Moved while N-400 pending then got scheduled for interview

[Jennie Yah 0]

Update! I agree with mybabyenysh.

 

After we we move to NV, I was scheduled to be interviewed in TX. I flew all the way from NV to Dallas for the interview. The officer said that technically he can't do the interview since I don't live in TX anymore but he felt bad that I flew for the interview. He interviewed me and recommended my case for approval. He transferred my case to NV. A month later, I got a notice saying that the interview in TX is cancelled. I got another letter asking me to interview again in NV. I interviewed again in NV. My trip to TX is just a waste of time and money.

 

Bottom line: If this happen to you, make an Infopass appointment to your local USCIS. Ask them to transfer your case to your new state. Your current/local USCIS is the only one who can interview and approve your case. 

[gnakr 43]

2 hours ago, mybabyenysh said:

The same thing happened to me. I moved to New York and got the interview invitation in Wisconsin.  I went back for the interview.  But I wasn't that fortunate,😢 the officer canceled the interview and transferred the case to NY.  The reason was I had NY ID and wasn't Wisconsin resident anymore. If anyone in this situation, I recommend to call them. For some reason, they don't see address change. 

 

43 minutes ago, Jennie Yah said:

Update! I agree with mybabyenysh.

 

After we we move to NV, I was scheduled to be interviewed in TX. I flew all the way from NV to Dallas for the interview. The officer said that technically he can't do the interview since I don't live in TX anymore but he felt bad that I flew for the interview. He interviewed me and recommended my case for approval. He transferred my case to NV. A month later, I got a notice saying that the interview in TX is cancelled. I got another letter asking me to interview again in NV. I interviewed again in NV. My trip to TX is just a waste of time and money.

 

Bottom line: If this happen to you, make an Infopass appointment to your local USCIS. Ask them to transfer your case to your new state. Your current/local USCIS is the only one who can interview and approve your case. 

 

Damn, the fact that they didn't interview (or approve) is weird to me. The only residency requirement seems to be in the initial submission of the application. There seems to be nothing in the USCIS rule book (at least the public/redacted one) that states a residency requirement for interviewing. Per this NOLO article, current immigration laws specify that your interview doesn't have to be scheduled in your new state, it's just something which field offices tend to do: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-happens-if-i-move-after-applying-for-u-s-citizenship.html

 

Maybe they were more junior (in terms of experience) IOs who'd never seen such situation, hence unsure of what to do, they went with what they deem to be the least restive option (from their end).

 

Edited October 22, 2018 by gnakr

[big_promise 2]

Well, it looks like this is the thread for me. My spouse had no choice but to move out of state and file AR-11 a few days after receiving an N-400 interview appointment in Boston in August. (We were truly in a tight spot with an expiring lease and a new job, so we couldn't find a way to legitimately extend our residency in MA up to the interview date.) CIS promptly cancelled after receiving our AR-11 and told us to wait for a new appointment letter that finally arrived today at our new address. We assumed that they were transferring the case to the state/district in which we now reside, but sure enough they're telling us now to go back to Boston for the interview. Since the new interview date is only a week later than when we would be able to get in for an InfoPass appointment and travel is cheap, we're thinking that we'll go ahead and show up in Boston and hope for the best. Yet, I'm still scratching my head as to why they would cancel the appointment two days after we told them that we moved, only to reschedule four months later at the exact same location...

Edited December 21, 2018 by big_promise

[TheKingmaker 153]

1 hour ago, big_promise said:

Well, it looks like this is the thread for me. My spouse had no choice but to move out of state and file AR-11 a few days after receiving an N-400 interview appointment in Boston in August. (We were truly in a tight spot with an expiring lease and a new job, so we couldn't find a way to legitimately extend our residency in MA up to the interview date.) CIS promptly cancelled after receiving our AR-11 and told us to wait for a new appointment letter that finally arrived today at our new address. We assumed that they were transferring the case to the state/district in which we now reside, but sure enough they're telling us now to go back to Boston for the interview. Since the new interview date is only a week later than when we would be able to get in for an InfoPass appointment and travel is cheap, we're thinking that we'll go ahead and show up in Boston and hope for the best. Yet, I'm still scratching my head as to why they would cancel the appointment two days after we told them that we moved, only to reschedule four months later at the exact same location...

Wow can not believe their incompetence. Keep us posted on what happens.

[big_promise 2]

Just to provide an update, we had the interview in Boston and my wife passed with flying colors. They were, however, unable to schedule her for a naturalization ceremony due to the address. The officer gave us a form confirming that she passed the interview and recommended that we schedule an InfoPass in our current state (MD) as soon as possible to confirm that our case has been properly transferred and get an estimate as to when they might be able to schedule a ceremony. 

 

As for the mystery of how we ended up being called back to Boston - my understanding of my wife's account of her conversation with the officer is that basically their system was showing us residing at both addresses simultaneously. Basically, they added the new address to our file per the online AR-11 but for whatever reason did not delete the old one. It sounds as though Boston noticed that our case was overdue last month since they had already cancelled an appointment in September and decided to call us in, not realizing the reason for the original cancellation.

 

As Maryland has a substantial backlog, it seems like it was actually a major blessing that it worked out as it did and at least gave us the opportunity to get the interview phase out of the way sooner rather than later. The officer was at first a little puzzled as to why we decided to travel rather than bringing the situation to our local office's attention, but she agreed that we would have likely ended up in a substantial queue if we requested a local appointment given a huge disparity in processing times at the moment.

 

We were online filers, and I have some suspicions that filing online may have played a role in what happened as there were no physical papers to transfer, allowing for Boston to think that the case was in Maryland and vice versa. It is interesting, though, that their system seems to allow for multiple addresses to be on file simultaneously... given the reported costs involved in digitizing the N-400 process, one would think that such bugs would have been fixed by now.

Edited January 25, 2019 by big_promise