USCIS messed up my life and they don't admit their mistake. What is my option?

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

19 minutes ago, Villanelle said:

[...] so train 1 could not be sent to court at that point if that makes sense.  

The analogy is pretty clear, thanks. 😊

But it is quite upsetting to know that refiling for ROC does not automatically halt issuance of an NTA. Being denied and filing again is stressful enough.

[mindthegap 2,590]

4 hours ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

The analogy is pretty clear, thanks. 😊

But it is quite upsetting to know that refiling for ROC does not automatically halt issuance of an NTA. Being denied and filing again is stressful enough.

True story, and great analogy. 

 

USCIS and immigration court are (thankfully) entirely separate entities.
(😂 it initially autocorrected ‘separate’ to ‘desperate my how appropriate 😂)

 

It’s just never ending...with zero accountability or responsibility from these motherduckers.

It’s been over five years since the first (joint) I-751 was filed, and two and a half since N-400 was filed. 
 I’m this close to starting the process of sueing USCIS and the federal govt over my case - the toll it has taken on me is unreal...

[SpanishBoyNYC 2]

4 hours ago, Villanelle said:

1. You should contact your congressperson about the address issue. Everyone has 2 Senators and 1 House of representative they can contact. Use google to find out who your reps are. Their respective webpages will have info on how to contact them for immigration assistance. Typically you have to print out a release form for them to speak to USCIS on your behalf. Previously you would have to go to the congresspersons local office but due to the pandemic they are conducting more business remotely- so go to their website and email/call and find out what they need from you to help you. Any of the 3 can help you. You can also use google or VJ search to see others experiences with them. Some are reportedly more helpful then others. Political party does not matter. 

 

So again, contact your congressperson and ask them to help you. You want them to confirm with USCIS what your current address is because you are having problems. Please post back if you need help with this or use search to find threads detailing the process of asking for help from congressperson. 

 

2 & 3. The Judge can not adjudicate 751 cases. If you read through mindthegaps post history (go to their profile and click to view their posts) you will find lots of detailed information. For whatever odd reason though Judges can not adjudicate the 751. In very basic terms (because its very complicated) when the 751 is denied by USCIS it goes to a Judge. As previously explained a Judge is the only one who can technically strip LPR status from someone. So USCIS denies and can mark you as 'terminated' but its meaningless really. Its just an internal USCIS status of terminated. (unless you are attempting to petition someone right now dont worry about the terminated status on USCIS end) It is then sent to the Judge to do the actual termination- so until that happens you can get 551 stamps and still have status if that makes sense. When the denied 751 gets infront of a Judge they will review why it was denied. They can either uphold the denial and strip your status or send it back to USCIS. They can not approve you. Typically people send in a 2nd 751. In which case the Judge will hold your denied 751 and wait for USCIS to process your 2nd 751. Its important to have a second 751 filed because you want USCIS to process it and approve it so that it 'overrides' the first ones denial. Its generally easier to file a second 751 and have it evaluated on its own then to try to appeal and undo the first ones denial. Its also easier to get the 551 stamp with the second 751 pending then to try to get a stamp because you are in court. (in that scenario you may have to wait for a court notice to even get the stamp!) So file the second 751 ASAP. Once you get the NOA for it you will need to contact the phone center and speak to a tier 2 to get an infopass appt. They will give you one for a stamp if you can show you need it. A pending job offer or travel. Otherwise they are going to tell you due to the pandemic that they are not open for such. Local offices are starting to reopen it seems so things are changing daily. Once you have the NOA though see if you can make the infopass appt online, if not use the phone center. You can also try using the congressperson to help you get an infopass for the stamp if needed. 

 

4. The local office can not help you with reopening your case. Generally when you are denied you file the motion to reopen or reconsider. You did that and it was denied. Im sure there is a process for appealing an appeal but honestly IMO its not really worth the hassle. If thats something you want to explore though I can try to dig up some information on it. You most likely would need an attny for such. I suspect your appeal was denied because you did it yourself right? The appeal form has various things you can check off on it. Some of the boxes require you to quote legal policy and if you checked that and didnt provide the legal reference it would be denied... Again I suspect that is what happened.... Im also still confused because you are saying you didnt have an attny? Yet in your posts you mention they sent an interview notice to you and your attny? That doesnt make any sense- hence why i asked if you could write out a timeline and note when an attny was involved.

 

Personally I am a curious person and are interested in seeing what went wrong and why but honestly its not important. Its more important to fix things- which IMO is best done by refiling then to attempting to correct with appealing the appeal and understand what went wrong. But its ultimately up to you. If and when you do end up at the local office for the stamp you can attempt to speak to someone or give them a letter to add to your case file explaining you didnt get the interview notice and were denied the appeal and respectfully ask for them to NOT send you to court since you have a pending 2nd 751. It may not make a difference though- they are suppose to send the 1st denied one to court. They dont really like doing such though because the court system is so overwhelmed. It will really depend on the people in your local office. At least try to ask them to not send it to court.  Im just giving you a heads up that if it is sent to court you are going to be looking at it taking several years to get resolved due to the backlog and will most likely need to hire an attny for the court stuff which can be costly. 

 

 

As for traveling- most attnys will advise you not to travel. Esp if you are in the court system. The reason is because if you are outside of the US and you miss something from the court (fail to appear or respond) they can strip your status and if you are outside the US you will not be allowed back in to dispute it. So only travel if you must. Make sure to call the 800 number to check if you are in the court system and have someone reliable able to check your mail as well as use the informed delivery service from the post office. 

 

Yes. The 751 is a unique form. You are allowed to file it as many times as you want. Each filing is almost like a train leaving the station. It must make it to the end regardless. So once it leaves the station it has to have a ending. It doesnt just end because a different train reached the destination. So his train 1 was denied. He then starts train 2. If USCIS switches the track for train 1 and reroutes it to court then train 1 is still active and has to go through the court system to get to the end regardless of train 2. But if USCIS leaves train 1 where it is stopped on the tracks as a denial (does not send to court) and it stays frozen as denied but not sent to court while train 2 gets processed and ultimately approved- when train 2 is approved its over. train 1 will be closed out as completed as well because he would have been ROC approved based on #2-  so train 1 could not be sent to court at that point if that makes sense.  

dear Villanelle, i thank you very much for your explanations and help. i'm so upset and sad about this situation and its relief to see people give advice. 

 

i just want this to be over asap so i will just refile i751 asap(in next 14 days) and wait. do you think contacting congressman will really help? i am 100%sure uscis messed up my address but they don't admit. i don't think they care. 

 

my only worry is that

1 - after i refile new i751 and get stamp on my passport, will i be able to 100%safe to travel and come back. mindthegap and many people here(thanks to them too) say that "you can travel even if uscis denied and terminated your status as long as you have stamp" and i believe them but lawyer who helped my new i751 scaring me... 

2 - i worry that uscis sends wrong address to court so i may miss nta as well. i check the online portal with my a account and it says no case was found.

3 - so your recommendation is: refile i751 again and keep fighting for fixing the first denial? 

 

let me tell you what happened: i called uscis to update my address and agent put wrong "state". they put NJ instead of NY. i know this because i kept calling to check the status and in one of the calls, another agent fixed the "wrong" state. he said "oh your state was wrong" i don't have name and date for the first agent who made the mistake. but i am 100 percent sure that i gave them my correct address. uscis says that(in denial letter) i updated my address late. yeah... i did because i had to fix your mistake. what is worse is that only one agent noticed the wrong state, i called them every week for months and everytime i called them they confirmed my address. only one of them noticed that state was NYC not NJ.

 

thank you again and i'm curious what to say about 1-2-3.

 

 

 

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

 

4 minutes ago, mindthegap said:

True story, and great analogy. 

 

USCIS and immigration court are (thankfully) entirely separate entities.
(😂 it initially autocorrected ‘separate’ to ‘desperate my how appropriate 😂)

 

It’s just never ending...with zero accountability or responsibility from these motherduckers.

It’s been over five years since the first (joint) I-751 was filed, and two and a half since N-400 was filed. 
 I’m this close to starting the process of sueing USCIS and the federal govt over my case - the toll it has taken on me is unreal...

How long and depleting this whole ordeal has been for you. 

It is horrifying when government offices transform into this amorphous entities that are more the product of a nightmare. 

 

And this is a cause totally worth fighting for. After all these years you do deserve a solution and some rest. 

[Villanelle 4,122]

@SpanishBoyNYC Well is there some details about this that you are not telling us? Im still unclear why your first post specifically states 

Quote

 I have proof for address change. I never received an interview letter. my attorney never received an interview letter. 

But then you say you didnt have an attorney- yet you state the denied motion also referred to sending interview notice to your attorney. And you dont actually have proof of an address change. So Im really not sure if you are providing the whole story. 

 

Quote

let me tell you what happened: i called uscis to update my address and agent put wrong "state". they put NJ instead of NY. i know this because i kept calling to check the status and in one of the calls, another agent fixed the "wrong" state. he said "oh your state was wrong" i don't have name and date for the first agent who made the mistake. but i am 100 percent sure that i gave them my correct address. uscis says that(in denial letter) i updated my address late. yeah... i did because i had to fix your mistake. what is worse is that only one agent noticed the wrong state, i called them every week for months and everytime i called them they confirmed my address. only one of them noticed that state was NYC not NJ.

You can not change your address over the phone. You have to mail the AR11 or submit it online and I dont believe it would allow you to enter an address that does not exist like Newark NYC and then the Newark zip code (instead of NJ). Im also concerned that you say you called them every week for months. People only do that when they have an issue they are worried about. 

 

If you want accurate and honest advice you need to provide all the details. 

 

1. The only people 100% allowed entry are USC. If you are looking for 100% then no, no one can say 100%. But generally speaking if you have a valid stamp you should be allowed entry. "Valid stamp" means you have a pending 751 with USCIS AND immigration court has not stripped your status. 

 

2.The online USCIS portal will not give you information about the court. The court has its own system and you can access it using the 800 number for the court where you enter your A# and other identifying information about yourself. 

 

3. Based on what you have posted I recommend filing the 2nd 751 asap. Is your divorce final? If so file it as a divorce waiver 751. Make sure to enter your current address correctly on it. I dont think attempting to appeal the appeal will work because it seems you were correctly denied. You didnt change your address properly based on what you said but I honestly dont know because your story does not make sense. You provided conflicting responses to whether or not you had an attorney- so with out knowing the facts its impossible to give any legitimate advice. Each 751 filing will 'stand alone' so when you submit the 2nd one with the correct address it should be entered into USCIS with the correct address you list on it. For the 1st filing you can contact your congressperson and provide them with the NOA case number for the 1st 751 filing and have them confirm what address is on file under that case number. You then need to monitor the 800 court phone number to see if you are placed in the court system as well as monitor your mail. 

[Timmy305 1]

I want to just stop by and drop some info from my experience. long time ago when i'm waiting for I-751 to get approval. I did mail them the AR-11 form of changing address. I don't remember if they respond me back with some kind of paper or not. Then about 5 months later after i filed AR-11.. Tadaaaa..My I-751 got approved but i found out later that they sent my 10 year greencard to the old address. 😆 i was moving away from the old adress about 6 hours away. I was calling USCIS to asking about the issue. and they were saying that all my address has been updated on the date of .....bla bla bla  (which is 5 months ago) .. And they have no clue why my 10 year green card has been sent to the old address! They were put me on hold for 5 mins and come back told me that they can't do anything about it because my card has been shipped. They suggested me to call USPS instead. Lucky that i'm able to work with USPS to stop the mail at their location once it arrives. But i have to drive 12 hours back and forth just to get my green card. 😆  

 

I just  want to let you know that i am sure things like this probably happens to many people as well. you not the first and wont be the last. depend how mess up is gonna be for each individual. 

I hope you get things fixed soon and be able to travel to see your family without any issue. 

[InhaleExhale 28]

On 6/24/2020 at 6:57 PM, SpanishBoyNYC said:

my wife and I divorced after 6 years of marriage.

 

 

I was just wondering, if you were married for that long shouldn't they have issued you a 10-year green card? What am I missing?

[SpanishBoyNYC 2]

On 6/30/2020 at 3:06 PM, InhaleExhale said:

I was just wondering, if you were married for that long shouldn't they have issued you a 10-year green card? What am I missing?

i did not apply for green card after marriage. i know i should have.... i already had work visa and i did not need a green card. but i applied for green card 3 years after marriage. i know i should have done it sooner...

[SpanishBoyNYC 2]

On 6/27/2020 at 12:15 PM, Villanelle said:

@SpanishBoyNYC Well is there some details about this that you are not telling us? Im still unclear why your first post specifically states 

But then you say you didnt have an attorney- yet you state the denied motion also referred to sending interview notice to your attorney. And you dont actually have proof of an address change. So Im really not sure if you are providing the whole story. 

 

You can not change your address over the phone. You have to mail the AR11 or submit it online and I dont believe it would allow you to enter an address that does not exist like Newark NYC and then the Newark zip code (instead of NJ). Im also concerned that you say you called them every week for months. People only do that when they have an issue they are worried about. 

 

If you want accurate and honest advice you need to provide all the details. 

 

1. The only people 100% allowed entry are USC. If you are looking for 100% then no, no one can say 100%. But generally speaking if you have a valid stamp you should be allowed entry. "Valid stamp" means you have a pending 751 with USCIS AND immigration court has not stripped your status. 

 

2.The online USCIS portal will not give you information about the court. The court has its own system and you can access it using the 800 number for the court where you enter your A# and other identifying information about yourself. 

 

3. Based on what you have posted I recommend filing the 2nd 751 asap. Is your divorce final? If so file it as a divorce waiver 751. Make sure to enter your current address correctly on it. I dont think attempting to appeal the appeal will work because it seems you were correctly denied. You didnt change your address properly based on what you said but I honestly dont know because your story does not make sense. You provided conflicting responses to whether or not you had an attorney- so with out knowing the facts its impossible to give any legitimate advice. Each 751 filing will 'stand alone' so when you submit the 2nd one with the correct address it should be entered into USCIS with the correct address you list on it. For the 1st filing you can contact your congressperson and provide them with the NOA case number for the 1st 751 filing and have them confirm what address is on file under that case number. You then need to monitor the 800 court phone number to see if you are placed in the court system as well as monitor your mail. 

thanks for answer. yes my divorce is final. i am sending new i751 next week. i won't waste time with appealing etc. i will just send new i751 with divorce paper.

 

i am just worrying about missing nta(court notice) because uscis may have forwarded wrong address to court. i check online system with my a number but it says 'no case was found' 

this is the link i am using: https://portal.eoir.justice.gov/InfoSystem/Form?Language=EN

 

should i go to their local office to check this or trust this online system? its has been over 4 months since the first i751 denial. (my appeal took 3 months after denial)

 

thanks again for your response.

[SpanishBoyNYC 2]

@geowrian and @mindthegap i just want to ask one final question and thanks again for inputs..

 

i am just worrying about missing nta(court notice) because uscis may have forwarded wrong address to court. i check online system with my a number but it says 'no case was found' 

this is the link i am using: https://portal.eoir.justice.gov/InfoSystem/Form?Language=EN

 

should i go to their local office in NY to double check this or trust this online system? its has been over 4 months since the first i751 denial. (my appeal took 3 months after denial)

maybe i'm paranoid now after uscis messed up my address. when i call uscis, they confirm my address on the phone but they may have forwarded my case to them when they had the address wrong. not sure how this works. i worry that i miss the court date and judge removes my status and it is the final chance. 

 

if you can give input on this, i would appreciate. 

[SpanishBoyNYC 2]

 

@Villanelle sorry for the confusion. I did not hire a lawyer. i only consulted one to help me out when i filed original i751.

 

i always updated my address online but when i said i called them, i meant i called them to confirm my address change. i think you're right that i shouldn't try to appeal an appeal. i just wanted to clarify this because i noticed some of your comments after i posted my question. please let me know if you have answers/respond to my above post thanks again.

[mindthegap 2,590]

5 hours ago, SpanishBoyNYC said:

i did not apply for green card after marriage. i know i should have.... i already had work visa and i did not need a green card. but i applied for green card 3 years after marriage. i know i should have done it sooner...

Hold up... three years?
If you had been legally married for two years or more at the time your permanent residency was approved, it should have been IR-1 ( a ten year card), and not CR-1 (a 2 year card) and you should not have had to file an I-751 to remove conditions in the first place....making this whole thing largely a moo point.

 

What exactly does your permanent resident card say under category? And does it have an expiry date of two years after the ‘resident from’ date? 
Either something is missing in this story, or USCIS made a mistake issuing you CR-1 instead of IR-1 (which does happen from time to time and is easily correctable). 

Edited July 3, 2020 by mindthegap

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

5 hours ago, SpanishBoyNYC said:

i did not apply for green card after marriage. i know i should have.... i already had work visa and i did not need a green card. but i applied for green card 3 years after marriage. i know i should have done it sooner...

That is an unexpected twist! You are entitled a 10 years GC and you didn't even need to go through ROC.

 

As @mindthegap mentions, that is an easy mistake to correct. 

[SpanishBoyNYC 2]

2 hours ago, mindthegap said:

Hold up... three years?
If you had been legally married for two years or more at the time your permanent residency was approved, it should have been IR-1 ( a ten year card), and not CR-1 (a 2 year card) and you should not have had to file an I-751 to remove conditions in the first place....making this whole thing largely a moo point.

 

What exactly does your permanent resident card say under category? And does it have an expiry date of two years after the ‘resident from’ date? 
Either something is missing in this story, or USCIS made a mistake issuing you CR-1 instead of IR-1 (which does happen from time to time and is easily correctable). 

 

1 hour ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

That is an unexpected twist! You are entitled a 10 years GC and you didn't even need to go through ROC.

 

As @mindthegap mentions, that is an easy mistake to correct. 

i didn't really think you guys cared about this detail  maybe it was my mistake because i was just thinking about the questions i asked so didn't think that background really matters. so maybe i should have said it more openly and clearly. i know our timeline sounds messed up.. here is why: i got married to my wife in Spain. after 3 years of our marriage she became us citizen(she was becoming a PR and working for US military in abroad and this is how we met) and during that time lived in New York(i had h1 visa) and Madrid, Spain (just couple months in spain). and then i applied for green card through marriage to us citizen when we moved to US AFTER she became a US citizen.  another issue that i couldn't apply for green card earlier was that, our marriage was valid in spain because we didn't OFFICIALY get married in US. so technically my marriage to my wife started 3years late for immigration process. law says that you need to be a resident of NY for at least 6 months to get married here in US. so we had to wait 6months AFTER we moved to US to get married here. and that marriage started the process of my green card.  there are unique exceptions for eligibility for marriage green cards when you're married to a wife/husband who works at US base abroad. this is all explained from attorney we consulted( not hired) so yes i had to apply for 2 year green card first because when i applied for green card we were married for less than 1 year. and then rest of the process was just too long for no reason. my first green card took over 18 months to arrive. my first denied i751 took over 20 months. no rfe etc.

 

Long story short: we got married in spain. technically we lived in spain in first 3 years. ex wife became US citizen 3 years AFTER our marriage and then we moved to US and then we married again in US in state of NY. after all of this, i applied for green card. that is why timeline looks so messed up. i know i should have done it earlier etc but it is what it is. sorry that this was confused you when i asked so many questions...

 

like i said my main concern now is that (i am just copying from above):

i worry about missing nta(court notice) because uscis may have forwarded wrong address to court. i check online system with my a number but it says 'no case was found' 

this is the link i am using: https://portal.eoir.justice.gov/InfoSystem/Form?Language=EN

 

should i go to their local office in NY to double check this or trust this online system? its has been over 4 months since the first i751 denial. (my appeal took 3 months after denial)

maybe i'm paranoid now after uscis messed up my address. when i call uscis, they confirm my address on the phone but they may have forwarded my case to them when they had the address wrong. not sure how this works. i worry that i miss the court date and judge removes my status and it is the final chance. 

 

if you can give input on this, i would appreciate. 

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

It doesn't matter where you get married; the marriage is valid as long as there is an official marriage certificate. You didn't need to marry again in the US. Also it didn't matter when your wife became a citizen.

 

At the time of filing, you were the spouse of a US citizen married for over two years, so, you should have gotten the 10 years GC. 

 

The second marriage was unnecessary and actually unleashed this string of inconveniences you've been dealing with.