Question about N400 current instr. vs VJ tips

[ramirezsmallman 0]

Situation: I was married when I received the Green Card, now divorced, and during that time my (ex)wife and I were arrested but the charges were dropped in court. I have now been a LPM for 6 years so I'm preparing to submit the N400

Question:

So the current instructions for the N400 say to only include pictures, copy of green card, money, signed n400 and photocopy of marital status document (in my case the divorce decree) with the application package. It then lists arrest records and court dockets as something to bring to the N400 interview and although it doesn't explicitly say it, it seems to imply that they really don't want you to send that much paperwork with the application and that most of the evidence (arrest records, IRS tax returns, etc) is to be brought to the interview...

Am I reading this correctly? VisaJourney recommends sending all that stuff with the initial package but those tips were written when they had a different version of the N400 form since hardly any of the itemized areas match the current form..

Can someone confirm this for me?

Here are the current instructions, specifically the part that mentions evidence is found on page # 10

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/n-400instr.pdf

Edited July 1, 2016 by ramirezsmallman

[Cheezees 1,514]

I have seen people include court documents with the application and I have seen some say they just took them to the interview.

[JimmyHou 613]

Generally I would say just follow the instructions. There's a small chance that sending in the evidence now would save you some time; the interviewer may have a chance to look at the evidence prior to your interview. However in many cases the interviewer looks at your file for the first time on the morning of your interview. If the interviewer hasn't had a chance to review the incident, there's a chance that the decision will not be made on the day of your interview.

Personally, I would just follow the instructions, but expect a delay at the interview stage. If you do decide to send in the evidence now, make sure that you send photocopies and take the originals with you to the interview.