Delay due to mistake by USPS or USCIS

[MarisolT 1]

You have to register on the USCIS qebsite to recieve updates on your case, this might have saved you a lot of headaches from what I read. Since you can follow and chck your case online you would have known that the letters had been sent and the date of your appts.

You can sign up here, all you need is your receipt numbers:

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/login.jsp

[stjarna 0]

You have to register on the USCIS qebsite to recieve updates on your case, this might have saved you a lot of headaches from what I read. Since you can follow and chck your case online you would have known that the letters had been sent and the date of your appts.

You can sign up here, all you need is your receipt numbers:

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/login.jsp

I unfortunately don't think this would have saved us any headaches.

We did manually check the website for updates periodically (by entering our receipt numbers, but without signing up) (including right before we called USCIS in September) and none of our receipt numbers showed up in the system. When we called, the woman on the phone told us that it can take a while for the numbers to show up (that's why she patched us through to someone who could access the files, who still didn't tell us that the letter had been sent and that my appointment was only 2 days away).

Also, I registered yesterday. Unfortunately, the only case (receipt number) that's in the system and for which I can receive updates is the I-131 application (Probably because our congresswoman got involved in that case.) The other receipt numbers still don't show up.

[MarisolT 1]

WOW!! Yea that is very weird, I have been able to follow my parent's progress this way with no problems but I am reading that it doesnt seem to work for lots of people....

I called the USCIS hotline the first time my mom got an RFE for documentation that was submitted with the original package!! All they could tell me was what the letter infront of me said and that if I didnt like the RFE to consult with a lawyer?? They are beyond worthless

[ceadsearc 516]

I called the USCIS hotline the first time my mom got an RFE for documentation that was submitted with the original package!! All they could tell me was what the letter infront of me said and that if I didnt like the RFE to consult with a lawyer?? They are beyond worthless

When you call USCIS, you're basically reaching a call center. The people you speak to initially are not immigration officers and are basically working off a script. If you have an issue, make sure you ask to speak to a supervisor/tier 2 person or make an Infopass appointment at your local office.

[MarisolT 1]

I understand they are a call center, but they should at least understand the basics of what the immigration process is... why are they paying these people if they are no help to anyone? wasting tax payers money.....

[ceadsearc 516]

I understand they are a call center, but they should at least understand the basics of what the immigration process is... why are they paying these people if they are no help to anyone? wasting tax payers money.....

They likely get a LOT of calls with a LOT of very basic questions. A lot of people don't know about places like VisaJourney and aren't even aware of the basics. The call center setup is useful for that. If you didn't get an adequate answer, again, call back and ask to speak to an IO.

[desmond&molly 5]

For my lost EAD I contacted Senator's office - they didn't do anything so then went to congressman - the aide was wonderful and contacted USCIS on the spot - yes we mailed it on this date and to old address this is the tracking number. Another aide that deals with USPS then tried contacting them about my card which showed up as being at the post office but since it was sent to old address sent my case to the Congressman from that district. I went to the post office on 3 occasions and called 2 times. All that time my EAD was there but no one could find it and even though it had a tracking number all they would say is "it must have been returned".

USCIS obviously said we haven't received anything. So after contacting all those people it took 35 days for it to be returned. Since I had the tracking number I saw the day it was received by USCIS, went to Infopass is like talking in person to someone from the call center. "Your case shows that it was approved on blah blah and that it was mailed blah blah..." I'm showing him the tracking number and the print out saying it was returned and all he would reply, "until it shows up in the system there's nothing I can do." And they couldn't or wouldn't verify that my address was the correct one.

Ahhh so frustrating because USCIS will not talk to you directly. I can't call up National Benefits Center and talk to someone there. So they MAKE you communicate through the call center or infopass, but those people don't have any authority to look at your records (I mean the cell phone company knows everything about you the moment you give them an account number) and they don't have any real authority to get anything done. Just send a service request which I feel just gets lost in a bin somewhere. I understand the getting phone calls about basic things but if there's an issue such as this isn't that what a customer service person is supposed to try and help you with? And finally if USCIS gave me the option to pay an additional fee for sending things through a courier service I would sign up in a heartbeat. ok I'll calm down now...

[stjarna 0]

Update:

So we went to Milwaukee today and had a walk-in biometrics appointment, which went alright. Even though we were basically a walk-in (even though our contact person with our congressional representative had arranged it), we didn't have to wait too long.

Since the people that did the biometrics app. didn't really say much or were able to give much information, we called the USCIS hotline once the appointment was over and asked to speak to an IO (Thanks for the tip!). After a bit of "why" and "isn't this something I can help you with" we finally got patched through to an IO.

We actually got lucky and the IO was very friendly and willing to answer our questions and check on our case numbers. He said that all applications were active. The AP/EAD combo card should be put into production now that I've had the biometrics appointment (since it had already been approved Oct. 4) and I should get it within 30 days. He even said he would contact his supervisor to see if there is a way to make sure that we can check on our cases online (since we had only been able to check on the AP after our congresswoman got involved.).

Now I just hope that USPS doesn't lose any more of our mail!

[MarisolT 1]

Thats good news!!

Where in wisconsin are you? My parents live in Beloit and are also going thru the Milwaukee office

[stjarna 0]

Thats good news!!

Where in wisconsin are you? My parents live in Beloit and are also going thru the Milwaukee office

We live in Madison.

[106206 15]

Yeah you need that mailbox to have the right names. I put my name, her name (married) and her name (maiden). I missed the I-130 NOA letter because there was nothing on there.

This site needs to put that in the 'guides' section. It doesn't help to have a good package that results in nothing because you don't have the name on the mailbox

Good luck you'll get it sorted out!

[stjarna 0]

Update: I got my EAD/AP combo card in the mail today!!!!

I'm so excited and relieved. Considering that we had the walk-in biometrics on Oct. 25 and they said it can take up to 30 days for the card to get produced (2+ weeks according to our contact person at the congresswoman's office), I'm so surprised that the card arrived so quickly (particularly since our online status update went from "Oct. 26 - card went into production" to "Oct. 31 - we approved your application for EAD."

[MarisolT 1]

Congratulations!!! HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE SMOOTH SAILING FROM NOW ON

[Jamie & Izzy 98]

Wirklich ganz unglaublich... :/

I can understand that letters get lost, but its unbelievable that their own helpline apparently has no idea what's going on with our cases. USCIS has to know letters get lost sometimes, and given what a critical role these letters fill, it's inexcusable that they don't have an effective mechanism for swiftly dealing with lost letters, or at least simply providing the info by phone in a prompt manner.

-Jamie

Edited February 5, 2014 by Jamie & Izzy