Interview Scheduled With Upcoming Travel

[Alekezam 162]

My wife received notice that her interview has been scheduled for April 21, 2023. We filed her N-400 on January 5th of this year and, honestly, did not expect to get an interview date that quick. We were assuming she'd get an interview sometime in the late summer or even fall. 

 

We have an overseas trip on May 4th. 

 

I suppose one of few things can happen at the interview:

 

1) They approve and you wait for a scheduled oath ceremony date

2) They approve and you take your oath on the same day

3) They don't make a decision on the spot and you wait for for official approval and oath ceremony date

4) You get denied (if this happens, then my next question wouldn't be relevant)

 

Given that the interview date and our travel date are so close obtaining a new passport is not even an option. 

 

I've read that people can let the IO know of their situation and request that the Oath Ceremony be scheduled for a date after they have returned from travel abroad. 

 

Is that a common thing to do? Because you do not have to actually give up your green card until the Oath Ceremony, the assumption is that you can still travel abroad using your green card and extension letter as you would normally have done prior to the interview. Is that a safe assumption to make?

 

Thoughts?

 

If need be we could cancel/reschedule the trip but we'd rather not if we don't have to since there are a few variables that make the timing of our trip convenient. 

[Lil bear 4,252]

3 minutes ago, Alekezam said:

My wife received notice that her interview has been scheduled for April 21, 2023. We filed her N-400 on January 5th of this year and, honestly, did not expect to get an interview date that quick. We were assuming she'd get an interview sometime in the late summer or even fall. 

 

We have an overseas trip on May 4th. 

 

I suppose one of few things can happen at the interview:

 

1) They approve and you wait for a scheduled oath ceremony date

2) They approve and you take your oath on the same day

3) They don't make a decision on the spot and you wait for for official approval and oath ceremony date

4) You get denied (if this happens, then my next question wouldn't be relevant)

 

Given that the interview date and our travel date are so close obtaining a new passport is not even an option. 

 

I've read that people can let the IO know of their situation and request that the Oath Ceremony be scheduled for a date after they have returned from travel abroad. 

 

Is that a common thing to do? Because you do not have to actually give up your green card until the Oath Ceremony, the assumption is that you can still travel abroad using your green card and extension letter as you would normally have done prior to the interview. Is that a safe assumption to make?

 

Thoughts?

 

If need be we could cancel/reschedule the trip but we'd rather not if we don't have to since there are a few variables that make the timing of our trip convenient. 

You can get a passport before you travel if you are able to get to  Passport office .. you can get an appt for same day passport but you must

1. have your travel docs in hand eg Itinerary, record locator.. 

2. Call on the designated number no more than 10 business days before your trip.. 

3. be able to attend in person with required documents  including photos at the interview.. often the day or 2 before your travel   Passport done that day.. so you hang around and return to pick up your passport and documents

 

 https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html

 

urgent travel 

[Alekezam 162]

19 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

You can get a passport before you travel if you are able to get to  Passport office .. you can get an appt for same day passport but you must

1. have your travel docs in hand eg Itinerary, record locator.. 

2. Call on the designated number no more than 10 business days before your trip.. 

3. be able to attend in person with required documents  including photos at the interview.. often the day or 2 before your travel   Passport done that day.. so you hang around and return to pick up your passport and documents

 

 https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html

 

urgent travel 

This is definitely an option, thanks. 

 

The only thing I would be worried about is not being able to get an appointment or for reason unknown they simply just simply don't want to process my wife.....not saying that would be the case just speculating worst case scenario being as you would have to do this so close to when you have to travel. 

 

Would you say it's a fool proof option if we have all the documents that are required (we do as everything is already booked)? If so then I would have no reservations going that route. 

[Lil bear 4,252]

22 minutes ago, Alekezam said:

This is definitely an option, thanks. 

 

The only thing I would be worried about is not being able to get an appointment or for reason unknown they simply just simply don't want to process my wife.....not saying that would be the case just speculating worst case scenario being as you would have to do this so close to when you have to travel. 

 

Would you say it's a fool proof option if we have all the documents that are required (we do as everything is already booked)? If so then I would have no reservations going that route. 

I naturalized on  Wed Feb 16 last year. Had bookings to Australia for Sat Feb 25th. On Monday Feb 14 I called first thing .. got an appt for 8 am Thursday Feb 23rd at Hot Springs AR.. 5 hrs drive away. Headed to the area the day before.. snowed in with winter storm.. office closed Wed and Thursday.. called the urgent travel number Thursday and told to be at the office Friday morning. First in line wt 7 am for 8 am opening. In and out by 8.20. Returned to pick up my passport after they called me at 11am. Drove home and flew out the next day. I cant guarantee things akways go well but that office bent over backwards and fitted in everyone who had appts cancelled on Wed and Thursday as well as the scheduled appts on Friday. 
 

So.. download, fill in and print  off  the passport application. Do not sign as  it must be signed in the presence of the passport officer   Get passport photos in hand. Gather required ID.. check the application instructions .. if i remember correctly a state issued  Drivers License and her newly issued Naturalization certificate meets the requirements   Print off travel doc from airline which includes record locator and date time of travel.  They take credit /debit cards onsite. You can call the passport line on Friday April 21 as that is 10 working days to your travel date. Get an appt scheduled. If you don't end up getting the same day oath.. or a ceremony within a week .. just cancel the appt 

 

[Alekezam 162]

31 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

I naturalized on  Wed Feb 16 last year. Had bookings to Australia for Sat Feb 25th. On Monday Feb 14 I called first thing .. got an appt for 8 am Thursday Feb 23rd at Hot Springs AR.. 5 hrs drive away. Headed to the area the day before.. snowed in with winter storm.. office closed Wed and Thursday.. called the urgent travel number Thursday and told to be at the office Friday morning. First in line wt 7 am for 8 am opening. In and out by 8.20. Returned to pick up my passport after they called me at 11am. Drove home and flew out the next day. I cant guarantee things akways go well but that office bent over backwards and fitted in everyone who had appts cancelled on Wed and Thursday as well as the scheduled appts on Friday. 
 

So.. download, fill in and print  off  the passport application. Do not sign as  it must be signed in the presence of the passport officer   Get passport photos in hand. Gather required ID.. check the application instructions .. if i remember correctly a state issued  Drivers License and her newly issued Naturalization certificate meets the requirements   Print off travel doc from airline which includes record locator and date time of travel.  They take credit /debit cards onsite. You can call the passport line on Friday April 21 as that is 10 working days to your travel date. Get an appt scheduled. If you don't end up getting the same day oath.. or a ceremony within a week .. just cancel the appt 

 

Thanks for the information. We'll be going this route.

 

If you remember off the top of your head, how did the urgent request option cost? Just curious. 

 

 

[Lil bear 4,252]

19 minutes ago, Alekezam said:

Thanks for the information. We'll be going this route.

 

If you remember off the top of your head, how did the urgent request option cost? Just curious. 

 

 

Its the same cost as expediting. $60 on top of the regular fee. Nothing like USCIS fees, thats for sure ! 

[*FishF00D* 45]

On 3/16/2023 at 9:19 PM, Alekezam said:

Thanks for the information. We'll be going this route.

 

If you remember off the top of your head, how did the urgent request option cost? Just curious. 

 

 

Hey Alekezam! Did you end up successfully going this route after your interview? I'm in a similar situation with travel booked ~1 week for after my interview has been scheduled!

[Alekezam 162]

2 hours ago, *FishF00D* said:

Hey Alekezam! Did you end up successfully going this route after your interview? I'm in a similar situation with travel booked ~1 week for after my interview has been scheduled!

No, we did not end up going that route after all. 

 

There was no option at the interview to do our oath on the spot. I mentioned to the IO that we had travel plans coming up in the immediate future and asked if it would be possible for him to note that in our file in hopes that they would possibly schedule our Oath Ceremony for a date after we return from our trip and he simply said "just go on the trip and in the event your Oath is scheduled while you are gone then you can just call us or email us to reschedule". I thought, okay that's not a bad idea......one week later we got a letter in the mail...lo and behold the Oath Ceremony Date was set for right in the middle of our trip. Rescheduling is not as simple as just calling or emailing them like the IO had advised come to find out. After reading the letter closely, it explicitly says that you must physically mail in the included form along with a letter stating the reason why you intend to miss the Oath Ceremony. It also gives reasons allowed, one being if your afflicted with COVID or if you have some sort of an family emergency, etc. They don't really clarify exactly what "emergency" entails so it could be construed in a number of ways....one being that standard vacations don't count. So in summary, the risk of them giving us grief on rescheduling along with the uncertainty that we could even get an emergency passport application appointment was more than enough for us to rethink our plans so we just decided to reschedule our trip, at a loss of course, in order to just get this whole process over with once and for all.