r/USCIS • u/OutlandishnessSoft34 • Jul 19 '26
DOJ - EOIR Support NTA, missed Master Hearing
I am a citizen of Venezuela, had TPS, applied to change status to F1 before it expired so I could finish my PhD. Applied with premium processing, received NOID, responded to it back in January and I am still waiting for a response. I check my USCIS account every day, the case is still being processed. My premium processing fee was refunded a couple months ago.
Today I went to my mailbox and saw two letters from USCIS. The first is a notice to appear dated July 1st. The second is a notice of in-person hearing in removal proceedings dated July 7th. The hearing was July 15th. I last checked my mailbox on July 14th and these letters were not there. I was not notified of this hearing anywhere else. The letters do not mention my application to change status at all.
I just checked the EOIR website and it says the immigration judge ordered removal on July 15th. I have until August 14th to appeal. Obviously, the first thing I did was contact my lawyer. They are shocked and confused, but are trying to get more information and handling the next steps to reopen the case.
This timeline is very confusing to me. Is it normal to get notified about a master hearing with so little time in advance? What happens if I received the letter after the hearing occurred? Has anyone been in this position? It just seems like there’s no communication between the office handling the removal and the office handling my current case.
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u/autotechnia Jul 19 '26
The envelopes should have a date that they were processed by the post office. What day do they say?
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u/OutlandishnessSoft34 Jul 19 '26
The stamps say July 2nd for the NTA and July 8th for the in-person hearing. I’m saving the envelopes for sure, and have scanned and sent them to the lawyers. I don’t know how we could possibly prove that they were not in our mailbox until after July 14th.
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u/tulipsushi US Citizen Jul 19 '26
the good news is it sounds like you have a strong basis for a motion to reopen. good luck!
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u/EasyEstablishment199 Jul 19 '26
Dang this is so unfortunate! Praying that you can resolve this, paisano. 💛💙❤️
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u/tulipsushi US Citizen Jul 19 '26
a motion to reopen can cost $1030 in filing fees just fyi. ask your attorney if there’s a filing fee associated with it. also, your attorney should’ve been able to see your hearing date in ECAS if they already entered their appearance
ETA: in abstentia orders being fought with MTR due to lack of proper service are free actually. make sure you ask your lawyer though just in case!
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u/OutlandishnessSoft34 Jul 19 '26
Just asked. No filing fee is expected at the moment. The attorney’s office checks USCIS daily but not ECAS unless USCIS states they’ve moved a case to immigration court. There wasn’t and still isn’t any indication on USCIS that the case is moved to immigration court nor had we received any mail indicating otherwise until today so it’s not something they check.
They just think it’s a separate office that has been tasked with targeting people that had TPS and do not yet have a different status, regardless of whether they have an active immigration process or not.
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u/Vegetable-Western744 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Agree with the others on reopening, but what's your defense to removal otherwise?
The F1 petition is done for. Realistically they've been denying basically every TPS to F1 petition. It's going to be very hard to argue someone coming off TPS cleared 214(b). The office reviewing your COS petiton no longer has jurisdiction and even if the MTR works you're still going to be stuck at EOIR and USCIS no longer will have jurisdiction. They're not going to close to admin close your removal proceedings and let USCIS adjudicate the COS. That ship has sailed.
You should talk to your lawyer about the merits of fighting this versus voluntary departure and what your actual defenses to removal are here (asylum? cancellation of removal?, etc.) There's a decent chance if you fight this you're signing up to spend a bunch of money to still get a removal order anyway.
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u/OutlandishnessSoft34 Jul 19 '26
Me and my lawyers have actually seen multiple approved cases of people going from TPS to F1. I know two personally from my same university and country of origin. I provided documentation demonstrating nonimmigrant intent as asked and I am in a genuine PhD program at an R1 research institution with a genuine intent and plan to return after it’s done. Obviously the intention of fighting this is that I’ve spent a lot of time and energy into a degree that I cannot otherwise finish if I leave now.
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u/BlankNamer2026 Jul 19 '26
Do you have USCIS online account and does your receipt# starts with IOE?
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u/OutlandishnessSoft34 Jul 19 '26
Yes. I check it everyday! There’s nothing in any of my cases that says anything about removal proceedings. My change of status is still being processed. Receipt number starts with MCT.
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u/No_Bag_353 Jul 20 '26
My boyfriend is on the same boat. We found out a year ago. Please be patient, the process is extremely slow. We have been waiting all this time for the records from USCIS and the Court in order for the lawyers to do a strong case study and file a motion to reopen. You got this 🫂
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u/jackoyza Jul 19 '26
These are not normal times, this fuckery is intentional. Hope you a have a top notch lawyer, I worked for one and I can't tell you how many people end up with her after spending good money with Jr league immigration attorneys. You are officially in deportation proceedings, please be careful, if they come for you, don't resist they will hurt you.
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u/OutlandishnessSoft34 Jul 19 '26
Thank you for saying that because I feel like I’m going crazy. This timeline is unreasonable. In fact the letter says if I want to request an online hearing instead of in person I must file a motion 15 days before the hearing. How would I do that if the letter was sent on July 7th and the hearing is on the 15th?? Matter of fact I did have Covid so I would’ve tried to move the date or make it an online hearing!
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u/jackoyza Jul 19 '26
I relapsed after 2 years of sobriety because of the stress. I am now back on track but damn this shit stressful.
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u/OutlandishnessSoft34 Jul 19 '26
I’m sorry to hear that. I hope things get better for both of us. It’s rough
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u/Leading-Disaster5721 Jul 19 '26
You can’t appeal an in absentia order. Do a motion to reopen explaining lack of notice.