Did you know that USCIS is not only waiving green card interviews,
but now they are using a new method of communication to let applicants know this?
In recent months, we have had a significant number
of green card cases get approved without any interview at all.
This has been not just here in New York City, but for my clients
located all over the United States in all states across the board.
Why is USCIS waiving green card interviews
and how can you know if your interview will also get waived
so you don't have to go through that dreaded immigration interview?
We're going to answer these questions right now.
My name is Moumita Rahman and I am an immigration lawyer,
and I've been practicing immigration law for the past 13 years.
If you would like my help on your case, you can give us a call
at 2122487907 to schedule a case evaluation.
We are based in New York City and serve clients in all 50 states.
Okay. What are these notices
that USCIS is sending out and what might mean for your case?
After the pandemic started, something unusual started to happen
with a lot of my green card cases that were based upon marriage
or where my clients had been approved for VAWA.
In a lot of these cases, we started to receive requests for evidence from USCIS.
But instead of asking for things
like missing documents or asking us to prove that the client was
in fact eligible to get a green card, these requests for evidence were instead
asking for the client to submit their medical exam by mail.
Normally, when you apply for a green card, you have to go
for an interview in front of an immigration officer.
And it is at this time that the immigration officer will ask you
multiple questions about your case, about your marriage, and generally
try to decide whether you are qualified to get a green card at all.
And normally for these interviews, our clients were required
to bring with them a medical exam that was signed by a USCIS civil surgeon.
So once I started to get these requests for evidence for medical exams by mail,
it immediately clued me into the fact that it was possible
my client's green card to get approved
without an interview, even though it was a marriage based case.
And while this started over the pandemic, we started to see this
kick up a lot of speed.
And now we are getting requests for evidence for medical exams
in almost every single one of my green card cases.
So this is generally a good sign when you get your request for evidence.
If it's for a medical exam, it usually means
that you will get approved without an interview and your card will
just be sent to you in the mail.
But something else
has started happening recently, which I want you all to be aware of.
Recently, at the beginning of this year, I started to receive a request
for evidence for my client's medical exam
not by mail, but by email.
I never even knew that USCIS would ever, ever contact me by email.
And in fact, in my last 13 years of practice,
I have never been contacted by USCIS in a marriage
based case by email once in my life.
But why are we now starting to see USCIS
start to use email even more?
The plain and simple truth is that they are trying to catch up on their backlog.
Not only are they now trying to approve as many green card cases as they can
without an interview, they are doing this because if they are able
to waive the interview in a person's case,
it means that they save time, they save money, they save resources,
they're able to catch up on their backlog even faster and just push through it.
So the chances are,
if you receive an actual request for evidence for your medical exam,
it is a sign that you will most likely get approved for your green card
without ever having to go into USCIS field offices for your interview
and be advised that there are two types of requests
that you might get through email.
One might be the actual request for evidence telling you to submit
your medical exam with that letter as a cover sheet.
And the second may just be a courtesy notice
informing you that your file has been sent to the field office
and you must provide a medical exam later on at the time of your interview,
or if you receive an actual request for evidence.
So, make sure you check not just the mail, but make sure you are also checking
your email inbox to see if you do get anything from immigration.
And of course, here are some warnings.
As we know, scams will be created by scammers and fraud artists out there.
There may be people out there who try to send you emails
asking you to send checks or to send money.
Make sure you check the address from which the request for evidence is being sent.
The only official handle for a legitimate email message from USCIS
will be the handle @USCIS.DHS.GOV.
If it's anything else, you should immediately contact your lawyer
to find out what this means and whether it is legitimate.
Also, USCIS is not going to ask you to send any money once
you have already paid the appropriate filing fee.
So be aware of persons asking you for money pretending to be immigration.
You want my help navigating your case in this crazy immigration system?
Call us at 2122487907.
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My name is Moumita Rahman. See you next time.