USPS Mistake - AOS and IV packets present location unknown

[Nick&Diane 32]

Hi fellow VJers.

Just wanted to share our experience in case lessons learnt can be of any use to other journeyers.

We assembled our AOS and IV packets and took them to our local USPS office for mailing to NVC. We ordered first class mail with tracking. Stupidly (because they were tracked and I did not expect anything to go wrong) I did not write our return address on the envelopes.

Unbeknownst to us the woman at the post office put insufficient mail on both items. Two days later the packets were rejected by NVC due to insufficient postage. Since then (5 days later) nobody can tell us where the packets are. Tracking is only useful when something is scanned and then it only tells you where the last scan occurred so right now it is completely useless to us.

Tracking says that the packets are being returned to sender although we doubt that our address is available since it is not on the envelopes. So the packets should have gone to the dead mail centre closest to Portsmouth, except they didn't.

Anyhow - our advice: 1) always write your return address on the envelope, 2) always order duplicates of important documents in case any get lost in the mail or the USCIS/NVC machine, 3) trust no one.

[NikLR 13,232]

~~moved to progress reports from process and procedures~~