ferdiee

Just wanted to share with everyone that I recently returned from my citizenship interview in SF. It was pretty straight-forward, and my application was "recommended for approval".

Nothing out of the ordinary - came in 10 mins before the scheduled interview. Waited for approx 20 mins, and the interview itself lasted for ~30 mins.

It's been mentioned in this forum too, but the officer was very detailed and reviewed my N400 line-by-line. From time to time he also made notations on the form. There were some questions I didn't expect - such as whether I'm renting or buying, who lives at my place, whether my wife came w/ me in the past 4 international trips I listed on the form, whether I've ever had any traffic ticket, whether my wife or myself have ever had any children outside marriage anywhere in the world, where's my wife right now, among others. He also asked for a joint bank statement and car insurance, which I fortunately had with me. In addition, he also took a very careful look at my joint tax statement.

Here are the questions asked (not in this order):

1. US flag color

2. Father of the country

3. How many members there are in supreme court

4. Who's the commander in chief of US military

5. How many branches there are in the US govt

6. Who elect congress

7. Requirements to be a president

8. Most important right to US citizen

I hope the oath letter will come soon, and good luck to everyone. Feel free to write me if you have any questions I could help you with.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I don't think you should be concerned about the title of the letter. That's what mine says as well. Good luck to all of us!

Hi everyone,

I just got my interview letter (see below for timeline). The interview is on 12/11 - perfect timing since I'm just returning from a biz trip on 12/10, and I'm travelling overseas on 12/13!

To be frank, it caught me by surprise that my interview is this soon - all my paperwork that has to do with INS/USCIS (i.e. H1, GC, GC extension, etc) have taken a lot longer than the average. By the way my 3-yr anniversary is on 12/16.

Now I'm just hoping that the oath isn't until early Jan when i return from my trip.

Wish me luck!

dalegg..............09/06.....09/11.....10/10.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC/Santa Ana

annelizabeth........09/08.....09/11.....10/07.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..NSC

tabbydrax...........09/08.....09/09.....10/02.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC

vega1X1.............09/09.....09/25.....10/10.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..VSC/Hartford

k & j ..............09/09.....09/15.....10/09.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..VSC/Norfolk

mooninlove..........09/09.....09/18.....10/10.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC/LA

Prizm...............09/09.....09/16.....10/14.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..TSC/Atlanta

ferdiee.............09/11.....09/17.....10/15.......12/11.......xx/xx..CSC/SF

mattr...............09/15.....09/24.....10/10.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC/San Diego

mcssuffolk..........09/15.....10/02.....10/17.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..VSC/Boston

Moldovandish........09/16.....09/23.....10/23.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..TSC/Durham

edisheri............09/17.....09/24.....10/14.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC

Tiger50.............09/19.....09/27.....10/25.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC

rhenryv.............09/22.....xx/xx.....xx/xx.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..TSC

Aussielad...........09/16.....09/26.....10/22.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..VSC/San Juan

Prospect_USC........09/12.....09/16.....10/08.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..TSC/Atlanta

swapdude............09/23.....10/16.....10/31.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..VSC/DC</FONT>

From what I can see from the july and august filers it takes 3 or 4 months, they are getting their interviews in november so we should be next in december or january

mattr

I think the September's filers' wait time may be slightly different than the July/August's - in that most of our cases, if not all, are being processed by NBC. Whether this is going to increase or decrease the wait time, it remains to be seen.

I forgot to mention one thing - folks who have "365 days" as the stated expected wait in their NOA shouldn't complain. Mine says "460 days" .. I'm sure it'd be much sooner than that, but it is what it says there. And my case has been transferred to NBC as well.

Added my info..

UserName..........Sent.....NOA1.....Biometrics.Interview.Oath..Office

dalegg..............09/06.....09/11.....10/10.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC/Santa Ana

annelizabeth........09/08.....09/11.....10/07.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..NSC/Louisville

tabbydrax...........09/08.....09/09.....10/02.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC

vega1X1.............09/09.....09/25.....10/10.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..VSC/Hartford

k & j ..............09/09.....09/15.....10/09.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..VSC/Norfolk

mooninlove..........09/09.....09/18.....10/10.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC/LA

Prizm...............09/09.....09/16.....10/14.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..TSC/Atlanta

ferdiee.............09/11.....09/17.....10/15.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC

mattr...............09/15.....09/24.....10/10.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC/San Diego

mcssuffolk..........09/15.....10/02.....10/17.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..VSC/Boston

Moldovandish........09/16.....09/23.....10/23.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..TSC/Durham

edisheri............09/17.....09/24.....xx/xx.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC

Tiger50.............09/19.....09/27.....10/25.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..CSC

rhenryv.............09/22.....xx/xx.....xx/xx.......xx/xx.......xx/xx..TSC

Good luck to everyone!

All,

To follow up on my post this past Friday regarding my approval, here's an updated timeline:

Application sent - 09/07/07

NOA Date - 09/25/07

Biometrics - 10/31/07

Touched - 11/01/07

I-130 and Advanced parole touched - 12/22/07

Card ordered - 2/29/08

Touched - 3/2/08 (yes, it's a sunday touch)

Approval sent - 3/4/08

I'm still waiting for the greencard in the mail, but yesterday (3/3/08) I received an approval letter (the online status didn't change until today, though). Despite some discussions that people don't really get a letter (the greencard itself is the approval), I was surprised that I received one.

The letter has the word I-797 on it and it uses the same kind of paper, but the formatting is different (as compared to NOA, biometrics, etc). It basically says that I'm approved and the conditions have been lifted. It was signed by a Director in San Francisco (not in Laguna Niguel, where mailings to CSC goes to). I just thought this was interesting and I'd like to share it with you (but if you don't get the letter, don't worry, I don't think it really means much).

Regards,

FH.

All,

I'm not a very active member of this forum, but I have gotten great information from the discussions, thus I'd like to make a small contribution to share my experience with my I-751 process (I do update my timelines religiously btw).

My card has been ordered today (Feb 29th '08) after a almost a 6-month wait. It may not seem that long for some of you, but in CSC's jurisdiction, decisions are normally made a lot faster.

Application sent - 09/07/07

NOA Date - 09/25/07

Biometrics - 10/31/07

Touched - 11/01/07

I-130 and Advanced parole touched - 12/22/07

Card ordered - 2/29/08

I think my case is a little interesting in that my name may have caused "a hit" in the name check (proof 1: Southwest airlines told me so; proof 2: took US embassy 5 weeks to do a background check prior to issuing my work visa 4 years ago; proof 3: took USCIS secondary inspection 2.5 hours to do additional background check when I returned from a trip abroad in Jan '08 - and he did mention that there's a very bad guy w/ the same first name initial and last name as me).

And prayer does work! This morning I quit my job. On my way to work, I had prayed God for specific, visible signs whether I should really turn in the resignation letter since I don't have a new one yet. One of my concerns was without the real, valid greencard on hand (only with expired GC + NOA + SS card that has work restriction that I haven't removed yet), new potential employers may turn me down. However, God (well, through USCIS) emailed me with the good news! The prayer and the email was only minutes apart. So keep praying - it does make a difference!

Solely based on my experience (and I'm not an immigration attorney), here's a short list of FAQ's:

1. Can I travel with expired greencard and NOA?

- Yes, but they will send you to secondary inspection at the airport when you return. Not a big deal, though, don't worry too much. Just make sure you carry both the expired greencard and the NOA. This experience was at SFO, and I was on a foreign trip twice during the I-751 process.

2. Do I need to send affidavit letter for I-751?

- To be safe yes, but I didn't include one.

3. Do I need to send photos of trips we take together for I-751?

- same answer as #2

4. Do I need to send official tax transcript for I-751?

- same answer as #2 (I sent the printed returns from TurboTax)

5. Do I need to send joint account statements for the whole 2 years' period?

- To be safe yes, but I only included the last 2 months' prior to sending the application in.

6. Do they do FBI name check for I-751?

- I don't know - some sites claim that they only do fingerprint check, but I feel that the name check is the only explanation why my case took 3 months longer than everybody else at my service center.

7. Do you have a lot of joint accounts?

- Since both of us work and we had established our credit stuff prior to the marriage, the our joint accounts were limited to bank account, life insurance beneficiaries, car insurance, car titles, apt lease (no joint credit card, utilities, cell phones, junk mails, card from friends, etc).

8. Can I apply for SS/remove SS restrictions with expired greencard and NOA?

- No, the SS officer told me that the only acceptable proofs are either an unexpired greencard or a stamp in the passport. NOA (I-797) is not listed in one of the documents they could take to process SS inquiries, despite what the NOA states.

Regards,

FH.