Application Denied a day before Oath Ceremony. No notices received.

[Ingvarr 0]

Hello to everyone.

Here is my incompleted Citizenship journey and I am pretty desperate now, need your advice.

Filled N400 on Sept. 25 with my wife (both came to US as refugee in 2008). She already passed everything and recently received her US passport.

My interview was scheduled on April 2nd at local Anchorage office, I came, with the officer we went through the application and made some changes about my wife (Citizen now, plus we have changed our last name). He asked 6 questions, reading/wrigting was perfect as well. Shaked my hand, congratulated me, issued me the paper with "Congratulation, your application is recommended for approval" and the Oath ceremony schedule (on Apr. 25th). Next day (April 3rd, Saturday??), the online status was changed to "Request of Evidence". Within the next 15 day (til April 18th) I haven't receive any notices, but usually they been delivered in 3-4 business days from the date of online stats change.

I've called USCIS and spoke with an officer (not agent though). He said that "He wouldn't worry about it as I have my Oath ceremony schedule in hands, just simple go to the ceremony, but I will resend the letter to you". April 24th, a day before ceremony, in the morning I've got a call from the officer who interviewed me, he said "Sorry sir, we didn't get any documents from the main office yet, I don't know, they probably need more time for background check or something. There is no ceremony for you tomorrow, but we will keep you posted". On the same evening the online status was changed to "Denial decision has been mailed to you today". I was pretty shocked. As for today, May 9th - no notices been received, not request of evidence or denial. My mail address is my bussiness address, I always getting mail without any problems and haven't change the address for years.

I gave them a call today, spoke with an agent, he made a service request so I am kinda waiting for the letter again.

Now, here is the dilemma:

- Me and my wife, we are both "clean" inside out. Taxes paid on time, no even one traffic ticket been received for all 5 years.

- We both case as a refugee, with one kid, now we have two more american girls

- We are both green card holder, own the property and pay taxes

- I haven't been registered with Selective Service because I had no idea about them. Now I am 29. I contacted SS with an explanation, they responded that "everything is okay, we accept your explanation, you good to go". During the interview, the officer marked that point with "see the statement" and expained to me that this is for the guys above, who will go through the application, you haven't been registered but you have an explanation".

- We are changing our last name during the naturalization. My wife already changed hers, and it was marked during the interview.

- We were booked a trip to Israel in the end of May, but now I am slightly worried about my Permanent resident status, I know it sound foolish, but can my Naturalization Denial be affected to my current stauts and I better send somebody with my wife to Israel?

And one more. A guy from our town had the exactly same situation. But he received the denial notice. They said that he was denied because of "lack of good moral character (false selective service registration", so we responded to them with reference letter from his employer and immediatelly got his Oath Ceremony scheduled on the same day as mine, he is done now. May that be the case?

Looking for any suggestions, thoughts, advices.

[christeen 966]

Until you get the actual reason for denial, it is all just speculation... So I would keep on them to get that no and see exactly what the issue is. Hopefully it can be easily remedied...

[Ingvarr 0]

Thanks Christten, but at least I found the community group whom I can speculate with I will do my best to get this letter and will see what it is. Thank you!

[Trooper 2]

Wow, that's just unbelievably messy. I'm pretty sure that everything that's happening around your case is a system trick problem. Why don't you try to call and talk to Tier 2 officer once again. What I know for sure is that, if there's any letter issued on your file, they can see it all and can easily read it out before if gets in your mailbox. Sometimes they are super strict about rules and regulations, but from my experience you are allowed to request such information as a main applicant. Just try to explain your matter and if he/she will try to deny your request, don't settle for it, just know that you are fully obligated to obtain the latest activity on your file. Another way is to make an InfoPass appointment but I guarantee the earliest date won't be available for at least 2 weeks later.

Best of luck to you and let us know how it goes

[Ingvarr 0]

When I talked to the officer in regards the Request of evidence - he couldn't see any information. I was expecting him to read it our but he said he doesn't have permission. Infopass - there are only 4 options to choose and none of them can be related to my case. And even I pick any of them I am getting the message that there is no appointments available.

[Trooper 2]

That's exactly what I was referring to when I said that I have a pretty sufficient experience with them. Every interview or update that I had before, all the dates I obtained it from them. It all depends on the officer. Some might tell you that they don't have permission, and some might just go ahead and read it out to you with no extra headache. I can give my latest example as a proof. My status online says that currently I am in oath scheduling que since March 25th. I called them in the end of the March and it turned out that my oath has been already scheduled for June 16th, and because of time length they won't send a letter until May 15th. Now here's the thing: the very first time when I called, officer hesitated to give me any specifics regarding my oath date, because I asked as a additional question if there was a way for me to find out the date, since I had no knowledge that it was already scheduled, and he said that he wasn't authorize to release such information. I hung up, called them again and went straight to the subject, I said I need to find out the date and, guess what? not only he gave me my oath date but I got the address and location as well, so don't settle for their BS, you are on top of your case, just call and demand it.

P.S. they also created service request for me one time, because my interview got descheduled and I wanted the explanation, but as the saying goes: I guess it got lost in the mailbox

Edited May 9, 2014 by Trooper

[Ingvarr 0]

Haha, thank you for your post I believe you will get your Oath Ceremony on time this time. I was hoping to get mine and about 50 people from my church (americans) were about to come to see how is everything going. But then 12 hours before the ceremony my case was denied, it wasn't fun. Especially for Americans. Couple of of them made a jokes like "do you really wanna be a citizen of this country with this bureaucracy?" ha. They never been in Russia, or Geogria .

Well, now I am expecting a call from the officer (followed your advice, but scheduled a call-back as the waiting time were about 90 mins). Will see what I get there. Trying to be nice and very positive, see if it will help. Some of them sounds so robotics. I don't like it.

[Birdo 16]

The officers definitely only answer direct questions - not ones that speculate or beat around the bush.. So ask straight up: "what is written in the denial decision letter" and "please re-mail it".

[Ingvarr 0]

Okay, here is some updates. I've talked to an officer by the phone, they cannot see why the denial was made but she helped me to make an aapoitment to the local office on Monday. I will go there and hopefully I will get some updates soon.

[Hypnos 6,576]

From what you've said I suspect your denial is based on lack of Selective Service registration. If you were meant to register but didn't then you're usually barred from naturalising until you turn 31.

[JimmyHou 610]

Thanks Christten, but at least I found the community group whom I can speculate with I will do my best to get this letter and will see what it is. Thank you!

From what you've said I suspect your denial is based on lack of Selective Service registration. If you were meant to register but didn't then you're usually barred from naturalising until you turn 31.

I'm afraid that I have to agree with Hypnos. Failing to register for selective service is considered evidence of lack of good moral character. They don't deny your application the moment they receive it because they want to give you a chance to explain your failure to register during the interview. Unfortunately, not knowing about the law isn't usually considered a valid reason. To overcome a moral character issue, you are expected to wait five years from the date of the incident. In this case, it would be five years from the last time you could have registered (age 26), which means you can apply after your 31st birthday.

By all means, go ahead and try to get more clarity from them on the reason for the denial, but if it's the SS registration, you're probably better off waiting and reapplying when you're 31.

[pauli 49]

yep, it's speculation, but it is most likely the secret service thing, especially given that your wife didn't encounter any problems.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I agree about the Selective Service.

Your LPR will not be cancelled, so you can travel and everything. You just didn't get "upgraded" to USC.

You'll need to get refugee travel documents for travel if you don't have a Russian passport anymore (many refugees don't have their countries' passport).

Edited May 10, 2014 by Harpa Timsah

[Trooper 2]

Lack of Selective Service registration can be determined during the interview and not after when oath is already scheduled. I'm super confident that this situation has everything to do with system processing. He already explained himself on the interview and apparently excuse was granted, so I'm sure they just have to fix it manually. Keep us updated and don't come out from the office without another oath notice in your hand

P.S. they obviously they don't know about Russia or Georgia so don't even bother trying to explain lol : )

[Hypnos 6,576]

He already explained himself on the interview and apparently excuse was granted, so I'm sure they just have to fix it manually

I don't believe there's any leeway. If you were an alien required to register with Selective Service but didn't, then you must wait until you turn 31 before you are eligible for naturalisation. Hopefully the OP will keep us informed, but I am confident that this is the issue.