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

[little immigrant 801]

On 1/30/2019 at 9:13 AM, Hypnos said:

Well given the two people I've found that were approved, I'd say that definitively answers the question of whether it is considered within the 90 days or not - particularly the person who filed at 12:10am.

 

USCIS cannot deny me and approve them under identical circumstances. That would be unlawful. 

Hi I have been following your topic and I bookmarked it. I'm already a citizen so it will not apply to me (I sent my application via mail) but once the time comes for my husband to apply I will definitely make sure to give a few days before applying and I've been telling my LPR friends the same. 

 

I really hope and wish for you that you will get this appealed and approved. I'm so sorry this happened to you. Thank you for posting this and letting us know. I'm sure you will anyway but please keep us updated. If it comes to a new article I want to see it

 

All the best and please hang in there. If it doesn't work out with this one you can always apply again. You will be a citizen sooner or later

Edited January 31, 2019 by little immigrant

[Hypnos 6,577]

I received notification today from the CIS Ombudsman that they had accepted my request for expedited review of my case and had contacted USCIS on my behalf to seek a resolution.

[Going through 5,671]

48 minutes ago, Hypnos said:

I received notification today from the CIS Ombudsman that they had accepted my request for expedited review of my case and had contacted USCIS on my behalf to seek a resolution.

I would ask if you can be forwarded any emails sent on your behalf to USCIS/received on your behalf....just for your own records, if nothing else.

[Hypnos 6,577]

I believe I asked something similar when I had them help out during my green card nonsense and they said they were not able to do that. They just provide me with case updates on what their communications with USCIS have yielded.

[V80 12]

I just received an email notification that my N400 application has been approved. Note that I submitted my application at 1:00 am EST on the day I became eligible (90 day early filing). Had my interview in October 2018 and IO could not make decision on that day because of "timing-issues". I have been waiting since then. After seeing this thread, I have contacted my senator's office, explained the situation and provided all proofs. My senator's office contacted USCIS on my behalf and requested them to confirm if there is any issue because of my application submission at 1:00 am EST. USCIS has confirmed that there is no issue because of the submission time and they approved my application this morning.

 

This thread really helped me take some proactive steps which resulted in approval of my application. Thanks to all of you.

 

If you submitted N400 application in the early hours (12:00 am - 5:00 am) of the day you became eligible, I strongly recommend you all to contact one of your senators or representative, explain the situation, provide all proofs (pay.gov receipt, credit card transaction date and time etc.) and request them to contact USCIS.

 

I sincerely wish you all good luck.

[Hypnos 6,577]

@V80 big thanks for your update. Your case has been on my mind and I have been hoping it would go through. Glad to hear it has.

 

I continue to wait on my congressman's office and the CIS Ombudsman. Given that your case now brings the number of approvals under these circumstances to three, my denial must be overturned. 

Edited February 6, 2019 by Hypnos

[Hypnos 6,577]

And to re-iterate: I have now found five people who filed under these circumstances. Three have been approved, I was denied, and the fifth has their interview later this month.

 

At this point I no longer think it's a question of if my denial will be overturned, but when.

 

@V80 have PM'd you once more.

Edited February 6, 2019 by Hypnos

[Xfiles 31]

This type of situations happens to people that it’s desperate and cant wait for a few days, sorry for your situation but if the day i become elegible its 1-1-19 i would always a day  pass and apply at least 1-2-19, a day its not gonna change your waiting by much so why do this?

 

i do recomend people to take a breath and relax, dam the world its not going to end for one day early filling lol 

 

 

Trust me i really need to be a citizen but I didn’t apply till a month later and now im waiting just for the oath ceremony and I stared my process in oct/2018

 

hope anyone that its on this situation get good luck. 

[Hypnos 6,577]

Hindsight is certainly 20/20 isn't it.

 

It's important to remember that this is USCIS' error, not mine. Now, if I knew back then what I know now would I do anything differently? Certainly, I would wait a couple of days, and would urge anyone in a similar situation to do exactly that (that is why I made this post, as a cautionary tale to others). But at the end of the day, this is on USCIS, not me.

[afrocraft 314]

7 hours ago, Xfiles said:

This type of situations happens to people that it’s desperate and cant wait for a few days, sorry for your situation but if the day i become elegible its 1-1-19 i would always a day  pass and apply at least 1-2-19, a day its not gonna change your waiting by much so why do this?

I get what practical advice you're trying to pass along, but there's either a 90-day window or there's none. "Desperation" or whatever you call it isn't a bar on naturalization. USCIS gets away with this nonsense only because you can't sue them without first going through a costly administrative review. Utter nonsense.

[Xfiles 31]

3 minutes ago, afrocraft said:

I get what practical advice you're trying to pass along, but there's either a 90-day window or there's none. "Desperation" or whatever you call it isn't a bar on naturalization. USCIS gets away with this nonsense only because you can't sue them without first going through a costly administrative review. Utter nonsense.

Defenely, but come on filling  midnight just because open window minutes ago? Is that really necessary?

 

I mean i can talk for my self when i say that i really need to become a citizen but no this much, rather prepare everything really well and do it with time to avoid errors.! 

[Going through 5,671]

2 hours ago, Xfiles said:

Defenely, but come on filling  midnight just because open window minutes ago? Is that really necessary?

 

In fairness, Hypnos filed at 2:30am on the date he was eligible, not a few minutes after midnight.   Is it early in the morning?  Sure, but it's his prerogative.

 

If the priority date is set the day before---even if he filed at 8am that still could have happened in his case.  With my own application, I filed at 7pm in the evening and my priority date was still set a day behind....I would have been in the same situation as OP is now if I'd applied on the very day I became eligible.

 

I'm sure Hypnos wishes he'd waited a day or two before submitting the N400...I'm sure he also wishes that USCIS set his priority date by the date the application was actually submitted, as they should be doing.

[Hypnos 6,577]

1 hour ago, Going through said:

USCIS... should be doing.

I suspect that if USCIS did everything they were meant to and didn't do things they shouldn't, 2/3 of VJ's forum traffic would vanish overnight. 

[ThomasNC1988 762]

I think everyone as right. I assume even @Hypnos would admit he should have just waited a day or two to be safe, but at the same time USCIS should either clearly state what time they consider the day to begin and end or enforce their policy with some sort of common sense.

[Hypnos 6,577]

So today I get to give the update I have been hoping to give since all of this nonsense began.

 

I received a flurry of text messages from USCIS this afternoon indicating that my case was updated. Puzzled but hopeful, I began to login to my online account, but before I could do so received a call from a Dallas number. They identified themselves as Officer SomebodyOrOther (I forget the name; I recall it wasn't the person who interviewed me) calling from the Dallas field office. They said they had received my case today, and had seen there was an issue. That she had gone ahead and reversed the denial and approved it, and could schedule me for an oath ceremony next Thursday afternoon, on Valentine's Day, if that would be ok. I said that would absolutely, completely, and totally be fine with me. She said she would mail out a copy of the letter today, and that I should receive it soon. I thanked her, and then called the congressional liaison working my case to let her know what had happened.

 

So... there we are. It's been a rough couple of weeks. I lost about 5 lbs the first week, which I can't say I'm unhappy about since I wanted to lose 10-15 lbs before the police academy begins later this year that I will hopefully (now) be attending, but this wasn't how I had planned on doing it.

 

I just want to say that the system works. And by the system I do not mean USCIS. Everyone who has read VJ for more than 5 minutes knows that USCIS is an inefficient and poorly run federal agency in drastic need of an overhaul. No, by system I mean the checks and balances of oversight of them. I'm not sure whether it was my congressman's office or the CIS Ombudsman that got this reversed. I'm choosing to believe a little of both. But to anyone whose naturalisation eligibility date is approaching, I would strongly urge you to wait just a day or two to head this issue off, unless you enjoy uncertainty and stupidity, in which case have at it.

 

My online USCIS account is currently showing no changes. It still indicates that my application is denied, and there's no oath letter there yet. Perhaps it will change, perhaps it won't. But the older case status site is showing my oath letter was mailed.

 

I'm glad to finally be able to put this behind me. Thanks to all the well-wishers here on VJ who have given public and private messages of support. It has been very much appreciated during what has not been a stellar couple of weeks up to now.