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not a bad idea, i do understand Thai and she usually speaks Thai while I speak English at home. anyhow, her friend just passed the USC test in Syracuse NY a couple of weeks ago and they didn't ask for any explanation of the N400 yes/no questions. i know her friend and I'd say her English is worse than my wife's. however, we just watched another video, and part of the reason for failure was not know knowing, or at least not been able to, explain the definitions of the N400 words. at 19:43 in the above video she is asked "do you know what "cited" means. in the doc you posted it says "A naturalization applicant must only demonstrate an ability to read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage." . personally i wouldn't consider "cited" to be a word in common usage.

Fr8dog, i see you are Dutch, I lived in Holland for 5 years and i speak exactly 5 words in Dutch and never had a problem. I remember sitting in a pub one time and a Dutch guy explaining English grammar to me, and i'm English! My wife is Thai and it's a uphill battle for her to understand the N400 yes/no questions the way they are asked using what i would call lawyer or contract style language. She speaks conversational English just fine but many words in the N400 yes/no questions like sabotage, terrorist, nobility, etc don't come up in normal conversation. However it's still 1 year before she can apply for USC so we have time to practice.

well these are not part of the English test. if they ask one of the yes/no questions, she knows where to say yes or no, but if asked to explain what the questions mean, i hope its ok to say she can't explain that in english. if asked how she filled out the N400, would be be ok to say using google translate? there are no published rules for answering the N400 questions (unlike the civics test) so it's a little hard to know what the passing standard is

i was just watching this with my wife he asked for a lot of explanation about the meaning of all the yes/no type questions on the N400. there's so many words in there my wife doesn't know, this has to be so hard for none English speakers! anyhow, i was wondering, is it acceptable to ask the interviewer to explain the question in simpler language? for example at one point is asks something like "have you ever entered into a relationship to obtain immigration benefit", she asked to clarify and he said have you every married someone to get a green card. is it ok to do this on several questions?

ok thanks, i didn't see assets and such were taking into account. i live mostly on 401k distributions so if they consider that i guess i will not get it

i know this is an old thread but i'm thinking about my wife taking the english and civics test and although her english is fine with me, she does tend to freeze up in stressful situations. in her green card interview she got a Chinese interviewer and I could barely understand him, i had to ask him to repeat almost every question, my wife said she had no idea what he was saying. i really hope that doesn't happen in the English test or she'll be screwed!

just to confirm, i read this https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/g-1055_2.pdf N-400 Application for Naturalization (https://www.uscis.gov/ n-400) General filing, unless noted below. Fee determined based on how form is submitted. You cannot file online if you are requesting a fee waiver or a reduced fee; you must file a paper Form N-400. Paper Filing: $760 Online Filing: $710 If your documented annual household income is not more than 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and you submit supporting documentation with your application. Paper Filing: $380 In 2025, the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) for a two-person household is $21,150 so 400% is around $85000 I'm on social security and have some rental and interest income but our total will be way less than $40000 so unless i'm missing something, i should qualify for the reduced fee of $380 right? thanks

ok, well we have a house, pay prop taxes, electric, insurance etc so hopefully that should not be a problem

i keep a spread sheet of the days and carefully manage it so we will be under the 18 month limit, assuming we do not leave the US next summer its will be exactly 293 days. we may do a canada road trip but that would be no more than 2 weeks so still way under the allowed time. i'm just wondering what are the typical interview questions about travel like?

my wife is on a 10 year green card issued Dec 2023, we're planning to file N400 next Sept. however we travel a lot outside the US (thailand and europe where we both have family ties), but never more than 5 months at a time and not more than 18 months in 3 years, but we will be close to the 18 month limit. do you think this will be a problem moving forward? i ask because if we are likely to get denied over this i don't want to waste time and money on the N400. i have heard travel history along with tax filing have become major issues for USCIS thanks

what question on the travel history? i assume they asked why and where right? i ask because we travel a lot, every winter 4 months in thailand to avoid the crappy NY winter and then europe in the summer. we're retired so we have nothing else to do. any advice on what to answer to their questions?

ok thx. so "after the receipt", is that usually pretty quick after filing the application? we usually go to Thailand around end of Nov so if the bio is less than 8 weeks then no problem i guess.

my wife got her green card Dec 7, 2023, i understand she's eligible to apply 90 days before 3 years so that would be 09 / 08 / 2026 according to the USCIS calculator. so when would we expect the bio appointment? i ask because we usually go to Thailand for the winter, nice to know if we can get the bio done before it gets too cold here. thanks

thanks, yes we will no go 18 months out to the day, probably 16 to 17 so we have a buffer. but its interesting that immigration tracks that in detail. i guess its all in an INS computer somewhere

thanks for the info. so i need to start a log of all our travel starting from when she got the GC. fortunately this year we've only been out of the country for a week so far so we have time in the bank so to speak.

my wife would like to start her N400 ASAP which since she's married to me, a USC, I think is 3 years after granting of her green card right? we like to travel a lot. we're going to Thailand soon for 4 month and then Europe next summer for 2 month. I assume the physical presence is based on calendar year? So in 2025 we'll be gone Jan Feb Mar, then June July, and back to Thailand Dec, so right up against the 6 month limit. How strict is USCIS on the 6 month per year rule?. I read this "(absences of more than six months but less than one year shall disrupt the applicant's continuity of residence unless the applicant can establish that he or she did not abandon his or her residence during such period) ". how would we 'establish that he or she did not abandon his or her residence during such period' if we went a bit over? I'd like to do a quite trip to Canada next year too but would skip it if its a problem. These are all vacations, not moving abroad. We're retired so its what we do. I should add we own our house in NY and have no plans to move. My wife has family in Thailand and I have family in UK hence the reason for extended visits. She's only had her GC for 1 year so I'm just planning ahead at this point. thanks

that's crazy. i think we can all guess where USCIS staff will be redeployed this time around

my predication is he'll massively cut funding for USCIS resulting in waiting times going from months and years, to decades. what do you all think?

so i'd like to add my wife's kids as contingent beneficiary on my US accounts. i think the process for them would be easier if they has an ITIN. both kids live in Thailand, never been to the US and likely never will. i saw this https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/obtaining-an-itin-from-abroad am i correct in thinking all they need is a W-7 application and their passports and i can do it for them? no filing tax returns or anything like that? thanks

its back to normal now, i guess just a weekend update thing

if its still that way next week i'll call the 800 number and ask.

yes, i'm at my.uscis.gov same site i've used for years

hi, i'm sure i'm in the wrong section but not sure where is the right one. anyhow, i went to uscis.gov today and i can't see how to get to my account details anymore. when i go my account/home all i see is a bunch of links to things like change address etc. before i would see all my open and closed cases and their current status. any idea where to find that now? thanks

my wife did arrive on a B1 visa and did an AOS i called USCIS already and they will call me back within 72hrs to schedule an appointment

GC was sent while we were away from home for a few months. someone was supposed to be hanging on to our mail but they did a bad job. since USCIS never told us it was sent (and i kept calling to ask) we didn't know to ask that person to be on the lookout for it. yes, AOS approved Dec14 last year yes, we moved, now in NY was approved in NC yes did e-request for I90 yes I765 and I131 was approved last year i'll call USCIS today and ask about the ADIT I551 thing