February 2020 AOS Filers

[Ads2865 19]

On 3/10/2020 at 8:29 PM, SuperRoxy said:

Filed mine Feb 23 and received on the 25th. Now i’m super nervous cause one lady on my group chat says her packet got rejected even filing on feb21 and uscis received it feb24. She said they’re asking her for the new form. 

Wow! so does that mean that they aren't going based off the postmarks?

[SuperRoxy 1]

15 minutes ago, Ads2865 said:

Wow! so does that mean that they aren't going based off the postmarks?

I got it cleared already, she received the rejection letter and they were looking for the missing i-944 form. Yes, she send it feb21 and USCIS received if by the 24th.  The thing is, she uses the updated forms which is specifically for the 24th onward filers only which leads to the confusion of the Immigration Officer upon checking her packet. 

[Ads2865 19]

2 minutes ago, SuperRoxy said:

I got it cleared already, she received the rejection letter and they were looking for the missing i-944 form. Yes, she send it feb21 and USCIS received if by the 24th.  The thing is, she uses the updated forms which is specifically for the 24th onward filers only which leads to the confusion of the Immigration Officer upon checking her packet. 

Wow! We have to be very careful.

[LilyKins 121]

Sigh -- super jealous of you guys moving forward in the process! We're still waiting on text messages here  

[Kamakiri 61]

On 3/5/2020 at 8:57 AM, Kamakiri said:

 

☆Update☆

3/4/2020 : Completed Biometric, my case status changed to “Case was updated to show Fingerprints were taken”. 
 

***************************************************************************************

2/1/2020 : I-485, I-795, I-131 were sent via FedEx to USCIS

2/3/2020 :  Delivered to USCIS in Chicago

2/11/2020 : Received E-notifications from USCIS with case numbers
2/14/2020 : Received NOA1 via post mail

2/21/2010 : Received Biometric appointment letter

3/4/2020 : Biometric appointment  

 

Has anybody received separate biometrics appointment letter?

i have already done my I-485 & I-795 Biometrics on March 4/Wed, but today I received an appointment letter for I-131(AP) separately. Will I need to go again?

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Kamakiri

[ourwildjourney 103]

20 minutes ago, LilyKins said:

Sigh -- super jealous of you guys moving forward in the process! We're still waiting on text messages here  

I am really feeling for you right now!  

Seriously!  

[emmabear 1]

AOS package sent 02/18/2020
Delivered to Lockbox 02/20/2020

 

No responses yet and cheque has not been cashed.

I know there is probably an influx right now, so I'm staying patient, but still feel tense. :(

 

Anyone with a similar timeline? 

[Magna 44]

In addition to my previous post, the USCIS cashed out the fees for I-130 and I-485. 

[David_Norway 135]

Hi guys,

I have been following this thread for a while, and I am in the same situation as a bunch of people here who filed just before the February 24th deadline. Thanks to everyone who has shared their experience so far - it reduces the stress of this process a lot! Here is my timeline:

2/23/2020 - Sent my concurrent I-485/I-130/I-765/I-131 application via FedEx to Chicago, IL
2/25/2020 - Arrived in Chicago in the AM, signed by J. Harper
3/12/2020 - Received the entire application in return - REJECTED due "application filed on an outdated version of this form".

I am confident that this is an USCIS error - can I appeal an rejection, and if so, what is the process and have people done so successfully?

The USCIS instructions clearly said that if sent by courier, "the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt". My courier receipt says Feb 23, 2020 3:40:53 PM. I did not include the FedEX receipt in my package though. I think the problem was that this receipt date is not reflected on the FedEX shipping label (which they actually returned to me). On the shipping label, it says that the ship date is February 24th as that is the date the package got picked up at the FedEx location. I naively thought that they would check the FedEX tracking number which is on the shipping label which would confirm that I sent in the package on the 23rd. In retrospect, I should have gotten the FedEx employee to write "this package was "postmarked" on February 23rd" on the outside of the package and have her sign it.

Anyone else who sent their package before the 24th deadline, but had a ship date of Feb 24th? Did they accept the application?

Anyone with any advice for how I should proceed? Should I try to appeal the decision or should I just dive into the really annoying I-944 form?

Thanks for all the advice, and I hope that other people in the same situation are luckier than what I was! 

[LilyKins 121]

53 minutes ago, David_Norway said:

Hi guys,

I have been following this thread for a while, and I am in the same situation as a bunch of people here who filed just before the February 24th deadline. Thanks to everyone who has shared their experience so far - it reduces the stress of this process a lot! Here is my timeline:

2/23/2020 - Sent my concurrent I-485/I-130/I-765/I-131 application via FedEx to Chicago, IL
2/25/2020 - Arrived in Chicago in the AM, signed by J. Harper
3/12/2020 - Received the entire application in return - REJECTED due "application filed on an outdated version of this form".

I am confident that this is an USCIS error - can I appeal an rejection, and if so, what is the process and have people done so successfully?

The USCIS instructions clearly said that if sent by courier, "the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt". My courier receipt says Feb 23, 2020 3:40:53 PM. I did not include the FedEX receipt in my package though. I think the problem was that this receipt date is not reflected on the FedEX shipping label (which they actually returned to me). On the shipping label, it says that the ship date is February 24th as that is the date the package got picked up at the FedEx location. I naively thought that they would check the FedEX tracking number which is on the shipping label which would confirm that I sent in the package on the 23rd. In retrospect, I should have gotten the FedEx employee to write "this package was "postmarked" on February 23rd" on the outside of the package and have her sign it.

Anyone else who sent their package before the 24th deadline, but had a ship date of Feb 24th? Did they accept the application?

Anyone with any advice for how I should proceed? Should I try to appeal the decision or should I just dive into the really annoying I-944 form?

Thanks for all the advice, and I hope that other people in the same situation are luckier than what I was! 

Hi! I'm sorry this happened to you -- I was also going to FedEx ours on 02/23, which would've saved us a whole lot of scrambling (and an eight hour drive!) but out of an abundance of caution, I called FedEx to ask whether it would be considered post marked. She replied that no, FedEx does not provide post marks and then followed with something about the day it leaves the facility is considered the day it shipped, but I stopped really listening after she said it wouldn't be considered post marked if I shipped with them. I called a different location, and then I called UPS, and they all replied the same way, that mailing with them is not going to give your mail a post mark.

 

I saw a number of you guys stating that you used FedEx on the 22nd and 23rd and so I didn't want to say anything, but now that this has happened the post mark could be why. Before initiating anything with USCIS, you might want to call FedEx and confirm that they do not post mark their mail.

[David_Norway 135]

6 minutes ago, LilyKins said:

Hi! I'm sorry this happened to you -- I was also going to FedEx ours on 02/23, which would've saved us a whole lot of scrambling (and an eight hour drive!) but out of an abundance of caution, I called FedEx to ask whether it would be considered post marked. She replied that no, FedEx does not provide post marks and then followed with something about the day it leaves the facility is considered the day it shipped, but I stopped really listening after she said it wouldn't be considered post marked if I shipped with them. I called a different location, and then I called UPS, and they all replied the same way, that mailing with them is not going to give your mail a post mark.

 

I saw a number of you guys stating that you used FedEx on the 22nd and 23rd and so I didn't want to say anything, but now that this has happened the post mark could be why. Before initiating anything with USCIS, you might want to call FedEx and confirm that they do not post mark their mail.

The fact that FedEX/UPS/DHS does not provide a postmark was addressed by USCIS themselves in their instructions which was available before February 24th. Directly quoting USCIS:

"For applications and petitions that are sent by commercial courier (for example, UPS, FedEx, or DHL), the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt."

My courier receipt is my FedEx receipt which clearly says February 23rd. So I still think this was an USCIS error, but obviously, I should have scrambled more and gotten it shipped on the 21st or the 22nd. So you ended up sending your package with USPS on the 22nd? Hopefully you hear back from them soon with an acceptance notice!

Btw, I never got any text messages from them even though I did submit the G-1145. 

Also, they opened my sealed I-693 form. If I resubmit, can I refile that same I-693 form even though it is not sealed anymore? It does have a USCIS time stamp on it now.

 

 

[LilyKins 121]

1 minute ago, David_Norway said:

The fact that FedEX/UPS/DHS does not provide a postmark was addressed by USCIS themselves in their instructions which was available before February 24th. Directly quoting USCIS:

"For applications and petitions that are sent by commercial courier (for example, UPS, FedEx, or DHL), the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt."

My courier receipt is my FedEx receipt which clearly says February 23rd. So I still think this was an USCIS error, but obviously, I should have scrambled more and gotten it shipped on the 21st or the 22nd. So you ended up sending your package with USPS on the 22nd? Hopefully you hear back from them soon with an acceptance notice!

Btw, I never got any text messages from them even though I did submit the G-1145. 

Also, they opened my sealed I-693 form. If I resubmit, can I refile that same I-693 form even though it is not sealed anymore? It does have a USCIS time stamp on it now.

 

 

That's frustrating -- maybe a copy of the receipt would've resolved this? I had a similar issue with my first OPT application -- it was rejected stating that the wrong form version was used (it wasn't!) and that it wasn't signed (it was!). I was advised that it typically takes longer to open a case and refute it than it does to just resubmit, so I just resubmitted the application and it was accepted. I know that the "rules" have changed now with the I-944 and so maybe you should weigh that and how it might affect your overall application against the value of just re-submitting with the I-944 included and moving on with the application process. 

 

It sucks. It absolutely sucks. Especially the medical, I didn't submit my medical for that exact reason -- I had seen people posting on the forum about having had their applications rejected and their medicals opened. I don't remember the resolution, but I do remember deciding to just send the medical in closer to the time. I don't have any advice there. 

 

We did end up making a very dramatic finish and sending the application with USPS on 02/22, and the lovely lady behind the counter, who had her own immigration journey, made sure to stamp it 4 times with the post mark stamp. That said, ours hasn't been accepted yet, so who knows what could have happened.. we could be receiving ours back any day now for some other bizarre reason! USCIS can be very unpredictable at times.

[Dis_Guy 24]

1 hour ago, David_Norway said:

Hi guys,

I have been following this thread for a while, and I am in the same situation as a bunch of people here who filed just before the February 24th deadline. Thanks to everyone who has shared their experience so far - it reduces the stress of this process a lot! Here is my timeline:

2/23/2020 - Sent my concurrent I-485/I-130/I-765/I-131 application via FedEx to Chicago, IL
2/25/2020 - Arrived in Chicago in the AM, signed by J. Harper
3/12/2020 - Received the entire application in return - REJECTED due "application filed on an outdated version of this form".

I am confident that this is an USCIS error - can I appeal an rejection, and if so, what is the process and have people done so successfully?

The USCIS instructions clearly said that if sent by courier, "the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt". My courier receipt says Feb 23, 2020 3:40:53 PM. I did not include the FedEX receipt in my package though. I think the problem was that this receipt date is not reflected on the FedEX shipping label (which they actually returned to me). On the shipping label, it says that the ship date is February 24th as that is the date the package got picked up at the FedEx location. I naively thought that they would check the FedEX tracking number which is on the shipping label which would confirm that I sent in the package on the 23rd. In retrospect, I should have gotten the FedEx employee to write "this package was "postmarked" on February 23rd" on the outside of the package and have her sign it.

Anyone else who sent their package before the 24th deadline, but had a ship date of Feb 24th? Did they accept the application?

Anyone with any advice for how I should proceed? Should I try to appeal the decision or should I just dive into the really annoying I-944 form?

Thanks for all the advice, and I hope that other people in the same situation are luckier than what I was! 

Wow! Sorry to hear about the rejection. Kinda was in this situation initially too. Still a bit fearful of the outcome of my submission after hearing this....

 

We initially submitted our I-845, I-765 & I-131 on the evening of February 22 (Saturday) via UPS as USPS had closed. We made it clear to the UPS attendant that we wanted it shipped ASAP and he said ok and processed our parcel. He gave us a receipt which reflected the Feb 22 date. I was a bit doubtful about this and asked to see the shipping date on the parcel. Lo and behold, it showed Feb 24 as the shipping date. I stressed how important it was for the shipping date on the parcel to read Feb 22 but he said that was something he could NOT change. So reluctantly, we left with my partner assuring me that the receipt we got clearly said 22nd.

 

We got home and my partner noticed I was still worried about the shipping date and we talked about what options we had available to us. We then saw that we could create our own shipping label on the Fedex site with a Feb 22 shipping date and what more, we found a Fedex store that would be open the next day -Sunday.

We immediately decided we were going to cancel the UPS shipment and use the Fedex service which we immediately paid for online and created a label for Feb 22. Unfortunately, we called the store and they were closed as it was already past 9pm at this time and they did not open on Sundays. We tracked the parcel and it had already been shipped to the regional hub. Long story short, we were unable to have UPS stop delivery of the package when we called their customer care line.

 

We decided to go ahead to printout and refill the forms and send another application via FedEx with the shipping label we created. We spent the whole of Sunday morning and afternoon at STAPLES printing out forms and organising our application all over again ( we saw one other person doing theirs as well 🙂 ). When we were done with the forms, we printed out the label and headed to the Fedex Store we had identified the previous day. We made sure to ask a lot of questions and get assurances that the label we created and printed out would be used and unaltered. The label clearly read the shipping date as Feb. 22. They however told us that the actual shipping date would be Feb. 24. We had done all we could at this point. We crossed our fingers and headed back home.

 

We spent the next two days calling UPS and going to their store (where we initially submitted) to make sure the parcel was intercepted and returned to us. We finally got a call from the the store that the package had been returned and to come pick it up the following Saturday. 

 

Our application arrived at the lockbox on Feb 26.

 

To be honest, I have been a bit apprehensive about getting a rejection and seeing your post just upped it up a notch.  

Edited March 13, 2020 by Dis_Guy

[SuperRoxy 1]

2 hours ago, David_Norway said:

Hi guys,

I have been following this thread for a while, and I am in the same situation as a bunch of people here who filed just before the February 24th deadline. Thanks to everyone who has shared their experience so far - it reduces the stress of this process a lot! Here is my timeline:

2/23/2020 - Sent my concurrent I-485/I-130/I-765/I-131 application via FedEx to Chicago, IL
2/25/2020 - Arrived in Chicago in the AM, signed by J. Harper
3/12/2020 - Received the entire application in return - REJECTED due "application filed on an outdated version of this form".

I am confident that this is an USCIS error - can I appeal an rejection, and if so, what is the process and have people done so successfully?

The USCIS instructions clearly said that if sent by courier, "the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt". My courier receipt says Feb 23, 2020 3:40:53 PM. I did not include the FedEX receipt in my package though. I think the problem was that this receipt date is not reflected on the FedEX shipping label (which they actually returned to me). On the shipping label, it says that the ship date is February 24th as that is the date the package got picked up at the FedEx location. I naively thought that they would check the FedEX tracking number which is on the shipping label which would confirm that I sent in the package on the 23rd. In retrospect, I should have gotten the FedEx employee to write "this package was "postmarked" on February 23rd" on the outside of the package and have her sign it.

Anyone else who sent their package before the 24th deadline, but had a ship date of Feb 24th? Did they accept the application?

Anyone with any advice for how I should proceed? Should I try to appeal the decision or should I just dive into the really annoying I-944 form?

Thanks for all the advice, and I hope that other people in the same situation are luckier than what I was! 

Hi. We filed the same day , and got received by the USCIS feb25 morning. But we haven’t heard anything yet from them. Did you check what version you used. ? And may I know what date it was ? The date from the left lower page.  

[David_Norway 135]

1 hour ago, LilyKins said:

That's frustrating -- maybe a copy of the receipt would've resolved this? I had a similar issue with my first OPT application -- it was rejected stating that the wrong form version was used (it wasn't!) and that it wasn't signed (it was!). I was advised that it typically takes longer to open a case and refute it than it does to just resubmit, so I just resubmitted the application and it was accepted. I know that the "rules" have changed now with the I-944 and so maybe you should weigh that and how it might affect your overall application against the value of just re-submitting with the I-944 included and moving on with the application process. 

 

It sucks. It absolutely sucks. Especially the medical, I didn't submit my medical for that exact reason -- I had seen people posting on the forum about having had their applications rejected and their medicals opened. I don't remember the resolution, but I do remember deciding to just send the medical in closer to the time. I don't have any advice there. 

 

We did end up making a very dramatic finish and sending the application with USPS on 02/22, and the lovely lady behind the counter, who had her own immigration journey, made sure to stamp it 4 times with the post mark stamp. That said, ours hasn't been accepted yet, so who knows what could have happened.. we could be receiving ours back any day now for some other bizarre reason! USCIS can be very unpredictable at times.

Yeah, in retrospect, I should have included the FedEx receipt with my package, and maybe a written note stressing that my "postmark date" was the 23rd and not the 24th. You have to make it hard for them to do a mistake!! I will call them tomorrow and see what their position is. If they are willing to change their position, I might try to appeal their decision, but if they are going to make a big fuss about it, I should probably just refile it with the new forms.

Best of luck to you - hoping for the best!!