USPS screwed me up

[kidolinoire 0]

I met my husband while teaching English in Taiwan, I'm Taiwanese and he's American.

Moved to Seattle in 2006 on K1 and everything went smoothly with the immigration process.

Until 12/14/2009 when I get a letter from USCIS California Service Center.

So here's what happened.

We filed for I-751 on 06/29/2009.

Got my biometrics done on 08/13/2009.

Checked online also called numerous time to check on status between August and now.

Customer service and the internet told me everything's still pending.

Called 12/11/2009 to check case status once again.

We have a big international trip planned for next February.

Was told that everything looked fine, still pending, normal process time is 6 months, which would fall in next January.

Fine.

Then on 12/14/2009, got that letter from California.

Notice of decision

In reference to the petition to remove the conditions on residence I-751

September 29th the USCIS issued a RFE, providing 42 days in which to respond.

Our records show that the postal services returned the notice to the USCIS as "not deliverable as addressed, unable to forward"

Conclusion: Denied due to abandonment, and not to be appealed.

Now that's bull.

First of all, I did not move at all. I have received every single notice they've sent me.

And I check my mail every day.

There's no way it's undeliverable.

They even admit that USCIS said it's undeliverable.

My only two option: A. Drop $585 for motion to reopen

or B. Refile I-751

This is absolutely ridiculous!

Just because one stupid mistake by USPS,

it ended up costing me $585 for motion to reopen, $200 lawyer consultation fee, missed a day at work,

and my trip back to Asia in 2010, possible flight ticket lost $1400.

Just because they didn't deliver to me!!!!!

We didn't move, we check our mail, we pay our taxes, we're a legit married couple.

I really wish there's a way that I could get USPS to pay me that $585.

Good luck people.

If you're starting a new process,

I highly suggest you go get a PO BOX.

[rsn 135]

not an AOS issue - moving from AOS from Family Based Visas to Removing Conditions...

[sh18 3]

I highly suggest you go get a PO BOX.

I don't think they would mail government documents to PO Box: I could be wrong though. Sorry about your problems :/ They suck.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Something to check into - ask USCIS if they still have the returned envelope that they mailed. The reason I say to check this is that I received one of my APs and I think USPS did an incredible job identifying the correct address from the way the mailing label was so badly smeared - smearing that had to happen when the label was being printed. Basically all that was visible was part of my name, the street number and part of the street - if you looked very very closely, and the postal code - again if you looked very very closely. I would not have blamed them one bit if they had returned it as undeliverable because the printed label was practically undecipherable. Someone at USPS took the time to make sense of what they could read. If the label on the envelope they sent you suffered the same fate, then the flaw isn't with USPS - it was with USCIS for printing an undecipherable label that could not be delivered. I would request them to pull your file and ask someone to look at the address label because you believe it is their fault that the envelope was not delivered due to a label printing error.

Good luck.

[rsn 135]

I highly suggest you go get a PO BOX.

I don't think they would mail government documents to PO Box: I could be wrong though. Sorry about your problems :/ They suck.

There shouldn't be any problem with using a P.O. box. It doesn't mention a restriction like this on any of the documents I used, and some people don't have local mail delivery and therefore only have a P.O. box.

[Jupiter07 12]

I highly suggest you go get a PO BOX.

I don't think they would mail government documents to PO Box: I could be wrong though. Sorry about your problems :/ They suck.

There shouldn't be any problem with using a P.O. box. It doesn't mention a restriction like this on any of the documents I used, and some people don't have local mail delivery and therefore only have a P.O. box.

When I was doing AOS, USCIS, not just once but twice, returned my mail from USCIS. Luckily, one was just a replacement of I94 and the other was an approval notice. And lucky enough for me, I saw the undeliverable-mail update online and contacted USCIS. I couldn't understand why the mailman delivered the rest of my mail from USCIS and returned those two. And I have names of all 3 pple in my hsehold in the mailbox. This returning happened at diff. times. The 2nd time I went on USPS.com and logged in my complaint. The next day the postmaster of my local office called me about it. I explained it to him, he said he will speak with the delivery guy about it. He was very nice. But anyhow, since the it's not time yet for me to deal with USCIS and I have moved to another state since then.

[Eric-Pris 1,606]

I couldn't understand why the mailman delivered the rest of my mail from USCIS and returned those two. And I have names of all 3 pple in my hsehold in the mailbox.

Same thing happened to us, we received almost all of my wife's letters from USCIS, except 2. But that's the federal government for you. Civil service employees just don't care. If they printed a smeared label, nobody cares. If the mailman didn't feel like reading the label, nobody cares. If he just didn't feel like delivering it, nobody cares. Welcome to the USA.

Edited December 17, 2009 by Eric-Pris

[rika60607 215]

To the OP - What does your on line case status say now?

It is unbelievable that your called and you checked online and there was no record of RFE having been sent!

If you had a record of that fact, you could use it to reopen your case.

Good luck!

[stush 0]

USCIS does deliver to P O Boxes

[Ning 619]

I met my husband while teaching English in Taiwan, I'm Taiwanese and he's American.

Moved to Seattle in 2006 on K1 and everything went smoothly with the immigration process.

Until 12/14/2009 when I get a letter from USCIS California Service Center.

So here's what happened.

We filed for I-751 on 06/29/2009.

Got my biometrics done on 08/13/2009.

Checked online also called numerous time to check on status between August and now.

Customer service and the internet told me everything's still pending.

Called 12/11/2009 to check case status once again.

We have a big international trip planned for next February.

Was told that everything looked fine, still pending, normal process time is 6 months, which would fall in next January.

Fine.

Then on 12/14/2009, got that letter from California.

Notice of decision

In reference to the petition to remove the conditions on residence I-751

September 29th the USCIS issued a RFE, providing 42 days in which to respond.

Our records show that the postal services returned the notice to the USCIS as "not deliverable as addressed, unable to forward"

Conclusion: Denied due to abandonment, and not to be appealed.

Now that's bull.

First of all, I did not move at all. I have received every single notice they've sent me.

And I check my mail every day.

There's no way it's undeliverable.

They even admit that USCIS said it's undeliverable.

My only two option: A. Drop $585 for motion to reopen

or B. Refile I-751

This is absolutely ridiculous!

Just because one stupid mistake by USPS,

it ended up costing me $585 for motion to reopen, $200 lawyer consultation fee, missed a day at work,

and my trip back to Asia in 2010, possible flight ticket lost $1400.

Just because they didn't deliver to me!!!!!

We didn't move, we check our mail, we pay our taxes, we're a legit married couple.

I really wish there's a way that I could get USPS to pay me that $585.

Good luck people.

If you're starting a new process,

I highly suggest you go get a PO BOX.

You have a different option.

Send in what they requested along with a letter asking for " reconsideration in light of circumstance " . They will accept that & reopen the case.

I did exactly that. It took them 2 months to finish & approve my case.

[SuperDuper! 230]

When it Absolutely, Positively has to get there. Only ONE answer.

[kidolinoire 0]

To the OP - What does your on line case status say now?

It is unbelievable that your called and you checked online and there was no record of RFE having been sent!

If you had a record of that fact, you could use it to reopen your case.

Good luck!

It tells me it's still pending!!!

I filed for motion to reopen, now that I just wish it'll happen in time.

I'm supposed to go home next year and our plane tickets are purchased....

[kidolinoire 0]

Oh I wish I could do that.

It's the RFE they sent me that wasn't delivered.

I have no clue finding out what they want from me,

and Seattle field office wasn't able to get that answer either.

They contacted California Service Center,

and was told they need to file inter office request, which takes up to 3 weeks for them to forward info from CA to Seattle.

By then my 30 day deadline to respond to letter of denial would have been met, and I'll be screwed if I didn't do anything.

[Ning 619]

Oh I wish I could do that.

It's the RFE they sent me that wasn't delivered.

I have no clue finding out what they want from me,

and Seattle field office wasn't able to get that answer either.

They contacted California Service Center,

and was told they need to file inter office request, which takes up to 3 weeks for them to forward info from CA to Seattle.

By then my 30 day deadline to respond to letter of denial would have been met, and I'll be screwed if I didn't do anything.

If you want what you say you want there is a way to get it.

Make an INFO PASS right now. Go there & ask them to help you with the RFE & any other info you need to repair the situation. Explain that you havent moved & all other corrispondence has reached you.

This isnt the first time some mail has gotten lost in thier experiance. Ask them how to fix it. They can give you a copy of the RFE I would think. They should understand they have an internal document transfer problem. That time delay has nothing to do with the deadline.

Those denial letters are all the same when it comes to the time allowance. Forget what that says & get on with it. A "motion to reopen" is completly different than a " motion to reconsider". In my opinion your case hasnt been adjudicated on the totality of evidence so you dont need it reopened. Reopening the case would be needed if you have new evidence to provide after you provided all that was required. You didnt do that so you just need futher consideration based on all the evidence.

I went thru all this & I know what they did in my case. Not much different than yours.

Of course you dont have the RFE; that's the problem. You cant send what you dont have. Send a "motion to reconsider" letter with any refrence numbers to your case. Copies of the NOA 2 for example. Tell them you want reconsideration of the case & time to recieve a copy if the lost RFE. Ask them to email you a copy. Someone here on V J said they got that done recently.

Dont give up & you will get what you want.