It was your husband’s fault
Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,
My husband is a born American citizen. He filed for my son and me in March 2017. In February 2018 they sent back my son’s papers, saying my husband should get the latest paper and re-sign it and send it again. They assured him it was their fault and that my son’s papers would fall back in line right next to mine. Now, they are saying his papers will be processing at a different time from mine. CJ Dear CJ:
When a person chooses to file a petition for a family member to gain permanent residency in the United States, they can either hire an immigration attorney to assist them or choose to navigate the process on their own. The United States Citizenship & Immigration Services’ (USCIS) website provides information about the process. If you choose to navigate the process on your own, interpreting the public information and you make a mistake, there is no holding USCIS accountable for any errors that you make.
In your situation, it appears that your husband used an outdated USCIS form to submit your son’s petition and it was not accepted. I can only assume, as you were not specific as to where the filing was done and to which form you refer.
Periodically, USCIS updates/ changes the format of the various application forms used in the petition process. There is usually a transition period to ease in the new form. However, there is also a final date for the acceptance of the old form. It would appear that the form your husband submitted for your son was received by USCIS after their final acceptance date. That would not be USCIS’ fault, but instead, an error by your husband.
Your application was accepted on a given date and that governs the processing of your petition. The same applies to your son – he would now have a different and later receipt date and his application would be processed according to that date. You may be able to rejoin the application at the National Visa Center (NVC) after both petitions are approved. If you cannot, then you will both have to proceed with different dates or you can be strategic in the timing of your responses to the NVC to shorten the processing gap.
When a green card is approved at the embassy, you are usually given about six months before you are compelled to leave and make your first entry into the United States as a permanent resident. If you are strategic, it is possible for your son’s application to catch up to yours or to at least be closer to yours in the Consular processing phase. If that is accomplished, you could consider waiting in Jamaica until he has his appointment – but ensuring that you do not remain in Jamaica beyond the time stamped in your passport for you to leave the country.