Pre-Interview Case File Review, Yellow Letter - Odd and Incorrect

[rob11715 6]

My wife applied for citizenship and received this letter today.

The Incorrect part states: "You indicated on your application that you have been arrested, cited or detained"... and goes on to say to bring all documentation. She's never been "arrested, cited or detained" and answered No to these questions on the form.

The Odd part says: "Please bring your voter's registration card and provide documentation obtained from the local election authority documenting your voting history." How can she vote if she's not a citizen??? Who knows, maybe they would be incompetent enough to register her but she did not try to register.

We called USCIS and spoke to a customer service rep but she really wasn't that helpful. She just said it was probably a mistake and tell that at the interview. We think the incorrect information should be corrected before hand. As far as the voter's registration we are just confused.

Any advice? Has anyone else received such a letter?

[JimmyHou 610]

My wife applied for citizenship and received this letter today.

The Incorrect part states: "You indicated on your application that you have been arrested, cited or detained"... and goes on to say to bring all documentation. She's never been "arrested, cited or detained" and answered No to these questions on the form.

The Odd part says: "Please bring your voter's registration card and provide documentation obtained from the local election authority documenting your voting history." How can she vote if she's not a citizen??? Who knows, maybe they would be incompetent enough to register her but she did not try to register.

We called USCIS and spoke to a customer service rep but she really wasn't that helpful. She just said it was probably a mistake and tell that at the interview. We think the incorrect information should be corrected before hand. As far as the voter's registration we are just confused.

Any advice? Has anyone else received such a letter?

For the part about being arrested or cited, that is something a lot of people get, because they answer yes to that question if they have received any traffic citations. Usually this isn't a problem at the interview. If you are sure that your wife answered no to this question, then it's probably a mistake. If she answered yes because she was cited for traffic violation, then this will be covered at the interview. If you have any proof of payment of fines, take those, it won't hurt.

For the part about voting, that's more serious. Assuming she answered no to that question, there could either be a mistake or she could have been registered unintentionally while applying for a drivers license. I know a permanent resident here in Texas who answered No to the "are you a US citizen" question on his drivers license application, but was registered anyway. You should check to see if your wife's name is on the voter registration rolls. If so, you need to get it removed and see if you can get proof that she never voted. I've seen other people do this and post about on this website. I'll see if I can find those cases for you. If you can't find her name on the voter rolls, then it's probably a mistake. Registering to vote is grounds for denial, and unfortunately, it's up to the applicant to prove that the registration was unintentional.

[JimmyHou 610]

My wife applied for citizenship and received this letter today.

The Incorrect part states: "You indicated on your application that you have been arrested, cited or detained"... and goes on to say to bring all documentation. She's never been "arrested, cited or detained" and answered No to these questions on the form.

The Odd part says: "Please bring your voter's registration card and provide documentation obtained from the local election authority documenting your voting history." How can she vote if she's not a citizen??? Who knows, maybe they would be incompetent enough to register her but she did not try to register.

We called USCIS and spoke to a customer service rep but she really wasn't that helpful. She just said it was probably a mistake and tell that at the interview. We think the incorrect information should be corrected before hand. As far as the voter's registration we are just confused.

Any advice? Has anyone else received such a letter?

Here are some experiences... of course if it's all a mistake, this is irrelevant, but it's better to have more information. Don't scare yourself, just try to find out if she ever registered or was registered by someone. The odd thing is, everyone I've read about either knew about the registration before applying, or found out about it at the interview... Your letter seems unique... this makes me think they may have mixed up your wife's application with someone who answered Yes. Good luck to you.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/306110-n400-mistake-reagdring-voter-registration/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/264034-n400-have-you-ever-voted/

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100404172500AAszNxv

http://forums.immigration.com/threads/unknowingly-registered-to-vote-but-never-voted-n400-interview-coming-soon.291658/

[rob11715 6]

Here are some experiences... of course if it's all a mistake, this is irrelevant, but it's better to have more information. Don't scare yourself, just try to find out if she ever registered or was registered by someone. The odd thing is, everyone I've read about either knew about the registration before applying, or found out about it at the interview... Your letter seems unique... this makes me think they may have mixed up your wife's application with someone who answered Yes. Good luck to you.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/306110-n400-mistake-reagdring-voter-registration/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/264034-n400-have-you-ever-voted/

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100404172500AAszNxv

http://forums.immigration.com/threads/unknowingly-registered-to-vote-but-never-voted-n400-interview-coming-soon.291658/

Thanks so much for your responses.

After looking at the N-400 again I saw that questions 2 and 3 are about voting so I'm pretty sure now that there must have been mistakes when they scanned the application (or mixed up my wife's application with someone elses) since my wife answered No to both voting questions and No to questions 22-28 (she didn't have a drivers license at the time, so no chance she had any violations). As far as being inadvertently registered to vote I checked on the State website and it finds me but not her.

The question is do we try to correct this now or just handle it at the interview?

[JimmyHou 610]

I have no experience trying to make a correction, but it seems that most service requests are pretty useless. You could try sending in a letter of explanation along with a copy of the letter you received. However, since the letter says that you should bring information with you to the interview, I assume that they're going to schedule your wife's interview anyway. If you can take a printout of results of the online voter search, I would do that. Just wait until the interview and be prepared to explain that there was a mistake of the officer brings it up. It could be that there's nothing wrong with your file, but they sent the wrong form letter so it may not even come up. Just remember that I'm only telling you what seems logical to me... USCIS doesn't always do things I think are logical.

[Birdo 16]

I agree with the above response - trying to convey the error via letters to USCIS at this stage would probably be fruitless and might even confuse them more. Just bring stuff to the interview and be prepared for the officer to not even ask anything about it, because they ask questions from the N400 line by line.

[M.O 6]

Unless she made a mistake on the form and answered YES on those 2 questions, you guys shouldn't worry about it..because at the interview they will go over those YES and NO questions on her application and they will disregard that yellow letter once they see they made a mistake..good luck

p.s im from Moldova too..where do you guys live?

My wife applied for citizenship and received this letter today.

The Incorrect part states: "You indicated on your application that you have been arrested, cited or detained"... and goes on to say to bring all documentation. She's never been "arrested, cited or detained" and answered No to these questions on the form.

The Odd part says: "Please bring your voter's registration card and provide documentation obtained from the local election authority documenting your voting history." How can she vote if she's not a citizen??? Who knows, maybe they would be incompetent enough to register her but she did not try to register.

We called USCIS and spoke to a customer service rep but she really wasn't that helpful. She just said it was probably a mistake and tell that at the interview. We think the incorrect information should be corrected before hand. As far as the voter's registration we are just confused.

Any advice? Has anyone else received such a letter?

[rob11715 6]

Unless she made a mistake on the form and answered YES on those 2 questions, you guys shouldn't worry about it..because at the interview they will go over those YES and NO questions on her application and they will disregard that yellow letter once they see they made a mistake..good luck

p.s im from Moldova too..where do you guys live?

We checked the form and she definitely answered No on those questions so it should not be a problem. It's just a bit disturbing at first to receive such a letter. I ended up speaking to an officer at the USCIS number and she claimed that they would have the original application there. I'm pretty sure now that they scanned in the application and the scanner incorrectly picked up Yes answers and that's what prompted the yellow letter.

We live on Long Island in New York. I see your interview is soon. Good luck! We should be getting a date soon.

[sandi123 1]

Until I read your post I thought I was the only person in the world who got this. My yellow letter is identical. It also asks for DL or State ID.

Bad news is that it's hard to figure out what triggered this part with the voter's card. After the initial surprise I started digging through old documents to double check every little piece of paper. I went to our local elections office and got a confirmation that I was not registered and they had no records of me whatsoever. I also wrote an email to the DMV and they confirmed that there was no mistake there either. I received the actual interview letter (white color) and it asked for a completly different set of documents (passport, DL, LPR card). Meanwhile I went so far as to request from banks copies of old mortgage applications to ensure that I did not accidentally check anything wrong there. And I haven't.

The most idiotic thing (shall we call it coincidence or I don't know what to call it) is that the same day when I got the interview letter, I received jury duty summons.....crazy, right? So I promptly went online to the court house's website and submitted a request to get disqualified. I specified that I'm not a citizen as a reason for the disqualification. Within an hour a person wrote me back an email that I was disqualified and there was no need to appear. I used that as an opportunity to ask how this even happened and I got an answer that they assembled their records from the DMV and voter's registration records. Anyways I saved and printed all this communication, got the letter from election department certified, actually got so nuts that I went there twice to check again, and checked it online perhaps 10 times

My interview is a month from now. I'll let you know how it goes in case you don't have your interview earlier.

Edited June 17, 2014 by sandi123

[Darnell 8,478]

Thanks so much for your responses.

After looking at the N-400 again I saw that questions 2 and 3 are about voting so I'm pretty sure now that there must have been mistakes when they scanned the application (or mixed up my wife's application with someone elses) since my wife answered No to both voting questions and No to questions 22-28 (she didn't have a drivers license at the time, so no chance she had any violations). As far as being inadvertently registered to vote I checked on the State website and it finds me but not her.

The question is do we try to correct this now or just handle it at the interview?

I suggest you make a complete copy of that letter,

and submit it WITH a complete copy of the N-400 that was submitted, clearly marked 'FILE COPY'

along with a nice coverletter explaining the discrepancies outlined here by you,

also asking:

1. did you mis-scan my application into someone else's A-File Number?

2. was it a new trainee that sent out this formletter ?

3. Ask for Supervisor review

then take all of that

and walk it to your local USCIS office where the interview is to be held,

and

sweet talk the security guard into dropping it into the drop-box.

then wait two weeks.

[M.O 6]

We checked the form and she definitely answered No on those questions so it should not be a problem. It's just a bit disturbing at first to receive such a letter. I ended up speaking to an officer at the USCIS number and she claimed that they would have the original application there. I'm pretty sure now that they scanned in the application and the scanner incorrectly picked up Yes answers and that's what prompted the yellow letter.

We live on Long Island in New York. I see your interview is soon. Good luck! We should be getting a date soon.

Thank you..Hope you get your interview letter soon..As i said dont even bother to send anything back to them,its going to confuse them even more and make the process even longer,you can explain and show them the proof once you are in front of the officer when you have the actual interview..

Good luck and keep us posted..

[Sam3323 0]

I got same letter today on my n-400 case.

Following documents in my interview.

* if you have Federal, state or local Taxes overdue, bring following documents

*Please bring your voter's registration card

*Bring state ID

*Bring all passport and travel documents issued by any government

I paid all taxes, even I sent Tax Transcript from IRS with application for last three year. I don't know why I got this. Do I have to bring any document to interview apart from Tax transcripts?

I never applied for Voting registration, I check state website to voter registration status, by mistakenly I might applied during getting licence. But nothing... so never applied. Is this mistake by USCIS? Do I need to go some office and bring any document in interview?

I don't know why they want all Passport and travel documents issued by any government.

I check my application, didn't answer YES to relevant questions.

Please help me.

Thanks

[JimmyHou 610]

I got same letter today on my n-400 case.

Following documents in my interview.

* if you have Federal, state or local Taxes overdue, bring following documents

*Please bring your voter's registration card

*Bring state ID

*Bring all passport and travel documents issued by any government

I paid all taxes, even I sent Tax Transcript from IRS with application for last three year. I don't know why I got this. Do I have to bring any document to interview apart from Tax transcripts?

I never applied for Voting registration, I check state website to voter registration status, by mistakenly I might applied during getting licence. But nothing... so never applied. Is this mistake by USCIS? Do I need to go some office and bring any document in interview?

I don't know why they want all Passport and travel documents issued by any government.

I check my application, didn't answer YES to relevant questions.

Please help me.

Thanks

Everyone is required to bring their passport. They may check the stamps in your passport to confirm the trips that you listed on your application. The passport can be valid or expired but you should take all passports you've had since you became a permanent resident. They won't keep it.

If they're asking for your voter registration card, then it's for one of three reasons:

- you accidentally answered yes (but you say you're sure you didn't)

- they found some evidence you you being registered

- they made a mistake

Whichever it is, you need to being some proof that you didn't register. If you can get a letter saying that your name isn't on the voter rolls or if you can take a screen printout of a search of your name in the lair of registered voters, that should help.

Note that registering to vote by mistake is considered evidence of lack of good moral character and can cause your application to be denied, so it's important that you bring proof that you never registered. This has happened to several people, so don't worry as long as you know you never registered.

[Sam3323 0]

Thanks JimmyHou for reply.

I called USCIS, it's useless.. not additional information.

Here my scenario: I paid State tax with 2012 Tax return, taxes I own for same year. And I paid IRS whatever amount I won then from 2013 with 2013 tax return.

USCIS want following documents (from yellow letter):

- A signed agreement from IRS, state or local tax office showing that you have filed a tax return and have arranged to pay the taxes you owe, and,

- Documentation from IRS, state or local tax office showing the status of your repayment program.

Today, I'm going local IRS office to get letter. Do I have to go to State tax office for same thing (letter)? Is there any local Tax apart from State and Federal?

Update: I'm planning to go County clerk office for Voter registration card and voting history next week. I check their website for Voter status, it didn't found any record.... I'm sure I never register for Voter, I may be tick register for voter during application for driver licences, I'll find out next week.

Before moving to current State, I was living in Texas (I got driver license there and also renew one time). I check Texas state website for Voter status, no record found. Do I have get letter from County clerk office from Texas?? It's far away... Whats you guys suggest.

Edited July 3, 2014 by Sam3323

[jenny2014wu 7]

Wow, do you tell you owe tax in application form?if you did, then it is ok. If you dint tell them on form. How they know you owe tax? It means they have check irs