Letter to IO after citizenship interview

[Sherifeg 0]

It has been 90+ days since my interview in the St Paul office, which I passed, and still no word from USCIS. I tried contacting the Senators for more info and I still heard nothing back. Is it worth writing a letter to the IO who conducted the interview? Apparently (according to the customer service line) I have to wait for 120 days before a service request can be made! I am frustrated and confused!

Edited September 15, 2011 by Sherifeg

[Inky 1,110]

Why write a letter? why not just make an infopass appointment and go in there and ask what is going on?

http://infopass.uscis.gov/

[Sherifeg 0]

Why write a letter? why not just make an infopass appointment and go in there and ask what is going on?

http://infopass.uscis.gov/

I did already at the end of July and was told that the file is sitting on a supervisor's desk and that they would contact me in a week or two...Nothing happened!

[OKflyboy 35]

Why write a letter? why not just make an infopass appointment and go in there and ask what is going on?

http://infopass.uscis.gov/

Some people live too far away from their field office to just go in there and ask what's going on.

Sherifeg,

I'd keep calling them every week or so and asking for a level 2 officer.

As soon as your case is pre-approved, it's out of your interviewing officer's hands. I don't think that even if your letter reaches them, they will know more. My IO was 100% sure that I'd be taking the Oath yesterday...

[Sherifeg 0]

Some people live too far away from their field office to just go in there and ask what's going on.

Sherifeg,

I'd keep calling them every week or so and asking for a level 2 officer.

As soon as your case is pre-approved, it's out of your interviewing officer's hands. I don't think that even if your letter reaches them, they will know more. My IO was 100% sure that I'd be taking the Oath yesterday...

I guess I am getting tired of calling and getting the same old answers! My wife thinks that harassing them will do nothing!

I am SO FRUSTRATED!

[OKflyboy 35]

I guess I am getting tired of calling and getting the same old answers! My wife thinks that harassing them will do nothing!

I am SO FRUSTRATED!

Then go for Infopass again if you can. Try you senator again.

There's really not much you can do besides "harassing" them.

Or wait 120 days...

[Sherifeg 0]

And then a lawsuit?

[OKflyboy 35]

And then a lawsuit?

A service request?

I'd go for the senator. One of the Feb. filers called them several times and were offered to take the oath in another town. Whatever works.

[Sherifeg 0]

I will call again...Thanks for the advice...

[CoffeeBeans 1]

It has been 90+ days since my interview in the St Paul office, which I passed, and still no word from USCIS. I tried contacting the Senators for more info and I still heard nothing back. Is it worth writing a letter to the IO who conducted the interview? Apparently (according to the customer service line) I have to wait for 120 days before a service request can be made! I am frustrated and confused!

If your were recommended for approval during the interview, you can call USCIS if you do not hear from them after your interview.

In my case, I got the approval recommendation in my interview (in early Aug) and asked for an early Sep oath date (based on published oath schedule in my town). The oath letter somehow never come. A week before Sep, I called USCIS (no clue how to work their overly complex website and info pass seemes next to useless), got the good old run around but I stuck to my gun and eventually got through to a level 2 officer (after 3 attempts). She confirmed my oath date was on Sep 7 and told me an oath letter is not required to attend the ceremony. I got sworn in on Sep 7 (albiet still encountered a bit of run around on site without the letter).

Had I had given up at my first two attempts due to the run around, I would have to wait 90 or 120 days (as told by level 1) before calling back, missed my oath ceremony unwittingly, and gone to the end of the line and wait for months for my second turn !

I have a feeling many in similar situation probably didn't know they could call, they were misled by level 1, waited 90 or 120 days and unwittingly missed their original much earlier scheduled oath dates.

Go ahead to call USCIS if you are anxious about your case. However, be prepared to develop a strategy to get through the endless rounds of run around when you call. When you eventually get through to a level 2 person (who is just as likely to dish out run around like a level 1), you can then find out the actual status of your case and formulate your next action plan.

Sure, the run around is unpleasant, but this may be a strategy USCIS relies on to ensure its line is not overloaded by casual callers. Personally, I believe there are better, efficient ways to handle overloading concern and improve customer service experience as in private sector. Just think about service level and efficiency of USPS vs UPS or FedEx; USPS is facing insolvency while its private sector peers are thriving and customers willingly pay more for same/similar kind of services offerred by USPS !

Good luck and cheers

[Sherifeg 0]

If your were recommended for approval during the interview, you can call USCIS if you do not hear from them after your interview.

In my case, I got the approval recommendation in my interview (in early Aug) and asked for an early Sep oath date (based on published oath schedule in my town). The oath letter somehow never come. A week before Sep, I called USCIS (no clue how to work their overly complex website and info pass seemes next to useless), got the good old run around but I stuck to my gun and eventually got through to a level 2 officer (after 3 attempts). She confirmed my oath date was on Sep 7 and told me an oath letter is not required to attend the ceremony. I got sworn in on Sep 7 (albiet still encountered a bit of run around on site without the letter).

Had I had given up at my first two attempts due to the run around, I would have to wait 90 or 120 days (as told by level 1) before calling back, missed my oath ceremony unwittingly, and gone to the end of the line and wait for months for my second turn !

I have a feeling many in similar situation probably didn't know they could call, they were misled by level 1, waited 90 or 120 days and unwittingly missed their original much earlier scheduled oath dates.

Go ahead to call USCIS if you are anxious about your case. However, be prepared to develop a strategy to get through the endless rounds of run around when you call. When you eventually get through to a level 2 person (who is just as likely to dish out run around like a level 1), you can then find out the actual status of your case and formulate your next action plan.

Sure, the run around is unpleasant, but this may be a strategy USCIS relies on to ensure its line is not overloaded by casual callers. Personally, I believe there are better, efficient ways to handle overloading concern and improve customer service experience as in private sector. Just think about service level and efficiency of USPS vs UPS or FedEx; USPS is facing insolvency while its private sector peers are thriving and customers willingly pay more for same/similar kind of services offerred by USPS !

Good luck and cheers

Thanks for the response, I did call USCIS yesterday and ended up with a second tier officer, she was kind of short and not very accommodating (unusual based on my previous experiences with USCIS line), anyway, she said that my application was approved and that I am in line for oath scheduling, she mentioned that Minneapolis/St Paul is a busy field office.

This is great info, BUT completely contradicts what I heard before (2 weeks before) from another 2nd tier officer about the application still pending. I did mention that to her on the phone and she said "yes it is still pending, are you a US citizen yet?".

USCIS better pays for my mental healthcare bill if/when this is over LOL.

[CoffeeBeans 1]

Thanks for the response, I did call USCIS yesterday and ended up with a second tier officer, she was kind of short and not very accommodating (unusual based on my previous experiences with USCIS line), anyway, she said that my application was approved and that I am in line for oath scheduling, she mentioned that Minneapolis/St Paul is a busy field office.

This is great info, BUT completely contradicts what I heard before (2 weeks before) from another 2nd tier officer about the application still pending. I did mention that to her on the phone and she said "yes it is still pending, are you a US citizen yet?".

USCIS better pays for my mental healthcare bill if/when this is over LOL.

I guess every field office operates differently. From reading the posts on this board, some posters from Midwest region mentioned enlisting their senator(s) to intervene and the effort paid off. You may want to try that.

I am thankful the field office in my state seems efficient and I did not need to bother our senators. Our state is a big state, with huge deficits and what-have-ya galore to worry about, the two senators probably won't have much bandwidth left to intervene with USCIS matters.

Good luck and cheers

[Sherifeg 0]

I guess every field office operates differently. From reading the posts on this board, some posters from Midwest region mentioned enlisting their senator(s) to intervene and the effort paid off. You may want to try that.

I am thankful the field office in my state seems efficient and I did not need to bother our senators. Our state is a big state, with huge deficits and what-have-ya galore to worry about, the two senators probably won't have much bandwidth left to intervene with USCIS matters.

Good luck and cheers

Ok, here is the MORE FRUSTRATING part! I did contact both Senators' offices, one called back a few days after with the generic USCIS response of "wait and call later". The other wasn't even that helpful, they assigned my case to a "case worker" who was supposed to call or email me, guess what? Never heard from her either!

Guess they both lost my votes in coming elections! TERRIBLE customer service.

You know? When you are waiting for the oath or for an interview, all you need is to be updated on the facts, I don't want someone to tell me everything will be fine, but I need to know where I am in the process! This is what USCIS need to work on!

[CoffeeBeans 1]

Ok, here is the MORE FRUSTRATING part! I did contact both Senators' offices, one called back a few days after with the generic USCIS response of "wait and call later". The other wasn't even that helpful, they assigned my case to a "case worker" who was supposed to call or email me, guess what? Never heard from her either!

Guess they both lost my votes in coming elections! TERRIBLE customer service.

You know? When you are waiting for the oath or for an interview, all you need is to be updated on the facts, I don't want someone to tell me everything will be fine, but I need to know where I am in the process! This is what USCIS need to work on!

Sorry to hear that. Just thinking ... while you are sitting waiting endlessly, you have nothing to loose contacting the case work right ? Do that. Another idea : You can also look up posters on this board living in the Midwest region who have successfully engaged their Senators, send them a private message to ask them if they have any suggestion. One active poster NickD mentioned in a lot of his posts about how his senator had helped him.

USCIS is well known for giving applicants (even naturalization applicants) lots of run around and griefs. Till this day, the memory of bureaucracies I put up with during my green card application days still haunts me. I have heard many say they would rather go for a root canal than dealing with USCIS.

Hang in there. Hopefully your case will be resolved soon and you can put the bad memories behind you.

Cheers

[Sherifeg 0]

Now it has been more than 100 days! yes, AND STILL NO WORD from USCIS.

Anything else to consider?