johnstonl

14 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Typically this occurs when somebody changed name? Did you change name when naturalizing?

No

9 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

With an expedited appointment at a passport agency you can get a passport same day or a few days later.  When my wife naturalized we also had a trip planned less than two weeks later, we went to the passport agency in Detroit (more convenient for us than your situation), paid for premium processing, and her passport was delivered to our home 3 days later via FedEx.

Ah, so you understand my impatience and concern! Thanks, your story is comforting. 

2 minutes ago, NorthByNorthwest said:

 

I would not reschedule anything given how unpredictable USCIS can be. Your nearest passport agency is Seattle - with proof of travel within 14 days you can get a passport there in 0-2 days, so if you have the time/ability to do 1-2 trips to Seattle that's the best way by far.

Thanks, I saw that. Driving to Seattle is doable, but incredibly inconvenient, Especially if having to go twice. But if that's what it takes...

at this point, she hasn't been a citizen for 8 years. We're not in a hurry except this trip. Rescheduling to after the trip wouldn't really matter. Trying to understand options is all. 

14 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

https://ord.uscourts.gov/index.php/visitors/naturalization-ceremony-information

 

 

CEREMONY DATES	LOCATION	TIME
July 21, 2023	Morse Courthouse	10:30 a.m.
October 19, 2023	Morse Courthouse	10:30 a.m.
January 18, 2024	Morse Courthouse	10:30 a.m.
March 21, 2024	Morse Courthouse	10:30 a.m.
June 20, 2024	Morse Courthouse	10:30 a.m.
October 17, 2024	Morse Courthouse	10:30 a.m.

Oh wow, thank you. The image above is not for Portland. But Portland is on that website. If they schedule her for May 16th, I think it's not enough time unless we can get a seriously expedited passport. 

The next one isn't until June 13 and we'll be in Europe. 

Is it easy to reschedule a ceremony?

Also, I thought the ceremony was at USCIS, not a courthouse?

9 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

I cannot comment on Portland, but in Detroit my cousins had their interviews in early February, and their oath about two weeks later.  Hopefully her oath will come up soon, and passport processing times is much more reasonable now.  I just renewed mine with no expedite and it took less than four weeks.

 

Good Luck!

Thank you. It's already been two weeks, which is why I'm becoming nervous about the process. I assume they'll schedule it, but also provide enough time so that a person can make proper plans for time off work, etc. So the window feels small. 

4 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Depends on the local office.  What is the status on "My USCIS" site?  

"Oath ceremony will be scheduled" which has been there since the appointment on 3/19. Portland, Oregon office. 

11 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

If she takes the oath, they will take her Green card.  She will then need a US passport to exit and enter the US.  Fortunately, emergency passports for imminent travel can be processed very quickly.  Another option is to reschedule the oath ceremony if needed. 

***Moved to Working and Traveling during US Immigration***

Thank you, how long does getting this ceremony typically take? What's even happening between the interview and ceremony? 

Hello all,

My wife would like some guidance. 

We've been married nearly 10 years, she's had permanent residency for about 8. We finally applied for citizenship on February 2, 2024, and had her first interview on March 19, where she was "recommend for approval" and a ceremony would be scheduled. It has been two weeks, no notice about the ceremony. 

This whole process has been very quick which was a huge surprise, we expected it to take months at least, maybe even a year. That was short citied on our part, I know, just didn't think this would be an issue. 

The concern: 

We have a 2 week vacation to Europe at the very end of May. The USCIS woman during the interview said my wife needs to have a new US passport before we travel (if she's a citizen by then of course). 

1. What were to happen if she's a citizen, but we don't have time to get a passport before we travel? Can she travel under her French passport? What happens when we come home? She saw somewhere that they'll take her green card at the naturalization ceremony, or invalidate it. Could they deny her entry? She'd be a citizen then, could they actually keep her out as a citizen? I feel like probably not, but not sure.

2. At what point should we be concerned that scheduling the ceremony is taking too long? The interviewer made it sound like it "was just coming, no biggie". I know 2 weeks is short but we need time to get the passport processed too. 

Please ask if I've left important details out. 

Thanks for your help!

40 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

Her name will stay hers for life and appear on her French documents.  She can request a second name to be added, please ask her to read this: 
https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F868

Thank you so much! That's the info we needed :-)

Now I think we can book a plane ticket to San Francisco with confidence that we'll have a successful trip. 

Hi All, 

I'm hoping there are some members here who are French citizens that have needed to renew their passport from within the US at a French Consulate. 

My wife is French, and we have recently received her 10 year green card. Her French passport expires in May 2019 so we want to get it renewed as soon as possible. 

I know we will need to visit the Consulate in San Francisco (we're in Oregon) and I believe we have all the documents necessary. Expect I am concerned about one piece.

When we got married, we sent all the documentation to the consulate and received a Family Book in return as well as other supporting documents. However, any time her name is stated, it's always her Maiden Name, never her married name. When we get her new passport, we assumed it would show her married name. Is it normal for all of our French documents to show her maiden name? Is this going to cause a conflict at the consulate? Does the French Government recognize her married name? It's on all of her US immigration stuff including green card, SS card, Drivers License, etc.. 

Thanks in advance!

On 3/6/2018 at 4:16 PM, Name O Boy said:

Your wife is not out of status and you can get an I-551 stamp few weeks before the GC expiration. Appointments are available now I just checked them. Your wife can file for naturalization with a pending I-751 in this way she could save time. CSC is taking on average 18 months to approve applicants and you have nothing to worry. 

Thanks for your response! I was able to grab an appointment slot in a couple weeks. Her card will be expired by then, but only by a few days. Regarding naturalization, thanks for the heads up but she's not ready for that step yet. 

I'm sure (in 101 pages!) this has come up, but I'm nervous and looking for guidance. My wife and I applied for her removal of conditions in march 2017, had a bio-metrics appointment in April and have heard nothing since. Her year is now up and expired, and the USCIS office here (in Portland OR) has no appointments for at least 2 weeks, and I assume more. She has a full time job, etc so we're concerned. I know we can get the passport stamp, but is there any concern right now being in an expired status while we try to get an appointment? I should have had more forethought on this, now I'm trying to catch up. The USCIS site says they're only processing cases from September 2016?! Will it ever get approved? 

Thanks friends.

Thanks for your help everyone!

Hank, the thing you just mentioned... Her I-94 has most definitely expired and we never had any of those other things. What to do about that?

My wife has now tried twice to change her name on her social security card after marriage and both times was turned away. I'm looking for guidance on what to do.

The first time was about 2 weeks prior to her K-1 visa expiring, and a bit after being married. They told her that because the visa expired soon, the change couldn't be processed quick enough, so she would have to wait till it expired. Seemed odd to me but I didn't know any better.

Then she went back a second time, about 2 weeks after it had expired. She was told that she needed to have documentation from the USCIS that they had record of her name change, we had just sent out our I-485 package, and had nothing from them yet. Again, seemed odd and was a waste of our time.

About a week ago, we got her work/travel authorization combo card. I have a feeling that any employer would want to see her social security card, and would probably be denied if the names don't match.

What in the world does the Social security office need to process this? Can anyone point me to a document I can bring that proves we can change her name?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Here is a thought from one who used to work as an apt manager for a low income complex. Why would that person be denied. When they run the credit and back ground checks. They will come back clean. They have no records in the US. So there is nothing to deny the person on. We used to deal with Russian immigrants all the time. Famly would put in the application we would run the Checks ( They are run in the US only) and nothing would come back so there is no reason to deny them.

Interesting... I hope it turns out to be the case!

I guess the only other concern is a job/income and rental history. However, we did prove via i134 that I can provide for her, and I've obviously been paying the rent/bills. We could get rental references, but they would be in France and Japan. No English...

Thanks everyone for all your replies! This is a great community!

You can have people on your tenancy agreement that are listed as an "occupant". When I first came here I had no SS# and no job. My husband was the lease holder and I was added as the occupant. No SS# or job required.

That sounds great, but I'm afraid it's just not the case in terms of my lease agreement. Everyone over 18 years old must be screened and added to the lease.

And another thing: I know for a fact that in San Francisco, at least, most landlords don't check with the credit report agencies. They check with an agency that reports based on the person as a potential tenant, that's credit rating plus any evictions on record, etc. If she gets a Social Security number ASAP, who is to say that she'll be denied? She may have no established credit, but she'll have a blank slate, i.e., no bad credit, and no evictions on record. Protip: And she can go to a credit union and set up a checking account and get a secured credit card (that's a credit card where you back it with a cash deposit). Most credit unions do not report these as secured.

Thanks for your help. All good info.

However, we won't be getting married until late August and she'll be here really soon. We really don't want to rush the situation because we've done a lot of planning, etc

I looked at plenty of places to rent while I have been waiting for my fiance to get here. All of them said it isn't an issue and they run into things like that all of the time. I let them know he was immigrating, wouldn't have a ssn at first and clearly no criminal history. They said they just pop in the info that they have and of course no red flags come up. I would try not to project and just follow the steps you are supposed to by putting one foot in front of the other. Things will always find a way of working out.

I agree that things will work themselves out, they always do...

One reason this has me concerned is because I live with one other person (in a 3 bdrm house) and we've had others apply to move in and not get through screening for one reason or another. So for my fiance, I know she'll be denied based on the criteria.

Also, I never mentioned it to the landlord (property management company), and now it's like "why didn't you ever tell us in the first place?" which of course I should have, but I was afraid of it.

Well, as for the first part of your answer, I have never read anything like that in the agreement, and have read over it several times. Is that an automatic thing based in law or a case by case situation?

As for her applying and not having the required info, if she is denied (which i am almost certain of) can they tell her she can't live here?

So I have a bit of an issue that's making me nervous.

My fiance is set to be here on June 18th, we'll be getting married in August.

The house I am currently renting needs every person over the age of 18 to be on the lease, and they will need to be screened. The process includes credit, rental history, proof of employment, etc. All the typical things I suppose.

I'm sure she's going to get denied if we have her apply. Also, I never told me landlord about this because I was nervous about the situation.

Can I be evicted (lawfully) if she is found to be living here without being on the lease? Are there any loopholes because of her visa status?

What should I do? Any advice?

Oh and I'm in Oregon if that makes a difference...

Thanks in advance!

Hey there,

My fiancee received her visa today! Yay!

Now, do we need to buy a round trip ticket for her, or is a 1 way sufficient? We don't want to buy a 1 way and have it not be enough.

Thanks in advance!

I was approved near the end of August and it took over a month for the NVC receive the papers from USCIS. Just be patient!

It does sound strange, but once they're past immigration in the US, they should be able to travel freely without anyone asking questions. I mean, logically speaking.

I see it being no different than taking a bus/train from the airport to your final destination. Once you're in the country, you're in, unless your visa expires or you really screw something up with the law.

It's the NVC, and why didn't you sign up for email notifications?

Oh right, NVC. My bad.

And you know, when we first sent the package back on July 1st, we did send the form for email notification but it was never used.

I had to wait on hold with the USCIS for over 2 hours just to get our receipt #, and they told us that they had received the package nearly 2 months earlier and said "the mail system can take a while to get to Japan". But no, it takes 7 days, even through standard mail. I've had enough packages/letters sent to know.

My hunch is that some goof didn't write the address correctly in our profile.

Anyway, thanks for the reply!

Hey everyone,

This is my first post other than on the new members forum.

I have a problem that I need some serious help with.

I'm a US citizen, my fiancee is French. We currently live together in Japan (For one year, which is ending in mid December).

Because our address is here in Japan, we never received any notifications from the USCIS, NVS, etc. We recently found out that our NOA2 (approval notice) was returned by the Post Office because they couldn't reach us here.

Now, because that address goes with us throughout the entire process, I am very worried that the Paris embassy is going to try to send our package to the same address here in Japan. But, I doubt we'll get it.

They should be receiving our paperwork from the NVS any day now.

That embassy has no phone number that we can contact about this (How is that possible?! ), so i sent them an email to try to explain the situation. It's only been one day since then.

Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? Would you be worried?

I know my story is a bit strange, but maybe someone has a thought or two to share.

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it!