Delayed N-400

[Longjour 0]

Hi guys,

I, along-with my eligible to apply family members applied in the beginning half of 'July XX, 2013' for citizenship at the Phoenix, AZ lock-box. I received a receipt of it in two days and ever since my file has been in initial review, this November XX, it will be four months without any progress, same with my family members

(one of the family members didn't even get a receipt notice in mail but instead got an email with the case number the receipt email. also on another note separate email addresses were provided but USCIS sent everybody's email to my/one email address )

I also called the 1800 number and received the following response "You're within the 5 months processing time limit of your USCIS field office, please be patient". However, I see here people get FP notices in 'around' two weeks time and are scheduled for interview by the fourth month,

I read somewhere on this forum I need to get a tier two operator/supervisor on the phone I don't know how to do that, If someone can provide an example it will help me a lot.

any suggestions, help, will be greatly appreciated.

ONLINE tool shows the following

Initial Review

On July XX, 2013, we received this N400 APPLICATION FOR NATURALIZATION, and mailed you a notice describing how we will process your case. Please follow any instructions on this notice. You will be notified by mail when a decision is made, or if the office needs something from you. If you move while this case is pending, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address or contact our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Longjour

[Hypnos 6,576]

Processing times vary from office to office; the advice to be patient was accurate.

[Longjour 0]

Not to mention my friends and extended family went through this same office without any such delays,and that too recently for example last year and beginning of this year.

I am worried

any more patience, I need to be knocked out for a month

Edited November 7, 2013 by Longjour

[otta 7]

If you don't live too far from your local USCIS office, you can consider getting an infopass appointment (http://infopass.uscis.gov) which gives you get a chance to speak in person with an immigration officer. Since it seems your case is technically not past processing times, you may need to select simply "need information" as type of Infopass appointment on the website. It may or may not be helpful; a lot depends on the individual officer you speak to, same as on the phone. If I were in your situation, I'd probably try Infopass if the office is nearby and your schedule can accommodate a visit there, but I wouldn't try too hard if it would take too much effort. In that case, maybe try the 1-800 number again and request to speak to a Tier II officer.

You can also check your local office's processing times at https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do . Sacramento indeed says 5 months, but that should mean from start to finish, not from start to biometrics...

Hi guys,

I, along-with my eligible to apply family members applied in the beginning half of 'July XX, 2013' for citizenship at the Phoenix, AZ lock-box. I received a receipt of it in two days and ever since my file has been in initial review, this November XX, it will be four months without any progress, same with my family members

(one of the family members didn't even get a receipt notice in mail but instead got an email with the case number the receipt email. also on another note separate email addresses were provided but USCIS sent everybody's email to my/one email address )

I also called the 1800 number and received the following response "You're within the 5 months processing time limit of your USCIS field office, please be patient". However, I see here people get FP notices in 'around' two weeks time and are scheduled for interview by the fourth month,

I read somewhere on this forum I need to get a tier two operator/supervisor on the phone I don't know how to do that, If someone can provide an example it will help me a lot.

any suggestions, help, will be greatly appreciated.

ONLINE tool shows the following

Initial Review

On July XX, 2013, we received this N400 APPLICATION FOR NATURALIZATION, and mailed you a notice describing how we will process your case. Please follow any instructions on this notice. You will be notified by mail when a decision is made, or if the office needs something from you. If you move while this case is pending, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address or contact our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.

[Longjour 0]

Sacramento indeed says 5 months, but that should mean from start to finish, not from start to biometrics...

I very much doubt if they can pull off the whole remaining procedure of biometrics to interview to oath ceremony in the one remaining month of given time frame

I wanted to ask the tier II officer if any mail was returned or sent to my address, as our mail man has been known to misplace from one box to another, I have many times handed other peoples mail left in my box.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Longjour

[otta 7]

Ugh, then definitely try calling again: explain briefly that a lot of your mail has gone missing and you're concerned you may have missed the biometrics appt. Then politely, but explicitly ask to speak with a Tier II officer. If you say that you never got anything in the mail from them for 4 months, as you say has happened with one of your co-applicants, it will be harder for the 1st-level phone person to just blow you off.

I feel your pain. My oath is next week, but I never got the letter. A tier II officer gave me the date on the phone, but told me to call back 5 days before the ceremony for time / location if the letter still doesn't arrive by then. I don't know what miracles they think USPS can whip up to make a letter rematerialize a month after it was sent. USPS also lost my green card extension letter during removal of conditions, and inexplicably returned my 10-yr green card back to sender without a delivery attempt. I can't imagine how many people's USCIS applications are even worse than need be because of missing mail.

I very much doubt if they can pull off the whole remaining procedure of biometrics to interview to oath ceremony in the one remaining month of given time frame

I wanted to ask the tier II officer if any mail was returned or sent to my address, as our mail man has been known to misplace from one box to another, I have many times handed other peoples mail left in my box.

[Longjour 0]

Ugh, then definitely try calling again: explain briefly that a lot of your mail has gone missing and you're concerned you may have missed the biometrics appt. Then politely, but explicitly ask to speak with a Tier II officer. If you say that you never got anything in the mail from them for 4 months, as you say has happened with one of your co-applicants, it will be harder for the 1st-level phone person to just blow you off.

I feel your pain. My oath is next week, but I never got the letter. A tier II officer gave me the date on the phone, but told me to call back 5 days before the ceremony for time / location if the letter still doesn't arrive by then. I don't know what miracles they think USPS can whip up to make a letter rematerialize a month after it was sent. USPS also lost my green card extension letter during removal of conditions, and inexplicably returned my 10-yr green card back to sender without a delivery attempt. I can't imagine how many people's USCIS applications are even worse than need be because of missing mail.

USCIS officer tier I suggested I make an info pass promptly that is the faster way of getting their attention as if he made the service request the turn around time will be 45-60 days, I have played ball and made tomorrow's appointment, I will post back tomorrow afternoon PST

[Longjour 0]

InfoPass Appointment attended at 745am and was out by 815am,

and was advised by the officer at the field office to call the 1800 AGAIN and tell 'them' to create "SRMT Inquiry", as our files are still at the National Benefits Center the field officer was reading the following out loud but didn't explain this when reading my case on his computer "fingerprints requested, request declined, requested again denied again", then he said the above, adding that "there is something wrong with the system", "it looks like they are trying and its not going through". "So, call them".

I called again and was advised to wait 15 days or call back by the FIRST PERSON who answered, I also told this officer on the phone that my family members who applied along with me have same problem, he said, he needs to call separately and talk to another officer over the phone.

now when he called 1800 first person to respond heard his (same as mine) story and said she will have to transfer him to someone else regarding his case and transferred the line ......still on hold wait time is 37 minutes will edit this as soon as he is off the phone....

Edited November 8, 2013 by Longjour

[otta 7]

Sorry to hear you didn't get any better news today. The wait time to speak with a Tier II officer can indeed be painfully long; did they provide any useful info eventually?

Many of us have experienced difficulties here or there, but this delay is pretty awful even for USCIS standards. Keep your chin up; in a few months this process *will* come to an end. Cheers!

InfoPass Appointment attended at 745am and was out by 815am,

and was advised by the officer at the field office to call the 1800 AGAIN and tell 'them' to create "SRMT Inquiry", as our files are still at the National Benefits Center the field officer was reading the following out loud but didn't explain this when reading my case on his computer "fingerprints requested, request declined, requested again denied again", then he said the above, adding that "there is something wrong with the system", "it looks like they are trying and its not going through". "So, call them".

I called again and was advised to wait 15 days or call back by the FIRST PERSON who answered, I also told this officer on the phone that my family members who applied along with me have same problem, he said, he needs to call separately and talk to another officer over the phone.

now when he called 1800 first person to respond heard his (same as mine) story and said she will have to transfer him to someone else regarding his case and transferred the line ......still on hold wait time is 37 minutes will edit this as soon as he is off the phone....

[Longjour 0]

there are only so many edits one can do, so here is a repost

InfoPass Appointment attended at 745am and was out by 815am,

and was advised by the officer at the field office to call the 1800 AGAIN and tell 'them' to create "SRMT Inquiry", as our files are still at the National Benefits Center the field officer was reading the following out loud but didn't explain this when reading my case on his computer "fingerprints requested, request declined, requested again denied again", then he said the above, adding that "there is something wrong with the system", "it looks like they are trying and its not going through". "So, call them".

I called again and was advised to wait 15 days or call back by the FIRST PERSON who answered, I also told this officer on the phone that my family members who applied along with me have same problem, he said, they need to call separately and talk to another officer over the phone.

now when the other applicant called 1800 first person to respond heard his (same as mine) story and said she will have to transfer him to someone else regarding his case and transferred the line to the TIER II officer I assume? officer took down his story and said he will receive ASC appointment letter in two weeks time or call back, which is I think a biometrics notice

Summary:

three calls were made to USCIS

Call 1 Applicant 1: Tier I officer gave a confirmation number saying request has been put through and, "if you do not hear anything in 15 days call back with the given reference number".

Call 2 Applicant 2: Tier II officer gave no reference number (neither one was asked for) but advised that applicant will receive a letter in two weeks time or else call back

Call 3 Applicant 3: (same like call 1)

After call 2 I feel better, atleast Applicant 2 got a straighter answer from USCIS

I am documenting everything here so this information helps someone else in the future

Edited November 8, 2013 by Longjour

[depressedwife 2]

there are only so many edits one can do, so here is a repost

InfoPass Appointment attended at 745am and was out by 815am,

and was advised by the officer at the field office to call the 1800 AGAIN and tell 'them' to create "SRMT Inquiry", as our files are still at the National Benefits Center the field officer was reading the following out loud but didn't explain this when reading my case on his computer "fingerprints requested, request declined, requested again denied again", then he said the above, adding that "there is something wrong with the system", "it looks like they are trying and its not going through". "So, call them".

I called again and was advised to wait 15 days or call back by the FIRST PERSON who answered, I also told this officer on the phone that my family members who applied along with me have same problem, he said, they need to call separately and talk to another officer over the phone.

now when the other applicant called 1800 first person to respond heard his (same as mine) story and said she will have to transfer him to someone else regarding his case and transferred the line to the TIER II officer I assume? officer took down his story and said he will receive ASC appointment letter in two weeks time or call back, which is I think a biometrics notice

Summary:

three calls were made to USCIS

Call 1 Applicant 1: Tier I officer gave a confirmation number saying request has been put through and, "if you do not hear anything in 15 days call back with the given reference number".

Call 2 Applicant 2: Tier II officer gave no reference number (neither one was asked for) but advised that applicant will receive a letter in two weeks time or else call back

Call 3 Applicant 3: (same like call 1)

After call 2 I feel better, atleast Applicant 2 got a straighter answer from USCIS

I am documenting everything here so this information helps someone else in the future

Nice to know that I am not only the one person who is in this position. I applied on 7th July, not no bio-metrics nothing. Everytime I called USCIS, they just say to wait another month or so. Days are passing by, four months have been passed in the meantime still no bio-metrics notice. I did a service request one-time, no reply yet. As usual they told me to wait a month. I called them after a month, reply was that they responded to my service request on October,25, but they cannot say what was the actual response. Again, they said to wait another month and then call them back. In the mean time, only thing I received is receipt from USCIS confirming that they received my application and a yellow letter ( pre-interview letter) which says to bring driver-license to my interview. I don't even understand that what is the purpose of that yellow letter as my case status is still under initial review. I will wait till November 25, then give a shot for info pass. I am just so pissed and annoyed, this waiting is killing me. Anyways let me know your case update if it moves within next 15 days.

Hope for the best!

[Longjour 0]

Nice to know that I am not only the one person who is in this position. I applied on 7th July, not no bio-metrics nothing. Everytime I called USCIS, they just say to wait another month or so. Days are passing by, four months have been passed in the meantime still no bio-metrics notice. I did a service request one-time, no reply yet. As usual they told me to wait a month. I called them after a month, reply was that they responded to my service request on October,25, but they cannot say what was the actual response. Again, they said to wait another month and then call them back. In the mean time, only thing I received is receipt from USCIS confirming that they received my application and a yellow letter ( pre-interview letter) which says to bring driver-license to my interview. I don't even understand that what is the purpose of that yellow letter as my case status is still under initial review. I will wait till November 25, then give a shot for info pass. I am just so pissed and annoyed, this waiting is killing me. Anyways let me know your case update if it moves within next 15 days.

Hope for the best!

Yea weird, I posted here after researching numerous other peoples timelines and figured something is wrong, and even ur lockbox is different from mine, this is getting interesting, I suggest you make an infopass appointment ASAP, they will be able to look it up and advise further this is going to be a long and painful procedure but i think its good enough time to start now. before one starts moving up the official chain of uscis

I also got that (pointless ) yellow letter to bring my license, OFCOURSE i will bring it

i got that somewhere in mid-october

Edited November 9, 2013 by Longjour

[jagamatero 2]

I got a yellow letter too (a Pre-Interview Notice) telling me to bring all the passports I've used and my state ID. It was more than a month ago and it's so frustrating knowing that looks like nothing is happening with my application. On December 11 will be the 5th month since they received my application.

Yea weird, I posted here after researching numerous other peoples timelines and figured something is wrong, and even ur lockbox is different from mine, this is getting interesting, I suggest you make an infopass appointment ASAP, they will be able to look it up and advise further this is going to be a long and painful procedure but i think its good enough time to start now. before one starts moving up the official chain of uscis

I also got that (pointless ) yellow letter to bring my license, OFCOURSE i will bring it

i got that somewhere in mid-october

[Longjour 0]

I got a yellow letter too (a Pre-Interview Notice) telling me to bring all the passports I've used and my state ID. It was more than a month ago and it's so frustrating knowing that looks like nothing is happening with my application. On December 11 will be the 5th month since they received my application.

THANKS for sharing your situation

and

So sorry to hear that you are also going through the same ordeal, as we are going.

Did you contact them? SRMT request made?

I am still waiting for 15 business days to be over, impatiently.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Longjour

[jagamatero 2]

I might wait until the end of this month and I won't get anything from them, I will give them a call and will probably do an infopass. This is so frustrating.

THANKS for sharing your situation

and

So sorry to hear that you are also going through the same ordeal, as we are going.

Did you contact them? SRMT request made?

I am still waiting for 15 business days to be over, impatiently.