In case of emergency: What happens if you're sans US Passport but you need to go "home"?

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Asking on behalf of @Doctor Hugocat, whom I dragged over to the US from London many moons ago. We are still very good friends though our paths have diverged. I also dragged him onto VJ to ask some questions but since he hasn't asked yet, I'll do it myself. With his permission, I'm not a total monster.

 

The good doctor became a citizen some three years ago, but never got around to getting a US passport. It never seemed like a pressing need at the time, and then COVID hit, making processing seem a waste of time. Flash forward to now, when processing is normalizing, and his citizenship certificate is apparently lost, presumably in a move last year. So today he and I logged into his old USCIS account and began the process of getting a new certificate so he can get his passport in due course.

 

Here's the conundrum: if he has to go back to the UK while we're waiting for the replacement certificate, can he get paroled back in with his British passport? Can citizens get paroled? Are there indicia of citizenship CBP can look to in the absence of a US passport? My understanding is that the relevant law is 8 U.S.C. § 1185(b), which has no penalty, civil or criminal. If so, what then?

 

Clearly this is all a hypothetical, but since the process is now underway one does wonder about things that seemed even greater hypotheticals before.

[HRQX 4,145]

21 minutes ago, elmcitymaven said:

and his citizenship certificate is apparently lost

Does he at least have a scan or copy of the certificate? If so, see here:

21 minutes ago, elmcitymaven said:

If so, what then?

Otherwise, first step would be to ask the Pre-clearance locations in Dublin or Shannon, Ireland: https://www.cbp.gov/travel/preclearance

Dublin Preclearance Phone # + 353-1248-0300

Shannon Preclearance Phone # + 353-6147-2297

 

A plan B would be a land POE. If not vaccinated for COVID then go to Mexico and cross from there. If vaccinated for COVID then go to either Canada or Mexico and cross from there: https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada

 

In the following video, the CBP officer says, "We cannot deny US citizens the right to come into the United States." https://youtu.be/1FB1FTXwGLw?t=2237 The traveler in the video had absolutely no ID on him and he still entered the US after CBP confirmed his identity.

Edited October 17, 2021 by HRQX

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Bueno -- this is what I was hoping to hear, and thank you so much. By then he'll have a I-797 for his N-565 (I presume he gets one for that, as per usual). We have a pic of him holding his certificate on his oath day, which I took for posterity and it has ended up being invaluable for capturing the cert number, issuance, etc. Note to others: take a picture of the certificate! You never know if you might need it one day.

 

He's thinking next year, perhaps springtime for travel. Maybe he'll have his cert by then, maybe not. After 14 years on VJ (don't judge),  I read USCIS timescales with a grain of salt. I also know N-565s are like hen's teeth on here, plus the people recently posting about them on here were doing them at the height of COVID so who actually knows how long this piece of string is. Good to know it's now online, which can only help. His citizenship process took about 14 weeks from filing to oath in 2018 when filed online, and every other process we've had (CR1 took 5 months via DCF in London in 2007; ROC took 8 weeks in 2009) has sped along. Perhaps the USCIS gods will smile upon him once more. 

[HRQX 4,145]

10 minutes ago, elmcitymaven said:

By then he'll have a I-797 for his N-565 (I presume he gets one for that, as per usual).

It may even be available within 24 hours on the online account as a PDF:

[TBoneTX 45,288]

I was just gonna say, "Phone a CBP port and ask," but this answer has been superseded*.

 

*probably consequent to some shameless tortfeasin'

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Submitted last night, no notice yet but receipt for payment is in the account. The N-565 application is staggeringly straightforward for a USCIS document.

 

I'll keep things updated here for those interested in how long N-565s are currently taking. As I said, very few applications on here recently so this may be useful to others.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

10 hours ago, elmcitymaven said:

Submitted last night, no notice yet but receipt for payment is in the account. The N-565 application is staggeringly straightforward for a USCIS document.

 

I'll keep things updated here for those interested in how long N-565s are currently taking. As I said, very few applications on here recently so this may be useful to others.

According to the uscis website, 9.5-12.5 months https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Update from LimboLand:

 

Doctor Hugocat got a biometrics notice pretty quickly. It showed up within about 5 or 6 weeks. However, the date was set for a day he was unable to attend due to work commitments that were immutable. He and I called USCIS together and were told not a problem to reschedule, don't call us, we'll call you. Literally -- we'll call you with a new date. They gave us a reference number to cite when they called and.... silence. That was in December; the original date for biometrics was January 7th.

 

So here we are in March 2022, and literally nothing has happened. Zippo, nada, zilch. I checked his USCIS account and the only document in there is the old biometrics notice. No messages, but the case is still open and not marked as abandoned. There was a bit of a freakout when we had noted the doctor's old address was on the biometrics notice, but we updated it on the phone with USCIS. My mushy brain could not remember if we had filed an AR-11 as well so I went ahead tonight and filed one to be on the safe side.

 

He really wants to go back to the UK to see his mum, whom he has not seen in nearly four years. He lost his dad during COVID, and he doesn't want to be stuck unable to travel in a post (sort of)-COVID world. What do people suggest to shake the tree a little for another biometrics appointment?

[milimelo 4,477]

2 hours ago, elmcitymaven said:

Update from LimboLand:

 

Doctor Hugocat got a biometrics notice pretty quickly. It showed up within about 5 or 6 weeks. However, the date was set for a day he was unable to attend due to work commitments that were immutable. He and I called USCIS together and were told not a problem to reschedule, don't call us, we'll call you. Literally -- we'll call you with a new date. They gave us a reference number to cite when they called and.... silence. That was in December; the original date for biometrics was January 7th.

 

So here we are in March 2022, and literally nothing has happened. Zippo, nada, zilch. I checked his USCIS account and the only document in there is the old biometrics notice. No messages, but the case is still open and not marked as abandoned. There was a bit of a freakout when we had noted the doctor's old address was on the biometrics notice, but we updated it on the phone with USCIS. My mushy brain could not remember if we had filed an AR-11 as well so I went ahead tonight and filed one to be on the safe side.

 

He really wants to go back to the UK to see his mum, whom he has not seen in nearly four years. He lost his dad during COVID, and he doesn't want to be stuck unable to travel in a post (sort of)-COVID world. What do people suggest to shake the tree a little for another biometrics appointment?

Two things - go do a walk-in for biometrics - should've done that as soon as he received the notice. 

Secondly, get in touch with your congressperson/senator's immigration aide - they can shake things loose as they have direct line of communication with USCIS. 

 

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

20 hours ago, milimelo said:

Two things - go do a walk-in for biometrics - should've done that as soon as he received the notice. 

Secondly, get in touch with your congressperson/senator's immigration aide - they can shake things loose as they have direct line of communication with USCIS. 

 

Awesome -- thanks so much. I've been out of the immigration loop for so long that I can't remember how much of it works. Our experience at every other stage was exceptionally quick and drama-free, including his naturalization, so this is the first time we've ever faced an actual USCIS hurdle. 

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Update: still nothing. May I say that the staff of Sen. Padilla's office is useless -- no response to a request for assistance, not even a message to acknowledge receipt. But they are spamming the email used to send it and asking for money!  Nice. I'm putting a request into his congressman's office on Monday.

 

I filed the G-28 for him last week and am now appearing as his attorney so I can handle stuff with USCIS directly. First off -- what magic was this that someone answered the phone in 18 minutes? That was about the only good thing that happened.

 

Anyway, the operator confirmed that the application is still pending. I asked why it was taking 7 months to reschedule biometrics (!) and was told that it's totally dependent on the capacity of the ASC. Early on in this whole mishigas we asked them to reassign him from the downtown LA ASC to the one in Chatsworth because it's much closer to where he lives. They said fine at the time. Great, great. But now we're left wondering: was asking for the reassignment a terrible mistake? Chatsworth is much smaller than the one downtown. I asked about walk-ins and the operator told me nope, don't even try it. We'd get turned away.

 

So my question is: does anyone think there is any merit in me calling back and asking for biometrics to be reassigned back to downtown LA? After 7 months of total inaction, I am leaning towards doing anything to make things move. Any thoughts on this are much appreciated. I am so out of the immigration game that I don't know if I'm getting snowed or not on any of this.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Holy moly -- the USCIS wheels have turned. 8 days after my phone call pleading the good doctor's case, they issued an appointment notice for biometrics, which just came in the mail today. It's at a completely different ASC than either the one he was first assigned to or the one we requested which is... interesting. In any event, he will be there. 

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Slightly belated update --

 

Last Friday, the certificate showed up in the mail. Of course the case still shows up as "actively reviewing" on my USCIS portal. What did we learn that I can add to the paltry amount of VJ info on the N-565 on VJ?

 

First, most obviously and as we all know: do not rescheduled unless you absolutely have to. This rescheduling falls under "absolutely have to" but do not recommend. I'm certain that the request for a reschedule caused the application to fall through the cracks.

 

Second, once I appeared as an attorney in this case on behalf of the good doctor, things moved, at last. He'd submitted requests to look into the matter but zero happened. I made a phone call as his attorney, and 8 days later he got a biometrics appointment for only about 2 weeks later. I was able to go with him into the ASC and if it took 10 minutes I'd be lying. This is, I note, the same office that USCIS told me over the phone was jammed up, leading to a 8-month delay in getting an appointment. There was one other applicant in there before him, and then two entered while he was being processed. Advice: this falls under "if you know someone who is an attorney who is willing to help you for nothing or maybe just a dinner, ask them to help." Theoretically you don't need an attorney and YMMV but nothing happened until I stepped in in a professional capacity.

 

Third: Even though I am supposed to receive copies of all notices from USCIS, I still have not received a notice that the certificate was mailed. So.... when you want to poo all over attorneys for not updating you, consider that they may not be getting notices either. Again: YMMV. I'm not an immigration attorney and they may have some special sauce.

 

So the process took a year in total, with about 4 months of actual, you know, processing time. Passport application is going to be submitted at the end of the month. And so, at last -- I hope! -- shall endeth my visa journey.