Trying to get Grandma out of Ukraine, who do I turn to?

Submitted by BF1shY t3_11a5z2a in massachusetts

After a year of dealing with immigration and filling out all the paperwork the US Dept of Immigration now says they cannot find my grandma's case... Is there anyone I can contact to get this done? It has been a year now, I don't have the money for an immigration lawyer.

Thank you.

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snizzelicious t1_j9q3wu4 wrote

Reach out to your congressperson

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Victor_Korchnoi t1_j9q44aw wrote

Your US congressman, not your State Congressman, in case it wasn’t clear

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miratim t1_j9qsa0g wrote

What's a state congressman?

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Capricore58 t1_j9qw062 wrote

I’m probably gonna get whooshed and not know the reference but…

There are a group of legislators that meet in Boston and pass bills in the commonwealth’s version of congress. In Mass it’s called the Massachusetts General Court. Consisting of the Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives. The OP is being told to go to the legislators that work in Washington DC and not Boston

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miratim t1_j9qw6bm wrote

Right but we don't have a congress in MA. So easier to say go to your Congressperson.

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Capricore58 t1_j9qwhi3 wrote

But some people use a shorthand and might call their legislator that goes to Boston a congressperson because they’re not as well informed

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kethera__ t1_j9sfqq0 wrote

jfc that was peak reddit. FINE we have a STaTe LeGiSLaTuRe so they should talk to their damn state rep. And yes, I think they should talk to both because all hands on deck in this type of situation, no? It seems pretty urgent.

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iwanttobehappy2022 t1_j9tha2u wrote

We only have congressmen in still state. We don’t destroy English in Mass.

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THevil30 t1_j9qspq9 wrote

This may seem like the wrong answer but it is 100000% the right answer and is very underrated. Your congressman/woman has a constituent services department and their whole point is to chase down the federal government on things like this and they WILL help. Had an issue like this with my wife where USCIS just lost her application for citizenship. They got it found within a week or so.

I’d also ping markey’s office, though the rep will probably be more responsive. Warrens office isn’t very helpful on these.

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ak716 t1_j9q46t3 wrote

This list of legal resources is on the MIRA (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy) Coalition website. I wonder if any of these groups would be able to help? Most of them work for free or low cost. https://miracoalition.org/resources/legal-services/

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DarkPurpleHibiscus t1_j9q0l27 wrote

May be worth contacting the Rian Center to see if they have any ideas - https://www.riancenter.org/ I think the bulk of their work is around immigrants who are already here, but they might be able to refer you somewhere if they can't help you.

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Specialist_Run_8238 t1_j9tj0sj wrote

You can check the MIRA coalition or check for pro bono attorneys with the bar. Also, with every paper filed you should have received a receipt. You can send copies of those to USCIS attached with a letter. Each receipt should have a number and address. In the meantime, you should also do a FOIA request to check if they really lost your file.

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kdall7 t1_j9s50ur wrote

You can try to contact the staff writer or the man named in this article, as it seems he dealt with getting his daughter out of Ukraine and I’m sure could give you guidance on how to get your grandmother out. Also, if you haven’t already, seek out free community legal clinics near you for advice on how to move forward as well.

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wsdog t1_j9t8s2u wrote

Either you are a scam victim or really don't understand what you are doing. There is no such thing as the US dept of immigration.

What kind of petition did you file? Grandparents are not the core family, generally us citizens cannot petition for them.

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UsernameTaken93456 t1_j9tg29m wrote

Lol.

USCIS is very very much a real department. They issue those student visas and summer time workers visas that keep Massachusetts afloat.

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wsdog t1_j9tm71m wrote

This is called USCIS, not "the department of immigration".

They also are not known for losing cases. Something is very off with this post.

Also USCIS doesn't issue any visas, only the DOS issues visas.

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ggtffhhhjhg t1_j9u8uxh wrote

Buy here a train ticket out of Ukraine and flight out of Europe and as long as she doesn’t cause any trouble the authorities won’t even know she’s here.

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watermelonprincess12 t1_j9uhwps wrote

Agreed. Buy her a plane ticket and get her out of there. Deal with immigration later, she will likely qualify for residency under refugee laws. And agree with above posters - USCIS is a computer based department and they do not “lose” people’s cases typically. This doesn’t make sense.

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ohmygad45 t1_j9st896 wrote

The fact that you refer to "the US Dept of Immigration" makes me think that you're not really on top of the documentation. I can't blame you, the bureaucracy can be bewilderingly complex. There are a variety of government agencies in the U.S. that deal with immigration, none called "the US Dept of Immigration". You're most likely refering to USCIS, DHS, CBP, or the U.S. Department of State depending on where exactly in the process your grandmother is. I recommend hiring a U.S. immigration lawyer and doing what they tell you. If you can't afford one, try fundraising, finding a pro-bono one or going to a low-income legal clinic.

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