Receiving a work permit, green card, or other original immigration document should be one of the most exciting parts of an immigration case. Unfortunately, a delivery problem can quickly turn that moment into a stressful and complicated situation.
Over the years, we have seen problems arise when USCIS sends original documents directly to a client’s residential address. That experience is why our law firm generally prefers to have certain original USCIS documents delivered to our designated mailing address first and then forwarded to the client with tracking.
What Can Go Wrong With Direct Delivery?
A client may have the correct address on file and still experience a delivery problem.
For example, a carrier may be unable to complete delivery, the recipient’s name may not be associated with the address, access to the building may be restricted, or the package may otherwise be treated as undeliverable.
For ordinary mail, this may be an inconvenience. For an important immigration document, however, the consequences can be much more serious.
If a work permit, green card, or other original document is returned to USCIS, resolving the problem may take significant time and effort. It can create additional stress for the client and may involve further correspondence, shipping expenses, legal work, and delays.
Our goal is to avoid that situation whenever reasonably possible.
Why We Prefer the Document to Come to Us First
Our law firm uses a designated USPS mailbox to receive certain original documents issued for our clients.
When appropriate, we request that the document be mailed there instead of directly to the client’s residential address.
Once we receive the document, our office can:
- Confirm that it has arrived;
- Scan the document for our records;
- Provide the client with a copy;
- Prepare the original for delivery to the client; and
- Send it with tracking so the shipment can be monitored.
Yes, this creates an additional step for our office. But we believe that additional work is worthwhile when it can reduce the risk of a much more difficult problem later.
The Important Difference if Delivery Fails
There is another practical reason we use this system.
When USCIS sends a document directly to a client and the package is undeliverable, it may be returned to USCIS. At that point, getting the document back can become complicated.
When our office receives the original first and then mails it to the client, we are the sender of that second shipment. If that shipment cannot be delivered and is properly returned to the sender, it should come back to our office rather than being sent back to USCIS.
That gives us an opportunity to work directly with the client to determine what went wrong and arrange another delivery.
In other words, our goal is to keep a mailing problem from becoming an immigration-document problem.
Tracking Gives Clients Greater Visibility
When our office forwards an original document, we provide tracking information so the client can follow the shipment.
Clients should monitor that tracking information carefully and make arrangements to receive the package when necessary.
For clients who want a different or expedited shipping option, our office may also be able to arrange delivery through carriers such as FedEx or UPS, including overnight services where available, at an additional cost.
Does This Eliminate Every Risk?
No.
No mailing system can guarantee that a package will never be delayed, misplaced, misdelivered, or returned. Problems can still happen.
The purpose of our procedure is not to promise a risk-free delivery. It is to reduce avoidable risk and give our office greater ability to respond when something goes wrong.
Based on our experience, having important original documents come to our designated mailing location first provides an additional layer of control before the document is forwarded to the client.
A Small Extra Step to Prevent a Much Bigger Problem
Our philosophy is simple: when we can take a reasonable step today that may prevent a complicated problem tomorrow, we prefer to take that step.
A work permit, green card, or other original immigration document can be extremely important to a client. We do not want a preventable mailing issue to create unnecessary delays, costs, or stress.
That is why our law firm may prefer to receive certain original USCIS documents first, document their receipt, and then send them to our clients with tracking.
It requires additional work from our team, but it gives us another opportunity to protect the delivery process and help our clients receive their important documents as smoothly as possible.
This article provides general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration procedures and mailing practices may vary depending on the case and the document involved.