N-400 Denied (anyone who intends to file the day they become eligible, read this)

[Hypnos 6,576]

So I became an LPR on 3rd April, 2013. This meant that according to USCIS' filing calculator I became eligible to file an N-400 on 3rd January, 2018 (plus five years minus 90 days). I filed my N-400 online through ELIS at 2:30am, staying up late because I was excited to finally begin this final chapter in my immigration journey.

 

I hit an early roadblock when the receipt NoA for some reason assigned me an N-400 priority date of the previous day, 2nd January. The "application received on" date was correct since it said 3rd January. I posted about it here more than once, and the consensus seemed to be that USCIS would honour the "received" date, not the "priority" date.

 

It took a year of waiting (thanks, Dallas backlog) but I eventually got my naturalisation interview scheduled for 14th January of this year. I dutifully attended, answered all questions and passed all the tests, but was told a decision could not be made. Well the decision was made tonight, and a denial notice popped up in my online USCIS account. The reason? I applied too early. The notice stated that I applied on 2nd January, 2018, and was only eligible to file on 3rd January, 2018. Again, this wasn't mentioned at the interview, and I brought all my emailed ELIS receipts and other documents showing I filed on 3rd January in case they ever brought it up, but they didn't.

 

So it's been a fun night. After a brief period of shouting, loudly, I began to move into attack mode.

 

What I have done so far:

 

1) Emailed the CIS Ombudsman giving them the entire story, receipts with timestamps showing I applied on the correct date, and all that jazz. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the Ombudsman is closed right now as part of the partial federal government shutdown, so I'm not really expecting much out of this immediately.

 

2) I'm going to my Congressman's local office tomorrow to give them the story and all the same documents and seeing if they can intercede with USCIS on my behalf.

 

3) Emailed my old lawyer and another lawyer that helped me back in 2013 to see if they can offer suggestions. Not trying to freeload on them; I offered to pay whatever fee they deem reasonable on this, since it's obviously no longer in DIY territory.

 

4) I'll be contacting the two biggest local newspapers, the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, to see if they're interested in doing a story on this. I figure the more attention I can get on it the more likely I am to get something done.

 

I also have the option of either filing a fresh application, together with its $725 fee and one year wait time, or an N-336 formal appeal of their decision. Fun fact on the N-336: it costs $700 to file, and you will often wait almost as long as it costs to process a new N-400, so they kinda get you coming and going on that one. I'm not ruling anything out yet, but for now I'm hanging my hat on something from 1-4 getting me somewhere on this.

 

So at the end of the day, anyone intending to file for naturalisation on the day they become eligible: DON'T DO IT. Wait a couple of days, then submit. You will avoid all this bull, and can instead deal with some other USCIS bull that will be unrelated to this.

 

Now it's time to write some letters to newspapers and see if I can get anywhere. I will post replies here as to what happens, if anything meaningful does.

Edited March 5, 2019 by TBoneTX

[NikLR 13,220]

Well damn

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

 darn, so sorry.

online actually wouldn’t let me submit on the day that according the calculator I should have been eligible. (Then I got sidetracked and only ended up submitting 5 days later.) I was annoyed at the time but maybe I got lucky.

 

Hope you get this sorted out...good luck

[dannyphan91 30]

1 minute ago, SusieQQQ said:

 darn, so sorry.

online actually wouldn’t let me submit on the day that according the calculator I should have been eligible. (Then I got sidetracked and only ended up submitting 5 days later.) I was annoyed at the time but maybe I got lucky.

 

Hope you get this sorted out...good luck

It wouldn’t let me submit too. But I go ahead I’m submit anyway. Luckily My PD is the date I have been eligible. Can you help to make sure I got this right

i got my GC since 01-28-2014. And I applied on Oct 30-2018. Is that right?

[Hypnos 6,576]

3 minutes ago, dannyphan91 said:

i got my GC since 01-28-2014. And I applied on Oct 30-2018. Is that right?

Yep, the calculator says your earliest filing date is 10/30, so as long as your priority date says 10/30 then you're good.

[dannyphan91 30]

2 minutes ago, Hypnos said:

Yep, the calculator says your earliest filing date is 10/30, so as long as your priority date says 10/30 then you're good.

Thank you so much. 

I hope you will find out some good way.

Praying for you. 🙏🙏🙏

[Starkilla09 366]

Omg Hypnos sorry about this dilemma, hope this gets resolved soon. USCIS never ceases to amaze me damn not after waiting so long for a year for an interview.

[millefleur 5,035]

Thank you for sharing this....that has to be tough, to be denied for being one day too early to file. 😭

 

I feel like this post needs to be pinned. It's really important and a simple mistake that anyone could easily make.

Edited January 24, 2019 by millefleur

[Amhara 460]

Get’em, Hypnos.

 

We actually filed the day my husband became eligible, but later in the evening.  We also have the Dallas field office.

 

 I believe you had a longer, convoluted process for your entire immigration journey.  I am really rooting for you, Hypnos.  I really want to see you win.  Get’em.

[little immigrant 800]

I'm not sure what time zone their system is based on but dang you even waited till 2:30 am I assume that's Central Time? So that would have been 12:30 am Pacific time and on the 3rd.

 

While going through my immigration papers, I noticed that I filed my ROC a little over 90 days before. But I guess with the mail it arrived within the 90 day window and made me eligible.

 

I guess applying online has the disadvantage that the application gets there as soon as you submit it.

 

Please keep us updated on how everything goes. 

[Hypnos 6,576]

Yes, 2:30am Central. I intentionally waited until it was the 3rd everywhere in the continental US. Fat lot of good that did.

[milimelo 4,166]

You should be able to reverse the denial. Looks like you’ve got your ducks in the row for attack plan to reverse it. Hang in there! 

[robhostein 57]

Damn, that sucks. All that time gone just for filing a day early. Yeah, this should be a sticky thread.

[CEE53147 559]

Submit or start the paperwork?

[Dashinka 23,199]

7 hours ago, Hypnos said:

Yes, 2:30am Central. I intentionally waited until it was the 3rd everywhere in the continental US. Fat lot of good that did.

Sorry for the mess, hopefully you can get it resolved in your favor. 

 

I wonder though if their systems use the Anywhere on Earth (AoE) Time Zone for determining the day.  If so, 2:30 am Dallas time is 8:30 pm the previous day in the AoE time zone.  This might explain the date difference.  It also could be that Hawaii and Alaska were also still in the previous day.

 

Good Luck!

Edited January 24, 2019 by Bill & Katya