Approved USCIS Case sentback to USCIS from NVC

[NGorge 44]

Please help!!

USCIS approved case in December and sent it to NVC. But in March NVC sent our case back to USCIS.

No one is giving us any reason as to what is happened. Anyone on a similiar path or heard of this before???

 

Please help.

[StaGor 26]

2 hours ago, NGorge said:

Please help!!

USCIS approved case in December and sent it to NVC. But in March NVC sent our case back to USCIS.

No one is giving us any reason as to what is happened. Anyone on a similiar path or heard of this before???

 

Please help.

Have you received welcome letter?

[NGorge 44]

2 minutes ago, StaGor said:

Have you received welcome letter?

I am asking for a friend who is going through this. So yes. They got a welcome letter and had an invoice id assigned and NVC reviewed the case for 2 months after which they sent it back to USCIS for review. But no one at NVC or USCIS knows the reson for sending it back. They aren't giving any information. 

[StaGor 26]

Just now, NGorge said:

I am asking for a friend who is going through this. So yes. They got a welcome letter and had an invoice id assigned and NVC reviewed the case for 2 months after which they sent it back to USCIS for review. But no one at NVC or USCIS knows the reson for sending it back. They aren't giving any information. 

I was approved by USCIS, but my case was transferred back and forth between USCIS and NVC 3 times within 2.5 months with no reason.

I called for weeks to NVC and USCIS, sent inquiries, reached out to senator and representative. Then suddenly got welcome letter.

 

Generally USCIS will tell you that very few cases are being returned back. It can be due to technical (wrong date, misspelling, missing stamp from USCIS) or legal (insufficient proof of bona fide relationship, missing marriage certificate, etc) errors. 

According to USCIS policy if NVC returns the case back, USCIS will not send the petitioner another notice. Instead they will only update case status electronically. They will ask you to allow 180 days since the accepted returned date to review the case to address errors and/or reach out to you to request more evidence (rfe) if needed, before forwarding it back to NVC.

 

I recommend to send and email to 

nvcresearch@state.gov with a case number (USCIS or CEAC) in email subject, and in body mention petitioner name, beneficiary name, both USCIS/NVC case numbers and scanned approval from USCIS and welcome letter from NVC. If you have multiple cases, submit each email separately.

Expect response in about a week and a half. Unless Trump ban slows things down.

 

Next, also submit USCIS case inquiry via their website for each case.

 

Next, call first NVC support line (can be over an hour of wait) and ask questions about return, and then USCIS about the same. You may need to be calling USCIS many times, be prepared to hear three different answers, so you may need to be calling a lot. Lastly, you can request to speak to tier 2 representative, which may or may not be helpful. (In my case it was more helpful calling dozen times to talk to tier 1 people. Same question will result in various answers and you can get more info).

 

Most importantly don't lose faith and don't waste money for lawyer.

[NGorge 44]

1 minute ago, StaGor said:

I was approved by USCIS, but my case was transferred back and forth between USCIS and NVC 3 times within 2.5 months with no reason.

I called for weeks to NVC and USCIS, sent inquiries, reached out to senator and representative. Then suddenly got welcome letter.

 

Generally USCIS will tell you that very few cases are being returned back. It can be due to technical (wrong date, misspelling, missing stamp from USCIS) or legal (insufficient proof of bona fide relationship, missing marriage certificate, etc) errors. 

According to USCIS policy if NVC returns the case back, USCIS will not send the petitioner another notice. Instead they will only update case status electronically. They will ask you to allow 180 days since the accepted returned date to review the case to address errors and/or reach out to you to request more evidence (rfe) if needed, before forwarding it back to NVC.

 

I recommend to send and email to 

nvcresearch@state.gov with a case number (USCIS or CEAC) in email subject, and in body mention petitioner name, beneficiary name, both USCIS/NVC case numbers and scanned approval from USCIS and welcome letter from NVC. If you have multiple cases, submit each email separately.

Expect response in about a week and a half. Unless Trump ban slows things down.

 

Next, also submit USCIS case inquiry via their website for each case.

 

Next, call first NVC support line (can be over an hour of wait) and ask questions about return, and then USCIS about the same. You may need to be calling USCIS many times, be prepared to hear three different answers, so you may need to be calling a lot. Lastly, you can request to speak to tier 2 representative, which may or may not be helpful. (In my case it was more helpful calling dozen times to talk to tier 1 people. Same question will result in various answers and you can get more info).

 

Most importantly don't lose faith and don't waste money for lawyer.

Wow.. Sorry you had to go through all that. Thank you so much for sharing what to do next. 

Had called NVC and USCIS a lot but to no avail. They keep repeating the same things that we can view online as the status ourselves. Since USCIS approved it initially, we were wondering if they were at fault. Hmm.. Much appreciated. 

[StaGor 26]

1 minute ago, NGorge said:

Wow.. Sorry you had to go through all that. Thank you so much for sharing what to do next. 

Had called NVC and USCIS a lot but to no avail. They keep repeating the same things that we can view online as the status ourselves. Since USCIS approved it initially, we were wondering if they were at fault. Hmm.. Much appreciated. 

Ask specifically about case activity. Ask when case was electronically transmitted. What is the last date in the ledger.

USCIS call times are very short.

Call their 800 number, then without listening to automated recording press 1 (for English), immediately 2 (other than case status), then 4 (address change, don't worry that it is unrelated), then 6 (connect to representative), then # (skip case number) and in 30 seconds you will be talking to tier 1 agent. Provide case number and start pushing them (but respectively and gently) to look into case activity from the USCIS>NVC electronic transmission standpoint.

Good luck!

[NGorge 44]

6 minutes ago, StaGor said:

Ask specifically about case activity. Ask when case was electronically transmitted. What is the last date in the ledger.

USCIS call times are very short.

Call their 800 number, then without listening to automated recording press 1 (for English), immediately 2 (other than case status), then 4 (address change, don't worry that it is unrelated), then 6 (connect to representative), then # (skip case number) and in 30 seconds you will be talking to tier 1 agent. Provide case number and start pushing them (but respectively and gently) to look into case activity from the USCIS>NVC electronic transmission standpoint.

Good luck!

Thank you so much!! Will do what you suggested..