In this video, we'll talk about what to do when your citizenship or naturalization application
is denied. There are some things you can do. And it's important
to discuss all the options. So, what are you waiting for? I'll see you on the other side.
Hello, my YouTube friends. In this video, we'll talk about what to do when your citizenship
application is denied. It's happening a lot right now as immigration is increasing their enforcement
and their attempts to prevent people from becoming US citizens. And we see that a lot, specifically
in the process of becoming a US citizen, quite a lot of scrutiny. And denials are increasing. So,
we'll talk about your options. If your application is denied what you can do to fight it,
and what you can do to prevent the application from actually being denied in the first place. So,
before we do that, if you’re here for the first time, make sure to subscribe to the channel, click
the bell to be notified so you don't miss any of our videos as we release videos pretty much every
week. And also, give us a big like so YouTube will be able to share this video with more people
just like you. My name is Jacob Sapochnik. And I'm an immigration attorney located in San Diego,
California. And I help clients in all 50 states. And I'm excited to make this video just for you.
So, let's talk about N-400 naturalization denials. As you know, the USCIS started...
as you know, the government announced about a year ago that they're going to start a
denaturalization task force. The idea behind it was to find people that obtain their citizenship,
illegally, or they use some false information and try to revoke that
from… take that citizenship away from them. And so, while that's happening,
even people that are applying for citizenship right now may find it a little bit more difficult
to try to go through that process because of the way the interviews are being conducted. And I'll
give an example. I went to a recent interview with my client, and the officer was really,
really focused on the way the person got his green card. That was a green card based on marriage.
Even though that person applied after seven years, he is no longer married to that spouse.
At that interview, they still went back. They asked questions about their marriage.
And they questioned the addresses where that person lived. And it was a very difficult battle.
Eventually, the person received approval. But I know after almost two hours of an interview that
almost looked like a green card interview, it was a citizenship case. So, just letting you know that
things are definitely getting harder. So, it is important for you to prepare properly. Make sure
you understand how you got your citizenship. If it was based on marriage, be prepared. They’ll
question you even if it's after five years. You may have to answer some questions about
previous addresses and information about your previous spouse. If you go through employment,
make sure you have some information about how you got the green card in the first place.
And just be aware that just because you go for an informational interview, and you have a green
card, it doesn't mean that they will be asking you questions about how you got your green card,
just to be aware that things are quite different right now. So, what happens if you go to the
interview, and things don't go as well as you expect them, and you receive your Intent To Deny,
and you respond to the Intent To Deny, and then the N-400 is actually denied. Because remember,
after the interview, the way it's going to work is that they're not going to just deny your case.
In most jurisdictions, they will issue what is called a Notice of Intent to Deny your N-400.
And again, the notice will list things that happened in the interview and why the officer
is looking to deny your case. And you will have 30 days to respond to the Notice of Intent to Deny
and convince the government why they should not deny your citizenship. So, you respond to this.
And then, unfortunately, it happens you receive the decision, N-400 is denied. So, what do you do?
So, you have an option to file Form N-336, request for a hearing. And basically, at that hearing,
the idea is that you want to present your story, present your arguments as to why your citizenship
should not be denied. So, how does it work in nutshell? So, your attorney must file Form
N-366 within 30 days of the denial to preserve the right to a hearing. And then, the way it’s
going to work, USCIS is going to schedule that hearing within 180 days. And at that hearing,
you'll be able to present either new evidence or any arguments that you have to convince the
USCIS as to why your case should not be denied. In most cases, it's not going to be the same officer
who interviewed you in the first place, and that officer who is going to be conducting the hearing
has a lot of discretion. And therefore, it's really important for you to have good arguments,
good evidence, and compelling reasons as to why your case should not be denied. Once again,
even if the information is denied, do not lose all hope because we've had quite a few
successful hearings where we actually were able to present evidence and convince the officer why
the case should not be denied. For example, where the case was denied because the officer
suspected that there were some issues at the original marriage, he was unable to convince
about the bona fides of the relationship. He also had some issues with addresses. There were
incorrect addresses between what was included on the
removal of condition application in the second green card. At the time of the hearing, we're
able to present the author's explanation as to why there was an inconsistency in the addresses.
We also showed more evidence as to the bona fides of the marriage. There were affidavits from
the ex-wife, from the parents, as well as other family members to show there was a real marriage.
And so, enough documents to show the officer that, “Listen, this was just somebody that had a bad
day, and wasn't really connecting with our client. And then, the case was approved. So, like I said,
there are some cases which obviously are much more complicated. But if you believe
that you qualify for citizenship and you have good supporting documents, then going for that hearing
is really, really important. So, that's option number one, option number two, is file a Motion
to Reopen. So, you file a Motion to Reopen if you miss the deadline for the hearing. But you, now,
have new evidence and you believe that your case should be approved, then you can file a Motion
to Reopen and try to reopen your case. Another option is actually re-filing the application
altogether. So, instead of just going for the appeal, the hearing, you don't do the hearing,
and you just completely re-file the case. So, what are some of the situations where
you can just re-file the case? So, for example, let's say your application was denied because
you had bad moral character, for example, maybe you had a shoplifting incident
within the five years when you apply for citizenship, right? So, we had a case where
the client had a shoplifting conviction within the five years before they applied. And so, that
case was denied. But by the time we're going to be re-filing the case, we're going to be beyond the
five years. So in that case, it makes more sense just to re-file instead of going for a hearing.
Also, there are many cases of people that have absences from the US so they need a few more
months. So, instead of appealing, we just re-file, wait six months, a year, when the person has the
necessary physical presence, and then there's no reason for the case to be denied. So, we
just re-file. So, those are the considerations to re-file. But the first option is to file an appeal
when you really believe that you will qualify but you couldn't do it, you have enough evidence
to convince the hearing officer, why you should get citizenship. The second option is to re-file
just because you're going to meet the requirements if you wait a little bit longer.
The third option is to file a Motion to Reopen if you miss the deadline for an appeal but you
still have your evidence, and you still believe that your case is qualified. So, once again,
remember, it's definitely getting more difficult to apply for citizenship, there are more much
more… they're stricter, right? Now they're going back through the history of your green card. And
I cannot stress enough, the process of preparing for an N-400. Make sure that you don't just file
the form. Make sure you have all the evidence from before when you get the green card. Make
sure you consulted an attorney to cross-reference everything before you file. And once you file,
make sure you get ready for that interview because you need to be prepared for all the questions
they're going to be asking you so you know exactly what's in your file, and what was submitted,
and what happened before you file the case. But remember, even if the application is denied, there
are quite a few options to be able to save your case. Just like I mentioned before, we're able to
the hearing quite a few times. We had compelling arguments to win our case. And sometimes, I felt
like, “Now, you know what, let's just re-file. We're going to wait six more months. And you're
going to be qualified at that point because we're going to be outside of the five years of the bad
moral character,” if that was the case, and much easier just to re-file and get that case done. So,
once again, if you have questions about citizenship denials, let me know in the
comments. If you’re here for the first time, make sure you subscribe to our channel.
And also give us a big like so YouTube is going to be able to recommend these videos to more people
just like you. And finally, if you're in your immigration journey, if you're starting your
immigration journey, if you're in the middle of your immigration journey, I've created a special
community just for you. It's called ImmigrationU. We’ll have zoom calls every week, case studies,
case material, case updates in a private, intimate setting. It's a virtual community just for you.
So, make sure you click the link below. It's in the description of this video, and I want to see
you right there in our membership. Thank you for watching. I'll see you in our next video.