Petition Denied

[cwally 0]

I just received my letter denying my petition, I was RFE for a valid termination of marriage on October 6th And I submitted another copy of my final Divorce decree and just got the letter stating that it did not show filing at court however, I did go down and get a new copy today and it is the exact same decree which clearly shows all filings and court signatures and dates from 2001 and my petition was sent in July 13 2010.I had a lawyer fill out my paper work from the beginning and is working with me on this matter but, he said my only action to to appeal with the I-290b form which is another $630 and resend the decree. He thinks I should receive my $630 back due to there error.any thought or advice would be greatly appreciated I don't want to appeal and get the same answer and be out another $630 plus lose my petition!I know this system sucks and using a lawyer means nothing but,has anyone appealed yet and what are my chances?

[flustered 14]

I can tell you from experience that if you lawyer told you that you will get the $630 back..I would get a new lawyer..I am speaking from experience the I-290B is non refundable...In my situation I was missing a Schedule C from tax information and was denied..I sent in the 290B as per the instructions in the letter with my $585...I was told when they received it and cashed my check that the 290B was not necessary now that they had the missing information...There was no refund...if I were you I would just send in the required info directly to the person who signed the denial and see if they will open it on a service motion as they did with me

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I just received my letter denying my petition, I was RFE for a valid termination of marriage on October 6th And I submitted another copy of my final Divorce decree and just got the letter stating that it did not show filing at court however, I did go down and get a new copy today and it is the exact same decree which clearly shows all filings and court signatures and dates from 2001 and my petition was sent in July 13 2010.I had a lawyer fill out my paper work from the beginning and is working with me on this matter but, he said my only action to to appeal with the I-290b form which is another $630 and resend the decree. He thinks I should receive my $630 back due to there error.any thought or advice would be greatly appreciated I don't want to appeal and get the same answer and be out another $630 plus lose my petition!I know this system sucks and using a lawyer means nothing but,has anyone appealed yet and what are my chances?

You don't have much choice. You can either file the I-290B and move to have the petition reopened, or you can file another petition including the full filing fee of $1070. It's your choice. You won't get a refund unless this was clearly an error by USCIS and not because you failed to provide exactly what they required.

I'm not sure what the problem is with the divorce decree. Does it have the court clerk's certification on it? Generally, any copy of a court document needs to have a certification from a court clerk that it's a true copy of the original file document. Each state has it's own way of doing this. My California divorce decree has two stamps from the court clerk on it - one indicating the date the order was entered, and one indicating the date the certified copy of the order was made. The one indicating the date the order was entered is on the original file document. The other one was stamped on the copy and signed by the court clerk the day I got the copy from the courthouse.

[cwally 0]

You don't have much choice. You can either file the I-290B and move to have the petition reopened, or you can file another petition including the full filing fee of $1070. It's your choice. You won't get a refund unless this was clearly an error by USCIS and not because you failed to provide exactly what they required.

I'm not sure what the problem is with the divorce decree. Does it have the court clerk's certification on it? Generally, any copy of a court document needs to have a certification from a court clerk that it's a true copy of the original file document. Each state has it's own way of doing this. My California divorce decree has two stamps from the court clerk on it - one indicating the date the order was entered, and one indicating the date the certified copy of the order was made. The one indicating the date the order was entered is on the original file document. The other one was stamped on the copy and signed by the court clerk the day I got the copy from the courthouse.

That is what I was thinking and yes it has the clerk certified state seal of approval dated and signed and the volume numbers stamped on each page.

thanks for your reply.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

That is what I was thinking and yes it has the clerk certified state seal of approval dated and signed and the volume numbers stamped on each page.

thanks for your reply.

I don't know what a "state seal of approval" is. Is this a certification that the document is a true copy of the original? Is the date on the stamp the same as the day the copy was issued, or the day the divorce order was entered into the court records?

[cwally 0]

it is the date the divorce order was entered into the court records.

[James and Cynthia 70]

In Oregon you have to pay extra to have the copy certified as a true copy of the original. It should then have a stamp showing when the copy was made. Did you pay extra and have this done?

[w8inglongtime 29]

Contrary to what your lawyer said, Uscis almost never admit to doing anything wrong so they will not be refunding anything. I say file to have it re-opened as opposed to starting from scratch.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

it is the date the divorce order was entered into the court records.

I got one like that from my attorney the day my divorce was finally granted. My lawyer warned me when he gave it to me that it was a copy of the final divorce decree, but it wasn't certified by the court clerk so it wasn't valid proof of divorce. He said I should wait a few days to give it time for the document to make it down to the file room, and then I could go to the court clerk's window and get a certified copy.

You need a document with a stamp from the court clerk certifying that it's a true copy of the original document. It sounds like you've got a photocopy of the original document, but it's not certified.

[Ning 619]

I got one like that from my attorney the day my divorce was finally granted. My lawyer warned me when he gave it to me that it was a copy of the final divorce decree, but it wasn't certified by the court clerk so it wasn't valid proof of divorce. He said I should wait a few days to give it time for the document to make it down to the file room, and then I could go to the court clerk's window and get a certified copy.

You need a document with a stamp from the court clerk certifying that it's a true copy of the original document. It sounds like you've got a photocopy of the original document, but it's not certified.

Jim is exactly correct. I went thru this very thing & did as he suggests to satisfy the RFE.

I sent mine in with a request to reconsider my case instead of starting over. USCIS accepted the new info & approved my case. This must be done asap to have any chance of success.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I just received my letter denying my petition, I was RFE for a valid termination of marriage on October 6th And I submitted another copy of my final Divorce decree and just got the letter stating that it did not show filing at court however, I did go down and get a new copy today and it is the exact same decree which clearly shows all filings and court signatures and dates from 2001 and my petition was sent in July 13 2010.I had a lawyer fill out my paper work from the beginning and is working with me on this matter but, he said my only action to to appeal with the I-290b form which is another $630 and resend the decree. He thinks I should receive my $630 back due to there error.any thought or advice would be greatly appreciated I don't want to appeal and get the same answer and be out another $630 plus lose my petition!I know this system sucks and using a lawyer means nothing but,has anyone appealed yet and what are my chances?

Your profile states you are applying for a K1, is that correct? Or are you applying for AOS based on a K1?

If so you have posted in the wrong area and it will need to be moved.

[cwally 0]

Yes its a K1 not AOS and my decree is certified I am going to my local Immigration office to see if they can shed light on my problem. I will let you know if they are any help or if its just another black hole!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

thread moved from AOS to K-1 forum as more appropriate location for the discussion

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I just received my letter denying my petition, I was RFE for a valid termination of marriage on October 6th And I submitted another copy of my final Divorce decree and just got the letter stating that it did not show filing at court however, I did go down and get a new copy today and it is the exact same decree which clearly shows all filings and court signatures and dates from 2001 and my petition was sent in July 13 2010.I had a lawyer fill out my paper work from the beginning and is working with me on this matter but, he said my only action to to appeal with the I-290b form which is another $630 and resend the decree. He thinks I should receive my $630 back due to there error.any thought or advice would be greatly appreciated I don't want to appeal and get the same answer and be out another $630 plus lose my petition!I know this system sucks and using a lawyer means nothing but,has anyone appealed yet and what are my chances?

You will NOT get any money back.

File a new petition, make SURE the divorce decree has the court filing information on it and it would be a good idea to have them give you a certified copy, it costs a few dollars more. So what?

Fastest, bestest, cheapest way...start over and LOSE THE LAWYER!

[cwally 0]

You will NOT get any money back.

File a new petition, make SURE the divorce decree has the court filing information on it and it would be a good idea to have them give you a certified copy, it costs a few dollars more. So what?

Fastest, bestest, cheapest way...start over and LOSE THE LAWYER!

I am asking to see if they will reopen the case, if not I will file new petition without lawyer. Thanks