Ways to avoid the revocation of visa petitions for family members

Visa processing of adult children and siblings of American citizens take many years.  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 United States-citizen brother filed a petition for him which was approved that same year.  In 1994, the Department of State sent a letter to Ken at their old address in Quezon City. The letter notified Ken that he had a “priority date” of July 7, 1987. Ken did not respond. At that time, Ken was apparently not interested in immigrating to the US because he had a flourishing business.

The State Department, through the National Visa Center (NVC), sent Ken a second letter in 1998. This second letter informed Ken that if he did not take action within one year, his visa availability would be canceled.

The following year, the State Department sent another letter to Ken advising him that his approved petition had been canceled 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 US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Sometime later, Ken suffered financial losses from his business in the Philippines. To escape from his problems, Ken entered the US on a tourist visa. He intended to pursue the application for an immigrant visa filed earlier by his brother but was told that his visa petition had already been revoked.

Cancelations of visas

An approved visa petition may be revoked either for cause or through automatic revocation.

When the consular officer, and later the US 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 in cases where the petitioner is unaware and has not been advised of derogatory information. The burden of proof in establishing eligibility 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. In this case, the visa petition of Ken had been automatically terminated because he did not respond to the notice to pursue his immigrant visa.

Avoiding visa revocation

Ken should have responded to the letter of the NVC 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 US.  If, for whatever reason, he is not yet ready to permanently settle in the US, he can always apply for a “reentry permit.” This allows him to live outside the US temporarily while preserving his immigrant status.

(Tancinco may be reached at [email protected] or at 887 7177 or 721 1963)