Visa processing of adult children and siblings of U.S. citizens take many years to be current. Hence, it is not unusual for many prospective immigrants who already have comfortable lives in our homeland to decide not to pursue their American dream. Delaying immigrant visa processing without understanding its consequences may, however, result in revocation of a visa and lost opportunity.
On July 7, 1987 Ken’s U.S. citizen brother filed a petition for him. This petition was approved that same year. In 1994, the Department of State sent a letter to Ken at their old address in Quezon City. Sometime in 1995, Ken’s sister brought the letter to his attention. The letter notified Ken that he had a “priority date” of July 7, 1987. Ken did not respond. At that time, Ken was not interested in immigrating to the United States because he had a flourishing business.
The State Department, through the National Visa Center (NVC), sent Ken a second letter dated May 6, 1998. This second letter informed Ken that a year earlier, the NVC had already informed Ken of the necessary steps for him to process his immigrant visa and that if Ken does not take action within one year his visa availability will be cancelled.
The following year, the State Department sent a letter to Ken dated May 6, 1999 advising him that his approved petition had been cancelled because he had not applied for his immigrant visa within one year of being advised to do so. This letter also informed Ken that the record of his application had been destroyed and any petition approved on his behalf had been returned to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Sometime later, Ken suffered financial losses from his business in the Philippines. To escape from his problems, Ken entered the United States on a tourist B-2 visa . He intended to pursue the application for immigrant visa filed by his brother but was told that his visa petition had already been revoked.
Cancellations of Visas
An approved visa petition may be revoked either for cause or through automatic revocation.
When the consular officer, and later the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services finds out that the basis for the approval of the visa does not exist, then the approved visa petition may be revoked. The standard that is used to revoke for cause is “good and sufficient”. This means that revocation cannot be based on unsupported statements, unstated presumptions or where the petitioner is unaware and has not been advised of derogatory information. Burden of proof in revocation proceeding to establish eligibility for the benefit sought is on the petitioner.
An approved visa petition may also be revoked automatically. The most popular example of an automatic revocation is through the “death” of the petitioner. Other reasons for automatic revocation include withdrawal in writing of the approved petition by the petitioner. Once a notice is received from the National Visa Center, a beneficiary of an approved petition is obligated to follow through on the immigrant visa application process within one year or risk termination of the beneficiary’s registration. Should the registration be terminated, the approved visa is automatically revoked. In this case, the visa petition of Ken had already been automatically terminated because he did not respond to the notice to pursue his immigrant visa.
Avoiding the Revocation of a Visa
Ken should have responded to the letter of the National Visa Center by registering his application for immigration visa. “Registration” requires the payment of fees and filing of necessary forms.
What Ken could have done instead of ignoring the request to respond to the visa processing was for him to pay the fees and accomplish the necessary forms. As soon as the visa is issued, he may travel to the United States. If, for whatever reason, he is not yet ready to permanently settle in the United States, he can always apply for a “re-entry permit”. This allows him to live outside the US temporarily while preserving his immigrant status.
(Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com or at 887 7177 or 721 1963)
