Consular I-130s Resume
Posted Mar 30, 2007
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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced at the end of March 2007, that consular posts will, in limited situations, accept I-130 petitions for immediate relatives, once again. This practice had ended on January 22, 2007, as the result of changes in the law known as the "Adam Walsh" Act. The consulates were not equipped to perform the required additional screening of the petitioning relatives required by that Act. This was reported to MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers in our February 2, 2007 article, New Petitioner Rules for Family Based I-130 Petition and K Cases.
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Cases Eligible for Consular Processing of I-130 Petitions
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The eligible cases are a very limited group of I-130 family petitions. The U.S. consulates can accept these for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens who reside abroad in the consular district. Immediate relatives include spouses, minor children, and parents of U.S. citizens. In order for the U.S. citizen petitioner to meet the "residing" requirement, s/he must show that s/he has resided legally in the district for at least six months. The legal residence must be in a non-temporary status; therefore, students and tourists will not qualify.
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Eligibility also extends to members of the armed forces, as well as emergency situations and other special cases that are in the national interest. The announcement provided examples of what is meant by emergency or national interest. The example provided for a family emergency was a situation where minor children were to be left without a caretaker. An example of a national interest situation involved a military / government employee, pending a transfer and needing to facilitate the travel of a spouse and/or minor children.
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USCIS Option
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The option to file I-130s at the consulates applies to those locations where there is no U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) international office that can accept the case. The USCIS offices abroad also accept I-130 petitions, under the criteria stated above for the consulates. These offices can be found through the USCIS WebSite. The number of consulates greatly exceeds the number of USCIS offices abroad. Notwithstanding this fact, however, one must use the USCIS office abroad, in those situations where there is one available, rather than using the consulate.
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Conclusion and Reminder
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The DOS revised its procedures quite quickly to restore this limited, but valuable, option for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens who reside abroad and for a small, additional class of U.S. citizen petitioners. MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers are reminded that U.S. citizens and permanent residents living in the U.S. must file I-130 petitions at the appropriate USCIS office within the United States.