Urgent Help Pls, I-131 seems lost through mail and no help from USCIS ?

handxx

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

We applied for a I-131 travel document for a permanent resident back in November 8, 2010. My wife completed her biometrics on December 21,2010. When we applied , we asked the travel document to be sent to the US Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

After my finished her biometrics, we were expecting I-131 to be delivered to the US Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. When I tracked her receipt number on the USCIS website , it showed after 6 months of wait, card was produced and mailed on April 27, 2011.

After waiting for another 2 months and calling US Consulate in every 2 days, still no document. I called 1-800 number for USCIS to explain what is going on. I told them I assume this card was not delivered to the US Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey and probably got lost through mail. It is more than 10 weeks and we do not get any document.

The customer service rep said , until they get " undelivered" notice , they can not resend a new card to us. She advised to re-apply it which is not the case because we are in Turkey. When I told her , what if the document got lost and USCIS can not receive it back , she could not give any answer.

No tracking number, no clue where the document is right now. When I call US Consulate in Istanbul, they can not help and tell to call immigration. When I call immigration , they say call US consulate to do something.

My wife is already out with a GC for around 5.5 months and we paid $400 for this document already. Why they can not re-produce a new card and send to us, is it that hard ? What if we can not get any clue for this card for another 1 year , so still we need this mail to be returned USCIS in order to ask for a new card.

Please advise what to do in this case. My wife can not return back and wait another 7 months to get a new card. We can not even track their mail because they do not provide a tracking number to us. Mail might lost or something else but USCIS can not solve this issue . Except saying re-apply and wait another 7 months , they have no idea.
 
For now, you'll either have to wait and see, or you can try contacting your senators/congressperson. They have ways of getting things done if you claim to be desperate, so make them see that you're in trouble without the re-entry permit.
 
We can wait but my wife is out of the country right now with a GC around 5.5 months, time is passing against us. When we applied this document, we thought it is the safest place ( US Consulate ) to be delivered.

I can not really understand , why they can not send a new document ? Card might be lost through mail but USCIS does not want to accept this fact, they are keep repeating if the document can not delivered to the US Consulate, it will come back to us then we can send you a new document. What if it got lost and can not delivered back to the USCIS for another 2 years , what we should do ?

I am very anxious and nervous but our hands are tied as of right now. I do not how to contact our Congressman even I send an e-mail from Turkey , I have doubt they can take our problem seriously in consideration.
 
They can. I have been helped with re-entry permit issues while I was abroad. You have a permanent address in the US, right? The one CIS has on file? Where is that address? What city and state?

They don't want to issue another one because they want proof it is lost. Otherwise, you could be carrying two at the same time.
 
We were renting an apartment in Maryland but we moved to overseas because of my job. CIS has US address on file but as of right now someone else is renting that apartment.

I understand USCIS wants to make sure card is lost but if the mail does not go back to them ( physically get lost or dissappear somehow) for years , what we will do ? There should be at least a time frame or some other method to make sure if the document is lost or not.

If I receive the card and lose it , I totally understand it is my responsibility to keep my card safe. But , when I ask them to provide me a tracking number for the mail, they have no tracking number, no idea where the mail is. Until I receive this document, I believe it should be their responsibility. If I can not get this produced and mailed card in 10 weeks , I assume it is lost but USCIS does not believe or consider that option . They only assume it can not be delivered and can come back to them maybe x months later.
 
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