US Citizen asked to appear at local office?

M

mountaineer

Registered Users (C)
I would be grateful if anyone can help me make sense of a strange letter from USCIS:

A family member of mine was naturalized in March 2009 (she was stuck in name check for 2.5 years and then finally had her interview and oath). This week she received a letter from her local office (Oakland Park, FL) and it reads:

"Please appear on the date and location indicated below in connection with an official matter concerning your certificate of naturalization:
Date & Time: xxxxx
Office Location: xxxx
Please bring: YOUR CERTIFICATE OF NATURALIZATION

If you are unable to attend the appointment, please mail a copy of your original certificate to:

xxxx
local office"

QUESTION: Has anyone ever received such a letter? Do you know what it is about? How can we get more information? The family member has very much been a law-abiding citizen. Any info would be appreciated. THANKS!
 
Does the certificate appear to be in order (Ie: citizen's full legal name, signature stamp from USCIS director, correct A# and certification number..etc). It sounds like there was a mix-up on your certificate by the DO and they need correct it by your family member coming into office.
 
mountaineer said:
I would be grateful if anyone can help me make sense of a strange letter from USCIS:

A family member of mine was naturalized in March 2009 (she was stuck in name check for 2.5 years and then finally had her interview and oath). This week she received a letter from her local office (Oakland Park, FL) and it reads:

"Please appear on the date and location indicated below in connection with an official matter concerning your certificate of naturalization:
Date & Time: xxxxx
Office Location: xxxx
Please bring: YOUR CERTIFICATE OF NATURALIZATION

If you are unable to attend the appointment, please mail a copy of your original certificate to:

xxxx
local office"

QUESTION: Has anyone ever received such a letter? Do you know what it is about? How can we get more information? The family member has very much been a law-abiding citizen. Any info would be appreciated. THANKS!
Click to expand...

I don't think this is because she did something wrong. Are there any irregularities with the certificate? (E.g. name is misspelled, incorrect signature, etc.) Also, it could be that USCIS computers are not displaying some information that is on the certificate and they need you to bring it in. My guess.
 
vdostoi1 said:
I don't think this is because she did something wrong. Are there any irregularities with the certificate? (E.g. name is misspelled, incorrect signature, etc.) Also, it could be that USCIS computers are not displaying some information that is on the certificate and they need you to bring it in. My guess.
Click to expand...

It shows USCIS is actually doing its job by still reviewing everything and following up if issue occur. In case of this, is it a good idea to still update our address with USCIS if we move after citizenship? And How to update? If we still use AR-11, they may be denied if you put down USA as country of citizenship
 
Thank you so much Bobsmyth and vdostoi1!

We checked her certificate and everything is in order (correct A#, correct full legal name, signed by USCIS offical, correct stamp from USCIS, etc.).

I should also mention that she never received her first oath letter (she found out bc USCIS sent her a letter for failure to appear for her ceremony), so she called USCIS and they sent her a second oath letter for a few weeks later.

She spoke a Tier 2 IO today from the 1-800 # and he had also never heard of such a letter before, although, he mentioned to follow instructions in the letter. She gladly will but she just wanted to know what it could be about. Sounds like no one here has ever heard of this :-(. THANKS AGAIN!
 
If she goes, she should bring a lawyer or only bring a copy of the certificate. Do not give them a chance to take away the certificate itself without being thoroughly informed of the reason why and having the opportunity to refute it.
 
mountaineer said:
Thank you so much Bobsmyth and vdostoi1!

We checked her certificate and everything is in order (correct A#, correct full legal name, signed by USCIS offical, correct stamp from USCIS, etc.).
Click to expand...


Certificate has it own number beside CIS A#. There is no way you can tell if that number is wrong or not for example it can be the same as another person's
 
Perhaps mailing a copy of the certificate to the DO, as the second part of the note indicates, might be a wise move to see if you can figure out what it is they are checking...
 
WBH said:
There is no way you can tell if that number is wrong or not for example it can be the same as another person's
Click to expand...

The purpose is to check whether there is a certificate number on the certificate, not whether to determine if the number is valid.
 
mountaineer said:
I would be grateful if anyone can help me make sense of a strange letter from USCIS:

A family member of mine was naturalized in March 2009 (she was stuck in name check for 2.5 years and then finally had her interview and oath). This week she received a letter from her local office (Oakland Park, FL) and it reads:

"Please appear on the date and location indicated below in connection with an official matter concerning your certificate of naturalization:
Date & Time: xxxxx
Office Location: xxxx
Please bring: YOUR CERTIFICATE OF NATURALIZATION

If you are unable to attend the appointment, please mail a copy of your original certificate to:

xxxx
local office"

QUESTION: Has anyone ever received such a letter? Do you know what it is about? How can we get more information? The family member has very much been a law-abiding citizen. Any info would be appreciated. THANKS!
Click to expand...
I would mail a copy first since the letter says you can do that. I agree with TexToBe.
 
TexToBe said:
Perhaps mailing a copy of the certificate to the DO, as the second part of the note indicates, might be a wise move to see if you can figure out what it is they are checking...
Click to expand...

Via certified/ registered mail to avoid possibly loosing certificate in mail.
 
Bobsmyth said:
The purpose is to check whether there is a certificate number on the certificate, not whether to determine if the number is valid.
Click to expand...

But if it is not valid and USCIS find out and send such a letter in roder to correct it , you can not tell yourself if it is valid or not until you get there.

There must be a reason for this
 
Jackolantern said:
If she goes, she should bring a lawyer or only bring a copy of the certificate. Do not give them a chance to take away the certificate itself without being thoroughly informed of the reason why and having the opportunity to refute it.
Click to expand...
Seems excessive to bring a lawyer as a DO cannot simply refute a certificate once a naturalization oath has been granted.
 
USCIS has the power to administratively revoke a naturalization certificate, although they don't have the power to administratively revoke the citizenship itself. In this case, given that the OP can see nothing obviously wrong on the certificate like a wrong name spelling or wrong date, I believe USCIS wants to revoke the certificate because they believe her naturalization should not have been granted, and they will take away the certificate if she takes the original certificate to the USCIS office without a lawyer.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
TexToBe said:
Perhaps mailing a copy of the certificate to the DO, as the second part of the note indicates, might be a wise move to see if you can figure out what it is they are checking...
Click to expand...

I think bringing a copy and going to USCIS is a better idea. That way, you can ask what is the matter.

There is no way that this is a trap to denatualize you so no need to panic.
 
Bobsmyth said:
Seems excessive to bring a lawyer as a DO cannot simply refute a certificate once a naturalization oath has been granted.
Click to expand...
Yes they can revoke the certificate. They just cannot revoke the citizenship itself (without a Federal court order). But confiscating the certificate can make life very difficult as far as proving citizenship is concerned.
 
mountaineer said:
I would be grateful if anyone can help me make sense of a strange letter from USCIS:

A family member of mine was naturalized in March 2009 (she was stuck in name check for 2.5 years and then finally had her interview and oath). This week she received a letter from her local office (Oakland Park, FL) and it reads:

"Please appear on the date and location indicated below in connection with an official matter concerning your certificate of naturalization:
Date & Time: xxxxx
Office Location: xxxx
Please bring: YOUR CERTIFICATE OF NATURALIZATION

If you are unable to attend the appointment, please mail a copy of your original certificate to:

xxxx
local office"

QUESTION: Has anyone ever received such a letter? Do you know what it is about? How can we get more information? The family member has very much been a law-abiding citizen. Any info would be appreciated. THANKS!
Click to expand...

They are giving option of 'Not able to attend'. Do not attend in person. Send them copy of nat cert (registered post, delivery/signature confirmation) along with cover letter noting that you cannot attend the requested appointment as you are xxxxxx. Come up with some reason for xxxxxx. Why waste your time, money (if taking lawyer) and possibly skip work for something that you are not given specific reason and are required to do ?
 
Wow! Thank you all so much for your advice/responses. Some sound scarier than others, i.e. revoke her certificate.

I also wanted to mention that a certificate was created for the first ceremony that she missed. So maybe the office wants to compare/check something with her current certificate and the one that was created for the missed oath (since the certificates have a date on them).

She definitely has nothing to hide and is an elderly lady that spends her time knitting sweaters and baby booties for her grandchildren! We really don't know what could possibly be the issue other than perhaps the missed oath ceremony or having been born in a Middle Eastern country.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top