17 Sep An approved marriage petition may be revoked for cause

By Atty. Crispin Caday Lozano

An approved marriage based petition may be revoked if the USCIS or the U.S. Consulate has a reasonable basis that was not considered at the time of the approval.  Until you are admitted to the U.S. as an immigrant or you adjust status, USCIS may revoke the approval of the petition at any time, for good and sufficient cause.

Some petitions may be automatically revoked, such as when the petitioner withdraws the petition, divorces the beneficiary, or dies and section 204(l) survivor benefits do not apply. Other petitions may be revoked on notice when USCIS determines it issued the approval in error.

An approved I-130 petition by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse allows you to apply for an immigrant visa at the U.S. Consulate or file for adjustment of status within the U.S. (if eligible). An approved I-129F petition permits you to apply for a K-1 visa to come to the U.S., marry the U.S. citizen petitioner within 90 days of arrival, and then file for a green card. Getting the petition approved is just a preliminary step.

When may USCIS revoke an approved petition?

USCIS may seek to reverse its decision and revoke the approval based on information or evidence that it did not previously consider. The information or evidence need not have been unavailable or undiscoverable at the time the petition was approved. A NOIR may be based on plain USCIS error, such as overlooking a prior marriage fraud determination or lacking information or evidence discovered by the U.S. Consulate.

How Does the Revocation Process Work?

Revocation process applies only if you have not been issued a green card.  Once you are permanent resident, revocation of the petition approval is no longer possible. Instead, the U.S. government must use rescission or removal (deportation) proceedings to take your green card away.

The revocation process may begin at any time after the petition is approved, but before you adjust to permanent residence or before you are admitted to the U.S. on an immigrant visa.

When USCIS, on its own initiative,  determines it approved an I-130 or I-129F in error, it retrieves the petition from the USCIS office, consular office, or National Visa Center (NVC) for possible revocation.

The U.S. Consulate may also initiates revocation by sending the case back to USCIS for further review, due to negative information it obtained during review of the visa application or during its interview of the visa applicant.  The consular officer typically denies the visa application under INA section 221(g) (temporary refusal of immigrant visa), pending USCIS’ review of the returned petition. The Consulate returns the petition to USCIS with a  memorandum explaining why it believes the petition should not have been approved or is no longer approvable.

Consulates return immigrant petitions to the National Visa Center, which then route them to the appropriate USCIS offices.

Case Status Information

When a petition is returned and relocated to USCIS, the status of the petition is logged into the national USCIS database system, which in turn updates the Case Status Online system on USCIS’ website.

SUCCESS STORIES

1. For the month of August, 2019, we received approval from Immigration Court for a waiver of misrepresentation for a client who has committed marriage fraud. We also received approval from USCIS of two naturalization applications and two fiancé visa petition.
2. For the month of July 2019, we received approvals of three N-400 application for Naturalization, one I-751 Petition to remove condition of residence with interview and two I-90 renewal of green card.
3. For June 2019, we received approvals of four adjustment of status, six naturalization applications and two certificate of citizenship applications, and one Removal of condition on resident.
4. On May 6, 2019, we received approvals of three adjustment of status applications and two Naturalization applications.
5. On April 24, 2019, we received approval from USCIS for three naturalization applications and one adjustment of status.
6. On March 29, 2019, we received an approval of adjustment of status for a client whose petitioner and primary beneficiary has died under INA 204(l)
7. On March 28, 2019, we received an approval of renewal of green card for a client who was in the Philippines under medical treatment for one and a half years.
8. From March 4 to 26, 2019, we received six adjustment of status approvals.
9. For the month of February, 2019, we received tow approvals of renewal of green card and one approval of removal of condition on residence.
10. On January 16, 2019, we received an approval of naturalization for a client who received a waiver of misrepresentation in Immigration Court.
11. On January 28, 2019 we received an approval of adjustment of status for a client who entered on a visa waiver.

If you have immigration problems the Law Offices of Crispin C. Lozano can help you find a solution before your problem gets worse which could lead to deportation and family separation.

Crispin Caday Lozano, Esq. is an active member of the State Bar of California, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and San Francisco Trial Lawyers.  He practices immigration law, bankruptcy and personal injury law since June 1999.  His contact phone is 1-877-456-9266, email: info@CCLlaw.net