Can an approved I-130 be revoked if not acted upon?
A Canadian family has put their plans to move to the States on hold. Jon’s* wife, who is an American Citizen, petitioned for Jon and their adult daughter, Anne*, to obtain Green Cards. Jon obtained his, while Anne’s I-130 application was approved in the spring, and she now needs to process for her Green Card at the U.S. Consulate. However, they have jobs in Canada and they aren’t ready to leave yet and still need to sell their home.
U.S. immigration may make applicants wait months, and sometimes years, to get a visa approved, but it won’t wait forever for those with approved petitions to put them into use.
We answered two questions that will put this family at ease, so the daughter’s immigrant visa will be waiting for her once they are ready to finalize their moving plans.
Q: Can the U.S. Consulate REVOKE an approved I-130 if it is not acted on?
A: Yes, theoretically. But this can be prevented by contacting the National Visa Center (NVC) regularly (in less than 12 month increments). The instructions on the most recent NVC correspondence in a client’s case state: The NVC is unable to place a hold on the processing of the case. If a period of one year passes from the last date of contact with the NVC (by e-mail, telephone or mail), all submitted documents and fees will expire. In order to keep this case active, please continue to stay in periodic contact with the NVC by e-mail, telephone or mail within the above time frame to prevent this case from entering the termination process.
We then called the NVC and they confirmed this: The case can be kept active pretty much indefinitely, as long as we never let more than 12 months pass without contacting the NVC. And the operator said it doesn’t even matter whether the fee bill has been paid yet or not.
For your information, the law says: INA 203(g): … The Secretary of State shall terminate the registration of any alien who fails to apply for an immigrant visa within one year following notification to the alien of the availability of such visa, but the Secretary shall reinstate the registration of any such alien who establishes within 2 years following the date of notification of the availability of such visa that such failure to apply was due to circumstances beyond the alien’s control.
Q: Will I have to pay another $470 when we don’t finish the process within a year after paying the fee?
A: It appears this is not true if we stay in touch with the NVC and there is no fee hike. According to the NVC Customer Service Agent whom we spoke to: an applicant will have to pay again only if more than a year passes without contacting the NVC. We then asked what happens if the fees go up after the fee bill has been paid? The agent said that in case of a fee hike, the new fee has to be paid, not just the difference between old and new fees. Fees were last raised two years ago. The agent had no information on when to expect the next raise in fees.
*Names have been changed for client confidentiality.
