Marieke H

She needs to return to US to establish domicile or show intent to. 

In this process, you are the conditional resident. "US citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse" does NOT mean "spouse of US citizen or LPR". It means "the spouse who is the US citizen or LPR". I hope that makes sense.

In this process, you are the conditional resident. "US citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse" does NOT mean "spouse of US citizen or LPR". It means "the spouse who is the US citizen or LPR". I hope that makes sense.

In this process, you are the conditional resident. "US citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse" does NOT mean "spouse of US citizen or LPR". It means "the spouse who is the US citizen or LPR". I hope that makes sense.

Again, just refile when you're ready. You clearly weren't ready this time. USCIS has been very accommodating with your requests to postpone the oath, but now that they have asked you 3 times to please come take the oath and accept this citizenship and it has been 19 months, it is very clear that you were not ready to naturalize. The reason doesn't matter; you were not ready.
 
Why would you want to go through the process of a hearing with all the added costs, while it is very unlikely that you will be successful? Refiling (when you are ready) will be the cheaper and easier solution. 

You posted that you could not naturalize for a specific reason in your home country. Therefore they are correct in their statement that you did not want to naturalize. 

But you actually did not want to naturalize. You said you did not want to due to financial issues in your country. You should have just waited until all those things were done to file. 

From your post history, it looks like you had your interview in April 2022, which is 1.5 years ago. I think you have demonstrated that you did not intend to naturalize when you filed your petition. Whatever "processing" you had to take care of should have been done before even applying for US citizenship.
 
I agree with others; just refile when you are sure that you are ready.

From your post history, it looks like you had your interview in April 2022, which is 1.5 years ago. I think you have demonstrated that you did not intend to naturalize when you filed your petition. Whatever "processing" you had to take care of should have been done before even applying for US citizenship.
 
I agree with others; just refile when you are sure that you are ready.

It really just depends on how you want to organize your finances and what your incomes look like. We have a joint checking account where both of our incomes are deposited and from where all our bills are paid, and a joint savings account. And then we both have a personal checking account with the same bank, and we transfer money to our personal accounts for personal purposes (and presents for each other so we don't ruin the surprise. Lol).

I agree that the children should have had a chance to meet and get to know each other even before there was any talk about marriage and visas. And I don't think it would be helpful for your fiancée and her children to live at a temporary place before moving in with you. They are having to leave their home to travel to a country they don't know; the least you can do is provide them a place to call home instead of a temporary place. Putting them in a temporary house will make them feel like you are not sure yet if you are going to accept them as your stepchildren. If your house is big enough to accommodate the whole family, start working with your children on making it a home for their stepsiblings. This will also help the children to get to know each other better, finding out their interests.

Sounds like only the parents have been on holidays together and the children have never met each other.

I agree that the children should have had a chance to meet and get to know each other even before there was any talk about marriage and visas. And I don't think it would be helpful for your fiancée and her children to live at a temporary place before moving in with you. They are having to leave their home to travel to a country they don't know; the least you can do is provide them a place to call home instead of a temporary place. Putting them in a temporary house will make them feel like you are not sure yet if you are going to accept them as your stepchildren. If your house is big enough to accommodate the whole family, start working with your children on making it a home for their stepsiblings. This will also help the children to get to know each other better, finding out their interests.

This would have been so helpful to include in your initial post... The consulate in the Netherlands generally does not accept DCF requests, so contact Frankfurt. Make sure to very clearly explain the situation: you have to relocate for your job (include documentation), your spouse cannot go back to her home country (explain why: no ties, does not speak the language, unsafe), and it sounds like she will not have legal status in the Netherlands after you leave (on what kind of visa is she currently there?). I think this is a classic example of why DCF exists in the first place, and if presented well I think there is a good chance of getting approval. Feel free to share here what you intend to include in your request, so we can help you to increase your chance of success. Good luck!

It really just depends on how you want to organize your finances and what your incomes look like. We have a joint checking account where both of our incomes are deposited and from where all our bills are paid, and a joint savings account. And then we both have a personal checking account with the same bank, and we transfer money to our personal accounts for personal purposes (and presents for each other so we don't ruin the surprise. Lol).

Sounds like only the parents have been on holidays together and the children have never met each other.

I'm having a hard time digesting this.  You both have children and you're speaking about marriage and you've never brought your children together?!?!  Yet, you speak about how selfish it is not to consider the children and how important it is to make things OK between the kids...do you ACTUALLY care what the kids think or have you already decided you're getting married and the kids will just have to deal with it?  
 
If you do care, someone needs to get on a plane, children in tow, and visit the other party, their children at home.  You cannot get married without the kids haven't even having a chance to meet!  I'd want to see how parenting goes with both parties involved and work through some guaranteed disagreements there long before it was permanent.  
 
And yes, I am a parent. 

If you don't like the free expert advice here, feel free to hire an expensive attorney who will tell you exactly the same. Seriously dude.

I think I am allowed to answer because we have 4 children in the mix (my husband has 2 and I have 2), so here’s my 2 cents.
 
We did all of these things BEFORE starting the immigration process. As you mentioned earlier, when kids are involved you can’t be selfish because it will impact everybody involved. We both agreed that it wasn’t realistic to expect our children to just all of a sudden be a happy blended family living together. We included our children in the process that lead up to finally deciding to take the plunge. It seems that this didn’t happen in your case. 

I replied but I guess I was ignored. You are not the first to blend families and far from the last. WHat you are wanting is just prolonging the inevitable. They will not adjust until all are in the same house and no longer feel like a vacation. That can be months to years. 
 
From a mother of 6 

I think you are the first person to mention such a situation in all the time I have been here so I guess that has confused members.
 
Apart from the cost, I guess such a situation would not occur to most people.
 
Personally I do not see what sort of benefits you get from delaying the inevitable.

Your intent was determined when you entered the country, and you were clearly able to show that you were planning to return home after your visit. If it comes up during your interview, the things you mentioned should be enough to demonstrate this. It sounds like you have thought this through and are aware of the consequences and the fact that your life will kinda be on hold for a while. Good luck, find a hobby or something that will keep you busy, because I can tell from experience that the long wait can drive you nuts!

Just to be clear, this isn't a thing in all states. Some states (like mine) do not make you list your new surname on the marriage certificate. In those states, the marriage certificate is still a valid name change document to take on a spouse's last name. 

Just choose what you want to use, and be consistent in it. You don't want to end up having different official documents with variations of the last name combination. 

Just choose what you want to use, and be consistent in it. You don't want to end up having different official documents with variations of the last name combination.