Real Immigration Website Or Fake?

Is an immigration website currently online official or a scam? How can you tell?

Miosotis is originally from the Dominican Republic. But for the last 13 years she has lived here in the US as a resident, with a greencard.

Because her greencard was going to expire this July, she went onto the internet to see about renewing it online, which is now available.

The problem is that she "Googled" Immigration and that doesn't always bring you to the correct site. What it brings you to are the websites that "pay" the internet provider the most money for the privilige to pop up on at the top of someone's generic search.

The site Miosotis came to is called WWW.USCIS-INFO-HELPLINE-INFO. Now this is an actual website, that accepts people's money, but after that we're not sure what they do with it. But they have NOTHING to do with the Federal Government's official immigration site WWW.USCIS.GOV, which is The U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services.

But as Miosotis explained, at the time everything sounded legit: "I gave them all the information , I gave them everything that I had , they say the process is $370 for the renewal of the greencard and $675 for becoming a citizen , which was agreed, because this is true, if you were going to the immigration site, the real one, this is the correct fee that's being charged."

So Miosotis mailed off $ 1,045.00 to USCIS-INFO-HELPLINE-INFO. When she called to confirm they received it, she was told to expect a call in about two weeks to get fingerprinted.

But after waiting nearly four weeks, Miosotis got nervous and called: "I didn't receive any notice from them, so I decided to call them myself.
When I called them, I left a few messages, I went thru every extension they had , they have several extensions. I left messages, I sent emails , I never received any calls from them."

After making dozens of calls, she finally got someone on the phone. When she asked about the hold up, they said they had her application, but it was pending Payment! When Miosotis asked about the $ 1045 she had already sent them that had already been cashed, the person on the phone said that money was going to be applied to their fees and that she had to send them another $ 1045 to pay for the actual process.

Miosotis was shocked! "I said, No, No, No, No, you have to be kidding me. I was so upset and said I need my money back and she said your money's not refundable."

Sadly that was the truth, after she contacted Help Me Howard. Since Miosotis's experience, USCIS-INFO-HELPLINE-INFO has changed their site and put more notices stating they are in now way connected to any government websites. But the words are very small, its easy to miss and very easy for immigrants, who are not that comfortable with the English language, to be misled. Which is just what they want to happen.

Help Me Howard spoke to officials at the real USCIS offices and they have offered to personally take a look at Miosotis' case and help her get her paperwork in on time. The USCIS has fee waivers available for some of their applications.

So how do you make sure theis never happens to you or anyone you know?

First whenever dealing with any government agency, it should have a .GOV ending. As in USCIS.Gov. Nothing else is an official government website, NOT .Com, NOT .Net, NOT .Org , NOT .Info.

USCIS United States Citizen Immigration Services is located WWW.USCIS.GOV and all their forms are free, there is no reason for you to pay a service for their forms.

They have several programs set up to help people with their paperwork. Their site also offers a list of legal service providers. These are people and organizations that have been vetted by the U.S. Department of Justice. They have the requisite immigration expertise to help people and many charge either a nominal fee or charge nothing at all. And if you are looking for help in your neighborhood, go to a respected member of the community like a church elder or elected official.

And remember if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Never sign blank pieces of paper.

Never sign anything that has misleading or false information on it.

And if you pay any fee, always get a receipt.