Typo on 1st Permanent Residency Card

[schinx87 1]

Hi everyone!

I wondered if any of you could provide any insight -- and I hope I've found a relevant category to post this in!

My husband and I applied for his permanent residency while still living in Germany and everything was smooth sailing, literally, til we hit the US Border We entered the country just fine, but after that, it seemed like one nightmare after the next. First we had huge issues getting his social security card (it did NOT come automatically....as indicated it would). In the end, with multiple visists & a lot of waiting in line at the Social Security office and persistence, we managed that. The typo on his Green Card has, however, taken the cake.

It arrived not too long after we entered the country (I'd say just over a month) and of course there was a big fat typo in his last name. My heart sank, as I could already see hours of paperwork ahead of me.

I had my first experience calling USCIS, and realized I will never be able to do it without my husband standing near the phone and saying "yes, you're allowed to talk to my wife". My husband's English is good, but because I've done all the paperwork, he usually leave this thing to me!

Anyways, I reported the typo on August 26th and received a mail packet on the 13th of September with, in my opinion, very vague instructions of how to get the typo fixed. I wrote a custom cover letter explaining the situation, sent them the incorrect card, and got a tracking number. Furthemore, they asked me for my "original appilcation (no form number or anything)" which is complicated -- we applied overseas and technically the Frankfurt office has all of that. The packet we gave to border patrol upon entry was taken from us. I searched through my copies of what I had and filled out an I-90 anyways and tried to attach what I thought are "relevant documents from my original application" -- which by the way, all have the last name spelled correctly.

Either way, I got confirmation from the USPS that the package arrived in Texas, where I was instructed to send, on Oct. 9th, 2014.

After not hearing anything, about 2 weeks before Christmas I called again and got patched through to an officer (2nd tier) after being on hold for nearly an hour-- now learning this is "normal". She said "I see your card is in processing and you will have it very soon). Needless to say, it is now Feb. 3rd and we tried calling last week. Due to the huge snow storm on the East Coast, we were told an officer would call us back in 3-5 business days. 7 business days later we have heard nothing.

The first tier of customer support at USCIS said to me that it was very unusual I didn't receive a new receipt number after the Texas office recieved my form and that I should really try and get this number to get regular updates.

Either way, that's the story -- I was wondering if any of you out there experienced similary unfuriating contact! It's been so long now since August, that I'm starting to get a little worried that we may be cutting it close to our July date. All of this to fix one typo. I know our I-155 is good for one year -- the stamp in my husband's passport is really clear about that. (One year is up in July!)

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

-Katie

Edited February 3, 2015 by schinx87

[apple21 953]

Sent my i90 in May 2014, got my new GC in Nov 2014.

Did he do biometrics?

[schinx87 1]

Sent my i90 in May 2014, got my new GC in Nov 2014.

Did he do biometrics?

When I first called to report the problem, they mentioned the topic of Biometrics -- and that they had to check with the local office to see if they had everything on file for him without us having to go down again to a local office. With Direct Consular File, my feeling is you do Biometrics when you go through POE -- but I'm not sure as the process is pretty different. That being said, they said something along the lines of "we are going to check and let you know when we write you". The letter with the info we had to submit has no instructions saying we need to go do Biometrics.

Also, as I haven't gotten a new case receipt number or any communication, I don't know if we're missing anything or we need to submit anything else :-/. Our last resort is going to the local office, as we would both have to take a vacation day

[apple21 953]

Click on my signature. I have my i90 timeline there.

You should have gotten an i797c notice (NOA1). The biometrics letter comes after that.

Edited February 3, 2015 by apple21

[N&S 32]

Just received my 10-year green card about a month ago which also had a typo (just missing the dash between my last names). When I made an infopass appointment they said it currently takes in the order of 9 months to do a replacement card, so I wouldn't be worried with regards to timing yet.

The biometrics might or might not have still been valid from the first greencard - I think they are good for a year, but not entirely sure. If you haven't heard from them yet, I would assume they were good with the ones that were on file - or they might schedule your husband in again; either way no reason to worry about this specifically.

What would make me worry is the missing NOA - you should have received an acknowledgement afaik (they said they couldn't give me the passport stamp until I have the notice at my infopass), so there is a chance that they don't have the correct address for you on file for this petition (have they possibly sent it to the German address for the original application?) - I would try and figure out what's going on there...

Good luck!

[schinx87 1]

Just received my 10-year green card about a month ago which also had a typo (just missing the dash between my last names). When I made an infopass appointment they said it currently takes in the order of 9 months to do a replacement card, so I wouldn't be worried with regards to timing yet.

The biometrics might or might not have still been valid from the first greencard - I think they are good for a year, but not entirely sure. If you haven't heard from them yet, I would assume they were good with the ones that were on file - or they might schedule your husband in again; either way no reason to worry about this specifically.

What would make me worry is the missing NOA - you should have received an acknowledgement afaik (they said they couldn't give me the passport stamp until I have the notice at my infopass), so there is a chance that they don't have the correct address for you on file for this petition (have they possibly sent it to the German address for the original application?) - I would try and figure out what's going on there...

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your tip!

We know they have the correct address on file -- as they sent the 1st Green card to the correct address here in the USA. So I think all is okay with that

That was my next goal too -- work on the NOA, but for that we need to get through to the 2nd tier of customer support and speak to an immigration officer. The one time we did, she obviously saw something on the screen we didn't, so the first customer rep. who I talked to said there is most likely a new case number that we just need to find out about. I hope I get good news. We will try again next week when my husband is back from his business trip. Maybe the border agent in Texas (he is travelling back from Mexico) will be able to tell him something?? (Doubtful... lol)

Thank you for your feedback and for sharing your experience!

All the best,

Katie