Finally, we are done!!!!! My wife Maria took the oath of allegiance on August 24, 2021 in San Francisco, received her Naturalization Certificate and is now a United States Citizen!!!!! Wooooo Hooooo!!!!!
We filed my wife's N-400 in June 2020. She was eligible to file for Naturalization in December 2019. She still had not been approved for the I-751 Removal of Conditions which had been filed in December 2018. Shortly after filing the N-400 we received noticed that both cases had been combined and were being transferred to another processing center for completion. While this added more time on to the approval of the I-751, it ultimately was the best decision we could have made. On July 5, 2021 while we were in Juarez, MX attending my stepdaughter's permanent resident interview (which she was approved that same day) received a notification that her combo interview had been scheduled for August 3, 2021. We arrived to the SF USCIS office at the scheduled time. I waited outside while my wife went in. Shortly thereafter, my wife texted me to tell me I needed to come inside to go through the ROC interview with her. I went in, took the oath to tell the truth and we were asked some questions to verify our marriage was legit (she came on a K-1 visa in February 2016) and then I was dismissed so that the officer could continue with the Naturalization interview. About 30 minutes later she came out with a blank look on her face. I asked her did everything go okay. She said yes. I asked so are you done. She said I don't know. The officer said everything looks good for an approval but she gave me this sheet which says they are going to review the case. I asked her how did she do on the test. She said I got them all right. She only asked me 6 questions. I asked about the English part.. She said she did fine. As we walked back to the car, we both wondered if we said or did anything wrong. The officer seemed very pleasant but was also very professional. She told me that the officer corrected a few things on the application that we had listed incorrectly regarding the fact that she had a previous cancelled visa due to overstays in the US under a tourist visa. After beating ourselves up for a few minutes wondering, I concluded that overall, everything was going to be fine because we had done everything right up to that point. They were just dotting the "i's and crossing the "t's" on her very thick immigration file. At that point, we just put it in God's hands.
On the morning of August 6, I received a text message from USCIS regarding her case decision. Her N-400 was approved!!!!! A few hours later, I received another text message that her I-751 Removal of Conditions was approved as well. This ended a 7+ years long process on the path to Citizenship which was the ultimate ending to our ongoing love story💖😍.
In conclusion, I will say this.... as frustrated as we can get with all of the red tape you have to go through dealing with immigration, the system does work if you follow the instructions, file your applications on time and remain vigilant. I hired an immigration attorney to help with the filing of Maria's K-1 visa and 601/212 waivers which we had to file due to her having a canceled visa. It wasn't cheap but well worth the cost because it was our one shot to get it right the first time. We were successful and she was able come to the US to get married to me and continue our love story. After that, we filed all of the remaining processes ourselves. Here is a list of all of the processes we filed during our journey:
I-129f Fiance Visa - February 2014 - Approved April 2014 (Did not attend interview until March 2015 due to unforseen circumstances) Was denied at interview but allowed to file 601 and 212 waivers.
I-601 Waiver of Inadmissability - June 2015 - Approved December 2015
I-212 Permission to Reapply for Re-entry after Removal - June 2015 - Approved December 2015
I-485 Adustment of Status - June 2016
I-131 Application for Travel Document (with I-485) -Received August 2015
I-765 Application for Employment Authorization (with I-485) - Received August 2015
I-90 Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (due to green card being stolen by a postal employee before it was delivered to our residence.) - March 2016
I 751- Removal of Conditions - December 2018 - Approved August 2021
N-400 Application for Naturalization - June 2020 - Approved August 2021
Oath of Allegiance - August 24, 2021
I also filed a 1-130 to bring my wife's daughter (my stepdaughter) who was supposed to come on the K-1 visa as a minor child to the US in February 2016 but chose to stay behind at that time. In March 2018 that she decided that she wanted to join her mom in the US. In September 2018 the I-130 was filed and was approved in August 2019. After filing all of the appropriate forms to get an interview scheduled in Juarez, MX, the US Consulate closed for non-essential Visa interviews in March 2020 Due to COVID. Her interview was not scheduled until August 2021. She was approved the same day her mom (my wife) was scheduled for her ROC/Citizenship interview. She entered the US on August 7, 2021 and was able to celebrate with her mom in person on August 24 when she received her Naturalization Certificate.