n 400 denied 319.1(b)

N

Neno

Registered Users (C)
I just got a letter on the mail stating that: "it is determined that you are ineligible for naturalization for the following reason"

Then the letter states that: "Based on the information presented is determined by CIS that you have not established the burden established under section 319(a) of the Act. This decision is made without prejudice toward filling of a new application in the future."

Some background:
I married my husband in 2003, my green card was granted on 2006 (3 years ago) since INS took forever.
I and my husband have been living together without interruptions since 2002 and we still live together.

Information I sent to CIS for the N400: We let a room with a mutual friend of ours that we have known since 2003. So we don't have a lease, instead we have a roommate agreement that we sent CIS. My car is paid for and I bought before marrying my husband and is on my name and my ex-husband’s name I also sent that. I sent the last vehicle registration on mine and my ex's name. I sent the transcripts of the last three years IRS (filled jointly), cable bill (that is the utility we pay as the other is pay by our roommate), credit card joint account statements. Bank statements (joint account). Insurance where the insured drivers are me and my roommate (My husband is listed as a driver).

The reason I think they denied is because the insurance I have is with my roommate, reason being my husband has some traffic violations and since I have a clean record and since we all live together we were saving hundreds of dollars this way.

We don't have any money to pay for the $605 plus lawyer fees (I am a full time student and my husband supports both of us).

My questions are as follows:

1. If I don't pay the fee to request the hearing and let my case as is, would they take my green card away? Will this have a negative impact on my future 5-year application for citizenship?
2. If I do pay the fee, what other proof can I submit to establish the burden? My husband voted last November, so we could submit that, my husband is willing to sign an affidavit stating that we are still married and that have never been separated, etc. Our roommate is willing to do an affidavit stating that we have lived with him. Other that, we submitted everything that we can think of.
3. If I do pay the fee, what are the changes of being denied again and lose $605 + lawyer fees (giving what I will submit under 2)?

I guess I am trying to make up my mind as to if is worth it to "gamble" $605 + lawyer fees or just wait another 1 year and 10 months to reapply under the 5-year rule. (BTW: I am sure I will still be married to my husband when applying for the 5-year).

Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm just so depressed right now!!
 
Just in case: 319.1. (b) Means: "an applicant lives in marital union with a citizen spouse if the applicant resides with his or her current spouse. The burden is on the applicant to establish, in each individual case, that a particular marital union satisfies the requirements for this part."

Further
319.1(b)(2)(B):
"Any informal separation that suggests the possibility of marital disunity will be evaluated one case-by-case basis to determine whether it is sufficient enough to signify dissolution of the marital union"

These were the articles mentioned on my denial letter.

Also for further clarification: I never changed the title and registration for my car because I cannot stand my ex and I don't talk to him at all and I don't think I will not sell my car in the near future since it's paid for.

I live in Florida
 
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Firstly I find it very hard to believe that your N-400 was denied just because you do not have a joint insurance policy with your husband. There has to be more to this. Here are your answers:-

A1: No, your GC will not be taken away.
A2: Depends on what exactly caused them to deny the N-400. As I said before, it cannot be just because of one missing document
A3: Chances will depend on what was lacking in the first application and whether you fulfill that in your second application.


Neno said:
1. If I don't pay the fee to request the hearing and let my case as is, would they take my green card away? Will this have a negative impact on my future 5-year application for citizenship?
2. If I do pay the fee, what other proof can I submit to establish the burden? My husband voted last November, so we could submit that, my husband is willing to sign an affidavit stating that we are still married and that have never been separated, etc. Our roommate is willing to do an affidavit stating that we have lived with him. Other that, we submitted everything that we can think of.
3. If I do pay the fee, what are the changes of being denied again and lose $605 + lawyer fees (giving what I will submit under 2)?
Click to expand...
 
Thanks

There really is not any more to the story.

The letter states the 319(a) burden not being established as the reason.

On the narrative of the letter the officer states what I’ve said above:

1. Insurance Policy.
2. Car title being on my name and my exs.
3. Florida registration on my name and exs.
4. Rental lease submitted does not indicate landlord, signature of landlord or duration of agreement (unfortunately I don’t have a copy as the computer of the landlord -my roommate- crashed) to verify that. It might have been that we overlooked these items by an honest mistake.
 
With your first marriage, did you gain any immigration benefit like a visa?
Also, why is your car and registration in your ex's name?
 
Thanks

No I did not get any visa benefits from my ex.
My car is also on my name (both my ex's and mine) because he was co-signer, co-owner of the loan. I never changed it since I have never sold it and I do not speak to my ex. Once I need to sell it I am going to have to figure out what to do.
 
How soon did you remarry? USCIS is very suspicious of any marriage based application because of fraud, and are more likely to deny a marriage based application if there is any inconsistencies with proving that you were in a marital union during the entire statutory period.
Having a car registered in your and exs name along with insurance with roommate was enough of an inconsistency for them to deny your case. Unless you have additional proof of marital union during entire statutory period, filing an appeal is pointless.
 
Thanks...

There was a period of about 1 1/2 years between my divorce and when I married my husband.

We really have no more proof besides the ones I mentioned on my original post. In retrospective I should have had insurance with my husband the whole time and put him on my car title. I just cannot believe that I've been married and living with my husband for 6 years and that they might still have doubts about my marriage.

If I decide not to appeal, will they make it more difficult on the 5-year application?

I still don't know what to do... Please continue posting replies...
 
Just file under five year rule and save your money. If you don't have any additional evidence your appeal will most likely be denied and you'd have to pay again when file for the second time.

Cheers.
 
Neno said:
Thanks...

There was a period of about 1 1/2 years between my divorce and when I married my husband.

We really have no more proof besides the ones I mentioned on my original post. In retrospective I should have had insurance with my husband the whole time and put him on my car title. I just cannot believe that I've been married and living with my husband for 6 years and that they might still have doubts about my marriage.

If I decide not to appeal, will they make it more difficult on the 5-year application?

I still don't know what to do... Please continue posting replies...
Click to expand...

If you decide not to appeal, you won't have to prove marital union under 5 year rule. At this point I'd wait to file up to 90 days before your 5th year as LPR instead of filing an appeal without more substantial proof of marital union during the statutory period.
 
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Neno said:
Thanks...

There was a period of about 1 1/2 years between my divorce and when I married my husband.

We really have no more proof besides the ones I mentioned on my original post. In retrospective I should have had insurance with my husband the whole time and put him on my car title. I just cannot believe that I've been married and living with my husband for 6 years and that they might still have doubts about my marriage.

If I decide not to appeal, will they make it more difficult on the 5-year application?

I still don't know what to do... Please continue posting replies...
Click to expand...

No, they will not make it more difficult on the 5-year application. The truth is applying for citizenship under 3-year rule is more difficult than applying for citizenship under 5-year rule. Applying under 5-years rule doesn't require anything that tied to your husband. All things that you need in order to apply for US citizenship under 5-year rule are tax filing (joint tax filing is not a problem), your driver license, your green card, your current passport, and any immigration documents where you maintain to be a legal resident. Appealing is not worth it unless you have any evidences. Appealing costs you more. Don't worry and you can apply under 5-year rule which is best for you. :)
 
I dont understand why you submitted documents that had your ex's name on them with yours. You might have been better off just sending the joint documents with your current husband.
If you appeal, i think there needs to be more effort into establishing a valid marriage. Unless you retain an aggressive lawyer, they'll probably deny you again on your appeal.
 
Thanks

Thank you very much for all the replies, your insight has been most helpful.

Regarding why I had my ex's name in my car I did not think that will hinder my process. I don't even know if my ex even still lives in Florida!

We have made up our minds and we think we are just going to wait. My husband just found out that the hotel he works for will have 17% occupancy for the remainder of the month so they will cut his hours so we really don't have the money.

A last couple of questions that I will like to get some feedback on:

Should I send a letter to CIS stating that I'm not appealing the case since I have no money?
Should I add an affidavit with my husband’s signature stating that we have been living together and are still married?
I just don’t want them to think that we weren’t living together or anything like that.
Is this worth it? Or am I thinking too much into this?

I just don't want them to deny me two years from now and have to go thru this ordeal once again. I'm so disillusioned about the whole think that am even considering staying with my green card forever.

I though being married for 6 years was proof enough that the marriage is legit but I guess I was naive.

Thanks again. (I'll check the replies tomorrow... keep posting)
 
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USGC485 said:
No, they will not make it more difficult on the 5-year application. The truth is applying for citizenship under 3-year rule is more difficult than applying for citizenship under 5-year rule. Applying under 5-years rule doesn't require anything that tied to your husband. All things that you need in order to apply for US citizenship under 5-year rule are tax filing (joint tax filing is not a problem), your driver license, your green card, your current passport, and any immigration documents where you maintain to be a legal resident. Appealing is not worth it unless you have any evidences. Appealing costs you more. Don't worry and you can apply under 5-year rule which is best for you. :)
Click to expand...

What type of immigration documents to maintain legal residency?
I'm confused here. Is this like my transcripts from school? (I'm a full time student, bills, bank statements, etc?) Please clarify
 
Should I send a letter to CIS stating that I'm not appealing the case since I have no money?
Click to expand...
No need to do that. They'll assume you are not appealing, unless you actually appeal.
Neno said:
I though being married for 6 years was proof enough that the marriage is legit but I guess I was naive.
Click to expand...
For the 3-year citizenship rule it's not enough to show that the marriage was initiated for legitimate reasons. They also want to know that the marriage is still viable and healthy during the last 3 years, regardless of how long you have been married. So someone who has been married for 15 years with multiple children would be denied if the evidence indicates their marriage is on the brink of divorce.
 
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Neno said:
What type of immigration documents to maintain legal residency?
I'm confused here. Is this like my transcripts from school? (I'm a full time student, bills, bank statements, etc?) Please clarify
Click to expand...

no, I mean how did you get your green card? And before you got your green card, were you on legal non-immigration status like f1, h1, b2 etc? USCIS will verify that you were neither out of the status or illegal alien so they approve you to become a US citizen. if you were not out of the status or illegal alien, you don't have to worry about it. Marriage certificate will be needed too.
 
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