Letter to IO after citizenship interview

[NickD 203]

So basically St Paul is the SLOWEST office in the country AND they lose files on top of it!

At my stepdaughters' oath ceremony, in Bloomington, last March, office manager that conducted it requested those that had their interview in the morning stand up. About a half a dozen stood up. They all looked happy. I was shocked to see that from our own experience with this office.

[CoffeeBeans 1]

I did call the Senator's office last week and got the same answer, when we hear something we will call you. I understand that it is not important to them but it is to me, and it frustrates me that they are so nonchalant about it. I made an InfoPass appointment for Thursday (unless something happens before, but again what are the odds?). It has been 105 days now! What concerns me, is what you wrote earlier about USCIS not contacting you about your Oath Ceremony!

According to the level 2 officer I spoke to, USCIS did 'mail out' the oath letter to me. The problem is I never got it despite having a reliable mail service !

I got a N-652 with "recommendation for approval" in my interview. So when the oath letter still did not show up one week prior the Sep oath date of my choice, I decided to call USCS. First try, did not get past the level 1, second try, wised up and talked the level 1 into checking my case status and found it was approved a few days after my interview. Third try, would not take a no until I got a level 2 on the line. That was when I learned my choice of oath date was granted, an oath letter was sent out, and a well kept secret about going to the ceremony without the oath letter in hand !

In your case, it sounds like when you talked to the USCIS level 2, there is not even an oath date assigned yet. So you cannot go to any oath ceremony yet. Is it feasible to find a town in other counties or neighboring states which has ceremony scheduled regularly, and ask to have your case transfer there, so you can get onto a ceremony schedule ? Just a thought, not sure how doable this is to you though.

I shall keep my fingers and toes crossed for ya, hanging there.

Cheers

[Sherifeg 0]

According to the level 2 officer I spoke to, USCIS did 'mail out' the oath letter to me. The problem is I never got it despite having a reliable mail service !

I got a N-652 with "recommendation for approval" in my interview. So when the oath letter still did not show up one week prior the Sep oath date of my choice, I decided to call USCS. First try, did not get past the level 1, second try, wised up and talked the level 1 into checking my case status and found it was approved a few days after my interview. Third try, would not take a no until I got a level 2 on the line. That was when I learned my choice of oath date was granted, an oath letter was sent out, and a well kept secret about going to the ceremony without the oath letter in hand !

In your case, it sounds like when you talked to the USCIS level 2, there is not even an oath date assigned yet. So you cannot go to any oath ceremony yet. Is it feasible to find a town in other counties or neighboring states which has ceremony scheduled regularly, and ask to have your case transfer there, so you can get onto a ceremony schedule ? Just a thought, not sure how doable this is to you though.

I shall keep my fingers and toes crossed for ya, hanging there.

Cheers

I think your crossed fingers are starting to work. I called USICS yesterday (out of frustration), I got to speak with the NICEST customer service rep, he was just so helpful, I thought I was calling the Ritz Carlton. This guy tried to make a "service request" but somehow he was not able to do it, so he transferred to a lever 3 officer (I have not previously heard that a level 3 exists and apparently this is the highest level of customer service they have). The level 3 officer was INCREDIBLY helpful, she told me to keep my InfoPass appointment and she made a "service request" she had to bypass the system to get that done (again I was amazed by her helpfulness). She gave me a reference number and told me to mention it during the InfoPass. She said she would keep her fingers crossed that they'd have my Oath letter ready at the InfoPass!

I guess there are SOME hope for USCIS still!

[CoffeeBeans 1]

I think your crossed fingers are starting to work. I called USICS yesterday (out of frustration), I got to speak with the NICEST customer service rep, he was just so helpful, I thought I was calling the Ritz Carlton. This guy tried to make a "service request" but somehow he was not able to do it, so he transferred to a lever 3 officer (I have not previously heard that a level 3 exists and apparently this is the highest level of customer service they have). The level 3 officer was INCREDIBLY helpful, she told me to keep my InfoPass appointment and she made a "service request" she had to bypass the system to get that done (again I was amazed by her helpfulness). She gave me a reference number and told me to mention it during the InfoPass. She said she would keep her fingers crossed that they'd have my Oath letter ready at the InfoPass!

I guess there are SOME hope for USCIS still!

Yay ! sounds like you are nearing the finishing line. Hooray !!! Don't forget to come back here and share the good news after your infopass appointment. Congrats !!!

Cheers

[NickD 203]

I think your crossed fingers are starting to work. I called USICS yesterday (out of frustration), I got to speak with the NICEST customer service rep, he was just so helpful, I thought I was calling the Ritz Carlton. This guy tried to make a "service request" but somehow he was not able to do it, so he transferred to a lever 3 officer (I have not previously heard that a level 3 exists and apparently this is the highest level of customer service they have). The level 3 officer was INCREDIBLY helpful, she told me to keep my InfoPass appointment and she made a "service request" she had to bypass the system to get that done (again I was amazed by her helpfulness). She gave me a reference number and told me to mention it during the InfoPass. She said she would keep her fingers crossed that they'd have my Oath letter ready at the InfoPass!

I guess there are SOME hope for USCIS still!

How did you manage to even get the phone number for the St. Paul office? I couldn't find that anywhere, senators office had it. Even says on your interview form to call your IO if you can even read the name on it if you have any questions. Never asked Rebeca for it, she carries a lot more weight than I do. Could make an infopass appointment on the internet, but had to get up at around 3:00 or 4:00 AM to do that and be damned fast on that. Just wait a few moments and all the appointments would be taken up.

Did get their email address, but believe those emails go into cyber space someplace, never got a reply.

[Sherifeg 0]

How did you manage to even get the phone number for the St. Paul office? I couldn't find that anywhere, senators office had it. Even says on your interview form to call your IO if you can even read the name on it if you have any questions. Never asked Rebeca for it, she carries a lot more weight than I do. Could make an infopass appointment on the internet, but had to get up at around 3:00 or 4:00 AM to do that and be damned fast on that. Just wait a few moments and all the appointments would be taken up.

Did get their email address, but believe those emails go into cyber space someplace, never got a reply.

Went today to my InfoPass appointment, officer told me that the delay was related to an internal error (He said that they had a date wrong and box was not checked....makes a lot of sense!!!), he said that the supervisor is working on it this week and I should be getting the Oath notice in 2 weeks...Keeping my hopes low. My attorney is preparing for a federal lawsuit! I hope I avoid this!

[CoffeeBeans 1]

Went today to my InfoPass appointment, officer told me that the delay was related to an internal error (He said that they had a date wrong and box was not checked....makes a lot of sense!!!), he said that the supervisor is working on it this week and I should be getting the Oath notice in 2 weeks...Keeping my hopes low. My attorney is preparing for a federal lawsuit! I hope I avoid this!

During your infopass session, did you tell them a law suit is pending ? Did you ask them if an oath date has been assigned ? If you did not ask, and you are wary about having to wait endlessly again for the letter, you should call USCIS to find out out your oath date, venue and time. Once you obtain that information, you can attend the oath without the letter (just show up early and ask for a replacement letter).

Yup, go ahead and call USCIS line daily, if you do not get a cooperative officer on the line, hang up and try again till you do.

Since you think my finger crossing helped you last time, I'd continue to do so plus crossing all my toes as well. Sit tight and hang in there.

Cheers

[Sherifeg 0]

During your infopass session, did you tell them a law suit is pending ? Did you ask them if an oath date has been assigned ? If you did not ask, and you are wary about having to wait endlessly again for the letter, you should call USCIS to find out out your oath date, venue and time. Once you obtain that information, you can attend the oath without the letter (just show up early and ask for a replacement letter).

Yup, go ahead and call USCIS line daily, if you do not get a cooperative officer on the line, hang up and try again till you do.

Since you think my finger crossing helped you last time, I'd continue to do so plus crossing all my toes as well. Sit tight and hang in there.

Cheers

I did tell the officer that the 120 days are almost there, he actually said "We are aware of that!". I really hope I don't have to go to court!

I guess I am keeping my hopes down to a bottom!

Ironically the end of the "2 weeks" period he mentioned ends on the 121st day from the interview...

[Sherifeg 0]

The 120th day is fast approaching. Anything else to consider? Made InfoPass, contacted Senators...Does this only leave the lawsuit?

How wise it is to sue the government! Especially you need them to GRANT me a service!

[NickD 203]

The 120th day is fast approaching. Anything else to consider? Made InfoPass, contacted Senators...Does this only leave the lawsuit?

How wise it is to sue the government! Especially you need them to GRANT me a service!

Would imagine this would be quite an expense on your part and with other governmental agencies, the judge receives his paycheck from the same government agency you are trying to sue, so kind of leans toward that agency. And I will tell exactly what a judge is, a guy that is there that is an attorney that couldn't make it in private practice. If you even want to stand a chance of winning, better learn who is attorney friends are and hire one of those to represent you. You won't stand a chance if you even attempt to represent yourself.

Just seems to me, after 120 days goes by, your senator does have reason to make an inquiry in your behalf, even if you have to line his pockets with a campaign contribution, call it an expedient fee if you may.

Or another option, is to just be quiet and nice, sooner or later you will get your oath letter. Happened to a friend of ours, she got her oath 15 months after her interview. Never good to bite the hand that feeds you. And may even open a can of worms, whether valid or not. Is someone at the St. Paul office pissed off at you?

[Sherifeg 0]

I wouldn't imagine why someone at St Paul would be mad at me

Would imagine this would be quite an expense on your part and with other governmental agencies, the judge receives his paycheck from the same government agency you are trying to sue, so kind of leans toward that agency. And I will tell exactly what a judge is, a guy that is there that is an attorney that couldn't make it in private practice. If you even want to stand a chance of winning, better learn who is attorney friends are and hire one of those to represent you. You won't stand a chance if you even attempt to represent yourself.

Just seems to me, after 120 days goes by, your senator does have reason to make an inquiry in your behalf, even if you have to line his pockets with a campaign contribution, call it an expedient fee if you may.

Or another option, is to just be quiet and nice, sooner or later you will get your oath letter. Happened to a friend of ours, she got her oath 15 months after her interview. Never good to bite the hand that feeds you. And may even open a can of worms, whether valid or not. Is someone at the St. Paul office pissed off at you?

[Kathryn41 3,205]

If you haven't received it on the last day of that 2 week period, call again, explain the circumstances so you get to the 2nd or 3rd tier officer again and see what they have to say. Then if you have not received a satisfactory response you could contact the local media and ask if they can help get action by publicizing the circumstances, including the failure of your elected representatives to come to bat for you. I would give USCIS to their own stated deadline, however, before you took further action. It is only a few more days and hopefully they will come through - finally. Good luck.

Edited October 8, 2011 by Kathryn41

[Sherifeg 0]

The drama continues, I received a letter today from USCIS confirming the service request that I placed with the help line. The letter says : "Your case is still under review, you should receive a decision or notice of action with 60 DAYS from the date of this letter".

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 2 MORE MONTHS?

Kathryn41, what good is it to contact the local media? Seems like elected officials hardly care for ONE vote!

If you haven't received it on the last day of that 2 week period, call again, explain the circumstances so you get to the 2nd or 3rd tier officer again and see what they have to say. Then if you have not received a satisfactory response you could contact the local media and ask if they can help get action by publicizing the circumstances, including the failure of your elected representatives to come to bat for you. I would give USCIS to their own stated deadline, however, before you took further action. It is only a few more days and hopefully they will come through - finally. Good luck.

Edited October 8, 2011 by Sherifeg

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Remember that USCIS works slowly. The 'response' letter you got to the service request you filed was set up to be generated before you had your Infopass appointment where you were told that there was a delay due to their error and it was being worked on. Frustrating? Absolutely - but it is part of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. The response you got is a generic response that basically confirms that the service request was filed. You have had more recent information than that, so you can basically ignore the service request letter. It is nothing more than a computer generated response and has nothing to do with the officer who is reviewing your case, as told to you at the Infopass.

Give them the two weeks and then call again and use your reference number to escalate the call to a higher tier officer. You did mention in your first post about writing the officer who did the interview. If you have their name I would certainly do that as well - right now, in fact - reminding them of the timeline from your interview date, the various infopasses, the information from the Help Desk calls, the service request and then the most recent infopass appointment where they said it would be 2 weeks. Lay it out in black and white. Send a copy of the letter to both of your Senators and to your Federal Representative as well. They haven't helped you in the past but you can always try again. Did you fill out a permission form authorizing your Senators/Representative to investigate the delay on your behalf? If you didn't, that might be part of the reason you did not get a response. If you did, then, I agree, they have not provided you with good service.

Anyway, write your letter now. Don't be accusatory; just be factual and specific and ask if there is anything further they need to reach their decision to contact you right away. Request a definite response that says you are approved and waiting for an oath date; you are approved and here is your oath date; or you are not approved and here is the reason why, or a decision can not be made and here is the reason why.

Contacting the media is always an option. How effective it might be, I don't know but sometimes the sympathy factor can help 'motivate' a reluctant Senator or representative to act and who is then happy to jump on the bandwagon so they get the political brownie points of appearing to 'do something' to help out. Your overall objective is to get your approval and oath ceremony set and that is one way that it might work rather than going to the expense of a lawsuit (I believe it is a 'writ of mandamus' you are looking at. I don't know if you are able to force a judicial review which is the more common approach in the US these days, but your lawyer should know).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandamus

A writ of mandamus or mandamus (which means "we command" in Latin), or sometimes mandate, is the name of one of the prerogative writs in the common law, and is "issued by a superior court to compel a lower court or a government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly".^[1]

.........

United States

See also: Federal Rules of Civil Procedure In the administrative law context in the United States, the requirement that mandamus can be used only to compel a ministerial act has largely been abandoned. By statute or by judicial expansion of the writ of mandamus in most of the U.S. states, acts of administrative agencies are now subject to judicial review for abuse of discretion. Judicial review of agencies of the United States federal government, for abuse of discretion, is authorized by the U.S. Administrative Procedures Act.

Edited October 8, 2011 by Kathryn41

[NickD 203]

The drama continues, I received a letter today from USCIS confirming the service request that I placed with the help line. The letter says : "Your case is still under review, you should receive a decision or notice of action with 60 DAYS from the date of this letter".

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 2 MORE MONTHS?

Kathryn41, what good is it to contact the local media? Seems like elected officials hardly care for ONE vote!

Your case is still under review? What for? Proof of payment of a 5 year old parking ticket? You also have two senators, either can help you, did you contact both?

Al Franken lists an immigration help service at http://franken.senate.gov/?p=federal_agency_help, did you contact him? AL starts off by saying"

"As a member of the United States Senate, one of Senator Franken's most important duties is to help Minnesotans who are facing issues with federal agencies."

You also have Amy Klobuchar at http://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/servingminnesotans.cfm that also claims to help Minnesotans with federal agency problems.

It seems like you have two good senators, we only have one, Johnson is worthless, Laura Kohl took a great interest in my stepdaughter. Also seems like what is taking you months, I took care of in either minutes or days with St. Paul problems. I want to know why there are problems, our life with the USCIS has been a complete open book, we have nothing to hide. As I have stated, two replies, misplaced or a miscommunication, but those oath ceremonies at St. Paul occurred within three of eleven days after I called our senators office. I talked personally with the permission of my wife or stepdaughter, my wife or stepdaughter said on the phone, my husband or stepdad has my permission to speak in my behalf. After all, this is my family!