Arrrrg, resend?

[ThePirateStar 0]

We sent the application in at the end of June, and on my boyfriend's bank account, the money was withdrawn. After not receiving a NOA1, I urged him to see if he could call up the bank and see if they had a copy of the cheque to get the case number, so he could call USCIS and find out if everything is okay.

When he called the bank, they told him that the cheque was pulled via EFT, as I know USCIS does. However, when he called USCIS, they said they had not received the petition.

Now he's upset and feels that someone has stolen the funds, and wants to resend the application. I'm just..not sure about it though. I guess its because I honestly don't understand EFT and it doesnt make sense to me that anybody off the street can make an EFT. Can anyone make an EFT? I dunno, anyways.

So my question is: do I try and get him to call his bank and see if they actually see a number on it (he was confused and thought he was looking for a cleared cheque and the cheque number, not a case number even though I did explain it to him)? Or do we just resend the whole thing because whoever he talked to at homeland security said they actually hadn't receieved the application?

Luckily he made copies and scans of everything, including the passport photos.. but I just have a couple of questions. Because the biography information is a scan, will they accept that as an original or do I need to resend them? He says he can print out my passport picture in photo quality - will they accept that as long as it meets the size?

Edit: I just wanted to add, when he called, he wouldn't have had the case number, so I wonder how they could even track if the application was ther eor not.. Does anyone know if they can track by names/addresses too if there's no number? Thanks.

Edited August 12, 2009 by ThePirateStar

[ScottThuy 140]

We sent the application in at the end of June, and on my boyfriend's bank account, the money was withdrawn. After not receiving a NOA1, I urged him to see if he could call up the bank and see if they had a copy of the cheque to get the case number, so he could call USCIS and find out if everything is okay.

When he called the bank, they told him that the cheque was pulled via EFT, as I know USCIS does. However, when he called USCIS, they said they had not received the petition.

Now he's upset and feels that someone has stolen the funds, and wants to resend the application. I'm just..not sure about it though. I guess its because I honestly don't understand EFT and it doesnt make sense to me that anybody off the street can make an EFT. Can anyone make an EFT? I dunno, anyways.

So my question is: do I try and get him to call his bank and see if they actually see a number on it (he was confused and thought he was looking for a cleared cheque and the cheque number, not a case number even though I did explain it to him)? Or do we just resend the whole thing because whoever he talked to at homeland security said they actually hadn't receieved the application?

Luckily he made copies and scans of everything, including the passport photos.. but I just have a couple of questions. Because the biography information is a scan, will they accept that as an original or do I need to resend them? He says he can print out my passport picture in photo quality - will they accept that as long as it meets the size?

Edit: I just wanted to add, when he called, he wouldn't have had the case number, so I wonder how they could even track if the application was ther eor not.. Does anyone know if they can track by names/addresses too if there's no number? Thanks.

contact the bank to get the EAC number from the check...Check the online USCIS system to see if there is a record now.. if not... then call USCIS at the number in the post I made in The USCIS discussion area... there is a new process in place for contacting them regarding issues...

[ThePirateStar 0]

Haha.. well.. I should mentioned that he called the bank up right after USCIS said there was nor ecord of the application being there and told them to freeze the account, and now there's an inquiry on the security. I don't know the WHOLE story, because he gushed this all in an email, exclaiming how pissed off he was and he needs to go calm down.

I just wanted to get some ideas on how to proceed. Part of me doesn't think the funds are stolen. I'll try and see if he'll call the bank again tomorrow, but he was pretty upset about it taking up most of his work time today (calling the bank twice and USCIS) that he might not even have enough time to do it.

It's just frustrating, especially because I wanted him to just see if he could get the EAC number from the cheque and I would call USCIS. But alas.. he went ahead and assumed the funds were stolen instead of trying to see if there was a number on the cheque instead of the cheque number..something I explained last night. Siiiigh, c'est la vie.

[Jauque 1]

EFT = Electronic Funds Transfer

When a cheque is cashed it's not an EFT. The USCIS does not use EFT.

When you give your employer your banking information and they deposit straight into your account thats an EFT. If you give your car insurance provider your banking information so they can withdraw your insurance payment monthly that is an EFT.

Your fiance definatly did the right thing freezing his account if he feels someone is wrongly making EFT's on his account.

Did you ship your I-129f with a tracking number?

[ThePirateStar 0]

EFT = Electronic Funds Transfer

When a cheque is cashed it's not an EFT. The USCIS does not use EFT.

When you give your employer your banking information and they deposit straight into your account thats an EFT. If you give your car insurance provider your banking information so they can withdraw your insurance payment monthly that is an EFT.

Your fiance definatly did the right thing freezing his account if he feels someone is wrongly making EFT's on his account.

Did you ship your I-129f with a tracking number?

Really? I'm really confused now, because on the instructions for the I-129f, it says

"Notice to Those Making Payment by Check. If you send us a check, it will be converted into an electronic funds transfer (EFT). This means we will copy your check and use the account information on it to electronically debit your account for the amount of the check. The debit from your account will usually take 24 hours, and will be shown on your regular account statement. You will not receive your original check back. We will destroy your original check, but we will keep a copy of it. If the EFT cannot be processed for technical reasons, you authorize us to process the copy in place of your original check. If the EFT cannot be completed because of insufficient funds, we may try to make the transfer up to two times."

He's blaming himself because I told him to send it through UPS or some other mail carrier with a tracking number, and he sent it regular mail :|

Edited August 12, 2009 by ThePirateStar

[Jauque 1]

EFT = Electronic Funds Transfer

When a cheque is cashed it's not an EFT. The USCIS does not use EFT.

When you give your employer your banking information and they deposit straight into your account thats an EFT. If you give your car insurance provider your banking information so they can withdraw your insurance payment monthly that is an EFT.

Your fiance definatly did the right thing freezing his account if he feels someone is wrongly making EFT's on his account.

Did you ship your I-129f with a tracking number?

Really? I'm really confused now, because on the instructions for the I-129f, it says

"Notice to Those Making Payment by Check. If you send us a check, it will be converted into an electronic funds transfer (EFT). This means we will copy your check and use the account information on it to electronically debit your account for the amount of the check. The debit from your account will usually take 24 hours, and will be shown on your regular account statement. You will not receive your original check back. We will destroy your original check, but we will keep a copy of it. If the EFT cannot be processed for technical reasons, you authorize us to process the copy in place of your original check. If the EFT cannot be completed because of insufficient funds, we may try to make the transfer up to two times."

He's blaming himself because I told him to send it through UPS or some other mail carrier with a tracking number, and he sent it regular mail :|

I've never seen that before. Most people have a picture of the cancelled cheque available to them at their bank.

Disregard everything I said.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Who told him that they had not received the package? Was it the 1-800 line? When he calls that line he is not speaking to immigration - he is speaking to a call center and they are renowned for their misinformation. I think what he might want to do is make an infopass appointment with the local USCIS - go in and explain the situation to them and see if they can find out more information for him. USCIS may indeed have received the package and he was given wrong information from the 'Misinformation line". He can make an infopass appointment at http://www.uscis.gov . In the right hand column select 'Schedule an Appointment" and follow the instructions.

EFT seem to be something that is very new for USCIS. I had not heard of them doing that before and they weren't doing it when I sent my cheque for my citizenship application in a few months ago.

Good luck.

[ThePirateStar 0]

Who told him that they had not received the package? Was it the 1-800 line? When he calls that line he is not speaking to immigration - he is speaking to a call center and they are renowned for their misinformation. I think what he might want to do is make an infopass appointment with the local USCIS - go in and explain the situation to them and see if they can find out more information for him. USCIS may indeed have received the package and he was given wrong information from the 'Misinformation line". He can make an infopass appointment at http://www.uscis.gov . In the right hand column select 'Schedule an Appointment" and follow the instructions.

EFT seem to be something that is very new for USCIS. I had not heard of them doing that before and they weren't doing it when I sent my cheque for my citizenship application in a few months ago.

Good luck.

The only problem with that is he works Monday to Saturday, so I don;t think he could get an appointment ><

I think its odd that no one else has seen the EFT .. but its there on the instructions for the application.. and these instructions have the dates 07/30/07 on them. I am so confused now! Ahhh.

Should I just have him try and find out from the bank who did the EFT (that is, if they can).

Also, I'm pretty sure he would have called the 1-800 number.

[Mike B. 231]

I'm not sure how it's done, but places that deposit a lot of checks convert checks into EFTs. I think my phone company does it.

[roughsweet 0]

I think its odd that no one else has seen the EFT .. but its there on the instructions for the application.. and these instructions have the dates 07/30/07 on them. I am so confused now! Ahhh.

Should I just have him try and find out from the bank who did the EFT (that is, if they can).

Also, I'm pretty sure he would have called the 1-800 number.

You're not the only one who has seen the EFT section of the instructions, PirateStar. New or not, it's definitely there. I was just about to pull it and copy it here when you did.

I think your idea of starting with the bank, to see who authorized the EFT, is the most expedient way to go. Certainly easier than trying to deal with USCIS. And if the bank says "the dept. of homeland security authorized the EFT" than you have proof that they SOMEWHERE have your app.

Good luck! and hang in there.

p.s. oops sorry for the messy quote from your post hehe

Edited August 12, 2009 by roughsweet

[ThePirateStar 0]

It's all good

I'll start there, hopefully the bank will be able to figure that out..you'd think they would know who's taking your money but who knows, haha. Since my fiance put in an inquiry and froze his bank..maybe they'll already working on seeing who did it. Hopefully we get this figured out..if not..guess I'll have to resend. It's not like I didn't know this process was full of long waits and frustrating turns of events when I signed up!

[Carlawarla 1]

I don't know the time frame you're looking at, but firstly calling the USCIS info line is usually called the misinformation line. Secondly,there is a strong possibility that without the number, they're not going to be able to tell you that the package was received anyway. You need the number to find out on-line even for tracking purposes. It's highly likely, that if this just happened within the last day or two, that while it might be assigned a number, that number hasn't been entered on the system yet.

NOA1's usually are mailed to you within a week, so I'd wait it out for a few more days and see if you get that letter acknowledging the acceptance of the petition.

It's highly unlikely as well that someone had Homeland Security ID in order to cash that cheque. I'm sure they're sent in mass mailings from the USCIS, and not taken up to the teller by some individual.

Relax...and take a deep breath. The process has just started.

[ThePirateStar 0]

I'm pretty sure that the EFT had to be from Homeland Security.. but my fiance panicked, especially when he was told it wasn't there.

My only concern is .. We mailed the package around June 20th (A friday, and through regular mail -. - , guuh). The cheque was cleared around June 30th, according to my fiance when he checked his bank account. To this point, we haven't receieved a NOA1, and thus that is why I got worried and had him check his bank account again to see if it had been cleared, and to see if the bank could get him a copy for the EAC number, so we could have some sort of tracking number for this process. The fact that its been over a month, and not a few weeks is why I wasn't sure in the first place.

When he called, that's when they said it wasn;t there, and not knowing that Homeland security uses EFT, his 2+2 = someone stole the money and the application never made it. He's having an investigation on the cheque, so hopefully it just turns up that it was them that have the funds and we'll just keep waiting for the useless NOA1.. I just hope him freezing his bank account yesterday would give us a RFE and the money has already been paid.

[Stephen + Elisha 92]

I'm not sure how it's done, but places that deposit a lot of checks convert checks into EFTs. I think my phone company does it.

It's not exactly an EFT, and the language USCIS uses to describe it in the instructions is a bit inaccurate.

Your check is scanned for "electronic presentment." This means that rather than sending your paper check to the bank, they scan it and submit it electronically. This means the check clears—and funds are debited—much faster than a traditional check deposit.

The main difference between electronic presentment and EFT is in the check image. With electronic presentment, USCIS keeps your original check but your bank still gets an electronic image of the check you wrote. That's how you can check your online banking system to look at the endorsement area for your receipt number. If it were a true EFT, there'd be no check image.

For more info, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_21.

[thepizzadude 26]

EFT = Electronic Funds Transfer

When a cheque is cashed it's not an EFT. The USCIS does not use EFT.

When you give your employer your banking information and they deposit straight into your account thats an EFT. If you give your car insurance provider your banking information so they can withdraw your insurance payment monthly that is an EFT.

Your fiance definatly did the right thing freezing his account if he feels someone is wrongly making EFT's on his account.

Did you ship your I-129f with a tracking number?

Companies can take a check they receive and turn it into an EFT it is entirely possible and many of my vendors do that when I send them a company check.

BUT, its hard to believe that the service centers do that even though they say they do just by the sheer numbers of peoples checks that are put thru the banks and have the stamps on back, IF it is converted as an EFT the bank would not have a stamped copy of the back of the check we almost all receive.

I could be wrong but when I receive my monthly statement it has the CONVERTED CHECKS listed as such.