N-400 I need help! PLease!

[Rahstyles 10]

HI I am 27 years old.

I have been a PR since i was 4 years old ... My step dad was in the military and now he is retired.. I recently became interested in getting a US citizenship because I have me the girl i want to marry when i went to the philipines. In order to be with her asap I have to have a US Citzenship so i can file for a fiance visa. I had everything planned out... And im having the most hardest time being away from her. Im spending all my money and saving as much as i can so i can bring her here.

I recently filed for a citzenship and I didnt notice till i got a fax of my interview letter that one of the required documents was a "selective service paper" I honestly had no idea what the heck that was so i googled it and found out that I had to register from the age of 18-26. I am now 27.. It is just bad luck to have found this out now. Or i would of signed up in a heartbeat.

Anyways yesterday I went to my interview and I passed all my test questions and I have no criminal background and my slate is clean. But then he asked me if i signed up to the selective services.. I said No. He told me why not. I said because i never knew about it till now. He then asked me what school I went to.. i said Tvhs.. Then he said well then you should of known about it cause my son goes to chapperal highschool (which is another school close to tvhs) and they go around the school talking about it. I honestly did not know what the heck he was talking about because I never heard of it till now.. maybe his son is younger and just started to do it in schools.

So anyways he told me at the end of the interview he cannot approve me now and that I need to send him a status of information letter as to why i didnt sign up and make shure he has it by Oct. 6. Im freaking out everyday.. Will I still have a chance to get my Us citzenship? When he gets the letter.. I realy need it.. ( He did mention that he told me dont wait till the last minuete to send it in.. so to me .. im thinking he wants to pass me.. but he needs that letter first. But then again this other girl at my work told me.. They asked her all 10 questions and she got 1 wrong. But when i did the interview he only asked me 6 questions.. but i got them al right. So maybe he only asked me 6 because he already knew i wasnt gonna get my us citizenship so he was like .. what the heck.. it doesnt even matter if i ask him all 10.

What are my options here... please help!

[sasaqlain 24]

Don't freak out. He asked you six questions because you answered them correctly, and the interviewer would have asked you more questions I'f you had been wrong on any of the questions. To me it seems that you passed the the test and had the issue of S.S not come up, he would have passed you in the interview. Did he make you read and write a setence? Get in touch with the SS office and submit a letter by the date. You'll be fine. It's not a big deal and certainly not a crime.....

[Rahstyles 10]

Yes he did ask me to write some silly sentence.. i passed that too... I keep hearing im "SOL" if i didnt sign up for the selective services .. even if i turn in the letter.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

You are only required to get 60% to pass the civics test and since they ask 10 questions, if you get 6 right, then you have already passed and they have no need to ask you anymore. I was only asked 6 questions as well - and SS registration was never a concern in my petition.

He has given you a course of action to follow and he has made sure you are eligible in every other way. Satisfy this requirement. Submit the Status of Information letter as soon as you can. If you were completely out of luck he would not have told you that you needed to submit the letter. He would have denied you right away. So, submit the letter and if you can find any sort of proof (for example will the high school verify that they did not have information sessions about SS when you were there?) include it. Good luck.

Edited September 9, 2012 by Kathryn41

[arvinb 17]

FYI I am 28 and got my USC earlier this year, and I'd been an LPR since I was 18, so I totally know what it's like to have been an LPR for so long and not knowing some of the rules because your parents took care of that stuff. The thing that's tough about SS is unlike other LPR requirements (for example I never knew about AR-11 until before my interview, and wasn't an issue until after I graduated from college and became my own resident... I filed AR-11 right before my interview and there wasn't an issue), SS however is something that ALL male US residents have to do, not just LPR's... all male citizens also have to register when they turn 18, so it seems very weird that you never went through it. For example when I and my friends turned 18 we all listed the things that being 18 allowed us to do, like buy cigarettes, pornography (don't laugh), vote (well, not me), and GET DRAFTED.

Again I was certainly not the type to be on top of all the immigration proceedings since I was a child for most of it, but signing up for SS was something I definitely remembered doing, and it was not something I remember seeking out to do myself (who would want to do that?). I feel like it was almost a requirement for applying to college, even. Either way it seems very weird that you never had any idea about it (I would understand if you were 19 when you arrived in the US and became LPR, you would have missed most of the hype surrounding it).

Anyway you've been given the procedure so you'll just have to follow that and hope for the best.

EDIT: I just also reread and remembered your dad was in the military! How could you possibly never have known about signing up for selective service? Also you turned 18 in 2003ish which was right when the Iraq war was starting, and again the military and the draft was something everyone our age was talking about... seems just so weird that you'd never heard about this.

Are you sure you didn't do it and just forgot? You can contact SS and put in your social security number and see if you actually WERE registered.

Edited September 9, 2012 by arvinb

[Rahstyles 10]

FYI I am 28 and got my USC earlier this year, and I'd been an LPR since I was 18, so I totally know what it's like to have been an LPR for so long and not knowing some of the rules because your parents took care of that stuff. The thing that's tough about SS is unlike other LPR requirements (for example I never knew about AR-11 until before my interview, and wasn't an issue until after I graduated from college and became my own resident... I filed AR-11 right before my interview and there wasn't an issue), SS however is something that ALL male US residents have to do, not just LPR's... all male citizens also have to register when they turn 18, so it seems very weird that you never went through it. For example when I and my friends turned 18 we all listed the things that being 18 allowed us to do, like buy cigarettes, pornography (don't laugh), vote (well, not me), and GET DRAFTED.

Again I was certainly not the type to be on top of all the immigration proceedings since I was a child for most of it, but signing up for SS was something I definitely remembered doing, and it was not something I remember seeking out to do myself (who would want to do that?). I feel like it was almost a requirement for applying to college, even. Either way it seems very weird that you never had any idea about it (I would understand if you were 19 when you arrived in the US and became LPR, you would have missed most of the hype surrounding it).

Anyway you've been given the procedure so you'll just have to follow that and hope for the best.

EDIT: I just also reread and remembered your dad was in the military! How could you possibly never have known about signing up for selective service? Also you turned 18 in 2003ish which was right when the Iraq war was starting, and again the military and the draft was something everyone our age was talking about... seems just so weird that you'd never heard about this.

Are you sure you didn't do it and just forgot? You can contact SS and put in your social security number and see if you actually WERE registered.

I went to like 3 diffrent highschools cause my step dad always moved around when he was in the military... I swear to god.. that i never heard I had to sign up for the selective services... then again... When do they talk about signing up for this stuff in school? was it near the end of the school year in grade 12? because if it was.. then i wasnt there.. because i went to a continuation school across the street.. before my school year ended.. because I didnt have enough credits to graduate anyway...

My step dad.. I swear to you... told me that.. He didnt tell me to sign up because he thought only US citezens where supposed to sign up.. Because he said it seems weird to him to let PR's sign up because there not a Us citizen and they cant vote .. nor can they attend jury duty... also they are a citizen of another country .. So why would the US if they had a draft? Send sombody from a citizen from another country to go to war for the US ... Can they even trust you? YOur not even a us citizen.. So I agree with my dad.. and I can understand why he thought only Us citizens were supposed to sign up to selective services.

[N M 96]

As always be ABSOLUTELY honest with USCIS, but I'd also advise that you choose your words very, very carefully when responding to them - verbally, or in writing.

You may not have meant it, but there's a potential discrepancy in what you are saying (or at least an ambiguity) which USCIS could use against you. If USCIS thinks you are shifting your position, or changing your answers, that won't be good.

Post 1: "one of the required documents was a selective service paper I honestly had no idea what the heck that was so i googled it".

You then clarify in post 6 that: "I swear to god.. that i never heard I had to sign up for the selective services". You then confirm that you knew exactly what SS was, as you talked about it with your (military) father and took his advice that it didn't apply to LPRs.

There's a big difference between having never heard of selective service; and having heard of selective service - but believing that it was not required of you. Whatever the truth is, tell it exactly. Don't give ambiguous/ contradictory answers that will lead to more questions.

Edited September 9, 2012 by N M

[Rahstyles 10]

As always be ABSOLUTELY honest with USCIS, but I'd also advise that you choose your words very, very carefully when responding to them - verbally, or in writing.

You may not have meant it, but there's a potential discrepancy in what you are saying (or at least an ambiguity) which USCIS could use against you. If USCIS thinks you are shifting your position, or changing your answers, that won't be good.

Post 1: "one of the required documents was a selective service paper I honestly had no idea what the heck that was so i googled it".

You then clarify in post 6 that: "I swear to god.. that i never heard I had to sign up for the selective services". You then confirm that you knew exactly what SS was, as you talked about it with your (military) father and took his advice that it didn't apply to LPRs.

There's a big difference between having never heard of selective service; and having heard of selective service - but believing that it was not required of you. Whatever the truth is, tell it exactly. Don't give ambiguous/ contradictory answers that will lead to more questions.

Im saying that.. as in.. I neverheard of the selective services.. till i read it on the required docs i need for my interview.. then the next day i gooled the info about it.. then the next day after that i asked my dad about it.. and he said it and he said he never told me because he tought that pr's do not need to sign up for it..