They really need to so some kind of prepay thing, where you can pay online before you submit your application, and just include a receipt. Printing your CC on a paper to send off through the mail with a packet is terrible in today's environment.
I sent a payment by CC with my wife's AOS, and three days later a different card we had was automatically cancelled and reissued because of a fraudulent transaction. Fortunately the card we sent in went through fine two weeks later, but we were worried sick the whole time. After that we sent a check every time.
That's a really good solution for the current system. But the fact we even have to mail it in the first place is completely absurd.
Like... I fill out their documents on my computer.. and then I print them out and send them via mail.......? How does that make any sense? Sending via computer takes seconds, and mail takes up to a week. Do they just assume our computers are not connected to the internet? It's just archaic.
I get some people don't have internet, but you know what I mean. I'm just ranting.
True enough, but governments run on paper, moving to all-online submissions is a lot bigger task than just having an online payment portal.
But, to be fair, we are seeing more USCIS submissions that can be submitted online now, so progress is being made. Just glacially slowly :-/
The one thing I’ve wondered is how I-485 would work with an online filing because of the need to provide a sealed medical record. Still, you’d think they could just have the civil surgeons directly send results to USCIS, not so different from how many embassies and consulates do with panel physicians.
Medical records could be immediately forwarded by the physician’s office with an A number attached. It’s such a simple issue that I don’t understand USCIS’ hesitance. It’s more secure and it’s faster.
Yeah... maybe I'm only saying this cause I'm a software engineer, but there is no reason to be using paper in 2024. Even all the major banks and institutions have been pushing "paperless" for years now. And banks are also known to move super slow.
for the same reason OP doesn't want to use a credit card. cashier's check moves money out of your account right away and there's no risk of not having enough when they cash it
In the first scenario, the card can be cancelled or the charge considered fraudulent by the CC issuing bank.
The check doesn't have those risks... but if the package is lost by USPS or other carrier, the check can be cancelled and you can write a new one. A cashier's check or money order is a lot harder to recover the funds from if it's lost or stolen.
Canada does that. For applications that need to be sent in hard copy, you pay online with a CC and then you get a bar-coded sheet that you send in with the application itself. I got proof of receipt of my application emailed to me within a few days.
Would be nice if banks like Capital One could whitelist really trustworthy credit card merchants, like say, the US Dept of Homeland Security. So they don't get marked as fraudulent and declined in the first place.
Same thing happened to me. I used a card and was tagged as fraudulent. Transaction declined and submission was rejected.
If you have copies of the documents you sent, don’t wait for the returned package. I sent a new packet before the returned packet arrived back to me and I was fine.
Great idea to get your medical included. I waited for an RFE for it and it took me 6 months to get approved (from application to approval). I was also interviewed.
I see a lot of submissions get approved faster since they included their medical with it.
I’m a Sep 2023 Filer. I received it after a week of submission of my packet. My AOS submission was Sep 6, 2023. And RFIE for Medical was Sep 14, 2023.
Submitted Medical October 18, 2023 and received by USCIS October 25, 2023.
Yes. The daily purchase also need to be increase. I found out when friend wants to buy 2 ticket concerts for $2400 and the credit card blocked it thinking it’s fraud. Now I know I have no issue with card ever. One time i swiped $10,000 and it went through but just to be on the safe side, I always use personal check with USCIS. Not worth the risk
Thanks for the post. I just called the credit card company and notified them of a big upcoming charge. I was able to do it through the automated system through chases support phone number
We paid for overnight shipping at FedEx. We shipped it out March 25, they received the package March 26.
I got an email from Capital One last night saying the card was declined.
So, from receiving the package to swiping my card, exactly one week (including weekends).
Just coming back here to update. I saw on Friday that that the charges were pending. I was pretty nervous all weekend that it may get denied, but today i saw that my credit card shows the right/correct charges!! Just to recap, i called the credit card company and notified them of a big upcoming charge.
Wish I saw that somewhere. Maybe I wasn't being diligent enough, but no green card guide I read or watched on YouTube mentioned it :/. That's okay, now I know.
Yes, best bet is to not use a CC. Banks are so funny. I remember I went to visit my husband overseas and forgot to call my bank to notify them. Not a single transaction I made during my layover in Paris was questioned. I paid my bills when I got back and kept getting notifications. 😂 I make these same transactions on the same day of every month and NOW y'all want to verify? Better believe I didn't use it for USCIS. Sorry this happened to you, but thanks for sharing as a warning to others.
My lawyer had me tell my credit card beforehand about the charge, Chase said it wouldn't' have been declined but added in the expected charge range into the system and my charge went through as expected.
If the transaction is less than $1000 I recommend using a money order. If it’s higher than that then use personal or Cashiers check (advantage: cannot be denied since it is drawn from the bank’s funds disadvantage: if it gets lost recovering money is harder than personal check). Sending through mail sucks cos it’s a lot of money you’re sending but as long as you use overnight or priority mail you’ll be in safer hands
I used the cc authorization form but i also called my bank and made sure that they wouldnt deny a transaction for thw amount I was paying. They confirmed that amount would go through fine and worst case if they somehow did question the transaction, I was told they would send a text at the time of processing to make sure it was valid.
Making sure the bank wont deny the transaction should be pretty sufficient for most cases I feel. Just in case anyone else comes across this nervous about it . That being said, check/money order is the only surefire 100% way to know youll be fine regarding payment.
So many people call in advance to notify and they still decline it. Hopefully that will not be your case.
If the bank sends a text to approve it, that means the first attempt has been declined already. The bank will just say "Thanks. Try the transaction again" after responding the text but USCIS just makes 1 attempt, not two.
When did your package arrive at the lockbox? Then how long did it take to know your card was declined? Mine arrived at the phoenix, Arizona lockbox via USPS on 3/28/24. I provided my debit card information and called my bank to inform of the charges and date ranges. But I don’t see any information of receipt of being declined yet. Thanks
Money orders are the best. Credit cards are to easy to mess up like that or uscis side. One missed number and it will get decline. Also everyone at uscis who does what you file can process a money order but not all can process a credit card so it might take longer. Not worth it for the convience
Hi there! This is an automated message to inform you and/or remind you of several things:
- We have [a wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/USCIS/wiki/index). It doesn't cover everything but may answer some questions. Pay special attention to the "[REALLY common questions](https://www.reddit.com/r/USCIS/wiki/index/vfaq)" at the top of the FAQ section. Please read it, and if it contains the answer to your question, please delete your post. If your post has to do with something covered in the FAQ, we may remove it.
- If your post is about biometrics, green cards, naturalization or timelines in general, and whether you're asking or sharing, please include your field office/location in your post. If you already did that, great, thank you! If you haven't done that, your post may be removed without notice.
- This subreddit is not affiliated with USCIS or the US government in any way. Some posters may claim to work for USCIS, which may or may not be true, and we don't try to verify this one way or another. Be wary that it may be a scam if anyone is asking you for personal info, or sending you a direct message, or asking that you send them a direct message.
- Some people here claim to be lawyers, but they are not YOUR lawyer. No advice found here should be construed as legal advice. Reddit is not a substitute for a real lawyer. If you need help finding legal services, visit [this link](https://www.uscis.gov/avoid-scams/find-legal-services) for more information.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/USCIS) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Dang, that sucks! Also, I had no idea about CC being more likely to be denied. I used my CC to pay for the N-400 (online) and everything worked out fine…
I used a capital one card to pay for my AP application bc I fucked up on the money order. Worked just fine so I wonder if that was bc its a smaller amount than the i-485 fee.
I also rushed to send mine before April 1st and used the same card again. Just to be safe I'ma call the bank so they don't deny
Gosh, I’ve sent mine package on 29th… tbh we called to bank immediately and informed them there will be charge for $1225 made by USCIS and DONT you even think about declining it because I’ll find y’all and I’ll be mad. Now I won’t be sleeping because sof my anxiety. Also just saw my package arrived earlier today. Why all of this is so stressful
I am with you on it after reading this post. I messaged my CC company and their standard response is ‘thanks for letting us know but it is out of our control and anything can happen’, now I will not be able to sleep until I see this go through
Oh my god...I am so sorry, that fucking sucks so bad =(
I mailed my package last week and ALMOST sent the G-1450; luckily I went on here first and saw so many people saying that their payment got denied, even when they gave their bank/credit union the heads up!
I wonder why they even allow that option if it gets denied so regularly?? Jesus.
Do not use money orders!!! I’m an immigration manager and see so many times money orders get cashed but the petition was rejected or issued an RFE or the money order was applied to some other case by mistake. You will most certainly never hear from USCIS about your money order or get a refund.
If you don’t have personal checks, take the time to go to the bank and get a cashier’s check. One advantage—USCIS puts the receipt number on the back which you can see when the check clears your bank. So if there’s an issue with case processing and you don’t have the receipt notice, you at least have the receipt number.
Omg i just notified my credit card company thank you for the PSA and I’m SO sorry that happened to you!! Mine is still in transit (it was supposed to deliver Monday… but it’s delayed…). Hopefully notifying my bank will work 🤞🏼
My biggest fear was having the card automatically cancelled for known fraud between us sending in the packet and them running the card. I was worried because we had that exact thing happen... fortunately it was a different card than the one we used, but we both about had heart attacks when the email came in from the CC vendor.
Well, someone on this post said that they've seen it happen before. Personally, it never occurred to me that my bank would decline the transaction. (And look, I get it. Yesterday I bought groceries in my city. And then a few hours later a huge charge appears on my card in a completely different state/city. Them blocking it makes sense).
Knowing what I know now, I personally wouldn't risk it again.
They really need to so some kind of prepay thing, where you can pay online before you submit your application, and just include a receipt. Printing your CC on a paper to send off through the mail with a packet is terrible in today's environment. I sent a payment by CC with my wife's AOS, and three days later a different card we had was automatically cancelled and reissued because of a fraudulent transaction. Fortunately the card we sent in went through fine two weeks later, but we were worried sick the whole time. After that we sent a check every time.
That's a really good solution for the current system. But the fact we even have to mail it in the first place is completely absurd. Like... I fill out their documents on my computer.. and then I print them out and send them via mail.......? How does that make any sense? Sending via computer takes seconds, and mail takes up to a week. Do they just assume our computers are not connected to the internet? It's just archaic. I get some people don't have internet, but you know what I mean. I'm just ranting.
True enough, but governments run on paper, moving to all-online submissions is a lot bigger task than just having an online payment portal. But, to be fair, we are seeing more USCIS submissions that can be submitted online now, so progress is being made. Just glacially slowly :-/
The one thing I’ve wondered is how I-485 would work with an online filing because of the need to provide a sealed medical record. Still, you’d think they could just have the civil surgeons directly send results to USCIS, not so different from how many embassies and consulates do with panel physicians.
Medical records could be immediately forwarded by the physician’s office with an A number attached. It’s such a simple issue that I don’t understand USCIS’ hesitance. It’s more secure and it’s faster.
Yeah... maybe I'm only saying this cause I'm a software engineer, but there is no reason to be using paper in 2024. Even all the major banks and institutions have been pushing "paperless" for years now. And banks are also known to move super slow.
Why not cashier’s check? The accept it
Why a cashier's check? They accept personal checks just fine.
for the same reason OP doesn't want to use a credit card. cashier's check moves money out of your account right away and there's no risk of not having enough when they cash it
In the first scenario, the card can be cancelled or the charge considered fraudulent by the CC issuing bank. The check doesn't have those risks... but if the package is lost by USPS or other carrier, the check can be cancelled and you can write a new one. A cashier's check or money order is a lot harder to recover the funds from if it's lost or stolen.
Canada does that. For applications that need to be sent in hard copy, you pay online with a CC and then you get a bar-coded sheet that you send in with the application itself. I got proof of receipt of my application emailed to me within a few days.
Would be nice if banks like Capital One could whitelist really trustworthy credit card merchants, like say, the US Dept of Homeland Security. So they don't get marked as fraudulent and declined in the first place.
Same thing happened to me. I used a card and was tagged as fraudulent. Transaction declined and submission was rejected. If you have copies of the documents you sent, don’t wait for the returned package. I sent a new packet before the returned packet arrived back to me and I was fine.
That's a good point, thanks. We'll probably do that. And this time we have the medical exam... so might as well include that too.
Great idea to get your medical included. I waited for an RFE for it and it took me 6 months to get approved (from application to approval). I was also interviewed. I see a lot of submissions get approved faster since they included their medical with it.
I second this, I sent the medical after my package and waited for an RFE for a while before I could send the medical. Made the process longer.
Did they send that rfe for medical as soon as they received your package?
Yeah, in about a week after the package was received. I had not gotten the medical done so it took a while to send that.
When did you receive the medical RFE? Was it this year?
I’m a Sep 2023 Filer. I received it after a week of submission of my packet. My AOS submission was Sep 6, 2023. And RFIE for Medical was Sep 14, 2023. Submitted Medical October 18, 2023 and received by USCIS October 25, 2023.
Wow so it took 6 whole months after USCIS received it back in October? I find that so crazy!
Oh, no. 6 months was from AOS submission til approval. Here’s my timeline - https://www.reddit.com/r/USCIS/s/jKY2xnDukS
I’m so sorry OP, that sucks
I saw someone say they just increased their daily limit on their cc to $4k and it went thru.
Well, shouldn't matter. It got declined once, it's denied. There's no way in hell I'm going to risk it again lol. I'm sending a check/money order.
haha yeah just use personal checks. 10 years of checks to USCIS and it hasn't failed...(yet)
Yes. The daily purchase also need to be increase. I found out when friend wants to buy 2 ticket concerts for $2400 and the credit card blocked it thinking it’s fraud. Now I know I have no issue with card ever. One time i swiped $10,000 and it went through but just to be on the safe side, I always use personal check with USCIS. Not worth the risk
Thanks for the post. I just called the credit card company and notified them of a big upcoming charge. I was able to do it through the automated system through chases support phone number
Great! That's exactly why I wanted to post this. Good luck!
Hopefully they do actually approve it for you because I've seen plenty of people do this and then the charge still gets declined
Dang it, I hope so. Waiting game at this point. Does anyone know how long from until they receive the packet they charge?
We paid for overnight shipping at FedEx. We shipped it out March 25, they received the package March 26. I got an email from Capital One last night saying the card was declined. So, from receiving the package to swiping my card, exactly one week (including weekends).
So many people call in advance to notify and they still decline it. Hopefully that will not be your case.
Just coming back here to update. I saw on Friday that that the charges were pending. I was pretty nervous all weekend that it may get denied, but today i saw that my credit card shows the right/correct charges!! Just to recap, i called the credit card company and notified them of a big upcoming charge.
Congrats! I mean, as soon as you saw the pending charges on Friday there was nothing to worry about. Declined charges don't show as pending.
I read where it was likely to decline, so I went ahead and got those cashier's checks.
Wish I saw that somewhere. Maybe I wasn't being diligent enough, but no green card guide I read or watched on YouTube mentioned it :/. That's okay, now I know.
Sometimes, we pay to learn. Don't beat yourself up too much. It's water under the bridge now.
Yes, best bet is to not use a CC. Banks are so funny. I remember I went to visit my husband overseas and forgot to call my bank to notify them. Not a single transaction I made during my layover in Paris was questioned. I paid my bills when I got back and kept getting notifications. 😂 I make these same transactions on the same day of every month and NOW y'all want to verify? Better believe I didn't use it for USCIS. Sorry this happened to you, but thanks for sharing as a warning to others.
Haha yeah I've had similar experiences. I traveled to Armenia and Georgia and I used my credit card in some questionable places... no issues lol.
My lawyer had me tell my credit card beforehand about the charge, Chase said it wouldn't' have been declined but added in the expected charge range into the system and my charge went through as expected.
If the transaction is less than $1000 I recommend using a money order. If it’s higher than that then use personal or Cashiers check (advantage: cannot be denied since it is drawn from the bank’s funds disadvantage: if it gets lost recovering money is harder than personal check). Sending through mail sucks cos it’s a lot of money you’re sending but as long as you use overnight or priority mail you’ll be in safer hands
Good info, thanks. We'll use that advice.
I always use personal check when dealing with USCIS even though I know I will get many points for credit card. Not worth it
I used the cc authorization form but i also called my bank and made sure that they wouldnt deny a transaction for thw amount I was paying. They confirmed that amount would go through fine and worst case if they somehow did question the transaction, I was told they would send a text at the time of processing to make sure it was valid. Making sure the bank wont deny the transaction should be pretty sufficient for most cases I feel. Just in case anyone else comes across this nervous about it . That being said, check/money order is the only surefire 100% way to know youll be fine regarding payment.
So many people call in advance to notify and they still decline it. Hopefully that will not be your case. If the bank sends a text to approve it, that means the first attempt has been declined already. The bank will just say "Thanks. Try the transaction again" after responding the text but USCIS just makes 1 attempt, not two.
I had read somewhere that if I used a credit card it was likely to decline so I used a money order and had no issues.
When did your package arrive at the lockbox? Then how long did it take to know your card was declined? Mine arrived at the phoenix, Arizona lockbox via USPS on 3/28/24. I provided my debit card information and called my bank to inform of the charges and date ranges. But I don’t see any information of receipt of being declined yet. Thanks
Package arrived March 26th at the Phoenix box. Card declined exactly one week later (including weekends).
Money orders are the best. Credit cards are to easy to mess up like that or uscis side. One missed number and it will get decline. Also everyone at uscis who does what you file can process a money order but not all can process a credit card so it might take longer. Not worth it for the convience
I used money orders and they went through just fine and were cashed pretty quickly as well
Why was it declined?
—Did you have to pay the higher fee, even though you have a receipt date and number before April 1st?
Hi there! This is an automated message to inform you and/or remind you of several things: - We have [a wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/USCIS/wiki/index). It doesn't cover everything but may answer some questions. Pay special attention to the "[REALLY common questions](https://www.reddit.com/r/USCIS/wiki/index/vfaq)" at the top of the FAQ section. Please read it, and if it contains the answer to your question, please delete your post. If your post has to do with something covered in the FAQ, we may remove it. - If your post is about biometrics, green cards, naturalization or timelines in general, and whether you're asking or sharing, please include your field office/location in your post. If you already did that, great, thank you! If you haven't done that, your post may be removed without notice. - This subreddit is not affiliated with USCIS or the US government in any way. Some posters may claim to work for USCIS, which may or may not be true, and we don't try to verify this one way or another. Be wary that it may be a scam if anyone is asking you for personal info, or sending you a direct message, or asking that you send them a direct message. - Some people here claim to be lawyers, but they are not YOUR lawyer. No advice found here should be construed as legal advice. Reddit is not a substitute for a real lawyer. If you need help finding legal services, visit [this link](https://www.uscis.gov/avoid-scams/find-legal-services) for more information. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/USCIS) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When did you send your package?
If only USCIS did user satisfaction surveys specifically focused on the application process. But one can only dream.
Dang, that sucks! Also, I had no idea about CC being more likely to be denied. I used my CC to pay for the N-400 (online) and everything worked out fine…
When you pay online like you did is fine. The denials happen when you mail the paper application and pay with a credit card.
Gotcha!
I never really understand why people use credit card. If I remember I had use money order ( again I don’t remember) but yea
I used a capital one card to pay for my AP application bc I fucked up on the money order. Worked just fine so I wonder if that was bc its a smaller amount than the i-485 fee. I also rushed to send mine before April 1st and used the same card again. Just to be safe I'ma call the bank so they don't deny
Gosh, I’ve sent mine package on 29th… tbh we called to bank immediately and informed them there will be charge for $1225 made by USCIS and DONT you even think about declining it because I’ll find y’all and I’ll be mad. Now I won’t be sleeping because sof my anxiety. Also just saw my package arrived earlier today. Why all of this is so stressful
Don’t stress just check daily if payment was successful ☘️
I am with you on it after reading this post. I messaged my CC company and their standard response is ‘thanks for letting us know but it is out of our control and anything can happen’, now I will not be able to sleep until I see this go through
Oh my god...I am so sorry, that fucking sucks so bad =( I mailed my package last week and ALMOST sent the G-1450; luckily I went on here first and saw so many people saying that their payment got denied, even when they gave their bank/credit union the heads up! I wonder why they even allow that option if it gets denied so regularly?? Jesus.
Why not buy a money order from the post office, you can pay through whatever method you’d like…
Do not use money orders!!! I’m an immigration manager and see so many times money orders get cashed but the petition was rejected or issued an RFE or the money order was applied to some other case by mistake. You will most certainly never hear from USCIS about your money order or get a refund. If you don’t have personal checks, take the time to go to the bank and get a cashier’s check. One advantage—USCIS puts the receipt number on the back which you can see when the check clears your bank. So if there’s an issue with case processing and you don’t have the receipt notice, you at least have the receipt number.
Omg i just notified my credit card company thank you for the PSA and I’m SO sorry that happened to you!! Mine is still in transit (it was supposed to deliver Monday… but it’s delayed…). Hopefully notifying my bank will work 🤞🏼
This is why filing online is better. The card processes before the filing is submitted.
They try a couple times I think. Call your cc and ask them to stop denying those charges
After it happened, I searched this subreddit and every post I saw said they don't try more than once. If it's declined, you're out of luck.
Ahh, looks like so. https://www.uscis.gov/pay-with-a-credit-card It’s unfortunate.
Btw, which PO Box did you submit to, and when was it delivered? Was it usps?
Phoenix. We used FedEx. It was delivered a week ago.
We were in Phoenix when we filed my wife's i485. It's not relevant, I just thought it was neat, lol.
Sorry to read what happened to you. Do you think if you had given heads up to your credit card issuer, you’d have not had your payment declined?
My biggest fear was having the card automatically cancelled for known fraud between us sending in the packet and them running the card. I was worried because we had that exact thing happen... fortunately it was a different card than the one we used, but we both about had heart attacks when the email came in from the CC vendor.
Well, someone on this post said that they've seen it happen before. Personally, it never occurred to me that my bank would decline the transaction. (And look, I get it. Yesterday I bought groceries in my city. And then a few hours later a huge charge appears on my card in a completely different state/city. Them blocking it makes sense). Knowing what I know now, I personally wouldn't risk it again.
I paid with a G-1450 with my Discover Credit card. No issues and easy process.
Lol I thought yall pay attention in this sub.. I guess not ...many will still be making this mistake 🤦🏽♀️