GT&RAC

They issue your Sofa as it is written on your passport. Doesn’t matter if your order shows your married name. 
In my case, Passport + sofa maiden name, orders married name. We have been in Germany for over 3 years and made several trips back and forth without any problems.

If you have time, get it changed. If not, take the risk and hand carry your marriage cert as a proof of name change

there is an exercise going on right now and passport/sofa office is closed until it’s over, idk when tho

Hey y’all! 

I had my interview yesterday at Frankfurt US Consulate, Germany (because military overseas) and passed (yays!). 

My oath ceremony will take place in Stutgart on 26th Sept. 

I asked the officer a few questions and would like to share with you as well thinking that may help you guys also. 

- Do we have to do anything about Social Security like updating etc.?

Yes. Once you get your naturalization certificate, you should go SS personally and update your status. For us who are overseas, should go to ( with an appointment) their US consulate’s federal benefits office for that. 

- I have a child from my ex-husband who is living with me and my US citizen husband (not adopted, step-child status). He has his 10 year green card. How will the new USCIS policy change about presence and residence requirements will effect my child status? 

The officer went thru their manual and stuff and couldn’t come up with an answer right away at the spot. Instead, he said he’ll search this and let me know with an email. 

Another officer commented that once I become a US citizen,  my naturalization will spread to my child and my child would automatically gain the citizenship so I could apply for his passport along with mine right away 🤔 will definitely try to do this but I’m not fully convinced that it will work. Btw, my son is 9 years old. She said this is applicable for kids younger than 13.

What are your thoughts?

1 minute ago, Hopeforthebest said:

What was the entire process for you like? What was your timeline? 

I applied online on 2nd of Apr and on 4th, I have seen the letter they would send to me  which was requesting biometrics. I haven’t waited to get the actual letter in the mail. I printed a copy from my online account and mailed it along with fingerprint cards and a cover letter. About 10 days after I sent them, they changed my status to “biometrics reviewed” and then to “case is actively being reviewed”. I’m still waiting for the interview date which is most likely what’s next.

I had mine collected at Ramstein AFB.Call this number : 06371-47-1110. Ask them to direct you to the fingerprints office. You need to schedule an appointment. It is pretty quick. Make sure you have your Green card, passport or at least your A number with you. 

Another way of getting it done is to go to Frankfurt American Consulate. You may need to contact them for the details but I was told by the clerk at Ramstein that they collect digital fingerprints so you don’t have to send the cards to USCIS. 

I received 2 identical cards and have been trying to figure out which one to return to USCIS for over 6 months!!! They still can’t give a certain answer why they have sent 2 cards. I and my son applied conjointly and got approved at the same time about a year ago.  We still haven’t received my son’s card. I think instead of my son’s card, they reprinted mine again. They seem like they can’t put their lives together. 

Another thing: my driver license was on my maiden name but when issuing my German driver license, they asked me which name I wanted on it and I had it issued on my married name. 

I’m exactly in the same situation. We are in  Germany for more than 2 years and had no problems. Make sure they issue your SOFA card with your name on your passport and carry your marriage cert whenever you travel outside of Germany. 

1 minute ago, redstripe54 said:

Congratulations to you and thanks for your service, (I served in the British military (Royal Marines)  before coming to the States on a K1 

 

If you don't mind me asking when did you apply fro the Removing Of Conditions?  

Thank you!

We sent our packet to California service center in late February and recieved Extention letter in mid March.

Surprise!!!!!

We are overseas military so we were required to sent in the fingerprints and biometric photos which was taken here on the base ID office, along with our application. 

I was wondering what they would do about mine while reading all of you guys recieving letters and today ta-da!!!

Here we go! I received my son's NOA in the mail today. notice date 03/06

To my surprise, it was sitting in our German mail box. Although we put in our military APO address as our mailing address both on forms and online, they still send it to our German physical address.

I'd be totally okay with that, however, my name is nowhere on the letter as the principal applicant cause my son is included only as dependent. Both petitioner and beneficiary info has my son's name beneath them. 

Oh by the way, I haven't received mine yet! I'm not too worried about it at this time (I lied, I'm totally freaking out!) , it may arrive to our APO which takes longer time to be delivered.

So, this looks like an error to me therefore I called their military help line only to have someone tell me that there's a very heavy phone call load at that moment so the officers don't get  transferred calls. They suggested me to fill up a form online on https://my.uscis.gov/account/needhelp and open a ticket for my issue. So I did!

The receipt no doesn't show up on the app. 

When I try to add it to my uscis online account, it says it's already registered in my cases folder but it's absolutely not there!

oh the joy of dealing with uscis especially when you are overseas!!!

soooo, what the heck am I gonna do now?

Hi!

we have sent ours on 02/21 and it was delivered to Cali service center on 02/27. 

Mailing times are longer for us cause we are military and stationed in Germany so we use our APO address. We sent a cashiers check so we can’t track if it is cashed or not. Our money is already gone lol I’m hoping to receive NOA1 in about 2 weeks. Can you please add us to the list as well? 

Thanks and good luck to yall

I filled the form according to the sample form in here and left some parts blank which don`t apply to us like child 3, child 4, etc information , interpreter and preparer information , spouse`s and my daughter`s A nos cause they are already USC. but I read the instructions once again and it clearly says complete all parts of the form. I`m confused! what should I do?  fill it up with numerous NAs?

22 hours ago, wbeem said:

So I am sure I asked this question before, but I can't remember if I did or where. 

We came in on a K1 and K2 visa so we need to do ROC for each of us. Is it two separate applications and two separate filing and biometric fees or does she go on my form and then we pay one filing and two bio fees ....?   I can't seem to find the information in the guide or anywhere else for that matter.  I know that USCIS sends stuff back if it's not exact - even if you overpay or give too much.  Don't want to incur unnecessary delays. We've had plenty of those on this journey haha.  Thanks so much for any advice you can offer.  

Hi!

I have a K2 child and yes you add the kiddo in your application and pay only 1 filing fee but you still have to pay biometrics fee for the child as well. So it make $765 total. We did 1 check for all. 

As evidence for the kid, I added several documents specifically about him like his passport and green card copies, school enrollment letter,  health insurance coverage statement with his name on it, various family photos, (since we are military) DEERS and other Dep of Defense records, etc...

Good luck!

2 hours ago, Roel said:

We send cashier check from service credit union.  And I received my extension letter! You'll get your also and then you're fine to travel. Don't forget to send biometric card (I had mine done on post ). 

Yes we got a cashiers check too. I have an appointment for the fingerprint cards on next week at the id office on base. thanks

Edit: what did you do about criminal records? in the instructions it says  : 

3. If no record is available, an original statement from the court that no record exists of your arrest or conviction.

I have never been involved in any kind of crime including traffic tickets. should I still get this? and from where? my home country , USA, Germany?

@Roel did you send a money order? We have an account at Service Credit Union. A money order from that bank would be okay?

13 hours ago, Roel said:

Go with your husband home records. That's what we did.

 

Ps. There is really no need to contact base legal for easy questions like that...

 

Ps2. This is what I did (Still waiting )

Oh, no! Still waiting? did you at least get an extention or something? we have plans to visit family back in the states this summer. Does that mean I can`t go?

13 hours ago, missileman said:

I like the home of record option as mentioned by @Roel

Yeah, I think I will go for that! Thank you 

I`m not relying on this only of course. I talked to the uscis military help line. 2 people said 2 different things. One said I should send it to Vermont since I used to be in NY before moving to Germany and then she transfered me to someone else and he said I should send it California because of WA being my husband`s home of record. Totally confused at this point!

Hi!

We`ll be sending ours next week. Did any of you guys include criminal record to the application packet?

In the instructions it says : 

3. If no record is available, an original statement from the court that no record exists of your arrest or conviction.

If we should add this to the application, 

should I get it from my home country? (impossible to get it remotely for me)

should I get it from the USA and where?

we are currently in Germany on military orders. So then what? Should I get one from Germany too?

By the way, I have no criminal records and never been in such situation in my life.

Thank you in advance.

Jen 

Hi!

I searched through all around VJ and google and cannot find a satisfactory answer to my question. There are some answers but I`m afraid they might be seriously outdated. 

We are currently in Germany on military orders since my husband is active duty. We`ll submit our petition to remove conditions (I-751) soon but don`t know which service center to send it. 

Before coming over here, we used to live in NY state and my husband`s home of record is WA state. 

Anyone with a current information?

Thank you very much in advance.

Jen

I'm on SOFA stamp in Germany. Your wife needs GC to apply for SOFA. We have sent my original passport, GC and orders by courier to Germany to our sponsor. He applied for the SOFA stamp on behalf of us at the passport office on base in Germany and they sent my documents back to me again by courier. Talk to your sponsor immediately. 

Hello,

We're about to send ours 'n a week or so.

would you please share which docs you guys have sent? That'd be very helpful. I searched guides and forums and wanna know what the recent filers did?

wish you all good luck!

Hey,

You should send Formul A (Multi-language Birth certificate)

You should have got this document from Turkish Vital Statistics office with no fee before you moved to the US. Try to ask any Turkish Embassy/Consulate around where you are now to see if they are issuing the same or not.

Although it has same exact info on it, the one you have sent is not a birth cert, it's some kind of family information sheet.

so we took our interview on Jan.11 at US Embassy in Ankara/Turkey and the CO has never ever mentioned about the consent letter from my son's father. she just checked the custody papers and underlined the sentence on the papers which confirmed I was granted the sole custody.

it may be different in other embassies but thought I should update this tread since I have started it, in case someone searches and finds it helpful in the future...

I already did...no respond to it...