blest.but.strest

They may need to retake your prints do to an error when taking your prints the first time or The second point mente notice may have been sent to you by mistake. Since 2014, USCIS has erroneously scheduled some customers for more than one biometric appointment. 
Since you have already attended an ASC biometric appointment, you might not need to go to a second biometric appointment. Call the USCIS Contact Center at 1-800-375-5283 to confirm if you do or do not need to return to the ASC to have biometrics collected again. 

They may need to retake your prints do to an error when taking your prints the first time or The second point mente notice may have been sent to you by mistake. Since 2014, USCIS has erroneously scheduled some customers for more than one biometric appointment. 
Since you have already attended an ASC biometric appointment, you might not need to go to a second biometric appointment. Call the USCIS Contact Center at 1-800-375-5283 to confirm if you do or do not need to return to the ASC to have biometrics collected again. 

They may need to retake your prints do to an error when taking your prints the first time or The second point mente notice may have been sent to you by mistake. Since 2014, USCIS has erroneously scheduled some customers for more than one biometric appointment. 
Since you have already attended an ASC biometric appointment, you might not need to go to a second biometric appointment. Call the USCIS Contact Center at 1-800-375-5283 to confirm if you do or do not need to return to the ASC to have biometrics collected again. 

I do not like the way VAWA is thrown as a solution to any type of marital issue. Because of misuse of VAWA this program may be scrutinized and altered which would penalize people suffering real marital abuse.
To be honest you don’t have to many options here but to answer your question accurately, please reply to the following: 
1. What Visa did you enter the USA on? 
2. Have you ever overstayed a US visa in the past? 
3. Did you come here with the intention of getting married? 
4. How long have you known him?
5. Have you suffered any abuse? If so please give a couple of examples.
6. When and where is the AOS interview? 
7. does he have diagnosed mental issues or this is only your interpretation? 
 
 

So ok...this was my experience at my Oath Ceremony today in Brooklyn.
 
Went through security relatively quickly and easily considering I showed up a good 40 minutes early.   Now, I had gone ahead and called Camdan Plaza East where the ceremony was going to be held, so I already knew that no cameras or cell phones were permitted in the courthouse (whether participants or guests), and I already was aware that there would be a possibility that guests were not able to view the actual ceremony.
 
All Queens, NY filers must have their oath ceremony at the court house regardless of whether or not a name-change is requested.  Just how it's done for Queens filers.   The building itself is beautiful inside, with wide spiral staircases, and lots of marble and artwork on the walls.   Headed up to the 2nd floor, where my husband and child were directed to the 3rd floor cafeteria.  I asked if they would be able to view the ceremony at all, and was told they would be called down later on.
 
Fast forward to 8:30AM when we got started with everything.  Applicants were taking up only 3 rows of the court benches, so it wasn't a long process to get everyone situated with how to fill out the back of the Oath Letter.   A few moments later, a representative from the voter registration office gave a small speech on how to vote and pressed us to fill out the application form and immediately hand it back over to her, and then she left the room never to be seen again.   After that, no one spoke to us or gave out any information on how the day would go, or welcomed us, nothing like that and participants were pretty much left on our own to just sit there and wait for....whatever was going to happen next. 
 
We were called up again to hand over the green card and receive an envelope.  Inside the envelope was a hard folder to place our certificate in, a copy of the oath, the passport application, and information on voting/serving on a jury.  Wish I'd gotten a flag, but oh well.  No welcoming letter from the President, but truth be told I didn't really expect one.
 
After about an hour, another lady started talking to us about passport applications and telling us that we can apply for the passport anytime after the ceremony (but not with them in any way, must be done through the post office or passport agency).  One person asked a rather simple question about the form, and when the staff didn't understand him due to a language barrier, I re-stated the question more coherently (I was sitting infront of him). The man was then replied to in a long, drawn-out condescending way that he "shouldn't be asking them anything about passports---ask us about immigration only!  When you go to the post office, you ask them questions about the post office, right???  I can't tell you anything about passports or the post office because I don't know anything about that."  Kind of went on and on increasingly condescendingly....okaaaayyyy....well they DID present the passport application forms to us and asked if people had any questions, but whatever.  She then stated we should apply for our SS status to be changed no less than 10 days after the oath ceremony, and asked if we had any questions about that process.  No one said a peep, probably because they were afraid of being lectured for asking a question.
 
After another wait, the 3rd lady came into the room and started setting herself up at a desk.  I was sitting in the front and could hear the staff conversations taking place since the room was nearly silent, and they were only a few feet away seated at the table.  At that point, one of them said to her "did you bring the country list?"  to which she replied "nah I didn't bother with it".  From reading other oath ceremony threads, and watching videos, I knew then that there would be no announcement of the countries recognized at the ceremony, which was a downer to me because I was looking forward to that part....almost like feeling like our immigration success was a global community effort we all shared in, but wasn't going to happen at my ceremony today.   It was also sad that they just seemed to decide on-the-spot to not be bothered with it and brush it off for whatever personal reason the woman had (maybe laziness?).
 
Soon enough, boredom sets in, since we are not being engaged in any way, and a few of us (myself included) start chatting among ourselves, not loudly.  We have a few giggles discussing our immigration journeys, what country we are from, etc. and generally how we're happy to become citizens.  About 10 minutes into our conversation, one of the workers comes over to us and ----- to my disbelief ---- tells us "You are getting too excited about this now, alright?  You all calm down and be quiet."  We, as a small group, were stunned that we were actually told to stop socializing with each other and just continue to sit there staring ahead in silence.  Personally, I was flabbergasted that she implied we shouldn't even be HAPPY about reaching this day in our lives.
 
One of the workers stood up and threatened everyone that if they didn't hand in all previous USCIS-issued documents (EADs and expired GC's) to them now or failed to mail them in at a later date "We have everything on file so we already know.  We can find out...I'm just letting you know we will find out"  I felt this was completely unnecessary of them to say this out-of-the-blue, and in a passive-aggressive manner.
 
Afterwards, we were called up by line to view our naturalization certificates.  As we approached the desk in single file, the lady barked out "what's your number?!" without explaining exactly what number she was referring to (I learned quickly she meant the last 3 digits of the alien number) then whipped out the certificate and gave each person literally a two-second glance at it before barking at us "sign your name!"  To the woman's eye-rolling annoyance, I refused to give it barely a 2-second glance, knowing this would be the only time I could get the certificate corrected for free, and looked over everything not just my name. Upon sitting down, I remarked purposefully loudly to the woman next to me (who whispered to me how rude she was) "You know, I've never been referred to as just a number before, I thought they only did that in jail."  The other worker met my eyes and slightly smiled sympathetically.  I think even SHE was wondering why her co-worker was so abrupt with everyone, despite her *own* prior unpleasantness towards participants.  
 
One poor girl who had requested a name change pointed out to the worker that the certificate didn't reflect her request.  The worker asked her what her name was supposed to be, and then flippantly remarked "Well they didn't do it.  Sign your name!"  The young lady, for obvious reasons, hesitated in signing it and the worker looked up at her and actually said "What's the problem?"  When the lady repeated that her name is not as requested on the certificate, she was again told to sign it as written.  She did end up signing it, and then respectfully asked "What do I do now, though, about the wrong name?"  The lady abruptly said "You have to go to civil court." and LITERALLY TURNED HER BACK TO HER in her swivel chair!!!  Completely ignored her until she walked away, head down, and confused.   "Next---what's your number?!"
 
Our families did eventually come down and were herded together into a small section partially away from us all. 
 
The judge arrived, we all rose out of respect and then were told to be seated again.  The judge immediately told us that she had just found out this morning that she would be presiding (from eavesdropping on the staff, I could hear them discussing which judge to call to administer the oath just before).  She gave a brief 5-minute off-the-cuff speech about the importance of voting, and serving on a jury.  There was no discussion about the importance of the day, no talk about immigrants contributing to the country, no mention about personal experience with the process.  Just a statement about voting, and jury duty---and a mention of "Happy Diwali" to those celebrating it.  She also introduced her new office clerk to us, a disinterested looking young man sitting next to her.  Overall, she had a pleasant personality, just wished something more poignant was said.  Anything.  Anything at all.   Something to make the day seem special.  Near the end of her comments, she spoke about how we should go forth and be respectable members of society and pay our taxes.  I noticed a few side-eyes being given and maybe we all thought the same thing....that we already *have* been paying taxes and *have* been good members of society.
 
We took the oath of allegiance, and then recited the pledge of allegiance.  We all clapped for ourselves and each other.  The judge handed us our certificate and shook our hands with a perfunctory "congratulations" and then we were immediately directed to leave the courthouse.  Her new clerk, adding to his aura of disinterest, stood next to her with his hands in his pockets, not speaking unless directly spoken to.  
 
All in all, it was a disappointing day.  There was no memorable moment, no feeling of a journey acknowledged, no special gathering, no poignant moment where I felt included as a citizen, no....niceness....about the entire experience.  I remarked to my husband later that it felt like I had just left another USCIS appointment where I just handed over some paperwork.  It was abrupt, the staff seemed mostly annoyed with our presence, rude for the most part, and just an anti-climatic moment all-around since my immigration process began.
 
Am I happy that my journey is over and I'm a citizen as the main thing?  Yes, I suppose so.  Just wish more thought was put into making it an actual special day for people who have struggled, and sweated, and cried, and stressed and sacrificed to make it as far as they did.  Previously reading other people's oath ceremonies in different cities/states had me thinking today wouldn't be "just like any other day".   
 
All in all, the highlight of my ceremony was giving @vkhutchings a hug as we congratulated each other outside of the courtroom.  
 
So that's it.  Oh yeah, that sums up nicely how I felt as soon as I left the courthouse.... "That's it?"

I thought this might help those of us considering a legal name change.
The N400 application is (in most cases) a great time to legally change your name. It's fast and it's free. Outside of the N400 process, a name change requires a visit to your local courthouse, may require a public announcement in a newspaper (depending on your state and local laws) and will cost you money. In New York City, the cost is about $65 while on Houston it is over $400, so cost varies from city to city.
You can change your name to anything you want within certain limitations. You can't change your name to impersonate someone or in an attempt to hide your identity for illegal purposes. Other than that, it's up to you. If you are Arthur Robert Wilkinson, you can become Geraldo Mohamed Leibowitz.
It's important to note that if you are just changing your last name to take your spouse's last name or to revert to your maiden name, then a legal name change is not required. This is because a marriage certificate or a divorce certificate acts as proof of legal name change. This is true EVEN IF your certificate does not show the new name that you want to take. For example, if Anita Mary Harrolds marries Geraldo Mohamed Leibowitz, she can legally be known as Anita Mary Leibowitz even though that name does not appear anywhere on the certificate. In fact, she can also hyphenate both last names without a legal name change. However, if she wanted to change her middle name from Mary to Margaret, she would need a legal name change.
To request a legal name change through the naturalization process, fill out the name change section of the N400. The interviewer may ask you to confirm that you still want to change your name because some people change their minds between the application and the interview. The interviewer may ask for proof of your current legal name. In case of a discrepancy between your green card and your passport, a birth, marriage, divorce, or name change certificate determines your current name, so make sure you have these with you (if they apply in your case...it's always a good idea to have your translated birth certificate with you at the interview). The interviewer will print out some forms (three I think) for you to check and sign. These should have your old and new names on them.
You will have to be scheduled for a judicial oath ceremony. This is because USCIS does not have the legal authority to change your name and must ask a judge to do so. If your city has regular judicial ceremonies then there shouldn't be any delays. If your city holds regular administrative ceremonies, but not many judicial ceremonies, then the name change may cause a delay. Some cities (including San Francisco and San Jose) have stopped scheduling judicial ceremonies altogether. Applicants in these cities cannot legally change their names through the N400 application. Your interviewer will inform you of this and will cross out the name change section during the interview. You will have to request a regular name change before or after naturalization if you live in these cities (see above).
At your oath ceremony you will be given your naturalization certificate as well as a name change certificate signed by a judge. This second certificate will show your old and new names and you'll need it to update your name with your banks, on your drivers license, credit cards, etc. In addition to doing all the paperwork to make these changes, you'll also have to consider the effect of the name change if you have dual citizenship; your name on your two passports may not match and your other country may require you to go through different name change procedures or may not allow name changes at all. People do travel using passports with different names, but you have to be careful when booking tickets and you may want to travel with your name change certificate (and translations).
If you want to check whether or not (and how often) judicial ceremonies are held in your location, find your office here and look under naturalization ceremonies:
http://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/field-offices

Delete the part where you wrote I was advised to send this letter and add-:
 
“ I was subjected to domestic violence throughout my marriage and I filled l360(Vawa) on xxxxx(receipt attached ). I, respectfully, ask  that  the Service holds to issue the NTA In abeyance while waiting pending approval  of my Self -Petition (Vawa). I will keep the local office informed of the status of the l360 petition.

Go to your county clerk's office where you file for the divorce and tell them you can not locate your spouse. They will ask you at the county clerk office to pay for a police constable to track and deliver the divorce petition to her/him. If they police locates her then she gets the petition. If the police can not locate her/him, then they will send their report to the court and the Judge will sign your divorce and you will be free. Thats how its done here in Dallas. I hope that helps

Thank you TBoneTX, last night I almost sent you a message about it.

Thank you TBoneTX, last night I almost sent you a message about it.

Friends, it's fine to have faith, but ~3 pages of posting about hope & faith is a bit much, please.  Thanks in advance for your awareness, and of course good fortune to everyone.

I am not to sure to understand your post. You need to post clear facts, is the person a green card holder or not? 
A person with an approved Vawa can indeed get their approval revoked if an officer in the field receives new information that was not available to the VSC at the time of the approval of a VAWA self-petition, and that new information leads the officer to reasonably believe that a VAWA self-petition should be revoked, the officer must write a memorandum to his or her Supervisory Immigration Service Officer (SISO) explaining why the VAWA self-petition should be reviewed for possible revocation. The memorandum must state what the new information is and how USCIS obtained it.
 

Hope everyone is doing well.
 
I filed VAWA years ago and now I'm a citizen. 
 
If anyone needs help let me know, you can DM me. I would like to return the favor in any way that I can .
 

 
 

Congrats 

Congrats 

4K is a little high but it's not bad, 1k seems very low! To select a good attorney, you have research the attorney, check the attorneys track record, how long he/she has been an immigration lawyer, if he/she has a clean record with the bar association, and simply ask the attorney questions. What city are you in?

You meet someone online, you have never met.
 
First stop is an Immigration web site?
 
Seems an odd way of doing things..

Whatever you told the immigration officer about the fraud investigation will be forwarded to the agncy investigating you for fraud. If later on, you get charged and/or convicted, your chances of getting a green card will be very slim. USCIS might just hold your case until the fraud investigation is complete and then make a decision.
If you incriminated your self in any way during the interview, that alone would be enough for USCIS to deny your green card petition.
Right now you are in the waiting stage, all you can do now is wait for the fraud investigation to be over and wait to hear from uscis. If you get another interview notice, I suggest get a qualified attorney to accompany you.

it really depends on what's on the police report. When you will be asked by USCIS if you were in possession, I suggest you tell them the truth but what you tell them will be the deciding factor in the approval of your immigration petition.
Make sure you have a certified copy of the arrest report as well as a certified copy of the court disposition, USCIS will want to see that.

You are a permanent resident of the USA, a divorce will not change your legal status. After the divorce you will still be a permanent resident.

You are a permanent resident of the USA, a divorce will not change your legal status. After the divorce you will still be a permanent resident.

You are a permanent resident of the USA, a divorce will not change your legal status. After the divorce you will still be a permanent resident.

Hey bro,
I am a male and was victimized by a woman, I successfully went the vawa route and obtain my GC. I personally suffered major physical abuse as well as some mental abuse. Without physical abuse it's a little more difficult to prove but it is definitively not impossible. Psychological/mental abuse is a very real thing and many got their vawa petitions approved with only a good psychological evaluation. Your lawyer doesn't seem to be qualified to help you, get a new one if you absolutely want one. Looking at the evidence you will submit, I think that you will be fine. If you have any question please don't hesitate to contact me and join the VAWA 7 forum, you can get plenty of info just reading people's past experiences.

Hey bro,
I am a male and was victimized by a woman, I successfully went the vawa route and obtain my GC. I personally suffered major physical abuse as well as some mental abuse. Without physical abuse it's a little more difficult to prove but it is definitively not impossible. Psychological/mental abuse is a very real thing and many got their vawa petitions approved with only a good psychological evaluation. Your lawyer doesn't seem to be qualified to help you, get a new one if you absolutely want one. Looking at the evidence you will submit, I think that you will be fine. If you have any question please don't hesitate to contact me and join the VAWA 7 forum, you can get plenty of info just reading people's past experiences.

Immigration Help for the Deaf Community
Immigration Hadley PC Located in Riverside, CA, office specializes in helping the Deaf community with immigration matters.(951) 588 9838