AOS denial after K-1 approval

[Noivas 0]

I am still in shock: our AOS, after a quickly and smoothly approved K-1, was denied without an interview or RFEs.

We still haven't received the letter in the mail with the reasons why, but we got the denial notice online. We went to see an immigration lawyer who said she had never seen anything like this.  We are wondering if it is homophobia, since we're a same-sex couple. The lawyer said our documents were impeccable. We got married within 90 days, I have a good job with a good salary, and did everything right. We are wondering if this has to do with the new anti-immigrant/anti-gay administration.

Has anyone heard of recent flat out denials of family-based AOS?

Any advice?  

 

[Georgia16 2,858]

It will not be because of you guys being a same-sex couple.

 

Are you sure you haven't gotten a RFE maybe you didn't receive the letter be some mistake because if they don't get a reply then they will deny.

 

Luckily you will be able to apply again! 

[GuadaCh 5]

 

I am still in shock: our AOS, after a quickly and smoothly approved K-1, was denied without an interview or RFEs.

We still haven't received the letter in the mail with the reasons why, but we got the denial notice online. We went to see an immigration lawyer who said she had never seen anything like this.  We are wondering if it is homophobia, since we're a same-sex couple. The lawyer said our documents were impeccable. We got married within 90 days, I have a good job with a good salary, and did everything right. We are wondering if this has to do with the new anti-immigrant/anti-gay administration.

Has anyone heard of recent flat out denials of family-based AOS?

Any advice?  

 

I have never ever heard about something like this before! The only thing I can think of, like previously said, is that an RFE was sent but never received by you and the petition was denied. When you get the letter let us know what they say and we can see how to help you out!

[Illiria 980]

Ok let's start at the beginning. I checked your timeline and it hasn't been updated. 

 

when did you send the aos package?

when did it arrive at the lockbox?

when was your payment letter cashed?

When was your biometrics appointment?

Did you go to your biometrics on time?

when did the online message change to denied?

what did you send along with the 485 form for aos?

 

With these we can start to piece together what happened. 

Edited May 6, 2017 by Illiria
I hate autocorrect

[p-ana 933]

Most likely they sent out rfie and there wasn't a response. Uscis sends more than one request for evidence if they're not satisfied, there's no way they would flat out deny like that. Something must have gone wrong with addresses and letters

[Noivas 0]

it is possible they sent an RFE that got lost in the mail, but I check the status online every 10 days or so, and there was NEVER any notice that said that an RFE was sent.  

[Noivas 0]

It has been over a week since the denial notice has been up on the USCIS site and we still haven't received the letter stating why... it's been torture. the lawyer said all the documents were submitted correctly. 

[Noivas 0]

wow, just read your timeline and you got your greencard in three months! that is so amazing!  we got our denial after complete silence from them since september...

[Illiria 980]

Looked at timeline, from the spacing of the time from biometrics they either sent you an interview date and you didn't get it or they sent an rfe and you didn't get it. 

 

did you move at all after filing?

 

Yeah I had an interview, loads applying when I did were getting the dreaded interview waiver letter and it was taking them up to a year to get the green card. I purposely only sent in the minimum documentation to get the aos accepted in the hopes of getting an interview as they were happening quicker. I didn't send much proof of relationship, just the marriage cert and a couple of photos of the ceremony. It worked or I was slated for an interview anyway. Took a lot more evidence to the interview including insurance and rental agreement stuff. 

[Noivas 0]

we didn't move and we check the mail compulsively... 

if they had sent an RFE, wouldn't it say when you click on "check your status" online that an RFE was sent? I check online that every 10 days or so, so I would have seen that. I also called USCIS three or four times since september, and they would have told me over the phone that the RFE was sent, no?

[geowrian 22,337]

This is highly irregular, but the current administration/policies wouldn't have any impact on it. USCIS is still bound by law. It either sounds like a mistake, an RFE/RFIE was sent and not responded to, an interview was scheduled but never attended, or something else was grossly out of order. Most likely it's the RFE. Please keep the thread updated when the denial or NOID arrives.

Edited May 7, 2017 by geowrian

[Illiria 980]

Ok so didn't move and check the case number every ten days. 

 

Unfortunately the (mis)information line is not to be trusted blindly and the initial person you talk to can only see what you can see online for yourself. 

 

In this case I am more inclined to think that you were sent a interview date as there were a few during my aos time that people were sent a date with less than 10 days notice so it could have been sent, interview date passed, and denied within 10 days. 

 

Alternatively someone pushed the wrong button because uscis employees have a tendency to be muppets and they meant to send something else and clicked the denied button instead. Kind of like when you have those drop down menus and once you have picked your answer you go to scroll the page down but haven't clicked off the drop down menu so it scrolls to a different answer instead and you don't notice. 

 

Hopefully you will get the notice in the mail soon and can find out what it is. 

Edited May 7, 2017 by Illiria
Auto correct and I sounded like an ####

[Ontarkie 14,321]

~~Moved to AOS Family, from K1 P&P- as this is no longer a K1 process question.~~

[Penguin_ie 5,995]

It is possible that the denial notice is a mistake, someone pressing the wrong button but yes, with the timeline given it does sound like you missed something (or USPS lost it).  Did you try calling them and asking for a supervisor. or trying for a walk-in infopass?  If the letter doesn't come next week, I'd try that.

[Scandi 4,173]

How do you know you were denied btw? I don't think I have ever seen a denial notice on the online case status? I have seen a few "we have made a decision, we sent you a letter that explains our actions" or similar, which often means it's a NOID. However, I have seen people here on VJ get the NOID looking message on their online status but it turned out to be just a regular RFE.