Rejected for overpaying fees, but ALL forms were rejected for wrong fees?

[tenyearwait 4]

For reasons which I won't go into, I needed to submit my new applications with a request for expediting my I-131 (mother is dying but my wife is serioudly ill so I need an advanced parole in order to be sure to rush out and rush back). As advised by CIS, I sent by Express Mail to the Express Mail address for the Chicago lockbox where someone signed for it with the name "L. Box" - who do these federal employees think they are!

I included all the applications concurrently: G-1145, I-130, I-485, I-131, I-765 and all the other forms and supporting documents. Having not received an email or text message as a result of the G-1145 and as the two Express Mail pre-paid envelopes I sent weren't used, I waited the requisite 10 days before I was allowed to telephone to request status. The Immigration Officer told me that all my primary applications were rejected (I-485, I-131, I-765) but he wasn't allowed to inform me about the I-130 as I wasn't the petitioner. I put my wife on the phone and he did a data search and said there was no record of the I-130 Petition.

Next day, we received the CIS packet (if you saw the state of it, you would think they never rejected an entire 120+ page packet before - I mean odd pieces of tape wrapped around it, no tracking or delivery confirmation - aren't the fees high enough to provide secure deliveries?). The I-130 was rejected on the grounds that the correct fee was not submitted.

I admit, after working on this for ten years, it is entirely possible that one can make a mistake but with all the money we have paid the federal government in several sets of filings and the fact that they removed my Employment Authorization 8 years ago, it's kind of hard to imagine paying a lawyer as well just to double check my figures. Anyway, I managed to fall foul of CIS' careful instructions on how to fill in a check (I mean do we REALLY need to be told how to do .00 ?) As a result, I missed the fact that I had overpaid the I-130 filing fee by $10. So the incorrect fee was actually an overpayment. Well, whoopee doo. You mean they can't continue adjudicating the expedited application and return the 10 bucks later if the Request for Expediting the Application goes through OK? I mean, they took my fingerprints at an ASC 9 years ago but I included the $80 in the I-485 fee just to be sure - they may have to refund that too but I wasn't arguing! After paying U.S. taxes for 12 years and my U.S. Citizen wife doing so for a lifetime, we are left wondering who these federal employees think they work for (if evidence in their procedures is anything to go by, they definitely work for the Immigration and Citizenship support agencies and lawyers!)

But I admit, I paid the incorrect fee. So that's the history... now for the problem(s).

1. Every one of those applications has been rejected on the same grounds, i.e. Correct fee not filed. Every single rejection other than the I-130 one (which is technically a correct rejection) includes detailed specification which shows that the correct fees for all the other forms WAS provided. That is for the I-485 a check for I-485 Filing Fee $1,010 ($930 + Biometrics if neededagain $80) and for all the other forms no fee - I-131 and I-765 show clearly on the rejection notice that fees are not required if the forms are concurrently submitted with I-485.

So my first question is: If I re-submit, do I just switch the $365 check for the I-130 for a $355 check and re-submit everything as it was before?

2. The submitted forms have been (partially) adjudicated - there are CIS annotations on them and some kind of printed recording on the right hand margin. Do I re-submit those forms as they are or do I have to re-print the forms so that they have a clean version?

3. Do I include the packet as returned with all the stapled groups of papers including the rejection slips or should I re-prepare the packet as it was submitted in the first place?

4. In the covering letter and other documents my grounds for requesting expediting, I explained that I had attended an ASC for fingerprinting which might mean that they can skip that step in the expediting. Should I now seperate the I-485 $930 check from the Biometrics $80 check in case they want to avoid the ASC appointment or just return the $1,010 check as submitted?

The following is a completely separate issure but one that someone may be able to shed light on. InfoPass Appointments:

I realise that many of you might suggest I make an InfoPass appointment to get confirmation about these points. Actually, I did that immediately and found a 7:15am appointment on Tuesday which would mean a delay of only one day in mailing the application packet again. I went to check whether my wife could make that time (her disability makes early appointments a small nightmare). When I got back to the computer, the appointment had been taken so I hastily accepted the next one which is more than a week later (too long to consider taking as I am against the clock for expediting the application so it is probably better to re-submit which provides an answer by rejection or acceptance in 10 days anyway). I assumed (incorrectly) that I could keep checking for cancellations and bring it forward if one arose (make a new appointment and cancel the later one). Well, that would be great except that the InfoPass failed to print and disappeared from the system (actually, it crashed the printer spooler but who cares about the technical details! lol).

So I went through the InfoPass process again and it sent me straight to the final screen which you print the pass from. So I printed it just in case. But as that jump straight to the existing appointment means that I can't check for an earlier appointment, I decided to take pot luck and cancel the appointment so that I can check for available appointments or submit the application without waiting another 10 days for an appointment. Unfortunately, if you don't get the first printout, the second time through produces a "duplicate" which doesn't include the cancellation PIN. So I can't cancel and I can't make a new earlier appointment if one is available. I emailed the web people and informed them but it is the only site that doesn't confirm by email with those numbers including the PIN.

5. Any ideas how I can check for available appointments if the CIS web guys don't respond?

Edited October 10, 2010 by tenyearwait

[Dakine10 5,452]

1. Every one of those applications has been rejected on the same grounds, i.e. Correct fee not filed. Every single rejection other than the I-130 one (which is technically a correct rejection) includes detailed specification which shows that the correct fees for all the other forms WAS provided. That is for the I-485 a check for I-485 Filing Fee $1,010 ($930 + Biometrics if neededagain $80) and for all the other forms no fee - I-131 and I-765 show clearly on the rejection notice that fees are not required if the forms are concurrently submitted with I-485.

So my first question is: If I re-submit, do I just switch the $365 check for the I-130 for a $355 check and re-submit everything as it was before?

They can't adjudicate the I-485 without a properly filed I-130, so I believe they are giving the reason of the incorrect fee for the I-130 as the reason for rejecting all of the forms. You can just resubmit with the proper fee amount.

2. The submitted forms have been (partially) adjudicated - there are CIS annotations on them and some kind of printed recording on the right hand margin. Do I re-submit those forms as they are or do I have to re-print the forms so that they have a clean version?

You could resubmit the same forms or print new ones. I have seen posts where people do it either way. Personally I would print new ones. The forms were rejected so they will have to start from scratch. I wouldn't want to confuse them.

3. Do I include the packet as returned with all the stapled groups of papers including the rejection slips or should I re-prepare the packet as it was submitted in the first place?

Again, I would send it as a new submission. It's up to you though.

4. In the covering letter and other documents my grounds for requesting expediting, I explained that I had attended an ASC for fingerprinting which might mean that they can skip that step in the expediting. Should I now seperate the I-485 $930 check from the Biometrics $80 check in case they want to avoid the ASC appointment or just return the $1,010 check as submitted?

Biometrics are only good for 1 year. You can send in separate $930 and $80 checks for peace of mind if you want but you will definately need biometrics done if it's been that long.

[tenyearwait 4]

Thanks very much Dakine10. Interesting that fingerprints expire after 1 year - couldn't have guessed that! Resubmitted and await the next obstacle

[tenyearwait 4]

Just to clarify for anyone else who finds these answers:

I telephoned the support line and they told me to change ONLY what the notice stated. Their reasoning was that the marks and overprinting made by the people at the Chicago office who check the completeness of the packet before passing it for Initial Review would assist them to check the packet again. Hence it would slow it down if I replaced them all. Also, they had already bagged up some things like photographs etc and labelled the packets. Again, leaving these packets intact meant they wouldn't have to do more than a cursory check.

In my case, I simply removed the incorrect fee check and subsituted a check for the correct amount. I then manually amended the main covering letter and list of enclosures and sent everything back exactly as it was. There was no delay in it moving on.

As an aside, my request to expedite the I-131 appears to have been ignored as were the pre-paid mailers. No problem - I made a telephone request to expedite it via the NBC telephone line citing the evidence and pre-paid mailers included in the packet to avoid them asking it again. The telephone assistance people pass it on to the office handling your case. By including phone number and email address, they have to give you a decision within 5 days of your telephone request.