Pending I751, Divorced and Pending N400

[needanswers 1]

Hi everyone silent member here.

I need some advice or maybe help.

I got married in October 2013, got my gc on May 2014. On April 2016, I filed for the I751 and went for an interview on November 2017...heard nothing after that.

On December 2018, I got divorced and I sent a copy of the decree to USCIS. 

On February 2019, I applied for the N400 with 5years rule, I had my interview on July 2019 which I passed. The officer was nice and didn't understand why my I751was still pending and would contact their in house lawyer, till date I haven't heard anything back. I was able to get an appointment in January 2020, but I was told the officer handling my case is on maternity leave. It has been over a year since the interview, I am so scared that it might take long as my I751...i am so lost on what to do next. Does anyone have any ideas. Thanks 

[Villanelle 4,122]

Contact your congressman to inquiry for you.

[da95826 387]

You could have an attorney file a lawsuit writ of Mandamus to force the USCIS to adjudicate your i751. This would force USCIS to make a decision within weeks, only do this if you have a strong case as USCIS will either approve or deny your case based on the evidence and the rules.

 

The Mandamus lawsuit is the only way to force USCIS to move the case forward. You could have an attorney to inform the USCIS  that you will file Mandamus lawsuit soon if a decision is not made soon.

[needanswers 1]

On 9/5/2020 at 11:23 AM, Villanelle said:

Contact your congressman to inquiry for you.

I have done that, but that was when Covid was beginning, I have even contacted my senator, which was 2 weeks ago.

Maybe I will contact the congressman again.

[Sweet5884 12]

You did interview november 2017 was approved and did not received your GC? wow I don't understand why you did not heard back from them since you did the interview

[needanswers 1]

3 hours ago, Sweet5884 said:

You did interview november 2017 was approved and did not received your GC? wow I don't understand why you did not heard back from them since you did the interview

I dont either, and the officer who interviewed me for my N400, didn't either. She went through the file and saw no written note or anything confirming any problem. 

Today I was on the phone with another officer, she said they have no update on the case, she tried to get me an infopass but the location that had one was 3 hours away. 

[Dashinka 24,726]

You may also try contacting the USCIS Ombudsman.  I have heard they can be helpful.

 

https://www.dhs.gov/contact-cisomb

 

Good Luck!

[Sweet5884 12]

12 hours ago, needanswers said:

I dont either, and the officer who interviewed me for my N400, didn't either. She went through the file and saw no written note or anything confirming any problem. 

Today I was on the phone with another officer, she said they have no update on the case, she tried to get me an infopass but the location that had one was 3 hours away. 

I never saw a case like this, that is weird.  Try to contact USCIS Ombudsman and explain the situation. 

[needanswers 1]

On 9/5/2020 at 11:23 AM, Villanelle said:

Contact your congressman to inquiry for you.

"Please be advised that a review of USCIS records indicate that Ms. XXX N-400 case (Application for Naturalization – IOEXXXXXX) is currently under extended review with the Long Island Field Office. The applicant’s administrative record reveals an issue potentially impacting her eligibility for the requested immigration benefit.  Thus, further review is required.  Unfortunately, no time frame can be offered as to when the extended review will conclude. However, please be assured that USCIS is making every effort to resolve any and all outstanding issues. Upon completion of aforementioned extended review, the applicant will be notified by mail of all further actions.

DHS/USCIS

NYC Congressional Unit”

 

This is from the senator's office, the response they got from uscis. 

I did some research and this is what the response means, the response is for number 2, i am stuck at security clearance, i dont even have a parking ticket. 

my plan is to sign a privacy waver every 2 weeks to the senator's office she they can enquire multiple times.

[Villanelle 4,122]

The second image you posted is about H1b issues. Im assuming you googled the phrasing issue potentially impacting and thats what came up. Its good that you are trying to research things! But you need to be careful to find the correct info....

 

The service request you put in through the congressman was for the n400. The issue that would impact your eligibility for the n400 is the fact that your need an approved ROC 751 to be able to naturalize. Now background checks may be playing a part here but I doubt it. When background checks are an issue typically the response says we are waiting on background checks. Yours says there is an issue that impacts eligibility- again no approved 751= not eligible.

 

You need to inquire on the 751 case.  You interviewed in Nov 2017 for the joint 751 and for whatever reason they didnt approve it and it got pushed aside. You then divorced and sent them what? The decree in Dec 2018? Did you include a letter asking to be switched to a divorce waiver? For general context- you can not be approved on a joint 751 if you are divorced. So they could have approved your joint 751 up until you told them you were divorced. Now it has to be processed as a divorce waiver. Its not a big deal. You dont necessarily need to fill out a new 751 as divorce waiver- they can amend it. This seems to be where you are stuck. The officer who had your case and did your interview in 2017 obviously misplaced your case or put it aside for whatever reason. Then you sent the divorce decree and someone has to put that into your file and either the original Officer or a new Officer has to now amend your 751 to a waiver and approve it so the N400 Officer can process/approve your N400. In some cases the n400 Officer can request the 751 case and complete the processing of it. Again I believe your 751 is 'lost' and the n400 Officer either didnt request it/cant request it/ or the whole being out on maternity issue caused your situation to be overlooked once again.

 

 

These are your options:

 

Have your congressman inquire about the 751 case only. Give them the NOA for it and a copy of the divorce decree and a letter asking to be switched to a waiver. Your inquiry is a combination of what is the status of my 751 + please verify you got my divorce decree and switched me to a waiver + if any address changes have occurred to verify the address on file. If the 751 is lost hopefully the inquiry will cause them to find it. But you want to make sure the divorce made its way into your file because the last thing you need is for them to approve it as a joint incorrectly!! 

 

Option 2- send a letter to the local office. (Was both the 751 and n400 handled by the same local office or did you move?) Normally i would suggest going in person to infopass but as you know thats not really an option right now so you would have to send a letter (with tracking) you can also mail a copy of the same letter to the service center but mainly you want it to go to the local office. If both 751 and n400 were handled at the same local office include information on both cases. Both NOAs and your divorce decree and letter about switching to a waiver. Include any information on the names of the Officers you dealt with if you have it- if not thats OK. Explain in the letter how you interviewed in 2017 and got no response and then sent the divorce requesting to switch to a divorce waiver and still no response. And that now you are in the n400 process and can not move forward until they adjudicate your 751. Direct your letter to Office manager or Supervisor. Hopefully they get your letter and look into where your case is. It seems sometimes when people go on maternity leave or otherwise transfer sometimes some of their cases get stuck in limbo and are never transferred to a new Officer to complete. The supervisor in the local office would be the one to fix this. When you submit an inquiry through the congressman they inquire at service center level which then checks with the local office if they need to. Sometimes they dont go as deep as the local office and send the congressman back a generic letter about how its being processed. If you get that as a response you may have to inquire again with the congressman. You can do both- the congressman and send a letter to the local office. 

 

Option 3 is sending a 2nd 751 as a divorce waiver. You will have to pay again and wait for it to go through the system but if your 1st one was truly lost sending a 2nd would fix it but honestly they should be able to find and finish your 1st 751. The second 751 can take a year or more to process. You may also get a 2nd interview for the 1st 751 when they do find it because your interview was so long ago. 

 

Option 4 is the Ombudsman which someone mentioned. This is not the best option. The Ombudsman is the appropriate person to reach out to because they deal with technical issues like this- however there is usually a 3-6 month wait from when you ask for help to get a response back from them if they are even going to help you or not. 

 

 

Personally I would do the 751 inquiry with the congressman and send my own letter to the local office (and a copy to the service center). Most likely the local office will NOT respond to your letter. They just dont do that. But the point of it is not to get a response back- its to get the supervisor to find your case and get it to someone to work on- so like I said if they do this you may get weird case updates or a second interview notice. You can also push your congressman to include in their inquiry wording about wanting the liaison to contact the local office about who has your file to avoid having them give you a standard response of oh we checked 751 case number in our computer and its showing as pending so please wait. 

 

NYC local offices are extremely backed up. People have been waiting for interviews there recently for about 1 yr or more. So its not that strange to imagine your case got lost or is being overlooked. 

 

Please hang in there. Keep us updated on what happens!

[needanswers 1]

On 9/12/2020 at 12:49 PM, Villanelle said:

The second image you posted is about H1b issues. Im assuming you googled the phrasing issue potentially impacting and thats what came up. Its good that you are trying to research things! But you need to be careful to find the correct info....

 

The service request you put in through the congressman was for the n400. The issue that would impact your eligibility for the n400 is the fact that your need an approved ROC 751 to be able to naturalize. Now background checks may be playing a part here but I doubt it. When background checks are an issue typically the response says we are waiting on background checks. Yours says there is an issue that impacts eligibility- again no approved 751= not eligible.

 

You need to inquire on the 751 case.  You interviewed in Nov 2017 for the joint 751 and for whatever reason they didnt approve it and it got pushed aside. You then divorced and sent them what? The decree in Dec 2018? Did you include a letter asking to be switched to a divorce waiver? For general context- you can not be approved on a joint 751 if you are divorced. So they could have approved your joint 751 up until you told them you were divorced. Now it has to be processed as a divorce waiver. Its not a big deal. You dont necessarily need to fill out a new 751 as divorce waiver- they can amend it. This seems to be where you are stuck. The officer who had your case and did your interview in 2017 obviously misplaced your case or put it aside for whatever reason. Then you sent the divorce decree and someone has to put that into your file and either the original Officer or a new Officer has to now amend your 751 to a waiver and approve it so the N400 Officer can process/approve your N400. In some cases the n400 Officer can request the 751 case and complete the processing of it. Again I believe your 751 is 'lost' and the n400 Officer either didnt request it/cant request it/ or the whole being out on maternity issue caused your situation to be overlooked once again.

 

 

These are your options:

 

Have your congressman inquire about the 751 case only. Give them the NOA for it and a copy of the divorce decree and a letter asking to be switched to a waiver. Your inquiry is a combination of what is the status of my 751 + please verify you got my divorce decree and switched me to a waiver + if any address changes have occurred to verify the address on file. If the 751 is lost hopefully the inquiry will cause them to find it. But you want to make sure the divorce made its way into your file because the last thing you need is for them to approve it as a joint incorrectly!! 

 

Option 2- send a letter to the local office. (Was both the 751 and n400 handled by the same local office or did you move?) Normally i would suggest going in person to infopass but as you know thats not really an option right now so you would have to send a letter (with tracking) you can also mail a copy of the same letter to the service center but mainly you want it to go to the local office. If both 751 and n400 were handled at the same local office include information on both cases. Both NOAs and your divorce decree and letter about switching to a waiver. Include any information on the names of the Officers you dealt with if you have it- if not thats OK. Explain in the letter how you interviewed in 2017 and got no response and then sent the divorce requesting to switch to a divorce waiver and still no response. And that now you are in the n400 process and can not move forward until they adjudicate your 751. Direct your letter to Office manager or Supervisor. Hopefully they get your letter and look into where your case is. It seems sometimes when people go on maternity leave or otherwise transfer sometimes some of their cases get stuck in limbo and are never transferred to a new Officer to complete. The supervisor in the local office would be the one to fix this. When you submit an inquiry through the congressman they inquire at service center level which then checks with the local office if they need to. Sometimes they dont go as deep as the local office and send the congressman back a generic letter about how its being processed. If you get that as a response you may have to inquire again with the congressman. You can do both- the congressman and send a letter to the local office. 

 

Option 3 is sending a 2nd 751 as a divorce waiver. You will have to pay again and wait for it to go through the system but if your 1st one was truly lost sending a 2nd would fix it but honestly they should be able to find and finish your 1st 751. The second 751 can take a year or more to process. You may also get a 2nd interview for the 1st 751 when they do find it because your interview was so long ago. 

 

Option 4 is the Ombudsman which someone mentioned. This is not the best option. The Ombudsman is the appropriate person to reach out to because they deal with technical issues like this- however there is usually a 3-6 month wait from when you ask for help to get a response back from them if they are even going to help you or not. 

 

 

Personally I would do the 751 inquiry with the congressman and send my own letter to the local office (and a copy to the service center). Most likely the local office will NOT respond to your letter. They just dont do that. But the point of it is not to get a response back- its to get the supervisor to find your case and get it to someone to work on- so like I said if they do this you may get weird case updates or a second interview notice. You can also push your congressman to include in their inquiry wording about wanting the liaison to contact the local office about who has your file to avoid having them give you a standard response of oh we checked 751 case number in our computer and its showing as pending so please wait. 

 

NYC local offices are extremely backed up. People have been waiting for interviews there recently for about 1 yr or more. So its not that strange to imagine your case got lost or is being overlooked. 

 

Please hang in there. Keep us updated on what happens!

Thank you for this.

After the divorce, I saw a suggested  divorce waiver you put out here, so i did add that. During My N400 interview I saw, the letter with the divorce decree.

I will second it again and see what happens. Thank you very much.

[Sweet5884 12]

Any update? 

[needanswers 1]

10 hours ago, Sweet5884 said:

Any update? 

Not yet but will give them a call tomorrow.