Trying to get USCIS to correct a mistake they made.

[Gerald and Vinera 0]

Greetings. My immigration attorney submitted my first I-129F Petition back in September of 2007. It was received by the California Service Center on September 20. Someone at the California Service Center incorrectly classified it as an I-130 and sent it to the Chicago lock box to be processed. In Chicago they correctly identified it as an I-129F Petition and instead of sending it back to the California Service center to be processed they sent it back to my attorney and issued me a rejection noticed becuase it was out of their jurisdiction. I re-filed and received my first NOA dated January 14, 2008. Since that time I have been trying to get USCIS to put me back in line where I would have been if it had not been for their mistake. So far I've had no luck though almost 2 months ago an adjucating office at the California Service asked my attorney's congressman for documentation which was sent at that time. I havn't had any luck trying to find a way to contact the California Service Center by telephone.

Has anyone had a similar circumstance and if so what was teh outcome?

Thanks very much for your input!

Gerald

[SnowyTater 0]

You can definately call USCIS and the centers by telephone, but it's meant to be a long and a bit painful process. From what I've read others saying, it's hard to get through (I guess you're put on hold most of the time) and oftentimes when you do get through the person assisting you is rude or impatient. BUT I have also read about a lot of helpful people, when you do manage to talk to someone, so this is definately worth a shot if you have questions.

I'm not sure I entirely understand what you're trying to do. It sucks if the USCIS or your center or whoever screwed up and categorized your petition wrong, so I'm sorry for that. But if I understand you you want to be expedited in the process now because of it?

I don't think this is possible, I don't think there's a way you could do this. They deal with thousands of files and really, unless there's some official document or request you can send in for this sort of thing (I've never heard of one) then I think you just have to wait. If you've gotten your NOA1 you're in the right place now and you're just gonna have to sit tight, as far as I know. The delay sucks but these sorts of things - mismanagement, RFE's, files sitting collecting dust in basements, happen to a lot of people and it's kind of a risk everybody takes. There's a lot of people that filed in fall of last year and have yet to be approved, whereas people that filed a month ago have already been approved - it's not a fair system.

Did you have to pay to file again, the $455? I would hope that you could get a refund on that, at least, or maybe they never cashed your first check since it was in the wrong place? I'd definately look into that.

And I'd also try to make sure your lawyer has done everything correctly, and the mismanagement of your file wasn't in any way his error...

Be persistent and keep trying to call your center. Also, some people write letters to their senators and get them to contact the immigration guys on your behalf; it sounds like this has worked lots of times and maybe in your case would speed things up.

Sorry I can't be more help. Good luck!

[Gerald and Vinera 0]

You can definately call USCIS and the centers by telephone, but it's meant to be a long and a bit painful process. From what I've read others saying, it's hard to get through (I guess you're put on hold most of the time) and oftentimes when you do get through the person assisting you is rude or impatient. BUT I have also read about a lot of helpful people, when you do manage to talk to someone, so this is definately worth a shot if you have questions.

I'm not sure I entirely understand what you're trying to do. It sucks if the USCIS or your center or whoever screwed up and categorized your petition wrong, so I'm sorry for that. But if I understand you you want to be expedited in the process now because of it?

I don't think this is possible, I don't think there's a way you could do this. They deal with thousands of files and really, unless there's some official document or request you can send in for this sort of thing (I've never heard of one) then I think you just have to wait. If you've gotten your NOA1 you're in the right place now and you're just gonna have to sit tight, as far as I know. The delay sucks but these sorts of things - mismanagement, RFE's, files sitting collecting dust in basements, happen to a lot of people and it's kind of a risk everybody takes. There's a lot of people that filed in fall of last year and have yet to be approved, whereas people that filed a month ago have already been approved - it's not a fair system.

Did you have to pay to file again, the $455? I would hope that you could get a refund on that, at least, or maybe they never cashed your first check since it was in the wrong place? I'd definately look into that.

And I'd also try to make sure your lawyer has done everything correctly, and the mismanagement of your file wasn't in any way his error...

Be persistent and keep trying to call your center. Also, some people write letters to their senators and get them to contact the immigration guys on your behalf; it sounds like this has worked lots of times and maybe in your case would speed things up.

Sorry I can't be more help. Good luck!

Thanks for your advice. I have already checked to make sure my attorney didn't mess up buy having him send me copies of what he got back and it was clearly on the correct forms and was labeled as an I-129F. Some desk jockey at the California Service Center missclassified it. The part that really stinks is that it took 4 months for them to make the mistake. My attorney passed along a notice that he received saying that because there was such a flood of applications this summer it was taking much longer to get the NOA1's out to applicants. After 2 and one-half months he contacted USICS and they did a search for my application or who knows how long it would have sat in Chicago. What really gets me is these people are taking public money and are supposed tp be public servants. I also work in the public sector and when I make a mistake I do everything I can to resolve that mistake. In too many branches of the governments there is no accountability or pride in ones work. OK, now I have vented and I feel better!

[*julez* 124]

Wow. That really sucks. There was another member who filed at CSC and had her app lost. She refiled, had her app transferred from CSC to VSC and it languished forever, despite her best efforts to get USCIS to own up to their mistake and move her app up in the queue for processing. It never happened. In fact, she waited longer than most for NOA2. Arund that same time, there was another guy here on VJ who also had a lost petition and had to refile. No transfers, but no moving up in the queue due to a loss that was out of his control.

I'm not trying to discourage you from trying to get results. I'm just pointing out that CSC makes mistakes a lot and they don't seem to accept responsibility for their own stupidity.

Good luck!

[Gerald and Vinera 0]

Wow. That really sucks. There was another member who filed at CSC and had her app lost. She refiled, had her app transferred from CSC to VSC and it languished forever, despite her best efforts to get USCIS to own up to their mistake and move her app up in the queue for processing. It never happened. In fact, she waited longer than most for NOA2. Arund that same time, there was another guy here on VJ who also had a lost petition and had to refile. No transfers, but no moving up in the queue due to a loss that was out of his control.

I'm not trying to discourage you from trying to get results. I'm just pointing out that CSC makes mistakes a lot and they don't seem to accept responsibility for their own stupidity.

Good luck!

Thanks for your reply. I realize that I probably won't get any results from my efforts but at least I will have tried everything I can from my end. Makes me feel better anyway to be trying to do something about it.

Everybody that is in favor of Government run health care please think about this; are these the people we really want managing our health care!

Thanks Again,

Gerald

[*julez* 124]

Wow. That really sucks. There was another member who filed at CSC and had her app lost. She refiled, had her app transferred from CSC to VSC and it languished forever, despite her best efforts to get USCIS to own up to their mistake and move her app up in the queue for processing. It never happened. In fact, she waited longer than most for NOA2. Arund that same time, there was another guy here on VJ who also had a lost petition and had to refile. No transfers, but no moving up in the queue due to a loss that was out of his control.

I'm not trying to discourage you from trying to get results. I'm just pointing out that CSC makes mistakes a lot and they don't seem to accept responsibility for their own stupidity.

Good luck!

Thanks for your reply. I realize that I probably won't get any results from my efforts but at least I will have tried everything I can from my end. Makes me feel better anyway to be trying to do something about it.

Everybody that is in favor of Government run health care please think about this; are these the people we really want managing our health care!

Thanks Again,

Gerald

I agree. Doing something is better than nothing. It just sucks that they are not held accountable for their errors. Pathetic, really.

Interesting point on the healthcare. Will have to ponder that thought!