My N400 Interview Experience and Advice (Cleveland Field Office)

[Nyanna 10]

Hello, everyone. I had just gotten back from my interview and would like to share my experience (in exchange for good luck haha)

 

First, here's a brief timeline:

Application Submitted: July 23, 2019

Biometrics Scheduled: July 27, 2019

Biometrics Date: August 16, 2019

Interview Scheduled August 16, 2019

Interview Date: September 27, 2019

 

The Cleveland Field office only has a estimated time of 4-8 months but I was still pleasantly surprised at how fast everything was scheduled.

 

On to my interview experience:

My interviewed was scheduled at 8:30am but I had read the time wrong and got there at 8:00 right when the office opens. I was the first person to sign in and was the first person to get called in after waiting for about 5-10 minutes. So if you have an 8:30 interview, it wouldn't hurt to get there earlier (and potentially catch the IO in a better mood). 

 

My IO was a woman with a strong french accent, but I understood her nonetheless. She called my name and greeted me. She asked for my ID: green card, driver's license, passport. She then asked me to stand up and raise my right hand and put me under oath. Her first question was about my trip outside of US that lasted 183 days (exactly 6 month). The application system had a warning about it so I knew she was gonna ask about it. She asked to see the passport stamp to check exact departure and arrival dates of the trip but US immigration didn't stamp for departure. I only had electronic copy of the itinerary so I asked for her permission to check my phone to show her. She just needed to see the exact dates of travel (leaving and coming back to US). I thought they'd have records of exact travel dates from immigration so I had only prepared for other trips during the middle of that trip. So it's best to print out your travel itinerary if your passport doesn't show all the departure and arrival dates. She also asked why I made that trip, why it was for so long and who stayed at my US residence while I was gone. At the end of the interview she mentioned that they might need more evidence from me, so I gave her my phone bill that showed I maintained my phone number during that 6 months. I also had other frequent trips but she didn't go into details for them.

 

After explaining my travels, she went through my application line by line, starting from my name and address. I have an issue where I was accidentally registered to vote by my high school teacher, so I decided to put "Yes" for whether if I ever claimed to be a U.S. Citizen. But my IO corrected me and said it was whether if I actually claimed to be American and changed my answer to "No". I also explained why I was registered to vote and never voted in any elections. She asked for any evidence so I gave her the documents I had previously obtained from the Board of Election as proof that I cancelled the status and never voted. 

 

All of the evidence I gave my IO was also already submitted electronically. But it seems like she wasn't aware of it (not sure if they will read the electronic supplements after the interview). So I suggest if you have any supporting document that you'd like them to know about, definitely talk about it and give them physical copies because they might not ask for it during the interview unless you show them. I also typed a cover letter explaining all my issues and reasons in details and gave it to her. For my case, she didn't ask detail questions about taxes or jobs but it might be different for each IO. 

 

Reading and Writing test was the same sentence: "The President lives in the White House."

Writing was on a electronic pad. It was pretty difficult to write nicely so don't worry about handwriting. There was no erase option but you can ask the IO to start over.

 

Questions were exactly like the booklet and I answered them 6/6 correctly. 

After that, IO asked me to confirm my personal information again and sign. 

 

At the end, my IO said the evidence I provided might be sufficient but she still needs to talk to her supervisor about it. If they need more evidence, they will send a letter asking for more. If my application is approved, they will send a letter scheduling the oath ceremony. My result paper says I passed the test and "A decision cannot be made yet about your application."

 

My IO was strict but nice and understanding and my interview lasted about 30 minutes. My advise is to be articulate and explain everything well. Know your application weakness and prepare evidence for it. I did a lot of research on this forum and even talked to lawyers (both lawyers I talked to advised against applying for citizenship due to the issues I listed above and the current immigration policy, but I decided to go for it anyways. We'll see if they're right about it.). Most importantly give them physical copies of supporting evidence once they raised a concern even if they didn't explicitly ask for evidence. I printed out all all the evidence I previously submitted electronically, as well as others I didn't submit, and labelled them accordingly so I didn't have to dig through all the documents to find the one I need. It might be an overkill but it's better to be prepared than to have to re-submit more evidence later. 

 

That's it! Fingers crossed I will be approved for oath ceremony soon and good luck to everyone on this journey!

Edited September 27, 2019 by Nyanna

[nyj215 103]

Thanks for posting, this will be helpful for people in future no doubt!  All the best wishes for an approval soon.

[Zaidba 39]

Good luck, I am in a similar situation and was advised by lawyers not to apply. I listened to them and decided to wait. however, I have seen cases in the forum where people are approved. Since the officer said that she had enough evidence, I think you will be approved.

[Nyanna 10]

4 hours ago, Zaidba said:

Good luck, I am in a similar situation and was advised by lawyers not to apply. I listened to them and decided to wait. however, I have seen cases in the forum where people are approved. Since the officer said that she had enough evidence, I think you will be approved.

Thanks. I will update if I get approved!

[alexpop13 173]

Hi @Nyanna,

Cleveland based as well. My window opens on 10/29/19.

 

Good luck!

[zemat 2]

Congrats! This is such a very short timeline!

[Giovanni1 69]

Great, I've heard good things about the CLE office. I am starting to collect paperwork, will be filing after new year. Good luck to all of us!

[shre 1]

On ‎9‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 10:50 AM, Nyanna said:

Hello, everyone. I had just gotten back from my interview and would like to share my experience (in exchange for good luck haha)

 

First, here's a brief timeline:

Application Submitted: July 23, 2019

Biometrics Scheduled: July 27, 2019

Biometrics Date: August 16, 2019

Interview Scheduled August 16, 2019

Interview Date: September 27, 2019

 

The Cleveland Field office only has a estimated time of 4-8 months but I was still pleasantly surprised at how fast everything was scheduled.

 

On to my interview experience:

My interviewed was scheduled at 8:30am but I had read the time wrong and got there at 8:00 right when the office opens. I was the first person to sign in and was the first person to get called in after waiting for about 5-10 minutes. So if you have an 8:30 interview, it wouldn't hurt to get there earlier (and potentially catch the IO in a better mood). 

 

My IO was a woman with a strong french accent, but I understood her nonetheless. She called my name and greeted me. She asked for my ID: green card, driver's license, passport. She then asked me to stand up and raise my right hand and put me under oath. Her first question was about my trip outside of US that lasted 183 days (exactly 6 month). The application system had a warning about it so I knew she was gonna ask about it. She asked to see the passport stamp to check exact departure and arrival dates of the trip but US immigration didn't stamp for departure. I only had electronic copy of the itinerary so I asked for her permission to check my phone to show her. She just needed to see the exact dates of travel (leaving and coming back to US). I thought they'd have records of exact travel dates from immigration so I had only prepared for other trips during the middle of that trip. So it's best to print out your travel itinerary if your passport doesn't show all the departure and arrival dates. She also asked why I made that trip, why it was for so long and who stayed at my US residence while I was gone. At the end of the interview she mentioned that they might need more evidence from me, so I gave her my phone bill that showed I maintained my phone number during that 6 months. I also had other frequent trips but she didn't go into details for them.

 

After explaining my travels, she went through my application line by line, starting from my name and address. I have an issue where I was accidentally registered to vote by my high school teacher, so I decided to put "Yes" for whether if I ever claimed to be a U.S. Citizen. But my IO corrected me and said it was whether if I actually claimed to be American and changed my answer to "No". I also explained why I was registered to vote and never voted in any elections. She asked for any evidence so I gave her the documents I had previously obtained from the Board of Election as proof that I cancelled the status and never voted. 

 

All of the evidence I gave my IO was also already submitted electronically. But it seems like she wasn't aware of it (not sure if they will read the electronic supplements after the interview). So I suggest if you have any supporting document that you'd like them to know about, definitely talk about it and give them physical copies because they might not ask for it during the interview unless you show them. I also typed a cover letter explaining all my issues and reasons in details and gave it to her. For my case, she didn't ask detail questions about taxes or jobs but it might be different for each IO. 

 

Reading and Writing test was the same sentence: "The President lives in the White House."

Writing was on a electronic pad. It was pretty difficult to write nicely so don't worry about handwriting. There was no erase option but you can ask the IO to start over.

 

Questions were exactly like the booklet and I answered them 6/6 correctly. 

After that, IO asked me to confirm my personal information again and sign. 

 

At the end, my IO said the evidence I provided might be sufficient but she still needs to talk to her supervisor about it. If they need more evidence, they will send a letter asking for more. If my application is approved, they will send a letter scheduling the oath ceremony. My result paper says I passed the test and "A decision cannot be made yet about your application."

 

My IO was strict but nice and understanding and my interview lasted about 30 minutes. My advise is to be articulate and explain everything well. Know your application weakness and prepare evidence for it. I did a lot of research on this forum and even talked to lawyers (both lawyers I talked to advised against applying for citizenship due to the issues I listed above and the current immigration policy, but I decided to go for it anyways. We'll see if they're right about it.). Most importantly give them physical copies of supporting evidence once they raised a concern even if they didn't explicitly ask for evidence. I printed out all all the evidence I previously submitted electronically, as well as others I didn't submit, and labelled them accordingly so I didn't have to dig through all the documents to find the one I need. It might be an overkill but it's better to be prepared than to have to re-submit more evidence later. 

 

That's it! Fingers crossed I will be approved for oath ceremony soon and good luck to everyone on this journey!

Congratulations...! Did you get your approval and date for oath ceremony yet?

[Nyanna 10]

On 9/27/2019 at 10:50 AM, Nyanna said:

Hello, everyone. I had just gotten back from my interview and would like to share my experience (in exchange for good luck haha)

 

First, here's a brief timeline:

Application Submitted: July 23, 2019

Biometrics Scheduled: July 27, 2019

Biometrics Date: August 16, 2019

Interview Scheduled August 16, 2019

Interview Date: September 27, 2019

 

The Cleveland Field office only has a estimated time of 4-8 months but I was still pleasantly surprised at how fast everything was scheduled.

 

On to my interview experience:

My interviewed was scheduled at 8:30am but I had read the time wrong and got there at 8:00 right when the office opens. I was the first person to sign in and was the first person to get called in after waiting for about 5-10 minutes. So if you have an 8:30 interview, it wouldn't hurt to get there earlier (and potentially catch the IO in a better mood). 

 

My IO was a woman with a strong french accent, but I understood her nonetheless. She called my name and greeted me. She asked for my ID: green card, driver's license, passport. She then asked me to stand up and raise my right hand and put me under oath. Her first question was about my trip outside of US that lasted 183 days (exactly 6 month). The application system had a warning about it so I knew she was gonna ask about it. She asked to see the passport stamp to check exact departure and arrival dates of the trip but US immigration didn't stamp for departure. I only had electronic copy of the itinerary so I asked for her permission to check my phone to show her. She just needed to see the exact dates of travel (leaving and coming back to US). I thought they'd have records of exact travel dates from immigration so I had only prepared for other trips during the middle of that trip. So it's best to print out your travel itinerary if your passport doesn't show all the departure and arrival dates. She also asked why I made that trip, why it was for so long and who stayed at my US residence while I was gone. At the end of the interview she mentioned that they might need more evidence from me, so I gave her my phone bill that showed I maintained my phone number during that 6 months. I also had other frequent trips but she didn't go into details for them.

 

After explaining my travels, she went through my application line by line, starting from my name and address. I have an issue where I was accidentally registered to vote by my high school teacher, so I decided to put "Yes" for whether if I ever claimed to be a U.S. Citizen. But my IO corrected me and said it was whether if I actually claimed to be American and changed my answer to "No". I also explained why I was registered to vote and never voted in any elections. She asked for any evidence so I gave her the documents I had previously obtained from the Board of Election as proof that I cancelled the status and never voted. 

 

All of the evidence I gave my IO was also already submitted electronically. But it seems like she wasn't aware of it (not sure if they will read the electronic supplements after the interview). So I suggest if you have any supporting document that you'd like them to know about, definitely talk about it and give them physical copies because they might not ask for it during the interview unless you show them. I also typed a cover letter explaining all my issues and reasons in details and gave it to her. For my case, she didn't ask detail questions about taxes or jobs but it might be different for each IO. 

 

Reading and Writing test was the same sentence: "The President lives in the White House."

Writing was on a electronic pad. It was pretty difficult to write nicely so don't worry about handwriting. There was no erase option but you can ask the IO to start over.

 

Questions were exactly like the booklet and I answered them 6/6 correctly. 

After that, IO asked me to confirm my personal information again and sign. 

 

At the end, my IO said the evidence I provided might be sufficient but she still needs to talk to her supervisor about it. If they need more evidence, they will send a letter asking for more. If my application is approved, they will send a letter scheduling the oath ceremony. My result paper says I passed the test and "A decision cannot be made yet about your application."

 

My IO was strict but nice and understanding and my interview lasted about 30 minutes. My advise is to be articulate and explain everything well. Know your application weakness and prepare evidence for it. I did a lot of research on this forum and even talked to lawyers (both lawyers I talked to advised against applying for citizenship due to the issues I listed above and the current immigration policy, but I decided to go for it anyways. We'll see if they're right about it.). Most importantly give them physical copies of supporting evidence once they raised a concern even if they didn't explicitly ask for evidence. I printed out all all the evidence I previously submitted electronically, as well as others I didn't submit, and labelled them accordingly so I didn't have to dig through all the documents to find the one I need. It might be an overkill but it's better to be prepared than to have to re-submit more evidence later. 

 

That's it! Fingers crossed I will be approved for oath ceremony soon and good luck to everyone on this journey!

Update on my case if anyone are still interested:

 

Got a Request for Evidence in the mail on Nov 11 asking for proof of ties to US during my long trip and explain my voting situation. Responded asap by Fedex overnight the next day but decided to to respond online just in case (probably wasn't necessary). I had some technical difficulty but it was submitted. 

 

2nd interview scheduled for Dec 19 about 2 weeks after and this got me really concerned. I attended the interview and brought all the paper works with me. It was the same IO and It turns out my proof of not abandoning tie to US is all good but they just need me to swear under oath again and sign a written copy of my explanations of the accidental voter registration. The IO was apologetic though, she asked me questions related to voting and registration and typed it all out and had a supervisor sign as witness. 

 

Finally on Jan 2, I got my oath ceremony scheduled for Jan 17!! 

My journey is almost over and now I just need to attend and apply for passport afterwards!

 

My overall timeline:

Application Submitted: July 23, 2019

Biometrics Scheduled: July 27, 2019

Biometrics Date: August 16, 2019

Interview Scheduled August 16, 2019

Interview Date: September 27, 2019

RFE: November 11, 2019

2nd Interview: December 19, 2019

Oath Ceremony scheduled: January 2, 2020

Oath Ceremony date: January 17, 2020

[Yajhsar 7]

On 1/8/2020 at 7:22 PM, Nyanna said:

...both lawyers I talked to advised against applying for citizenship due to the issues I listed above and the current immigration policy, but I decided to go for it anyways. We'll see if they're right about it...

Are the two issues you are talking about related to 1) more than 183 days stay outside USA and 2) having been registered to vote by your school staff??

[Nyanna 10]

35 minutes ago, Yajhsar said:

Are the two issues you are talking about related to 1) more than 183 days stay outside USA and 2) having been registered to vote by your school staff??

Yes. In fact I was outside US 184 days and still needed evidence to proof ties to the US

[African Zealot 1,453]

Congratulations on your finishing the immigration process successfully.

[Bashar yaseen 0]

My parents are having their interview for naturalization in the same center. They don't have their old passports but i tried to get all of their tickets they used to travel outside of the United States. The longest trip is 5 months.I couldn't find one of the tickets though for a trip in 2016 which is not stamped on the new passport they have. They don't file taxes but I claim them on my taxes as dependent.  Does that work as a proof for their physical presence? Their interview is next week?

[Nyanna 10]

2 hours ago, Bashar yaseen said:

My parents are having their interview for naturalization in the same center. They don't have their old passports but i tried to get all of their tickets they used to travel outside of the United States. The longest trip is 5 months.I couldn't find one of the tickets though for a trip in 2016 which is not stamped on the new passport they have. They don't file taxes but I claim them on my taxes as dependent.  Does that work as a proof for their physical presence? Their interview is next week?

From my experience, my IO only asked about the trip that exceeded 183 days (6 months). She didn't ask about my other trips nor did I need proof of continuous residence for the duration of other trips (I had several other 4-5 month trips). I wouldn't stress too much about it but do bring the flight tickets/ itinerary and your tax record anyways just in case. I also sent in utility bills under my family member's name (none of the utilities are under my name) to proof I had access to my residence while I was gone.

 

Here is the list of information from my RFE if you want to prepare accordingly:

 

"You have taken a trip outside of the U.S. that lasted six months or more since becoming a Lawful Permanent Resident from [Date] to [Date] . Submit evidence that you did not abandon your residence. You may submit documentation which includes, but is not limited to, evidence that during your absence:

• You did not terminate your employment in the U.S.;
• Your immediate family remained in the U.S.;
• You retained full access to your U.S. place of residence;
• You did not obtain employment abroad.
• An IRS tax return transcript or an IRS-certified tax return listing tax information relevant to your absence for the last 5 years;
• Rent or mortgage payments and pay statements; Bank, credit card, and loan statements showing regular transactions;
• Proof of car registration and insurance; or
• Any other document that shows you have not abandoned your residence in the United States."

 

Hope this helps and best of luck to your parents!

[Bashar yaseen 0]

32 minutes ago, Nyanna said:

From my experience, my IO only asked about the trip that exceeded 183 days (6 months). She didn't ask about my other trips nor did I need proof of continuous residence for the duration of other trips (I had several other 4-5 month trips). I wouldn't stress too much about it but do bring the flight tickets/ itinerary and your tax record anyways just in case. I also sent in utility bills under my family member's name (none of the utilities are under my name) to proof I had access to my residence while I was gone.

 

Here is the list of information from my RFE if you want to prepare accordingly:

 

"You have taken a trip outside of the U.S. that lasted six months or more since becoming a Lawful Permanent Resident from [Date] to [Date] . Submit evidence that you did not abandon your residence. You may submit documentation which includes, but is not limited to, evidence that during your absence:

• You did not terminate your employment in the U.S.;
• Your immediate family remained in the U.S.;
• You retained full access to your U.S. place of residence;
• You did not obtain employment abroad.
• An IRS tax return transcript or an IRS-certified tax return listing tax information relevant to your absence for the last 5 years;
• Rent or mortgage payments and pay statements; Bank, credit card, and loan statements showing regular transactions;
• Proof of car registration and insurance; or
• Any other document that shows you have not abandoned your residence in the United States."

 

Hope this helps and best of luck to your parents!

Thank you so much. I am just worried because they don't have their old passports.