samack

5 minutes ago, Jacobo said:

Do people requesting a name change have less chance of taking the Oath on the same day as the interview?

I don't think you can have a name change and do the oath the same day because there's a legal process to it? When I asked about it out of curiosity at the end of my interview, the IO said "you can request one now but you won't be able to naturalize today". 

2 hours ago, OldUser said:

People got naturalized while their estimate showed 7 months to decision. That's why I think it's very inaccurate. Don't worry, you'll get there and maybe even faster than estimate

Yep, mine started off at 7 months when I submitted my application, dropped to 4 a few days later, went back to 7 when I got my interview date, and then settled at 6 the morning of my interview lol.

43 minutes ago, Rearviewmirror said:

 

Congratulations!!!

It's really heartening to hear an IO who wants to see people succeed - a really nice counterpoint to some of the horror stories you hear about IOs being jerks.

She also said that she goes to the naturalization ceremonies when she's not busy with interviews so that she can cheer loudly for everyone. There are definitely great IOs out there who are happy to be part of your journey! 

6 minutes ago, zentaco said:

Yep, residency, because my husband pays most of the rent related bills (housing, utilities, etc). I can technically file under the 5 year rule and not just 3, but I sent evidence for both. It could be easy for me to walk in with way too much stuff. 

I'm filing under 5 years instead of 3, so I only uploaded what the application requested and proof of a paid speeding ticket. I also think I'm bringing too much to the interview, but I know that would be the case regardless of which eligibility I was using. I'd rather go overboard and waste paper than have an RFE!

I'm taking copies of my driver's license, current green card, EAD, SSN, marriage certificate, deed for our house, both of our birth certificates, 5 years of tax information, more information about my ticket, the two (expired) Canadian passports I have, and my conditional green card. 

I had way too many documents with me when we went through the ROC interview but it still made me feel better to have them. I don't think you'd ever really regret having too much! 

4 minutes ago, Laure&Colin said:

 

I also have 2 middle names as is fairly common in France (are you French Canadian?). Same as yours, my green card is first name and initial of "second name" only.

But I've noticed that the NOA1 I just received has my full name with both middle names. (Funny enough, they added a line "care of" with just my first and last name in the address, ie Sally Jane Mary Smith c/o Sally Smith, lol.) I expect to see both my middle names on the naturalization certificate because of that. 

I'm not, but I grew up in a French area of my province so I understand that naming convention! I can account for the first and second name (my grandmother and mother chose one each), but have *no* idea what possessed anyone to pick the third one that they did lol.

My NOA1 showed up with all of them too, but it didn't have the care of line. I thought it may have been because I signed the application with all three names, but I can't imagine I didn't do that with the others too. I guess we'll see on the day, but maybe I can pull whoever is running the ceremony aside for a second and promise that there's a crisp $20 bill in it for them if they just skip saying the third name out loud 😂

This is a kind of dumb question and I don't know if anyone has any insight, but worth a shot! 

My name has always been a bit weird and confusing because I have an official first name that's on all of my government documents, a middle name (which is what I go by) that's on all of my government documents either as an initial or in full, and another middle name that's on my birth certificate and marriage license and that I've included somewhere on all applications to USCIS including this one. For example: Sally Jane Mary Smith, but almost everything is either Sally Jane Smith or Sally J. Smith. Thanks, family! Anyway, all of the cards I've received from USCIS up to this point have just had my official first name, the initial of my first middle name (the one I go by) and my last name. Will my naturalization certificate follow that same trend, or are they suddenly going to add the second middle name to it? It's not a big enough deal to go through the effort and possible delay of a name change just to drop it, but I'm also hoping it's not on my certificate because it would feel weird at this point (and I hate it lol). Can I ask that it just reads like my other cards do?

Again, not a huge deal either way, but I'm curious and would also like to brace myself to potentially have to hear it said out loud! It's a relatively common name with an extremely uncommon spelling (think spelling error, really) and it sometimes throws people. My husband, however, would have a field day if he hears it said in an official capacity 😂

8 hours ago, zentaco said:

T-minus one week until my interview. Starting to get nervous! I’ve got a good grasp of the civics questions at least.

As of this morning, so is mine! Studying for the civics test has actually been kind of funny because my (American) coworkers all wanted the questions to see how they'd do. The answer is not well! 😂

I'm not bringing a *ton* with me, especially compared to other steps, because I'm filing based on being a resident for 5 years. I did put all of it into the binder I used for my very first K1 interview, though. It's a nice, full circle feeling. I'm also about to start going over my application again to make sure I can remember all of my own dates - my moves and job changes all happened in the last few years and everything has been a blur since 2020 anyway!

I do wish there was an easy way to see what my chances of a same day oath ceremony are, just so I can mentally prepare for that soon. I'm also not sure if my husband can come in and wait for me in the waiting room since he's not needed for the interview, so I may have him hang out at a nearby Panera just in case. 

1 hour ago, monoxidelullaby said:

However, I didn't receive biometrics letter nor notification about it, I see some people immediately receive notification about it but I haven’t .
Hopefully it will be a smooth process!

You probably have already, but did you check the documents section of your USCIS account? I didn't think I'd gotten one when I submitted either but found it there when I checked a few days later! 

41 minutes ago, Blueeyes1989 said:

How are you notified that you have an upcoming interview? Do you check your USCIS account or do you get a notification email?

I had been logging into my USCIS account to check for updates. I had also downloaded an app (not Lawfully) that monitors the status of your application but only ever received notifications for things like Visa Bulletins or system maintenance. The status has also changed there to show that my interview was scheduled, but I never did get a notification for it.

If you don't have an app and don't ever check your account, I guess you'd also just get a surprise letter in the mail someday! 

41 minutes ago, Ricky+Vanessa said:

 

This has to be the fastest I've seen!

I think someone in this thread got their interview notice in 6 days! 

Still, though, way quicker than I expected it to be because it feels like most of the other steps took longer than average for me. Funnily enough, with the interview notice came my estimated wait increasing from 6 months to 7! 

Finally submitted the application on 1/10 even though the draft had been sitting finished and saved for almost a year. Glad to see I'm not the only one who dragged my feet!

My husband (US citizen) and I have been married since 2016 and when I went for my removal of conditions interview in September of 2020 the officer said no less than 6 times that I should just submit my citizenship application because I was a "great candidate" for it and they had all of my documentation already. We didn't feel like spending more money so soon, so here we are.

Received the NOA almost immediately and the status changed to "case is being actively reviewed". I wish I would have also gotten a bio reuse notice but wasn't too optimistic since I've had to have them redone at every step of the process. Estimated wait time went from 8 months to 7 months within a few minutes, but for now I'm just refreshing the tracking app until something happens! 

Edit: just checked the documents section of my case on the website and I *did* get a biometrics reuse notice! Amazing! 

Just got out of our I-751 interview - way easier than I thought it would be! 

Security seemed a bit more intense than usual (I needed to take off some of my jewelry to go through the metal detector and they used to just tell me to leave it on), but the place was mostly empty so there was no line. I got my flu shot at work yesterday, so I was kind of paranoid I might be running a slight fever, but they didn't even check temperatures and just asked some general questions instead. 

We were sent to the waiting room - where a bunch of seats were blocked off for social distancing - and were there with a few other people. Our interview was scheduled for 9, but we only got called in around 9:30. Our interviewer was really pleasant and soft-spoken, and his office was filled with stuff from the local professional sports teams so my husband was immediately comfortable haha. He swore us in and then asked for our IDs and 2019 tax return. I also mentioned that I'd brought our lease renewal, bank statements from the time of the original filing of the I-751 to now (he only took the 2020 ones), a few more pictures, and our most recent insurance documents showing we're both covered under the same plans, so he took all of that too. He said that we have a lot of evidence on file and that I'm very organized, and showed me all of the paperwork we've submitted through this process so far. It was A LOT, but I also told him that I know there are people who submit a lot more and he laughed.

We were having a really general conversation while he photocopied and compiled everything - mostly with him saying I should apply for citizenship before the cost goes up - when he suddenly said "alright, we're just about done here. Just need to go through the form and we can get you guys on your way!" He went to the I-751 application, verified all of our information in it, and asked my husband the only question he asked either of us about each other: "when's your anniversary?" He jokingly said he always asks the guy because the girl will know, and my husband said "I mean, it's coming up in a couple of weeks so I SHOULD know!" and the interviewer laughed.

After we were done, the interviewer talked a lot about how to file the naturalization paperwork before the deadline because it'll save money. He also said that, because the case file already has so much evidence, I could just submit the most recent documents from 2020 and be fine, and that the interview would only be in "4-6 months" so I'd still have time to study. 

All of my case trackers had updated to "new card ordered" by the time we got home, so now we just have to decide we want to spend another $600 and get paperwork together to keep going immediately. Good luck to everyone still in the I-751 process! 

Received a letter with the details for my I-751 interview, scheduled for 9/23. Still wish we didn't have to go through that part of the process, but we didn't have one for AOS so I understand why it's happening now. 

Case status changed today to "Interview was scheduled", so now it's another waiting game for the mailed notice. Hopefully this USPS mess doesn't have too much of an impact! 

I got the letter with more details about the (first, I guess) case transfer the other day and found out it had been sent to the National Benefits Center. A few minutes ago, everything updated to "case is ready to be scheduled for an interview".

20 hours ago, samack said:

Just got an alert saying my case has been transferred to a new office. A quick Google search tells me that can be for a number of reasons, so I guess I'll wait to get the letter that explains what the transfer was for.

 

That's the first update I've had since I did biometrics at the end of November, so at least I know they haven't lost my file!

I don't know if this is odd or not, but I just got another alert - with "on July 17th" instead of "July 16th" - saying my case has been transferred. It's like the system is trying to make up for the lack of notifications all at once! 

Just got an alert saying my case has been transferred to a new office. A quick Google search tells me that can be for a number of reasons, so I guess I'll wait to get the letter that explains what the transfer was for.

That's the first update I've had since I did biometrics at the end of November, so at least I know they haven't lost my file!

1 minute ago, Sarasota said:

I got the weekly email

 

Your I-751 Approval Estimate

September 16, 2020

Mine went from "any day" (twice), to "overdue" (twice), to today's update of September 9th.

Anyone else having issues with the CaseTracker app? I've been getting multiple alerts over the past couple of days, but they're all just to say that it's unable to get an update, followed by a message about my case being updated to show that fingerprints were taken (which happened back in November and has been the message my status has been stuck on since).

I'm a July 2019 filer, so I get really excited when I see an alert because it could, in theory, be about an interview or an approval. Disappointment every time! 

I know it's probably pretty rare, if it happens at all, but do they ever approve ROC without an interview if an interview also didn't happen at the AOS stage? I'd been prepared for an interview during the last round of this process, but got an approval out of the blue without having to do one. My dates for ROC (submitted application in early July, 2019 and did biometrics on November 29th - no word since then) seem to be in line with some others who have gotten approvals recently, but I'm thinking the fact that I didn't have an interview last time will likely slow down the process now because they'll require it. 

Had my biometrics done first thing in the morning on the 29th - in and out super quick - but my status online still says "application received". Maybe the holiday weekend has something to do with that?

Originally sent in my I-751 application in early July of this year and just received my biometrics notice for 11/29 at 9AM.