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Hi All,

Well this morning I received an email from USPS letting me know what post I will be getting today & amongst the list is a letter from USCIS at NBC, I am keeping my fingers crossed that it's regarding my interview as my case status is still saying "Fingerprint Appointment Was Scheduled" 

Brian

On 9/12/2017 at 9:42 PM, casualuser said:

Did they put you "in line" or you still are in the fingerprint appointment phase? I think only paper-based responses from USCIS are credible. Have you tried placing a service request?

Hi my online status still is showing "fingerprint appointment was scheduled" but she said that they don't always update the status, but I am defiantly inline for appointment.

This was the second time I have had a infopass at my local F/O & was told the the same things, I felt that this was quicker that putting in a service request.

Brian   

Hi,

Congrats to all of you who have so far made it through the last part of our immigration journey.

I am still waiting for that elusive interview letter to come lol, I had an infopass appointment last Friday afternoon at my local F/O in Mount Laurel NJ, my second one, the last was in June, I asked them if everything was still ok with my N-400 & I was told that everything was fine & that my B/C was all done, I am just waiting for the person that has my life on hold to book me an appointment lol. 

Oh the wait

Brian  

11 minutes ago, lirnos said:

Hey all! My hubby and I had my AOS interview this morning and I thought I'd share my experience because I know when I was in the process I didn't find a tonne of recent info on peoples' interview experiences!

We were approved! Wahooo

The interview was quick and easy - the interviewer was friendly but to the point - he was clearly opening up our application for the first time and basically went through it all and asked me for my full name and DOB, current address, date of entry into the US, mum's name, dad's name, and if this was the first marriage for my husband and I (which it is).

Then he asked me every question in that huge list of q's in the I-485, 'do you intend to engaged in acts of terrorism', 'have you ever been arrested for a crime' etc etc (I'm remembering the q's from the top of my head, but you know the ones?). Then he asked if we met before I entered the US on VWP, which we did. I said "we met in New York in 2015" - I was studying in NYC then, and my husband was there on vacation. He didn't ask any further into this or how or relationship progressed etc.

He then asked us if we had any evidence of shared accounts etc. I gave him a big stack, and he basically said I won't take any originals, so he just took copies of our shared auto insurance, vet bills for our dog, shared cell phone bill (family plan), shared costco account, and a page with photocopies photos (it was 5 different photobooth photos we've taken over the past 2 years but I photocopied them coz I obviously want to keep the oriiginals hehe). I actually printed a whole stack of about 60 photos, but he didn't even look at those (nor did he look at some of our other evidence, like letters addressed to us). 

Then he started telling us about how conditional approval works, and was printing out the approval notice while saying that we should keep collecting evidence and instructed us that in about 2 years we need to file form I-751. And that was it! He photocopied our passports and we were all done in about 15 mins!

It was super breezy, nothing to stress about at all. What I was most worried about was adjusting from VWP, but from my experience today I realised that they don't press you on intent. So as long as you're honest throughout the application process, don't worry like crazy about the intent stuff. The purpose of this interview is to assess that you are in a real relationship and real marriage. So my biggest piece of advice for everyone is to collect whatever information you can to clearly show that you are in a marriage, and otherwise just be yourselves. Oh and for anyone interested, we didn't frontload our initial application with evidence of bona fide marriage. We didn't use a lawyer (it's totally possible to do on your own by the way, just read the instructions verrrryyyyy closely like I did, and there's a tonne of info on this site!!  ) but had some advice from a few lawyers, all of whom said that while frontloading is fine, you can also just save all evidence for the interview.

 

So there you go!! Wishing everyone well in their journeys. Visa stuff is SO STRESSFUL, but as long as you read everything thoroughly and submit everything in an orderly way etc. it'll all be just fine!!  

Hi

Congrats to you both, your interview sounds much like ours was. We were in & out quickly lol, also nothing was mentioned about intent.

Now here I am going through my citizenship process & it seems like only yesterday that I was having my AOS interview.

Brian   

20 hours ago, OmaNE2 said:

I have exactly the same timeline as yours. My FO is Omaha, NE.

Hi my FO is Mount Laurel NJ.

Brian

Congrats to all of you who have gotten there interview dates, I am still in limbo land waiting 

Brian

1 hour ago, Fox77 said:

I have been wondering about something that maybe it's not that important or maybe it is to some who don't know.

So when I get my 10 years Green Card after my I-751 application get approved.

would they change the date that says on the card, " resident since "?

 

ok for example a conditional resident card has :

 

     Card expires:       09/29/16

   Resident Since      09/29/14

 

What would the 10 year probably say!

very curious to know, thank you so much!

Hi,

The resident since date stays the same, the expiration date will be 10 years from the approval date of your ROC.

Brian

Hi All,

I had a infopass appointment today at Mount Laurel uscis office NJ, the lady that we spoke to was very helpful & had a look into my case & said that there was nothing wrong my application & that I am at this moment inline for an interview appointment, even though my online status is still showing that my biometrics appointment has been booked.

She did also say that it can take up to 6 to 8 months to complete the naturalization process at this time, as there is still a backlog of applications.

Brian      

 still waiting for mine to move to the next level.

brian 

Just now, corvusheart said:

His last employer was the Carers allowance he was a carer for a family member. It counted as a benefit that was taxable. I just hope we don't have to wait for another letter that takes a month to get here. Since we just want to be done with this.

Yep dealing with the a UK Gov departments can be frustrating to say the least.

I hope that you get it sorted asap.

Brian

1 minute ago, corvusheart said:

We went with H & R block. We are going to still try to get his tax records and see what the tax rep says once we get them. I just wish they didn't make it so hard to obtain tax records.

If your husband has his P45 from his last job or better still his P60 this should be good, if not try contacting his last employer & ask them if they can help with these doc's at all. 

8 minutes ago, corvusheart said:

DIf you have to full out any foreign income exclusion forms at all? Or was it done like a normal return?

Well in my case they just did a normal return I was classed as a dependent due to me not having a job at the time,

I can only say what happened to us when we first did a joint return, if the tax pro in any way messed up then we will have a word with them, it's a very big national company lol.  

You can always have a talk with another tax pro to get a second opinion. 

1 minute ago, Lemonslice said:

Unfortunately, I am afraid you will add confusion to the thread.  The exclusion amount might be correct, but income might still need to be declared, it might then not be taxable.  Having to declare is different than having to pay taxes.  

I was asked a question & gave the answer from my own experience, & I did tell the tax pro about my income & was told that it was not enough to be included as it came under the exclusion amount. 

2 minutes ago, corvusheart said:

Whats the exemption amount? What does it have to be under to not count? My husband made under $3000 in US dollars.

I have just googled it & it said for 2014 the exclusion amount was $99,200.00

1 hour ago, corvusheart said:

 They said they need to look at his docs first which we are having trouble obtaining. In the last topic I made on VJ everyone verified that we do in fact need to report his worldwide income. So are you saying you didn't report yours?

When we went to do our first joint tax file I told the tax pro about the income that I had earned in UK up until the end of December 2013 & as I was not a permanent resident until April 2014 that's when we filed as I had my G/C by then, I was told that I didn't make enough back in the UK to be included, also there is an exemption amount for worldwide income.

If has his P45 that should be ok as that's what I showed the tax pro.    

24 minutes ago, Sam_111 said:

Hi Guys,

 

I am I-751 Dec, 2015 filer, I HAVE NOT received my 10 years GC, and I called them, they said i am still under FBI background check.

 

However, I just received an email from USCIS that indicated they are starting to schedule my interview for N-400 application. I have a couple of questions,

 

1, Usually, how much time they give you to prepare for the interview, for instance, on May 23rd, they said that they starting to schedule my interview, and I will receive a letter, so in the letter, what time is the interview gonna be, in June or Jul based on your experience. Thank you!

 

2, So is this strange or normal that I received the notice for the interview of my N-400, but have not received the 10 years Green Card, based on your experience, will the green be delivered before the interview take place? thank you!  By the way, I filed the N-400 based on 3 years marriage.

 

Thank you for your advice in advance.

Hi,

I was told by an IO at my local office when I went to get a stamp in my passport that if they had not completed the ROC when the Naturalization interview took that they would do a joint I-751 & N-400.

Brian 

1 minute ago, corvusheart said:

I appreciate your reply but I read if you file taxes jointly with us citizen spouse you are considered a resident for tax reasons even though he wasn't an actual us resident yet meaning his worldwide income had to be declared.

Hi,

Have you been & seen a tax rep about this 

12 minutes ago, corvusheart said:

My husband and I are trying to access his UK tax records from here in America. He is from England. We need his tax records because we need to amend our 2014 taxes because we didn't know at the time he had to report worldwide income. He only made a bit of income in the UK before moving to America in 2014 (just under $3000). He was a carer in the UK. We found out a way to access his tax records online but we could not access them because he doesn't have his national insurance number. So he called and requested over the phone to have it sent here. They had to send it by post for security reasons. A month later we finally have it and he made a profile on the HM Revenue and Customs website and entered his name and insurance number alas no luck. It said we cannot confirm your identity. So he tried using Uk.verify after that. And it said they couldn't verify him because hes been out of the country for over a year. How on earth do we obtain his tax records? We want to get these taxes amended asap but we keep running into obstacle after obstacle. Anyone here have any experience with this?

Hi 

I think that you will find that as he was not a resident of the USA at the time of earning this money he does not have to declare it, I was in the same situation & I was told by the people that did our tax in 2014 that I didn't have to declare it, you only have to declare worldwide income if at the time of earning it you were a permanent resident of the USA or a Citizen.

Brian   

1 hour ago, LUAL said:

Can I consider my I797c (NOA) with the biometric appointment stamp a proof of status? If so, for how long?

Hi, the I-797c is only your letter for your biometrics appointment & the stamp is only the proof that you attend the appointment & has nothing to do with your status, the first letter that you received the I-797 after you sent in your application to remove conditions is your extension letter as it says so in the first paragraph of that letter.

It extends your green card for an extra year from the expiration date on you green card.

Brian 

17 hours ago, danl86 said:

Hey everyone, my wife filed the i-751 at least 6 months ago.. in the end of October 2016, she received her i-797 Notice of Action, letting her know that the letter serves as a one-year extension of her green card, while the removal of conditions is processed. The initial processing for her 2-year green card did not take this long, but now it seems like forever.. it is still pending when I check the status online.. and in January 2018, she will be eligible for citizenship..

 

Anyone else experience such a delay?

 

Danny

Hi, I applied for my ROC at the beginning of February 2016, I eventually got my approval at the end of April this year. 

It took just over 14 months, in March this year I applied for my citizenship as I was now eligible to do so, I like to think that it helped me get my ROC completed sooner lol.

Brian 

1 hour ago, BritGirl88 said:

Hi All,

 

I just wanted to share my AOS Interview experience. I hope this helps someone as I remember how nervous I was before my interview and reading experiences really helped.

 

Background: I arrived through VWP from UK. Husband is a US born Citizen. Filed for AOS in Dec 2016. Received EAD & AP in March 2017. AOS Interview in May 2017. AOS approved on the same day.

 

My appointment was at 8.30 and we arrived about 15 minutes early, checked in at reception and then waited in the waiting room to be called. We were called in exactly on time and led to our IO's office. 

 

Documents we brought with us:

- My EAD card

- My SSN

- Both our passports

- Certified copies of both our birth certificates

- Certified copy of marriage license 

- Joint tax returns

- Joint bank account statements (we brought 4 months worth but he only kept one)

- Medical Insurance cards (I am beneficiary on Husband's policy)

- Car insurance insurance policy (both our names on policy)

- Joint apartment lease

- Scans of our credit cards (I am an authorized user and so the numbers are the same)

- Scans of our drivers licenses (showing same address)

- Flight confirmation emails of trips we took together after marriage

- Cards that were sent to us after marriage and wedding cards

- Photos (dating life, wedding, after marriage including pics w/ friends and family)

 

Once we entered the office, we were sworn in and then took our seats. Our IO asked for my husbands proof of citizenship (we provided his birth certificate and passport) and my passport and birth certificate also. He tapped away at his computer for a while and readjusted the papers on the table without saying much. He asked for my SSN and then explained how the interview would be conducted. The first part would be focused on the legitimacy of our marriage and then the second part would be to see if I was eligible (criminal history etc etc).

He asked us our full names and addresses and then asked how we met, asked me if I have met my in-laws and what their names were and what my husbands DOB (date of birth) was. He then asked my husband what my DOB was and what our date of marriage was (he made a joke about how he always asks the husbands that question to see if they answer correctly and if they don't, he likes to see the look on the wife's face and the interaction between them after that lol).

He then asked me what documents I had to prove the legitimacy of our marriage and I showed him what I had. He took copies of the lease, medical insurance cards, car insurance policy, 1 month bank statement, the scans of our licenses and credit cards and told me to pick out some photos for him to put in the file. Lastly, he asked about our engagement and who proposed marriage and if we can tell him how it happened. I told him and he then joked about how romantic it was and that  he might cry lol. That concluded that part of the interview.

 

The second part was just  him just asking yes/no questions from the I-485 form and that was it.

He explained the conditional GC to us (because we have been married less than 2 years) and how to remove the conditions after 2 years (less 90 days) and then said we make a beautiful couple and he wishes us all the best. He told me he had recommended me for approval and that I should receive my GC within 3 weeks. I checked the website at about noon that day and it had been updated to say my AOS had been approved and my GC was being produced.

 

The whole thing was about 30 mins and most of that time was just him typing on the computer and adding things to the file.

 

I read a lot about people being really nervous about questions on whether you intended to stay in the US at the time of entry on a VWP and how to prove you didn't have intent. None of those questions were asked at all. He was concerned about the legitimacy of our marriage and nothing else.

 

Hope this was helpful.

 

Questions welcome

Hi

Congrats to you both, when we went for my AOS just over three years ago, the immigration officer had a very relaxed manor & most of the time he was talking to my wife about the different US Army postings as my wife's dad was in the Army.

It didn't feel like an interview more like a little chat lol. 

Brian

4 minutes ago, Gary_UK said:

Ok now I have time to sit in front of a proper computer I can give a better detail of the experience.

 

My interview was set for 9:30am at the Indianapolis office. I planned to be there by 9am but luckily I managed to get there for 8:50.

Parking at the site (like elsewhere in Indianapolis is appalling ) and there is minimal public visitor parking at the building. Unfortunately there are NO public parking lots in the area so its luck of the draw, first gone first served. after my 5th or 6th lap of the lott I was lucky enough to grab a space at 9:10am.

 

I entered the building, ( USCIS is on the 10th floor) and had to sign in at the ground reception and leave a description of the vehicle to ensure it didn't get towed away.

 

Headed up to the 10th floor which is dedicated to USCIS. They have a metal detector door frame like the ones in airports and had to take off my watch and bracelet as well as my belt,keys, phone and paperwork to be all scanned through. I joked and complemented them on being nicer than the TSA  

 

Once through. I left my appointment letter with reception and was told to take a seat and wait to be called. in the waiting area there are a number of kiosks for people to use and a door leading to offices behind.

 

While there, a number of people were escorted out from that door. Some with big smiles and hand shakes but a couple of latino's who were told to sit back in the waiting area and were handed some form of red outlined paper ( perhaps a certificate ?) and were not happy they were handed to them and left looking upset..

 

At 9:30am I was called by a female officer and asked to follow her through the door. I was led into the rear of the office and we were introduced as the officer who would be conducting the interview.. The office looked like any regular office all be it a nice corner affair with a nice view of the city. I was asked to sit and I complemented her on the view. and she smiled and admitted she doesn't get to enjoy it as much as she would like.

 

The officer began by taking my fingerprints of both index fingers and took a photo of me using a web cam that was set up on a small tripod on her desk. She then picked up a manila folder that must have contained at least 3 - 4 inches of paperwork with my name on it. ( I am assuming it is every file on me from when I started this journey as a K1 Visa applicant back in 2009). 

 

I was asked to stand again and take an oath to be truthful and  honest through the interview.

 

She then popped open the binder and went through the N-400 paperwork making some notes in red pen at a couple of the questions. This will be revealed more later.

the paperwork review took only 5 maybe 6 minutes. I did submit two photos when I sent off my N-400 application and they were handed to me and asked to put my signature on them. once done they were put into a small clear plastic baggy and stapled to my paperwork.  I did comment that I was glad that I had added them although they were not stipulated at the time. The officer replied  that the process changes so many times that they work with them if they get them.

 

After this, I was also handed a piece of paper to sigh to reflect the changes the officer had made to my application. They were mostly trivial amendments as my application was submitted based on 3 year marriage to my wife but we had been married now for over 7 years so they changed the paperwork to reflect the 5 year option. Also a couple of other amendments relating to my parents not being american citizens. The paperwork mentions skipping to step 7 meaning those questions are left blank but the officer filled them in with a note to explain why.

 

We then quickly moved onto the civics questions.

 

1) What is the supreme law of the land ?.

2) Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States ?.

3) We elect a US Representative for how many years ?.

4) How many US Senators are there ?

5) What movement tried to end racial discrimination?

6) What is an amendment ?

 

During the testing I noticed that the Officer was clicking the mouse on her computer so I am assuming that the questions are random generated.

 

Quickly after this she smiled and informed me that I had passed the test and that she would be recommending me to be approved to become a citizen. and to expect a letter with an appointment to attend a swearing in ceremony in the next 30-60 days. I was also handed a piece of paper congratulating me and telling me what happens next.

 

Sorry for the lengthy post. But thought I would offer as much input as I could to help alay any fears or concerns some of you may have who are going through the process. 

 

 

Onward and Upward.

 

G

 

Oh. P.S. I DID have to read a line of English and write a line of English on a piece of paper ( cursive was ok ). which to be honest I was amazed they didn't just skip that whole part of the process. Maybe my Brummie accent threw them off ?

 

Yep it was definitely the Brummie Accent, but it could have been worse you could have been a yam yam lol

Brian  

Congrats Gary_UK,

I will be glad when my Journey is over, it will be nice when they eventually put me in line for interview  at least I will be another step closer lol.

Brian    

1 hour ago, Rayann said:

I have been searching all morning and it is still unclear to me if I should pay the $595 for I-751, or the larger fee including biometrics. I had biometrics done two years ago during my green card process. 

 

Any idea? I am hoping to fedex the documents this morning. 

 

Thanks all!

Hi

Yes you will have to include the biometrics fee as you will be having your biometrics taken again, if you decide to do the citizenship application later on when you become eligible to do so, you will have your biometrics taken again for that.

Brian

No you don't need a letter from your ex, as you are in line for an interview appointment then everything is ok, if they had needed a letter then they would have asked for one by now.

The lawyer is trying to take advantage of you, save your money.

Brian