Immigration News For Our Community: Understanding Denial & Revocation after Embassy Interview

Jul 24, 2016 News

By Attorney Gail Seeram

Approval and then a denial and then a revocation – what does this mean?

When an embassy interview is scheduled, the petitioner and beneficiary in most cases already have an approved immigrant visa petition (Form I-130). An approved immigrant visa petition (Form I-130) simply means that the petitioner and beneficiary have proved the marriage (by providing a marriage certificate), child-parent relationship, parent-child relationship or sibling relationship.

Confusion often arises when U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revokes an already approved immigrant visa petition (Form I-130) after an U.S. Embassy interview and recommendation.

REASONS FOR REVOCATION

When USCIS has previously approved an immigrant visa petition (Form I-130), the U.S. Department of State (who oversees the U.S. Embassies) may grant a family-based immigrant visa to the petition’s beneficiary and qualified derivatives. A petitioner is defined as the family member who submitted the petition to USCIS. A beneficiary is an alien family member who will seek admission to the United States upon approval of the petition and issuance of the appropriate visa from DOS.

An approved immigrant visa petition (Form I-130) may be revoked at the discretion of USCIS upon notice or, under certain prescribed circumstances. If an U.S. Embassy officer discovers during the course of a visa interview that the underlying petition should not have been approved, or is no longer approvable, the petition may be referred back to USCIS.

In such cases, a memorandum should accompany the returned petition from the U.S. Embassy explaining the reasons the approved petition should be revoked. Once returned, a USCIS officer will review the petition and the Department of State-U.S. Embassy officer findings, and may either:

Find that the petition is not revocable and return the petition to U.S. Embassy with an explanation of the decision not to revoke the petition;
Issue a Notice of Intent to Revoke to the petitioner; or, if warranted,
Issue a Notice of Automatic Revocation to the petitioner.

AUTOMATIC REVOCATION

In certain instances, such as the death of the beneficiary or the petitioner, an approved petition or self-petition is automatically revoked as of the date of approval. If USCIS is aware of such circumstances, USCIS will send a notice of the automatic revocation to the consular office having jurisdiction over the visa application, with a copy to the petitioner’s last known address.

DECISION ON REVOCATION

If, based on the evidence received, the USCIS officer determines that the approval should not be revoked, the petitioner will receive a notice advising of the decision to reaffirm the petition. The petition will be returned to Department of State, National Visa Center (NVC) for shipment to the appropriate U.S. Embassy with the USCIS letter of reaffirmation, a copy of the letter of intent to revoke and the petitioner’s response.

REVOCATION PENDING

When a consular or Embassy officer returns an immigrant visa petition to USCIS for reconsideration and possible revocation, he or she will typically deny the visa application on the basis of INA section 221(g) (temporary refusal of immigrant visa), pending USCIS review of the returned petition. The consular officer may also deny the visa application on another basis, if appropriate.

For more information, contact Gail Law Firm:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 1-877-GAIL-LAW or 407-292-7730

www.MyOrlandoImmigrationLawyer.com

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