Appeal hearing coming up, pls advise.

M

mariainclt

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

Quick recap, was out of the US for 11 + months due to illness, applied for citizenship on return to the US, denied. Denial letter had several mistakes including wrong A #, wrong dates of becoming a LPR, wrong application date, wrong days outside the US...etc... Did Infopass, was told to appeal, did so.
Now I have received a letter telling me I have to appear in person for a hearing....I was under the impression my case would be reviewed by a supervisor and I would get a "denial upheld" or "denial overturned" letter without me being present....was I misinformed? is it normal to have a hearing in person when one appeals?

Also, the only problem with my case is proving I have not broken continuous residency, meaning, there are no other issues, no criminal, no tickets, nothing....should I get an attorney? So far I have never involved an attorney in any dealings with HS and never needed one before. I read somewhere an attorney can come with me to an interview but cannot speak....so what is the point in getting one?

Other than taking all the paperwork originally presented in my application and appeal....is there anything else I should bring, get ready for, learn, read, look up...:)

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
mariainclt said:
Hi,

Quick recap, was out of the US for 11 + months due to illness, applied for citizenship on return to the US, denied. Denial letter had several mistakes including wrong A #, wrong dates of becoming a LPR, wrong application date, wrong days outside the US...etc... Did Infopass, was told to appeal, did so.
Now I have received a letter telling me I have to appear in person for a hearing....I was under the impression my case would be reviewed by a supervisor and I would get a "denial upheld" or "denial overturned" letter without me being present....was I misinformed? is it normal to have a hearing in person when one appeals?

Also, the only problem with my case is proving I have not broken continuous residency, meaning, there are no other issues, no criminal, no tickets, nothing....should I get an attorney? So far I have never involved an attorney in any dealings with HS and never needed one before. I read somewhere an attorney can come with me to an interview but cannot speak....so what is the point in getting one?

Other than taking all the paperwork originally presented in my application and appeal....is there anything else I should bring, get ready for, learn, read, look up...:)

Thanks in advance for your help.
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You will definately need an attorney.........but why did you choose to appeal.........you could have cheaked the forms 100 times...........before sending in.........anyways u get u'r self a lawyer........don't wait
 
I could have checked the forms?? Maybe u misunderstood....it was THEIR denial letter that had tons of mistakes, not my application.
May I ask, why do u recommend I get myself a lawyer?
Thanks.
 
Just to remember, this is only a denial letter right? They are not starting revocation of green card as I remember.

If that's the case, the risk to you is the same ... denial again. I am not sure whether a lawyer can or can not speak, but given that the facts are on your side ... I think you should yourself be able talk through your list of issues with the denial. The lawyer has 2 benefits - knowing the law, and experience in keeping a monotonous tone (or otherwise) and bring the discussion back to the point without getting agitated, without raising a voice ... I am sure you can do that to if you practice. We usually get rattled under harsh questioning because we have not thought through some of the questions. So think through well about the case ... I am sure you have thought enough about the case having lived through it, but rehearse the sequence of events with a friend if needed, narrate the sequence yourself to a camcorder 2-3 times if needed.

If they question you on continuous residence, what is the issue? What data do you have to prove your residence? What data do you not?

EDIT:ADD: People with actual experience with a hearing will be the greatest help to this thread. Or people who can find similar threads and post them here...
 
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If it's an appeal hearing, you better bring a lawyer. Without a lawyer it's 95% sure that you will lose the appeal. If you had used a lawyer to file the appeal, you might have gotten approved without this hearing.

Interview is different, the lawyer can't do much in the interview.
 
mariainclt said:
Now I have received a letter telling me I have to appear in person for a hearing....I was under the impression my case would be reviewed by a supervisor and I would get a "denial upheld" or "denial overturned" letter without me being present....was I misinformed? is it normal to have a hearing in person when one appeals?
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When you file an appeal based on additional evidence you get a hearing infront of an immigration judge. At the hearing you will be given the chance to demonstrate why the denial should be overturned.

What was the reason for denial? I assume they denied you based on presumed break in continuous residency (11 months out of US), for which you failed to provide sufficient evidence, correct?
 
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Thanks all for your replies.
@San Jose....GC should not b in question as I had re-entry permit and was out of the country for under a year. Behaving in a professional manner and not raising my voice is not a question at all, I can hold my own. I will of course, go over every single form and piece of evidence and practice....goes without saying. thanks for your input. I searched for appeal hearings but didnt find any on the threads, I am sure there must be some though.

@JackoLantern....why do u say it is 95% sure I would get denied? I thought immigration lawyers tend to be on the side of petitioners? Do u have any links to other people's experiences...I searched but didnt find anything relevant. I did consult with a lawyer for my appeal, he said he would charge me $6000 and when he took a look at the appeal I had prepared he said he would have pretty much done the same thing I did.....so not sure if your assumption of having been approved is correct. Who knows...

@Bobsmyth.....the weird thing is...I didnt supply additional evidence, I simply re-submitted the evidence that the IO who interviewed me refused to add to my file and barely looked at, perhaps the supervisor considered that additional evidence since he had never seen it before? And yes, I was denied based on the 11 month trip, IO was absolutely not interested in any evidence I supplied or brought with me.

Does anyone have any links to other people's hearing experiences? Does anyone know of any GOOD attorneys in the Charlotte area? Thanks!
 
N-336

I am in the same boat waiting for a hearing on naturalization denial , how long it took you to get the hearing ?
share with us your experience , thanks
 
mariainclt said:
I didnt supply additional evidence, I simply re-submitted the evidence that the IO who interviewed me refused to add to my file and barely looked at, perhaps the supervisor considered that additional evidence since he had never seen it before? And yes, I was denied based on the 11 month trip, IO was absolutely not interested in any evidence I supplied or brought with me.

Does anyone have any links to other people's hearing experiences? Does anyone know of any GOOD attorneys in the Charlotte area? Thanks!
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What type of evidence did you supply to prove that you maintained your primary abode in the US?

You can try searching aila for a lawyer in your area:

http://www.ailalawyer.com/
 
@WBH not sure if u were being sarcastic but 6 grand is a whole lot of money to me.

@nazar had interview, received denial letter after 6 weeks. Appealed within the 30 days allowed. Received letter with hearing date after 6 weeks. I have my hearing in a month, hope that helps. Care to share your timeline?

@Bobsmyth I provided...A) with my application: Rental agreement, affidavid from landlady stating all my belongings, mail etc remained in US, rental pay receipts, tax returns, and B) I also brought with me to interview...mail (ie phone bill, cc bills, general mail), financial (cc statements, bank statements and short explanation of how I have supported myself), dated monthly medical reports stating my progress and that I was not allowed to travel. IO refused to add anything listed under B) to my file.
 
mariainclt said:
@Bobsmyth I provided...A) with my application: Rental agreement, affidavid from landlady stating all my belongings, mail etc remained in US, rental pay receipts, tax returns, and B) I also brought with me to interview...mail (ie phone bill, cc bills, general mail), financial (cc statements, bank statements and short explanation of how I have supported myself), dated monthly medical reports stating my progress and that I was not allowed to travel. IO refused to add anything listed under B) to my file.
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Strange that the IO did not even consider your evidence. Overall, it sounds like you have a very good argument for getting USCIS denial overturned based on their incompetence and refusal to enter evidence at interview.
Aside from the 11 months outside US, was there any other period since becoming LPR that you remained outside US for several months?
 
The 11 months and another almost 6 months trip, both for medical reasons, both with dated medical reports, both with same supporting evidence. I def meet physical presence requirement by a long shot and the only trip that should be a problem is the 11 month.
As I originally posted, IO was very unpleasant, was absolutely not interested in any evidence I had, he glanced at it and would not add any of it to my file, I brought copies of it all with me for that specific purpose but he didnt want to know. He had his mind made up before I even walked in.

So....do I need an attorney or can I represent myself at the hearing? (I know I can but should I?) Are there examples out there of others that have been through the appeal process, with or without attorneys?
 
mariainclt said:
@JackoLantern....why do u say it is 95% sure I would get denied? I thought immigration lawyers tend to be on the side of petitioners?
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But USCIS is NOT on your side. Bring a lawyer, or they will make mincemeat of you standing there by yourself. They will be unconvinced by your arguments because in their mind you don't know what you're talking about.

mariainclt said:
He had his mind made up before I even walked in.
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And that is exactly how they will treat you in the hearing if you show up without a lawyer.


Do u have any links to other people's experiences...I searched but didnt find anything relevant. I did consult with a lawyer for my appeal, he said he would charge me $6000 and when he took a look at the appeal I had prepared he said he would have pretty much done the same thing I did.....so not sure if your assumption of having been approved is correct. Who knows...
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It's not just what you write in the appeal, it's the fact that a lawyer writes it which adds more weight to it. If a lawyer wrote the exact same thing, they would have considered your case more carefully before denying your written appeal, because when they see you have a lawyer they'll realize they might have an expensive fight on their hands if the denial doesn't have a solid reason. They'll see that you're probably not going to be one of the many people who just accepts the denial and walks away.

Talk to another lawyer about what it would take to review your case and show up at the hearing.
 
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@mariainclt, I think they look for evidence keeping ties to the US , ONE important tie is keeping your employment in the US , I was way for only less than three months BEFORE interview was working abroad and still got denied , so even less than 6 months you get denied if you do not keep enough ties , job, house , family in the US , goog luck with you appeal and share the results , thanks
 
WBH said:
$6000.00 is outrages. Many would not spend that on death penalty appeal :)
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mariainclt said:
@WBH not sure if u were being sarcastic but 6 grand is a whole lot of money to me.
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What I meant is exactly that $ 6000 is way too much. I think it is just one'day work so even if the lawyer charge $ 200 a hour,
it should just be $1600. Don't hire such a lawyer.

Many people even decide to delay application because application fee is too high. There is no point in spending $6000
to get approval. It may be worth $ 6000 to fight off deportation but for citizenship, one can simply wait for few years
to recumulate continuous residence years
 
@nazar12 leaving the US and working overseas shows one's residency has by definition been abandoned. I dont know the ins and outs of your case but sounds like the "working overseas" is the kicker. In my case I did not work overseas, even if I had wanted to (which I didnt) I wouldnt have been physically able to do so. I was there purely for medical reasons, I expected to return much sooner but was not allowed to fly by my doctors. I do understand I need to show that I didnt break continous residency and not simply that I was not allowed to return, I believe I have enough evidence to support my case though. I wish you the best of luck and please keep us posted.

@WBH Thanks for taking the time to clarify. I totally agree with you, and I will not be hiring him. I am looking for attorneys with experience in the Charlotte area.
 
@mariainclt, May be if there are not sure about you continous residency , they just deny you and let you fight for that , the administartive review might help to clarify those issues , that why you IO was not interested looking into all the evidence you have , and he was thinking let him come for another hearing , I spoke to the lawyer and he said if you apply again instaed of appealing you agrree with them , if they deny you again then you go to court , will cost you more money and time . I am still working for the same employer I worked befor , still living in my condo , hope that will proof still have some ties , otherwise it is another 4 years and ond day to wait , that why you need to go through this painfull process, my lawyer said if they think it abandonment it easy to overcome , will see
 
@mariaincl I agree with others better to have a lawyer or someone who knows the law , I assume you were not working all that time you were away , not working need to explain how you were supporting yourself, otherwise immigration have doubts , I found somwhere on the internet that a guy got denid because he was laid off of his job ?
 
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