Unsure of what to do - case denied due to mistake on USCIS's behalf..

[aamna929 0]

My husband applied for his naturalization back in July. He appeared for his exam/interview in December in Maryland (where I and his parents live). He passed the examination portion but he said his officer was just nasty with him and told him the case needs to be transferred to NYC because he is going to grad school there. We called the hotline in January because we had not heard anything from them and they told us they can only put in an inquiry after 90 days. 90 days pass, we call them, they said an interview letter had been sent to him a while ago and now it had to be reschedule. We asked them where they sent it, and they gave a completely wrong address in NY. So we changed the address to the correct address of his apartment in NYC. they said they will send another letter with a rescheduled interview.

Yesterday he noticed on the floor of the building lobby a letter from the USCIS to my husband, with the wrong apartment number!! And do you know what the letter said? The case has been denied and a letter had been sent to (God knows where) explaining their decision. What should we do??? We called the hotline, spoke to three different reps, and they all give us different answers. One says to make an infopass appointment, another says to appeal (and pay another $605??? For THEIR mistake?), another says to wait 15 days until they can put in another inquiry (so they can royally screw things up for us again?). I wish someone would just give us the right answer. We don't want to spend thousands of dollars for mistakes caused on the government's behalf

Edited March 20, 2009 by aamna929

[Kez/JWolf 6]

My husband applied for his naturalization back in July. He appeared for his exam/interview in December in Maryland (where I and his parents live). He passed the examination portion but he said his officer was just nasty with him and told him the case needs to be transferred to NYC because he is going to grad school there. We called the hotline in January because we had not heard anything from them and they told us they can only put in an inquiry after 90 days. 90 days pass, we call them, they said an interview letter had been sent to him a while ago and now it had to be reschedule. We asked them where they sent it, and they gave a completely wrong address in NY. So we changed the address to the correct address of his apartment in NYC. they said they will send another letter with a rescheduled interview.

Yesterday he noticed on the floor of the building lobby a letter from the USCIS to my husband, with the wrong apartment number!! And do you know what the letter said? The case has been denied and a letter had been sent to (God knows where) explaining their decision. What should we do??? We called the hotline, spoke to three different reps, and they all give us different answers. One says to make an infopass appointment, another says to appeal (and pay another $605??? For THEIR mistake?), another says to wait 15 days until they can put in another inquiry (so they can royally screw things up for us again?). I wish someone would just give us the right answer. We don't want to spend thousands of dollars for mistakes caused on the government's behalf

Make a infopass appointment at your local office and take all the evidence you have of the mistake that USCIS have made. I would also contact your congressman and ask for their assistance in sorting this out.

Good Luck

[Otto 83]

Make an infopass - get it straightened out face-to-face.

http://infopass.uscis.gov/

[virginian 0]

Best of luck! $650 is indeed a lot of money. I hope it will be resolved very soon.

[46]

My husband applied for his naturalization back in July. He appeared for his exam/interview in December in Maryland (where I and his parents live). He passed the examination portion but he said his officer was just nasty with him and told him the case needs to be transferred to NYC because he is going to grad school there. We called the hotline in January because we had not heard anything from them and they told us they can only put in an inquiry after 90 days. 90 days pass, we call them, they said an interview letter had been sent to him a while ago and now it had to be reschedule. We asked them where they sent it, and they gave a completely wrong address in NY. So we changed the address to the correct address of his apartment in NYC. they said they will send another letter with a rescheduled interview.

Yesterday he noticed on the floor of the building lobby a letter from the USCIS to my husband, with the wrong apartment number!! And do you know what the letter said? The case has been denied and a letter had been sent to (God knows where) explaining their decision. What should we do??? We called the hotline, spoke to three different reps, and they all give us different answers. One says to make an infopass appointment, another says to appeal (and pay another $605??? For THEIR mistake?), another says to wait 15 days until they can put in another inquiry (so they can royally screw things up for us again?). I wish someone would just give us the right answer. We don't want to spend thousands of dollars for mistakes caused on the government's behalf

From only your side of the story, it's pretty obvious that the fault is shared and that the government gave him several chances.

1. Your husband works and sleeps in the City of New York, therefore New York is his place of residency and where he should have filed. If he made a daily commute to Maryland, you might have had an argument, but he has an apartment in NYC. His application could have been rejected outright at that point.

2. Your husband either properly filed his AR-11 moving his address to New York, in which case he should have known to file in New York, or he was in violation of the terms of his residency. Failing to file the AR-11 is rarely held against one, but it could constitute a reason to reject.

3. Had your husband properly filed his AR-11 or N-400, you should have a hard copy of his address properly recorded by him. If you spoke over the phone, there is no way to know where the error lies. I'm not inferring your husband doesn't know where he lives, but an accent or bad line coupled with how similar letters sound in English easily leads to mistakes.

Do your best to see if you can revive the process, but it appears that you made a series of mistakes that led to this situation.

Good luck.

Edited March 20, 2009 by Gerard

[KyngSilva 0]

Contact your Senators office for help. Regardless of where the mistake was made. Part of the USCIS's job is to assist you in making sure they help you get throught this maze of paperwork and rules. They are not very helpful, you can call till your face turns blue and you still wont get a proper answer from them. Call your Senators office and they will help you. Make sure the USC calls.

[T and M 1]

My husband applied for his naturalization back in July. He appeared for his exam/interview in December in Maryland (where I and his parents live). He passed the examination portion but he said his officer was just nasty with him and told him the case needs to be transferred to NYC because he is going to grad school there. We called the hotline in January because we had not heard anything from them and they told us they can only put in an inquiry after 90 days. 90 days pass, we call them, they said an interview letter had been sent to him a while ago and now it had to be reschedule. We asked them where they sent it, and they gave a completely wrong address in NY. So we changed the address to the correct address of his apartment in NYC. they said they will send another letter with a rescheduled interview.

Yesterday he noticed on the floor of the building lobby a letter from the USCIS to my husband, with the wrong apartment number!! And do you know what the letter said? The case has been denied and a letter had been sent to (God knows where) explaining their decision. What should we do??? We called the hotline, spoke to three different reps, and they all give us different answers. One says to make an infopass appointment, another says to appeal (and pay another $605??? For THEIR mistake?), another says to wait 15 days until they can put in another inquiry (so they can royally screw things up for us again?). I wish someone would just give us the right answer. We don't want to spend thousands of dollars for mistakes caused on the government's behalf

We are in a similar situation, actually. As Gerard says, the fault could be considered to be shared, although that doesn't make it any easier on us. The sad fact of the matters is that, under immigration law, the burden of proof rests with the applicant. Although both of our spouses meet the requirements for naturalization, neither of them have received citizenship due to some poor planning on our behalf.

Our denial was sent on March 5, which means it will become final in another week or so. We have had our congressman and senators' offices working hard on it. Basically, they have access to USCIS district office supervisors, who can request that officers reconsider decisions. They cannot consider any new evidence, however, and in your case, it simply appears that you applied to the wrong district office and must re-apply for naturalization. Our lawyer recommended this rather than an appeal since they are the same price and an N-400 will be processed much quicker than a N-336.

I'll be interested to hear what happens. We are probably going to re-apply and provide more evidence next time. It is a very frustrating system, and I think it has something to do with a lack of funding for Homeland Security. Too few officers process too many cases and mistakes can often be made. Once they are made, we have to move quickly to provide new information or file new documents or else we will fall through the cracks.

Good luck, and keep your head up. We have found that there is life without US citizenship. We are moving back abroad soon and will be re-applying under 319b, which is for spouses of US citizens who work abroad for US companies. We will be applying through the Washington, DC office which we have heard is much more professional about letting you know if there are problems so you can provide new evidence BEFORE a denial is made and you are caught in this horrible situation.

I'm sorry about what happened. Just think - it's just a piece of paper. We were really devastated with the denial, but are doing better now.

[aamna929 0]

I just wanted to update on the situation, in case this ever happens to anyone else. My husband had his infopass appointment, and the imm. officer was very polite and re-opened the case because it was found to be an error on their behalf. So infopass appointments do help! He had his oath ceremony today and he's now a naturalized US citizen.

[Tata 0]

He had his oath ceremony today and he's now a naturalized US citizen.

OMG, congratulations! What a relief! :dance: :dance:

Way to go USCIS!

[KromiX 1]

Nice Congrats!!!!!!!!

[sara..... 371]

big congratulations to u!!!!!!!!!!! :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

sara