Online $165 immigration fee payment problems

[captdavet 0]

My wife, now in Canada (I am in the US) completed her interview & received her package (green card, passport, etc.) to be submitted at the airport prior to entering the US and officially becoming a US resident. We just found out about the new $165 fee to be paid before she enters, and so far this is more trouble than the entire application process for us, which we did successfully all by ourselves.

I went to the USCIS ELLIS website to set up an online account to pay the fee, and it has turned out to be a nightmare. I submitted all the security questions and came to a point where I had to submit a profile. I was given only TWO choices: 1.) Attorney or 2.) Legally registered or licensed (cannot recall exact wording) agency with license number and date licensed. I am neither! I am the sponsor & hit the proverbial brick wall. I could go no further this way.

I found another link to log into my account & when I did that the page indicated I had "no active cases" after trying my name, my wife's,case number, etc. I tried calling phone number but gentleman I reached could not help. I tried another number and faced a 100+ minute wait!

How can something seemingly so simple after all we have been through cause such grief?

Any suggestions?

Edited May 21, 2013 by captdavet

[Darnell 8,478]

1. she can cross over without payment.

2. she has 1 year to pay, as the extra stamp in the passport at the POE will turn her visa into an i-551 document, a 1 year temporary green card.

I have some links somewhere on the payment portal - what you've described doesn't sound right, at all.

I'll post back in a moment.

[Darnell 8,478]

ELIS went live for this on 19 May 2013,

so I gotta say

the prior links I have are useless and

I think all is mucked up for her account and

try to make a new account asap,

selecting 'Applicant' as the account type.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Darnell

[IT_1 0]

I am on same boat, I try to pay for my wife, but when I enter Registration number (which is only 8 digit on visa print) giving me error. I am not sure what to do also..

[elle13 15]

My USC husband paid this last week without a problem. He did it in less than 5 minutes and I received an email confirmation/receipt. He followed the exact instructions on the one-page paper instructions given to me along with my sealed POE envelope. Did your wife get that sheet of paper with instructions? It had the payment website address and step by step guide.

[Darnell 8,478]

can you scan that page and post it somewhere,

with a link here ? TIA !

[speedwell 224]

If your A number is only 8 digits long, put a 0 in front of it.

[ndu26 114]

It was much simpler when I paid for my husband but this method is also pretty straightforward as I just tried it now by creating an account and it took only few minutes before I got to the payment page( too many securiy questions and answers though for password retrieval). I even prefer this method as one can track the status of the case after payment.

Speedwell is right about inserting a zero if the registration/alien number is only 8 digits. The old system did not prompt toyu to do that but this ELIS thing will prompt you if you dont.

[captdavet 0]

Thanks for the responses. I do believe my problem will be solved by setting up another account using my wife's name & email address, and then setting it up for her as "applicant". My mistake was setting up on her behalf listing myself as "legal representative". That led to the two impossible choices I faced in setting up my profile. Up to that point the process was in fact simple.

[Darnell 8,478]

ya, setting up that account for 'applicant' seems the right way to go.

I think it's all stupid, really, as it's for the immigrant, but must be using USA bank account. Who has that, other than the petitioner? aiyo.

[speedwell 224]

ya, setting up that account for 'applicant' seems the right way to go.

I think it's all stupid, really, as it's for the immigrant, but must be using USA bank account. Who has that, other than the petitioner? aiyo.

Well, my husband has a debit card to our US bank account, and the bank knows he is abroad, so he can pay his own fees all right... but in order to have that, of course, he needed to visit the US and get the banking stuff sorted.

[captdavet 0]

I just made the payment after setting up another account using my wife's name and email address. My problems all started when I chose "legal representative" instead of "applicant" in the early stages. So it looks like the end result is that we completed everything by ourselves and stumbled only near the finish line with this rather silly little mistake!

[JenniferNN 0]

I just tried to pay the immigrant fee with elis... got all the way to the place to insert my bank account info... CLICKED SUBMIT PAYMENT (was careful to only click once) and then the website crashed... to the "grey screen" that said "Unable to load requested page"... So after staring blankly at the screen for what seemed an eternity... I clicked reload page... returned to clear white screen of ELIS... and nothing. I don't know what happened to my payment... I DID NOT RECEIVE any confirmation from ELIS about receipt of payment. I'm afraid to try again for fear of multiple payments being sent. ANY SUGGESTIONS???

[HG&TG 4]

I just tried to pay the immigrant fee with elis... got all the way to the place to insert my bank account info... CLICKED SUBMIT PAYMENT (was careful to only click once) and then the website crashed... to the "grey screen" that said "Unable to load requested page"... So after staring blankly at the screen for what seemed an eternity... I clicked reload page... returned to clear white screen of ELIS... and nothing. I don't know what happened to my payment... I DID NOT RECEIVE any confirmation from ELIS about receipt of payment. I'm afraid to try again for fear of multiple payments being sent. ANY SUGGESTIONS???

Try to log in and see what happens ...

When I set up my account I received the following email:

Dear USCIS Customer,

Welcome to ELIS! Thank you for requesting access to the system. To complete your account set-up and confirm your e-mail address, please follow this link:

I completed the set-up, did the payment, but didn't receive any confirmation either.

The status of my case though is now :

Your application/petition has been accepted and is pending review.

Going to check my cc account regularly to see if the fee is cashed.

[JenniferNN 0]

Thanks... I also figured best to just check my account in a few days to see if any payment to USCIS has cleared. If not, then I will try again. I have not tried to log in again.. had to "step away" from it all to cool off.