Ade Shell

Hello!

We filed form 1-751 to the appropriate service center for our state. We had to file
at the Texas Service Center. We filed in May 2000.

In July 2000 we got the receipt extending my husband for a year while processing him.
Well, we waited and waited and waited and heard nothing. Finally after around 8
months or so I called the TSC. When I finally got through they told us that his case
was sent to the local office (Atlanta) in October 2000.

I asked why, and they didn't know. When we filed we checked and double checked that
everything was in order and provided plenty of proof of our marriage.

Anyway, I asked for the number to the Atlanta office so I could call there. She told
me that local INS offices take NO calls. You have to either write them or call the
800 cust service natl line. So I wrote 1,2,3, 4, then 5 letters to no avail. THey
never responed. I did manage to find the number to Atlanta, but that lady was right,
they would not answer my questions. The lady in Atlanta said, "we have rooms full of
papers, you expect someone to personally look through all these papers for your
specific case, NO WAY! She said you have to come down in person, we do NOT take
questions over the phone.

So, in July 2001 his receipt date was expiring so we had to take off of work , drive
6 hrs to Atlanta, pay for hotel, kennel the dogs, then stand in line outside the INS
office from 4am till 9am!

When It was finally my turn, and we were called up to the counter I thought, wow
finally I can get some questions answered! Boy was I wrong. We got a very mean lady
who just took out a stamp and stamped his passport for another years extension while
they process his case.

I told her it was the I-751 and she said those don't go here! I told her, I KNOW!
But TSC said that they sent us on here, and I would like to know why. She said, well
if it was sent here then you need an interview. I asked her if she could check the
status and see why we were sent here and when our interview would be. She said NO! I
asked again, she said NO!

I said, "Lady please. This is the only way to get answers. The 800 number doesn't
have specific info and said the only way to get answers is to come in person to
Atlanata. Even Atlanta themselves told me via phone to come down to get answers. So
here I am after driving all this way, taking off of work and so on and you won't tell
me why we were sent here or at least or status. She said NO!

I am a very shy person, but I spoke up and said I wanted to speak to her supervisor!
Finally her supervisor came out and was very very nice! She said it took her nearly
30 mins to even find our paperwork because someone mis-filed it and it was in the
wrong pile! She said that it looked like the only reason it was sent there was
because they needed updated tax forms and my husbands birth cert. Well, I showed her
that that was all in there.

She gave me an envelope addressed to the I-751 drawer and said since a year has
passed since we filed, just mail in the newest tax forms as well as another birth
cert. She said it wouldn't take long for us to be contacted for our interview. I said
around a year? She smiled and said, "no dear, much sooner than that, we have new
people here now"! So we thanked her a million times and went home.

We mailed the forms she requested, but still have not heard from them for an
interview. We contacted our Congressman 2 times, and all he did was mail us a letter
stating we were "pending". And the first time we contacted them was before we went to
Atlanta, so the obviously didn't check because when we were there in person, they
said we were in the wrong pile!!!!

Its coming up on July again. Which means we have to take off work again, drive 6
hours, pay for hotel, kennel dogs and so on. Basically go through the whole thing
again since we were not contacted yet!

I am SOOOOOOO frustrated! Does this sound normal? Why does Atlanta not have a number
we can call?? I want to scream?

Do you think we should get a lawyer?

Please email me at [email protected]

thanks! Michelle

[email protected]

Rete

First off let me tell you scared me honey. They wanted a birth certificate? And you had included one? I quick clicked to the INS website and read the instructions for the I-751 again and again and there is nothing about including a birth certificate other than one for children born of your marriage. Phew! Thank goodness because we didn't include any.

As for your dilemma, a lawyer ~might~ help. Sometimes attorneys have connections and sometimes they don't. Your congressional representatives liaison was unhelpful and I don't blame you for not trusting them again. Do you have the name of the supervisor you spoke with last year? If you do, great. If not, I would suggest you write one more time and this time address the letter to the supervisor and to the district director of Atlanta with a cc to the immigration liaison for your rep. If you have not heard from them within six weeks then it is time to go in person once again and see what the hell is going on.

BTW has your husband considered naturalization? It might be just the thing to cure this dilemma since the I-751 has to be approved or will be approved the same time as the naturalization if it has not been done already.

Rete

Ade Shell

Rete, Can he apply for naturalization at the same time as the I-751 since he is in '
pending' status?

That sounds like a great idea. We just thought that he wouldn't be able to do it
until he completed the I-751 process since it states that you have to be in 'current'
status I believe to apply for naturalization?

Sorry to scare you about the birth certificate thing! I didn't remember until
reading your post to me that you are right about the birth cert not being a part of
the I-751.

The reason we sent it in the first place with the I-751 was because when he got his
temp 2 yr greencard, they did a type-o on his birthday and had the wrong date!

Now, I know it was a type-o because when he had to get that, we gave them tons of
documents like his birth cert, filled out the forms with the correct date, letters of
ref with the correct date, his social security number with correct date.

So we asked the cust service line what we should do. They said to send in a copy
of his birth cert with the I-751 so that when they process it, they can correct
the date.!

Sorry for scaring you again, I completely forgot about that!

I see you sent the post from britnet? My husband just joined britnet, he is from
UK and is footy mad! He wanted to talk about the world cup there!

Carole

Ade Shell wrote:
    > I am SOOOOOOO frustrated! Does this sound normal? Why does Atlanta not have a
    > number we can call?? I want to scream?

Boy, does all THIS sound familiar! We're going through pretty much the same
thing now, waiting for the congressman's office to call me back for the second
time this week. They've been no help so far - we still haven't heard from TSC
about the removal of conditions, and Pavel's 1 year extension expires June 30th.
Fortunately, though, his N-400 is moving right along (he was fingerprinted
today), so all we need to worry about is getting an extension of the extension
till they call him for one interview or the other.

You said you found a number for Atlanta where you can actually talk to a real
person... if so, you're one step ahead of US. I have yet to talk to anyone but a
machine in Atlanta, so I'd love to have this number. Not that it'll do much
good, but you never know... I might get someone more helpful on the phone when I
call. I really don't see how getting a lawyer would help, if even your
congressman's office can't manage much - unless he has some really good
connections somewhere. We've just about given up on hearing anything about the
I-751 at all, and are pinning our hopes on the N-400 interview for solving it
all. Best of luck to yall!

Carole

Andy Platt

"Ade Shell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Rete, Can he apply for naturalization at the same time as the I-751 since he is
in
    > ' pending' status?
    >
    > That sounds like a great idea. We just thought that he wouldn't be able to
do
    > it until he completed the I-751 process since it states that you have to
be in
    > 'current' status I believe to apply for naturalization?

He is in current status. VSC and CSC have explicitly stated that you can file and
they will process the I-751 as part of the N-400 processing.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.

Rete

Ade

NP about the scare. It gets the heart pumping nicely. Your hubby is still in status even without the I-751 approval. Remember he is eligible for the I-55 stamp to extend his PR status so that is not an issue. He will need to supply a copy of his green card, notice of action/extension and any I-551 stamp he has in his passport along with the other docs and he can file.

I can fully understand your frustration. It mirrored ours when after a year the green card never arrived and inquiries by an attorney and the initial inquiry by our rep didn't produce results. Then to be faced with a rude INS clerk who refused to give an extension stamp was the last straw. Finally the reps liaison officer proved successful and then only because Jim's guard unit was activated and it sure wouldn't have been good for INS to have it publized that one of its member could come back to the US if sent out of the country because of an INS fiasco. Turned out the green card printing form was never sent to the service center and was sitting on the DAO's desk for a year.

Wishing you speedy results.

Rete