Is monitoring my case online enough? Hi, I'm Jim Hacking, immigration lawyer practicing law throughout the United States at our offices in St. Louis, Missouri. Very sad situation, talking to a potential client the other day. He had his application for adjustment of status denied and the reason it was denied was because he had failed to respond to a request for evidence. And he said, "Well, Jim, I've always maintained my attention to the online USCIS updater, the portal and they didn't tell me that an RFE had been issued. And oh, by the way, I forgot to update my address with USCIS and that's why I never received the notice." So that's a really interesting interplay. The interplay between updating your address and the online portal. A lot of people think, "Well, if I keep my online portal open, and if I check it regularly, then I don't really need to update my address." But that's a real mistake because the fact is, I think probably only 70 or 60% of the information that actually happens at USCIS makes its way onto the online portal.
And of course not updating your address with USCIS is a fatal flaw that's completely believable on you. And it's very, very hard to overcome if you get your case denied because you moved and didn't tell you USCIS. The fact that you've been checking in on your online portal every now and then is not going to carry the day. So there's no substitute for updating your address properly and making sure that you're checking every piece of mail that comes from USCIS. You want to make sure that address is current and you don't want to just rely on the online portal. The online portal is often wrong, it's very incomplete, and it doesn't give you all the information in order to give you the full 360 degree view of your application and the processing of your application that you're going to need in order to properly monitor the case and hopefully get it approved.
So don't rely simply on the online portal. You need to be actively involved. You need to be checking your mail. You need to keep your address updated. And if you do those things, that'll put your case in a much better chance of being approved. And of course, that's what we want. We want your case to be approved and well said, awarded. It is an award. It is a reward when you put your case together properly. So if you want your case approved, make sure you monitor it adequately. And of course, this is one of the other reasons why it's good to have an attorney involved because you're going to have two bites of the apple. The attorney should get the mail and you should get the mail. And given how disorganized this agency is at the moment, it can't hurt to have two sets of eyes on every piece of paper that comes out of the case.
You have questions about this, give us a call 314-961-8200. You can email us info@hacking lawpractice.com. Be sure to join in our Facebook group, which is called the Immigrant Home. If you like this video, we ask that you please share it out on social and to 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.
