What if My Immigration Case Is Delayed or Stuck?
You may have a lot riding on your immigration application with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which is why it is understandable that you probably check its online case status tool daily. If the message is consistently stuck on “Case Was Received,” or eventually changes to “No Updates Available” or “Case Not Found,” you may become growingly confused and worried. Understanding what these messages mean can help you respond appropriately and avoid making any mistakes in the process. With that being said, please continue reading to learn why your USCIS immigration case might be delayed or stuck and how one of the experienced attorneys at our Lyndhurst family & individual immigration law firm, the Law Offices of Salvatore A. Falletta, can help you get the answers you are looking for.
Why does my USCIS immigration case have no updates available?
You must not immediately panic when you read case status messages like “No Updates Available” or “Case Not Found.” For all you know, this may be because the USCIS’s online systems may just update slowly. Your case may still be getting processed internally even if this is not reflected online.
Specifically for a “Case Not Found” notice, you should double-check that you entered the 13-character identifier for your immigration case correctly in the case status tool. If you are certain you are correct, but this message keeps popping up, there may have been a technical or clerical issue on the USCIS office’s end.
For example, a USCIS officer may have scanned a barcode incorrectly, misspelled your name, inputted the wrong birthdate, or made another data entry error upon receiving your immigration application. If this fails to be rectified on its own and you are left without an update for a considerable timeframe, you may ask for your attorney to intervene.
What should I do if my USCIS immigration case is delayed or stuck?
Before springing into action, you should confirm that your immigration case’s progress is truly stuck and you are not simply being impatient. That is, you should use the USCIS’s processing time tool to check the current average processing time for your specific immigration form. If you are validated, you may proceed with filing an online case inquiry.
Namely, such an inquiry may prompt the USCIS office to conduct an internal review and move your stalled case forward. However, you should not expect to receive a detailed explanation of what caused the delay, especially if it was an error on their end. Or, you cannot anticipate that this resolution itself will be reached rapidly.
Unfortunately, you may find yourself in a predicament where your unnecessarily delayed immigration case harmed your employment opportunity, threatened your legal presence in the United States, or otherwise. Under these circumstances, your attorney may advise on whether more advanced remedies are appropriate (i.e., an escalation request, Ombudsman intervention, federal mandamus lawsuit, etc).
If you wish to explore your legal options moving forward, please allow one of the skilled attorneys from our Lyndhurst family & individual immigration law firm, the Law Offices of Salvatore A. Falletta, to be your guiding force. Please schedule your initial consultation with our firm at the first chance you get.
