Thatsright

7 hours ago, eliottreid said:

We were both there. Congratulations! Still doesn’t feel real that just getting that piece of paper makes you a citizen now. Maybe I’ll feel it when I get my passport lol.

I like to believe it’s really the solemn oath that makes you a citizen. It means a lot. The rest is just admin stuff. 

4 hours ago, OldUser said:

Naturalisation is offered by British and Aussies, I hope officer offered naturalization.

😂

2 hours ago, Magi Stark said:

Holy cow! OK. Thanks for the clarification. I'm also doing a name change. I had no idea you have to wait months to get it done! I thought it was like getting married, just sign the document and you're done, lol.  UGH! 

It depends on your field office. The extra wait can be as short as 4 weeks…and as long as, well, I have heard horror stories like 6 months…but ~3 months seems pretty common. 

The officer was actually trying to gently sell me on just going for the Naturalisation since I could have had that the same day, downstairs. I said heck no, I have waited for 11 years, those measly 3 months ain’t gonna make me drop my new name! He laughed and understood, and 3 1-2 months of exact wait I got. Doesn’t even bother me. The deed is done. The stress is over. 

4 minutes ago, Magi Stark said:

Wait, so you had the oath ceremony without the name change? I thought the name change had to come before the oath ceremony so the CON can have the new name.

Nah I was just sitting in the background watching it/them. My ceremony incl name change will take place in June. It looks like the reason for me having had to watch those was that they tried to fix the problem in the system and needed to keep me entertained or something. It also resulted in an email sent to me with today’s date for the ceremony which then got canceled and I got a new notification with the correct date. 

Today I had my interview. The wait was the worst (almost 2h)! The interview itself was both pleasant and formal at once, hard to describe. We kept going off on tangents about all sorts of stuff and then kept going to back to business all serious. Basically, if you know your civic answers, can write one simple sentence and haven’t become a criminal in the meantime you’re good. The rest is just the repeat of the questions you have already answered in your application. They did make a mistake in my oath processing info though which resulted in me having to sit through 3-4 low profile oath ceremonies downstairs as an observer lol. I did enjoy the happy faces though, it was quite touching.

Since I have a name change on the menu I will need a judge and have therefore to wait 3 months but they gave me a letter with the date and place right there and then. I feel extremely relieved and happy since the rest is just a formality. My Oath ceremony will take place on June 26 with the added benefit of it being a much bigger ceremony and in a court room with judge and all.
 

Bottomline: Don’t fret the interview. If you made it so far it’s really just a formality where they merely check if you have picked up at least some English and also if you know the most basic stuff about the US. I had studied for it, of course, but I would have passed it even if I hadn’t. 

Question on civics questions. Did you guys study for all answers when “name one” wasn’t specifically stated? In that case, can we name any or do we have to name all of them?  

Example:

2. What does the Constitution do?

▪ sets up the government

▪ defines the government

▪ protects basic rights of Americans

Do I have to name all three or just one of those points?

5 hours ago, SalishSea said:

The Kiwi is a citizen!   🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸.   Applied 11/29/24 under the 5 year rule.   
 

He brought all our tax transcripts and civil documents, but the officer didn’t need to look at any of them.   He was asked 6 questions, got all right.   
 

The timing of having an afternoon appointment in Seattle was great, we waited about half an hour for the oath ceremony.   Sitting there as a born American, I realized that many don’t ever get to attend one-  it was an honor, and so interesting.   Everyone was SO happy ❤️🇺🇸.

Congrats!!!

Pretty cool when they can do it on the same day. I’ll have a name change on the menu which means I’ll prob need to wait for a court ceremony. 

Thanks. That’s very helpful and eases my mind.
 

I actually have a German passport. I just happened to emigrate to the US from the UK where I used to live for many years. I know that makes my country of origin still Germany, of course, but I had entered it here that way 10 years ago without thinking much about it and just never corrected it.
 

Not sure about the UK embassy/requirements but the German ones are a nightmare. Just getting an appointment (which they require even for simple renewals) is really tricky. Seriously considering ditching the German citizenship altogether. Will see. As long as the agent doesn’t send me home with my expired passport I’m good. 

On my interview letter it says to bring my existing passport in addition to my green card. No problem, of course, but my passport has expired in Sep 24. Currently in process of renewing (shooting for dual citizenship) but it’s really difficult getting even an appointment  so there’s no way I’ll be able to get an appointment at the embassy AND a new passport before my USCIS interview.
 

Do you guys think the expired passport will do, since I’m (hopefully) becoming an US citizen anyway in a couple of weeks? 

19 minutes ago, MaceMk said:

Congratulations!🎉🥳

Awesome!

41 minutes ago, kmr5 said:

I also spoke with Emma and they said that my interview has been requested to be scheduled but hasn’t been scheduled yet. Does that mean it’s also in queue or just something they say to anyone the moment you submit your application? Lol

Since when has your case been on being reviewed? 

Hi guys,

So the status of my case is:

Case Is Being Actively Reviewed By USCIS

Since Dec 4. California. Id I remember right it’s the field office in San Bernardino. Anyone else around here still waiting for the interview appt? It seems a lot of people have received the next update within a month. 

5 minutes ago, MaceMk said:

It's interesting how they reuse years old biometrics for some and ask others to redo them within a year. My husband had biometrics done March this year for the I751 and had to do them again yesterday for the N400. Then status changed same day that it's being actively reviewed. 

That is bizarre. I wouldn’t be surprised if they lose these things on occasion. Or maybe all the various field offices have different procedures 🤷🏻‍♂️ In any event, I hope you guys get your interview date soon. 

On 12/11/2024 at 12:40 PM, hazy123 said:

I think it's going pretty fast overall. I have multiple friends who have gotten citizenship in the last few months within 4-5 months. I did my biometrics in 2018 and they have been reusing them since, in case that helps! Hopefully, you'll get yours moved to interview soon!

Well, turns out the online updates are somewhat unreliable indeed. Just had a letter in the snail mail saying they are going to reuse my biometrics. Never had any such notification on the online portal nor by email. I guess that has knocked off some significant waiting time. Who knows, maybe I’m also one of those lucky ones that get processed on 4-5 months after all.

13 minutes ago, cjmc123 said:

Thank you, I am in los Angeles 

Interesting. I’m only a stone throw away from you. The field office is in San Bernardino. My case takes longer. Even getting to the reviewing now status took 9 days. I assume it’s because they don’t seem to be able to reuse my biometrics after all those year. At that pace I have a feeling the estimated 9 months might turn out to be true for me. 

On 12/1/2024 at 7:43 PM, Thatsright said:

Well hello again, it must have been nearly 10 years since I’ve hung out here 😃
 

I had never planned on it but I had recently decided to do it anyway and filed my N-400 on 11/25 in CA.  Got the receipt right away but no “reuse of biometrics” nor the “is under review” message. I’m not surprised as it’s been over 7 years since I’ve received my permanent green card and have therefore not had any contact with the USCIS other than change of address. I’m filing under the 5 year rule and the estimated processing time online is 9 months. 

Status changed to:

Case Is Being Actively Reviewed By USCIS

9 days after receipt of case. 

Well hello again, it must have been nearly 10 years since I’ve hung out here 😃
 

I had never planned on it but I had recently decided to do it anyway and filed my N-400 on 11/25 in CA.  Got the receipt right away but no “reuse of biometrics” nor the “is under review” message. I’m not surprised as it’s been over 7 years since I’ve received my permanent green card and have therefore not had any contact with the USCIS other than change of address. I’m filing under the 5 year rule and the estimated processing time online is 9 months. 

Holy moly, According to the USCIS website the Cali center is currently processing Oct 21 2016 and the processing time has gone up to 18-20 months! 

6 minutes ago, Tonald said:

I got my I-551 stamp today and I didn’t go with my extension letter, I didn’t even Receive my extension letter bcos of change of address I did in post office and I guess the letter was returned back to uscis just go with ur receipt Num and ur expired go, should be good

Ah awesome, thanks. Did you do a walk in or have you had an appointment?

Hello, I haven’t been on here in a while. I’m in California.

As a May 2017 filer (sorry for the hijack) I did the biometrics and received the confirmation letter pretty soon after filing last year. Well, in the meantime I managed to misplace the extension letter when we moved (address updated with USCIS) Since my anniversary date comes closer (July 4) and I still didn’t hear anything back from them I rang USCIS today to at least try to obtain my reference number of the extension letter. I actually got it without much trouble so I punched it in the online status service. To my surprise it just popped up as received in May 2017 - not even pending or processing, oh boy! Now my question: 

- I can’t get an appointment with the local field office. If I attempt a walk in will they still give me a stamp even though I only have the receipt number rather than the actual letter? 

- It’s been over 12 months and the status still only shows “Case Received”. Is this normal?

Thanks for any input! 

Question to all UKers. Any idea how long it takes for the passport and packet to be returned? Website says 10-15 working days. Is this a disclaimer or does it really take as long as 3 weeks? Any knowledge of recent experiences would be appreciated.

I wished I knew. Planning anything right now is a pain in the ###. You are not supposed to arrange anything in advance but booking a flight on short notice is so bloody expensive. I'm very much inclined to book it anyway for

7-10 days max after the interview. The thought of having to wait for what three or four weeks after getting the visa is not something I'm planning to do.

I just called to check and see if by chance they had an interview date for us. She told me that they had just scheduled it earlier this morning. She said we will receive the email within a week or so.

We only just received our CC email on 4/24, so it was a surprise to me to have an interview date today. I'm not complaining though!

Haha, I just did the same and got the same answer. My interview date is 06/19! I'm gleaming! Good luck!!

Just called the NVC, long shot style. Our interview date is scheduled for 06/19!! YAAAAAAASSSS!!!

The other UK nutcases here might be interested in:

CC date 04/21, confirmation email 04/28, no interview letter yet. She operator said it'll be with us within a week though.

At this point I would like to add that I never had a nasty operator on, they were always helpful and polite.

Can you pease update the sheet.

Called this morning and got an interview date of June 17th!!!

Well done!! So did you have an email and then called or did you just call them on a hunch, without prior notification about the interview date? Our CC date is 04/21, so 4 days after your's but we've had the 'CC complete waiting for interview date blablah' email only today so I'm not sure how far we are off.