Problem with paying immigrant fee on USCIS Elis

[sam87 5]

i have the same issue.

Interview on 18th march , passport picked up on 20th. I tried to pay the fee today. It says following . I am flying on 31st. The happy traveler paper I received after interview says I must pay the fee before I enter USA. Dont know what should I do

• The A-Number or DOS Case ID you entered is incorrect. Please enter the A-Number and DOS Case ID listed on the USCIS Immigrant Fee handout you received from the U.S. Embassy or consulate.
• ERROR:NOTE: If your visa was issued less than five (5) days ago, you may not be able to pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee at this time. Based on the date you entered, we recommend that you log into your USCIS ELIS account on or after March, 30, 2015 to pay the fee.

[NikLR 13,220]

You do not HAVE to pay the fee before travelling. PERIOD.

[palash4003 0]

Dear Francesca,

I called the USCIS customer service. There is some technical issues at their end for this payment, which they are working to have a fix. You can call them (800-375-5283) Option 2, then option 2 and discuss your issue. One technical problem, it will be only working at Internet Explorer, not in Google Chrome or FireFox. So, you need to use that.

If you are using Internet Explorer as browser, you can call them, then they will forward your call to some technical team, who can open a case for you. After the technical team fixing, they will send you an email and you can pay this fee. I just opened a case, and waiting for their response.

Good luck.

Regards,

Ahsan

Edited March 26, 2015 by palash4003

[vincesca 2]

Hi Francesca,

I am having the EXACT same problem. My visa was issued on March 6th. I didn't actually the read the paper that said I had to pay the $165 fee until we were at the border ready to cross by land (Seriously!) but it was was not an issue for my entry. I have been in the USA now my visa "activated" my permanent resident status upon entry, since March 14th.

I have been trying to pay my $165 fee for my physical green card through USCIS ELIS and it is not working either. It gives me the same error message, even though my A# is nine digits and everything else I enter is correct. My date to "try again" also keeps changing with each day that I attempt again.... It's good to know that it's not just my file and this is a more common problem happening to others.

From my current experience, and others' advice, not paying the $165 does not affect your entry or status. The fee is really just for the physical green card, which can take up a to a year to receive.

I have tried calling USCIS and I find it impossible to be able to speak to a real live human about the issue. I even wrote to them through their contact us/help section, but they told me to fill out "all the information given to me on the paper I received." I did, and have been doing it and obviously it's not working.

Has this issue been resolved for you? Please let me know of any updates if you are able to! I would love to get all this ridiculous administrative nonsense over with finally!

Hi,

I have written to the help section of ELIS and within a week they answered telling me that they fixed the problem.

I just managed to pay the fee!

I hope you managed too

[rsteenv 0]

Interesting, I am dealing with exactly the same issue for a few weeks now! I created a case earlier, but no success. This is the reply I received.

After careful review of your inquiry, we determined that your issue will be best addressed by the Tier 3 Technical Support Team; therefore, we are forwarding your inquiry to them. We will contact you concerning your ticket when the issue has been resolved. We apologize for the delay, but further attempts of communications will unfortunately delay the progression of manually processing of your application.

​I will give it another go in Internet Explorer tonight, but I'm afraid I have to call them again based on the messages here...

[maki90 25]

I also have the same problem. I have got my visa Mart,13 and I have come in USA at 20, April. For last 3-4 weeks I'm trying to pay Immigration fee and I got the same message as you, tha my A-number or Case ID aren't good. I have called them on the number 1-800-375-5283, and they have contact me with techinical support. They sad that they have some problems with the site, and I have gave them information about me. They sad that they will send me email, but I'm waiting for a week and they didn't reply me.

I have called them again, but I didn't successed nothing. I don't know what to do more? Is anyone finished it, what should we do?

[Tecumseh 2]

The ELIS system requires that you manipulate your IV Case Number and Registration Number in an odd way. You must add an 'A' in front of your Registration Number and then pad out the remaining numbers with enough leading zeros to make a total of nine digits (the 'A' is not counted, of course). You must also leave off the last two numbers of your IV Case Number. For example, see below:

IV Case Number on Visa: WTF201491100201

Registration Number on Visa: 86753091

IV Case Number for ELIS: WTF2014911002

Registration Number for ELIS: A086753091

What a wonderful system. It was surely created by the greatest minds of our time.

[Pitaya 2,576]

~Thread hijack attempt split to new thread~

[gawan 8]

hello,

 

I have 2 member of my family who came here with the DV Visa. I have an issue to pay their immigrat fee.  Everytime I try to pay it , it says error for A NUMBER  and ID case number, try after 5 days if the visa was recently issued.  I called the USCIS for help , but they could not help me over the phone for security reason. Is there anyone has the same issue.

Edited March 3, 2017 by gawan

[za3bour 2]

greetings, we got our visa issued on June 15, 2017 I'm also trying to pay the fees online and I'm receiving the same error message and it's already more than 5 business days.

 

Any idea why?

[Razan 0]

On 3/20/2015 at 11:48 PM, vincesca said:

Hi All,

I got my visa issued on March 9th and finally it is in my hand

On the big sealed package there are instruction on how to pay the immigrant fee through USCIS Elis

I logged in and inserted my A number and DOS number but it keeps giving me the following error message:

The A-Number or DOS Case ID you entered is incorrect. Please enter the A-Number and DOS Case ID listed on the USCIS Immigrant Fee handout you received from the U.S. Embassy or consulate.ERROR: NOTE: If your visa was issued less than five (5) days ago, you may not be able to pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee at this time. Based on the date you entered, we recommend that you log into your USCIS ELIS account on or after March, 25, 2015 to pay the fee

I am sure i am putting the correct data (i have checked and tried a million times)

Do you know what i do wrong? Did you have the same problem?

Thanks,

Francesca

Hello - I am receiving the exact error message. I tried emailing them multiple times and all I receive is a template answer. 

Did you a find a solution? I am aware that the thread is from 2015 but I think it's the same problem. 

[TBoneTX 43,058]

See a few posts up for a possible solution.  If not workable, you might have to phone the Elis people.

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Thread from 2015 is now closed to further comment.