ChristianZane

10 hours ago, Paul & Lu said:

Priority Date? The date I filed (March 2nd)... I filed the 90 days earlier so I become eligible on May 29th... So 7-8 months from March 2nd.. October / November?

 

Do you know how much difference the increase in applications recently has made to all of this? Thanks

Your priority date is listed on the Notice of Action NOA letter they sent you in March.  So if your NOA date for instance is March 10, you can expect to get an interview acceptance letter for Phoenix field office around November 20th according to their processing time chart.  I would ignore a lot of the fluke quickie N400 applications from the smaller cities in the mid-west or north west, if you live near a major metropolitan I would expect 7-8 month waits for an interview acceptance letter, I applied on August 10 and received my letter on March 13, exactly as it said on the USCIS processing page chart for LA.

2 hours ago, Liesel said:

Wow congtratz! Hopefully  i'll get mine too.. where to find the pd? 

Your priority date is listed on your NOA1 letter they send you, usually about 5 days after you mailed it.

Actually letter just arrived, PD was August 10, Los Angeles Field Office, IOE Phoenix Lockbox and interview is April 21.

1 hour ago, Lane O said:

Yep. I'm positively hoping I will get an update. 

 

Good luck on your interview!  

It's been 8 days since they notified me about interview but still no letter in mail, they take their time I guess be ready for that.

23 minutes ago, Lane O said:

No updates...

 

Still waiting here

You're due end of next week or first week in April.

1 hour ago, asmsj said:

Can somebody help with tax return? These are massive... do I need to print these hundreds of pages? Online transcripts on IRS for just 3 years and I have an interview tomorrow (so cannot ask by mail)

Just copy the first couple of pages up to the signature which summarizes your return and amount you are refunded/owed.

1 hour ago, Paul & Lu said:

Two questions:

 

Firstly the news has been that so many more permanent residents have applied for naturalization recently. People who had stayed with permanent residency for years have now applied for citizenship to secure their status in the US. My question is does anyone know how this is affecting the waiting times. Government guidelines are for a 5 month process. Any ideas, thoughts or experiences on if that 5 months is going to be much longer? [I applied March 1st and have my biometrics on March 31st].

 

Secondly: As I live on the Central Coast, near San Luis Obispo, CA my local field office is San Fernando Valley. None of the VisaJourney drop downs feature or mention San Fernando 
Valley Field Office. Is this just an oversight by VisaJourney? 

 

Thanks in advance for all replies. I appreciate the site.

At current pace, expect to get an approval letter for an interview date in about 7-8 months from your priority date.

10 minutes ago, Americ@ said:

@ChristianZane I did file in Jan and got interview letter for april and no medical or military affiliation .

Well that's 4-5 months which is more common, never heard of two months.

52 minutes ago, Gary_UK said:

I've been doing some digging ( never knew i could before ) i filled with the Arizona box and my office will be Indianapolis, IN seems there's a few other VJ'ers who filed in feb and had bio's in march and have interviews in April ( keeping fingers crossed )

I've never heard of an N400 being completely processed including interview in 8 weeks, unless there was a medical emergency or military affiliation, but good luck!

10 minutes ago, Gary_UK said:

wow mid September ?? i know thats just speculation but hoped it might be sooner than that. planning on visiting family in the UK in September.

That's what the processing time for your Field Office is, I just received my letter for interview in Los Angeles and it was exactly as long as officially posted (7 months and 13 days).  I would not plan any travel in September until you are sure when that interview is scheduled, you can always change it tho!

7 minutes ago, Gary_UK said:

got a email update this evening ( odd they all appear at the end of the working day).....

 

On March 20, 2017, we scheduled you for a fingerprint appointment and mailed you an appointment notice for Receipt Number xxxxxxxxx. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you do not receive your appointment notice by April 19, 2017, please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request a copy of the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address. 

 

the forward momentum continues.....

 

Does this mean i can go to the link and go get fingerprinted early or should wait till i get the actual mail drop and try getting it done after that.?

Wait until you have you ASC letter in mail.  You should receive notification you are scheduled for an interview in mid-September, good luck!

1 hour ago, pieguy said:

JUST CAME BACK FROM THE INTERVIEW!

 

I decided to write a full detailed report, with all the stuff I wanted to know before I went.

 

WARNING: LONG!

 

Background: (i) I am applying from  an Employment Based Green Card, under the 5 year rule.

                      (ii) This was today at the Washington Field Office which is at 2675 Prosperity Ave. Fairfax, VA

 

(1) CELL PHONE ARE  ACTUALLY ALLOWED! Despite the statement on the website that "Recording Devices (including cell phones with recording capabilities)"  are "prohibited" which caused me to leave my phone at home.

 

(2) You are allowed to bring someone with you. They don't ask for any ID until you start the interview, so you can bring whoever you want to the waiting room. Several people came with their husband/wife/whoever.

 

Washington Field Office Details:

-It's right across the street from a small mall with several eating options and a Starbucks, so you can easily grab something to eat before or after.

 

What to bring:

-I brought a lot of documents with me but I ended up only handing over (1) Passports (current and expired one) (2) Green Card (3) The interview notice (4) An extra sheet listing my foreign trips

 

The actual process from beginning to end:

-Interview was at 12:10,  I went into the building around 10:45

-Handed in my interview notice at the front desk, waited about 45 minutes and then was called in.

-First, I raised my right hand and was sworn in

- I gave the interviewer my passports, green card and driver's license

-He asked me if I wanted to answer the questions first or to go through the application first. I chose to answer the questions first.

-For the English test he asked me to read and write 2 very simple English sentences

 

-He then asked me the following civics questions (My answers in brackets).

(I)What is freedom of religion (you have the freedom to follow any religion or to follow no religion if you prefer)

(II) How many US senators are there (100)

(III) When must men register for the Selective Service (18)

(IV) When was the constitution written (1787)

(V) What Ocean is on the East Coast of the United States (Atlantic)

(VI) Name on state that borders Canada (Washington State)

 

-He then went through each page of my n400 one by one, asking me to confirm all the information (my name, date of birth, address, employment, marital status, etc.)

 

- I had taken another foreign trip in December, so when we got to that part I handed him a new version of that page of the n400 and he took the new page and threw away the old one.

 

-He then went through my passport, looking at the visas and stamps and ticking off each foreign trip I had listed on the n400.

 

-Finally I signed in a couple of places and signed 2 of my photos

-Eventually he handed me form N652 "Naturalization Interview Results"

-He said that he is recommending me for approval and I should get mail within a month.

-I took back my green cards, passports, driver's license and form N652 and left.

 

Opinion

-I got the impression that the interviewers are mostly concerned with 3 things: criminal/arrest records, potentially fake marriages, and absences from the US of more than 6 months. If you don't have any of of those then it seems like it's pretty easy.

 

 

 

Thanks for the info, I wonder why he bothers going through stamps in passport, it's a complete waste of time, many foreign countries I have visited never stamp anything (France), and when returning through US I never get a stamp as I use Global Entry, weird.

17 minutes ago, CCN400 said:

Those September and November PD people have NBC numbers, which process far quicker. USCIS stopped handing out IOE numbers after August.

 

I have an IOE number, and Chicago seems to have been fairly consistent in its processing times (2 other IOE'rs who have the same PD got their interview notices on the same day.)

Chicago is listed at 7 months and 22 days, so if you are August 8 you are due for approval on March 30, so I would hang tight until then and expect to hear from them within two weeks either way of that date.

1 hour ago, Gattu said:

I suppose they think they're maintaining the security of the process by being deliberately vague.

 

I called customer service the other day and the lady insisted that the latest application they were *currently* processing was July 2nd 2016, even though I pointed out that the website clearly stated that that was "as of" Jan 31st 2017. I was told to "call back in 4 months".

 

And here I am, thinking that being able to read and understand English was a necessary qualification for US citizenship 

 

I've been told many times the "as of Jan 31st 2017" is a mistake, and to refer to the date on the bottom right corner.  I think it's a ploy they use to quickly get you off the phone.

17 minutes ago, CCN400 said:

Wait a minute... I just checked my initial message and it says my priority date is 8/08, but they received the case at 8/11... Which one do I go off of. Did you use the "Case Recieved Date" on the ELIS web page as the PD? My fingerprints where also after yours at early September, whereas you said yours was late August. I'm getting confused and worried.

 

If my actual date is 8/08 and not 8/11 that would mean I got skipped. What should I do?

There is no rhym or reason in which order, people who have September and November PD dates are already citizens, so it doesn't make much difference it if it's the 8th or 11th, I would expect to hear from them in the coming weeks and month tho!

There are dozens of posts about interview experiences, every office is different, just bring required paperwork (and copies), know all the test answers and be truthful about any questions you are asked from officer and you're good to go!

1 hour ago, Deanw said:

but USCIS only post official processing time as of about 2 months ago. like on Mar 14, they posted processing time as of Jan 31 was June 16. Does that mean only PD before June 16 will be given some helpful information?

I've been given conflicting info from L1 and L2 about that, but I can say the USCIS Processing page shows LA office handling June 23 as of January 31, so that's a 7 month and 10 day approval time.  My PD was August 10 and I was approved yesterday, so that took 7 months and 3 days.  So if you are August 19, according to their website SF should approve you on March 29 or so.  Infopass will just tell you same thing.

17 minutes ago, Deanw said:

Thanks for the information!

yea sorry but you're just going to waste a couple of hours of your life, in 6 years here I've never heard one person getting any useful info from an InfoPass appointment if there priority date falls within their posted official processing times.

1 hour ago, Deanw said:

I'm going to do infopass at San Francisco FO tomorrow. Any suggestion about what questions I should ask to get as much information as I can?

Your PD date is August 19, you will be wasting your time going, your SF office is at 7 months 16 days according to their official processing calendar so there is nothing they will tell you but to wait, you should hear from them end of the month.

3 hours ago, yeowzaoldyck said:

Hi, long time lurker here, my wife just got off the phone from L2 officer, they said no interview scheduled yet for her, wait 3-4 weeks. I was so happy last night  when i saw someone here got his/her interview letter,but after we spoke with L2 officer,.. sad & frustrated. PD is aug 12, Los angeles. But im still hoping to get an update this week or next week.

According to USCIS processing times you are due with 8/12 PD tomorrow, so still bit premature, so hang in there!  I'll bet you hear something by end of week!

13 minutes ago, Lane O said:

 

Wow! Congratulations!

 

Meaning I will get mine soon! My PD was August 22. 

 

 

Yes 2 weeks sounds about right, keep us posted!

27 minutes ago, NorthStar* said:

Thank you!

 

Mine is with the County one which is two days behind yours, according to the current processing time website info. Hopefully it will be my turn soon.

Btw, my PD is 8/14.

 

Great check your account end of week and next week you should get a notice!

2 minutes ago, NorthStar* said:

Congrats!

Which office exactly are you filing with? Is that LA or LA County, or other offices?

It's city of Los Angeles, but Los Angeles County, San Fernando Valley, Santa Ana, San Bernardino etc are all within a few days of their official processing times.

23 hours ago, Neggy Peggy said:

Hi friends, 

 

I have a question for you please. For those who are still waiting for their interview, when you log into your USCIS account do you see this message in the case details (status Message): USCIS has scheduled your interview appointment and will mail you the appointment notice.

 

And nothing in this chart after the Biometric. Since that message has been there for almost a week and I haven't received anything, Just wanted to make sure it's not something random or by default. Thank you! 

 

 

You will get a paper notice in the mail, it usually takes two or three days but if it takes longer than 10 days I would call USCIS, but be patient until then especially east coast snail mail which will be delayed due to storm.

Los Angeles IOE August filers good news, I received my interview notice today, my priority date was August 10, so it took about seven months, if you are an LA area filer in August and haven't received your interview schedule notice you should soon.