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    What are your everyday thoughts, questions, concerns, successes, and challenges?  
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    6 Posts
    Seeking your help ..
    By Sylvia   
     My husband, who is an American by birth, and I, an Australian citizen, have been married for 4 years.  We were married in Mar 06 in Utah and started the immigration process soon after whilst living in Las Vegas.  Our case was approved just as we moved to Idaho. We had to attend another meeting in Idaho in Dec 2007 after our case was transferred there. We received a denial of the application in Feb 2008 and sought legal advice to have the case reopened.  This too was denied in Aug 08 and I quickly returned back to Perth, Western Australia.  Pat, my husband, restarted the application process which USCIS received 7th Oct 2008.  

    The next day, 8th Oct 08, Pat was involved in an automobile accident during which he sustained a traumatic brain injury resulting in memory loss and vision impairment and C5/6 quadriplegia.  The US Consul here were amazing and I was allowed back into the US for 85 days.   I sought advice from immigration and was told to have a lawyer draw up a letter seeking to have our case expedited due to humanitarian reasons.  I did this and also became his guardian/conservator along with his sister at the same time.  I received word that immigration had received the letter on Dec 27 08.   Pat remained in ICU for the entire time I was there.   I also had to reneg the lease on our home and pack our belongings for storage.  When I left on Jan 3 09, he was getting ready to move to rehab. 

    In April of that year, Pat's sister, who was in charge of dealing with immigration, got a letter asking for more information for our case. I had naively packed our paperwork in with our things for storage thinking that Immigration already had the necessary paperwork from our previous application. It was left too late to find the necessary paperwork and the date passed with immigration not being informed of what had happened.  They declared the case abandoned and once again we received a denial of application.  
     
    I have tried seeking help from the Idaho Senator, we asked for legal help from a charity in Boise (refused because we didn't live in Boise!), Legal Aid,  I even wrote asking if an immigration lawyer in SLC would be willing to take our case on Pro Bono.  All to no avail.

    At this point in time, I am totally frustrated.  My husband is not able to fill out the necessary forms due to his memory loss and obviously his quadriplegia!!  Let alone the fact that it is not a simple form to fill out anymore. We do not have the funds for a lawyer, it will be extremely hard finding the funds necessary for the application fees!  We have already paid out a few thousand dollars!  We have ben apart for two years now and I just want to come home! 

    Would anyone have any ideas or contacts that might be able to help us, please. 

    Thanking you 

    Sylvia Long  
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    Visit Sharon's profile
    39 Posts
    Sharon  says:

    need to see about being his poa over everything it is free to do

    Posted:   

    Sharon

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    Visit PRC_Jennifer's profile
    63 Posts
    PRC_Jennifer  says:
    Sylvia.

    You may want to be in contact with the Law Bar Association in Idaho, here are a few links off the website that may be helpful. Many Bar organizations offer free legal assistance.

    www.isb.idaho.gov/ilf/ivlp/ivlp.html

    www.isb.idaho.gov/
     
    www.isb.idaho.gov/ilf/legal_questions.html

    You may also want to reach out to a disability rights advocacy groups as well, listed below will be your advocacy contacts for Idaho.

    www.icdri.org/legal/IdahoCAP.htm
    Idaho Protection and Advocacy / Client Assistance Program (CAP)
    Comprehensive Advocacy, Inc.
    4477 Emerald
    Suite B-100
    Boise, ID 83706
    Phone: 208-336-5396
    Fax: 208-336-5396
    Email: coadinc@cableone.net jbaugh@cableone.net

    www.advocareforparalysis.com/
    AdvoCare for Paralysis
    4154 E 100 N
    Rigby, Idaho 83442
    Phone: 208-745-1005
    Email: pierre@advocare.myrf.net

    I also provided a link to our general advocacy information as well off of our website these organizations are more national based.

     http://www.christopherreeve.org/atf/cf/%7B173bca02-3665-49ab-9378-be009c58a5d3%7D/ADVOCACY%20&%20DISABILITY%20RIGHTS%201-10.PDF

    I hope this provides some help.

    -Jenn
    Posted:   
    "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"
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    Visit Sylvia's profile
    6 Posts
    Sylvia  says:
    Thank you so much Jenn and that does not even begin to express what I/we mean!!   We will start chasing that up on Monday! Oh wait till I tell my hubby, he's gonna have "sweaty" eyes just like me!!    
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    Visit PRC_Jennifer's profile
    63 Posts
    PRC_Jennifer  says:
    Glad to help out ! I had some issues with the links I posted but they should be working and fixed now.
    Posted:   
    "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"
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