I-140: Has any immigrant visa petition ever been filed...?

[Javier]

Hi,

This might be a recurring question in one form or another. In form I-140, part 4, item 6, it asks

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Has any immigrant visa petition ever been filed by or on behalf of this person?

and then adds:

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If you answered "yes" to any of the questions 4 through 8, provide the case number, office location, date of decision and disposition of the decision on a separate sheet of paper

My background: I have a green card issued to me about 41 years ago. This means someone must have filed a petition on my behalf. I was a minor and I do not have any information other than the green card. Then we went away for many years (left the country about 40 years ago). I recently came back and have had several visas of other types. I have not been in the US out of status.

Should I answer "yes"? If so, then what do I do regarding the case number, etc? Is the copy of the green card enough?

[Javier]

After posting I was wondering how come this question never came up for me, and checked the application for my current visa. The exact wording in that application is

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Has anyone ever filed an immigrant petition on your behalf with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services?

 

 

which I answered "No." This is correct in the strict sense, since USCIS did not exist back then, but in the I-140 now it does not mention USCIS.

[JoeF]

Even though USCIS by name didn't exist back then, INS did, and USCIS is the organization that took over INS. So, this "USCIS didn't exist" is bogus. There is the legal term of "successor in interest."

If an I-130 was filed for you, the correct answer is "yes." Now, it may have been, if you were a minor, that you were the beneficiary of a petition your parents filed. In that case, the answer would be "no."

You should try and find out what was filed back then. But I don't think USCIS would deny things. I think the best would be to attach an explanation. They have all the applications in storage, back to the 19th Century.