love_my_wife

Good morning (love_my_wife) and everyone else,
 
  Thanks for your reply.  I am sorry but you are wrong about not needing a visa to enter Mexico...or at least when you fly into Mexico City.  I have flown into Mexico City no less than 25 times and am speaking from first hand experience.  As I said in my original post the cost of the visa is built into your plane ticket price.  You are issued the visa at passport control.  My visa is normally good for 180 days (six months) and it clearly states the amount of days you are allowed to stay in Mexico.  You have to surrender the visa when you check in with the airline at the Mexico City airport.  
 
  The reason for my question is I have heard about people with dual passports from other countries.  They have made statements of leaving the US with the US passport but arriving in their original home country with that country's passport.  They leave that country with that country's passport country's  and enter the US with their US passport.  I assume maybe those countries do not require a visa.  But what I do no understand is how they can leave their country with that country's passport and NO US visa (aka green card).  
 
  I fully understand the benefits of having dual citizenship and dual passports but trying to understand when and how you are using those passports.  
 
Thanks for any additional information anyone might have.
 
God bless
 

The GC is not for ID purposes, so having his driver's license does not substitute. He has a reason for not having the greencard. And he has the I-551 in his passport to show, which equals a greencard.

So today I get to give the update I have been hoping to give since all of this nonsense began.
 
I received a flurry of text messages from USCIS this afternoon indicating that my case was updated. Puzzled but hopeful, I began to login to my online account, but before I could do so received a call from a Dallas number. They identified themselves as Officer SomebodyOrOther (I forget the name; I recall it wasn't the person who interviewed me) calling from the Dallas field office. They said they had received my case today, and had seen there was an issue. That she had gone ahead and reversed the denial and approved it, and could schedule me for an oath ceremony next Thursday afternoon, on Valentine's Day, if that would be ok. I said that would absolutely, completely, and totally be fine with me. She said she would mail out a copy of the letter today, and that I should receive it soon. I thanked her, and then called the congressional liaison working my case to let her know what had happened.
 
So... there we are. It's been a rough couple of weeks. I lost about 5 lbs the first week, which I can't say I'm unhappy about since I wanted to lose 10-15 lbs before the police academy begins later this year that I will hopefully (now) be attending, but this wasn't how I had planned on doing it.
 
I just want to say that the system works. And by the system I do not mean USCIS. Everyone who has read VJ for more than 5 minutes knows that USCIS is an inefficient and poorly run federal agency in drastic need of an overhaul. No, by system I mean the checks and balances of oversight of them. I'm not sure whether it was my congressman's office or the CIS Ombudsman that got this reversed. I'm choosing to believe a little of both. But to anyone whose naturalisation eligibility date is approaching, I would strongly urge you to wait just a day or two to head this issue off, unless you enjoy uncertainty and stupidity, in which case have at it.
 
My online USCIS account is currently showing no changes. It still indicates that my application is denied, and there's no oath letter there yet. Perhaps it will change, perhaps it won't. But the older case status site is showing my oath letter was mailed.
 
I'm glad to finally be able to put this behind me. Thanks to all the well-wishers here on VJ who have given public and private messages of support. It has been very much appreciated during what has not been a stellar couple of weeks up to now.

Meh. Count me in as one who thinks USCIS is badly run. They:
Messed up the dates on my first Green Card (perhaps it's my fault I came at POE on a Saturday); Got the dates wrong again on my second Green Card; Took 8 months to adjudicate my I-90 to correct their recurrent errors, then denied it because, well, it was too late by then to issue me a new Green Card; Rejected my initial filing of the I-751 petition (because I filed on the correct date; my fault!); Only rectified my Green Card dates and accepted a repeat I-751 after Congressman, Ombudsman intervention. We'll see what they do with my N-400, filed soon after my window opened.
 
Trump had an unforgettable term for badly run countries. Same applies to this fee-earning agency. At least those countries can blame the evils of slavery and colonialism. What's USCIS excuse?
 
Rant over!

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/history-search

If you have been a green card holder for the last 5 years, then it's better to apply under the 5 years rule.  Less paperwork.  

Oh, yes, my circumstance are much better indeed. Thank you. I have a job, had it for over a year. And I have an apartment.

I read your post carefully.  You didn't read your email carefully.  There is nothing to worry about, but it looks like you've already decided to obsess over it, so good luck to you.

What is the problem?

Hi Elizabeth Warren!

Get her back pronto. 

Hi All,
 
I had my interview at Buffalo today. It was really quick - in and out in about 10 minutes. The IO peppered me with a bunch of rapid fire questions, giving me barely a moment to think  As a result I don’t remember all 6 of my civics questions, but the ones I remember are:
- Why did the colonists fight the British?
- Name the Vice President
- ....
 
She didn’t want to see any of my other documents. I’d forgotten to put two traffic tickets on my N-400, but she didn’t care as long as there wasn’t an arrest involved, which there wasn’t. She also didn’t make any note of the fact that I’d travelled three times outside the country since the application.  
 
She only asked for three documents: Passport, Green card and social security card. I didn’t have the social security card on me (wasn’t on any list I’d seen), but she said it didn’t matter. 
 
My oath ceremony will be on 9/17 in the morning. 
 
@love_my_wife (or someone else), would you be able to update the list for me?
 
Thanks for all the help, fellow journeyers!

Geez. Can we not negate someone's frustration by playing the "Who's Waited Longer" game? That happens so much on here and it doesn't really solve anything.
 
OP - with that being said, I definitely would not try to worry, unless or until you actually surpass average waiting times. I think like every part of this entire process, when it comes to waiting in line to be reviewed, there is no rhyme or reason to it. It doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong or holding up your case; it could just be a matter of your case landing on someone's desk/queue that works slower than others, or has more complicated cases to review in front of yours. The different field offices also vary in service levels due to a variety of reasons, such as case load and amount of applicants versus other offices.
 
Hang in there! This is the LAST FINISH LINE you have to cross!!

It depends on the city that it is filed in, together with numerous security checks. I just got my ROC 10 Year GC, also without an interview. My AOS also was without an interview. Yet, I am being told there is a 10 month delay. 

I used a similar app on my iPhone called Genius Scan

Seems an easy choice to make, depending on whether your citizenship is more important than a vacation that can be easily planned for a later date.
 
Lots of times rescheduling requests get lost in the shuffle along the way, resulting in the applicant having a flat-out no-show denial letter waiting in their mailbox upon return from their vacation.
 
Personally I'd rather take the temporary financial loss over the headache involved in appealing a potential denial, even under the best of circumstances.

It’s not beyond your control. Unfortunately it’s not wise to book non refundable trips while immigration cases are pending. You never know when you will get called for interview.

Wow!  You asked some very good questions.  Normally, I would say to consider something like "AA"......but that could be a double edged sword......you are in a tough position.....you might need 5 years of "good moral character" and a good attorney to get by this.......just my 2 cents.....

Please thrown some of that good karma our way, Lol.
Congrads and good luck on the interview. Also if you can update the time line.

This thread is locked to further comment.  The topic is not to be restarted in this forum or elsewhere, and its drama is not to be transported into other threads.
 
Multiple administrative actions have been issued in response to the two Terms of Service provisions mentioned a few posts above, and in addition, for avoiding the site's profanity filter, noncontributory posting, and ignoring general and specific Moderation warnings.
 
There is no need to report any more TOS-violating posts in this thread, although your sensitivity to same is appreciated.
 
In regard to the thread's long-ago-derailed original topic, clear heads would acknowledge that no proposal of this nature could ever be made to apply retroactively.
 
Please return to respectful posting behavior henceforth.  The site's Terms of Service are found here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/terms
 
TBoneTX
for VJ Moderation

Unemployment benefits are different because you pay unemployment insurance from every paycheck so it's your money, not public funds.  In any case, there is no public charge bar to naturalization. 

I could straight up skip everything and call Ombudsman - they have 120 days to make a decision this is to long.

There are DIY guides for filing such an action yourself. This would be under 8 USC 1447(b), and is actually quite straightforward, judging from a couple of guides I've read on them over the years. 
 
You certainly need to be comfortable with filling forms and things like that. But it would cost perhaps a couple of hundred dollars to file the action yourself. 
 
Only you know what is best in your situation. 

I think you're missing the point.  You're not allowed to do that, whether or not it works. 

When it comes to these kinds of (sadly, often-occurring) USCIS errors, you want to hit them with everything you have asap. Ombudsman, Congressman, Senators, the works. It gets their attention, and helps to get things done, as you found out.