N-400 and I-751 combo pending

[Starkilla09 366]

4 hours ago, JuLu said:

Hi guys! I'm thinking to file N-400. I know its stated that I need 3 years of permanent residency to be eligible to do so. My GC date is 11/6/2015-11/7/2017. Does that mean I must file after 11/6/2018, or can I do it 3 months prior to 11/6/2018?

You can file as early as 90 days prior to your 3rd anniversary of being a permanent resident as of the “resident since” date on your initial green card. Since that date is 11/06/2015, the earliest you can file will be 08/08/2018. Word! Filing while your I-751 is still pending will cause it to be transferred from your service center at California or Vermont to the National Benefits Center, where it will later be combined to be adjudicated together with your N 400 on the day of your naturalization interview. If citizenship is your end goal as it seems, it’s not a big deal but you’ll need I-551 stamps on your passport as proof of permanent residency when your extension letter expires, until your N 400 is adjudicated eventually by your local field office.

Edited July 26, 2018 by Starkilla09

[Asilarmani 8]

2 hours ago, Starkilla09 said:

You can file as early as 90 days prior to your 3rd anniversary of being a permanent resident as of the “resident since” date on your initial green card. Since that date is 11/06/2015, the earliest you can file will be 08/08/2018. Word! Filing while your I-751 is still pending will cause it to be transferred from your service center at California or Vermont to the National Benefits Center, where it will later be combined to be adjudicated together with your N 400 on the day of your naturalization interview. If citizenship is your end goal as it seems, it’s not a big deal but you’ll need I-551 stamps on your passport as proof of permanent residency when your extension letter expires, until your N 400 is adjudicated eventually by your local field office.

I think the app is hacked today , it said that At this time USCIS cannot provide you with information for your case.

 

[visaqueries 111]

Thank you everyone! We looked on his online account and the Oath Ceremony is September 26. Yay!

[AlluringSoul 185]

3 hours ago, visaqueries said:

Thank you everyone! We looked on his online account and the Oath Ceremony is September 26. Yay!

Looking at your timeline, this is actually pretty fast! Congrats!!! :-)

[Mountain Climber 186]

On 10/29/2017 at 10:18 AM, Zombie69 said:

Time will tell, this whole process is all about patience and waiting unfortunately. The delay of CSC is also having an impact of all 751 applicants because and the combo adjudication might very well become the norm from now now. Who knows?

I believe in my wife's case, filing the N-400 while the I-751 was still pending help to speed the the adjudication of both applications.  Although it took approximately 16 months 

for the green card approval, she received her citizenship in 4 months.   Had she waited until her approval of her green card before filing her N-400 petition, who knows how

much longer it would have taken to get her citizenship.  I would recommend that anyone still waiting for their green card approval and is eligible to file for citizenship,  file

concurrently.  Good luck!

Edited July 26, 2018 by Mountain Climber

[AlluringSoul 185]

20 minutes ago, Mountain Climber said:

I believe in my wife's case, filing the N-400 while the I-751 was still pending help to speed the the adjudication of both applications.  Although it took approximately 16 months 

for the green card approval, she received her citizenship in 4 months.   Had she waited until her approval of her green card before filing her N-400 petition, who knows how

much longer it would have taken to get her citizenship.  I would recommend that anyone still waiting for their green card approval and is eligible to file for citizenship,  file

concurrently.  Good luck!

It looks like it does speed up the process in some cases since we are no longer really looking at the ROC processing times but N-400, which varies by state. In my case, I don't think it would do much of a difference because N-400 for NY is as slow as ROC. But the 90 day window also helps, since you don't have to wait exactly 3 years.

 

Ah, if thing were so easy across all states and all offices ;-)

[Cocoza 48]

I had quite an interesting experience when i went in for a 551 stamp. My International passport actually expired last year and i have not intentions on travelling in the near future so i just did not bother trying to renew it. I just got some passport photos from Costco with the assumption that I would get some sort of card or whatever with the passport photos having the 551 stamp on it. 

On showing the IO my expired travel passport, he asked me if I have intentions on travelling anytime soon and I replied no. Then he went on saying that they could stamp my expired passport and if i want to travel in the future, i could just attach the new passport to the expired one and that would be good-to-go. I responded saying that sounded like music to my ears and i ended up getting a 1 year 551 stamp. 

I then enquired about the status of my 751, he checked and said that the system has an update that someone has requested for my application a little while back, meaning I could see some movement pretty soon. 

[egroeg 66]

26 minutes ago, Cocoza said:

I had quite an interesting experience when i went in for a 551 stamp. My International passport actually expired last year and i have not intentions on travelling in the near future so i just did not bother trying to renew it. I just got some passport photos from Costco with the assumption that I would get some sort of card or whatever with the passport photos having the 551 stamp on it. 

On showing the IO my expired travel passport, he asked me if I have intentions on travelling anytime soon and I replied no. Then he went on saying that they could stamp my expired passport and if i want to travel in the future, i could just attach the new passport to the expired one and that would be good-to-go. I responded saying that sounded like music to my ears and i ended up getting a 1 year 551 stamp. 

I then enquired about the status of my 751, he checked and said that the system has an update that someone has requested for my application a little while back, meaning I could see some movement pretty soon. 

What is your NOA1 date @Cocoza ? Did you file for your N-400 ?

[rrrrrr 6]

Hello guys I went to uscis office today to get passport stamp . Lady was nice she told me I can apply for n400 but it will delay the case lil bit 😑 now don’t know what to do 😕

[Russ&Caro 1,548]

43 minutes ago, rrrrrr said:

Hello guys I went to uscis office today to get passport stamp . Lady was nice she told me I can apply for n400 but it will delay the case lil bit 😑 now don’t know what to do 😕

We're hearing this from multiple local offices and national centers now. I'm a bit skeptical. Even assuming it delays the ROC process, it would actually accelerate gaining citizenship as you get your N400 application into the queue sooner. And again, I'm skeptical of the claim that it delays ROC since I've seen combo interviews scheduled in as little as 2 months from filing N400. My wife's interview was scheduled within 3.5 months of filing. Obviously your mileage may vary since some local offices are seriously backed up, such as Seattle.

[aprilsong72823 1]

I filed I751 back in Feb 2017 and got a case transfer notice in May 2018 that my case was transfer to MO. I also filed N400 in Dec 2017 and got a interview notice on June 18th 2018 with pending I751. I went to my N400 interview on July 24th 2018, and when the officer asked me for my green card, I told him I still don't have it because of pending I751. He said he will ask his supervisor what to do then he was told that I will have to get two interviews, I751 first and N400 after. Luckily my husband went with me and was waiting outside. So we were introduced to another office who is able to interview for both cases. My husband wasn't prepared for it at all (shorts and sandals) and I didn't bring any I751 related documents. Anyway, when that officer asked us for any documents that can prove our marriage, I had to say we didn't expect this interview. He was a little annoyed but he knew it was not our fault. Oh one good thing is I am pregnant so that is good proof right lol. He kinda just went over the i751 form with us and I was surprised that Chicago office actually has all my forms and submitted document which I thought it was transferred to MO. Then he checked some documents and said it is ok for i751 and now let's move to N400. He even made my husband stay during my N400 interview. N400 interview was easy because I knew what's gonna happen exactly. Anyway, I passed both and now just wait for the oath ceremony which will be on Sept 25th based on where I am located. I really think filing N400 actually help with my I751. 

[JuLu 6]

Makes me hesitate to file N400 now. It seems like it will take longer. I would rather to wait to get my GC  first(from I751) and apply N400 after. Infopass is such a difficult appointment to make too.

[AlluringSoul 185]

15 hours ago, JuLu said:

Makes me hesitate to file N400 now. It seems like it will take longer. I would rather to wait to get my GC  first(from I751) and apply N400 after. Infopass is such a difficult appointment to make too.

It really depends on what's your local office. It can make a difference in some cases, especially when filing for ROC with CSC where the wait is now beyond 12 months. I really hope this changes for some of us as it is dragging foreeevvvvaa!

[egroeg 66]

18 hours ago, aprilsong72823 said:

I filed I751 back in Feb 2017 and got a case transfer notice in May 2018 that my case was transfer to MO. I also filed N400 in Dec 2017 and got a interview notice on June 18th 2018 with pending I751. I went to my N400 interview on July 24th 2018, and when the officer asked me for my green card, I told him I still don't have it because of pending I751. He said he will ask his supervisor what to do then he was told that I will have to get two interviews, I751 first and N400 after. Luckily my husband went with me and was waiting outside. So we were introduced to another office who is able to interview for both cases. My husband wasn't prepared for it at all (shorts and sandals) and I didn't bring any I751 related documents. Anyway, when that officer asked us for any documents that can prove our marriage, I had to say we didn't expect this interview. He was a little annoyed but he knew it was not our fault. Oh one good thing is I am pregnant so that is good proof right lol. He kinda just went over the i751 form with us and I was surprised that Chicago office actually has all my forms and submitted document which I thought it was transferred to MO. Then he checked some documents and said it is ok for i751 and now let's move to N400. He even made my husband stay during my N400 interview. N400 interview was easy because I knew what's gonna happen exactly. Anyway, I passed both and now just wait for the oath ceremony which will be on Sept 25th based on where I am located. I really think filing N400 actually help with my I751. 

Hello @aprilsong72823 , this is great news ! I take it you are a Chicago land resident, usually the Chicago office has been reluctant to interview combo filers but it's great that they were able to do both for you. Did you file for your N-400 online or was it paper based ?

[visaqueries 111]

21 hours ago, rrrrrr said:

Hello guys I went to uscis office today to get passport stamp . Lady was nice she told me I can apply for n400 but it will delay the case lil bit 😑 now don’t know what to do 😕

They told us that too. We filed online in March 2018 for Citizenship (March 2017 for I-751) and my husband’s Oath Ceremony is September 26, 2018. I absolutely would file online again if I had to do it all over again (before the I-751 was complete).