US Immigration from Ukraine

I've got a question for the board. If anyone has had specific prior experience with this, or a mod with some knowledge or background on this topic, I would appreciate any guidance you can offer.

Our I-751 is going down the road at 'turtle' speed so we are likely to submit the N-400 in two months to see if that speeds things up <insert your laughter here>.

We have an interesting situation. When my wife moved from her country of birth to the country of her current citizenship decades ago, there was a translation peculiarity (it wasn't a mistake, it was done on purpose, it's just how the translation was happening at the time) and they added a letter to the beginning of her first name. My wife didn't like this one bit but was a very young woman at the time and didn't press the issue and lived with this peculiarity. Fast forward to now she's been steadfast in her desire to correct the first name to the one of her original birth here in America.

We have two options:

1) On the N-400 there is a section where you can change your name. Assuming the USCIS approves the change (I can't see why not), when my wife passes the citizenship process we would have to wait for a judicial oath ceremony rather than an admin oath ceremony. My understanding is admin oath ceremonies happen at a much greater frequency. Going the route of a judicial oath ceremony would likely take longer but I don't know how much longer. I shudder at another 12 month wait over one flipping letter in her first name

2) Get her name changed in a court locally and then send the appropriate documentation to the USCIS after the N-400 has been received. The issue with this is, for a time, she will have a legal name different from what is on her green card... i.e. until the naturalization process is complete

For those with prior experience, background or knowledge, what do you think is the better option? I prefer #1 (not sure why, I just do) but am not sure about the frequency of oath ceremonies. This is already taking long enough. I mean if it tacks on 2-3 months max then I will do #1 all the way. If it could take a ridiculously long time, suddenly #1 doesn't seem so appealing. Thanks in advance.

My wife and daughter entered at IAH (Houston) on 7/22/2022 and their social security cards were issued on 7/26/2022. They were received sometime between 8/1/2022 and 8/6/2022. We were out of town during this week.

My Ukrainian fiancee has been trapped in Russian-occupied territory since the invasion began in February. She has the possibility to escape the "Lugansk Peoples Republic", travel across southern Russia to Georgia. She was nearly ready for her interview at the Kyiv embassy in December. She was only missing her birth certificate and police report. She was waiting at her mother's house in Russian-occupied Lugansk while waiting for her new birth certificate, which would be produced in nearby Severodonetsk. She was ready to pick it up, when the borders closed and the invasion began. If she can go to Tbilisi, we will have the option of transferring her case to the Tbilisi embassy or to the Frankfurt Germany embassy. Apparently, the Kyiv visa responsibilities were transferred to Frankfurt because the Kyiv embassy is not processing any visas. Now she does not have any of her documents except her passport. I am sure that, wherever we transfer case, we will have to pay a new fee for the DS-160 and she will need a new doctor's report. The Frankfurt embassy responded to an inquiry from my senator saying that we can choose to transfer the case to the embassy of our choice. I called the Tbilisi interview scheduler and they did not seem very friendly or helpful. Does anyone know if one of these embassies is a better choice than the other? Is one more accepting of the special circumstances of the war? (Not having a birth certificate or police report)

Hi a litter confused here today my stepson had his interview,he said the consul said that his visa is approved and he needs to wait for email when visa is ready.

I checked now and said Administrative processing.

Anyone knows what's that's mean?

He do not get any paper.

Thank you

Hi all,

Just need to find out some info since my fiance is panicking a bit after her interview. She is Ukrainian and just finished up her interview in Frankfurt, but they gave her a packet that says "Your Visa is Nearly Approved". What does this exactly mean? She said for the most part that her interview went smoothly but they grilled her on one question about her B1 tourist visa that she received back in 2019. She wanted to come see me but thought she would be denied by border patrol if she said that she was going to see her boyfriend, so she instead lied then and said she was going to New York City. They asked her this exact question during the interview and she told the truth that she was actually seeing me.

I was expecting things to go fairly smoothly, but she said she was caught off guard during this question and is super nervous now since they packet doesn't just say "Approved". At the end of the interview they told her that everything looks fine and that she can go now, and provided her this packet. Any advice is very helpful.