Rob and Cathy

Thank you all so much for your congratulations!

Yes it is wonderful to finally be done.

We do still need to get Rob's US passport. We just wanted to hold on to that Citizenship Certificate for a little while before sending it with the passport application. It really makes me nervous to have to do that and rely on the US postal system and passport service to get it back to us safely.

Best wishes to those of you still on your journeys.

Someone asked how long it took to get here......I can't remember if the question was for start to finish or just the naturalization process. But I'll briefly give both:

First visa was filed for in Dec '03 and received in Feb '04. Rob moved here in Mar '04

Naturalization was filed for in Mar '07 and ceremony was Oct '07

Hope that helps!

Rob en Cathy

Thanks to all who have helped with our questions along the way.

Today Rob had his citizenship ceremony and is now a US Citizen!!!!!

There were 50 in his "class" and they came from all over the world. Which was amazing to me as we are in what I consider to be "po-dunk USA".

The ceremony was very nice, very solemn however the judge did allow family members wanting pictures to come up front beside where he was in order to take photos of applicants as they introduced themselves and took their oath.

There was also a luncheon held afterwards for new citizens which was very nice.

We are happy our journey through immigration and naturalization is now complete.

Our best wishes to those who are still in process.

rob en Cathy

Rob had about a month in between fingerprinting and interview notice.

And about another month from letter to interview.

Then he received his notice for ceremony about 3 months later and ceremony was a month after letter.

I kinda have mixed feelings on this topic.

In looking at it from an American point of view, I would want those who become citizens of this country to swear allegiance to it. At least for as long as they intend on living & working here as citizens. If it's good enough to make a life here then it's good enough to love, defend, protect and be loyal to it.

However, I can understand how a person would feel having to renounce their birth country.

I think I would have to look at it like this.....I would swear my allegiance for at least as long as I hold that citizenship and make my life here because a person can always return to their homeland if this isn't acceptable to them.

If I were to immigrate to another country that would open it's doors to me & welcome me, I would feel obligated to do so. I would feel obligated to adapt myself to their customs as well as learn their language. I would not expect that country to adjust or change the rules/laws just for me.

Just my take on things.

Thank you both for your replies.

I found a phone number for the US District Court Clerk's Office where the Ceremony is to take place and they told me that since this occasion will be held in a US District Court Office, the proper attire for men in a courtroom is suit and tie!!

Off to the mall we go!

Yes I am a little behind on this topic, I realize.

My apologies.

I currently suffer from my own empty nest syndrome. And that gaping hole in my heart is more like the grand canyon than Kansas.

She, however, is at the "other" college in the state. Goooo Herd

They will make it through this phase of their lives and so will we.

sorry i totally messed up that upload thing

Yes I am a little behind on this topic, I realize.

My apologies.

I currently suffer from my own empty nest syndrome. And that gaping hole in my heart is more like the grand canyon than Kansas.

She, however, is at the "other" college in the state. Goooo Herd

They will make it through this phase of their lives and so will we.

Rob received his notice/summons to appear for his Naturalization Oath Ceremony on October 1.

On it, it states that proper attire should be worn.

My question is this, what exactly IS proper attire???

Easy for me as a spectator, I can wear a dress but what should Rob wear?

Can he wear dress slacks and a shirt or should we go buy a suit?

Help !!!!! ???????? Anyone who's already had their ceremony that can tell me what people there were wearing?????

Thank you!!!!

Rob and Cathy

I would advise disclosing anything you have done - misdemeanor or anything.

We even put a traffic ticket on there.

And at his interview, the Officer did ask him about it.

I wouldn't want to take a chance.

And I agree, if you want it clarified completely, seek out a "immigration" lawyer who will know immigration law specifically and not just a lawyer.

This is too important to use a "play on words" with the questions.

Good luck!

Cathy

Congratulations

We mailed Rob's application on March 14.

Did his fingerprinting in April.

In May we got the Notice of when his Interview would be.

June 19 was his interview.

So a total of 3 months. Not bad!!!

Don't know when the Oath Ceremony would be but I am guessing in a month or 2 maybe????

oops sorry

I clicked on the wrong "reply" button with that last one.

Hopefully you understand anyway.

Sorry

We just put them in the order of the Document Checklist you can print out from the Guide to Naturalization and used a large binder clip at the top.

Then put it all in a plastic folder and mailed it inl.

Good luck!!!!!!!

Rob n Cathy

Rob had his Naturalization Interview today and he is approved!!!!!!!

The whole process took 20 minutes!

The officer was very nice and chatted with him about a few things on his application and general things such as traffic tickets and coffee. (We are thinking this was to see how well he speaks English) He only had to write one sentence in English and it was this....."Our house is very clean."

She then got a printout from the computer of 10 Civics questions which the computer chose at random and asked him these questions. It seems like he got the easy ones such as.....How many states in the Union (United States)?; What color is the American Flag?; Who is the President?; Who becomes President if the President dies?; Name one of the amendments that guarantees voting rights.; What are the first 10 amendments to the Constitution called?; How many original states were there?; How long is a member of the House of Representatives elected?

She asked him the one about who is President twice and he can't remember the last question she asked. lol

And that was it. She gave him a paper with the date, her name and a checkmark beside the part that says...."Congratulations! At this time you are recommended for final approval as you have met the requirements for Naturalization........" and that he will be notified by letter of when and where to appear for the Oath Ceremony.

So now we wait for the Ceremony and then getting his US passport.

Rob n Cathy

Rob was asked 10 questions from the study material.

The officer had a printout of the 10 questions selected randomly by the computer.

Good luck!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

We applied for Rob's as soon as we could. But mainly because you can never be too sure when all the rules for immigration and citizenship will be changing. Right now, he can have dual citizenship and we didn't want to take a chance on that being no longer possible.

As for Vermont Service Center......they've been pretty quick for us I'd say. We mailed his N400 March 16. Got notice and did his fingerprinting April 18. Just this week got notice of his interview appt which is scheduled for June 19. So God willing he passes.....that would be a total of 3 months! Not sure how long it will be after interview til the Oath Ceremony but I think that's pretty quick really.

Cathy n Rob

Hi Everyone!

March 15 we sent in Rob's N400.

April 18 we had his fingerprinting done.

Today, May 18, we received notice of his appointment for his Naturalization Interview, which will be Jund 19.

Anyone able to share their experiences of their interview??

Just curious as to how it goes.

We know there is a civics test and and english test and we assume some type of interview.

Would love to hear your stories.

THANKS!

Rob n Cathy

We received our first Notice of Action today from Homeland Security on Rob's citizenship application.

I says that they have received our payment. (I already knew that coz the check already cleared our bank account. lol)

It also says that the application is in proces but has the following exceptions......

"Missing Evidence(s) - your application was missing evidence(s) that you will need to provide at the time of your naturalization interview. You will be notified under separate notice of the necessary evidence(s) that you will be required to bring to your interview. Do not submit the evidence(s) by mail."

Then it also goes on to say check your birthdate and address & notify them if anything is changed.

It says we will be notified of the date & place of your interview when it has been scheduled by the local USCIS office. And that it should be within 365 days from this notice.

And in a tiny paragraph at the bottom it says this.......

All naturalization applicants who were between the ages of 14-75 at the time of filing must have their fingerprints taken at a USCIS Application Support Center (ASC) so they can be submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a criminal history check. If we received your application without a fingerprint card (FD-258), or your fingerprint card was received on or after December 3, 1997, you will need to go to an ASC to be fingerprinted. Do not have your fingerprints taken anywhere else. You will receive a notice that will provide you with information about when and where to go to have your fingerprints taken, and what youwill need to bring with you.

So anyway, my whole questions are these.....

I followed the Guide to Naturalization Checklist to the letter. Checked and re-checked the things shown on their checklist. So what could possibly be missing???????

And also, should we have sent fingerprints in with the application? It did not say this either on the Guide/Checklist. It said we would receive the notice of where to go and have them done.

I guess this whole notice just made me feel like I didnt do the application right or something. I don't know.

Did anyone else here have the same experiences? And do you think the evidence(s) would be anything major that might take alot of time for me to locate or get copies of????????

Hi

I may be a little behind on the answering of this but we just applied for my husband's citizenship.

As I understand it, the rule is 90 days before you have completed your residency requirement. (3 years in my husband's case)

As I also understand it, you may receive your instructions for biometrics (fingerprints) before the actual date you have completed residency but you will not be scheduled for an interview until the actual date the residency time is up.

Someone please correct me if this information is wrong.

Hello Everyone!

Thanks to all of you for the questions we have had answered in the past.

We are mailing Rob's N-400 tomorrow (3/13/07). Wish us luck!

We'd appreciate a rough idea of what to expect next if you wouldn't mind sharing.

THANKS!!!!

Rob & Cathy

YuAndDan quoted the correct procedure for translating any non-English document that you send in support of paperwork that you are filing with a USCIS service center. You got away without a translation when you did DCF because you were filing with the consulate instead of with a USCIS service center.

For naturalization, I can't think of any reason why you'd need to send any divorce papers. If you don't need to send them, you don't need to send a translation.

In the instructions for filing the Naturalization application, on the Document Checklist, it says to send proof that all prior marriages were ended either by divorce papers, death certificate, or annulment papers.

And yeah, duh, makes sense we didn't need the translation since we filed in Amsterdam. Didn't think of that til now. Thanks!

We are preparing our forms and documents to apply for naturalization in December 2006.

My question is this, where can I find affordable and accurate, trusted translation for Dutch to English.

More, is it necessary? The reason I ask is, when we filed DCF in 2003, we submitted my husband's divorce papers in their original language (Dutch) and it was not necessary to also include a translation of them into English. So now, I am wondering if it is necessary to have them translated for the Naturalization process.

Can anyone help?

Thanks so much!

Cathy en Rob

Hi Everyone

We are looking over things a bit early in order to be very thorough and hopefully get it right the first time.

But I am wondering, on the line mentioned in my Topic Title, the question is this.......

"16. Have you EVER been arrested, cited or detained by any law enforcement officer (including USCIS or former INS and military officers) for any reason?"

so our question is this.........

last year my husband got a speeding ticket so yes he has been detained along side a highway and yes he was cited and had to pay the fine for it so I'm thinking, in order to be completely honest we would have to list that here.

Are they gonna hold that against him in any way? I mean, the section is under "Good Moral Character" and it sounds bad that way ya know?

A little concerned here,

Cathy n Rob

WTG!!! Congratulations !!!

And I wanted to say thank you for your information on another post about the quick overview of applying for citizenship. We will read the guide and instructions carefully.

Cathy n Rob

meauxna,

Thank you so much for that little list.

It does help to put things into some kind of perspective for us so we can get ready for it.

I saw another post that helped let us know where we would be traveling to in order to complete these things and that helped alot too.

This is a fantastic website and everyone here is wonderful and so willing to help answer questions and give good advice. We really appreciate it and hope to be able to help those coming along behind us as well with some of our experiences.

Thanks!

Cathy n Rob

We just finished Removal of Conditions and are waiting on Rob's new greencard to arrive.

We will be eligible to apply for his citizenship in December 2006.

Knowing how much paperwork the US Government requires for things, I am beginning to get ready NOW! lol

I have downloaded and printed the Guide to Naturalization from the USCIS website, which we will read in length. However, I was wondering if someone would care to give us just a quick overview of the process and what is required of us.

Thanks so much!

Cathy n Rob