I-485 denied - never received interview letter

[BustTropical 0]

Hi everyone

I received a denial letter today stating that my husband (beneficiary) failed to appear for an interview on February 25th and therefore the application has been considered abandoned and denied.

We never received the interview letter and, upon calling the USCIS helpline I found out that USPS had returned it as undeliverable. I now realize that it was my big mistake to not be checking the case status hotline regularly, but obviously that is beside the point now. We were still well within the processing times and had received EAP and AP in a timely manner so I wasn't worrying about the case yet.

We have been at the same address for the whole AOS process and have received all NOA's, biometrics appt, EAD card and AP with no problem. As far as we can tell, that letter is the only thing sent to us to date that has been returned as undeliverable by USPS.

I spoke with someone through the USCIS number (immigration officer?) and she seemed surprised that the letter I received didn't contain any details about filing an motion to reopen the case, but directed me to form I-290b, which I plan on filing.

We have an infopass appointment next Wednesday to see if they have anything else to say.

Anyone heard of any similar cases or have any other advice?

Aside for the bummer of eating another $585 or however much the appeal is, do you think we have acceptable grounds to reopen?

Thanks for any comments and everyone make sure you call case status helpline regularly!

[smiley1 3]

I am so sorry that you got the denial. If I were you I would just re-apply again instead of wating time and money to do the appeal.

You will find youself spending the money for the appeal and then again to re-apply.

You can ask a lawyer on Justanswer.com and pay a small fee( $15 )and find out what chances you have if you will appeal/reopen the case.

Good luck!

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

If you have documentation on how long you've been living at your current address, and can show that you received all the other letters from USCIS without problems, you should be able to get the case reopened at the Infopass appointment as it's obviously a mistake on USPS's part.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Agreed. File to have it re-opened. You have absolute proof that you did not receive the notice for the interview - they received the letter back as undeliverable. You didn't attend the interview because you didn't receive the notice. I would also request them to take a look at the envelope address of the returned notice to ensure it is legible- and ask to see the envelope yourself! I am serious - I had an envelope delivered that was virtually illegible it was so badly smeared from when it was printed. I applaud my postman who was able to figure out the correct address by the miniscule amount of information that could be made out by studying the envelope very closely. It may well be that it wasn't USPS's fault either but USCIS' fault for printing an envelope so illegible that it could not be delivered. In that case, as the fault would be theirs, I would also request that any fee submitted for re-opening the file to be returned to you. Regardless, yes, file to re-open. You have an excellent case.

[BustTropical 0]

Thanks guys..

We'll see what happens at the infopass appointment before filing anything more. I do feel a bit better about it now.

It is pretty amazing (and will be funny to us someday I'm sure) that of all the mail we receive, probably the single most important letter is the one thing that doesn't get delivered. I wouldn't be surprised if it was an issue like Kathryn said of the address being illegible before it even left USCIS.

Roberto actually is booked to go home to Brazil to sort out some inheritance stuff and deliver a birthday present in less than two weeks. We knew when he booked that there was a chance he'd get an interview during that time and he'd have to cancel/come back early and it's not the end of the world if he can't go. We are very relieved, though, that we got this notice now and not after he left and tried to get back in on an invalid AP.. So we have that at least

[BustTropical 0]

UPDATE:

Just got back from the infopass appointment and they were unable to do anything there. The woman we spoke with told us to "write a letter" (addressed to person who signed the denial letter) asking them to reopen the case and including copies of our proof that we've been at the same address all along. I asked her to confirm that she was saying just to write a letter rather than to file the I290B with fee etc, and she said "well do that too just to be safe." We will include the full appeal form and fee to ensure that they have everything they might need within the 30 days before removal proceedings begin.

Kathryn41, you mentioned asking that the fee to re-open the case be returned, when/ how would you recommend we request that? Within the initial letter or sometime after the case is re-opened/resolved?

I did also ask her about seeing the letter that was returned and she said the only way would be to ask for a copy of my husband's file, which would take a year to receive. If there is no fee for that (which I doubt) we may do it.

[BustTropical 0]

sorry, double post.

Edited March 31, 2010 by BustTropical

[Nik+Heather 121]

I think this is a perfect example of a case where you should "call in the cavalry!" Get on the phone with your senators/congressperson. Another VJ member got their case reopened after a USCIS error without paying the fee by engaging their representative.

The worst that can happen is that they say no they can't help you.

[BustTropical 0]

Thanks, I was wondering if this was something my rep could help with.. I will call her tomorrow before sending in the appeal to see if she can assist us.

[The_Sage1 2]

What exactly is the case status hotline? Is that where you just check the status of your case on the USCIS site by putting in your case number into the computer?

[Good Day 1]

Hi, I just want to share my experience and hopefully this will help someone out there with similar situation.

If you are getting something saying "the mail was undeliverable and it was returned to USCIS". In addition to call the 1-800 number they told you to open a service request and you should go to the local office as soon as you can. Luckily, I went on behalf of my parents right before the interview date. If I didn't go, we could miss the interview without even knowing it. The officer from the local office was able to pull the file and find the copy of our intervie notice.

Good luck