USCIS Offices
I posted a few weeks ago about agencies saying different things about who is eligible for the free I-171H extension and who is not. Now I’m hearing from various people who have asked their USCIS office directly, here is what I’m getting:
- Some USCIS offices are telling people who expire after July 31st that they are only eligible for the one free extension if they have paid the new, higher fee. Meaning that people about to expire are not eligible for it. However, many more USCIS offices are telling people who expire after July 31st that they are eligible for the one free extension.
- All USCIS offices are telling people who have an expiration date between now and July 31st that they are not eligible for the free extension.
- All USCIS offices seem to agree that you are only eligible for the free extension if you apply while the I-171H is still good, but there is disagreement about whether your fingerprints must also still be “good” for you to be eligible.
- People who fall under a USCIS office that is saying you are only eligible if you’ve paid the higher fee in the first place are going to their Senators and Representatives for help. Sounds like a good idea to me.
I believe that International Adoption just points out that government in general is pretty inefficient. All government, it would appear.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Our fingerprints are running out in September and depending on whether we are matched this time - we may have to get them done again (3rd time). I was told by our local office that we will not have to pay for our fingerprints this time. Apparently we also get one of those free. Don’t know what all is required to still be in place in order for this to happen, but thought I would throw it out there. We already have our 2nd I-171H.
PS. Love that my anti-spam word is USCIS…love the irony of that
June 27th, 2007 at 9:46 am
My 171H expires JULY 30th. After several emails with my USCIS Office (Atlanta) although they have not PROMISED me, they’ve given me a glimmer of hope that I might squeek through without having to pay the new higher fee. They told me, but did not PROMISE, that the official wording is: “for applications filed on or after 7/30 and which have not expired, the fee is waived.” They told me my new application MUST arrive at their office ON THE 30th… I’m assuming because it will still be valid on the 30th and it will be filed on the 30th. That’s my plan… we’ll see how it works out.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Our I171-H expires on the last day of August. What I would like to know is if they recieve the application by that day does that qualify or do they also need the homestudy in hand by expiration too. We want to extend the life of our renewal as long as possible since it could very well expire a second time before we get a referral. I e-mailed our USCIS but haven’t gotten an answer yet….I have a feeling some of them are as confused as we are. Has anyone else gotten and answer to this question??
Michelle LID 4/06
June 27th, 2007 at 10:06 am
“All USCIS offices seem to agree that you are only eligible for the free extension if you apply while the I-171H is still good, but there is disagreement about whether your fingerprints must also still be “good†for you to be eligible.”
Is there any word on whether you get the free renewal but have to pay for the fingerprints? I’m wondering whether they are splitting the deal?
June 27th, 2007 at 10:12 am
We expire on July 7th. I talked to our USCIS officer twice on the phone and couldn’t get a straight answer about whether we could get the freebie or not. Two weeks ago, I decided to send it all in without a fee and see what happens. Looks like we are screwed…
June 27th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Unfortunately, when we renewed in April, we did not get anything for free..
Do our fingerprints really change that much in one year’s time? And if they do, haven’t we been basing a lot of police/detective work on unreliable prints?
jellybean- LID- 3/7/06
June 27th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Ok, just had to share…This happened in the last 20 minutes!!!! I could not make this kind of stuff up. It is almost stranger than fiction.
Our I-171H expires on Aug. 3 so I am trying to have all my ducks in a row to try and get that free renewal.
Our Agency is in 1 state and our HSP is in another state. I have spoken to both regarding this and both have had slightly different info from the USCIS office in their respective state. So I decided to call the 1-800 number for the USCIS.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
After 13 minutes of navigating their automated menu and SPECIFICALLY selected the choice for orphan adoption. The very nice lady had NEVER heard of an I-171H before. Sooo she put me on hold so she could research the new requirements and fee increases. When she came back she said that orphan adoptions were such a small percentage of the total amount of work that they do I was the first call she had EVER had regarding it.
To find out about the I-171H form she had GOOGLED it!! YES you read correctly! She recommended that I also Google it. She said that there is no scheduled fee increase nor any info regarding a change in policy regarding a free renewal.
I, of course, said yes there is and told her what I said above regarding conflicting info from the 2 states. She recommended that I make an appointment to meet with somebody at our local office to discuss the matter. I said that I was still concerned about that because I already knew that the 2 different offices in 2 different states were giving out different info.
She said, and I quote, “That is not possible. They are both immigration officers with access to the same info.”
PLEASE!!! Somebody beam me back from the Twilight Zone!!!!
June 27th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
jelly bean - they make you redo them so they can re-run them to make sure nothing comes up. they don’t store the previous ones. We were due to exp last week, so I sent ours in a bit early to ensure avoiding the new fees. So, yeah it really stunk to have to spend all that $$ again.
June 27th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
jellybean and others…yea they do not keep the fingerprints which is funny because all you hear post 9/11 is all about “big brother” and how everything about you is kept on file. Guess that doesn’t include fingerprints - LOL! This all comes down to what the government wants most from you which is more $. If it wasn’t this it would be something else…sigh…
June 27th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
One thing I have not seen any agency mention is the new program that USICS reps talked about at the JCICS conference this year. Starting I believe in July they were piloting the orhan petitions through a new supposedly more efficient electronic process. Under the new system for instance you have a family webpage specific to your file where you can track status of your petition. Also they would keep electronic records of birth and marriage certificates so that those reapplying on subsequent adoptions would not have to produce them again.
They also mentioned moving to either a national orphan processing unit or to several regional ones sicnce they admitted that the differences in the individual office procedures and procesing times varied greatly. I think the decision they make was primarily hinged on staying within budgetary contraints. For example they would have to process aplications with the same number of FTEs as they currently do within the individual offices. I think the advantge to regional offices is there could be some expertise gained in the field and they would hopefully apply more consistently the guidelines. We have a local orhpan officer who was plucked from the many immigration officers and only devotes one day a week to orphan petitions. Not much specialization there!
The only recent difference in our local USICS is that they have just recently started sending actual appoinments for the fingerprints whereas in the past they just sent a generic letter and you could show up anytime. In the most recent case the appointment is five weeks from the submission of the homestudy so it doesn’t look like it will speed things up any.
From someone who is still waiting on a 171-H for a WC that needs surgery. I am now on week 8 of the wait.
June 27th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Seems kind of Silly to have people get (and pay for!) things that may expire Three Times before they travel to China.
June 27th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
RQ - What is the best way to find out what a specific office is saying? I’m emailed our local office but have not received an answer. Our agency simply says they are still working with USCIS to clarify. I would at least like to know what they are currently saying, even if that does change.
June 27th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Check out your USCIS office room in the forum to see if anyone has posted something there. (And for anyone who has information, you can post it there to help others out.)
Or, ask your local FCC group if any of them has been able to get any answers.
June 27th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
What REALLY frustrates me, with a late December lid, we will probably be traveling around the same time that our fingerprints are set to expire.
Why are fingerprints only good for 15 months, when I-171H’s are good for 18??? Both HAVE to be current when you travel. Why aren’t they the same amount of time? Our USCIS office is 4 hours from our home and we have already gone to the expense of re-uping both.
SO, our second I-171H will still be good, but our second set of fingerprints will not!
Any sense here?
We will have top do our fingerprints a third time!
Sorry, I had to get it out.
We are not wealthy folks and additional expense is cutting into our travel budget. Way into it!
June 27th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
babymakes3 - maybe they’re the same people responsible for the decision on the number of hot dog buns vs number of hot dogs in a package. It’s frustrating.
June 27th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
vtmama,
Ain’t it the truth?! I’ll never understand the hotdog thing either, although it doesn’t frustrate me nearly as bad as this whole USCIS thing!
It’s a conspiracy I tell you! ArRRURGHHHHHH!
June 27th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
waiting4Ash:
That is our government hard at work:) Hope you get a straight answer out of someone soon (without googling it).
June 27th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Okay, I’m convinced. There is a conspiracy to test the grit of waiting parents. Who is this mystery person running both the CCAA and the USCIS? HA HA HA……..HO HUM :)
June 27th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I finally got an e-mail answer to my question from our USCIS. Yep, after looking on the web site, then doing the whole phone thing, then on to the special e-mail address for the person who handles adoption issues (”only use this address for your I171H renewal question” I was told) and waiting 6 days for my answer, this is what I get: “For information regarding the new fee policy effective on July 30, 2007, please visit our website at http://www.uscis.gov. Thank you”. I’m thinking, great they have put the information on their site now so I look again. Well, maybe I’m just stupid but I can’t find anything new there
Talk about a run around. I guess I’ll have to contact my state congressman….
June 27th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
I am having the same problems. I Emailed my agency and was shocked that within the hour I got a response back (they have been very slow lately answering back). All I was told is that USCIS has updated free info and their site and I can get all my answers there. I looked for over an hour and can’t find a thing. So it looks like we will be calling ours as well.
June 27th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
If you go to the USCIS home page, and click on “more news”, then click on “New Fee Structure Takes Effect on July 30, 2007″, you will see the form (it’s a PDF). Look down at the I-600 section, and you will see the “note” about getting a free extenstion.
June 27th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Oops, hit send too soon. I think the problem is you can’t “renew” an I-171H. You must refile the I-600A - and that’s the form the information is hiding under. :) The I-171H is their Approval response to the I-600A, if that makes any sense.
June 28th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Aha! I will look again where you suggested. Thank you Sherry in Vermont!
July 11th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Our expiration is July 23, 2007. I’ve contacted our local USCIS office (Atlanta) and they said they have no discretion over it. I sent an email to our senators, but haven’t heard back. I just don’t understand the effective date. It makes sense for those with a fee increase so that they get a window to get forms in at a lower fee, but a fee waiver should go into effect immediately.
July 11th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
jd, the thing is, if you look at the actual rule change, as published in the Federal Register (http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/FinalRule.pdf), you’ll see that the two changes that affect us are just a couple of a whole slew of changes that go into effect on the same date (60 days after the rule was published in the Federal Register). I’m not an administrative law expert, but I would guess that there are probably restrictions on what they can use for effective dates on these types of rule changes. It sucks, I know, when you fall through the cracks and don’t make the effective date for the renewal fee waiver.
July 16th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
i contacted my state’s senators’ offices, but haven’t heard anything back. In the meantime, I had to go ahead and mail in my application with the fee. thanks for your reply.
July 26th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
If anyone is still checking this posting, I did hear back from my senator’s office and they didn’t do anything that I didn’t do myself. They had someone from the senator’s office here in Atlanta contact USCIS and USCIS told them the same thing they told me. The senator’s office attached their email from USCIS in a letter to me. My check has been cashed already. So, if your expiration is after July 30, you should be eligible for one free extension. At this pace, maybe i’ll be able to take advantage of the free extension in 18 months when I still haven’t traveled.