mscma

40 minutes ago, Janeyk said:

Congratulations. How was your interview? Can you recall the questions that was asked?

Thanks. Sure thing. 

Interview was pretty straight forward. When I walked in he asked me for permanent resident card, driver's license, and the appointment letter. Had me take the oath for telling the truth, and asked me to have a seat. 

He went straight for the civic test. 

2 longest rivers.

We select president for how many years. 

State that borders Canada. 

Meaning of 13 stripes on the flag. 

Year of declaration.

The month we vote in for president.

He just asked 6 questions. I brought all the original documents, selective services registration card, tax returns etc. He didn't ask for anything. 

Then he started asking questions regarding my past. Like why did I move to Texas, how did I meet my wife, how old is our son, what does my wife do, where did I meet my wife, when did we get married, if we are still married and together, where do I work, what do I do there and lastly why did I wait so long to file for citizenship since I was eligible to do so since 2015 or so.

Yeah, lots of marriage related questions even tho I filed 9 years after becoming permanent resident. 

Then we moved on to the yes/no question from the application. 

Lastly he asked me to read a sentence from a tablet that was mounted on the table. Then he asked me to write a sentence which he dictated and gave me a stylus to write on the tablet. 

He didn't say it specifically but I figured he was approving my application when he asked me to make sure my name, dob and address is correct on the tablet since that's how it will be printed on the certificate. 

Then he tried to schedule me for the ceremony this coming week but he couldn't since the systems were down. And he told me that I'll have to wait for the letter in mail.

I got up, thanked him, and left. 

13 hours ago, visatransfer said:

Thanks for your response.
 

I heard that those Campbell center ceremonies are large and take a very long time. It’s probably the last waiting part of your overall naturalization process.
 

Good luck with your ceremony. 

Thanks. 

Yes, the officer mentioned it as well that it's about another 5 miles out and is usually used for larger crowd. 

2 hours ago, visatransfer said:

Congratulations !!

 

What is the location for oath ceremony in Houston?

Thank you.

It's Campbell Education center.

At the end of the interview, the officer tried to put me in for the ceremony on October 28th which was going to be in that same building where interview took place. But after 5 minutes of trying, he gave up and said that systems are not working so I'll have to wait. 

On 10/18/2023 at 6:52 PM, mscma said:

GC 2-years 2012. Thru marriage. 

GC 10 years 2014.

 

N-400 filed August 29th 2023 online.

Biometrics were reused. 

September 9th online update for interview notice.

October 18th interview.

Application approved. Waiting for oath ceremony to be scheduled.

 

Houston TX. 

Online update. 

Ceremony scheduled for November 15th.

GC 2-years 2012. Thru marriage. 

GC 10 years 2014.

N-400 filed August 29th 2023 online.

Biometrics were reused. 

September 9th online update for interview notice.

October 18th interview.

Application approved. Waiting for oath ceremony to be scheduled.

Houston TX. 

Received card in the mail today =).

My I-751 journey is over, good luck to everyone still waiting.

Sorry, I don't remember the letter date.

But yesterday I got a text and email with the update.

"On February 12, 2016, we ordered your new card for Receipt Number ***********, and will mail it to the address you gave us. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address."

Now the naturalization!

We just came back from our interview. It was scheduled at 8:30am and we got called in at 9am. A nice lady took us to the room and we took the oath.

She asked for our IDs and right away she asked that why our address was different, we explained that my father in law passed away and and mother in law needed some help so wife moved to different city to take care of her mother's stuff (she needed to sell apartments) after the sale was final my wife moved back to Houston and we just moved to a new place, we took new leasing agreement too. She made copies of that.

Then she asked why we didn't have joint account now. We explained that it's easier to manage finances that way, we still have a joint account that we don't even use at all. Then she asked how and where we met. I told her we met in 2007 in new York, she was surprised and said its a long time. And if we would have submitted some evidence from new York(2007) we wouldn't be here today.

Finally she said that she will approve the case but I would have to go for fingerprints first since the one from last year are expired.

The I 751 journey is over.

Thank you everyone for their help and contribution. And good luck to anyone who is still waiting.

We made a service request (2nd one) and got the same response as the first one:

"Your petition is still pending consideration. The file was transferred to this Office recently from the either the California or Vermont Service Center. It appears that the material you sent was insufficient for a decision to be made. We regret that we are not able to give you a time frame for when we will complete the review of your petition.

An interview may be scheduled at the Mount Laurel, New Jersey Field Office at a later date. A notice will be sent under separate cover with the appointment information. Please ensure that you have maintained a collection of original documents with photocopies regarding the bona fides of your marriage."

I think we're done waiting. We were thinking about contacting congressman but I think we should go ahead and file for my citizenship this month.

What do you guys think? Apply for citizenship or contact congressman and wait more?

PS. I became CPR on July 2012 so I'm already eligible to file for citizenship.

I just checked USCIS website. Wasn't it October 27, the processing time for i-751m?

Right now it says October 19.

When are you due for Naturalization? If you are due this month i would go ahead and file. It may force them to adjudicate both .

Conditional green card was approved 07/31/2012 so I think I'm already due to file for naturalization. If I'm not wrong I've been eligible since past 2 months. Because I think I read that I can file as soon as 3 months (90 days) before 3rd anniversary, so that was in April 2015.

Just didn't wanna go through it as of right now, wanted to wait a couple years before filing for naturalization.

But if that's the case, then might have to do it.

In my experience employers know what a GC and a work permit is beyond that they have no idea, so whether you have the stamp or without a stamp is up to you, but it is much safer to have the stamp than to be without it. And it will be good to schedule an appointment a year after you filed, just remind them you are still waiting I am quite curious what the IO will say!

Thank you. Will wait then till the mid of month before making any calls or scheduling appointment.

Hello everyone again. We're still waiting here. I just had a question, my extension expires 07/31/15, not planning on travelling buy just wanted to know do I need a stamp on passport? I mean in regards to employment.

It sounds like enough to me, but then again I am not a IO.

Let's see what happens, since they don't even know to what office to transfer the paperwork

So i called and the rep had no idea either. She transferred me to an Immigration Service Officer who told me that there must be some kind of a mistake because my case should have been in Texas field office and not NJ. So he said he will contact them at NJ and I will hear from them no later then 27th of this month.

2 hours later I recieved a call and the person said he's contacting me in regards to my concern. Further more he told me that I shouldn't be worried because if I was to be scheduled for an interview, they will transfer my case back to Texas. I did ask him though if they can make a decision on my case or are they going to transfer straight up, to which he replied Yes! They can either make a decision (approval / interview) or they might just transfer to Texas for them to make a decision.

Sooo.... Everything is OK! I guess!

Just more waiting.

Good luck to us and anyone else still waiting since July 2014.

It sounds like enough to me, but then again I am not a IO.

Let's see what happens, since they don't even know to what office to transfer the paperwork

Yeah Let's see what happens. I'll call tomorrow and report back with what they have to say!

There is no way, they can make anybody go across the country for an interview unless the interviewing people are paying for it(in this case USCIS). Also, get the phone number for the Mount Laurel, NJ office and call them, try to explain the confusing situation in which they are placing you. And if there will be an interview it should be done in your local Texas office.

What kind of paperwork have you guys sent them with the RFE?

Thank you. I will definitely call them tomorrow. They mentioned in the RFE that they received the Lease papers only from 2014, so we sent them:

Lease papers from 2012, 2013, and 2014. And a Letter from current Leasing office stating Me and my wife are residing at current address since July 2014.

Copy of mails addressed to both of us showing same residence. (Both from Old address and New Address)

Utility bills. Some companies could only add one person, however we both had some bills under each names for same residence.

We had also filed 2014 Tax Returns so we included that. (We had already submitted 2012 and 2013).

Joint Credit Cards.

Health Insurance. (However we only kept insurance for about 6 months, so i sent that and explained that we had cancelled it too).

Letter from Kids School stating me as Step Father and my Wife as Mother.

Paper work from Kids school and clinic stating me step father for emergency contact

Some additional pictures.

Originally we sent:

GC Copy.

DL copies with same residence.

2 Affidavits.

Rental Lease Agreement from 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Car Insurance with both our names.

Tax Returns 2012, and 2013.

Some Pictures from when we went different places.

(I think that was it. If I remember something else, I'll add here).

I submitted a service request on May 29th. Today i received a letter (address was from Mount Laurel, NJ) which has the following.

Your petition is still pending consideration. The file was transferred to this office recently from the either california or vermont service center. It appears that the material you sent was insufficient for a decesion to be made. We regret that we are not able to give you a timeframe for when we will complete the review of your petition.

An interview may be scheduled at Mount Laurel, New Jersey field office at a later date. A notice will be sent under seperate cover with the appointment info.

Is this possible?? We live in Texas, and notice says that interview might be scheduled at NJ field office? We filed at Vermont.

And also when i was making the service request it wouldn't take my receipt number the one we use to check status. It only proceeded with the origial receipt number from I979 NOA.

So its been 60 days since we mailed the RFE response. Looks like we'll be getting an interview letter? I'll probably call tomorrow to see if they know anything or do you guys think we should submit a case inquiry instead?

When and where (VSC or CSC) did you mail / send your package? Thanks.

Sorry forgot to mention, I filed at VSC 07/21/14. My RFE response was also sent to Vermont.

Joining late.

Receipt date 07/23/14

Biometrics 08/22/14

RFE date 01/20/15

RFE response 03/18/15

Heard nothing since. No website updates either. Does it look like an interview is coming?

I had my biometrics in August 2014, got an RFE in January 2015, and am now still waiting. I asked for a formal response to my case and just got a letter yesterday saying "we're still reviewing your case and have no information for you" basically.

I sent my RFE response on March 18th and haven't heard anything yet. Looking at your situation it seems like they can take more than 2 months to process. When i called they told me that after submitting RFE response i have to wait 2 months because that's their timeline to process a RFE response.

UPDATE!!!

So I did travel (Qatar Airlines) from Houston Texas to middle east (Bahrain) while app is pending. Took my expired Green Card along with the extension letter. Everything went really smooooth. No issues at all. They just informed me that my card was expired and then I showed them my extension letter and that was it.

Really happy.

Thank you everyone for advice.

Sending everything tomorrow!!

Thank you for answering! Im just not sure if I should send it already because we might get interview letter while we are away from home! And dont wanna miss it.

I thought may be we can send in after we are back home.

Do you guys think that we should send it already?

Hello everyone. Just a quick question again. We received RFE and gathered all that we could to send back (there isn't much, and we have no problem if it comes down to an interview) so the problem is that deadline for RFE response is April 17th. I have to make an emergency trip back home for 2 weeks while my wife has to goto her mother's to take care of some stuff meanwhile. My question is that, should we send in response before I leave to my contry or after I come back?

RFE deadline: April 17th

Traveling: March 20 - April 5th

Any help is appreciated!!!

PS, i should be good traveling with expired GC + NOA right? No need to get a stamp on passport?

Thank you!!!