N600 Denied but wife already has a passport

[ykowalski 11]

Hello everyone, 

my wife's N600 got denied saying that her dad became a citizen after her 18th birthday.  That is not true, because he became a citizen a week before her 18th birthday, even the date at the bottom right of his certificate shows she was 17 at the time. 

Ever since then she has had two American passports, she's on her second one now. 

 

How do we approach this ? 

 

And we're in the process of submitting an I130 for me, would this have any effect to it?

 

Thanks. 

[ykowalski 11]

Yes she was an LPR and she was living with her dad and mom at that time. 

and yes we are within the 30 days. How do we appeal? 

 

Would this denial can cause a denial when she applied for I130?

[Going through 5,671]

It should give info on the denial letter how to submit an appeal.

[carmel34 3,626]

12 hours ago, ykowalski said:

And we're in the process of submitting an I130 for me, would this have any effect to it?

No effect at all--she has a US passport, therefore she's a US citizen, so she can submit a photocopy of her US passport as proof of citizenship with your I-130.  The N600 is not necessary--all it gets her is a piece of paper that is an additional document to prove US citizenship.  That's fine to have it and you can keep working on that separately from the I-130 process because she already has proof of US citizenship--her passport.  Many US citizens do not have certificates of citizenship because they aren't necessary.  Even an expired US passport is proof of her citizenship so keep the old ones safe somewhere.  And good luck with the N600 appeal process and also the I-130 process.

[Lemonslice 4,838]

2 minutes ago, carmel34 said:

No effect at all--she has a US passport, therefore she's a US citizen, so she can submit a photocopy of her US passport as proof of citizenship with your I-130.  The N600 is not necessary--all it gets her is a piece of paper that is an additional document to prove US citizenship.  That's fine to have it and you can keep working on that separately from the I-130 process because she already has proof of US citizenship--her passport.  Many US citizens do not have certificates of citizenship because they aren't necessary.  Even an expired US passport is proof of her citizenship so keep the old ones safe somewhere.  And good luck with the N600 appeal process and also the I-130 process.

While being an extremely rare occurence, passports have been issued by mistake to non-citizens in the past.  If she is confident that she is a citizen, I would follow the instructions to appeal. 

[ykowalski 11]

I figured out where things went wrong. 

Her mom and dad became citizens at different times. 

Her dad became a citizen before her 18th birthday (She used his certificate to prove she's a citizen when getting a passport). 

Her mom became a citizen after her 18th birthday. 

 

The genius preparer used her mom's citizenship certificate when applied for the N600. Left the father's fields blank. 

 

 

[ykowalski 11]

I am bumping this back up. 

 

I was able to get a draft of the N600 that was submitted by the preparer, I noticed she filled out other places wrong as well. 

The preparer selected LPR while my wife has had a valid passport since 2010. 

She became a citizen through her dad, but they only included the mom's information. 

She got the port and date of entry wrong. 

 

 The question is, is this worth going through with it and appealing it and pay the fee or just forget about it. 

 

Again, my wife is on her second passport and she recently got her second one back in October. 

 

We are really worried that this will bite us when we file for I130 for me. Not sure what to do. 

 

This is why I do not trust anyone to fill out anything for me or my family. 

[Going through 5,671]

56 minutes ago, ykowalski said:

The question is, is this worth going through with it and appealing it

To win an Appeal, you would have to prove that the denial was due to officer error.  You wouldn't be successful with an Appeal, because the original application was correctly denied based on the (mom's) documents your lawyer submitted.

 

What you could do is file a Motion to Reopen/Reconsider (fee is $675, not sure if it can be waived under certain circumstances)----any approval/reversal of the prior decision would be based on additional evidence you would submit (the dad's info).

 

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by Going through

[aaron2020 11,651]

Refile.

 

In order to win an appeal, you would need to prove that USCIS made a mistake in adjudicating the case.  You can't because the mistake was yours. 

[ykowalski 11]

I agree, it was not an error by USCIS.

 

The preparer did not submit her dad's information. 

 

I guess an appeal is out of the equation. We would have to check box a motion to reopen or a motion to reconsider ? I have not read the instructions yet. That's my homework for the weekend. 

 

I just hope this is not gonna bite us when we file next month or so for the i130 

[Going through 5,671]

Info on filing a Motion here:    https://www.uscis.gov/i-290b 

 

 

[Going through 5,671]

19 minutes ago, ykowalski said:

We would have to check box a motion to reopen or a motion to reconsider ?

In your case a Motion to Reopen is what is suitable to your situation.

 

From the instructions:

 

Motion to Reopen: A motion to reopen must state new facts and be supported by documentary evidence demonstrating eligibility for the requested immigration benefit at the time you filed the application or petition.

 

Motion to Reconsider: A motion to reconsider must demonstrate that the decision was based on an incorrect application of law or policy, and that the decision was incorrect based on the evidence in the case record at the time of the decision. The motion must be supported by citations to appropriate statutes, regulations, precedent decisions, or statements of USCIS policy.

Edited April 12, 2019 by Going through

[ykowalski 11]

2 hours ago, Going through said:

In your case a Motion to Reopen is what is suitable to your situation.

 

From the instructions:

 

Motion to Reopen: A motion to reopen must state new facts and be supported by documentary evidence demonstrating eligibility for the requested immigration benefit at the time you filed the application or petition.

 

Motion to Reconsider: A motion to reconsider must demonstrate that the decision was based on an incorrect application of law or policy, and that the decision was incorrect based on the evidence in the case record at the time of the decision. The motion must be supported by citations to appropriate statutes, regulations, precedent decisions, or statements of USCIS policy.

That's what I was thinking. I'll print the Instructions and go through them line by line. 

 

 

If we end up going throw motion to reopen,

Does she include:

Original naturalization certificate of both parents OR

Photo copy of naturalization certificate of both parents OR

Certified photo copies of naturalization certificate of both parents (if so who can make certified copies) OR

Include their certificate number with naturalization date on the explanation letter because I noticed on her parents' naturalization certificates, at the bottom left corner it says we cannot photo copy. 

 

Thank you. 

[Going through 5,671]

From the instructions:

 

Copies. You should submit legible photocopies of documents requested, unless the Instructions specifically state that you must submit an original document. USCIS may request an original document at the time of filing or at any time during processing of an application, petition, or request. If USCIS requests an original document from you, it will be returned to you after USCIS determines it no longer needs your original. NOTE: If you submit original documents when not required or requested by USCIS, your original documents may be immediately destroyed upon receipt.

 

9 hours ago, ykowalski said:

Include their certificate number with naturalization date on the explanation letter because I noticed on her parents' naturalization certificates, at the bottom left corner it says we cannot photo copy. 

Send a photocopy of the father's naturalization certificate.  Photocopying the certificate is fine in this instance since you are using it for/with USCIS themselves.

I would suggest including a cover letter explaining the new evidence emphasizing the date on the father's naturalization, and that she was eligible for the N600 based on this additional evidence at the time of the original application was filed.

 

Good luck to you.  All else fails, you can always refile the N600 entirely if you really want her to have a naturalization certificate....she can, alternatively, always continue to use the US passport as proof of citizenship.

[ykowalski 11]

Update:

So if you read from the beginning of this read you can realize the mess that was caused for someone filling an application for my wife to get a citizenship certificate. They filled N600 on her behalf. They filed back in June 2018 and received a rejection letter back in March I think. 

My wife is on her second american passport now so she has been a citizen for a  long time. 

 

Fast forward to mid Sept 2019, she got a letter from USCIS saying they reopened her N600 case and wait for further instructions from USCIS. (We never filed a motion to reopen like it was suggested in the previous comments), they reopened it on their own for some reason. 

I checked the status online and we were surprised to see that it says we placed in line for oath. 

Two weeks later, she received an invite to come to Oath ceremony. 

She went today and got her certificate. They used her passport pic on the certificate. 

 

So, glad she ended up getting her certificate. 

Lesson learned, do not let idiots fill out any application for you. Do the readings yourself, follow instructions to the letter. 

 

Have a nice day.