Detroit N400 filers

[MichiganSassy 7]

21 hours ago, spielerin said:

I received a text notification saying my interview is scheduled, am I supposed to wait for the snail mail now or there would be some sort of document uploaded to the USCIS portal?

If you can get your interview letter online then you do not have to wait for the snail mail because they literally say the same thing. I applied online and I just print letter from my account. 

[spielerin 24]

2 hours ago, Disyalam said:

If you can get your interview letter online then you do not have to wait for the snail mail because they literally say the same thing. I applied online and I just print letter from my account. 

thank you! the portal hasn't updated with the interview letter yet but should be sooner than the snail mail!

[MichiganSassy 7]

10 minutes ago, spielerin said:

thank you! the portal hasn't updated with the interview letter yet but should be sooner than the snail mail!

You are welcome!

[mohan7 0]

Hi Disyalam

you would see the letter in you account in mostly  before end of today. happen to me same.

[Given2Fly 19]

On 3/18/2019 at 12:15 PM, spielerin said:

I received a text notification saying my interview is scheduled, am I supposed to wait for the snail mail now or there would be some sort of document uploaded to the USCIS portal?

How neat! Congratulations!

[spielerin 24]

Update: appointment letter uploaded on USCIS portal 

Interview: 8:30am April 24 2019 

[is63 7]

I had my interview today. It was fairly easy but they had some computer issues and I did the test and interview in an office instead at the window.

The interviewer was really nice with a thick accent like me.

I passed of course.

Now waiting for oath ceremony.

[stormnut42 13]

@spielerin Congratulations!   Good luck on your civics test. The English test is a breeze. 

 

You'll probably even get your Oath Ceremony before I do.  Oath Ceremonies are more frequent on the east side of the state.  Tomorrow (Thursday, March 21st) will mark 3 weeks since my test/interview and I STILL haven't even been SCHEDULED for my Oath Ceremony!  This is getting pretty frustrating. But, it's most likely because the computer is trying to gather several people on this side of the state, before there's enough to schedule an Oath Ceremony.  If you have any questions about the Government/political questions for the civics test, feel free to ask me. I have an ongoing interest in U.S. politics. And, I know of at least one question that is now outdated for those who got their study booklet before November 2018. If that's the case, then the question - "Who is the Speaker of the House of Representatives?" has changed from Paul Ryan to, it now being - Nancy Pelosi.  It also expects you to look up the answers to "Who is the Governor of your state?" and "Name one of your U.S. Senators?"  As of January 2019, the Governor is now - Gretchen Whitmer.  And, Michigan's two U.S. Senators are: Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters.   

[spielerin 24]

27 minutes ago, stormnut42 said:

@spielerin Congratulations!   Good luck on your civics test. The English test is a breeze. 

 

You'll probably even get your Oath Ceremony before I do.  Oath Ceremonies are more frequent on the east side of the state.  Tomorrow (Thursday, March 21st) will mark 3 weeks since my test/interview and I STILL haven't even been SCHEDULED for my Oath Ceremony!  This is getting pretty frustrating. But, it's most likely because the computer is trying to gather several people on this side of the state, before there's enough to schedule an Oath Ceremony.  If you have any questions about the Government/political questions for the civics test, feel free to ask me. I have an ongoing interest in U.S. politics. And, I know of at least one question that is now outdated for those who got their study booklet before November 2018. If that's the case, then the question - "Who is the Speaker of the House of Representatives?" has changed from Paul Ryan to, it now being - Nancy Pelosi.  It also expects you to look up the answers to "Who is the Governor of your state?" and "Name one of your U.S. Senators?"  As of January 2019, the Governor is now - Gretchen Whitmer.  And, Michigan's two U.S. Senators are: Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters.   

Thank you so much!

Sounds like the Oath Ceremony is the pain to schedule for you eh? Can you pick the location or it has to be in your area?

[spielerin 24]

43 minutes ago, is63 said:

I had my interview today. It was fairly easy but they had some computer issues and I did the test and interview in an office instead at the window.

The interviewer was really nice with a thick accent like me.

I passed of course.

Now waiting for oath ceremony.

That's great! Congratulations!

[stormnut42 13]

@spielerin    Unfortunately, you can't choose where to have your Oath Ceremony.  I asked that during my interview.  She told me that a computer selects you from hundreds of people and puts you in an Oath Ceremony according to your home address. She told me that mine will be somewhere here on the west side of the state. And, that it usually takes longer to schedule an Oath Ceremony on this side of the state.     Then, she told me it could either be a big ceremony with lots of people or, just a small one, in front of a district judge at a courthouse.  It was 3 weeks ago, today, that I had my test/interview and still not scheduled for my Oath Ceremony yet. 😕

[stormnut42 13]

I just read an article about an Oath Ceremony back on February 22, 2019 in Holland, Michigan (by Lake Michigan). In the article, it says that the west side of Michigan only has two Oath Ceremonies in ONE day, per MONTH!  Whereas, it says that the Detroit metro area has about FOUR Oath Ceremonies a WEEK!!! Some sites say Oath Ceremonies take 3 to 6 weeks after the test/interview. I'm going on week number four, this week. So, hopefully I hear something soon. I know I likely won't have mine till sometime in April now. 

[spielerin 24]

15 hours ago, stormnut42 said:

I just read an article about an Oath Ceremony back on February 22, 2019 in Holland, Michigan (by Lake Michigan). In the article, it says that the west side of Michigan only has two Oath Ceremonies in ONE day, per MONTH!  Whereas, it says that the Detroit metro area has about FOUR Oath Ceremonies a WEEK!!! Some sites say Oath Ceremonies take 3 to 6 weeks after the test/interview. I'm going on week number four, this week. So, hopefully I hear something soon. I know I likely won't have mine till sometime in April now. 

This is absurd!!! I hope you get yours scheduled very soon!

[stormnut42 13]

Seriously, I think they drag these things out on purpose. It's to open up the possibility for any chance to revoke your chances for citizenship. 

 

That happened to me, way back in 2001 and it's a long, tragic story.... 

 

My mother's father - Julio had been an immigrant to the U.S. from El Salvador and worked at the Ford plant in Dearborn, MI.  He met a Canadian woman - Marie (my mom's mother), who worked at a restaurant in Dearborn. The restaurant was owned by Marie's father, who had the necessary papers to run the restaurant in the U.S. However, Marie and her brother Mike, were working at the restaurant without Greencards. One day, their father had to take a trip back to Manitoba in Canada. While he was there, he died. When Wayne county Michigan became aware that he died and that his two children were working there without Greencards, they seized the restaurant and deported Marie and Mike to Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Marie and Mike never got a dime from the restaurant that their father had owned.  So, when Marie eventually married Julio, she decided she would never seek U.S. citizenship from her husband. Marie lived in Windsor and Julio lived in Dearborn but, also owned an apartment in Windsor, and he and Marie would spend weekends together.  They had two children:  Janet and Theresa (my mother) who were born in Windsor to a Canadian mother so, they were born Canadians.  Julio died in the early 1960's and is buried in Windsor. His wife - Marie died a few years later and is buried next to him. 

 

Fast forward to 1998.  I am 25 years old and wanting to move to the U.S.  I have a fascination with severe weather and have even been considering moving to Oklahoma to study meteorology. I quickly learn that getting a Greencard is not that easy.  But, then my mother reminds me that her father had been a U.S. citizen. She calls up an immigration lawyer that she used to work for as a secretary. She tells him that her father was a U.S. citizen but, died in the early 1960's and, was wondering if there was any way she could claim U.S. citizenship from him. He tells her..... If she can find proof that he was a naturalized U.S. citizen and prove that he got citizenship at least 5 years before she was born, then she could apply for U.S. citizenship!  But, because she had never lived in the U.S. herself, she couldn't pass citizenship to me.  But, she would be able to sponsor me for a Greencard. 

 

I had met an American in January of 1998 and was visiting the U.S. often.  My mother had thought she had all the records on her father being a U.S. citizen. But, after an exhaustive search around the house, she couldn't find anything. And, that began a VERY LONG and emotional search to prove her father was a U.S. citizen and get a copy of his Certificate of U.S. Citizenship.  We hired an immigration lawyer by the name of Sam Burgio. He told my mother that trying to obtain a court order for Ford in Dearborn to release information on her father, would be too costly. So, she started calling around. I hired a Genealogist to search for records on my grandfather (Julio) in California. My mother remembers that where he landed in the U.S. and remembers him saying that he lived in Stockton, CA. But, *nothing was ever found. (*remember this).  My mom made calls all over the U.S. and it seemed she was just getting a run-around.  Then, she remember he had spent a year in the U.S. Army.  So, she called the military records office in St. Louis, Missouri.  She figured they must have had something about his citizenship there. Well, in 1974, that records office had a fire in one office. Guess which office it was? Yep, it was the one where her father's records were. All they had, was half of a burnt pay stub with no decent information. All they could tell us is that he had spent time at a hospital in Denver, Colorado.  My mother said that he had also spent some time living in Chicago.  So, we made calls to places in Denver and Chicago but, found nothing. We also contacted the Mormons in Utah, who are known for keeping old records on immigrants to the U.S.  But, they didn't have anything. We went to a local library in Windsor and looked at old records on microfilm but, found nothing.  By the middle of 1999, we were ready to give up. Then, my mother had an idea. She said she would try and contact the union office of the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn. 

 

She spoke to a guy in their records office and he couldn't believe how big of a search she had been through for over a year now. He said he would definitely look into their records for her.  Sure enough, a few days later,  he called back and told my mother he had found a record on her father!  My mother was preparing a Freedom of Information Act form to send to Washington, D.C. to get information on her father. But, there wasn't a whole lot we could put on the form about her father. So, our jaws just about hit the floor, when the union guy told us that in the records he found, there was something that said "Citizenship" and it had a number next to it!  He said that he couldn't tell us the number over the phone but, would make a copy of it and mail it to us. We were so happy. Finally a lead in this long search!   So, we got the Citizenship number in the mail and my mom wrote it in on the Freedom of Information Act form and sent it to Washington, D.C.  It was a LONG three months before we got a reply. I can still remember my mom coming down to my bedroom with a large, brown, envelope in her hand. She said it was from the U.S. Immigration headquarters in Washington, D.C.   We opened it up and there it was....  A copy of my grandfather Julio's Naturalization certificate!  It was kinda hard to make out but, there was a picture of him when he was like 20 years old.  And, now remember the asterisk and bold I put in the paragraph above this, saying the Genealogist found nothing in California? Well, Julio's Citizenship Certificate said that he received it from a judge in San Joaquin county in the city of Stockton, California.  So, that Genealogist didn't do a very good job. He had said he contacted courthouses in Stockton, CA. He might have and they probably didn't feel like digging up old records. Or, he might have just lied. 

 

Well, we contacted our immigration lawyer and told him we had proof of my grandfather's U.S. citizenship.  And, he received citizenship way more than 5 years before my mother's birth in 1935.  Julio was born in 1898 and it said he received his U.S. citizenship in 1920 I believe.  So, the lawyer praised my mother for her diligent and hard work.  He said he would make an appointment for my mother to travel to the U.S. embassy in Toronto, to apply for U.S. citizenship. I remember the lawyer drove up to Toronto and we had to take a Greyhound bus. I can still remember a bunch of stinky Amish people getting on the bus (they don't wear deodorant).      We got to the embassy and it was similar to the immigration field office in Detroit but, a lot smaller. I remember my mother giving the lawyer all the papers and he slid them under a window to U.S. immigration officer. Then, we sat and waited and talked with the lawyer. The lawyer told us stories of other people trying to immigrate to the U.S., who asked him stupid questions. He said that one time, a lady called him and wanted to know if she had to get a Greencard for her dog! LOL 😆  And, he told us how lots of people marry Americans and then instantly think they can move there. That kinda happened  with my sister.  She married a guy from Monroe, Michigan and applied for a Greencard. Then, she made a trip back to Windsor. When she tried re-entering the U.S., they told her she couldn't until she got her Greencard!  I remember my dad had to go pick her up at customs and she was crying and my dad was furious. Luckily, back then, my sister only had to wait about 4 months to get her Greencard. That was back in the early 1990's. 

 

Well, after a bit of a wait, they called the lawyer and my mother up to the window. They slid some papers back and said everything looked good. The lawyer handed my mother her papers back and then shook her hand and said - "Congratulations, you're now a U.S. citizen!"  My father had been concerned about my mother getting U.S. citizenship. He thought she might have to pay taxes in the U.S. or something. But, the lawyer assured us, that because she wouldn't be living in the U.S., she wouldn't have any financial ties to the U.S.  She also wasn't giving up her Canadian citizenship but, interestingly, the lawyer said that he did her application in a way, so that she was declared a U.S. citizen from birth.  So, I was born to a mother with dual-citizenship. But, she still couldn't pass citizenship directly to me, because she had never lived in the U.S.  I've always wondered if there was some sort of work-around for that?

 

Well, a few weeks after that, my mother got her U.S. passport in the mail.  I had already started the I-130 forms and Affidavit of Support forms for both my mother and my sister in Monroe, MI.  My mother wasn't working so, I was able to use my sister in Monroe, MI (now a U.S. citizen) as my financial sponsor. 

I remember my sister in Monroe complaining at having to get all her W2's and her last 3 or 5 years of tax records. I finally had everything ready in late January 2000. Even though it was my mother sponsoring me, I pretty much did all the paperwork and just told her what I needed and where she needed to sign. 

 

I remember hopping on a city bus to take the documents down to the immigration lawyer's office on Ouellette Ave. in downtown Windsor. It was like January 31st, 2000.  He said he would send the paperwork ASAP to the Nebraska Service Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. I think it went out on February 1st or 2nd.  The lawyer even told me that he did something with the paperwork that would help speed up the process. I think he somehow listed me as being under 21, which makes it faster.  He told me that it would probably take about 6 to 8 months for approval. Then, I'd have to wait another month or so, to get a visa number for the National Visa Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

 

Well, we waited, and waited, and waited some more.  I was continuing to make visits and stay with my American partner.  While in the U.S. I would make calls to the Nebraska Service Center to check on my status. I can remember, back then, getting through took forever. I would literally sit there for an hour or more and keep hitting redial till I got through. The automated message would say approximately how many days it would take to approve my case. I remember it gave me a range of like 244 to 284 days. Sometimes I'd get really impatient and select to speak to an immigration officer. I can remember, more than once, they would get snippy with me, because I was the Beneficiary calling and not the Sponsor!  They would say "Your mother is the one who should be calling, not you!"  But, by late 2000 my mother hadn't been feeling well so, that's why I did all the calling. In December 2000, I can remember my mother going for some chest x-rays, because she had this persistent cough.  In January 2001, she found out they lost the x-rays so, they needed to be re-done. Then, one day I came home from my seasonal job at a Green Giant plant in Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada. It was early February 2001(one year after filing the I-130 and still no approval).  My mother was sitting on her bed and my sister was in there talking to her. I could see that they both looked concerned. So, I went in the bedroom. My mother told me she got the results back from the x-rays. She said they found a cancerous tumor in her wind-pipe, right where it branches off to both lungs. 😧  But, I didn't know that much about cancer at the time. I just remember her saying that they were gonna admit her to the hospital and start treatment right away.  I had a friend who's mother died from cancer when I was in grade 8.  

 

Well, my mother went in to the hospital for chemotherapy and that made her very sick. She didn't want that anymore. So, then they started doing radiation treatments. I can remember a spot they had marked on her upper chest at where to direct the radiation and, after a while her skin was tanned in that area. 

By this point, I felt too intimidated to call the Nebraska Service Center.  They had gotten mad at my last couple of calls asking for more information.  And, for some reason, I didn't think they would take my mother having lung cancer, as something serious.  They let my mother out of the hospital around Mother's Day in 2001 but, she had to go back for radiation treatments now and then. So, I thought she was getting better.  So, I started visiting my partner in the U.S. again.  

 

Then, one day in mid June, I got an answering machine message from my Niece, saying my mom had taken a turn for the worst. Then,  there was a message from my oldest sister and, I knew it was serious. I was in shock. So, I didn't return to Windsor till the next day. They had already moved my mother to palliative care. They had her heavily sedated and were no longer giving her food. I remember thinking that was cruel but, they explained it would only make matters worse. They said that the cancer had spread.  My mother had told me that she didn't want to know how bad it was so, the doctors always spoke to my dad. And, my dad didn't tell me how bad it was. Apparently it was stage 3 when they first found it. Well, me and my brother's and sisters spent most of the next few nights at the hospital. My mom's only sister, was by her side almost the whole time. She had raced down from Wallaceburg, ON. She is a retired teacher and former Nun.  We had to strongly convince her to take a break and get some lunch one day. That's when my mother suddenly changed and we knew she was ready to pass. We had them call for my Aunt Janet over the hospital speaker system but, apparently she was in a bathroom and didn't hear it. But, me and my 3 sisters were there when my mom passed away, quickly, on the morning of June 22, 2001.  My dad and two brothers arrived shortly after.

 

On the Monday, after she passed, I decided to call the immigration lawyers office. The one lady legal assistant was used to me calling and sounded less than thrilled that I was calling again.  I told her my mother had passed away and she gasped. I asked her if that would affect my Greencard application. She said she wasn't sure but, in the case of spousal sponsorship's, if the sponsor dies, they usually stop the process.  She said she would have the lawyer call me back as soon as possible. So, the next day, I got a call from him and I could tell he was outside and getting into his car. I thought that was kinda rude. He told me - "I'm sorry to say this but, because your mother has died before approval of the case, it's going to be automatically terminated. It's up to you to notify them of your mother's death."  I asked him if my sister in Monroe, MI could take over the case.  He said "That sounds good but, unfortunately no law exists that will allow that."  So, then I talked to him another day and asked him about my sister sponsoring me. He said that she could but, in U.S. immigration law, brothers and sisters are NOT considered immediate family!!!  I couldn't believe it.  So, I asked what that meant.  He said that when my mother was sponsoring me, I was in the fastest category - #1.  A parent sponsoring a son or daughter.  He said a brother/sister sponsorship drops down to the lowest category - #4.  And, he said it would take about 9 to 15 YEARS for that case to be completed.  I couldn't believe it!  I was totally devastated. I had just lost my mother and, now I was losing my chance for a Greencard. I was very angry at how long it had taken and I still didn't have approval yet. 

 

I can remember trying to find some way to still proceed. I tried calling congressmen and, started speaking with someone from the office for newly elected Senator - Debbie Stabenow, at the time.  And, of course I will never forget one phone call I made to her office in Washington, D.C.  It was an early call on the morning of September 11, 2001.  I was on the phone with a lady, when she suddenly told me that she'd have to put me on hold. She said that something had happened in New York City and they were being told to lock down their office!  Surprisingly, she came back to the phone and wrapped up the call. Shortly after that, my dad called down the basement stairs and told me to turn on my tv.  What happened, is a day that all of us will never forget. 

 

After that, without telling the lawyer, I decided NOT to notify the Immigration Service of my mother's death. I wanted to see just how long the approval was going to take. Well, it wasn't until early November of 2001.... Almost 2 years after filing the I-130.  I told the lawyer and he said "I would highly advise you not to attempt to go forward. If they find out your mother is dead, they could charge you with fraud and you will never be allowed to get a Greencard, ever!"  So, that put enough fear in me to notify them.  So, I wrote a letter and sent a copy of my mother's death certificate to the National Visa Center, where my case was now sitting. A few weeks later, I got a notice, oddly in my mother's name still, that said the approval had been revoked. 

 

Then, we did something extraordinary....  me and my partner actually sued the U.S. Immigration service through the Eastern District Court of Michigan. We tried to argue that the immigration service took to long and, that my partner's right to the pursuit of happiness was being violated. We even had a bit of hope when we learned the judge was a liberal judge. But, it was a futile attempt to sue a government agency. We lost and flushed a few thousand dollars down the toilet doing it.  

 

Then something amazing happened. Almost as if my mother had sent it down from Heaven above!  I became aware that there was a bill in congress called - The Family Sponsor Immigration Act. That was around March 2002. It was a bill that would allow another family member in the U.S. to take over your I-130 case, if you original sponsor had died. It was being brought up by a congressman in California who had a constituent, like me, who had their sponsor die during the process. I jumped for Joy and told my sister in Monroe!!!  Even though congress is known for working slow, this bill surprisingly moved fast and was passed into law by July 2002. I wasn't thrilled with the president at the time (George W. Bush) but, he did sign the bill into law.  So, I immediately got my sister to gather her W2's and tax forms again. She had to sign another Affidavit of Support.  And, then we had to send it with a letter, asking the Attorney General to reinstate the case.  So, we sent it off and waited...... and waited.  First, I found out it went to the wrong address. So, we had to do everything over again. My sister was getting pretty frustrated with having to dig up her tax forms again. Then, they were telling me to be patient, as this was a brand new law. 

 

Well, after visiting my partner in December 2002, I went home to Windsor. There was a letter from U.S. Immigration for me. I nervously opened it and read it. My heart sank. It said that I was denied for reinstatement of the case. I couldn't believe it! So, I called them and they looked into it. Apparently the new law had a line inserted in it, just before it passed, that said.... "In order for the new family member to take over as the sponsor, the case must have been approved before the original sponsor died."  I was shocked, in disbelief and angry.  What difference does the timing of the approval make? There was nothing required of my mother after the approval. No signatures, nothing. My sister was the financial sponsor and was still alive!  But, they just wouldn't budge.  And, I never got my sister to take over as sponsor. 

 

It was from that point on, that I realized they will do whatever they can to block you from getting a Greencard. They tried telling me that this happens (death of a sponsor) more often than people realize. But, I didn't care about that. It was that stupid line about the case having to be approved before the sponsor died. It's just a blatant attempt at finding any way they can, to reduce the chances of someone immigrating here.... the LEGAL way!  

 

Well, I eventually married my partner and they sponsored me for a Greencard and that's how I'm now getting U.S. citizenship. But, when I do eventually get that certificate at my Oath Ceremony, I will be doing it to honor my mother and all her hard efforts to try and get me citizenship 18 years ago.  ❤️ 

 

 

[spielerin 24]

2 hours ago, stormnut42 said:

Seriously, I think they drag these things out on purpose. It's to open up the possibility for any chance to revoke your chances for citizenship. 

 

That happened to me, way back in 2001 and it's a long, tragic story.... 

 

My mother's father - Julio had been an immigrant to the U.S. from El Salvador and worked at the Ford plant in Dearborn, MI.  He met a Canadian woman - Marie (my mom's mother), who worked at a restaurant in Dearborn. The restaurant was owned by Marie's father, who had the necessary papers to run the restaurant in the U.S. However, Marie and her brother Mike, were working at the restaurant without Greencards. One day, their father had to take a trip back to Manitoba in Canada. While he was there, he died. When Wayne county Michigan became aware that he died and that his two children were working there without Greencards, they seized the restaurant and deported Marie and Mike to Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Marie and Mike never got a dime from the restaurant that their father had owned.  So, when Marie eventually married Julio, she decided she would never seek U.S. citizenship from her husband. Marie lived in Windsor and Julio lived in Dearborn but, also owned an apartment in Windsor, and he and Marie would spend weekends together.  They had two children:  Janet and Theresa (my mother) who were born in Windsor to a Canadian mother so, they were born Canadians.  Julio died in the early 1960's and is buried in Windsor. His wife - Marie died a few years later and is buried next to him. 

 

Fast forward to 1998.  I am 25 years old and wanting to move to the U.S.  I have a fascination with severe weather and have even been considering moving to Oklahoma to study meteorology. I quickly learn that getting a Greencard is not that easy.  But, then my mother reminds me that her father had been a U.S. citizen. She calls up an immigration lawyer that she used to work for as a secretary. She tells him that her father was a U.S. citizen but, died in the early 1960's and, was wondering if there was any way she could claim U.S. citizenship from him. He tells her..... If she can find proof that he was a naturalized U.S. citizen and prove that he got citizenship at least 5 years before she was born, then she could apply for U.S. citizenship!  But, because she had never lived in the U.S. herself, she couldn't pass citizenship to me.  But, she would be able to sponsor me for a Greencard. 

 

I had met an American in January of 1998 and was visiting the U.S. often.  My mother had thought she had all the records on her father being a U.S. citizen. But, after an exhaustive search around the house, she couldn't find anything. And, that began a VERY LONG and emotional search to prove her father was a U.S. citizen and get a copy of his Certificate of U.S. Citizenship.  We hired an immigration lawyer by the name of Sam Burgio. He told my mother that trying to obtain a court order for Ford in Dearborn to release information on her father, would be too costly. So, she started calling around. I hired a Genealogist to search for records on my grandfather (Julio) in California. My mother remembers that where he landed in the U.S. and remembers him saying that he lived in Stockton, CA. But, *nothing was ever found. (*remember this).  My mom made calls all over the U.S. and it seemed she was just getting a run-around.  Then, she remember he had spent a year in the U.S. Army.  So, she called the military records office in St. Louis, Missouri.  She figured they must have had something about his citizenship there. Well, in 1974, that records office had a fire in one office. Guess which office it was? Yep, it was the one where her father's records were. All they had, was half of a burnt pay stub with no decent information. All they could tell us is that he had spent time at a hospital in Denver, Colorado.  My mother said that he had also spent some time living in Chicago.  So, we made calls to places in Denver and Chicago but, found nothing. We also contacted the Mormons in Utah, who are known for keeping old records on immigrants to the U.S.  But, they didn't have anything. We went to a local library in Windsor and looked at old records on microfilm but, found nothing.  By the middle of 1999, we were ready to give up. Then, my mother had an idea. She said she would try and contact the union office of the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn. 

 

She spoke to a guy in their records office and he couldn't believe how big of a search she had been through for over a year now. He said he would definitely look into their records for her.  Sure enough, a few days later,  he called back and told my mother he had found a record on her father!  My mother was preparing a Freedom of Information Act form to send to Washington, D.C. to get information on her father. But, there wasn't a whole lot we could put on the form about her father. So, our jaws just about hit the floor, when the union guy told us that in the records he found, there was something that said "Citizenship" and it had a number next to it!  He said that he couldn't tell us the number over the phone but, would make a copy of it and mail it to us. We were so happy. Finally a lead in this long search!   So, we got the Citizenship number in the mail and my mom wrote it in on the Freedom of Information Act form and sent it to Washington, D.C.  It was a LONG three months before we got a reply. I can still remember my mom coming down to my bedroom with a large, brown, envelope in her hand. She said it was from the U.S. Immigration headquarters in Washington, D.C.   We opened it up and there it was....  A copy of my grandfather Julio's Naturalization certificate!  It was kinda hard to make out but, there was a picture of him when he was like 20 years old.  And, now remember the asterisk and bold I put in the paragraph above this, saying the Genealogist found nothing in California? Well, Julio's Citizenship Certificate said that he received it from a judge in San Joaquin county in the city of Stockton, California.  So, that Genealogist didn't do a very good job. He had said he contacted courthouses in Stockton, CA. He might have and they probably didn't feel like digging up old records. Or, he might have just lied. 

 

Well, we contacted our immigration lawyer and told him we had proof of my grandfather's U.S. citizenship.  And, he received citizenship way more than 5 years before my mother's birth in 1935.  Julio was born in 1898 and it said he received his U.S. citizenship in 1920 I believe.  So, the lawyer praised my mother for her diligent and hard work.  He said he would make an appointment for my mother to travel to the U.S. embassy in Toronto, to apply for U.S. citizenship. I remember the lawyer drove up to Toronto and we had to take a Greyhound bus. I can still remember a bunch of stinky Amish people getting on the bus (they don't wear deodorant).      We got to the embassy and it was similar to the immigration field office in Detroit but, a lot smaller. I remember my mother giving the lawyer all the papers and he slid them under a window to U.S. immigration officer. Then, we sat and waited and talked with the lawyer. The lawyer told us stories of other people trying to immigrate to the U.S., who asked him stupid questions. He said that one time, a lady called him and wanted to know if she had to get a Greencard for her dog! LOL 😆  And, he told us how lots of people marry Americans and then instantly think they can move there. That kinda happened  with my sister.  She married a guy from Monroe, Michigan and applied for a Greencard. Then, she made a trip back to Windsor. When she tried re-entering the U.S., they told her she couldn't until she got her Greencard!  I remember my dad had to go pick her up at customs and she was crying and my dad was furious. Luckily, back then, my sister only had to wait about 4 months to get her Greencard. That was back in the early 1990's. 

 

Well, after a bit of a wait, they called the lawyer and my mother up to the window. They slid some papers back and said everything looked good. The lawyer handed my mother her papers back and then shook her hand and said - "Congratulations, you're now a U.S. citizen!"  My father had been concerned about my mother getting U.S. citizenship. He thought she might have to pay taxes in the U.S. or something. But, the lawyer assured us, that because she wouldn't be living in the U.S., she wouldn't have any financial ties to the U.S.  She also wasn't giving up her Canadian citizenship but, interestingly, the lawyer said that he did her application in a way, so that she was declared a U.S. citizen from birth.  So, I was born to a mother with dual-citizenship. But, she still couldn't pass citizenship directly to me, because she had never lived in the U.S.  I've always wondered if there was some sort of work-around for that?

 

Well, a few weeks after that, my mother got her U.S. passport in the mail.  I had already started the I-130 forms and Affidavit of Support forms for both my mother and my sister in Monroe, MI.  My mother wasn't working so, I was able to use my sister in Monroe, MI (now a U.S. citizen) as my financial sponsor. 

I remember my sister in Monroe complaining at having to get all her W2's and her last 3 or 5 years of tax records. I finally had everything ready in late January 2000. Even though it was my mother sponsoring me, I pretty much did all the paperwork and just told her what I needed and where she needed to sign. 

 

I remember hopping on a city bus to take the documents down to the immigration lawyer's office on Ouellette Ave. in downtown Windsor. It was like January 31st, 2000.  He said he would send the paperwork ASAP to the Nebraska Service Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. I think it went out on February 1st or 2nd.  The lawyer even told me that he did something with the paperwork that would help speed up the process. I think he somehow listed me as being under 21, which makes it faster.  He told me that it would probably take about 6 to 8 months for approval. Then, I'd have to wait another month or so, to get a visa number for the National Visa Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

 

Well, we waited, and waited, and waited some more.  I was continuing to make visits and stay with my American partner.  While in the U.S. I would make calls to the Nebraska Service Center to check on my status. I can remember, back then, getting through took forever. I would literally sit there for an hour or more and keep hitting redial till I got through. The automated message would say approximately how many days it would take to approve my case. I remember it gave me a range of like 244 to 284 days. Sometimes I'd get really impatient and select to speak to an immigration officer. I can remember, more than once, they would get snippy with me, because I was the Beneficiary calling and not the Sponsor!  They would say "Your mother is the one who should be calling, not you!"  But, by late 2000 my mother hadn't been feeling well so, that's why I did all the calling. In December 2000, I can remember my mother going for some chest x-rays, because she had this persistent cough.  In January 2001, she found out they lost the x-rays so, they needed to be re-done. Then, one day I came home from my seasonal job at a Green Giant plant in Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada. It was early February 2001(one year after filing the I-130 and still no approval).  My mother was sitting on her bed and my sister was in there talking to her. I could see that they both looked concerned. So, I went in the bedroom. My mother told me she got the results back from the x-rays. She said they found a cancerous tumor in her wind-pipe, right where it branches off to both lungs. 😧  But, I didn't know that much about cancer at the time. I just remember her saying that they were gonna admit her to the hospital and start treatment right away.  I had a friend who's mother died from cancer when I was in grade 8.  

 

Well, my mother went in to the hospital for chemotherapy and that made her very sick. She didn't want that anymore. So, then they started doing radiation treatments. I can remember a spot they had marked on her upper chest at where to direct the radiation and, after a while her skin was tanned in that area. 

By this point, I felt too intimidated to call the Nebraska Service Center.  They had gotten mad at my last couple of calls asking for more information.  And, for some reason, I didn't think they would take my mother having lung cancer, as something serious.  They let my mother out of the hospital around Mother's Day in 2001 but, she had to go back for radiation treatments now and then. So, I thought she was getting better.  So, I started visiting my partner in the U.S. again.  

 

Then, one day in mid June, I got an answering machine message from my Niece, saying my mom had taken a turn for the worst. Then,  there was a message from my oldest sister and, I knew it was serious. I was in shock. So, I didn't return to Windsor till the next day. They had already moved my mother to palliative care. They had her heavily sedated and were no longer giving her food. I remember thinking that was cruel but, they explained it would only make matters worse. They said that the cancer had spread.  My mother had told me that she didn't want to know how bad it was so, the doctors always spoke to my dad. And, my dad didn't tell me how bad it was. Apparently it was stage 3 when they first found it. Well, me and my brother's and sisters spent most of the next few nights at the hospital. My mom's only sister, was by her side almost the whole time. She had raced down from Wallaceburg, ON. She is a retired teacher and former Nun.  We had to strongly convince her to take a break and get some lunch one day. That's when my mother suddenly changed and we knew she was ready to pass. We had them call for my Aunt Janet over the hospital speaker system but, apparently she was in a bathroom and didn't hear it. But, me and my 3 sisters were there when my mom passed away, quickly, on the morning of June 22, 2001.  My dad and two brothers arrived shortly after.

 

On the Monday, after she passed, I decided to call the immigration lawyers office. The one lady legal assistant was used to me calling and sounded less than thrilled that I was calling again.  I told her my mother had passed away and she gasped. I asked her if that would affect my Greencard application. She said she wasn't sure but, in the case of spousal sponsorship's, if the sponsor dies, they usually stop the process.  She said she would have the lawyer call me back as soon as possible. So, the next day, I got a call from him and I could tell he was outside and getting into his car. I thought that was kinda rude. He told me - "I'm sorry to say this but, because your mother has died before approval of the case, it's going to be automatically terminated. It's up to you to notify them of your mother's death."  I asked him if my sister in Monroe, MI could take over the case.  He said "That sounds good but, unfortunately no law exists that will allow that."  So, then I talked to him another day and asked him about my sister sponsoring me. He said that she could but, in U.S. immigration law, brothers and sisters are NOT considered immediate family!!!  I couldn't believe it.  So, I asked what that meant.  He said that when my mother was sponsoring me, I was in the fastest category - #1.  A parent sponsoring a son or daughter.  He said a brother/sister sponsorship drops down to the lowest category - #4.  And, he said it would take about 9 to 15 YEARS for that case to be completed.  I couldn't believe it!  I was totally devastated. I had just lost my mother and, now I was losing my chance for a Greencard. I was very angry at how long it had taken and I still didn't have approval yet. 

 

I can remember trying to find some way to still proceed. I tried calling congressmen and, started speaking with someone from the office for newly elected Senator - Debbie Stabenow, at the time.  And, of course I will never forget one phone call I made to her office in Washington, D.C.  It was an early call on the morning of September 11, 2001.  I was on the phone with a lady, when she suddenly told me that she'd have to put me on hold. She said that something had happened in New York City and they were being told to lock down their office!  Surprisingly, she came back to the phone and wrapped up the call. Shortly after that, my dad called down the basement stairs and told me to turn on my tv.  What happened, is a day that all of us will never forget. 

 

After that, without telling the lawyer, I decided NOT to notify the Immigration Service of my mother's death. I wanted to see just how long the approval was going to take. Well, it wasn't until early November of 2001.... Almost 2 years after filing the I-130.  I told the lawyer and he said "I would highly advise you not to attempt to go forward. If they find out your mother is dead, they could charge you with fraud and you will never be allowed to get a Greencard, ever!"  So, that put enough fear in me to notify them.  So, I wrote a letter and sent a copy of my mother's death certificate to the National Visa Center, where my case was now sitting. A few weeks later, I got a notice, oddly in my mother's name still, that said the approval had been revoked. 

 

Then, we did something extraordinary....  me and my partner actually sued the U.S. Immigration service through the Eastern District Court of Michigan. We tried to argue that the immigration service took to long and, that my partner's right to the pursuit of happiness was being violated. We even had a bit of hope when we learned the judge was a liberal judge. But, it was a futile attempt to sue a government agency. We lost and flushed a few thousand dollars down the toilet doing it.  

 

Then something amazing happened. Almost as if my mother had sent it down from Heaven above!  I became aware that there was a bill in congress called - The Family Sponsor Immigration Act. That was around March 2002. It was a bill that would allow another family member in the U.S. to take over your I-130 case, if you original sponsor had died. It was being brought up by a congressman in California who had a constituent, like me, who had their sponsor die during the process. I jumped for Joy and told my sister in Monroe!!!  Even though congress is known for working slow, this bill surprisingly moved fast and was passed into law by July 2002. I wasn't thrilled with the president at the time (George W. Bush) but, he did sign the bill into law.  So, I immediately got my sister to gather her W2's and tax forms again. She had to sign another Affidavit of Support.  And, then we had to send it with a letter, asking the Attorney General to reinstate the case.  So, we sent it off and waited...... and waited.  First, I found out it went to the wrong address. So, we had to do everything over again. My sister was getting pretty frustrated with having to dig up her tax forms again. Then, they were telling me to be patient, as this was a brand new law. 

 

Well, after visiting my partner in December 2002, I went home to Windsor. There was a letter from U.S. Immigration for me. I nervously opened it and read it. My heart sank. It said that I was denied for reinstatement of the case. I couldn't believe it! So, I called them and they looked into it. Apparently the new law had a line inserted in it, just before it passed, that said.... "In order for the new family member to take over as the sponsor, the case must have been approved before the original sponsor died."  I was shocked, in disbelief and angry.  What difference does the timing of the approval make? There was nothing required of my mother after the approval. No signatures, nothing. My sister was the financial sponsor and was still alive!  But, they just wouldn't budge.  And, I never got my sister to take over as sponsor. 

 

It was from that point on, that I realized they will do whatever they can to block you from getting a Greencard. They tried telling me that this happens (death of a sponsor) more often than people realize. But, I didn't care about that. It was that stupid line about the case having to be approved before the sponsor died. It's just a blatant attempt at finding any way they can, to reduce the chances of someone immigrating here.... the LEGAL way!  

 

Well, I eventually married my partner and they sponsored me for a Greencard and that's how I'm now getting U.S. citizenship. But, when I do eventually get that certificate at my Oath Ceremony, I will be doing it to honor my mother and all her hard efforts to try and get me citizenship 18 years ago.  ❤️ 

 

 

I am seriously tearing up reading your story. This is such a LONG journey for you and your family. So glad you are almost done! I truly hope that they schedule your Oath Ceremony soon.