Don't play games with USCIS. Hi, I'm Jim Hacking, Immigration Lawyer, practicing law throughout the United States out of our office here in St. Louis, Missouri. I wanted to call this video, You Can't Keep Your Asylum Case in California if You Live in Chicago. And actually the point of the video is broader than that.
So we see a lot of times where people try to be clever, or cute with their addresses. And they do this because they think they're going to gain some tactical advantage. They think that the Asylum Office in San Francisco is better than the Asylum Office in Houston. And while that might be true, you can't be too cute. You can't be too clever and you never know what's going to happen. You never know who you're going to get. You might get the meanest officer ever in San Francisco, or you might get the nicest officer ever in Houston.
So you don't want to get too cute and clever. And more importantly you don't want to mislead USCIS about your address. So a lot of times people will contact us and say, "Well I used my uncle's address because he lives in San Francisco but I'm in Detroit. And I'm just waiting for my case to get called out in San Francisco."
Well listen pal, do you think they don't know that? Do you think they don't know that you're trying to get in a more beneficial jurisdiction. It just makes you look sleazy, makes you look sneaky. So your address should be where you live. The law says that you have to update your address within 10 days. So I'm tired of having these consults with people who think they're clever and that they're going to outsmart USCIS by not using their real address.
In many kinds of cases, USCIS will come and check your address. They'll also check your driver's license to see where you live, where you actually live. And so you don't ever want to be accused of misleading the government. It can be fatal to your credibility and it can be fatal to your case. So don't do it. Use the address you live at.
If you want to have your case adjudicated in San Francisco, then you need to go live in San Francisco. You can't just use some uncles, dads, lawn care guy for your address. You have to use your actual address where you sleep at night. That's the rule. That's the standard. That's what we require here at the office. And we're not going to just let you pick any old address you want, because of all the problems that can come with it. And because it affects our credibility and it affects your credibility.
So I hope this video makes sense. I hope you're not pulling any games with USCIS. If you did play a game on them, or a trick on them and you want to get out of it, you want to fix it, give us a call, (314) 961-8200. You can email us at [email protected]. Be sure to join us on our Facebook group. It's called Immigrant Home. And if you like this video, we ask that you please share it out on social and subscribe to our YouTube channel, so that you get updates whenever we make videos. Just like this one. Thanks a lot. Have a great day.
