Postponing interview / oath ceremony

[NY_IZMIR 1]

We've applied for my wife's naturalization back in January and were hoping to be done with the process around May, and take an extended vacation overseas right after. At the speed at which things are going, it's unlikely that we'll have an interview date before our planned trip.

Has anyone had any experience in postponing an interview date, or perhaps an oath ceremony date? Are they (uscis) as flexible with such postponements as they are with say biometrics appointments?

We'd hate to go on vacation in the middle of all this, but it might come to it, so just wanted to weigh our options.

I've read on some recent threads that if you travel out of the country between your application and interview, that you just mention your trip at the time of your interview, and likewise if you travel between your interview and oath ceremony that you mention your recent trip during the ceremony and generally it's not an issue.

But what about trips that are somewhat long (say 4-5 months, definitely less than 6)? Would they scrutinize that? And what about the residency requirement (being a resident of a state for 3 months before you can file the n-400) would that be applicable and we'd be out of status as far as the residency requirement is concerned? Or is that just at the time of filing?

Thanks

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

The moment your wife filed her N-400, a long and heavy train with hazardous materials aboard got rolling. It's best not to try to slow it down or redirect it until it has reached its destination. So the Oath Ceremony is the final destination. It's possible to reschedule the Oath Ceremony, but . . . 4 to 5 months?

If you are so wealthy that you can afford a 5-month vacation, can't you just send the corporate jet back to the US for a couple of days?

Rescheduling the interview is possible as well, but, again, USCIS's wheels are moving slowly, so only the Almighty knows when you'll have a letter with the new appointment in the mail.

Given your timeline, I feel confident that you will have at least the interview out of the way before your scheduled vacation.

[warlord 73]

The golden rule is to never postpone your interview (and especially not your oath) unless it's a life and death matter. Trips are not life and death matters. If you re-schedual you will be put back in the system (always a bad thing). Not sure how bad it is for interviews, but postponing the oath has been problems for many people as they tend to get lost and find themselves waiting a very long time before they get another oath. The same thing is possible with the interviews.

USCIS will view it that you're really in no hurry to get an interview because you just booked a trip like that, so they don't think there's any hurry to re-schedual you.

But it's just a Roulette wheel of chance when you try it and everyone has different experiences. So you may get a re-schedualed interview a week later or many months later or longer. You won't know until you actually do it...