USCIS online says we don't exist

[PJB 0]

We have the receipt notice for our AOS with a notice date of April 29, 2009 but every time I try to enter the Receipt Number into our USCIS online file it gets rejected. A red note pops up that says I am trying to enter a file that does not exist! Hubby has already been to Biometrics and has already been approved for his EAD for which the online site says the card has been ordered and should arrive within 30 days. I mailed the applications for both the AOS and EAD together to the same place. Any ideas? Calling the USCIS phone number is something that I dread. Sitting and waiting forever for someone who will never answer just ruins my whole day. Has anyone had this experience?

[Philosykos 0]

Yes. It is very common, and the online system is notoriously unreliable. Our case just showed up online after nearly five months. It is annoying, but nothing to worry about. There are many people who have the same experience, and their cases are processed just like others (ours is taking kind of long right now, but from looking at other cases of online limbo, I know it certainly doesn't have anything to do with the fact that we aren't in the online system - we are just having a bit of bad luck being stuck on the shelf).

We have the receipt notice for our AOS with a notice date of April 29, 2009 but every time I try to enter the Receipt Number into our USCIS online file it gets rejected. A red note pops up that says I am trying to enter a file that does not exist! Hubby has already been to Biometrics and has already been approved for his EAD for which the online site says the card has been ordered and should arrive within 30 days. I mailed the applications for both the AOS and EAD together to the same place. Any ideas? Calling the USCIS phone number is something that I dread. Sitting and waiting forever for someone who will never answer just ruins my whole day. Has anyone had this experience?

[YuAndDan 153]

Common, try using the number printed on biometrics appointment notice.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

We have the receipt notice for our AOS with a notice date of April 29, 2009 but every time I try to enter the Receipt Number into our USCIS online file it gets rejected. A red note pops up that says I am trying to enter a file that does not exist! Hubby has already been to Biometrics and has already been approved for his EAD for which the online site says the card has been ordered and should arrive within 30 days. I mailed the applications for both the AOS and EAD together to the same place. Any ideas? Calling the USCIS phone number is something that I dread. Sitting and waiting forever for someone who will never answer just ruins my whole day. Has anyone had this experience?

No. But my wife has been here 9 months and has had her green card for nearly 6 months and our I-129f is still listed as "pending" Guess we fooled them!

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Maybe you don't exist?

/twilight zone music...

[SuperDuper! 230]

The USCIS website is useless for giving you any case update info. Just ignore it and wait for the snail mail.

[trillium13 84]

This happens all the time. Our I-485 never showed up online until after our approval.

It's my understanding that the customer service people don't have access to any more information than what you can see online. So if you can't see your case, they can't either. Yeah, it sucks.

[L179 1]

as long as you are moving along in the process does existence online really matter?

[Brad and Vika 129]

We have the receipt notice for our AOS with a notice date of April 29, 2009 but every time I try to enter the Receipt Number into our USCIS online file it gets rejected. A red note pops up that says I am trying to enter a file that does not exist! Hubby has already been to Biometrics and has already been approved for his EAD for which the online site says the card has been ordered and should arrive within 30 days. I mailed the applications for both the AOS and EAD together to the same place. Any ideas? Calling the USCIS phone number is something that I dread. Sitting and waiting forever for someone who will never answer just ruins my whole day. Has anyone had this experience?

No. But my wife has been here 9 months and has had her green card for nearly 6 months and our I-129f is still listed as "pending" Guess we fooled them!

Our initial filing is still listed as pending too I got the email from CRIS yesterday saying her EAD was approved and ordered, but the early parole gets the red screen the OP describes. On top of that, USCIS.gov seems to be having problems this morning so I can't cross check anything. Our tax dollars at work.

[trillium13 84]

as long as you are moving along in the process does existence online really matter?

Many people like to track their progress online. If they can see online that there is an update, they can keep an eye on their mail, to make sure they are actually getting the letters they are supposed to. It's nice to look at your online status and see something happening, instead of just waiting by the mailbox.

[Philosykos 0]

So, from what I understand, if your case is in the online system, the customer service people see only what you see online, too. If there were an update that isn't entered into the system, customer service wouldn't know about it either, right? So are you advising to call USCIS twice a week even if one's case is in the online system, to make sure no snail mail has gone out that might have gotten lost? But would they transfer you to the immigration officer? My understanding was that they only transfer you to the immigration officer when your case is NOT in the online system (from this angle, I'm thinking it might be a disadvantage for us that we are now visible online -- unless it means they are about to approve us...).

One should NEVER sit and COMPLETELY rely upon snail mails to receive in the mailbox nor on online status whenever a case is processing. Online status doesn't say correct/updated information most of the time; while snail mails do lost sometimes in the mail. Thus, it's very important to be proactive and stay on the top of the application by calling immigration officers at least twice a week (Monday and Friday) to check the status of the application in addition with if any notice is mailed out or not. This way if one could be sure about the processing of the case.

[trillium13 84]

(from this angle, I'm thinking it might be a disadvantage for us that we are now visible online -- unless it means they are about to approve us...).

Why do you see it as a disadvantage? Whether or not your case shows up online is a pretty much random thing-it doesn't necessarily mean anything if it is there or not. Just means someone did or did not put an update in the system.

[Philosykos 0]

(from this angle, I'm thinking it might be a disadvantage for us that we are now visible online -- unless it means they are about to approve us...).

Why do you see it as a disadvantage? Whether or not your case shows up online is a pretty much random thing-it doesn't necessarily mean anything if it is there or not. Just means someone did or did not put an update in the system.

As I said before, I know it doesn't mean anything whether we are online or not. The disadvantage is that now that we are visible online, we won't get transferred to the immigration officer anymore, because customer service can tell us our case is pending and still within official processing time. When we were not visible online, they had to transfer us, because they couldn't see anything in their system either.

Edited June 6, 2009 by Philosykos

[PJB 0]

The EAD card came in the mail yesterday (we're doing the Happy Dance ). I guess things are moving so I won't stress or worry about the goofy online system for now.

[Philosykos 0]

The disadvantage is that now that we are visible online, we won't get transferred to the immigration officer anymore, because customer service can tell us our case is pending and still within official processing time. When we were not visible online, they had to transfer us, because they couldn't see anything in their system either.

And what made you to think that customer service representatives won't tranfer a call to immigration officer? They do, but only if there is a reason. Nevertheless, there are tricks to get tranferred your calls to immigration officers each and every time which is just telling them that you filed your application 2 months ago and never heard anything...not even receipt notice or anything whatsoever. This way representatives will definately be tranferrring the call to immigration officer and then you can give your A# or receipt number to ask whatever you want to ask. But don't even tell the customer service representative about receipt number or anything. Immigration officers are the ones who have updated information on their system from their ends. And as I said, forget about online status because it's totallty useless. Just call immigration officers at least twice a week to keep yourself informed about the activities on your case.

What you suggest involves flat-out lying. I don't think either my fiancé or I would like to do that. I also don't think it would work, since we've called before, and obviously had a receipt number and all. We've now even created a portfolio in their online system. We can hardly claim that we don't even have NOA1.