Almost time to naturalize

[Donna A 4]

Finally we are nearing the finish line. Within the next month or so we will be filing the papers to naturalize my husband. It's been a long journey for sure.

How long from the time you send the papers until the test/interview and what every else they do?

Do I have to be at the interview with him?

I really haven't done much looking into things so Im just starting out with this. Please help.

[RICARDO4EVA2 194]

Finally we are nearing the finish line. Within the next month or so we will be filing the papers to naturalize my husband. It's been a long journey for sure.

How long from the time you send the papers until the test/interview and what every else they do?

Do I have to be at the interview with him?

I really haven't done much looking into things so Im just starting out with this. Please help.

Once you send the papers off... he will do his fingerprints after about 1 month. Total time from start to finish is about 4-5 months.

You can go to the Interview with him if you would like BUT you can only go as far as the waiting area. You are not required to be at the interview - therefore will not be allowed to sit in. Depending on where you're located some offices have same day Oath Ceremonies which i think is really great.. Otherwise I think they send a letter in the mail saying the date you will go to the Court to get Sworn in.... which he can expect to be there from 2-4 hours depending on the # of applicants.

Edited September 6, 2010 by RICARDO4EVA2

[Sand 5]

Hi Donna A, i still remember u, lol. me too i am filing this month.

so good luck

[Donna A 4]

Thanks Ricardo.

Hi Sand, Yeah, you and my husband got the green card at the same time. I remember. I cant wait to finish all of this. We just had our 7th anniversary last month. Its time to be done!!!

Edited September 6, 2010 by Donna A

[NickD 202]

My stepdaughter decided to file finally, she just turned 21. Has an opportunity to study abroad in the UK, and was told she should get her US citizenship first and US passport. That gives her a good reason to start the ball rolling. Always insisted my kids learn how to do things for themselves.

But did e-mail a copy of her mom's application to use as a guide, said I can take her photos, the links to download the forms and the M-476 manual, have all of her tax forms, will check over her application, and when she gets done, will give her a check for $675.00.

She can copy and paste her moms address history, will have to recall her employment history, she has been a LPR for 61 months now, so the days out of the country will be for the last five years. Only one 41 day trip during the summer three years ago when she turned 18 so she could finally get a passport. Her biological father wouldn't sign for her. So it should go pretty easy. She does have a photographic memory, carries a GPA of 4.0, so could study the civics test in about five minutes.

Her mom and I were happy she finally decided to go for it, but what the heck, she is over 21.

Thinking way back with a long journey, she and her mom lived here for four months before they got their EAD card, was tension as to whether that would expire before getting their conditional cards. USCIS was extremely slow back then, but just in time like the I-751 process. As her mom has been a US citizen for over two years now, if the AOS and EAD was done in a timely manner, stepdaughter could have tailgated her mom on US citizenship as she would still be under 18. Oh well, another form and another $675.00.

[Captain Oates 910]

You know I think I am suffering from Stockholm syndrome and will actually miss the USCIS. aaaarrrgghhhh !!!

I mean where is the challenge in life ?

Slogging it out with the USCIS and trying to outwit all the wobblies they throw at us has been a source of great satisfaction after each step...(only after)

That's classic addiction talk - seeking the buzz - the reward and exhilaration after the achievement

I need to replace it quickly and not with booze or drugs or women

That's assuming I get through the last bits unscathed !

Edited September 7, 2010 by saywhat

[NickD 202]

You know I think I am suffering from Stockholm syndrome and will actually miss the USCIS. aaaarrrgghhhh !!!

I mean where is the challenge in life ?

Slogging it out with the USCIS and trying to outwit all the wobblies they throw at us has been a source of great satisfaction after each step...(only after)

That's classic addiction talk - seeking the buzz - the reward and exhilaration after the achievement

I need to replace it quickly and not with booze or drugs or women

That's assuming I get through the last bits unscathed !

Feel lack of contact and trying to make heads or tales out of those poorly composed forms is the greatest amount of stress, plus waiting for a reply. We actually only had two actual interviews and three biometrics appointments where we could see real people, even armed guards, though I haven't figured that out yet. We did make one infopass appointment, but the day before we had to make that long trip to get my wifes' foreign passport stamped with that I-551 her ten year card finally came in, so we canceled that.

Have my grandfathers immigration papers, he went to Ellis Island and can tell an IO filled out the form with hand printing. He must have had a few extra bucks and took a train to Chicago rather than being locked up in New York, kind of famous for major crimes back then. By a few bucks, quite a bit, railroads were charging ten cents a mile when the average daily wage was a buck a day.

Have a paper where he attended US citizenship classes one night a week, a Monday in fact for six weeks, then received his US citizenship. So his process was over in less than two months. Today, that same process can last over six years.

Really never heard of the USCIS until I asked my wife to marry me, was kind of lucky, talked to a very good officer at the USCIS after I found the phone number, she told me what forms I had to fill out and even sent me all those forms. Wasn't good to read as a US citizen could be fined $250,000.00 and spend five years in prison, but that wasn't nearly as bad as any inaccuracies in filling out all those forms could result in rejection and loss of fees. At that time including the medical cost of the I-693 for both my wife and her daughter, was talking over $4,000.00, so I searched and found a good immigration attorney. Already knew how important it is in the country to find a good attorney, can really get creamed without one.

You would think for what they charge, could go in and have one of their experts fill out the form for you, they use to do that and explain the questions. But you are left on your own and just hope and pray you did everything, not right, but they way they want you to do it. Then that endless waiting, that is most of the stress.

[Captain Oates 910]

Feel lack of contact and trying to make heads or tales out of those poorly composed forms is the greatest amount of stress, plus waiting for a reply. We actually only had two actual interviews and three biometrics appointments where we could see real people, even armed guards, though I haven't figured that out yet. We did make one infopass appointment, but the day before we had to make that long trip to get my wifes' foreign passport stamped with that I-551 her ten year card finally came in, so we canceled that.

Have my grandfathers immigration papers, he went to Ellis Island and can tell an IO filled out the form with hand printing. He must have had a few extra bucks and took a train to Chicago rather than being locked up in New York, kind of famous for major crimes back then. By a few bucks, quite a bit, railroads were charging ten cents a mile when the average daily wage was a buck a day.

Have a paper where he attended US citizenship classes one night a week, a Monday in fact for six weeks, then received his US citizenship. So his process was over in less than two months. Today, that same process can last over six years.

Really never heard of the USCIS until I asked my wife to marry me, was kind of lucky, talked to a very good officer at the USCIS after I found the phone number, she told me what forms I had to fill out and even sent me all those forms. Wasn't good to read as a US citizen could be fined $250,000.00 and spend five years in prison, but that wasn't nearly as bad as any inaccuracies in filling out all those forms could result in rejection and loss of fees. At that time including the medical cost of the I-693 for both my wife and her daughter, was talking over $4,000.00, so I searched and found a good immigration attorney. Already knew how important it is in the country to find a good attorney, can really get creamed without one.

You would think for what they charge, could go in and have one of their experts fill out the form for you, they use to do that and explain the questions. But you are left on your own and just hope and pray you did everything, not right, but they way they want you to do it. Then that endless waiting, that is most of the stress.

VJ is an absolute wonder. I would have popped my skull without it.

When the immigration lawyer in Milwaukee messed our file up at K1 stage we decided to do everything ourselves from then on (with the help of VJ)

We did another K1 and then Advance Parole and then AOS (abandoned) and then UK green card and then relative immigration IR1 and then naturalization. All on our own.

The green card help from VJ was amazing as we were sat in a rented house in Lancashire for a year and it never stopped raining. VJ members showed me how to cut months off the process by generating my own bar codes etc and showing me the software and how to do it. We got a massive brick wall with wife's US domicile issue and VJ gave us the ammo to get through it.

I know it's going to be a weird feeling when I naturalize but I am glad I am doing it now as I thought a 10 year GC was the bee's knees; but when you look at what can go wrong, it's no more than a super visa and there is always that lurking danger of an accident or changing legislation.

It will be great to have the relaxed feeling that I have when I go through UK immigration with my British Passport. Being able to do that in Seattle (and have a shorter line) will help me to feel 'at home'.

I am expecting some subconscious side effects when I get the blue passport; like I have a right to have an opinion etc and it will feel more like home.

My wife is talking about doing 3 years in the UK and getting her Brit passport as a 'project' when she retires. Not Lancashire though. I won't even drive through there nowadays.

We are in the UK this weekend (fly 9/11) and we are off to see George Washington's family home in North East England (In Washington).

When we get back I want to see the interview letter in the mail box.