I-130 RFE not received, e-request not responded to

[pepfromage 8]

I'm afraid I am beginning to sweat about not receiving an I-130 RFE that was sent in the mail from the Nebraska Service Center, and am hoping someone out there has an idea I have not yet thought of in order to try and remedy it. I have called, filed an e-request, and sent a paper letter.

 

May 5th 2017: USCIS website says that a request for additional information has been sent, and to let them know if I do not receive it by June 4th 2017.

May 22nd 2017: Not feeling like waiting until June 4th, I file an e-request saying I never received my RFE, and asking for another copy.

June 1st 2017: I sent the Nebraska Service Center a letter saying that I had not received their RFE, and asking to please send it again.

June 15th 2017: Called USCIS to ask if they could help communicate that I had not received this RFE, and they said that all I could do was wait until 30 days after my e-request, and then do another e-request.

 

This morning, I made myself an infopass appointment with USCIS for the beginning of July. I honestly cannot think of anything else I can do to communicate that this letter never came. My concern of course, is that I am going to quickly arrive at the response time limit for this RFE having never figured out what it was. Does anyone have any advice or recommendations they can offer in this situation?

Edited June 17, 2017 by pepfromage
typo, word omission

[Scandi 4,334]

If I were you I would call and call until I get to talk to a Tier 2 that can re-send the letter for you. We have had some people in our AOS filers thread who were missing the RFE hardcopies and online service requests didn't help. Neither did infopass as they were just told that the field office couldn't do anything as they didn't have the jurisdiction as the case wasn't at their office. Calling for a Tier 2 helped only when they got to talk to one that was actually willing to help, few of them seem to be.. So yeah, call until you get to talk to a helpful one.

[pepfromage 8]

Thanks for the reply Scandi. I'll try the tier 2 phone rep route, and see if I can get them to put me through to someone.

[pepfromage 8]

As an update to my case, this morning I was successful in getting through to a tier 2 representative at USCIS, and I am glad I did. My RFE had not arrived, and was not going to arrive, because USCIS incorrectly changed my address.

 

I had requested a change of address a number of months ago, due to moving from another country back to the United States. I had to do that change over the phone due to my original address not being in the US (just an IT system requirement apparently). I made this change, and I even received a paper confirmation from USCIS at my new address. Somehow after that, the system then created a hybrid of my US street name, number, and town, along with my foreign zip code, and foreign country. This obviously made the mail undeliverable.

 

The tier 2 representative was able to see this disparity online, change my address, and also fax me a copy of my RFE. I asked for email, but apparently they were limited to fax. Right now I will just need to decide if I want to respond with that faxed RFE, or try to await them sending a proper paper copy. Seeing as I am already nearing 2 months from the RFE being issued, I may only give it a week for them to mail me that RFE, and I might just respond with the faxed one. FYI, my RFE was because my birth certificate lacked the doctor's name and my parent's info. It was viewed as an abstract, and not a complete birth certificate. Using a passport would have avoided this, but I thought a birth certificate was a birth certificate. It had my birthdate, hospital, date and time of birth, weight, signature of witness, etc. If I could do it again, I would have sent the passport. Its standardized, doesnt differ by state, and more simple. 

 

Thanks again for the recommendation on calling that tier 2.

[pamequez 22]

On 6/20/2017 at 9:08 AM, pepfromage said:

As an update to my case, this morning I was successful in getting through to a tier 2 representative at USCIS, and I am glad I did. My RFE had not arrived, and was not going to arrive, because USCIS incorrectly changed my address.

 

I had requested a change of address a number of months ago, due to moving from another country back to the United States. I had to do that change over the phone due to my original address not being in the US (just an IT system requirement apparently). I made this change, and I even received a paper confirmation from USCIS at my new address. Somehow after that, the system then created a hybrid of my US street name, number, and town, along with my foreign zip code, and foreign country. This obviously made the mail undeliverable.

 

The tier 2 representative was able to see this disparity online, change my address, and also fax me a copy of my RFE. I asked for email, but apparently they were limited to fax. Right now I will just need to decide if I want to respond with that faxed RFE, or try to await them sending a proper paper copy. Seeing as I am already nearing 2 months from the RFE being issued, I may only give it a week for them to mail me that RFE, and I might just respond with the faxed one. FYI, my RFE was because my birth certificate lacked the doctor's name and my parent's info. It was viewed as an abstract, and not a complete birth certificate. Using a passport would have avoided this, but I thought a birth certificate was a birth certificate. It had my birthdate, hospital, date and time of birth, weight, signature of witness, etc. If I could do it again, I would have sent the passport. Its standardized, doesnt differ by state, and more simple. 

 

Thanks again for the recommendation on calling that tier 2.

Hello, Pepfromage,

I am in your same situation.  Did you end up sending the documents with the FAXED RFE? In a standard envelope? Was this acceptable? Or did you wait on receiving the original RFE and envelope? I want to send my documents asap, therefore foregoing the wait of the original- but I am a bit skeptical since the faxed RFE letter is not blue like others have stated the mailed RFE is blue.  

Your feedback would greatly be appreciated.  Thanks,

Pam

[pepfromage 8]

Hi Pam, yes, I did send the faxed RFE in lieu of waiting for the paper one. It took me about 3 months to get my hands on that RFE, and I had the same concerns about using the fax versus waiting on their original mailing. But the mail situation was so bad in not receiving my RFE in the first place, that I decided it did not make sense to cross my fingers and wait, hoping they finally got the correct address for me. So I sent in the faxed RFE that I printed out, and it ended up working out fine for me. It could depend on how ornery of a person is looking at your file, but I wrote up a brief cover letter with it, and figured it made sense in my situation. I believe I sent mine certified on usps in a large manila envelope, along with the other documents it called for, wrote my case number on the outside, and all went well. Good luck!

[pamequez 22]

Thank you Pepfromage! I did the same. We sent the translations with the printed "faxed" RFE in a manila envelope. I also stated on the cover letter, the reason for sending the faxed RFE.

Hopefully it works out!! I will update on this thread, if I encounter any issues or if it works out!!