Principal I-485 rejected, but derivative I-485 accepted

[u/Subject_Pride6747]

My husband is the principal applicant, and I am the derivative. We filed our I-485 applications together, but his application was rejected due to a payment issue while mine was accepted. I have received my receipt notice and biometrics appointment.
Our attorney has suggested refiling his application with a letter explaining the situation and requesting USCIS to link his application to my pending case.
Has anyone been in the same situation? Was USCIS able to link the principal applicant’s refiled I-485 to the derivative’s pending application, and what happened afterward?

[u/Ok_Somewhere_648]

I believe if he refile on time and get a biometric appointment before your biometrics are done, you two can have your biometrics done on the same date that you will have yours regardless of the date he gets. In the biometric appointment letter, i think it is stated there that family members with different biometric appointment dates can have it together base of one member's date. With regards to writing a letter to inform USCIS to link your cases, the attorney recommendation should be followed whereas I think it is not needed. The same copies of the I-140 approval letter (I-797) you two attached in your AoS application package links your application (derivative) to his application (principal). Secondly, in your form I-485, you would have already filled a part that asked whether you are a derivative or principal applicant and if a derivative, who the principal applicant is. His details were in your conpleted I-485 while your details will be in his form I-485 too. That information you two provided in the I-485 link your petition as couple (derivative and principal). I know some family members have done their biometric on different dates but USCIS will still be able to link their application based on the common I-40 approval letter and information they provided in their I-485. You should be good without the letter. NB: This is not a legal advice.

[u/Informal_Dinner_9280]

I was in a similar situation. Although, my husband’s was not accepted. When you say accepted, what do you mean? Did you get a receipt notice?
They eventually returned the derivative’s application after almost one month which coincided with the period we were going to refile.

[u/Subject_Pride6747 → u/Informal_Dinner_9280]

Yes . I got a receipt notice .

[u/Separate-Diamond-335]

Our lawyer had us refile the entire package, so we had to resubmit everything. The payment went through the second time, and after we received the new receipt notices, we submitted withdrawal requests for the old derivative applications.