Service Error on I-485 denial

[Revell]

I sponsored my husband and our I-130 was successfully approved. We filed for an adjustment of status. It was denied. In the Officer's explanation, she stated my Husband did not have 245(i) protection because his mother's Labor Certification had been denied. Thus, my husband could not prove legal enter or protection under 245(i).

Here is where it becomes complicated. My mother-in-law had three applications filed for Labor Certification. One application was not filed with the appropriate fees and was quickly denied. After several years a second case was denied however it remains under appeal. The application was approval when submitted. Her third application was approved and she also received approval of her I-140. All this occurred even prior to our marriage and submission of our application. It is also important to note that my husband was a minor when the Labor certs were filed and was a minor on the December 21, 2001. He also present in the country prior and on the date. (We documents proving this.)

We received our denial notice back in late January. We went to our attorney and he requested additional documents to show a service error had in fact occurred. Within a week he had all the necessary documents. First week of February he scheduled and attended an Infopass appointment. He spoke with an officer and submitted the additional documents. The officer said he accepted the new information and since a service error had occurred a fee to reopen the case was not required. Therefore the case was reopened using "sua sponte". All this happened 14 days after the receiving the denial notice. No I-290 was filed. I do not know if it is necessary to file.

-My first question is, is it?

If so, we had 30 days after the denial to file. What do we do since it has been over 160 days?

So my husband and I were instructed by the attorney to schedule and attended an infopass appointment. We were instructed to specifically ask for the status of the motion to reopen. We attended our appointment on July 22, 2011. There we were told there was no motion to reopen (no-I-290B or MTR)nor was there any action taken to reconsider the decision. Instead we learned that the file is being prepared for court preceding pertaining to deportation and such action was taken back in June.

We reported this back to our attorney. We asked him if he received any documentation of the Officer stating that he would reopen the file. When we asked, our attorney became defensive and stated we were doubting whether he actually filed the Motion or not. That was not the case. We simply wanted to establish there was some document we could present to show that the officer (we have the officer's name) agreed to reopen the case. Since he felt we were doubting him, he said he will not longer represent us and for us to find another attorney that will. I am trying to piece together everything that is going on. I have no concept of any of this. Any direction, would be extremely helpful.

What should I be doing now?

What options do we have?

What should I expect?

Is there still hope?

Our attorney has completely shut down and will not communicate what he has done.

Please do advise

[Belle]

All I can say is that your attorney seems to have no idea what s/he is doing, and quite honestly acted like a jerk. I suggest you hire a good attorney - those don't come cheap. You could probably file an MTR late if you have proof the attorney gave you bad advice. Your situation is not the kind you want to try to resolve on a forum with a bunch of people who have little knowledge of the immigration law.