AOS (I-485) application rejected

[Counterparts 6]

Hi all,

 

I sent off the I-485 with supporting I-944 (Declaration of Self-Sufficiency) and I-864 (Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA) and the I-765 (Application of Employment Authorization) which was received on April 13th. I received the whole thing (minus folder) back today with the following rational:

 

"The application/petition has not been fully completed. Based on the selection made under Part 2 Application Type or Filing Category, the Form 1-944 and/or Form I-864/I-864EZ are required. Please review the form instructions for information"

 

When I put my receipt number into the online Case Status tracker, it stated:

"Case Was Rejected Because It Was Improperly Filed

On April 16, 2020, we rejected your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status...because it was not filed correctly. We mailed your case back to you, including any supporting materials and fee. Please follow the instructions to resubmit your case"

 

The only thing I can think of is that we haven't included transcripts for the certificates and I included UK credit ratings rather than an American one because I don't have a Social Security Number yet so can't apply for one (I explained this in the evidence part). I would have thought these would warrant a Request For Evidence rather than a flat out rejection so I am really at a loss. I can't navigate the automated telephone maze to work out whether there is someone I can speak to to understand what we need to do differently.

 

I would really appreciate any input or suggestions as there is little information about the I-944 for K-1 visa adjusting to Permanent Residents.

 

 

 

 

 Thank you

[Dashinka 24,704]

It sounds like you have missing evidence required for either the I944 and or I864.  I would review the instructions for those forms and make sure you included all the required evidence.

 

Good Luck!

[Bjh 39]

On 4/27/2020 at 6:55 PM, Counterparts said:

Hi all,

 

I sent off the I-485 with supporting I-944 (Declaration of Self-Sufficiency) and I-864 (Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA) and the I-765 (Application of Employment Authorization) which was received on April 13th. I received the whole thing (minus folder) back today with the following rational:

 

"The application/petition has not been fully completed. Based on the selection made under Part 2 Application Type or Filing Category, the Form 1-944 and/or Form I-864/I-864EZ are required. Please review the form instructions for information"

 

When I put my receipt number into the online Case Status tracker, it stated:

"Case Was Rejected Because It Was Improperly Filed

On April 16, 2020, we rejected your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status...because it was not filed correctly. We mailed your case back to you, including any supporting materials and fee. Please follow the instructions to resubmit your case"

 

The only thing I can think of is that we haven't included transcripts for the certificates and I included UK credit ratings rather than an American one because I don't have a Social Security Number yet so can't apply for one (I explained this in the evidence part). I would have thought these would warrant a Request For Evidence rather than a flat out rejection so I am really at a loss. I can't navigate the automated telephone maze to work out whether there is someone I can speak to to understand what we need to do differently.

 

I would really appreciate any input or suggestions as there is little information about the I-944 for K-1 visa adjusting to Permanent Residents.

 

 

 

 

 Thank you

1. Call up Transunion and ask for an official letter stating you don't have an American credit score because you don't have a SSN. I have been told by Transunion before that they can actually provide this, if someone tells you otherwise, that person is incorrect.

 

2. What do you mean by "certificate" and "transcript" ? Are you referring to secondary school in the UK? If so, definitely include those and also have the transcript and certificate (degree) evaluated by IACEI for general equivalency to US high school. You will also have to put "English" under language certifications to show you are "certified in English" on the I-944. Yes, they require you, an native English-speaking person from an English-speaking country, to prove through credentials that you can speak English. It is THAT stupid.

 

https://www.iacei.net/

 

3. It's uncertain whether this is really required, but include the last 12 months of statements from any bank accounts you and your spouse have and list the most recent balances under assets. Better to include extra information than risk another rejection.

 

Keep in mind that USCIS has been making a ton of mistakes lately with AOS forms, most likely from being overwhelmed with this ridiculous I-944, so you might still hit a roadblock even after including all of these things.

[Counterparts 6]

Thank you both for the suggestions.

 

Bjh

1 - I have been on hold to Transunion for the best part of 2 hours so I will try them again tomorrow.

2 - IACEI looks cheaper than some of the other equivalency organizations I have looked at so will start that process. All of my qualifications (certificates/transcripts) are from institutions in the UK including high/secondary school and college/university and I appreciate your tips on filling in the I-944. 

3 - I hadn't read about the bank statements but I do not want another rejection so will have a look at printing these off and including them.

 

Thank you for the info. It's so disheartening to get it all sent back as I really never wanted to see it again - I found it unnecessarily complicated, time consuming and expensive the first time around!

[PTRF 12]

Have you checked out the guides on this forum for the AOS checklist?  Although it hasn't been updated to include the I-944 it came in handy for when my husband and I were getting ready to send in his I-485, I-765, I-944, and I-864.  If we hadn't checked we would have gotten rejected because when we submitted his birth certificate to the Embassy in France it didn't need to have a certified translation while for the I-485 we had to include it.  Regarding his credit score--we printed out the transunion page that showed he didn't have a credit score here as part of our evidence (I'm fully prepared to get an RFE for this but in some cases USCIS has accepted it as proof).  We mailed it in on 4/14/20 and received NOA1 on 4/17/20

 

AOS Checklist

[Counterparts 6]

3 minutes ago, PTRF said:

Have you checked out the guides on this forum for the AOS checklist?  Although it hasn't been updated to include the I-944 it came in handy for when my husband and I were getting ready to send in his I-485, I-765, I-944, and I-864.  If we hadn't checked we would have gotten rejected because when we submitted his birth certificate to the Embassy in France it didn't need to have a certified translation while for the I-485 we had to include it.  Regarding his credit score--we printed out the transunion page that showed he didn't have a credit score here as part of our evidence (I'm fully prepared to get an RFE for this but in some cases USCIS has accepted it as proof).  We mailed it in on 4/14/20 and received NOA1 on 4/17/20

 

AOS Checklist

Thanks for sharing your experience - I am happy you have received the NOA1 so quickly. That is promising for the rest of us.

 

I relied heavily on the AOS checklist when preparing it all but will look through it again to see if there is anything else we can include.

[Counterparts 6]

Hi all,

 

I just wanted to update and close this issue.

 

We finally got a reply from the Lockbox and they explained that the I-864 form we had used was not the newest form. We had used the previous one which expired on the 31st March 2020 but the newest one is dated from 15 October 2020.

 

Although frustrated and a little embarrassed about this mistake, I hope it can be a reminder to others to double check the expiration dates on all their forms to avoid unnecessary delays - from what I have seen, the dates are found at the top right of the front page of forms.

 

Thanks for all the comments, advice and support.

 

Beckie & Michael

[Cairoboy15 0]

Hello recently my application for I 485 was rejected due to improper filing. It has been 2 weeks and i havent still received the rejected package in mail. How long did it take you to get the initial rejected packets back in mail. 

 

Thanks,

S

[Counterparts 6]

Hi Cairoboy15,

 

I'm so sorry for the very delayed reply.

 

I imagine you have received the package by now. I don't recall it taking long to come back to us, maybe a week or two, but that was in April.

 

I hope it was an easy fix for you and you don't have to see it again!

 

Beckie

 

[kkmk 47]

On 6/1/2020 at 11:49 AM, Counterparts said:

Hi all,

 

I just wanted to update and close this issue.

 

We finally got a reply from the Lockbox and they explained that the I-864 form we had used was not the newest form. We had used the previous one which expired on the 31st March 2020 but the newest one is dated from 15 October 2020.

 

Although frustrated and a little embarrassed about this mistake, I hope it can be a reminder to others to double check the expiration dates on all their forms to avoid unnecessary delays - from what I have seen, the dates are found at the top right of the front page of forms.

 

Thanks for all the comments, advice and support.

 

Beckie & Michael

good thing you guys figured out what was wrong. good luck!

Did you send the same set of documents with the correct form then or did you include more documents as you were intending to?

[Counterparts 6]

Sorry for the very delayed response - we definitely corrected the forms but I don't remember whether we sent extra documents to be honest.

 

Beckie

[pbb_12 4]

My complete package was rejected because they said that the i-130 was not signed and the signature was there! I already resubmitted everything as it was, just replacing the signature page and indicating them that they should've not rejected the application since it was duly filed. Has anyone faced something like this before? They received my refiling on March 11, so I guess I have a few more weeks to hear back from them? Thanks. 

[igoyougoduke 1,674]

4 hours ago, pbb_12 said:

My complete package was rejected because they said that the i-130 was not signed and the signature was there! I already resubmitted everything as it was, just replacing the signature page and indicating them that they should've not rejected the application since it was duly filed. Has anyone faced something like this before? They received my refiling on March 11, so I guess I have a few more weeks to hear back from them? Thanks. 

USCIS is known to make errors and wrong rejections. Not surprising at all. Once you receive the package back, double check and send it back with a note. make sure you have all pages of application printed and none of them are omitted if they are blank