Citizenship DENIED! HELP!

There's no use in appealing. The registration was within the 5-year window. She shouldn't reapply until the registration is more than 5 years ago and she has $30K to spend on lawyers.

Registering to vote is a deportable offense for noncitizens*. She should just renew her green card and be happy that they didn't deport her.


*except in the few jurisdictions where noncitizens can vote in local elections.
 
There is only one option: Get a lawyer. I doubt that they will start to deport you because there are many rejections of citizenships and I dont think they start to sift through thos denied applications for deportation process. Even if they did or didnt, you have to get expert's opinion than the forum's opinion. At the end, it will be you and your lawer to determine whether you can appeal the case. From a common sense perspective, I think your case will be reversed and you will be granted citizenship because 1. You didnt vote 2. You didnt serve in the Jury 3. You didnt perform any activities that a citizen can and would perform. Hence, you did register in error but didnt actually execute the rights of a citizen. The entire world knows how U.S. system is so flawed when it comes to voter's registration,,, I am sure there has been many other cases like this in front of the Judge who will preside over your case when you do appear in front of him/her. Good Luck...
 
ok if she came here in june of 99 and it happened in october of 2004 how is that with this 5 ear time frame??? also

SunnyJ thx for the enlightenment seriously..the lawyer i spoke with said $2500 retainer fee to start case...any idea how much this will cost we both literally are making minimum wage as it stands now. im 22 she about to turn 23. he said hes gonna talk to his partner and see if they will start it for $1000...what do i do here?
 
SunnyJ i see you became a citizen in four months am i reading that correctly? if so how? if we do have to restart from n-400 scratch is there a way to possibly speed it up?
 
waynermunki said:
ok if she came here in june of 99 and it happened in october of 2004 how is that with this 5 ear time frame???
Click to expand...
The 5-year moral character period counts backwards from when you apply for citizenship, not forwards from when you arrived in the US. October 2004 is less than 5 years ago.
 
It's five years counting backwards from the time of N-400 application. There is more forgiveness for faux pas committed before that 5 year period.

I'm leaning more for reapplying instead of spending all that money on an appeal, of course, this could put potential citizenship 7 months down the road or thereabout. I'm sure the appeal process might also consume a good amount of time. Reapplying seems cheaper and probably with better likelihood of a good outcome. I don't know if someone has mentioned but she should ask the registrar of voters to unregister her, and if she has done that already to collect a letter from the registrar of voters proving the "deregistration". Anyway, I am saying this based on past comments from other forum members.
 
waynermunki said:
ok if she came here in june of 99 and it happened in october of 2004 how is that with this 5 ear time frame??? also
Click to expand...

5 years means for citizenship application, there should not be any wrongdoing
within 5 years prior to the application. This voting registration occured in oct 2004 so it has not been 5 years. It is not that one commited a wrong doing within 5 year sfater admision into USA (that is for certain crime for deportration purpose).

I suggest your girlfriend forget about this denied application. It is a done
deal. What she need to consider is whether to reapply after october 2009.

Her trouble is that even the voting regitration with US citizenship claimed
in oct 2004 is outside 5 years after october 2009 for good moral charcater determination, it can still be considered deportable. USCIS deciding to use prosecutorial discretion not to deport her this time does not mean they will
not try to deport her next time (there is no cuh thing as double jeopardy rule
here).

So what she need to do is to take good care of her GC status and consult a lawyer for reapplication of citizenship after october 2009.
 
waynermunki said:
SunnyJ i see you became a citizen in four months am i reading that correctly? if so how? if we do have to restart from n-400 scratch is there a way to possibly speed it up?
Click to expand...

Some DOs are faster. But within the jurisdiction of the same DO, there is no
way to speed it up than normal pace.

If she is fit and age-appropriate, she can join the military to speed up
and if you serve in the military, the IO should be more forgiving
 
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hurucan she had to submit information stating she had not voted so she did ll this infact while reading through it again i noticed she was automatically unregistered due to the fact she did not goto a jury summons she said she was not a citizen and couldnt go they said well why are you registered to vote then? it states it was cancelled on aug 1st before her interview done on aug 15th..........should i get an apointed lawyer? if i do appeal this decision how can that affect the process if shes denied again?
 
waynermunki said:
should i get an apointed lawyer? if i do appeal this decision how can that affect the process if shes denied again?
Click to expand...

I don't think government appoint a lawyer for immigration process unless
it is about criminal charge. For immigration matter you have to find a lawyer on your own.
 
Yes, I became a citizen in 4 months thats because Seattle process the applications faster. Dallas/Houston is even faster,, within 3 months. Perhaps, you can move to those states where the IOs are a bit laxed...:) kidding.

Nevertheless, as you see you will find different opinions from the forums and most of them are based on experience and practical examples. Perhpaps, it is a cheaper alternative to re-apply than appeal but that doesnt gurantee that you wont face the issue again regarding Good Moral Character. Although, you can add an explantion letter along with your new application regarding the incident and error caused by ignorance of the citizenship requirement during voter's registraiton. The lawyers fee that you mention is not uncommon. But is he the only lawyer in town? There are other lawyers who may charge less fees. But I would ask myself, whats the importance of citizenship approval at this moment? If it is of urgent need,, then either re-apply or appeal imeediately. If it isnt, wait for few months, let the incident be more than 5 years and start the process later.
 
SunnyJ said:
whats the importance of citizenship approval at this moment? If it is of urgent need
Click to expand...

I guess there is no urgen need. Many PRs who are perfectly eligible for citizenship do not even bother to apply for it. But for many once such
thing occur, one will be very frustrated and can not have peace of
mind until this matter is over no matter what kind of outcome come out.
 
I think there is no point in fighting the denial. Let her re-apply after October, 2009, as other suggested. You will not get a free lawyer from the government to appeal N-400 denial.
 
If she applies again wouldn't they give her a hard time because of this issue? There has to be a way for her to solve this with the appeal or an attorney before she applies again and pays the fee when she might be able to get it resolved.
 
Mimi1212 said:
If she applies again wouldn't they give her a hard time because of this issue? There has to be a way for her to solve this with the appeal or an attorney before she applies again and pays the fee when she might be able to get it resolved.
Click to expand...

Since claiming to be US citizen is deportable, it can only be resolved by
judge's cancel of removal decision, re-adjustment of status to PR etc. Otherwise it is always subject to USCIS prosecutorial discretion.
Their decision not to deport the offender this time does not mean
they can not deport the p[erson next time unless the above process
kick in to resolve it.

But the OP's girlfriend has no choice now. To get a cancel
of removal one need to be in removal in teh first place, and to get there,
one should start citizenship application again with perhaps better results
--just approved!!!!

So the OP's girlfriend has the following options

(1) appeal the denied application. I believe this is very hard because the wroingdoing occurred within 5 years
(2) Forget about citizenship and make peace with reality of just living in USA as PR for the rest of life - the cons of this option is that
one such thing occur, one is fully aware that GC only carry a risk and one always can run into trouble due to ignorance etc
to get deported
(3) Reapply for citizenship after oct 2009 with possible outcomes as
(3.1) approved,
(3.2) denied but with USCIS decision not to deport her
(3.3) denied but with USCIS decision to deport her

If (3.1), everything ends well, if (3.2), then it is back to what the situtation is today , if(3.3),
then you choose to fight the removal without certainty of wining or leave teh country
 
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waynermunki said:
hurucan she had to submit information stating she had not voted so she did ll this infact while reading through it again i noticed she was automatically unregistered due to the fact she did not goto a jury summons she said she was not a citizen and couldnt go they said well why are you registered to vote then? it states it was cancelled on aug 1st before her interview done on aug 15th..........should i get an apointed lawyer? if i do appeal this decision how can that affect the process if shes denied again?
Click to expand...

In most cases these denials are without prejudice, so she should be able to apply again and have the case reviewed again under whatever new circumstances. In this case if she applies in let's say November of this year, and the registration to vote happened more than 5 years earlier, then that registration would fall outside of the statutory period for good moral value and she would have better chances (not 100%, but better) to get the application approved. She might type -- with the help of a good lawyer possibly-- a letter explaining how she mistakenly registered to vote. I think her chances to get approved if she applies after October are pretty good. I think I have seen some approvals in the forum from people who registered to vote, but didn't vote.

If you appeal it shouldn't affect any future application. It would be a matter of time and money that you'll spend on the appeal.
 
ok so it sounds like i shouldnt sweat it and go have her reapply in october are you certain she will be able to do this?
 
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