F-1 Reinstatement Appeal Succeeds Twice

Trump administration, F-1 students, consular visas, restoration of student status,
Affected by the Trump administration’s strict policies, F-1 students not only have more difficulty obtaining visas at consulates, but students in the United States are also prone to lose their legal status. Applications for F-1 student status restoration are increasing.

Year: 2018~2019
Nationality: Chinese
Applicant: Miss Chen
Case: F-1 Restoration of Student Status

Time node of this case:
08/28/2017: Ms. Chen submitted the F-1 status restoration application by herself;
11/27/2017: USCIS issued a notice of supplement (RFE);
01/24/2018: USCIS denies F-1 application for restoration of status;
02/22/2018: Submit reopening application;
07/25/2018: USCIS refused to reconsider;
08/23/2018: Submit the reopen application for the second time;
11/28/2018: USCIS issued a notice of consent to retrial;
12/12/2018: USCIS issued a supplementary notification (RFE);
01/10/2019: Respond to the supplement request;
01/23/2019: USCIS approves F-1 application for restoration of status.

difficulty:
• Ms. Chen lost her student status because she was not familiar with the regulations. In order to save money, she submitted an application for F-1 status restoration by herself, and took many detours;
• Ms. Chen missed the RFE and was unable to start preparing the supplementary materials. She lost the last chance and her F-1 status restoration application was rejected;
• When applying for a retrial, the Immigration Bureau does not recognize new facts and new evidence, nor does it believe that the application of the law is wrong, and has a tough attitude;
• The first reexamination application was unsuccessful, and both Ms. Chen and we were under great pressure. The longer the overstay period, the greater the risk.

Brief background:
After graduating from university, Ms. Chen went to the United States for further study in 2016. She began to study in a language school, and then transferred to college. However, because she was not familiar with the regulations, the two schools did not connect during the transfer. Her I-20 was terminated and she lost her F-1 student status. Ms. Chen found out about the F-1 student status reinstatement regulations on the Internet, and thought that she fully met the reinstatement criteria, so she submitted an application for F-1 status reinstatement. However, I did not expect to receive a rejection notice directly after waiting for 5 months, because the request for supplementary parts was not responded. Ms. Chen was very angry, thinking that she never received the RFE, how could she be blamed? Decided to hire a lawyer to defend my rights.

Ms. Chen found Zang Dikai United Law Firm (Tsang & Associates) through an online search, and immediately decided to entrust Zang’s lawyer team to help her submit an I-290B reexamination application after meeting and consulting. She hoped that we could help her recover her status and continue her studies in the United States.

Keys to success:
1. Race against time, formulate strategies and prepare materials in the shortest time:
After being rejected, you need to submit the I-290B (Appeal/reconsider/reopen) application within 30/33 days. It has been 10 days since Ms. Chen found us. In the short time left, we instructed Ms. Chen to get in touch with the school quickly to obtain supporting documents . At the same time, we drafted an affidavit and a lawyer’s appeal letter for her, and passed it within 33 days. FedEx submits to USCIS.

After the first retrial was rejected, Zang’s lawyer team quickly conducted a case study, demonstrated how to refute the Immigration Bureau’s point of view and further supplemented evidence, and finally successfully submitted the second retrial application within 30 days.

2. How to successfully open the case for retrial (reopen):
Reopen requires new facts. At the time of the first re-examination of the application, the Immigration Bureau believed that according to the system records, they had sent the supplementary document notice on 11/27/2017; Ms. Chen’s address had not changed, and she finally received the rejection notice. It was presumed that she should have received the supplementary document notice. Failure to demonstrate that a replacement notification was not received. The new materials we submitted: such as school certification letters, mail room reply emails, affidavits, etc., cannot be counted as new facts, thus dismissing (dismiss) the retrial request.

In the second retrial application, Zang’s lawyer team raised the issue of the burden of proof that they had not received the notice, and argued that the opinions provided by Ms. Chen’s school mailroom should be new facts and new evidence, and provided the reception data of Ms. Chen’s new school, and If Ms. Chen cannot get a chance for a retrial, there will be serious consequences. In the end, the Immigration Bureau accepted the re-examination request and Reopen Ms. Chen’s application for restoration of status.

3. Risk control and response strategies:
Submitting the Reopen does not prevent the calculation of the overstay period. If the reexamination is rejected, the applicant will face a very large overdue risk. Ms. Chen was rejected on 01/24/2018, and the Immigration Bureau refused to re-examine on 07/25/2018. At this time, 6 months have passed. Lawyer Zang and Ms. Chen discussed various possible consequences and countermeasures. If the resulting overstay comes to the United States again in the future, is there any solution? What are the conditions for an exemption to be met? After Ms. Chen fully understood, she finally chose to retrial again.

Case results:
Three months later, the Immigration Bureau agreed to start a retrial, and quickly issued the supplementary notice that Ms. Chen had not received. Zang Dikai’s lawyer team assisted in completing the supplementary documents within 30 days, and received the approval notice within 2 weeks. Ms. Chen was very happy after receiving the approval. After one and a half years, she finally resumed her student status and was able to continue her studies. After the MBA admission matters were completed, I came to Tsang & Associates specifically to express my heartfelt thanks.

Lawyer Comments:
Affected by the Trump administration’s strict policies, F-1 students not only find it more difficult to obtain visas at consulates, but also students in the United States can easily lose their legal status. Applications for F-1 student status restoration are increasing. What we talked about before: $80 led to the termination of F1 student status; graduation application OPT missed the deadline and had to apply for restoration of status, all happened within the last year. The majority of students and friends should be more cautious. In addition to completing their studies, apply for CPT/OPT to comply with the regulations. If the address changes, notify the Immigration Bureau within 10 days. In addition, the notice from the Immigration Bureau is sent by ordinary mail, and it is also possible that it is lost or sent by mistake, which makes it more difficult for the applicant to provide evidence. If you have any questions, please call us to make an appointment for our consultation service.

related articles:
“$80 led to the termination of F1, and Chinese students escaped within 72 hours”
“After the application is rejected, you will know everything about appeal, retrial and reconsideration”

*To protect customer privacy, customer names are pseudonyms.