Starkilla09

1 hour ago, Ck207 said:

Hi guys, 

So I went to an infopass this morning with the hope to find out when will they schedule my N400 since I passed my i751. They scheduled it for tomorrow and asked if I am ready. I said Hell yeah, so my interview is tomorrow at 12:00pm. Chance for a same day oath ceremony? 

That's some good news! I doubt if you'll be able to do same day oath though since the cut off time is so close.

4 hours ago, AHG said:

Finally.

Congrats Starkilla09. Best of luck with the N-400, hopefully you get your oath scheduled soon.

Thank you! Hopefully you hear something about yours as well soon enough.

2 hours ago, Curve said:

So happy for you!!

Thank you!

I just got a notice this morning that my I-751 has been finally approved. What a relief to finally get this out of the way after 878 days since 12/19/2016 when it was filed. Hopefully my N-400 should be taken care of now with this done, as it was recommended for approval during my joint I-751/N-400 Interview in 02/27/2019. @Ck207 any news about your N-400 being rescheduled? Heaven knows how much I’ve suffered and been drained emotionally on the hands of these people. I can’t wait to be done and forget about this nightmare agency.

32 minutes ago, AHG said:

Well, I just got back home from my interview, unfortunately it didn't go through as I expected it, nor similar to the others on this forum.

My officer unfortunately was very dry, intimidating and made me very anxious. So here's how it went:

My appointment was at 9:45 am, I arrived along with my wife at around 8:45 to be there early instead of late due to May Day. They didn't allow us to check in before 9:15 which was something I expected. At 9:15 checked in and went upstairs to the second floor and waited. My lawyer arrived around 9:40 and my number was called at 10:05. 

The officer greeted us at the door and showed us where to go, she was very strict and didn't even smile the whole time. She asked me to sit down and answer her questions, which I did and passed the English and the civics test without any issues. The officer asked to start reviewing the application, which I gladly did. During the whole time even when she asked me about my name, it felt that she was challenging me, which made me feel very uncomfortable. We got to the yes/no questions, and we started reviewing the application and the answers that she had on her screen did not match with the hard copy that I submitted to her and the one that I can see uploaded onto the USCIS account. When my lawyer interrupted to tell her that what she has are different, she simply said that's what I can see here and not even once she looked at the hardcopy that she has in front of her. Anyhow, after we finished the application review she told me that I passed the test, but she can't make a decision on my case as of now. So told us to leave and if she needs anything they will be in contact.

I don't know how I feel about this, my lawyer said that it went well and hopefully I will hear from them with the Oath request but as of now nothing can be done. So I will just continue to wait on the next steps, which is not a happy feeling. 

Anyhow, I hope that no one of you go through the same experience and I hope that everyone gets accepted on the spot. Best of luck all and I will update all of you on my status once I get hopefully an approval from them.

Don’t be too hard on yourself it’s normal to have interviews like that. Just keep an eye on your status, chances are it will change to approved soon. Not everyone gets the recommendation for approval same day as some officers don’t have authority and a supervisor will be the one to cross the final t’s or dot the i’s.

Provided there is nothing really complicated with your application you’ll be approved. Many Vjer’s here have had a similar experience and later approved in like a week or so. Good luck!

19 minutes ago, El79 said:

No, that is not my officer name. I dont think mine was junior officer or anything like that. He was professional and experienced.

Like I said he asked me lots of questions and on the end he give me paper and told me he need to wait clearance. So we waiting 

I just don't know whay my status still say "interview scheduled "

Then you have another person in that case. My status also says "interview scheduled" and it will normally stay like that until it's adjudicated. I guess yours wouldn't take that long since it's an entirely different scenario maybe a week or couple of weeks at most.

14 hours ago, El79 said:

IO just told me he need to wait for clearance. I'm ok with waiting.

There is no laying or hiding information so no space for worries.  It's just process

If you don't mind me asking do you remember your officer's name? Was his name Michael Macindoe? The reason I'm asking is because if he's the one who interviewed you you'll be in the same predicament as I am. Apparently he's still in the process of re-gaining his security access through a re-verification process so he can start adjudicating petitions again. So essentially any person he interviews gets stuck in limbo with him till he re-gains his access which really sucks. My joint petitions have been stuck with this guy now for 2 months since February 27th when I last had my joint I-751/N-400 interview.

Just now, grapenoodle said:

This is what I had thought/hoped from my research! Thanks so much. 

You’re welcome good luck!

Based on your circumstances and since you plan to have this child in the UK for financial reasons, your best bet is to leave the U.S. as soon as possible so you don’t clock 180 days of unlawful presence triggering a 3 year bar to re-entry.

That will complicate your whole immigration process requiring you to have an approved I-601A waiver before your immigrant visa can be issued overseas. Leave as soon as you can and have your husband file the I-130 ASAP to jump start the process. Your overstay won’t be an ineligibility in your immigrant visa provided it’s under 180 days.

This I’m assuming you have no other ineligibilities such as criminal records or drug offenses etc that will make you otherwise ineligible for an immigrant visa. One thing you must know is your ESTA privileges are gone with your overstay and you will need to wait in the UK until you get your immigrant visa which will take roughly 12 to 14 months.

On 4/17/2019 at 2:21 PM, Curve said:

wowowwowowow!  What are the chances of you seeing him today!  Congrats.. this is good news.

 

@Ck207 congrats to you also, and good luck with your interview!

Thanks curve. It’s a little reassuring keeping fingers crossed.

11 hours ago, Ck207 said:

I hope that things will go well with you. At least there is nothing to do with your application and more with the agent side

Ya that’s little assuring knowing my case isn’t just stuck in an endless loop. Keeping fingers crossed and hoping he gains access to the system sooner to complete it. It’s just unfortunate that I’m traveling next month and now have to spend close to $300 for a UK visa when I could’ve sworn in since and travel for free. The thing is you just never know who’s gonna be picking up your file.

Schedule an info pass appointment at USCIS.gov and visit your USCIS local field office with your passport so they can stamp it with a temporary I-551 stamp. This stamp will serve as evidence of your lawful permanent resident status for all intents and purposes such as travel and employment while USCIS processes your I-90. Make sure you carry proof of having filed an I-90 though for a replacement of your green card.

21 hours ago, Ck207 said:

SO Pheww, I feel so much better going to an infopass today. I went there and was assisted by one of the interview officers. I guess they short in staffs so took him down to help. 

 

He was so helpful. He told me that it should have never sent to my old address but luckily that I went to an infopass. There is a high chance I will be interviewed for my N400 too. He ran upstairs and talked to the higher officer, I don't know what they told him but he said officially I will be interviewed only for what I assigned for but if I asked I will probably get an interview for both. 

 

He think what happened was, N400 does not have a time slot to for scheduling, they are being scheduled by computer. They scheduled me for I751 and the computer scheduled me for N400 so that's why it was descheduled. He also mentioned that lots of people start filling N400 before they adjust their i751 so many local offices do not adapt quite well with it yet. So, there has been a lot of deschedule happening. 

 

He said the interview should be easy. We will just bring out join bank accounts (checking, saving, credit card), join lease, join car title, join tax return for the last 4 years. Our ticket to probably 50 trips we took together. The pictures that we will arrange by timeline. Our recent trip from Europe and our Golden Retriever pictures. 

 

I will keep you guys updated after I attend the interview. Thank you for calming me down guys. You guys are the best. 

 

That's nice to know hope everything goes smoothly for you on your interview. I was there today to get another I-551 stamp since I'm traveling to the UK next month and behold the officer who interviewed me was there as well at the front desk. I had a personal letter prepared for him about my prolonged pending I-751/N-400 situation and didn't hesitate to go to his kiosk after I got done with another officer. I approached him and he immediately recognized me and apologized saying he never forgot about my case. He said he had to go through a re-verification process at the office for him to be able to approve I-751's on the system again since the system kicked him out months ago. He said the process takes a little time that's the reason why he has been unable to approve my I-751 and subsequently my N-400 as well. He mentioned my case is at the top of his file for approval that there's nothing wrong with it and since he's the one who interviewed me he has to be the one to approve it. He said his re-verification access process is about done and everything should be ready this week and he will approve both cases. Told him I'm keeping fingers crossed and hopes he remembers to do so and thanked him before leaving. I hope it gets done before this month ends so I can get my life back and not deal with this agency again.

1 hour ago, Ck207 said:

Yeah I know. I am so frustrated. Do you think I should hire a lawyer to present with us at the interview? My husband will be there. 

No, you don’t need to as of yet.

21 minutes ago, Ck207 said:

I have another infopass today just to make sure the interview is correct and it will only be I751. I am so confused with the entire process. I understand they might want to adjust the I751 before N400. But the officer I talked to on the phone. He asked me to be prepared as it could also be a combo interview.

 

i need some clarifications. This is taking too much time and money from us. Not to mention they raised their parking money to $8

That’s USCIS for you! By now it’s officially the worse federal agency in this country. Had it not been you did this info pass your I-751 would’ve been denied for a no show interview jeopardizing your immigration status in its very core. Someone there thought it was a brilliant idea to send your interview notice to your old address on file. Dealing with this agency is like walking on a sword edge, Hypnos was right when he said they’re run by trained chimps. My advice is take your spouse with you to your interview. If a combo interview happens it’s all good it’s easy anyway just basic relationship stuff with your spouse. Good luck!

11 minutes ago, AHG said:

Based on you and CK207's experiences, it seems the issues are arising from the I757 and not the N400. 

I think you should definitely start a case with them  regarding your file, I mean waiting for an interview is different from going to the interview and waiting for next steps. These should not take this much time. 
I think you should both lawyer up and see what can be done. 

Yes the I-751 is the elephant in the room that needs adjudication to clear this mess. That's why I'm trying to make sure it gets done so I can move on with my life. It's so frustrating considering the fact that I filed this stuff since December 2016 and it's still on the way. If not of the backlog that plagued California Service Center shortly after that election cycle this could've been approved since way back. It sat there for 2 and a half years on a desk only to be sent to National Benefits Center in May 2018 so I could be adjudicated with my N-400 in Seattle and here I am now with this mess.

2 hours ago, Ck207 said:

I can’t believe this either. I meant it only has been 2 weeks but I feel like forever. I am going to the infopass on The 15th that will mark a month. 

I can’t believe they still have not yet scheduled your oath ceremony. What is the hold up? You are right, they usually scare when it come to civilian suing the institution. I hope it won’t have to come to that point for you. Have you tried the emergency number?

That number is no longer in service since that was in 2008. Last I checked at info pass the officer looked in the system and told me my cases are under review. This "review" from what it is is normally a post interview occurrence that can happen where your case just sits on a supervisor's desk waiting signature to be cleared. It normally takes 3 to 6 weeks for most cases or could be a little longer. There are 2 San Diego October 2018 filers who also had pending I-751's and N-400's and had the same predicament post combo interview. The only difference is both had luck and their statuses changed after roughly 3 weeks while I'm still entering the 6th week now. The N-652 approval letter also says you can write to the officer regarding your case in writing as well which I have done and will deliver on April 17th there in person when I go for my info pass appointment. It also gives you that 120 day option by law to take further action and request your case before U.S. districts court if USCIS fails to make a decision by then. Hopefully it won't get to that but either way I'll have no option that to do is if it does anyway.

22 minutes ago, AHG said:

@ck207 do you have a lawyer helping you with your case? If not, it might be a good idea to have a lawyer look into this. I totally agree that it hasn't been that long, but obviously something needs to happen. 

 

@Starkilla09 what did the officer say when you finished your interview? was there any additional inquiries/documentation needed?

N-400 was recommended for approval and he told me congratulations. He even said I'd missed the mark or else I could've done same oath that day since my interview was at 1:30pm. I was given the form N-652 print out with the both options ticked indicating I've passed the English and U.S. history and government tests and application has been recommended for approval. As for my I-751 officer said he was going to approve the very next day in the morning since he had to use a different system to do so. My guess is he didn't approve the next day as promised and now my case is stuck in purgatory on someone's desk since there's a mechanism in place to prevent oath ceremonies from being scheduled unless the I-751 has been approved. I brought my spouse and our son and also had a giant folder of new evidence spanning for almost 2 years since I sent I-751 as well. Officer said I already sent more than enough and took only the most recent tax transcripts for 2018 and 2017 and said he didn't need to interview my wife. I asked if he wanted more since I already had them but he insisted he's good with what I had sent already ( which was also quite a lot though). Since then no action on either cases and status updates still reflect case was transferred for my I-751 and interview was scheduled for N-400.

On 4/5/2019 at 11:16 AM, Ck207 said:

I am so frustrated with all of this de-schedule situation. They have not yet rescheduled me. Do you guys have any suggestions what I should do? 

Can't believe you haven't still been rescheduled yet, they normally do so a few weeks after the initial date was cancelled. Again we're dealing with one of the worse federal agencies in this country with their uncertainties so nothing is set on stone with them. Try sending a message through the portal in your account to see if an officer can relay a message about your case or you can equally try calling as well. It's been 5 weeks post interview at my end and my cases are still moot with radio silence. I've done all the best I could to nudge them with info pass, congressional inquiry and 2 online case status inquiries. The only thing left is sending a personal letter to the officer who did my interview, which I'll do on the 17th when I go to request another I-551 since I'll be traveling to the UK again next month and my current stamp expires May 17th. I have decided to start my visa application as I can't confidently rely on them again. At this point I've given up since by law they have up to 120 days post interview to make their final decision so my hands are basically tied as of now. Once that elapses on June 27th and still no update I'll be visiting them to see a supervisor to serve him/her my preliminary writ of mandamus lawsuit against USCIS to get my case out of their hands to be adjudicated in district court as required by law. This is the part they fear the most like a ghost and will jump to adjudicate your case like there's no tomorrow to avoid it.

2 hours ago, Ck207 said:

Please do it! Keep us updated. This is unacceptable what they did. I just submitted the out of processing timeline form for my i751. I should expect something on April 16. The person I talked to yesterday said I will be reschedule in a few weeks. Tbh, I don’t really trust what they said. I will keep pressing it

I just did a Congressional inquiry with Congresswoman Jayapal. I'm ready to take this issue head on with USCIS and will keep mounting the pressure until they finish this stuff so I can move on with my life. I just figured out an October 2018 filer had same identical predicament as mine. After putting some heat he was finally scheduled after 3 weeks post interview. Your rescheduling should happen in a few weeks, it's one of those things they can be a little consistent with for the most part.

23 minutes ago, Sara L said:

Oh wow 6 weeks? I thought it might be just few days. If it will be my case as well, maybe this will be better for me, so I can just do the oath after I come back. Thank you so much for sharing! 

Based on the time your interview is scheduled there's no way you'll do a same day oath. It will have to be scheduled later and the day is normally several weeks after the initial interview day. All this is also assuming you'll be immediately recommended for approval as well on the day of your interview and any post interview reviews are done in a timely manner. Even if everything plays out perfectly it will be several weeks before you can take you oath of allegiance to finalize your process. For the meantime though you're still a permanent resident and can travel with your green card and passport. Try to keep your trip short though so you have ample time to get back and complete your swearing in if not you'll have to reschedule.

10 hours ago, Ck207 said:

OMG, I can't believe this happens to you. This is ridiculous, have you try to file a complain or ask them to expedite your process. There is apparently an emergency line for situations like interview cancelation, but also worth just to call and see what you could find out. Also, contact your congressman. Please read here https://forums.immigration.com/threads/citizenship-interview-canceled.260255/page-3. It is worth to give it a shot. 

The very first few days when I didn't hear anything I immediately sent did a case outside normal processing time request and was told to expect a reply by today the March 25th which as usual nothing. I also booked that info pass appointment as a second line of attack which I did attend on last week and was told my petitions are under review. I expressed my dissatisfaction because of the lengthy time my I-751 has been pending since 2016 first at California Service Center and later on at NBC after the transfer in May 2018 to be adjudicated together with this N-400. She said the best she will do is email the officer who did the interview and I don't even know if she even did it or not. I'll definitely call that number and also involve a congress person simultaneously. 

2 hours ago, MiaK said:

Can someone please help me make sure how to apply for a passport?

 

I had my interview a week ago and the ceremony date was scheduled. Now I was reading

https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/naturalization-ceremonies

 

Under “Apply for a U.S. Passport/Passport Card,” it says “You will need to submit your original certificate of naturalization or citizenship AND a photocopy when applying for your U.S. passport.” 

 

Do you really need to send the original certificate of naturalization? Will they mail it back to you with your passport? I’m so worried about sending the original via mail😥

Yes you have to send in your original naturalization certificate when applying for a U.S. passport or passport card so they can verify your citizenship status. They will mail it back to you separately and it will arrive shortly in it's own package after your passport/passport card arrives as well.

1 hour ago, Ck207 said:

Infopass is where you could make an appointment at the local office to ask question about your application.

 

i went to one this morning, they said it could be because of my i751 file is not at the office yet or could be they overbooked. In the system, they said, my i751 is being scheduled so I should get another appointment soon. 

 

Seattle officers in my opinion is incompetent 

Sorry about your unfortunate predicament hopefully they schedule you soon enough. Dealing with USCIS especially in this current environment with nationwide backlogs has shown how inept and messy this agency is indeed. Just when you think you've made one step forward they throw you 3 steps backwards. I had my joint I-751/N-400 interview late February with tons of evidence and was even there with my wife and our son. Officer recommended approval for N-400 told me I already submitted so much and didn't need any new paperwork and promised to approve I-751 next morning. I was ecstatic and left thinking I was finally done with these guys then nope silence up till now. Went for an info pass appointment last week and was told petitions are still under review so essentially no oath since they have to adjudicate my I-751 first. Info pass officer promised to send an email to the officer who interviewed me to about my case. Mind you my I-751 is now pending for 27 months! I filed in December 2016 for crying out loud and I should at least have my 10 year green card now, so I can even live my life and not happen to take my kid out of school and go there to get stamps every couple of months. I have an international trip coming up in May and I have to go there again to get my 5th I-551 stamp so I can travel! I'll also need to apply for visas just to be safe in case my oath ceremony isn't scheduled by then.

On 3/14/2019 at 6:36 AM, holidaywkhcx said:

Hello! Just an update.. My wife and I went to i751 interview yesterday with pending n400. The interview went very smoothly and officer was very nice & easygoing.. It only took 15 mins, officer said he will recommend for approval for i751 and we should be receiving a green card in 30 days. Also, he said we should receive a interview letter for n 400 soon. During the interview, he took my wife's conditional green card. As of today, online status still shows case was received at local office.. How long it takes to update online status ? Will they transfer our i751 back to Vermont for green card production ?

Hard to tell to be honest and I'm in the same predicament as you. I also had my I-751 pending and went to my N-400 interview on Feb 27th. My wife and son waited outside while I did the whole combined I-751/N-400 interview. Combo interview was great and N-400 was recommended for approval and officer even gave me print out sheet. Officer just took recent tax return transcripts said I already sent a lot of evidence and promised to approve I-751 the very next day in a different system. Since then no change in either statuses and no approval. Did an info pass appointment and went there yesterday and was told they're still reviewing both. The most I could do was make the info pass officer email the officer handling my case about my issue. There're 2 October filers who had same experience and they were approved in 2 and 3 weeks later respectively after doing some inquiries and nudging them. Hopefully this gets done by the end of this month fingers crossed.

4 hours ago, AHG said:

Does anyone know how long it's taking for the oath ceremony in Seattle after someone passes the interview?

I thought I read it somewhere, but couldn't find it today. At one point it used to happen on the same day, is this still the case with all the backlog?

Seattle office does 2 same day oaths at 10am and 2:30pm respectively. Your chances of getting one will depend when your interview is scheduled and if you’re recommended for approval at the spot. If you have an early morning interview before 10am and are recommended for approval, chances are you’ll get a same day oath otherwise you’ll have to be scheduled for an oath later.