N400 interview went terribly wrong. what to do now?

[superali 0]

I e-filed N400 back in June based on 3 years rule. 

 

On Sept 19th, I received my interview appointment for the 27th of Oct. I had a business trip abroad and had to cut my trip short, came back on the night of the 26th so that I could make my interview.

 

Little did I know, things went all wrong there.

 

I arrived at my appointment at 7am at Federal Plaza's queens field office, the receptionist first couldn't find my appointment, then she passed my appointment letter to somebody else who did some typing into the computer and called my name, told me straight up that she has to send me home because : "we do not have your files"

 

I was baffled, perhaps more furious than baffled since I had to cut my business trip short to accommodate this interview. I asked the receptionist what is going on, she wasn't able to explain but said my files didn't arrive at the field office and they won't be able to interview me. She would have to request an expedited transfer of my files to the field office. I wasn't satisfied with the answered but remained calm until she called up a supervisor to explained what happened.

 

The supervisor came and told me first that "you seem to speak perfect English so I don't know how you failed the English test" , bear in mind, this is my very first n400 interview, I corrected him and then he told me exactly the same thing the receptionist told me earlier but couldn't give me an estimated time when my next interview is going to be, for reasons " If I told you a date, you will be hold me responsible".  I was of course not satisfied with the non-apologetic manner and customer service styled answer, but could do little to remedy the situation. The supervisor also told me that I could expect a call from the field office once my files had arrived for an updated interview appointment. 

 

I am so baffled as why USCIS Queens Field Office couldn't have sent me a notice earlier and waited till I walked in for this news.

 

I am wondering if anybody else had the same situation, how long would this whole process take from here? What happens if anything, or everything just fell through the cracks and my A file somehow took forever to arrive? what are the recourses available to me?

 

The nature of job requires frequent international business travel. Due to this change, I already had to postpone my December and Feb trips, I've read on here horrible stories of how N400 took years to be adjudicated and I cannot afford to be stuck in this process forever.

 

Any tips and insights would be greatly appreciated!

Edited October 29, 2017 by superali

[milimelo 4,505]

I'd have your congressman or senator's immigration liaison inquire. Fill out the release form and go see them with the copy of your interview appointment letter. Then explain what happened and that you need to have the interview time x days in advance as you travel a lot. 

 

Good luck. I'd say this is a minor set back but can be resolved soon. 

[Going through 5,671]

5 hours ago, superali said:

I am so baffled as why USCIS Queens Field Office couldn't have sent me a notice earlier and waited till I walked in for this news

For them to interview you, your case file has to be sent to their office sometime before the appointment date---they probably wouldn't have realized the case file still wasn't there until that morning itself when you showed up.

 

I'm sorry this happened to you---I had my interview last month at the same place (Queens filer), and saw this happen to another person there while in the waiting room...the guy looked heart-broken as he was told to leave, so I can imagine how confusing/frustrating this is for you right now.

 

As the other poster stated above, it is a minor setback however you should stay on top of it for it to be resolved quickly (don't rely on "waiting for a phone call from the field office" as the Supervisor suggested... it could happen that they reach out to you, however, considering the amount of applicants they deal with on a daily basis they are probably not going to see you as any sort of priority to keep a close eye on in terms of receiving your file/making sure they contact you.)

 

Consider reaching out to your liason, as a back up.