N-400 rejected after strange RFE - Help?

[waitingforastar 1]

Hello. I'm wondering if anyone has some insight into my situation. I am a green card holder and I applied for citizenship for the first time in October of 2018. My interview was scheduled for September of 2019 and during the interview, I was asked why my mother was not a citizen (my father has passed away). My mother just never ended up applying for citizenship because she never felt she needed to but my older siblings did apply and were all naturalized before me. The interviewer was dwelling on this and requested that I provide pay stubs or a W-2, proving that my mother continued to work for her sponsor employer after she was granted permanent residency in 1993. I told him that it would be difficult to track down such documents from almost 3 decades ago but he insisted that I needed to find them. I passed the civics test and otherwise everything else about the interview went fine. So after the interview I was sent an RFE and I didn't know what to do. Tax records from 1993 don't exist anymore and the pay stubs are long gone as this was almost 30 years ago; the person at the tax institution laughed at how ridiculous the request was. I contacted several lawyers who were really surprised that I was asked this because it seemed incredibly unreasonable. Ultimately, I ended up providing a sworn affidavit from my mother saying she had worked at that time and I sent this in for RFE but ultimately my N-400 was rejected in October of 2019. I want to reapply for citizenship this year but I wonder how to navigate through this issue because it's on my record and I have almost no way of proving this in a manner that would satisfy them. Any advice would be much appreciated because I'm so lost.

[Timona 3,941]

No idea why your mom's stubs are being used to withhold your N400..

[arken 4,197]

Wow, it seems you were interviewed by an anti immigrant officer. Hopefully this time you get a professional interviewer. Nobody is required to keep working for the same employer even for EB based GC holders anyway.

[aaron2020 11,651]

That is the most ridiculous thing I have seen in a while.  Whether your mother wanted to naturalize or not has nothing to do with you.  

You should have appealed your naturalization denial.  

At this point, just apply again.

 

Best of luck.

[Dashinka 23,243]

I agree with the others, this request was extremely unreasonable, I would apply again.

 

Good Luck!

[aaron2020 11,651]

3 minutes ago, arken said:

Wow, it seems you were interviewed by an anti immigrant officer. Hopefully this time you get a professional interviewer. Nobody is required to keep working for the same employer even for EB based GC holders anyway.

While no one is required to continue to work for the employment based green card sponsor, USCIS can determine bad faith if the person quits the job shortly after getting that green card.  

It's just shocking that the adjudicator would go there after 30 years.  

[Mike E 11,723]

11 minutes ago, waitingforastar said:

The interviewer was dwelling on this and requested that I provide pay stubs or a W-2, proving that my mother continued to work for her sponsor employer after she was granted permanent residency in 1993.

If your mother violated the conditions of her LPR status by terminating her employment with her sponsor, then the IO is saying that her LPR status and yours should be revoked and thus you cannot naturalize.

 

I think it is ridiculous too.

 

1. You can file N-336 to get a hearing with a different IO.  Personally I'd do it with a lawyer, and have the lawyer there a the hearing.

2. In the mean time, I'd ask your mother for names of co-workers she worked with and get affidavits from those who can attest for how long they know her to have worked at that employer. I would also consider a ordering am employment background check on your mother. If had a 401k plan at that employer the current 401k or IRA custodian might be able to trace back the history.

[arken 4,197]

 

22 minutes ago, Mike E said:

If your mother violated the conditions of her LPR status by terminating her employment with her sponsor, then the IO is saying that her LPR status and yours should be revoked and thus you cannot naturalize.

I don't think there is a condition for LPRs not to terminate employment with primary sponsors. In fact USCIS even allows changing  the employment if i485 has been pending for more than 180 days. 
 

This is probably one of those cases of abuse of power. I bet if this case goes to another officer, he'll laugh at the this denial. 

Edited April 22, 2021 by arken

[aaron2020 11,651]

A green card is a green card is a green card.  A green card obtained through a family petition is no different from a green card obtained through an employment petition.

The mother did not violate any conditions of her green card since there are no such conditions that binds her to her sponsoring employer.

 

Much like a spouse who quickly leaves a marriage after obtaining a green card through marriage, it's suspicious when a employee quickly leaves after getting an employment based green card.  Like bad faith in getting a green card though a marriage that ends quickly, there is bad faith when getting a green card and the employee leaves quickly.

In the OP's case.  Mom's employment should be irrelevant after 30 years and should not be a barrier to OP's naturalization case.  There are very few people with tax records from the 90s.

[Boiler 43,433]

Wonder why a Lawyer could not have sorted this out, a denial for this?

[aaron2020 11,651]

2 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Wonder why a Lawyer could not have sorted this out, a denial for this?

OP said he contacted a few lawyers about the RFE.  OP said a sworn affidavit from the mother was sent in response.  OP didn't say if he had a lawyer prepare the response to the RFE or whether lawyers were consulted after the denial. 

[waitingforastar 1]

40 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

OP said he contacted a few lawyers about the RFE.  OP said a sworn affidavit from the mother was sent in response.  OP didn't say if he had a lawyer prepare the response to the RFE or whether lawyers were consulted after the denial. 

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the responses. A lawyer did prepare the response and it was recommended to me that I don't appeal and just reapply. At this point, is there a way to reopen the case or has the period for that lapsed? Is there a distinction between appealing after the initial denial and reopening the case now almost a year and a half later? Is it possible to reopen the case at this point?

Edited April 22, 2021 by waitingforastar

[aaron2020 11,651]

1 minute ago, waitingforastar said:

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the responses. A lawyer did prepare the response and it was recommended to me that I don't appeal and just reapply. At this point, is there a way to reopen the case or has the period for that lapsed? Is there distinction between appealing after the initial denial and reopening the case now almost a year and a half later?

Don't know if you've missed the opportunity to appeal.  Usually, you only have a certain amount of time to appeal a denial.

 

You should reapply.  

[xyz12345 260]

9 hours ago, waitingforastar said:

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the responses. A lawyer did prepare the response and it was recommended to me that I don't appeal and just reapply. At this point, is there a way to reopen the case or has the period for that lapsed? Is there a distinction between appealing after the initial denial and reopening the case now almost a year and a half later? Is it possible to reopen the case at this point?

 

9 hours ago, aaron2020 said:

Don't know if you've missed the opportunity to appeal.  Usually, you only have a certain amount of time to appeal a denial.

 

You should reapply.  

It seems like filing N-336 should have been fileddone within 30 days after denial notification acc to this:

 

https://www.mouratovalawfirm.com/blog/immigration/151-can-i-apply-again-for-citizenship-after-getting-rejected

 

[Timona 3,941]

Just reapply online and do not waste time appealing or on lawyers.

His siblings were already naturalized off the mother. Why is he the only one being denied? Seems you got a wrong IO