Does USCIS issue refunds?
Hi, I'm Jim Hacking, immigration lawyer, practicing law throughout the United States at our offices in St. Louis, Missouri, and San Diego, California. You know, USCIS makes a lot of mistakes. We dog them a lot on these videos and complain about their ineptitude and their lack of ability to work like a functioning agency. Some people want to know, "Jim, if USCIS makes a mistake and denies my case by mistake, or if they receipt my case when they shouldn't have, or they make some other kind of mistake, or if I ask for a refund, will USCIS refund my filing fees?"
In all the time that I've worked as an immigration lawyer, which is getting close to 15 years now, I've never seen USCIS issue a refund, except for one time. And that was when they made a clear mistake. It was part of a lawsuit actually and one of our clients got a refund of their fee. Other than that, it's very, very, very unlikely that you're going to get a refund from USCIS, ever. And I don't care if it's a hundred percent their mistake, it's very unlikely that USCIS will issue you a refund.
Now sometimes when you make your original filing, USCIS will reject that filing and they'll send it back to you, and your check will actually be stapled to the petition. That's not what I'm talking about. Those are just outright rejections that don't really constitute a refund. A refund is when they begin processing your case, they accept your filing fee, and then they begin working on your case, and then they deny it for whatever reason. Or they make a mistake and they deny it, whatever. The idea that you're going to be able to track them down and to get the federal government to issue you a check for the amount that you paid, even if it was their error, I'll be shocked if people leave me comments below, saying that that happens. But I think it's very, very, very rare. And I also think you could spend literally a year or more trying to get that refund.
So, I suppose if you really want to bang your head on the wall against the federal government for that long, you can try it, but don't get your hopes up. It's very unlikely that you're going to get a refund. It just simply doesn't happen.
If you have questions about this, or if you feel like USCIS has made a mistake on your case, feel free to give us a call at 314-961-8200. You can email us at [email protected]. Be sure to join us in our Facebook group, which is called Immigrant Home. We'd love to see in there. We have a great discussion going on in there most days. We also have our YouTube channel that you can subscribe to. That way, whenever we make a new video, and we are shooting videos every single day, that you will get updated and you'll be able to watch that brand-new video as soon as it comes out. Don't forget Tuesdays and Thursdays, usually at noon Central Time, you'll find me in our Facebook group, which is called Immigrant Home, or in our YouTube channel, answering as many of your immigration law-related questions as possible.
Thanks a lot and have a great day.