eric_and_teresa

I will try, I am such a worry wart and we have had so many issues with mail.

Oh boy, I am starting to worry about my certificate not coming back and it's only been two weeks. When we applied for my son's passport his birth certificate came back right away. I dont understand how this can happen with such an important document. Please do post any updates.

I filed for my passport in July and received my passport a week ago. How long did it take you to get your naturalization certificate back? Our mail has been so unreliable lately that I am so afraid it may get lost or misplaced, and it is worth $500. Any experiences you can share will put my mind at ease. Thanks! ***If an admin could move my post to the passport section I'd appreciate it, I did not realize I posted it on the wrong forum*** Thanks

A friend came with me and was not allowed into the room for the Oath. All family members and friends were allowed in to take pictures of us either before or after but were asked to leave when the ceremony started, which makes no sense! The ceremony was rather uneventful and lasted less than 10 minutes, there was only 10 of us taking the oath at the time I was scheduled, but there were several ceremonies scheduled that day every hour I think. I think they are just trying to follow guidelines, but it makes no difference to allow all people in a confined space for pictures but not the for actual event... oh well.

Thank you! I learned something new, so I live in WI and my oath ceremony is administrative only at the USCIS. Rebecca was very nice and explained that they do the Judicial Oath for MN residents only, and that the are not allowing guests at at the time and that she figures the same rules are applying at the USCIS office, which makes sense because the notice just says "you may be limited on who can attend" and then gives the USCIS # which is impossible to get a live person there. Thank you for getting that number for me!

Thank you! I have been googling and browsing for any numbers or contact info. This is super helpful!!! Thanks again!!!

Are family members allowed to attend your Oath Ceremony? I know in the past it was allowed, but I am not sure now with all the restrictions due to Covid... I'd like my 8 year old son to attend my ceremony if possible, my husband cannot be present due to his work schedule, but I don't want to bring my child if they wont allow him in. My Oath Ceremony is next week in Minneapolis.

Wow, I had no idea that was even possible, it seems like the person on the thread found a great CBP officer that went above and beyond. I had asked my sister for an update on our friend but haven't heard back from him yet. I am thinking he was successful after going directly to the airline, otherwise he would have come back to my sister's asking for help. I will ask again and post about it when I find out.

Yes! Usually green card holders would not need a visa for Mexico but since his has expired, we'd back where we started. This is already costing him a pretty penny, I feel so bad for him. I will make sure to post the outcome.

Thank you! I am passing all these messages to him!

Yes, they did not let him board last week. He will try again now with the info that @Mike E has provided and memo in hand. I will keep you posted.

Thank you so much for all the pointers, I will get him this info and memo and tell him to bring it to the airline. He is from Guatemala. Thanks again for all your help!

The airline would not let him board last week and in the section of special instructions of the form, it said carrier can deny boarding him and then he'd have to file I-131a. The local Embassy is really of no use, they are the ones who told him to file I-131a in the first place and we he called and said the number is not being accepted to pay the fee, their solution was "keep trying until it does." He is definitely out of lock. He already did the live chat which was of no use either, and tried calling the 800 number but it is impossible to get a live human there. Should he try to stand his ground with the airline? He has been out of the US. 8 months I believe, but for sure less than a year, so in theory he should be able to return with expired GC but the airline did not allow it. I wonder if another airline would...

Yeah, we are entering the USCIS # on the front of the card that is also listed as an alien # on a NOA he had from before, but it keeps saying the A# and DOB dont match. I was just wondering if we are missing something really obvious, we’ve tried many times

Yes, it shows resident since 3/21/ 2011.

Thank you both! So he did the live agent chat, and the agent said "the system is down" and I cannot corroborate your information... he will try again tomorrow. I advised him to cross reference the green card number/alien # in the card and other notices he has and it is the same number but the system keeps rejecting it. I feel sorry for the poor guy but also don't understand why he allowed his green card to expire if he knew he had to travel.

I am posting this on behalf of a friend, who is a green card holder but got their I-551 expired in March and needs to return to the US. The Embassy in Guatemala advised he must file a I-131a and pay the fee online, when he tries entering the Green Card # from his card, he keeps getting a message that says "Green Card # and DOB" do not match our records. He is entering the info exactly as it is in his green card, the number is under the USCIS #, and it does start with ZERO, and it has 9 digits. I tried helping him and I am getting the same message. Has anyone encounter this issue before? He tried calling the 800 number and it is impossible to talk to a live person. He called the embassy and was told to keep trying until it works. He has tried over 50 times and still gets the same message. Are looking at the wrong number maybe? Or is there a way to see if his number is valid. The green card is expired but his number should still be valid right?

Oops! I meant July 2021 and had expired in February 2022, I swear I never know on which day I am and now I am living in the future! Lol

I was on the same boat, I applied in July 2022, my green card expired in February 2023 while my N-400 was still processing. I have been working all this time as well and was wondering if my employer would ask me for a new green card since my file probably shows that I am expired. I did some reading and researching and like Arken explained above, found out that your resident status does not change just because the green card itself expires. You should be fine. I had my interview last week and got approved and will take the oath next month.

I live in Wisconsin and the local office that processed my N400 and did my interview was Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN.

I had not been here for a long time, I was a regular poster from 2007 thru 2011, and now I just came back because I filed for naturalization. I am trying to find my old posts for when I applied for my K-1 in 2007. Is there a way to search from dates back then? I see the site was been revamped so I am not sure if the info on the old site was transferred to this new one...

This is just based on my personal experience at the Guatemalan consulate, many years ago. I applied for a Tourist Visa while waiting for my K-1 to be approved and I was granted one, and was able to visit my fiancee (now husband) for Chrismtas that year. I was willing to take the chance, the wait back then was not that long and I did not mind losing the money. It won't affect your K-1 process.. Now that being said, I had been a tourist visa holder since I was a child and had traveled as a tourist many times before I applied for the B2 that time. If I can find my post about that experience I will post it here, I was worried when entered the POE but I was truthful and stayed only for one week then went back home and waited for my K1.

Update, I had also received the message of "Quality Review" on 04/18 (Monday) and yesterday (4/20) I got my oath ceremony date posted, so for me it took less than 3 days... I have not gotten the notice in the mail yet, but I was able to see it online.

Thank you! Good luck to you on your future application!

I have now an Oath date for May 19, 2022, I haven't received the notice in the mail yet but it was posted on my USCIS account online. Total time for my process is 10 months, from filing online to Oath Ceremony, my office was Minneapolis, MN. I did get the biometrics waived, so I am sure that made things go a little faster too. Good luck to everyone still waiting!