mypreciousss

4 minutes ago, jeremyblack said:

Got some news. Tier 2 officer did not know anything first, but after placing me on hold, said that the interview will be on April 11. The officer also said that if I do not receive a notice by April 4, it means that the oath is rescheduled. The funny thing was that tier 1 officer said that tier 2 officer does not know anything new (that I am still in line).

Thanks for the information. The tier 1 officers always say that no matter what - I think they've been guided to discourage transfers to tier 2 as much as possible. Did the tier 2 officer say your notice was already mailed?

2 minutes ago, jeremyblack said:

Thanks for replying. Yes, I am in the Fairfax county too. I am going to get a call from tier 2 officer hopefully today. If I find out anything new, I will drop a line.

Good luck.. I talked to a tier 2 officer yesterday, they didn't have any additional information.

7 minutes ago, jeremyblack said:

Hey there, did you hear back from USCIS about oath scheduling by any chance? My interview was in Fairfax, VA on January 26 and I was placed in line for the oath ceremony on February 1.

Unfortunately no change yet, my status is still 'oath ceremony will be scheduled'. My timeline is pretty similar to yours. Are you a Fairfax County resident as well?

I actually didn't know about the online application until after I applied as a paper filer, or I would have done so in the first place. The main reason for that is that online filing is sort of hidden away and not made obvious by USCIS. 

In fact, when I found out about the online application, I suggested that my coworker do the online application. I don't resent him for having a faster process (or I wouldn't have suggested it). My annoyance is with the fact that: USCIS did not make it obvious that you can apply online, and keeps saying 'theres people ahead of you in the queue' line when the queue is really arbitrary anyway. 

1 minute ago, elturko said:

Thank you so much for the update. 

No problem.. I take it no change in your status as well?

This process is frustrating through the end - my colleague who applied online months after me had his interview one month before me and his oath was exactly one month later. We are always told 'there are people ahead of you in the queue' etc and that we should be patient. But it's hard to do that since some of those people ahead of me in the queue should not have been ahead of me in the first place (from my perspective).

15 hours ago, elturko said:

Any news ? 

Nope.. status is still 'oath ceremony will be scheduled'. I was able to easily snag an infopass appointment, so I went to the field office this morning. As I expected, the only thing they said was that I was in the queue for the oath ceremony and I should hear in 2-3 weeks. If I don't get a letter by then, I can call customer service or initiate a service request. He did say that there is at least one oath ceremony per month, and he doesn't have the information on when and where that will be. I also asked where the next ceremony is likely to be, since I've heard of it taking place in the field office or in high schools. Again, I was just told that it depends on the number of people they have for that particular oath ceremony. 

3 hours ago, Haideraaz said:

when did you apply for citizenship if I may ask ? I applied 6 months ago and no answer yet ! 

I applied in July 2017, paper filer. A friend of mine in northern VA filed online in September and is already finished with the oath.

On 2/6/2018 at 3:38 PM, elturko said:

I live in Fairfax County, VA

Same here, my status updated to 'oath ceremony will be scheduled' yesterday. Have you got your oath date yet?

19 minutes ago, jxn said:

What's your N-400 timeline, out of curiosity?

 

I presume this is the schedule. It follows the format of the second (non-holiday) Tuesday of every month. Note that being in line for oath ceremony doesn't necessarily mean you'll be scheduled for the next one.

 

Does anyone know if there are multiple naturalization locations for Washington, DC? I've seen videos and posts about ceremonies in other federal buildings.

I think the dates above are only for residents of DC. If you live in VA, it seems like a different logic applies - oaths are either performed what seems like once a month at a high school, or at the field office. Elturko, so you live in DC or VA?

I had my interview on January 30th, and was conditionally approved. I still haven't heard anything - no letter and no change to online status (it still says interview was scheduled). I called customer service and spoke to a level 2 officer who said the case was fully approved and is waiting for oath scheduling now. I'm hoping to be scheduled for the next oath date which I'm hoping is late February (I live in VA).

Thanks RiceAgain, me too!

Thanks.. I thought that the file gets sent to the local office and then the interview gets scheduled, but it seems this is not the case. I was puzzled as to why it was at NSC, but I guess that's normal. Nothing to do but wait and see, I guess.

Hi all,

I am adjusting from H1B and filed the 130/485/765/131 on April 18, 2014 as the spouse of a US citizen. Our local office is Washington, DC. I was expecting to have our interview about 90 days after filing based on what I've read/heard about this local office. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. Here is our timeline:

Package mailed: 4/18/2014

NOA date: 4/22/2014

Biometrics completed: 5/15/2014 (notice was for 5/22, I went for a walk-in)

Testing and Interview: 5/27/2014

EAD/AP received: 7/24/2014

I'm very surprised that our interview date hasn't been set yet, and it's starting to get frustrating. We opened a service request on July 9th, but haven't got a response yet. I called USCIS today and spoke to a Tier 2 agent. He said that the file is still at the National benefits Center and has not been sent to our local office yet (!) which explains why the interview date has not been scheduled. He had no idea why it was still at NBC, but said the service request response should hopefully have an explanation as to why.

Has anyone had this happen before or know what this indicates?

Thanks!

Hi all,

I'm not sure how many DC area filers are out there who get assigned to the Fairfax office, but I thought I'd give this a shot.

I filed on 4/18/2014 and I've been in T&I since 5/27. Just got my EAD yesterday and I still don't have an interview date. Based on what I've read, this is quite a bit longer than what Fairfax applicants have seen in the past.

Any other filers out there assigned to this office who are seeing their timelines get longer? Frustrating!

I do, actually. When I was a student on OPT I received an EAD with an A number and that's what the law firm has been using in my H1B filings.

Hi everyone - I have a question I hope someone will know the answer to.

I am on H1B and my first three years expires in Sep 2014. I also filed for AOs based on marriage to a US citizen last month. I received my NOA1s and just completed my walk in biometrics.

I found out yesterday that my company went ahead and filed for my H1B extension, and looking at the copy of the filing I see that they used a different A-number than what is on my receipt notices for the family based AOS. The A-number they used was what was on my original H1B petition too. However, I was assigned a new A-number after filing for AOS. I know that my EAD or GC will probably be here before September, so the H1B is not a big deal at this point. Still, will my company have problems with USCIS because they used the old A-number? Should I let them know or just let it be for now?

Thanks!

As for walking in at any time, if you don't live relatively close, I would call ahead.

Regarding which offices tend to be more resistant to walk ins, I think this is a hard question to answer in general. If you know which ASC you will be going to, you could search the forums and chances are someone might have attempted a walk in and posted their experience here. I recently did a walk in at Alexandria VA although it was not particularly smooth and I tried twice. You can read my post about it here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/219386-early-walk-in-biometrics-alexandria-va/?p=7013104

Just wanted to add my experience here. I got my biometrics notice for May 29th in Alexandria, and thought I would do a walk in this past Monday (May 12th). I arrived at about 2:30 pm, thinking it would not be a busy time based on what I've read here and in other places. It was extremely busy though! It looked like most of the seats inside were taken and there was a line of several people waiting to get in. I presented my notice and I was about to be let in, but then the lady at the guard station said my appointment is for the 29th, and I should come back then. I asked if there was any way I could be accommodated today, and I didn't mind waiting. They said that they had no problem doing walk ins when it was not busy, but there were already too many people there today. I asked what day of the week they're typically less busy, and she just said that so far May had been a very busy week so to be safe I should just come on my appointment day. I totally understand why they turned me away and I had no problem with it.

Not one to be defeated, I tried a different strategy. I showed up at 8 this morning (Friday) and there was already a line of maybe 20 people. They were moving in quickly though, and the guard (different person) was not even checking the appointment dates. I think when there are so many people in line, they don't really look as closely at every single persons appointment notice, they just check to see if they have a valid one. The last time I attempted this, there were very few people in line and each person got increased scrutiny. So I was able to successfully walk in today! I was out by about 8:40 am.

Hope this helps others attempting walk ins at Alexandria!

Hi there! My husband and I are in pretty much the same situation (he's a USC and I'm from India). I have been on H1B for a couple of years and still have several years left on this status, and I was also being sponsored for a green card by my employer. My husband and I started dating just over a year ago and got married this month after living together for about 8 months. It was relatively quick compared to some of the other couples on the forum, but what can I say - when you know its the right person, you know, and don't want to wait!

Although we are both well informed and intelligent people, we are also TOO detail oriented and a little OCD :-). We were worried about the exact same thing, not about getting denied, but making a small mistake and causing an RFE or delay and stress. We also wanted to do things right because our relationship is just over a year old and we didn't want this to raise a red flag. Because of this, we decided to hire an attorney, even though it cost a couple of thousand dollars. For us, our time and peace of mind was worth the cost, ad we cound afford it. Despite this, I still lurk on VJ and inform myself as best as I can. I also have no doubt that we could have prepared the filing ourselves, but it would have taken a lot more time, energy, and stress. I'm very impressed by people who do it themselves.

I have to say it was incredibly helpful having our attorney address our concerns, and the fact that she specializes in post-DOMA cases (she has done dozens since last year) was an added benefit. We just submitted our filings last week.

I don't think you need to worry about your relationship being relatively short compared to others - if you can show financial interdependence (joint accounts, having each other as beneficiaries on each others insurance and 401k, etc) and showing a joint residence are the most important things.

Good luck!

I'm just getting started with the whole process of submitting a I-130 for my spouse.

Here is some quick background information.

• I am a California Native USC.
• My spouse was admitted into the country on a F1 D/S Visa on 9/03/2012 from China.
• He is working on his PhD at UCLA in environmental engineering and is considered to be one of the top in his program.
• UCLA funds almost all of his education. He also works as a Graduate Assistant teaching courses and is paid a living salary... so he also has a SSN already.
• We met early last year and decided to get married 11/24/13.
• Due to his study and current research it can be said that he would have had no problem getting corporate or university sponsorship if we had not met and married.
• He has been completely embraced by my family and although his family is not all aware of me, his parents are. They have accepted and show me much respect on skype
• We have lived together since 5/2013 and have combined most of out daily finances.
• We are opting to have him taxed as a resident alien for 2013 so we may file jointly, as advised by our CPA.
• We do not have a pre or postnup.

So my questions are.

• We haven't known each other for years like many on this forum have. Does this raise a red flag and what should I do upfront to address it?
• Is there anything else that I should be extra aware of based on our specific situation?
• Are there any recommended agencies in Los Angeles that someone could recommend to help review our paperwork?
• We are both intelligent people but I keep thinking that one stupid mistake in filling out the forms could create unnecessary problems.

Thank you.