Official filing date

[Journeyer 17]

So even after reading this forum a lot, I still do not really understand what the USCIS considers the filing date.

My application was received at USCIS around noon today and signed for by someone.

So is that the magical filing date, when they receive the package? Or is it when the cash the check, or when they issue the first NOA?

[I & B 273]

It will be the received date on the relevant Notice of Action. If there is a discrepancy between that date and the evidence you have of USCIS receiving a filing, and that discrepancy somehow works to your detriment, you can probably sue the USCIS to have the received date adjusted, but that will be costly and time-consuming. I imagine such claims would be reserved only for cases where the discrepancy in the received date by itself served to deny a petitioner an immigration benefit (such as where it pushed a petition from being received within the correct filing time frame to being late).

[Journeyer 17]

It will be the received date on the relevant Notice of Action. If there is a discrepancy between that date and the evidence you have of USCIS receiving a filing, and that discrepancy somehow works to your detriment, you can probably sue the USCIS to have the received date adjusted, but that will be costly and time-consuming. I imagine such claims would be reserved only for cases where the discrepancy in the received date by itself served to deny a petitioner an immigration benefit (such as where it pushed a petition from being received within the correct filing time frame to being late).

I wonder what people's experience overall have been as to how close the actual received date was to the date the USCIS say that it was received? I'm filing pretty late in the window, so that really concerns me. There is only 10 days left until my wife's GC expires. This wasn't intentional, it's just the way things happened. But I don't recommend to anyone to file that late in the window, if there is any way to avoid it, because it will make you VERY nervous!

[I & B 273]

I wonder what people's experience overall have been as to how close the actual received date was to the date the USCIS say that it was received? I'm filing pretty late in the window, so that really concerns me. There is only 10 days left until my wife's GC expires. This wasn't intentional, it's just the way things happened. But I don't recommend to anyone to file that late in the window, if there is any way to avoid it, because it will make you VERY nervous!

My NOA received dates for both the I-129F and AOS package were the the same as the delivery dates for those documents.

Edited March 25, 2014 by I & B

[AnotherLostSoul 167]

LOL sue USCIS????!!! Really??? Haha, now good luck with THAT! LOL XD

[I & B 273]

LOL sue USCIS????!!! Really??? Haha, now good luck with THAT! LOL XD

It happens quite often. You think people just lie down and forgo the immigration benefits legally due to them because USCIS makes a mistake? You won't hear about it much on this forum but that's just selection bias as the most serious claims (i.e., the ones that would necessitate a lawsuit to resolve) are just going straight to attorneys' offices. Most of those cases (like any other type of case) are ultimately settled before final adjudication, but there are plenty of suits filed against the USCIS.

[Journeyer 17]

My NOA received dates for both the I-129F and AOS package were the the same as the delivery dates for those documents.

Thanks, I & B, that's what I thought it would be, but I wasn't sure.