Is your case stuck in administrative process for years? We can help you by completing this form

Online Portals Are Unreliable

Spread the love

Should I rely on what the online portal says?

Hi, I'm Jim Hacking, immigration lawyer practicing law throughout the United States at our office here in St. Louis, Missouri.

Last week, the state department mass updated a number of long pending overseas visa cases, and they updated it from "administrative processing" to refuse. Now I have my own theories on why they did that, but basically I think it was a little bit of housekeeping in that they have placed all of these cases in administrative processing and when we and other people sue them, they say, "Oh, that case was refused long ago."

And then the court asked for proof that it was refused and they never actually denoted it as refused. So I think they were cleaning up their files. But the point of this video is to look at the broader issue of the online portals, whether it be at USCIS or at CEAC, which is the State Department's online portal.

And I want you to know, I put very, very, very, very, very little stock in what the online portal say. Now, a lot of times a case will get approved and it will be properly noted. A lot of times the case will get denied, and it'll get noted as a decision has been issued. So a lot of times there's value in it, but you cannot get too caught up in what it says on the online portal.

I've had clients try to rely on what it says in the online portal to say that a case that ultimately got denied was still pending because USCIS never updated the online portal. I've also had people like last week freak out when a classification in the CEAC website, the State Department's website changed from one to another. And this is especially true in lawsuits, but generally when you're looking at the online portals, you have to take it with a big grain of salt. You have to understand that most likely the information in here is not a completely accurate or completely timely. So don't get all worked up about things that you see on the online portal.

Now if your case gets denied and you receive an official notice, that's one thing. But if you are just living and breathing and sitting by the computer every hour, logging into the CEAC website and trying to figure out everything you can about your case. I mean one of the reasons people hire us to sue them is to sort of relieve them of that need to keep doing that. But just generally I want to ease your pain. I want to ease your burden.

I would suggest that you don't live on the online portals, but when you do, take what they say with a grain of salt. Sometimes it's just a matter of the officer reclassifying it or moving the case around. Or sometimes it'll go to say refuse and that just shows that there's movement.

So I'm making this video for all my lawsuit peeps, but this is really for everybody else that you don't need to get too worked up over what it says online. Just wait for the official decision. That's when you need to worry when your lawyer tells you to or when USCIS sends you an official denial, something like that.

So we hope you found this video helpful. We hope you won't spend all your time on the CEAC website or on the USCIS.gov website. If you have questions about this or about your immigration case, give us call 314-961-8200. You can email us at [email protected].

Be sure to join us in our Facebook group. It's called Immigrant Home, and we have people joining every day. Really good discussions in there about the immigration news of the day. We share our Hacking Immigration Law information in there as well. And if you liked this video, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Follow me on LinkedIn so you get updates whenever we make videos just like this one. Thanks a lot. Have a great day.

You May Also Like

Tracking Your USCIS Case: How To Know If It’s Being Actively Reviewed Spread the love For individuals navigating immigration, tracking the status of their USCIS case is of utmost importance. It provides valuable information about where their application stands. It also... VIEW POST
Navigating NVC's Processing Times: Tips For Dealing With Delays Spread the love The NVC immigration process can be overwhelming because you must comply with many requirements, including passing the visa interview. But when you are successful, you will... VIEW POST
Navigating the National Visa Center's Processing Time for Immigrant Visas Spread the love If you're obtaining an immigrant visa, you may have already encountered the National Visa Center (NVC). The NVC plays a role in the immigration journey, particularly... VIEW POST

Download Free Guide 
2023 Immigrant’s Guide to 
Becoming a U.S. Citizen

This guide contains all you need to know to become  
a U.S. citizen.

Download Free Guide 2022 Immigrant’s Guide to Becoming a U.S. Citizen

This guide contains all you need to know
to become a U.S. citizen.
DOWNLOAD FREE PDF

Immigration 
Answers Show
Live every week.

JOIN US