I may have forgotten to make my money order payable to the DHS. What will happen?

[Rsul96 2]

I have mailed in my paperwork last week (I think last Wednesday), and I so far have heard nothing back. However, I just realized I may have totally forgotten to fill out the rest of my money order to the US Department of Homeland Security.

 

Will they fill it out for me? Will all the paperwork be sent back? Did I just permanently lose $535?

[zilchfox 296]

They'll reject the application and return everything you sent, or accept the application pending RFIE for payment.

Edited July 5, 2017 by zilchfox

[mallafri76 1,012]

What zilchfox said.

[Rsul96 2]

1 minute ago, zilchfox said:

They'll reject the application and return everything you sent, or accept the application pending RFIE for payment.

 

How long will that delay the process for my wife and I? I'm stressing out over this. Will it take them a few weeks? A month? I really am beating myself up over this because I wanted everything done perfectly the first time but was being rushed and am stressed from work etc.

[zilchfox 296]

Just now, Rsul96 said:

 

How long will that delay the process for my wife and I? I'm stressing out over this. Will it take them a few weeks? A month? I really am beating myself up over this because I wanted everything done perfectly the first time but was being rushed and am stressed from work etc.

It typically takes a week or so for them to even acknowledge receipt of a petition, it might already be on it's way back to you now with a rejection letter attached.

[Rsul96 2]

2 minutes ago, zilchfox said:

It typically takes a week or so for them to even acknowledge receipt of a petition, it might already be on it's way back to you now with a rejection letter attached.

If it comes back to me, I just have to fill that out, and resubmit it or is there more to it then?

 

Secondly, if it is accepted with an RFIE for payment, will they also send back the original money order or no? And how do I find out if this is the case? How will I be notified of the RFIE for payment and how long does this typically take?

[geowrian 22,337]

There's 3 possibilities:

1. They'll reject the packet and send it back to fix. ETA: ~a month. The money order will be sent back and you can re-use it when you fix the issue. (most likely)
2. They're able to redeem it as-is and will just accept the packet (and send a NOA1 to you).
3. They'll accept the packet pending an RFIE to fix the payment issue. (not likely IMHO...I've only seen this with checks due to NSF issues, and even that is rare)

Edited July 5, 2017 by geowrian