I had a post earlier seeking for help on a denied I-485 on a family based immigration petition. I eventually have my I-485 refiled today by my attorney. I had a big lesson learned from my miss and I just want to share them with all of you who are petitioning for green card in the States.

Tip 1: Always consult with a lawyer before you file. You don't necessarily have to hire a lawyer to follow through your case, but it's always good to at least consult with them to understand the possible complexity of your situation

Tip 2: Never trust the online status check on the USCIS web site or the 1-800 National Customer Service Center for status info, they're WRONG and NEVER GET UPDATED!!!! If you believe you have been waited longer than you should, you should not hesitate to check your status. Don't call, WRITE! Write directly to the National Benefit Center and the real immigration personnle WILL RESPOND!! Even though it takes a little longer to get response through writing, but you'll get REAL status update. The customer representatives at the National Customer Service Center are all contractors and they don't really work for USCIS, they don't know nothing about your case besides giving you useless info.

Tip 3: Always provide more than the minimum requirements. For example, when they ask for minimum 1 year of tax return to show Affidavit of support, make sure you provide 3 years and so forth. Again, the best thing is to consult with the lawyer and they can provide some good advise. The more complete info and evidence you provide, the less chance they'll send RFE asking for clarification or additional evidence, and the quicker the process will be and also less chance of losing any RFE in the mail (like me )

And lastly, wish me luck in getting my EAD before my TN expires in December 2007

Sounds like they really put you through the loop. Well, good luck and I hope things get moving for you.


Mary

Yikes, this sort of scares me. We have a similar-ish filing time.

Always consult VJ

I concur.

Well, I don't know what exact error did they make to your file. But if you have evidence to proof they're wrong, you may want to send in a copy of and put in writing to the office, so you'll make sure they correct it. It doesn't hurt to have it in writing in addition to your oral agreement with the office.

I just had a RFE for W-2's for my hubby who is a self employed farmer. Sent it back yesterday, explaining he did not have any W-2's politely via registered mail. Gee....here is hoping I don't have any more RFE's.

Thanks for the warning and advice!!

Ditto!

I know there are some good immigration lawyers out there but I do think I did this much faster on my own than if I had hired a lawyer. If I had hired a lawyer I would never have known who to contact, how to transfer my K3 interview and when and what to stay on top of at each step of the way. Having said that if someone's case is complex, then definitely consult a lawyer.

KeoKeo, hope things start working in your favour soon!

Hi KeoKeo,

Wow, we were in really similar boats, but I am so sorry for ll the hassles you've gone through. Did you consult a lawyer yet? I hope so. I ended up receiving an RFE for my medical, despite that they told me on the phone not to. I have the following rules of thumb myself:

1) Always consult a lawyer
2) Be obsessive: Make sure you dot every i and cross every t. Act as though you were a lawyer and don;t gloss over a thing. Keep good records and read the fine details. Don;t rely on a lawyer to tell you everything. Find it all out for yourself before consulting the lawyer.
3) don't rely on USCIS for info! They give wrong info all the time!!!!

Really similar to your rules!


But you know, I think you will get your EAD soon. Mine only took 2 weeks after they got my medical, about a month after the biometrics.

borealgirl, we definitely had similar situation, except i'm worse because i never receive or know I need to submit the medical as a RFE until my case is denied. I really hope I'm as lucky as you. But you had your case resumed, and I had my case re-filed, there could be a difference. They may treat my case as a brand new one. And I did hire a attorney this time to do the re-filing for me. I definitely agreed on your tips for the lawyer part. I think my lawyer is pretty good

Question: do you know if you case ever get transferred to CSC? People mentioned sometimes a green card can be issued without an AOS interview at the CSC. Any clue?