Adjustment of status - help!

Hi everyone! I would appreciate any advice and comments on the following situation. My sister was one of "the randomly selected and registered for further consideration in the DV-2004 diversity immigrant program". Her number is 21428. My sister was in the U.S. at the time of receipt of her winning entry and, following a consultation with a lawyer, filed for Adjustment of Status. She went through the finger printing process in late January and was awaiting her medical exam and interview dates. However, two weeks ago she received a letter from Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) that her application for Adjustment of Status was denied. The reason why it was denied is stated as follows in the CIS letter: "You filed your application for Adjustment of Status, Form I-485 on November 13, 2003. The November 2003 Visa Bulleting shows that immigrant numbers in the DV category for Estonia-Europe are available to applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers below EU 10,100. Your DV rank number is EU 21,428. Therefore, on November 13,2003, the date you filed your I-485, your rank number was not available. In addition, your case number would not be available during the three months (90 days) following the date you filed Form I-485. Based on the foregoing, it must be concluded that an immigrant visa was not immediately available to you at the time of filing. Since there is no basis upon which your application can otherwise be approved, it must be, and hereby is, denied. There is no appeal to this decision."



We obviously now know that the laywer's advice was wrong and that my sister should have waited until her number was available (through postings on the Visa Bulletin) to submit her Adjustment of Status application, instead of filing it asap (i.e, November 2003). Does anybody know whether this means that her case is now over or does this mean that she can fill out a new I-485 and file it when her DV rank number becomes available? In other words does the statement "there is no appeal to this decision" apply to the I-485 application submitted in Nov. 2003 only (which means that a new application can be filed at a later date) or does this apply to the whole Adjustment of Status process, meaning that my sister's case is over and done?



If she can submit a new I-485 application, the probability of scheduling an interview seems to be very low. DV rank numbers for May are 20,000 for Europe. Her number is 21,428. With that in mind, it seems that the earliest she could possibly refile is July 2004. How long does the process usually take? In other words, if she files for Adjustment of Status in July 2004, is there any way that her interview can be conducted and green card approved/issued until Sep. 30, 2004?



Thank you very much.

[raevsky]

She has to file I-485 not earlier than 90 days before her number becomes current. Her second case will have nothing to do with her first case. As soon as she sees her number current in advance notification section of visa bulletin, she can file. Some CIS offices, however, will not accept her case before it becomes current.

[szavalin]

raevsky писал(а) Mon, 29 March 2004 06:24
She has to file I-485 not earlier than 90 days before her number becomes current. Her second case will have nothing to do with her first case. As soon as she sees her number current in advance notification section of visa bulletin, she can file. Some CIS offices, however, will not accept her case before it becomes current.

So, it means it's possible to file it twice?

[raevsky]

Tochno. Pri uslovii, chto rassmotrenie po povtornoi podache budet zaversheno do 30 sentiabria.

Spasibo za informaziju.