I-751 MESS UP... BE CAREFUL!

[zzz123 0]

Lucifer,

Any luck with INS?

I have the same situation. I applied for I-751 in March, 2007. On Oct, 17 I went to Houston INS and they told me that some kind of letter was sent me in July.

I called 1-800 and asked them to resend the letter that I never received. Instead, on Nov 14th, I received a denial notice stating I didn't reply to RFE they had sent me in July 2007. I even do not know where they sent it to. I hired a lower and he sent a fax to the director of Texas Center with request to reopen my case, since I never received a RFE. He supposed to answer in 10 days but he still did not. I re-filed another I-751 on Dec, 4th and still waiting on their response. Now I do not know what I can expect.

I just hoped that they will open my case and I can work and travel. I do not care how long does it takes. I am married for 5 years and happy with my husband and my kid. I just need NOA. But from your email I see that I will not able to travel!!!! It is unbelievable.

Did you receive the NOA1 the first time you applied in March 2007?

[Peter T 0]

I applied for I-751 in March, 2007. On Oct, 17 I went to Houston INS and they told me that some kind of letter was sent me in July.

I called 1-800 and asked them to resend the letter that I never received. Instead, on Nov 14th, I received a denial notice stating I didn't reply to RFE they had sent me in July 2007. I even do not know where they sent it to. I hired a lower and he sent a fax to the director of Texas Center with request to reopen my case, since I never received a RFE. He supposed to answer in 10 days but he still did not. I re-filed another I-751 on Dec, 4th and still waiting on their response.

That is scary indeed. After your lawyer sent the Motion to Reopen and it wasn't answered, what did your lawyer do or recommend? There must be a way to drag the USCIS to immigration court. Decisions of immigration judges overturn USCIS's decisions.

[Peter T 0]

I filled I-751 at VSC on Nov 15th 2006. Got NOA Dec 1st 2006 and fingerprinted Jan 2nd 2007. Waiting....waiting....waiting... Starting from June 2007 I repeatedly and until Nov 5th 2007 checked the website and called 800 number to find out that nothing new had come and the case was pending normally.

Guess what; on Nov 5th 2007 I got a DENIAL letter stating I didn't reply to RFE they had sent me in June 2007.

Guess what more; the receipt number on the denial did not match the receipt number on my first NOA, the number I checked online all the Time. And guess a little bit more. The state abbreviation in my address for Delaware was printed NJ .

I went to INS office and a very nice lady told me that all those “small” mistakes happen. The letter is received by zip code. The receipt number doesn’t have to be the same.

I should file a new I-751.

The nice lady might have been less nice to you than she appeared. She recommended "new filing" where a Motion to Reopen instead might have been better, but a Motion is more cumbersome to the USCIS. Did you pay the full fee for the second application? The outcome of a Motion would depend where all these small mistakes would have made, inside the USCIS or outside. Did you consult with an immigration attorney? Did you file your Motion to Reopen with an immigration attorney?

I was denied my first (conditional) Green Card, due to an oversight on my side (I sent the requested evidence with a normal letter that got lost; now I send only tracked letters). My attorney wrote a Motion to Reopen that was granted after about six weeks, if I recall correctly. I couldn't travel or work in the meantime and even afterwards, until the Green Card was granted, because my work and travel documents had expired after the long processing.

[Spiderette 0]

I definitely send everything via traceable mail. I usually dhl/fedex/ups and Google for the street address (since they don't deliver to PO Boxes) I advise that to everyone.

Edited January 8, 2008 by Spiderette

[sj5 4]

I filled I-751 at VSC on Nov 15th 2006. Got NOA Dec 1st 2006 and fingerprinted Jan 2nd 2007. Waiting....waiting....waiting... Starting from June 2007 I repeatedly and until Nov 5th 2007 checked the website and called 800 number to find out that nothing new had come and the case was pending normally.

Guess what; on Nov 5th 2007 I got a DENIAL letter stating I didn't reply to RFE they had sent me in June 2007.

Guess what more; the receipt number on the denial did not match the receipt number on my first NOA, the number I checked online all the Time. And guess a little bit more. The state abbreviation in my address for Delaware was printed NJ .

I went to INS office and a very nice lady told me that all those "small" mistakes happen. The letter is received by zip code. The receipt number doesn't have to be the same.

I should file a new I-751.

After filling a New I-751 on Nov 13th 2007 I got a new NOA Nov 20th 2007. As me and my wife have purchased tickets for the Christmas holidays to Europe our dreams for traveling were shattered. I went to INS office again with the new NOA and the same very nice lady stamped my passport, extending I-551 for additional 1 year and stated that I can work.

But she did point to me: NO TRAVELLING!!!

Now I am waiting for FP notice.

On Nov 29th 2007 I also filled I-290B...Motion to reopen. Because I never received any RFE. I'm now waiting.....waiting....

Regards,

KAKA

Sorry to hear these.

[oksana 0]

To zzz123:

>Did you receive the NOA1 the first time you applied in March 2007?

I did. I did have fingerprints as well.

>That is scary indeed. After your lawyer sent the Motion to Reopen and it wasn't answered, what did your lawyer do or recommend? There must be a way to drag the USCIS to immigration court. Decisions of immigration judges overturn USCIS's decisions.

I can not wait on immigration court. It does take too long. The Motion to Reopen does not grant the right to work until Green Card is approved. In meantime nobody knows how long does it take. My lower said that in same cases in Texas it takes over 6 month. Re-filing another I-751 grants right to work. That is very important for me even it can take longer then the motion to reopen approval.

Last week I finally received a NOA1. It says that I can travel and work again. I can not see any T (terminated) letter in my case number. NOW I AM COMPLETLY CONFUSED. Lucifer posted that he is not allowed to travel. In my letter I see "during the on-year extension you are authorized employment and travel". Seems like different offices issue different receipts.

[Lucifer 0]

Sorry folks, I have been busy with work lately and haven't posted any updates. I filled a new I-751 in November 2007. Got fingerprinted a month later and now last week (June 2008) received a new RFE that I replied to yesterday. I guess they want all the couples to share on paper all the belongings they have. Somehow they do not understand that after a marriage, even if something is not shared on paper it still is shared.

Edited June 26, 2008 by Lucifer

[wifey246 0]

Sorry folks, I have been busy with work lately and haven't posted any updates. I filled a new I-751 in November 2007. Got fingerprinted a month later and now last week (June 2008) received a new RFE that I replied to yesterday. I guess they want all the couples to share on paper all the belongings they have. Somehow they do not understand that after a marriage, even if something is not shared on paper it still is shared.

Wow, you'd think that after all the trouble they put you through, they'd give you a break this time.

I agree that if something is not shared on paper that it is still shared.

Even when my family moved to a new place and applied for new utility accounts, we had a hard time asking those companies to put both our names on the bills. The best that some of them could do was add one of our names in the address field because their system doesn't allow for 2 names.

And even if it will save us more money if we just get individual health insurance with each of our employers, we decided that I should waive my benefits and let him add me as dependent so we can have more proof.

And before we got married, we always preferred paperless billing. So when we were getting our submission ready, we discovered that we have credit card accounts that are still in our old addresses.

We both had some years of car payments left so we just kept our separate accounts.

It's a good thing that inspite all these, we were able to gather enough evidence to prove that we are legit. But USCIS sometimes sees things differently - so unless I get the approval email, I will always be stressed out. I've been reading posts with RFE so I can be prepared if we get one, since there is a time limit to submit these. If you don't mind, what did you submit and what additional evidence did they request?

Thanks!

[imailin 0]

I filled I-751 at VSC on Nov 15th 2006. Got NOA Dec 1st 2006 and fingerprinted Jan 2nd 2007. Waiting....waiting....waiting... Starting from June 2007 I repeatedly and until Nov 5th 2007 checked the website and called 800 number to find out that nothing new had come and the case was pending normally.

Guess what; on Nov 5th 2007 I got a DENIAL letter stating I didn't reply to RFE they had sent me in June 2007.

Guess what more; the receipt number on the denial did not match the receipt number on my first NOA, the number I checked online all the Time. And guess a little bit more. The state abbreviation in my address for Delaware was printed NJ .

I went to INS office and a very nice lady told me that all those “small” mistakes happen. The letter is received by zip code. The receipt number doesn’t have to be the same.

I should file a new I-751.

After filling a New I-751 on Nov 13th 2007 I got a new NOA Nov 20th 2007. As me and my wife have purchased tickets for the Christmas holidays to Europe our dreams for traveling were shattered. I went to INS office again with the new NOA and the same very nice lady stamped my passport, extending I-551 for additional 1 year and stated that I can work.

But she did point to me: NO TRAVELLING!!!

Now I am waiting for FP notice.

On Nov 29th 2007 I also filled I-290B...Motion to reopen. Because I never received any RFE. I'm now waiting.....waiting....

Regards,

KAKA

I am telling you these people over USCIS are stupid!!!!!!!!! but why is the reason she told you NOT TRAVELING????? if you already have an extension and a stamp why you can not travel??????????

[Lucifer 0]

RFE: they are not specific; just a general list, the same one as on i751. Lease, saving accounts, children, tax returns, joint property..... Bla bla bla....

I had provided everything except joint property... Now I transferred the property to our both names and Send it to them.

And by the way.... Don't ever call the 800 number, they don't know nothing...zero.

Edited June 26, 2008 by Lucifer

[oksana 0]

I also have some news. I had an interview yesterday for N400 ( applied on April,14th) and I-751. Both petions were adjudicated together. I had my husband with me but he was not allowed to go in. I passed the tests of English and US government and history but the officer did not make the final decision. She said that she does not see any problem with my i-751 since I had provided enouph evidence but she is going to go over it again and will send me a notice with the final decision. In case if they approve i-751 I will get a notice to report for the Oath Ceremony. She did not tell how long does it take. So I am waiting again... . Waiting....waiting....waiting... It never ends.

[russian_armenian 4]

That is a scary story. And looks like happens often enough.

I have a lawyer. That was one of the reasons. Our mail get lost sometimes; sometimes we get mail sent to neighbours. I just hope that lawyers' copy (actually original would not get lost).

I filled I-751 at VSC on Nov 15th 2006. Got NOA Dec 1st 2006 and fingerprinted Jan 2nd 2007. Waiting....waiting....waiting... Starting from June 2007 I repeatedly and until Nov 5th 2007 checked the website and called 800 number to find out that nothing new had come and the case was pending normally.

Guess what; on Nov 5th 2007 I got a DENIAL letter stating I didn't reply to RFE they had sent me in June 2007.

Guess what more; the receipt number on the denial did not match the receipt number on my first NOA, the number I checked online all the Time. And guess a little bit more. The state abbreviation in my address for Delaware was printed NJ .

I went to INS office and a very nice lady told me that all those “small” mistakes happen. The letter is received by zip code. The receipt number doesn’t have to be the same.

I should file a new I-751.

After filling a New I-751 on Nov 13th 2007 I got a new NOA Nov 20th 2007. As me and my wife have purchased tickets for the Christmas holidays to Europe our dreams for traveling were shattered. I went to INS office again with the new NOA and the same very nice lady stamped my passport, extending I-551 for additional 1 year and stated that I can work.

But she did point to me: NO TRAVELLING!!!

Now I am waiting for FP notice.

On Nov 29th 2007 I also filled I-290B...Motion to reopen. Because I never received any RFE. I'm now waiting.....waiting....

Regards,

KAKA

[Illinois 0]

I am telling you these people over USCIS are stupid!!!!!!!!! but why is the reason she told you NOT TRAVELING????? if you already have an extension and a stamp why you can not travel??????????

Perhaps because the "Denied" application is flagged in the system? I am just speculating.

[Lucifer 0]

:star: Finally Approved! Hip Hip Hurra! :star:

Today, July 21st is one of those days in my life that are included in my "LUCKY LIST".

Good luck everybody.

I will send in N-400 This week.

Regards

Lucifer

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Congratulations! What a relief for you after all those problems.