You may have been diligent in researching which green card category you were most eligible for. Then, you may have been articulate in filling out and filing your initial green card application, and patient in waiting to hear news from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This is why you may be crushed to learn that the USCIS ultimately decided to pass on your petition for permanent residency. If this is your current state, please read on to discover how to appeal the initial decision on your denied green card application and how one of the seasoned Lancaster, PA green card lawyers at Lupton Law LLC can help increase your chances of getting legal status in the country.

Why did my initial green card application get rejected?

The USCIS may inform you of its final ruling to reject your initial green card application through Form I-797C, Notice of Action. Within this notice, they may explain what led to their ultimate decision, which may be any of the following things:

  • The USCIS may have deemed that you failed to meet the eligibility criteria for the specific green card category you applied for.
  • The USCIS may have deemed that you failed to attend your required biometrics appointment and immigration interview.
  • The USCIS may have deemed that you failed to provide sufficient, necessary evidence to support your green card petition.
  • The USCIS may have deemed that you misrepresented yourself in your green card petition to improve your chances at approval.
  •  The USCIS may have deemed that your criminal history or immigration law violations make you a national security risk.

How do I appeal the initial decision on my green card application?

Also within Notice of Action you received, the USCIS may outline your options for appealing the initial decision on your green card application. On the one hand, you may choose to file an appeal to the USCIS’s Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) if you believe the initial decision was incorrect based on the existing evidence provided with your application or other valid legal arguments. That is, appealing to a higher authority may offer a fresh perspective on your case, and hopefully, they will exercise their power to overturn the initial ruling.

On the other hand, you may decide to file a motion to reconsider with the same USCIS office or officer that made the initial decision. This may be better if you can strongly argue that the initial decision was based on an incorrect interpretation of the law or immigration policy. In other words, you are essentially asking the office or officer to look at your case from a different perspective and see if their first thought process still holds up.

Or, there is also the opportunity to file a motion to reopen your green card application. This is ideal if your rejection was because you failed to provide sufficient, necessary evidence to support your case. With this, you must submit supporting documentation that was not previously presented. But in some circumstances, it may be easier to start from scratch and submit an entirely new green card application in which you address the specific, fixable error that the USCIS pointed out before.

We can sympathize with how daunting this whole legal battle may be for you. Well, lucky for you, the team at Lupton Law LLC has successfully gone through this countless times before. So please, retain the services of one of the competent Lancaster, PA green card lawyers today.