ohman

My wife and i are currently living in Thailand for the past three months.

We applied for citizenship (n400) in September 2017 at the Santa Ana Office in California.

Everything has went smoothly.

We just got an interview apointment for the end of June. 

My question is, i am really busy with work. I need to know how much time we need to be in the usa to complete the entire process (interview, oath, receiving passport... whatever else?). I have tried to figure out time frames for stuff like this in the past, and been way off base causing myself huge problems. 

Her English is pretty darned good, and she has studied for dozens of hours for the test.

I would be very appreciative to anyone who could provide me with a conservative timeframe we will need to be in the usa from that end of June date, so i can buy the plane tickets and plan my work schedule.

Thank you!

I don't have experience with a CR1 visa holder needing to apply for a SSN. Perhaps @Darnell can help.

I do know that it's less of a rush since your wife is a GC holder.

I'm guessing the SSA agent wants to be sure that your wife doesn't double dip on SSN applications and is under the impression she may automatically get assigned a SSN despite not checking that box.

We need to know what visa you applied for, when your wife's POE was, etc.

There are processes for the application for a SSN via the K1 or CR1/IR1 visas which are different.

If your wife is a K1 visa holder than the SSA agent was completely incorrect, and you need to get her SSN settled no less than 3 weeks before her I-94 expires. or you'll have to wait until she gets her EAD. If your wife is a CR1/IR1 visa holder, than she should have her SSC arrive in the mail shortly after arrival, if you checked the box; you said you did not, so applying is how you handle that and the SSA agent was, again, incorrect.

So I agree with you it seems he was wrong IMO, but I'm not sure it helps me to know that, haha. The real bummer was really that we weren't given some sort of free pass to skip that line for next time. We essentially waited two hours for a guy to be wrong,a maybe, and for him to tell us come back in a week. I guess it is always about a two hour line. Why would coming back preclude her from getting two number anyway? Couldn't the card be lost in the mail, or somehow never received.

We just waited for two hours at the local social security office to get a number for my wife, only to be told we must wait 21 days to get the number. I could have sworn I read through all the information on their website, and there was no mention of this. We were told to come back, wait in that horrid, cramped line again and get it then. He said they can't take a chance on her getting two numbers, but I did not check the box to have the govt send her the card in the mail I told him. It did not seem to matter.

Oh well, live and learn. Was this guy correct though? It seems a little strange to me. Thanks.

We already had our interview for a CR1 visa. We were asked to get more documents (221g), we did. We then went into administrative processing. I checked the CEAC status and it says "Ready" now, but then it goes on to say we need to schedule an interview. Do we in fact need to do a second interview? Or is that incorrect? I am wondering if we should just be waiting for the visa, or scheduling an appointment.

Thanks.

I am currently writing the above requested "month by month 6 mos. plan".

July 2014 - apply for and get a job before embarking to the US. Apply for voter registration in the state of employment. Secure living arrangements.

August 2014 - work the job, pay the bills, pay tax, vote

Sept 2014 - work some more, pay more bills, make sure to pay tax. Vote again

Oct 2014 - maybe work some more? go lobster fishing after the first monday of the month?

Nov 2014 - work some more, pay some bills

Dec 2014 -????!! lol

I mean are they really serious? What am I supposed to say, like no kidding. What am I supposed to say for each of these months without sounding like a wise ###? It is more difficult than you think, try it.

What country did you have the interview in?

How long have you been out of the United States for?

Thailand.

About 4 years.

Thanks for your reply.

I just saw this text from your link "This [proof of US domicile] is NOT needed if the petitioner is living in the US".

This gets back to my original question if I can simply move to the US to satisfy their requirement. Is living in the US domiciled enough? This is what I am finding frustrating, forgive me if my tone is too strong, but I have followed all of their instructions as closely as I possibly can, spending hours on their forms, and it seems to be turning out that many of the directions they give are flat out wrong, or very misleading at best. What is domicile? I need to know. If i hop on a place and land in the US, am I domiciled? Would I need a job to be domiciled. There could be potentially months of difference between those two, so it would help if it was clear.

Further, what would they accept as proof of this? A stamp in my passport? A utility bill in my name? A picture of me with today's new york times standing iin front of the white house? It just seems they need to lay out what they will accept before we go run out and do any of it (and then fail)!

To better help you, can you list what you did send as proof of establishing domicile in the US. Also look at the link below. There is a whole section that for proving domicile.

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/NVC_Process

First of all, thank you.

I noticed when reading your link that it says to bring the proof of establishing domicile to the interview. I believe this may be the problem in my case. It said explicitly in the directions I followed, "Original documents that were not submitted earlier MUST be presented at the interview. You do NOT have to provide duplicate copies or original of documents that you have already submitted to the IV Unit at an earlier stage." So, I did not submit the domicile documents again. I have no idea at this point if that was correct or not, or if I misinterpreted something. I really wish they would clear this stuff up though.

The proof that I did submit by mail before the interview consisted of:

-a signed letter from my father stating that I would be staying at his residence and paying utulity bills until I could find a job

-forms showing that we had sold about 90% of our mutual fund positions in the foreign country in preparation to have cash on hand for the move

-a foreign bank account showing the cash with a letter from the bank confirming it

-a letter showing a banking account and the ability to move the funds internationally online

-a print of my monthly statement from my maintained US bank account

-a copy of my form that i registered to vote with (the copy that i got in the mail in the US I had my dad send to me, but it never got here:()

I also included a signed letter, as outlined in your link, or similar anyway.

As I was saying above, their text to me in their explanation letter seemed to indicate that they did not even look at any of this. Again, I am not sure if that was just verbatim text they send to all denied applicants, or if it is tailored. If it was tailored to me, it seems they did not even look at the forms I sent, and further my wife told me they did ask about a lease agreement of some sort, and she had no idea (why would she, I prepared all the forms.... I think the whole process is rather absurd, my wife does not even speak English).

Is there possibly a way I could ask them if they even considered my domicile paperwork, and if not, if they could reconsider. I find they have precluded any sort of meaningful communication with them.

Again, thanks for ant help or suggestions. Alas, perhaps this is for another thread, but there was a very rude and obnoxious comment made toward my wife completely out of left field. My wife is very polite, but at this point I am seriously considering filing a formal complaint, but don't really want to hurt my chances obviously.

I just had an interview and was told that "petitioner does not qualify because you are living outside the US. You need to submit a month by month 6 mos. plan for your planned return to the US, along with home mortgages, rental agmts in US, job offer and job search letters, voting registrations records etc."

It seems when I read the literature on how to apply, that you can establish domicile without a job offer. Does this mean that this option is now unavailable to me? I don't really understand fully, are they saying I MUST do these things, outlined above, or could I say have a person co-sponsor with me still, or what about simply moving to the US and actually establishing residence. Would moving back in this manner clear all this up, or would I need to actually have a job. I guess the crux of my question is do I need to do exactly as they told me, or are the options that were present in the forms still available to me? I am very confused, and since I was not in the interview it makes it even more confusing.

Oddly I thought (I am not sure if those requirements above are tailored to my exact case), they mentioned home mortgages and rental agreements, yet I sent them a letter with my father's signature and he outlined his willingness to let me stay there. Does this not qualify? Are they ignoring it? Are they asking for a rental agreement from my father? Was this signed letter not proof enough for them?

I would really rather stay with my wife, and fly over with her. Maybe this is off the table now since they are asking me to have a job, and I can't get a job without a flight and a start date, don't want a flight without a visa. I would think living (flying back) in the US would satisfy this domicile requirement, but am unsure. I don't really understand why they tell you that you can do things on these forms, and then you can't. I am not currently working, but I had plenty of wiggle room to satisfy their financial requirements via assets. If this is not going to satisfy them, why put it as an option on the forms? I just don't get it at all. I would have taken another path if I knew this option, was not going to work.

I would appreciate any and all advice on this, thank you very much.

Yes, 0 income. You will need to sponsor her either on assets, or get a co-sponsor to stand guarantoor for your wife.

Thanks.

One more question. I do have the assets to sponsor her. If you meet this threshold level of assets they are asking for, are you pretty much guaranteed to satisfy this requirement? I ask because I could possibly get a co-sponsor (would rather not), but I wasn't sure how iron clad it is of you satisfy their requirements with assets.

I don't know how it's the most correct way to fill this out, but I can tell you what I did and what worked for me. (I also was a DCF filer). In Part 4 (Info on the Sponsor), under Sponsor's Mailing address I listed my German address. Under Sponsor's Place of Residence, I listed my U.S. address (I guess you would list your domicile/your mother's address here), and under Other Information where it asks for your country of domicile, I put U.S.

That makes sense because your are attempting to be domiciled in the US, so I think it is right to put the US address under place of residence. That would support your domicile requirement I would think. Yet, if they need to send you something, they have got your current, or mailing address. That should just simply be where you are currently. I agree with you.

I just lost my job a month ago, which is a big part of the reason I want to move back to the states with my Thai wife. I am not really understanding this current income question. If I understand correctly, all that matters is that you have a job. Your income from the recent past should not be listed here at all?

Anyway, I suppose I should just put 0 for current individual annual income, and unemployed. Any help would be appreciated. I am sure I am going to have to find a joint sponsor, which isn't ideal for me, but possible.

Thanks.