N-400 Denied (anyone who intends to file the day they become eligible, read this)

[Hypnos 6,577]

I have also contacted several newspapers and local TV stations. I feel this is something that more publicity may help to resolve, since they don't really like looking bad on a national scale.

 

I am still kicking myself for not waiting a day or two though. I would have my oath ceremony letter already if I had done that.

Edited January 29, 2019 by Hypnos

[dilip 187]

I applied the day I am eligible and submitted my application @ 8:40 AM EST Nov 25, 2018 and paid by credit card and I checked  and its says Transaction data Nov 25, 2018 time 03:40:28 AM.  So 5 HOURS DIFFERENT.  It seems computer is set to Hawaii time zone.   So,  my notice and priority data is 25th Nov, 2018. 

 

 

Eastern Standard Time

Time zone in Washington, DC (GMT-5)

Monday, January 28, 2019, 9:04 PM

8:04 PM		Central Standard Time Chicago (GMT-6)
7:04 PM		Mountain Standard Time Denver (GMT-7)
7:04 PM		Mountain Standard Time Phoenix (GMT-7)
6:04 PM		Pacific Standard Time Los Angeles (GMT-8)
5:04 PM		Alaska Standard Time Anchorage (GMT-9)
4:04 PM		Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time Honolulu (GMT-10)

Edited January 29, 2019 by dilip

[Hypnos 6,577]

Yeah, provided your priority date matches the received date, and you filed on the correct date, you should be fine.

 

I don't know why I keep finding myself in the middle of these edge cases. I had a similar song and dance when I applied for my green card in 2012. USCIS mishandled it and sent it to the wrong processing office, adding nine months to the process. It was only with the assistance of the CIS Ombudsman and the lawyer I mentioned above that we managed to get my applications returned to Dallas, where they should have gone all along. I swear, USCIS is run by trained chimps.

 

I have so far located several people who have had this issue, who filed on their first day of eligibility but had their priority date set to the day before. One was approved, one is about to have their interview, and one has had their interview several months ago with no decision made yet, and then there's my denial. So they are all over the place on this. Laws are meant to be consistent, not changing on a whim. They cannot approve someone and then deny someone else under almost identical circumstances.

 

With DHS funding restored, I did contact the CIS Ombudsman again today. I emailed them during the shutdown, since their web form was taken offline, but I submitted the form today. We'll see how this goes. The more eyes on it the better, I feel.

[austex 42]

On 1/24/2019 at 12:42 PM, Hypnos said:

Hypnos

Hypnos, I am so sorry this has happened to you.  You seemed to have done everything right.  Good luck with the congressman and I hope life can start getting back to normal.

 

maybe they think you have nothing better to do with your life and you need some adrenaline to keep having all the upcoming fun you will have to deal with. Lol

 

M.

[Hypnos 6,577]

I will admit that it's been a challenging few days. 

[austex 42]

Hypnos, go out fighting and kicking and screaming. They cannot do this to us - take our money and then make you wait and then even interviewed you - grrrr it is wrong.

 

M.

1 minute ago, Hypnos said:

I will admit that it's been a challenging few days. 

I would hate it. I did say to my husband if I got denied I wouldn’t have applied again.

 

M.

[coloradoman 32]

12 hours ago, Hypnos said:

I swear, USCIS is run by trained chimps.

Jeez man... I get that you're frustrated, but isn't it a little easy to just point fingers at them? Granted, the online system shouldn't have accepted your application if it was still the day before according to their systems. Granted, the interviewer should've caught the issue, or USCIS shouldn't have invited you to the interview to begin with. Mistakes happen. Insulting and degrading USCIS employees to the level of trained chimps just shows a certain level of arrogance on your end.

 

Did you REALLY have to file that application at 2:30 AM??? The next morning wasn't soon enough? Now it's USCIS' fault that you made a conscious decision to cut it this close?

 

12 hours ago, Hypnos said:

Laws are meant to be consistent, not changing on a whim. They cannot approve someone and then deny someone else under almost identical circumstances.

Keyword "almost". Unless the circumstances are in fact identical, you should not compare your case to another case out there, or come to the conclusion that you're just as entitled to an approval as the other person is. The laws are what they are, and they must and do apply to every applicant. Assuming otherwise is pretty ignorant and just proves that you are frustrated with yourself for being so impatient.

 

I'm all sympathetic about your situation. I just don't think it behooves you to ####### on USCIS, and assume that laws are being applied arbitrarily when in all fairness, you could've avoided this situation by giving it a couple more hours. May I suggest that, instead of blaming USCIS and starting a big sh*t show that probably won't end well for you, that you just send them a service request, explain the situation, and hope that it'll be requalified as a computer error, and not as a case of impatient appliant? Service requests go directly to the field office that handles your application, and are usually attended to right away. You have nothing to lose, except maybe your biased view that USCIS is an incompetent group of trained chimps that have nothing better to do than bending people over for sh*ts and giggles.

[afrocraft 314]

18 minutes ago, coloradoman said:

Did you REALLY have to file that application at 2:30 AM??? The next morning wasn't soon enough? Now it's USCIS' fault that you made a conscious decision to cut it this close?

The rules state when you can file: 90 days before your anniversary date. He followed the rules. He didn't file early; he filed 90 days prior to the anniversary date. Just repeating so you can assimilate.

 

In fact, when you file online, you can't submit  the application one minute to when your window opens. Local time. Then it opens when the rules allow. Local time, 90 days prior to anniversary date. 

 

You know, like the rules say.

Edited January 29, 2019 by afrocraft

[coloradoman 32]

15 minutes ago, afrocraft said:

The rules state when you can file: 90 days before your anniversary date. He followed the rules. He didn't file early; he filed 90 days prior to the anniversary date. Just repeating so you can assimilate.

 

In fact, when you file online, you can't submit  the application one minute to when your window opens. Local time. Then it opens when the rules allow. Local time, 90 days prior to anniversary date. 

 

You know, like the rules say.

That's all nice but really doesn't change the fact that you don't know where their server is located at. Someone stated previously in this thread that the time stamp on their application was from the Hawaiian time zone.

 

Hence, "cutting it close". It doesn't matter when you submit the application. It matters when it is received. Like the rules say.

[afrocraft 314]

2 minutes ago, coloradoman said:

That's all nice but really doesn't change the fact that you don't know where their server is located at. Someone stated previously in this thread that the time stamp on their application was from the Hawaiian time zone.

 

Hence, "cutting it close". It doesn't matter when you submit the application. It matters when it is received. Like the rules say.

So USCIS should make it clear in the application instructions what clock they use. That's what a competent organization would do, no?

[geowrian 22,337]

22 minutes ago, afrocraft said:

Local time. Then it opens when the rules allow. Local time, 90 days prior to anniversary date. 

What is "local time"? Local to whom exactly? If the applicant, then how does the system know/verify your current location?

 

I'm 100% in agreement that it should be more clear, and the system should not let you submit early.

I'm also 100% in agreement that the issue is likely to ultimately be resolved in the OP's favor.

 

But the question of which time zone to use is much more difficult. Throwing the concept of a local time zone into the equation makes this much more complicated on everybody's end. USCIS should just pick 1 time zone, make that very clear to applicants, and go with that.

[afrocraft 314]

2 minutes ago, geowrian said:

What is "local time"? Local to whom exactly? If the applicant, then how does the system know/verify your current location?

 

I'm 100% in agreement that it should be more clear, and the system should not let you submit early.

I'm also 100% in agreement that the issue is likely to ultimately be resolved in the OP's favor.

 

But the question of which time zone to use is much more difficult. Throwing the concept of a local time zone into the equation makes this much more complicated on everybody's end. USCIS should just pick 1 time zone, make that very clear to applicants, and go with that.

It does recognize your local time. That's not hard technically. It won't let you submit a second before the window opens, local time.

[coloradoman 32]

8 minutes ago, afrocraft said:

So USCIS should make it clear in the application instructions what clock they use. That's what a competent organization would do, no?

Perhaps you want to tell them at your next visit.

[coloradoman 32]

2 minutes ago, afrocraft said:

It does recognize your local time. That's not hard technically. It won't let you submit a second before the window opens, local time.

So if I happen to be in Europe, when the clock turns midnight and it's still 6 PM on the East Coast and 3 PM on the West Coast, and I file my application because the system lets me, you're saying that I have a right for it to be approved just because it was already past midnight for me?

[geowrian 22,337]

3 minutes ago, afrocraft said:

It does recognize your local time. That's not hard technically. It won't let you submit a second before the window opens, local time.

Oh, you mean the time zone of your system clock?

Nobody can forge that...