15 days from case received at my local office until correction of date of birth and name. 6 days from correction to approval. Here's the breakdown below;
On the old website - https://egov.uscis.gov, it says "Case was received at my local office" on 02/27/2018 ( No updates after that)
On the new website - uscis.dhs.gov, it says;
" We received your case. You do not need to do anything at this time" on 02/28/2018
" We corrected your date of birth for your case" and "We corrected your name on your case" on 03/14/2018
"We approved your case" on 03/20/2018
Agreed; i have already started filing up the online application for N-400 and will be clicking submit button soon as my 90 day window opens. Online seems to be a lot more efficient and easy as compare to paper. and by the way going green is the good option.
Hi All,
i finally received my approval notice today. It does appear that the new link provides the most accurate information. The letter says my card will be mailed soon. **fingers crossed**.
I am hoping this will open up and means wa be of approvals for us all. It's been a long journey
Interview took place at NY Federal Plaza Building (Queens Office). Going through the area, you have to enter the building from Lafayette Street. There is another entrance but it is clearly marked for "Non-USCIS Visitors". Have you interview letter and ID ready, and then after showing them to one guard, you walk down a long corridor and end up in a section where it looks like you're passing through airport security. They give you big plastic bins to place everything in, including belts/watches and change), and then you pass through the security scanner while your items are x-rayed. Once you leave that area, it then looks like the lobby of any other office building (there is even a cafe on the other side of the elevator bank). For Queens office filers, you then head up to the 8th Floor where another officer will ask to see your appointment letter again and point you in the right direction. NOTE: There are bathrooms available before reaching the main waiting area on the 8th floor, use them so that you don't have to leave the waiting area afterwards and risk missing your name being called.
Ok, so my interview was at 10:40am, about 15 minutes to go through screening (they made me take my shoes off which was only because in my case the metal buckle on my sandals set off their alarm twice.)
There were plenty people there when my husband and I arrived in the main waiting area (we were 20 minutes early), and there were two doors in which they were calling applicants from. Some where there for AOS interviews, some were there for N400 interviews. There are two television screens showing the local news but they are pretty much muted, cell phones and laptops, etc. are allowed in the waiting area. There are signs posted that food and beverages are not, however I saw several people eating and drinking water with no one saying anything against it. You walk in the room, approach the guy at the window, hand over your interview letter and sit down and wait. After about an hour and a half of waiting, I was starting to get anxious thinking they'd forgotten about me since people who came in for later appointments were getting called first. Sitting there I did happen to notice that a few people left looking either confused or sad, so again my anxiety started to rise a bit but I kept trying to calm myself down (I'm a doom-and-gloom kind of person to begin with so this is normal for me).
When my name was finally called, my husband and I both approached the IO and she asked my husband to not come in (I figured this would happen, but thought it would at least show he was there and in support of me---which the IO addressed later in my interview that she was glad to see he had taken the day off work to accompany me).
On to the interview---she asked to see my GC and passport, said "oh you're a Canadian", and then confirmed my birthdate and then asked to see my birth certificate (I had brought this with me in case she asked for it, and she took my photocopy to keep on file). She then asked me to raise my right hand, swear to tell the truth, etc.
Upon sitting back down she immediately said "So you've been arrested before. Let me see the documents about that." I handed them to her and reiterated that I had submitted them years ago with my AOS application, again with the ROC application, yadda yadda yadda. I gave her the court document (which showed her only that the records had been destroyed since the charge was 23 years ago), and a letter from the police department (which showed her only that their records had been destroyed as well). The original documents I submitted in 2005 stated that they were already destroyed years ago. I also offered her the RCMP clearance letter which covers the country of Canada as something "extra" which she said she didn't really need, but she'd take it---added that to my file.
Moved on to the YES/NO questions, only asking me a few of them and then confirmed my place of work, my husband's place of work, and asked how we met (at this point I realized she was just validating that the GC was received appropriately). I told her, and she seemed impressed that we had carried out a long distance relationship for 3 years before getting married. She then casually said "so then you decided to move here when you came last" I then said "No. I came here on a visit and he proposed, we got married and then we had figure out what to do now in terms of legalities since I wasn't an American." She didn't question my estimated travel dates at all, and just confirmed that I visited only Canada over the past 5 years---she then questioned my nationality (I was born in Canada), and asked if my parents were Canadian citizens and if they were married at the time I was born (not sure where she was going with this line of questioning about my parents since it was irrelevant...). I explained my parents became Naturalized Canadian citizens back in 1964, before I was born, but originally they were from ____. She then asked again if my parents were citizens of the US, I answered no...I'm the only one in the US, my parents and siblings, aunts and uncles, etc. are all in Canada. She spoke about how she'd like to visit Canada again herself. We had some small talk about differences in the two countries and things like that.
She moved back to the questioning about my arrest and said "so what happened???" I explained and confirmed that there was no jail time, no probation, nothing of that sort. She had me electronically sign a few documents and then said "ok we go by the name on the birth certificate, but since you've already had a legal name change on your marriage certificate your naturalization certificate will read your married legal name (this is what I wanted, anyhow, since I hadn't asked for a name change, and I LOVED how she was speaking as though she was going to approve me already). She then said it was time to move on to the tests.
Asked me the first question three times. Yes, three times because three times I just blurted out the wrong answer---each time she kept saying "relax" and would ask the question slowly. After the third incorrect answer, I told her the same incorrect answer just keeps popping up in my head and she said ok we're going to move on and asked me 6 more questions, all of which I answered correctly (once I relaxed, as she said). English test was no problem---read a sentence, wrote a sentence. She clarified I needed to print the answer (not write in cursive) in case someone else needs to read it later on so it's clear.
At the end of the interview she said she is recommending me for approval but because of the prior charge she needed to get her supervisor to review it---in my shock I blurted out "from 23 years ago??" and "but you guys knew about it with my AOS" and "I sent it in with my ROC and even now today too!!" She nodded sympathetically and said it still needs to go under supervisor approval...to which I softly responded "I guess he couldn't do that now, huh?". She then, to my surprise, took my entire file and got up and left the office with me sitting there. She came back in a few moments later and started typing stuff on her computer, picked up my file again and left the office once more. About 5 minutes after that she came back in and said she'd spoken to her supervisor and they said it was fine and that I was approved! I asked her if she's SURE...and she said "yes I looked at his computer and he was already entering you in for your oath ceremony."
When I got home, there was an email that showed that I was inline for my Oath, and then five minutes later another email that stated my Oath had been scheduled and the letter mailed out earlier that afternoon (almost immediately after I'd left the office, going by their time stamp). So now I'm waiting for that letter to arrive in the mail.
Btw--- I filed my N400 online. (you can see my entire timeline below of how long the process has taken me so far in my signature)
I filed online---personally I believe my case moved faster in part because of that, especially considering NY is normally backlogged with applicants. From my date of filing to date of interview was less than 3 months. Your mileage may vary, of course.
I did like the instant online submission of the application (instead of the stress of wondering if it would get lost in the mail, documents being separated/misplaced by USCIS, how long it would take to be delivered, and the expense of expedited mailing), and the instant Notice of Receipt. I also appreciated the real-time online updates of how my case was progressing and being able to see PDFs of letters mailed out to me well before I received the physical copies in the mail, with the option to print them out. The idea of being able to instantly view and respond to any RFE's online as well, instead of further delaying through mailing times, was also a bonus.
Best thing to do before deciding on how to file is to read lots of threads on online filing here and in other places, to determine any pros and cons and how you feel about them yourself, as well as any tips for online filing/paper mailing. That's what I did for a couple of weeks before finally putting in my application online.
There can be some glitches to the online system (mainly that some documents upload in duplicate for some people, but to me that didn't matter so long as the documents attached properly in the end), but personally I would recommend it (you can see my timeline below in red).
Congratulations! What a wonderful surprise to get in the mail!
Thank you for telling us about your experience! It's great to know about the online vs regular mail thing, since I'll be filing my N-400 in about a week and I was trying to figure this out as well. In fact I was leaning towards regular mail, so now I'm very glad I read this!
Do you know if we can submit everything online, or if there is still a component we have to mail in, like supporting docs, check for the fee, etc?
Congratulations to you you Sweet01. I can only imagine how excited you must be.
I also see that my case is approved on the website, but on the old uscis case status site, it still says my case was received in the local office.
I don't want to get excited until I see it in the mail. Am a VSC filer and NOA date is 4/13/2017.
Good luck to us all.
We received an approval notice in the mail today! The online status changed to the note about the local office receiving the case on 2/27/18. No other changes after that, but physical approval letter is dated 3/15/18. VSC filer at WAS field office area. No interview required. Now for the N400 app next month. 😳
Talked to a lawyer today, who urged me to file N-400 asap. Logic was: processing times on N-400 in my local office (Boston) are super fast. N-400 are a priority. She said I could just send them very basic files online (tax returns, really), and bring everything else in person. So I spent about 2 hours filing the N-400 and just sent it in. Fingers crossed -
Same here, I just saw this morning they've updated my name and dob as well dated 03/14/2018. My noa date is 04/07/2017.Keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that we get good news soon.
I just learned about a different USCIS account (https://myaccount.uscis.dhs.gov/ ) that gives you the history and current status of your application. Check with both receipt numbers.
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