Reporting changes to your petition

(Part 2)

When a family petition is filed, it can sometimes take many months or even years for the petition to be approved, and then even more years until the priority date is current. For example, it can take more than five years for a sibling petition (F-4) to be approved by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and then 20 more years until the visa is available.

During that time, the information on the petition may no longer be accurate, or circumstances may have changed. If that is the case, it is important to notify either the USCIS or the National Visa Center (NVC) of changes that may affect the waiting time on a petition or even its continued validity/viability. In addition, failure to notify USCIS or NVC could even result in the petition being terminated.

In a previous article, I listed some events where you should report changes. Below are more changes that may occur, which you should report:

• Additional children to add to the petition. Because it can take so long until a priority date is current, additional children may be born to the primary beneficiary during that waiting time. For example, a sibling petition (F-4) can take 20 or more years. If the primary beneficiary has children born during that time, those children can be added/included in the petition, provided they are under 21 years of age (Child Status Protection Act or CSPA eligible) when the priority date finally becomes current.

• Petitioner’s death. If the petitioner dies before the beneficiary adjust status (if in the US) or arrives in the US with an immigrant visa (if consular processing), then the petition is considered void and the beneficiary would have to seek reinstatement of the petition by the USCIS, either through humanitarian revalidation (if they were outside the US) or through Section 204(l) if the beneficiary was in the US at the time of the petitioner’s death.

• Principal beneficiary’s death. If the principal beneficiary dies and the family is outside the US, the case is over. There is no humanitarian revalidation available for derivatives if the principal beneficiary dies. However, if a family member was in the US, it could be possible for derivative beneficiaries to pursue their visas despite the death of the principal beneficiary under Section 204(l).

• Yearly contact with NVC. If a person’s priority date is current and they are under consular processing, they must apply for their visa within one year or risk having their case terminated. In addition, they must contact the NVC each year to express their interest in pursuing the visa, or the NVC could terminate the case under Section 203(g). This yearly contact requirement can be very confusing and frustrating. I have had consultations where the NVC sent the family an email noting that the case was “documentarily complete” and the NVC was just waiting to find them an interview slot, and there was nothing more the family needed to do. So, they were just sitting back and waiting to hear from NVC. To their shock, NVC later sent them a notice that their case was terminated because they did not contact NVC within one year, despite NVC telling the family to just wait. Therefore, make sure to log into CEAC or otherwise contact NVC on a yearly basis.

As you can see, there are many changes that can take place after the petition is filed that could affect the waiting time or validity of the petition. If you have a pending petition, you may want to consult with an attorney to make sure the case is on track, appropriate changes are reported and the attorney could also assist in processing the case once the visa becomes available.

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