N400 March 2020 Filers

[Mrs U 49]

Latest update... On January 14th (2 days after my interview) I got my oath ceremony notification for February 4th!!

 

I am sooooo excited that the end of this process is near!!

 

Wishing that all goes smoothly for everyone still waiting for biometrics and interview appointments.

 

Hang in there, be patient, you've got this!!! 

 

 

 

[Outsider 40]

9 hours ago, flipilychee820 said:

This has nice information. What website is this? This is not from the USCIS website right? Like I said, my account still shows case received and being processed at the E-Filing Section. 

That is from the Lawfully app, case analysis pro, from people who registered there and added their cases

[ShpatBeqa 32]

On 1/12/2021 at 1:59 PM, blackeyedsusan said:

We're finally done! Husband applied on March 23, biometrics reuse notice on October 22, interview on December 16, and the oath today on January 12. Baltimore Field Office. We're done!!

 

Good luck to everyone still waiting! Hang in there!

Congratulations to you guys, I applied on April 30th still waiting on the interview. Biometrics were completed on November 12. (I am in Maryland as well)

[ptsad 7]

Good Day to everyone, I received my acceptance notice last March 14,2020 (Chicago Area) for N400 US citizenship application. However, I have not received any updates for my Biometric schedule, It has been 10 months. I know that they have delays but how long do we usually wait nowadays for a biometric appointment. If anyone can share their experience and updates, I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

[NotMoreForms 68]

2 hours ago, ptsad said:

Good Day to everyone, I received my acceptance notice last March 14,2020 (Chicago Area) for N400 US citizenship application. However, I have not received any updates for my Biometric schedule, It has been 10 months. I know that they have delays but how long do we usually wait nowadays for a biometric appointment. If anyone can share their experience and updates, I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

With Covid things seem to work differently.  Now they do not seem to do anything with Biometrics until your file has reached an "active" state.  You should check your myUSCIS documents tab from time to time as quite a few people have received biometrics reuse notifications there without any status change or other notification to suggest they should look.  Also look at the processing time estimates for your office, as that seems to be about the best information at the moment.

[Semii 0]

Nobody here fille from Atlanta  ?

[QueenofSwords 29]

On 1/18/2021 at 8:45 AM, NotMoreForms said:

With Covid things seem to work differently.  Now they do not seem to do anything with Biometrics until your file has reached an "active" state.  You should check your myUSCIS documents tab from time to time as quite a few people have received biometrics reuse notifications there without any status change or other notification to suggest they should look.  Also look at the processing time estimates for your office, as that seems to be about the best information at the moment.

This is exactly what happened to me. There are a few youtube videos by immigration advocacy groups explaining why this is the case. In brief, ASCs are outsourced to contractors. It's a multi pronged effect on the ASCs: 1) furloughs of contractors 2) termination of contracts with companies for these employees. these two are due to USCIS budget crisis, which preceded covid but was worsened by it and 3) intermittent ASC shut downs due to worries over covid 4) even more delayed ASC resumption than field offices 4) the fact that bios are necessary for other types of immigrants- (ie: for the greencard) and n400s are the lowest on the totem pole since delaying naturalization doesn't imperil status (usually) whereas it may for other categories of migrants 5) the fact that ASCs are operating at 50 % capacity , at best. 

Much ado was made over the potential USCIS furloughs last fall and summer and these were averted due to emergency funding . but unbenownst to all but the savvy and canny, USCIS cut costs by ending contracts with third party employees-not their own agents. This was alluded to by the USCIS head who said that furloughs have been averted but at other costs which will incur delays-for whatever reason the guy didn't flat out say that they decimated the ASCs. 

But all this came to light when Rep Cleaver of KCMO and a bipartisan cadre called USCIS out on this. but again it never made the headlines. you'd have to know where to look. 

Now you know. 

 

I had signed up for both the text and email updates and got nothing. I saw the thread on reddit and randomly logged into my account only to find that a reuse had been uploaded under my docs about 5 days prior. my status hadn't changed. I saw the bio reuse that night and the next morning I got an interview notice. I did get a text and email update but about 24 hours later lolz, at which point Lawfully also sent me an alert. 

My guess is that the bio reuse doesn't trigger an alert and is silently uploaded vs schedulings such as interview and oath trigger an alert-even though again, the text and email come like a day later so your best bet is to log in regularly and check, including your docs tab. 

Edited January 20, 2021 by QueenofSwords

[sailchoc 7]

The long journey is over. Since yesterday, I am an American citizen, thank God

[Prystine 184]

On 1/22/2021 at 9:25 PM, sailchoc said:

The long journey is over. Since yesterday, I am an American citizen, thank God

YAY!! Congrats sailchoc 

[chicago1987 45]

On 1/22/2021 at 9:25 PM, sailchoc said:

The long journey is over. Since yesterday, I am an American citizen, thank God

How soon after your interview did you get the date for your interview?

[flipilychee820 5]

Ughhh... Talking to a live person on the phone. Do any of you have any advice how I can talk to a real person? My Green card will expire soon and I was advised by the live person I talked to in October to request for an appointment to extend my green card because I applied one year before it expires. She told me to call 30 days before it expires and it is so difficult to talk to a real person! I don't know what to do... with emma this is what I got 

I don't know what to do....I find this very annoying... I need advice...   

 

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by flipilychee820

[Tashas mom 6]

I had my N400 combined I-751 interview early this morning.  Initially I received a confirmation only for N400 and a reuse biometrics letter.  2 days ago I had a phone call 2 days ago advising my husband needed to be there too so they could adjudicate the I-751.

Really nice officer, made us feel very at ease.  Two questions on ROC - have you lived apart at anytime since your marriage and do you file joint taxes.  Then onto the N400 part, 6 questions from the given list.  

As the latest submitted tax returns were from 2017 I was asked to provide returns for 2018 & 2019 which I didn't have with me.  I was issued an RFE for these which I was able to submit within 20 minutes of leaving the interview.  By lunchtime everything had been approved and I'm now waiting for an oath ceremony date.  

[blessedbeyond 38]

2 hours ago, flipilychee820 said:

Ughhh... Talking to a live person on the phone. Do any of you have any advice how I can talk to a real person? My Green card will expire soon and I was advised by the live person I talked to in October to request for an appointment to extend my green card because I applied one year before it expires. She told me to call 30 days before it expires and it is so difficult to talk to a real person! I don't know what to do... with emma this is what I got 

I don't know what to do....I find this very annoying... I need advice...   

 

 

When you get through to the automated answering system and are asked how they can assist you, say: "Update my contact information OR technical assistance." Hope this helps. 

[ThaOne 101]

18 hours ago, flipilychee820 said:

Ughhh... Talking to a live person on the phone. Do any of you have any advice how I can talk to a real person? My Green card will expire soon and I was advised by the live person I talked to in October to request for an appointment to extend my green card because I applied one year before it expires. She told me to call 30 days before it expires and it is so difficult to talk to a real person! I don't know what to do... with emma this is what I got 

I don't know what to do....I find this very annoying... I need advice...   

 

 

I can't say definitively because of the possible ramifications, and I have heard both versions of this. But I will give you my own (lived) experience. They received my online application early February 2020. My GC was scheduled to expire mid May. So that's less than six months. So technically for 8 months I had no valid GC (but still an LPR though) That didn't seem to be an issue as I finally had my interview earlier this month. I handed my expired GC (and my expired passport). He gave it back after the interview. They will take it back at the oath ceremony next week. At no point in my process was it an issue. Now, that being said, I have found that with immigration a lot sometimes has to do with who you deal with, what field office, what officer... But I would think you should be okay if at least you file anytime before it expires. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by ThaOne

[flipilychee820 5]

17 hours ago, blessedbeyond said:

When you get through to the automated answering system and are asked how they can assist you, say: "Update my contact information OR technical assistance." Hope this helps. 

Thank you for the advice, I finally got through! After almost two hours of the automated saying, " I will end the call." lol. I think I tried redialing 20 times and I tried saying "infopass appointment". I finally got through! He gave me a reference number and told me that I would have to call back on Monday, but he did look up my account... and told me  that my 30 days starts on the weekend and that I would need to call on Monday because the system won't let him do anything until it is 30 days. lol I will try the things you said next time. lol

Edited January 29, 2021 by flipilychee820