USPS screwed up green card delivery

[s&jc 2]

USPS screwed up the mailing of our green card!! Somehow the priority mail containing the green card was missent to the wrong post office and was scanned as "missent" and since then the postal office has rerouted it supposedly to the right office. However, that was 2 weeks ago and since the reroute scan, there has been NOTHING on the tracking. I have called both the USPS office in my district as well as the one that rerouted it (its across town ~ 20 miles) and they cannot find it in their system! All they can tell me is that the only way they can track is if the next person scans it but they all agree it shouldn't have taken this long, among a myriads of other excuses (including that the tracking label may have fallen off etc) which essentially is them saying they really have no idea where it is. And, today, one office told me that its showing up in their system that its scanned last in arlington, VA a week ago. I have been in contact with the USPS office in my district and the one that rerouted it and even the one in arlington VA and they have been nice enough to keep checking and following up with me but they are just as puzzled and they think usually at this point, it means that it has been sent back to sender.

I called USCIS customer service last week and they told me that they were opening up a "report" so they can contact USPS on their end to verify whats going on. and today, I got an e-mail from USCIS in boston summarizing that I have reported that my card has not been delivered and verifying that THEY (USCIS) have not received it back from USPS as "undeliverable". In which case, in order to file for a replacement card (via I-90), I am not eligible for a fee waiver (it cost around 450 usd) because USCIS did not receive the card back as undeliverable from USPS). It is completely ridiculous that I would need to pay close to 500 dollars to get a replacement card when it was clearly not my fault that the card was never delivered and is currently untrackable.

I would almost gladly pay the 450 dollars just to avoid having to deal with arguing with USCIS, except I am not totally unconvinced that USPS is not going to screw up again. Its such bad luck because I have never had problems with them prior to this in terms of getting any of the mails from USCIS.

Has anyone had any luck in getting a replacement card without paying the fee because of a similar situation? Should I just keep waiting to see if the card turns up? I will be going out of the US this coming december and heard that the replacement card issue can take months to resolve I would appreciate any feedback.

[Hypnos 6,576]

It's pretty much bs how the card must have been returned to USCIS in order to file the I-90 with no fee required.

Someone ran into a similar situation here a few months ago, and had to file the I-90 with the fee. After filing the I-90 they then received their original green card which had been bouncing around in the mail due to USPS errors.

Edited May 3, 2013 by Hypnos

[s&jc 2]

It's pretty much bs how the card must have been returned to USCIS in order to file the I-90 with no fee required.

Someone ran into a similar situation here a few months ago, and had to file the I-90 with the fee. After filing the I-90 they then received their original green card which had been bouncing around in the mail due to USPS errors.

I was thinking of waiting for another week or two to see if the card would turn up. But, my worry is that it is really just "lost". I am inclined to think that my address was correct since all my previous NOA and EAD etc arrived without any problems. Is there a center whereby any greencard that was rerouted back to sender go to? The e-mail I got from USCIS was addressed by the Boston field office and wonder if the green card gets rerouted to the office that issued it...or if they even bothered to really check their mail room etc.

Do you have a rough idea how long the i-90 takes? I was thinking I could try filing without the fee but that would likely result in a rejection and further issues..

[Nolaist 2]

I am having a similar issue and the USPS says it must have been returned but the USCIS says they don't have it. I read in another thread that someone having a similar problem filled a new I 90 bit didn't include the fee it was denied and then with the denial and the information from the USPS they contacted their Senator and were approved with a new card in less than 2 weeks.

We received a new Welcome letter (our third) so now we have to wait the full 60 days again. This has been going on since January and every time I call the USCIS I get a different answer.