THEY LOST OUR FILE.....

[teachmehistory 0]

Been a bit, but had to check in and get some advice. So Matthew and I had our green card interview finally last friday. We show up at the place well early, have copies of everything you can possibly think of to document our marriage and then some in hand. We get called into the office to meet with Officer S, and he asks us a few questions about how we met, how the marriage was going, who was at our wedding, what we both do for a living, etc etc. He asked for any updated financial information to add to the file. I had my employer write a new letter of employment verification - just to be thorough - dated last week as well as my 2008 teacher contract so I hand that over to him.

Then he says, alright guys, do you want the good news or the bad news???ummmmm......seriously?? okay, I guess lets get the bad news out of the way. so he says, well, this NEVER happens, but it appears that they lost Matthew's immigration/entry packet at the airport customs office when he entered the country last January on his K-1 visa. you know...that 'mysterious' brown envelope that is delivered from the embassy that has all your immigration info, your medical exam, your sponsor's info, etc etc....yeah, they lost that one! although Officer S can tell he had it when he entered the country because someone took the official sticker off of it and put it in his file to document that he entered the country with all of the proper paperwork, they just aren't sure what happened to it from there. he said this NEVER happens and proceeded to explain how the file gets split up to the different offices for AOS and then put back together for the final interview phase and that 99.9% of the time all of that works out just fine. In fact, poor Officer S is just baffled by what could have happened to it since the USCIS office here in Seattle gets daily deliveries from the airport customs down the road and from that official sticker in Matthew's file, he knows it was here, they just don't know where it is now.

at this stage in the interview my heart is pounding waiting to hear what all this means to us. Apparently your entire life is in that mysterious brown envelope. Luckily I was so over prepared at the interview, I had copies of everything he needed to replace from it EXCEPT Matthew's medical exam. soooooo, the Officer says to us, we have a choice here. Since we are the ones who lost it, you can have us continue to look for that paperwork (although he has apparently been trying to track it down for the last 3 weeks since our file landed on his desk - not to mention it has not been found in the 7 months since we filed AOS) OR we can go have another medical exam done. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

So I say, well, can't we just call the embassy doctor in London who did the original medical and have them fax you a copy? and he says no, you have to have a new medical done here in the US because the embassy doctor in London is not an approved Civil Surgeon here in the US. I say, well, you know he passed his medical because he was granted an interview, and allowed to enter the country - isn't that good enough?? not to mention we have the I-693A form we submitted with AOS verifying all of his vaccinations sitting right there in front of us, and he again says no, we have to have the actual medical paperwork in his file. At this point I say, well I won't allow you to vaccinate him again, he got all those shots only 9 months ago, and he says that's okay, we know he has those because we have the I693A form, he just needs all the rest of it done again.

So here is the kicker....WE HAVE TO PAY FOR THE MEDICAL EXAM AGAIN!!!! #######?? Even though it is their mistake, our health insurance will not pay for an immigration exam, and Officer S thinks they are still running around $400.00 to have it done (we paid just over 250 pounds in London in January to have the first one done). I am SOOOOOO ANGRY! they admit its their mistake, they know he passed his medical the first time, they have proof of the vaccinations, yet we have to do this all over again at our expense. not to mention the other stuff that was 'lost' in that paperwork included absolutely every detail of our lives - financials, names, addresses, employers, SSN, parents info, etc etc...you guys know all of the info you had to submit to sponsor your fiance for the K-1 visa - well of that was in the file that they 'lost'. I feel violated and so angry I am barely able to contain it right now. at the very least I think they should provide us with some sort of voucher to cover the cost of a second medical exam.

Of course the longer we put this off the longer it will take to actually get the green card in our hands, so I don't think we really have a choice here. Of course 'the good news' was that we are approved for a green card - pending a new medical. In fact Officer S is so sorry about what happened he is keeping our file on his desk and having us send the new I-693 medical form directly to him at our local office so he can approve the green card the same day he receives it. at least there is that - I guess.

Sorry this is so long - and sorry for any mistakes, I just don't have the energy to read over to edit!

Does anyone have any advice here?? do I have any recourse?? He did say we have done everything right in this process and was glad I was so organized and had extra copies of everything we have ever submitted to replace what was lost. I am SO PISSED. I think I will contact my congressman, but it is that wise until this is resolved?? should we jump through the hoops first and get the green card and then raise holy hell??

Oh and the kicker....we have to have the new medical done, at our expense, in 4 weeks, or face possible deportation.....

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH mad.gif

Sara

[Chica Yeyé 41]

what the FF??? That is just wrong. Oh my --- have you contacted your elected representatives?

In the meanwhile, get the medical done. I am sending good vibes your way

[*julez* 124]

Sarah, that just really sucks. They #### up and its you guys who pay the price. Sadly that is life with USCIS. Its kind of like when the NOA2 gets lost in the mail and you have to pay for a replacement. I'm sorry this has happened to you guys but I doubt that you have any recourse. I'd get the medical done and move on.

Hang in there! You guys have gotten this far, you can get through this too.

[Hollis 0]

OMG!! So sorry to hear about that.

I would definitely get the medical done because you can always work for the $400 back. I completely understand how fustrated you are but think long term. Four hundred dollars is not worth being without your spouse. After you spouse gets the green card then you can make inquires to your reps...etc because like you stated in the post, "Someone"-- "Somewhere" has ALL your confidential information and thats not something that I would put at ease.

But definitely get the medical done so you can be together.

Good Luck to you.

Edited October 27, 2008 by Hollis

[ginger1981 0]

I think it is the basic principle that even though it was their mistake, they should still take the hit. I agree...petition your elected officials on this one. I don't see why the civil surgeon in London cannot fax that info and instead you have to pay for a new one.

[Dakine 26]

Yeah it sucks but at least there is a solution to your problem. Get the medical done and move on.

[Jeraly 4]

Oh hun that is just sh!tty at best

I would defo get the medical done asap so as to avoid any issues (it's all money but mnleh ) and try and get something in writing from the IO you spoke to at your interview admitting liability then take it to your congressman/media/whoever will listen. If nothing else it will highlight issues to others and at best something might get done about it... maybe you can get a credit against filing for citizenship

[frali 2]

That really sucks. But I would recommend just pay for the medical and get done and dusted with this issue.

[Mags 112]

I think it is the basic principle that even though it was their mistake, they should still take the hit. I agree...petition your elected officials on this one. I don't see why the civil surgeon in London cannot fax that info and instead you have to pay for a new one.

Because the London docs do not retain any information about the medical. ALL the information is sent to the embassy - the docs have nothing on file afterwards.

I have to agree with Julez - cause I've seen this happen so many times to other VJers - you're just going to have to bite the bullet and pay for a new one. Not what you want to hear, OP, but it really is the only thing you can do.

Best of luck.

Edited October 28, 2008 by Magenta

[teachmehistory 0]

Thanks for all the replies - we are obviously going to suck it up and redo the exam. We have come this far and not going to let this get in the way. I am just so pissed. I spent an hour calling around to diff CS offices and the prices differed from around $200.00 all the way to $400 +. Which I think is another bad USCIS joke - there should be a standard fee. anyway, found one for just over $200.00 and scheduled the appointment.

I do want to add that because they lost his whole MBE - that I was super glad we had copies of everything and had brought them to the interview even though they werent on the check list letter for the appointment. I had copies of everything he needed to replace the lost file except the medical. so I would encourage anyone with an upcoming interview to over prepare and take a copy of everything they have ever submitted to USCIS from the beginning - just in case!

[Walt and Shannon 0]

Thank you for the heads-up and I am so sorry about what happened. I'm glad you had copies of everything. I would get something in writing saying the embassy messed up and you had to pay again. It already costs hundreds to get the visa done, not to mention all the travel and stress. They should reimburse you.

What a crock. I'm for sure keeping copies of EVERYTHING.

[Ban Hammer 12,880]

this isn't the first time that someone had to pay for the medical because of lost files. we submitted an i-693a for nessa's aos and got an rfe for the medical because the twits had lost it too.

[TL&IS 0]

Similar thing happened to us. We had our interview on 10/24. But the officer told us the US embassy in Hong Kong didn't forward the medical exam record to here and they need it. We had two choices: 1) Have them request it from Hong Kong, or 2) Get one here. We decided to get it here. So we went to International District and have the medical exam done by Dr. Kenneth Hong. The cost is $150 + $60 for chest X-Ray. We got the report in three days and sent it in. Now we have to wait for the decision. :angry: