Harm of rescheduling interview

[Visalife 2]

Hello,

After many months of waiting we were very excited to have our interview scheduled, but unfortunately on the interview day we had a bad snow storm and couldn't leave home. The USCIS office is a couple hours away and they weren't affected by the snow so stayed open, so we were forced to reschedule. How much harm is this likely to cause? From reading around here the forums it seems that under no circumstances should one reschedule, but we truly had no choice as we couldn't have made it there even if we tried driving through the snow.  Case status has now reverted back to "ready to be scheduled for interview". Thanks!

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

There's a risk of you not receiving the new interview notification.  Keep checking the case status online often and sign up for USPS informed delivery.

 

There's a recent post in the forum of a case being denied after rescheduling. They were able to reopen the case, but it was quite stressful for the couple.

[Visalife 2]

Thanks, definitely will do that. Is the risk that the notification arrives after the scheduled interview date? What can we do to avoid that apart from the above?

[Timona 4,207]

 Call and ask if they received your notice before the initial interview 

[PaulaCJohnny 713]

2 hours ago, Visalife said:

Hello,

After many months of waiting we were very excited to have our interview scheduled, but unfortunately on the interview day we had a bad snow storm and couldn't leave home. The USCIS office is a couple hours away and they weren't affected by the snow so stayed open, so we were forced to reschedule. How much harm is this likely to cause? From reading around here the forums it seems that under no circumstances should one reschedule, but we truly had no choice as we couldn't have made it there even if we tried driving through the snow.  Case status has now reverted back to "ready to be scheduled for interview". Thanks!

So, did you reschedule or you failed to appear?

 

 

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

2 hours ago, Visalife said:

Thanks, definitely will do that. Is the risk that the notification arrives after the scheduled interview date? What can we do to avoid that apart from the above?

The risk is to find out there was an interview and you failed to appear once you receive the denial. 

[Visalife 2]

9 hours ago, Timona said:

 Call and ask if they received your notice before the initial interview 

We had done the cancellation over the phone, when found ourselves snowed in on the day of the interview

[Visalife 2]

9 hours ago, PaulaCJohnny said:

So, did you reschedule or you failed to appear?

 

 

We called them to reschedule when we found ourselves snowed in, we did it the morning of the interview day. We expressed concern about being penalized for cancelling but they reassured us that we wouldn't be since it would have been dangerous to try to drive there. Haven't received notice of a reschedule though and it's been a couple weeks so getting concerned...

[Timona 4,207]

1 hour ago, Visalife said:

We had done the cancellation over the phone, when found ourselves snowed in on the day of the interview

 

Did you get  reference number? 

I really do not trust call agent. I would get a 1 or 2 page document detailing the weather conditions of that day, add that you called USCIS and quote the reference number, if you have one. If you have news articles detailing the snow, I would snapshot and add a few pictures to that letter and send it in.  

[SteveInBostonI130 3,459]

Hi,

 

This is not a commentary about the OP, but a general tip to anyone who may face a similar situation.  Here in wonderful NE, we experience a whee bit of snow every now and then.  A few feet of dusting and such.

 

At my work we have a biotech client that books about 20 rooms at the Doubletree hotel next door for essential employees to stay overnight when heavy snow or ice is forecasted.  If you face a situation like in this post, i.e. interview at a location quite a distance away on a day when the weather will be bad, then book a room near the interview location and spend the night there.

 

The problem with rescheduling is that sometimes it seems the booking system at USCIS goes all screwy and people get notices that they missed the interview, get no follow-up interview, or get scheduled months later. 

[Rocio0010 5,579]

28 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

At my work we have a biotech client that books about 20 rooms at the Doubletree hotel next door for essential employees to stay overnight when heavy snow or ice is forecasted.  If you face a situation like in this post, i.e. interview at a location quite a distance away on a day when the weather will be bad, then book a room near the interview location and spend the night there.

This is actually a great suggestion. I know that "would haves" and "should haves" are no good in this situation, but for any future case like this: try not to miss an interview. Look at the weather forecast for that week, and make all necessary travel arrangements to make sure you're there. Usually contacting tier 1 agents is useless, they are contractors and can only see what you see on your computer or Smartphone. 

[Mike E 11,739]

1 hour ago, Rocio0010 said:

This is actually a great suggestion. I know that "would haves" and "should haves" are no good in this situation, but for any future case like this: try not to miss an interview. Look at the weather forecast for that week, and make all necessary travel arrangements to make sure you're there. Usually contacting tier 1 agents is useless, they are contractors and can only see what you see on your computer or Smartphone. 

Rent a motor home and over night in the uscis parking lot.  

[Rocio0010 5,579]

2 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Rent a motor home and over night in the uscis parking lot.  

Well, you gotta do what you gotta do!

[Visalife 2]

1 hour ago, Rocio0010 said:

This is actually a great suggestion. I know that "would haves" and "should haves" are no good in this situation, but for any future case like this: try not to miss an interview. Look at the weather forecast for that week, and make all necessary travel arrangements to make sure you're there. Usually contacting tier 1 agents is useless, they are contractors and can only see what you see on your computer or Smartphone. 

Unfortunately my spouse is a doctor working in a hospital overrun with COVID, so not possible to take that much time off. Also, we'd called USCIS earlier in the week and they told us the office would likely close due to the forecasted snow, but it ended up staying open despite the other field offices nearby closing that day. 

[Visalife 2]

2 hours ago, Timona said:

 

Did you get  reference number? 

I really do not trust call agent. I would get a 1 or 2 page document detailing the weather conditions of that day, add that you called USCIS and quote the reference number, if you have one. If you have news articles detailing the snow, I would snapshot and add a few pictures to that letter and send it in.  

They did give us a reference number, should we send that document by mail to them?