Deafening silence - Awaiting a response from USCIS

Good dav Mrs Walker-Huntington,

May the good Lord continue to give you the wisdom you are sharing with ue. I got married to my husband 18 months now and my husband has filed for me to become a US citizen.

I got my work permit, etate ID and Social Security card. We did an interview over eight months now and still haven't got a response from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Every time we call, they tell us our case is pending. The last time they gave us 60 days, that has passed. We called back, this time they told us another 30 days. What should we do as we never used a lawyer to file?

-J.A.

Dear J.A.:

Thank you for your blessings. It would appear from your letter that you are in the United States (US), that you are married to a US citizen who has filed a petition to change your status to that of a green-card holder.

If you entered the US on a non-immigrant visa, e.g. a visitor's visa or an H-2B visa, and you married a US citizen the immigration laws allows you to change or adjust your status from a non-immigrant to that of a permanent resident or green-card holder. Among the documents you would file to adjust your status is a request for a work permit - which you seemed to have done. Your husband cannot petition for you to become a US citizen directly, you must obtain permanent residency first before you can petition for US citizenship.

Once the documents are processed, you are scheduled for an in-person adjustment interview at your local United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office. At the interview, you are questioned about your relationship with your spouse - sometimes persons are even separated, asked a series of questions and their answers compared for accuracy. A couple is also expected to take documentary evidence to the interview to prove to the USCIS officer that they are living together and commingling their assets and their liabilities.

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

The majority of cases are approved at the conclusion of the interview. However, there are times when the interviewing USCIS officer is not prepared to grant or deny the application at the end of the interview. In some cases, the officer usually wants to speak with a supervisor before making a decision on the case or to conduct further investigation on the file. In other instances, the officer requests that the couple produce some additional documentation before making a decision.

You did not indicate in your letter whether you were requested to provide additional documentation or if there were any discrepancies in your answers to the officer's questions. Eight months after an interview is an excessive amount of time to not have a decision in the case.

Your options at this stage is to make an Info Pass appointment via the Internet and go to your local USCIS office to enquire into the status of your application, or to hire an attorney to take over the case on your behalf.

[Author Affiliation]

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises in Florida in the areas of immigration, family, corporate and personal injury law. She is an arbitrator and special magistrate in Broward County, Florida. into@walkerh un tington .com.