Common Questions About the I800 Application

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Common Questions About the I800

I mailed my application over a week ago, and haven't heard anything. Is something wrong?

Not necessarily! I know everyone wants to see progress as soon as possible, but it often takes a little longer. The farther away you live from the Texas lockbox where you mailed your application, the longer it will take for you to receive notification about your application (unless you sent the G-1145 in order to get email updates). It often takes longer than one week to hear something. Don't panic! If it makes you feel better, contact the Texas lockbox as the number or email address listed above and ask about the status of your application!

Do I need to be fingerprinted for this application? Is there a filing fee?

NO. You will not need to take fingerprints and there is no filing fee!

I received my approval notice, but my child's name is not listed the same way as it is on my referral! Is this a mistake?

Not necessarily! As you may know, Chinese people list their last names first followed by the first and then middle names. Chinese don't really have middle names though, so really the two names combined together are the first name.

Anyway, (for example) on your child's referral information, the name looked like this:

An Li Yuan, or An Liyuan. An is the last name (surname), while Liyuan is the first name (or Li the first and yuan the middle, it doesn't really matter).

When USCIS issues the I800 approval notice, they arrange the child's name in the Western way: first name, then middle, than last. So on your approval notice, the name would appear like this:

Li Yuan An, or Li Y. An (first, middle, last). Don't assume this is a mistake!! It's just the way USCIS does things. It's perfectly okay!

Now, if your child's name is spelled incorrectly, or their birth date is wrong, that needs to be corrected be contacting your USCIS officer immediately.

SBI!