child's interview.

[Phillip2]

Thanks for the advise. The wife wants to wait until we can all go together for the interview and is worried about the added cost. However, I am not worried about the added cost. I am concerned about what the VO will think about the whole thing.

 

I will find out what the status is on my stepson this week. They show his file was expediated on March 20. However they do not show that Guangzhou got his electronic copy as received. I must find out what is going on with it this week.

 

The part I said about waiting is to have them hold her case until my stepsons case clears customs so that another interview date could be scheduled. The lawyer I used did not file an I-130 for him when she submitted all the paperwork and only filed one for my wife. So I had to refile all his paperwork again and requested for an expedite. I got him all the way to Chinese customs were his paperwork is now. However, waiting for his to clear customs they already scheduled an interview with my wife.

[david_dawei]

One thing you could do is, let the interview date come for mom; once it is received, it could be 4-7 weeks out. Once you receive the date, immediately send an email to GUZ requesting the son's package be pulled and allowed with the mom's interview; Provide all the proper info so they don't delay any response.

 

If they cannot pull the son's forward:

1. You can then choose to have the interview alone; wait out the six month visa, and have mom go to the son's interview too.

2. You could ask them about delaying the mom's until the son's is ready, but be forewarned; sometimes when a rhetorical question is asked of GUZ (ie: if we want, can we delay mom until the son's interview), GUZ has in the past just acted on it as if it were the actual request.

 

Point is, be thoughtful and careful once you communicate to GUZ.

[Sebastian]

If there is an expedite tag on the son's case, then is possible for GUZ to pull his casefile from the bonded warehouse (where it really is).

 

Some bright clerk has to see the expedite in the GUZ computer first, then decide to pull the file.

The expedite tag , once recognized, will make it possible for a clerk to pull the file 'ahead of time', out of sequence.

 

 

I would suggest that you contact GUZ via email, and ask them to :

 

1. pull the son's casefile per the expedite tag

2. reschedule your wife's interview to be same day of son's interview

 

Good Luck !

Edited April 20, 2009 by Sebastian (see edit history)

[rogerinca]

The lawyer I used for this process made a big mistake. She failed to mail in a separate I-130 for my stepson. However, I have overcome all the problems she created for me. My stepson's case is in Chinese customs still for about 6 more weeks. Should I go forward with the interview or delay it until his clears customs? This would add about 2 to 3 more motnths to our process I am sure.

 

However, my wife has an interview set for 5/21/09. I don't know if I should delay her case until my stepson's case clears Chinese customs. Or to go ahead with the interview as scheduleded and be there with my wife.

 

She would stay in China until his interview before coming to America. I would be there for her's and not his. I am not worried about the money as it has no meaning at this point. I have not seen my wife since December and I am very anxious to be with her again.

 

Or do they make you wait at the Embassy regardless until his case clears customs?

 

 

You have some good advice here from others, on how to approach this issue.

 

Wow, this is really too bad. I am so amazed that this could happen, all while using an attorney who (I assume) specializes in immigration law and does this for a living. How do you miss filing the entire second I-130 package for the child !!??

 

You would think that this attorney would have some ¡®checks¡¯ and/or case file audits in place, to prevent this sort of thing from happening. The timeline on all of this is not real clear in your post, however, you would think that when that NOA-1 or for sure when that NOA-2 did not show up for the child, an alarm bell would have gone off in her office.

 

Furthermore, I notice in your timeline, you had an RFE out of the CSC. Was this due to [another] oversight on this attorney¡¯s part??

 

 

This is too bad; I really can imagine the frustration you feel in this situation.

 

This person should be doing whatever it takes to fix this for you and to ensure the process moves forward as expeditiously as possible. I hope you got a partial refund out of this.

 

Best wishes and good luck for a swift resolution !!