Our N-600 experience as military family filing from overseas

[R&OC 371]

I leaned heavily on the support of this community when it took such a long time for our cases to get approved. I just want to let everyone know my two kids finally got their certificate. The certificate dates the day of citizenship to the day they activated their IR2’s.

 

I filed their N-600 package about a week after we activated their green cards and the average processing time back then was somewhere between 10-12 months.

 

Our case got stuck because of our residence being outside the US ( initially being under military orders but then retired). This was confirmed by our officer stating that all looks good but there were questions regarding our residence overseas. While State department issued their US passports within 4 weeks, our field office kept pushing our case back. We were “ready to be scheduled for an interview” for five months.

 

Interesting to note, the suggested new N-600 forms include the option to add an international address into the documents. The wording in their current instructions are somewhat misleading. The legal status on the date someone receives their citizenship and not the date of filing the N-600 application is relevant.

 

Based on the forums advice and in order to get us unstuck, we reached out to our Congressman and when we didn’t hear back for more than a month, I hired an attorney to file a writ-of-mandamus. The WoM finally got the case moving and an interview date set. (Before the final interview notice, we received status updates claiming we had asked for a rescheduled interview when we didn’t - it was nerve wracking).

 

Date of filing: 01/2022

Out of processing times inquiry: 05/2023

Cases looked at by USCIS: 08/2023-09/2023

Ready to be scheduled for an interview and interview notices mailed: 09/2023 and 10/02/2023 but never received nor scheduled

WoM: 02/2024

Interview scheduled: 03/2024

Interview and oath: 04/2024

 

The interview consisted of taking a copy of their US passports, the kids’ signature and a very friendly conversation. We had the first 08:00 am appointment on Monday morning. We showed up at 07:15 with traffic being a lot lighter than expected. Line started building up at 07:30 with about 15 people behind us and we were allowed to enter the building at 07:40-07:45. 

 

 

Edited April 9 by R&OC