NexGen

I received my biometrics letter within 3 weeks of filing my n400 application. i think generally, they are sent out within 15-45 days of filing. Suggest you call USCIS if you don't get anything by mid November. Best of luck.

Some people have written to their Senator's for assistance and it has resulted in movement on their cases.

I concur with Penguin. My application was approved on the spot by the interviewing IO but he did mention that my entire file still had to be routed to a supervisor for final review. Primary role of the supervisor is to make sure the interviewer did not miss anything. In the majority of cases, supervisory review is simply a formality. But there are instances the file can be kicked back to the interviewer, usually for administrative reasons, meaning, there is a form missing or additional evidentiary info is needed in which case USCIS will send you a letter (ie Request for Evidence or RFE for short). The supervisor is looking not just at your n400 application but your ENTIRE immigration file. This is their last chance to dot their "i" and cross their "t" before they approve you. Once the supervisor signs off, USCIS can schedule you for the oath ceremony. You are in the home stretch.

has anyone preponeded citizenship interview.if you have postponeded your interview, after how long will USCIS schedule for next interview

Others with direct knowledge can comment here, but I think you need to have a VALID reason to postpone your interview date. And it could be several weeks or months until they give you a new date if YOU reschedule with them. My advice is that if at all possible, try and make the date they give you.

Well, my husband had his naturalization interview this morning and it ruined his day.

We've had a fairly easy time with immigration to this point, and it really caught him off guard to have such a bad experience with the officer today. He easily passed both the English and the Civics portion of the interview. But, the officer was nasty and disrespectful when asking questions about our marriage, mostly focusing on finances. For example, when he asked about "accounts" my husband assumed bank accounts and told the officer we had 2 joint accounts and told him the name of the bank. The officer pressed and said, "Are those the only accounts you have?" and my husband said "yes" and the officer rolled his eyes and gave him a nasty look. Perhaps he wanted him to mention joint credit cards? To my husband, "accounts" means bank accounts. In the same vein, the officer asked if he had joined any organizations where he paid dues. My husband said, "no." To my husband, he is thinking of a union, for example. The officer asked the question again in a rude way. Perhaps he wanted him to say that we belong to the local gym and pay a monthly fee to the gym? Whatever it was, he was treating my husband like he was an idiot. He was similarly disrespectful when mentioning his step children and other topics.

We've proved the validity of our marriage twice during this process, and my husband had documentation in-hand should he have wanted to see proof of the ongoing relationship, but the officer never asked to see anything except for his green card and drivers license.

Needless to say, he didn't mark the box on the form that said approved, although he did notate on the form that the tests were passed. The box checked was for "further review."

It's hard to convey the nastiness of this guy as I'm writing it out, but I've rarely seen my husband so disturbed and offended. I honestly would have expected more of this type of demeanor during the AOS rather than naturalization.

Oh man! So sorry about your experience. Sounds like that particular interviewer had a bad day or bad attitude about their job and they took it out on your husband. Look, provided your husband has met the eligibilty requirements for citizenship, is not a security risk or perpetrating a fraud to gain citizenship, they have no reasonable basis to deny him. I believe he will come through in the end.

I want to share my interview experience from yesterday.

My interview was scheduled at 7:20 at LA field office. I was called around 7:40. She asked me to take the oath. The interview lasted for about 40-45 minutes during which the IO went over N400 questions. I had to correct her for the traffic citations which I did not mention it on the application. I took all the paperwork with me and showed it to IO. The IO was very courteous.

American history and civic questions asked are below:

1) What is the supreme law of the land?

2) Who signs bills to become laws?

3) Who vetoes bills?

4) What is the capital of your state?

5) What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?

6) Who did the United States fight in World War II?

Reading test:

What state has largest population?

Writing test:

California has largest population.

After the interview, she recommended me for an approval. When I inquired about the possible oath date, she mentioned that all the applications have to go through the background check again after the interview (which is a surprise to me). I am concerned now as my initial background check before the interview lasted about 7 months.

I would also like to share one possible reason which delayed my background check and I had no idea about it neither I read it on any forum. When I asked the reason for that extensive background check to the IO, first thing she asked me whether I applied prior to 5th year anniversary and then she answered herself that this is the main reason for the delays in background checks. Usually when the applicants apply before the anniversary (3 year or 5 year) regardless USCIS allows it, the background check adds another layer which is a manual process and it takes sometime depending on your name. If your name is common then it will further delay the application during the manual process.

I just hope I don't have to go through all this process again which took forever for me. I also would like to ask how long after the interview does it take to change the online status to whatever the next status is (oath ceremony or oath scheduled).

Hope it helps.

WOW! This is very different from what I was told during my interview last week.

My understanding is that the interviewer's primary role is to make sure that you are eligible to apply for citizenship based on the criteria established by USCIS whether applying under 3 or 5 year rule. Once they have established that you are eligible, and I would imagine this includes thoroughly reviewing your background check, they make their recommendation and then route your file for final review and approval. In my case, my application was approved and my ENTIRE immigration file was sent for supervisory review. This file includes every single piece of business I have ever done with USCIS and not just the n400 application. My file was quite thick because I came here as a student, held a work visa and eventually got my greencard. So my relationship with USCIS has probably decimated a small forest. Now, what is not clear is how many layers there are in supervisory review. My guess is one or two depending on the complexity of the applicant's file. I imagine there are fewer supervisors so you could get stuck here if they are backlogged. And until he/she signs off, USCIS cannot schedule your oath ceremony. Some offices must be very fast with their supervisory review, otherwise I am not sure how they could schedule same day or even next day oath ceremonies.

I think for the majority of cases, concurrent approval by the supervisor is a matter of formality. Really more a second pair of eyes.

If your file is kicked back to the interviewer, it would probably be for administrative reasons. Meaning you failed to complete a specific form or include some important evidentiary information to support your application.

Based on the trackers for previous months, the DC field office will update your status to "oath ceremony scheduled" within 30 days of the interview date. You might want to look at trackers for the last 3-4 months to see what your office is doing. I find them to be a great help in projecting my timeline and managing my expectations :-)

Omg, congrats!

I am nervous of my upcoming interview on Thursday! Hope mine will go smooth interview.

Hi Jham Anne - Thanks so much. My advice is to get there about 20-30 minutes early so that you are relaxed. They will check you into the system 20 minutes before your interview. Know your application thoroughly. If you need to, have a copy of your n400 in front of you. And of course keep practicing the civics questions until you have the answers committed to memory. Before you leave, don't forget to ask if they need any additional paperwork from you. Would be a shame to have your file kicked back because it was missing a form or information you could have provided on the day of the interview.

Best of luck!!!! I am sure you will pass with flying colors. Let us know how you get on.

Congrats!

Thanks Kash. And best of luck with your interview next month.

Hello everyone,

I had my interview today at Prosperity Avenue in Fairfax VA. The interview was scheduled for 12:45pm but I arrived 40 minutes early because I was not sure what to expect re: parking etc. The last time I was there was 5 years ago for my LPR interview. There is a public parking garage adjacent to the USCIS building so it turned out not to be a big deal. Anyway, I went through security check and followed the signs to the 2nd floor. There were a handful of people in the waiting room. I walked up to the reception desk to check in and they told me that they would check me in 20 minutes before my interview time but I was welcome to sit in the waiting area. The waiting room filled up pretty quickly and several people had their attorneys with them, others brought spouses and even small children. The IO came to get me at 12:50pm. I had already prepared myself for a longer wait based on other people's experiences but I only waited 5 minutes. He introduced himself and shook my hand. He was a nice looking Latino man in his late 30's to early 40's, very pleasant and jovial.We walked back to his office and chatted about general things. Weather yesterday compared to today, did I have trouble finding the building. General banalities. We entered his office and he asked me to sit down. He asked me to confirm my full name. Asked for my passport (current and expired), green card and driver's license. He said I could keep any other documents that I had to the side for now. Then he asked me to stand and swore me in. After that it was all business. He started with reviewing my application, we went through every piece of information and ended up making only one correction to my application. I had a speeding citation from last year so when he asked if I had ever been cited for an offence I said yes, and explained. I had already included some evidentiary info about this traffic violation with my application, and he said, it was not an impediment to my being eligible for naturalization. After that we moved to the reading and writing test. Followed by the civics question. He asked the following questions:

1/ We elect a president for how many years?

2/ Who is the current speaker of the house of representatives? (we both chuckled at this one)

3/ When was the declaration of independence adopted?

4/ What do we call the first 10 amendments to the constitution?

5/ Name one of the two longest rivers in the US?

6/ Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?

I passed all 6 and after giving my last answer he made a joke about being relieved that part was over. He also gave me form N-652 showing that I had passed the civics, reading and writing test and he was recommending my application for approval. He said I should get a letter inviitng me to the next oath ceremony. Before I left, I told him that I had brought alot of evidentiary info with me eg tax transcripts, birth certificate, social security card etc. Was any of this information needed? He said no but he reviewed my file one last time to make sure all the paperwork was completed and he found that I needed to complete another biographical data form. Which was good otherwise my file would have been kicked back and processing delayed. I filled out the form in the waiting area and left it at the reception desk. The IO had already alerted them so it was no problem.

All in all, I think the whole interview took about 20 minutes at the most.

Best of luck to everyone still waiting. My advice to everyone is to remain calm, know your application thoroughly and don't be afraid to ask the IO before you leave if there is any other information they need from you, especially, if you already have most of the paperwork with you on the day of the interview.

Now, I am back to stalking my email and USCIS site for an update on my oath ceremony

THANK U U R RIGHT .......I think they heard me compling..online status is changed ,,,,oath ceremony letter is maild am so happy u !!!

Haha!! Well, I am glad it finally worked out for you.

the whole process is boring me ..... online status still says inline for oath but its not fair some ppl get same day oath ceremony ... but most of us waiting for a month or so it really unfair

I am sorry but I just had to speak up after reading this post. You do realize that there are people on this website who would just love to be where you are right now, rather than being stuck in background check for months. And FYI, there are no same day Oath ceremonies at the Fairfax office, except maybe for 319b applicants, who incidentally are a small percentage of the applicant pool. You are so close to the finish line. So close. Be patient. It will happen before you know it.

FAIRFAX (WASHINGTON DC FIELD OFFICE) interview experience today:

Arrived at 7am for my 8am appointment. There was about 4 others in the queue. You pass security on the ground floor and then take the elevator to the 2nd floor where the receptionist takes your paperwork and puts it in the tray. I was called in at 8:40 - the IO phoned down at 8:20 to say he was running late (I clearly panicked further and debating another 10 times whether to leave or not). He explained it was a computer problem that meant he wasn't able to see my details but it was now fixed.

As soon as I got in he put me under oath and asked me the 6 questions (I can only remember 5 as it was a blur)

How many Justices of Supreme Court?

One branch of government?

How long is senator elected for?

Who serves if the Vice President or President cannot?

Name one branch of government?

After this he asked me to read a sentence ("Columbus Day is a national holiday") then write a sentence ("Columbus Day is in October"). After this, he went through my application (quickly), joked how my life was boring since I answered no to all the questions (drunkard etc).

He didn't ask for any paperwork until I prompted him because I wanted that part over (then nearly shot myself in the foot- why would I do that). He just took current payslips and my returning flight itinerary (required for 319 (b) applications)

We literally casually chatted throughout the whole thing, in amongst the more serious questions but it was not a scary vibe like I made out in my head. Everyone I came across in that office was really lovely.

About 10 minutes after walking in the door of his office, he stamped 'approved' and printed my oath ceremony slip for this afternoon.

I'm went back at 1:30pm - back to the same 2nd floor reception and gave over my green card. By 2:30 I have my naturalisation certificate in hand am out of there.

The long, expensive journey is over for me now, if someone could redden my timeline! Thank you!

ac000 - Thanks for sharing your experience and congratulations ten times over. I have my interview next week at the same office and your story has helped put my mind at ease.

I've got my interview on Tuesday..... absolutely and utterly petrified. ?

ac000 - Best of luck and please share your experience. I am scheduled for Oct 29th at the Fairfax office. Already feeling queasy about it!!

what`s the difference between Tax Account Transcript and Tax Return Transcript ? And which is required ?

Thanks

The Tax Account Transcript is a little more detailed than the Tax Return Transcript. I think at a bare minimum they want the Tax Return Transcript.

Thanks for help ...

Other problem , when she checked the summary of her case she found the clerk put her name incorrectly ..where the first name he put O instead of D

And two missing letters from the last name ...but her name correct in the billing address coz she used her debit card ....

Do you think that will cause problem if she show it to the IO ?

Maybe he or she will ask her to go to correct it ....

Thanks

I wouldn't worry about that. It is a mistake not of her making and she was not aware about it until now. Important thing is the result which was favorable for her.

Tell her to take a deep breath and think positive thoughts. She should go into the interview confident and prepared to explain the truth if the IO has any questions. I have read some pretty crazy situations on VJ and those applicants were approved. One guy had multiple speeding tickets, including a DUI and his application was approved.

OMG

We just checked the summary of the case the summary says it`s dismissed, but Degree of offense M1 first degree

Is still a glimmer of hope to be a citizen ?

She did not even eat and she`s crying in her room ......

The important thing is that it was dismissed and any fines and court costs paid in full. I think that is what she needs to emphasis during the interview after explaining the circumstances of the charge and showing that she has a clean driving record since then.

There is a good chance she will be approved because the case was dismissed. Would be a bigger problem if the situation was ongoing. Wishing her all the best. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks for the answer, but I read here they sent tax transcripts with N-400, photos, and other documents ???!!!!!

Not necessary if you are filing under 5 years rule, but certainly recommend that you still bring along copies to the interview. Most of the people including tax transcripts with their n400 tend to be filing under 3 yrs based on marriage. But if it will put your mind at ease, go ahead and include with your application.

Thanks

can she go to the DMV to get it faster ?

Is it possible to print out an online case summary ? (( new information)))

How can she do that ?

In VA, you would go to the Virginia Court System and search for case information by county. I imagine it is similar everywhere else.

Yes, if you are in a rush, you can probably walk into DMV and get a copy of your DMV record on the spot. I requested mine by mail.

You can get a copy of your DMV record through the State's website. Costs less than $15 for them to mail to you and you should receive it in 10-14 days. Also, she can print out an online case summary from the county clerk website. Will show citation, fines and payment. Should satisfy any IO. Best of luck.

Use Google to access the websites referenced

1. No, you do not send the tax transcripts with your n400 filing but you do need to have copies with you at the interview. Often the IO will ask to see copies at the interview in order to verify information on your n400.

2. No, tax transcripts can never expire. But if you subsequently amended a previous year's tax filing then you should get the updated tax transcript.

I just checked my case online and it said.....

"Case in line for an interview. On September 28, 2015, we started the interview scheduling process for your Form N-400, Application for Naturalization , We will send you an interview notice"

Does this mean my fingerprints got cleared already?

How lond after this does it take to receive the interview notice by mail?

Thanks.

The processing time for the Memphis office is averaging about 7 months start to finish.

They send the picture of the mail that you will be receiving on that day in the morning

My appointment will be on Nov. 5, 2015 @ 12:45pm in Fairfax

Jham Anne - That's great!!! We might even take our oaths on the same day. Best of luck with your interview.

Finally got update !!

On October 1, 2015, we scheduled an interview for your Form N-400, Application for Naturalization , Receipt Number NBC ******. We will mail you an interview notice. Please follow any instructions in the notice. If you move, go towww.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

How I can know the date for my interview, need to wait for the Interview letter ?

You can try calling USCIS but unlikely you will get anywhere with the customer service folks. You should have your letter by mid next week so just be patient

If you are not done by the time you leave, I suggest that you sign up for email updates so that you know when your status is updated. If an interview or Oath ceremony is scheduled while you are away, you can always reschedule. Hopefully you have wi-fi wherever you are going

Hi, I live in Virginia and today I called to see if I can know when my status will change to schedule the interview,

they told me that the closest office to me is in Washington DC and that they are processing right now the people who applied in January! is it really that slow? Is anyone in that office too? I need to plan for a trip to Mexico in December and I dont know what to do.

Itzy - It took approx. 40 days for my status to move from in line to interview scheduled. Generally, it looks like the DC field office is taking about 30-50 days to schedule interviews once your status has been update as being in line. If the trend holds, your status will probably change in the second or third week of October. I would wait until you get this notice before making any international travel plans.