N400 submittal 3 months prior to GC 5 year anniversary mark?

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EnglishBob

New Member
I submitted my N400 last week and I just got my package returned to me saying that I'd filed it too early, my GC resident since date is 06/17/02 so I assumed that a 90day prior to anniversary submittal date of 03/19/07 would work. They stamped it, barcoded it, stamped the back of my check and on 03/21/07 decided the continuous residence dates didn't match up! What's the deal here Am I just a math idiot or is there a secret formula these guys use that I'm unaware of? I'm assuming the 3 months they reference is equivalent to 90 days, counting back from my 06/17/02 reseident since date that puts me at 03/19/07 by my calculation. Is this more complicated than this?

Thanks

English Bob
 
No one is quite sure about how the USCIS does date calculations. I suspect that they have a 9 or 11 fingered man figure it out.

The general recommendation on this forum is to not cut it too close - to add a week to whatever calculation you, as a mere mortal, come up with.

I think you can just refile. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
 
EnglishBob said:
I submitted my N400 last week and I just got my package returned to me saying that I'd filed it too early, my GC resident since date is 06/17/02 so I assumed that a 90day prior to anniversary submittal date of 03/19/07 would work. They stamped it, barcoded it, stamped the back of my check and on 03/21/07 decided the continuous residence dates didn't match up! What's the deal here Am I just a math idiot or is there a secret formula these guys use that I'm unaware of? I'm assuming the 3 months they reference is equivalent to 90 days, counting back from my 06/17/02 reseident since date that puts me at 03/19/07 by my calculation. Is this more complicated than this?

Thanks

English Bob
Click to expand...

You calculations appear to be correct. Did you have any 6+ months stay abroad since you got your GC?
 
Guys, is the 90 days before the 5 year anniversary day that you "send" (mail) the application or is it is the day you "apply" (read sign and date the application). We have return of the applications over and over again on this forum and I am wonderig if this might be related to the application signing date?
 
Hi EnglishBob,

When did you actually mail the application, and what date did you put in the sign date in the form? I think if you wrote a signed date prior to the eligible date that could have caused your problem. It is not clear to me from your post what you did. It seems that your application got rejected on March 21st, but you also mention something about March 19. My gut feeling is that you signed and mailed before that. I don't think if you signed and mailed your application on the 19th that USCIS was going to be so fast to open and reject just a couple of days later. Is it possible that you meant that you sent it earlier and they received it on the 19th? Anyway, when it is this close one increases the risk of rejection for early submission. In a way count yourself lucky that they caught this before cashing the check and making you waste all the money and time of an interview to be rejected at interview time, and if you still think they made a mistake on rejecting your application you could probably write to them and let them know. The general advice in this forum is to leave a few days, perhaps a week of buffer for your application, then you don't have to worry about having calculated things right, or the application to be rejected, and one week more or less usually doesn't make much difference in your total processing time.

My 2 cents.
 
I agree with Huracan and its better that USCIS caught the dates at the beginning of your N-400 process EnglishBob.

Consider the case of my friend's sister. She passed the interviewed at the Washington DO and was given an Oath letter for later that day. As she was leaving, they called her back, reviewed the case again and told her that her application is being cancelled - Because she had applied 2 weeks earlier than the eligible date. In all this process, she has wasted about 8+ months, not sure about the refund of the N-400 fee though. If I had not known about a personal experience like this, I would not have believed that USCIS can make such a big oversight (and such an agony to the applicants).

So few weeks’ waiting is much better than let's say the pain of repeating the whole process again.........
 
Refund? There are no refunds... best you can hope for is your application will be returned without the check being cashed.
 
This scares me as My GC date is exactly the same 06/17/02 and I was planning applying for my Citizenship.... maybe I will wait for few more days and send the application....

EnglishBob!! did you have lot of stay out of US? just trying to know what could have gone wrong
 
How's this for a rule that this forum can recommend

  1. Take your GC date
  2. Add 5 to the year (3 if you are doing this through marriage)
  3. Subtract the lesser of 90 days or 3 months
    (i.e. get the later of those two dates)
    (so, if it is May 15th you would subtract 90 days and get Feb 14th (90 days earlier), but it it is Sept. 15th, you would take June 15th (3 months earlier, not June 17th (which is 90 days earlier))
  4. Wait an additional 5-7 days for good luck
 
Wise recommendation:)
This should be the signing date as well as mailing date. Some people might sign and complete it and then wait a few days and then mail it on the due date. They too will get stuck.

Until English Bob gives a clarification of the missing information we will still not be clear if the rejection is related to mailing date or signing date or both.

Flydog said:
How's this for a rule that this forum can recommend

  1. Take your GC date
  2. Add 5 to the year (3 if you are doing this through marriage)
  3. Subtract the lesser of 90 days or 3 months
    (i.e. get the later of those two dates)
    (so, if it is May 15th you would subtract 90 days and get Feb 14th (90 days earlier), but it it is Sept. 15th, you would take June 15th (3 months earlier, not June 17th (which is 90 days earlier))
  4. Wait an additional 5-7 days for good luck
Click to expand...
 
Resubmittal!

I talked to 2 separate USCIS agents today and they told me to just resend it now that I'm a week into the eligible 90 day timeframe. They told me it was OK to resend the same documents and supporting information. They didn't say anything about sign dates etc..., The sign date on my form was 03/19/07 the exact 90th day as I mentioned in my earlier post, after reading some of the comments here, I'm now freaking out about the sign date issue a bit! I find it hard to believe however that they don't give you a little latitude on that sign date issue though as you'd usually sign the form a few days before your mailed submittal reaches them anyway right? But then again the immigration system here never ceases to amaze me!

I've only been out of the US for a collective total of 51 days in the GC 5 year period, the USCIS agents confirmed that this wasn't the problem it was just the submittal date issue again they and the letter they sent me said nothing about sign dates.
 
People have been bounced before based solely on signed dates. Think I would have reprinted the first page.
 
EnglishBob,
Which Place are you applying from?, just wanted to know as my GC date is also the same and I am from West Los Angeles... would be sending my documents in a week.
 
Location

I'm sending from the San Francisco Bay Area to the WSC in Laguna Niguel.

I contacted USCIS this morning and they said they don't have any notes on signed dates holding up or bouncing a N-400 application. The officer said that he thinks it's pretty much at the discretion of the individual USCIS officer at the time of submittal. I asked if the signed date could bump an app at the last minute i.e. at the interview 8 months later and the officer said he'd never heard of that happening and as far as he was aware they look at the submitted/recieved date over the signed date as most people sign the form a few days prior to submittal anyways.


English Bob
 
just reprint the forms...

...dude, with a current date. Also make sure, the date on the check is also current...

good luck...haste makes waste...good luck !

Btw, the "postmark date" stamp matters a lot in the USA...be it for mailing your tax returns..or any other important docs. Doesn't matter when it reaches...after that.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well, it is a big lesson for everyone to make sure that:

1. N-400 date of signature is less than 90 days
2. Date of Mailing application (post mark date) is less than 90 days
3. Date of fee check is also less than 90 days.
4. Just to make really sure, wait one full week rather than have some one with not so perfect math rejecting it because one never gets a chance to say you were right!

Wow, this is really interesting. At least Bob was lucky to have it returned. A person's sister's approval was denied after 8 months in to the process! So, all in all Bob is "lucky" guy:)
 
90 days rule is confusing!

I signed my application on 03/16/07 and mailed that very same date. I am a resident since 06/12/2002. I think I will be alright, but again, the 90 days rule is very confusing. I would suggest to sign, date, and mail the application at least a few days after the 90 days mark. Just my opinion. Good luck to you all!;)
 
I apologize for hijacking this old thread, but I cannot start a new one as I get an error message.

My daughter had her GC interview on July 11th 2005, and received a 551 stamp in her passport. However, when the actual green card arrived it had " Permanent resident since JUNE 11 2005 " ( 1 month earlier than interview date)

should she wait until April 2010 to apply for citizenship, or would it be accepted in March 2010 ? Is that discrepancy in dates likely to have been an administrative error, or could it have been the date that her 485 was approved prior to the actual interview ? She wants to apply ASAP, but not risk rejection for being too early.

Thank you
 
makrida said:
I apologize for hijacking this old thread, but I cannot start a new one as I get an error message.

My daughter had her GC interview on July 11th 2005, and received a 551 stamp in her passport. However, when the actual green card arrived it had " Permanent resident since JUNE 11 2005 " ( 1 month earlier than interview date)

should she wait until April 2010 to apply for citizenship, or would it be accepted in March 2010 ? Is that discrepancy in dates likely to have been an administrative error, or could it have been the date that her 485 was approved prior to the actual interview ? She wants to apply ASAP, but not risk rejection for being too early.

Thank you
Click to expand...

Have her check with an IO via phone or Infopass what the USCIS system shows her resident since date is. The last thing she wants is to get rejected due to an administrative error.
 
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