ptm897

If your friends want's to change his son's name he must do a legal name change with his State of residence prior to filing the N-600.  Because name changes must be approved by a judge, and the issuance of the certificate of citizenship is an administrative function, because the person is already a derivative U.S. citizen we are not allowed to do any name changes on the N-600 applications and the certificates of citizenship MUST be issued in the person's legal name.  So he should officially do a name change for his son in the county/state court system where he lives, then when the name change is official and he has a certified copy of the name change he needs to submit a copy of that name change document with the N-600 and he would then be allowed to fill out the N-600 application with the child's new legal name.   We are allowed to put one AKA (also known as) on the certificate if the parents indicate that the child is known by another name, but it will not be the only name on the certificate so for instance if the child's legal name is  
Ramesh Kumar Patel and the father wants to change the name to Richard Kumar Patel and does not do a legal name change before filing the N-600 our office would be allowed to issue the certificate with the AKA name as well as the legal name, so the certificate would  have both names on it.
 
Ramesh Kumar Patel  AKA  Richard Kumar Patel   
 
So my strong suggestion is to tell your friend to start the legal name change process now for his son, then as soon as that is finished then he can file the N-600 once he is naturalized and provide a copy of the child's name change with the N-600 application.  

To the Original Poster.. If you naturalize in the U.S. you do not jeopardize your Canadian citizenship. Canada allows dual citizenship so the act of you naturalizing in the U.S. does not jeopardize that at all. If you happen to come from a country that does not allow dual citizenship like, Japan, Philippines, then when you take the oath of allegiance and complete the naturalization process you have lost the citizenship of your former country because they will no longer consider you a citizen upon naturalization in the U.S. For a green card holder here in the U.S. from countries like Japan and the Philippines if they go to their consulate here to renew their passport the consulate will ask to see their green card and when they cannot produce that green card because USCIS took it during the naturalization process, that is how those countries that don't allow dual citizenship keep their checks and balances and are able to find out that their citizens have naturalized in another country. So when a Filipino citizens naturalizes in the U.S. the consulate will find out when they go to renew their passport and they cannot produce their green card to show the consulate because they have naturalized and have a naturalization certificate. Then the Filipino consulate will refuse to issue their passport and notify them that they are no longer a citizen of the Philippines.
So, because Canada doesn't care if you naturalize you will not have renounced your Canadian citizenship unless you sign renunciation papers at your local Canadian consulate and tell them you don't want to be a citizen anymore and turn in your passport to them. There is an actual renunciation process that you have to go through with your own country in order to renounce if you come from a country that does not care one way or the other if you naturalize.
So if you naturalize in the U.S you would always maintain two passports and when you go abroad outside of the U.S. to visit someplace you enter those countries on whatever passport is more advantageous to you, but when you come back into the U.S. you will always and forever present your U.S. Passport for inspection at any border or port of entry. You would never again show your Canadian passport to a U.S. Immigration official at any border or port when you are coming back in once you have naturalized.
Technically the U.S. doesn't allow dual citizenship for their citizens under most circumstances and there is always a fine line between that. The U.S. recognizes that many people naturalize here and are allowed to retain their citizenship from their other country if that country allows them to. When you naturalize in the U.S. our office has no legal right to confiscate your Canadian passport from you as that is property of the Canadian government, the only time Immigration is allowed to confiscate a passport from someone is if they are in the process of deporting a criminal and they are securing their travel document to effect the removal.
Many people born in the U.S. are born dual citizens and they have 2nd citizenship through direct blood/lineage from one of their parents that was still a citizen of another country at the time of their birth here in the U.S. so some people here are born citizens and then also hold another citizenship and that is allowable. Then there are many people that naturalize in the U.S. and they come from countries that allow dual citizenship so even though they take our oath of allegiance and they are telling us in that oath that they "Absolutely end entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty to whom or which they have heretofore been a subject or citizen"...etc.... you are not really renouncing that citizenship unless you would go to your countries consulate and sign renunciation papers to that country and turn in your passport to them, you have not really renounced.
I hope this information is helpful, I am an Immigration Officer with USCIS for the past 20 years now, I spent 10 years interviewing in our Citizenship branch and the derivative U.S. citizenship is my specialty and my geek thing for the past 14 years.. I love my job and I actually just discovered this message board today through something on FB. I know that many of my fellow co-workers will refuse to admit to the people that they interview that you are able to retain your citizenship from the country you are from if that country allows you to have dual citizenship, and Canada and the U.K, and many other countries allow dual citizenship. Many USCIS officers can be really militant about that and will refuse to tell you during the interview process that you are allowed to retain your citizenship from your country if they allow you to, many have the mindset that once you naturalize here they don't want you thinking that you can still retain your previous citizenship. I've heard the way some of them talk to applicants in their office and that always got me angry because they are not telling them the truth.
We have books at work that have a list of many of the countries and it tells us if that country allows dual citizenship or not, and it's very easy to find out, just call your countries consulate here in the U.S. and ask them.

Don't trust the information off the toll free number, I hate to break the news to you but none of the people answering those phones are actual immigration officers. I am an Immigration Officer with USCIS for the past 20 years now, and I can guarantee you that we do not have any positions at all in our offices that work at the call center. Every single person you speak to at that toll free number are contract staff members, they are not even actual Federal employees. Believe me they would not pay me my GS-12 salary to sit on the phone all day and answer immigration questions. As officers we have complained for years about the wrong information that is always given by the people answering those phones. I have no idea what kind of training they get but I can assure you they are not Immigration Officers. I hate that toll free number because it misleads so many people.
I am an ISO II level officer that is currently a ASC manager at one of our biometrics ASC offices here in the U.S. Please just go to the closest ASC and they will tell you if you have to have your biometrics taken again. Just take the time and go to the ASC office on your appointment letter. I can tell you that we have been having an issue and problems with the new NASS computer system that does the scheduling for all the biometrics appointments. We have complained time and time again to our Biometrics division in HQ and they are trying to work out the glitches in the system, Sometimes we have to re-fingerprint you and sometimes we do not. Sometimes there are problems with the biometrics being attached properly to the computer system that the citizenship branch uses to process your application and on their side it doesn't look like you appeared for biometrics yet they are in the system.
So if you do get another ASC notice just please go to the appointment and bring all your ID and your resident card and the ASC manager will let you know that day if they really do need to take your biometrics again. Sometimes we do not and we send you home, but it's worth it just to show up and let us do the checking for you.

I will tell you the easiest way to study the 100 questions.. I am an Immigration Officer that spent 10 years interviewing the N-400 application at our Field Office, I no longer interview but I do spend a lot of time talking to N-400 applicants when they come into my ASC site and get their biometrics taken for their application. I show them this simple way of studying for the 100 questions and I'm telling you honestly it is the fastest and easiest way to study. Stay away from the phone apps, the CD and the book, why??? Because you are constantly looking at and hearing too much information that is not needed to successfully pass the test. The administration of the history/civics tests is standard across all of our Field Offices, the test is administered orally, so you are never looking at a written multiple choice question, the Officer will ask you the question verbally and you must respond verbally.
So as you can see in the questions that many of them indicate, Name one or Name two in the question and then they give you multiple choices to pick from, only study what you have to and not more, so for every single question that asks you to Name one thing or Name two things, you go through those questions and pick out the one or two answers that you like and are easy for you to remember and you put that answer on your flash card, then for the questions that don't specifically ask you to name one or name two things and just asks the question like "Why did the colonists fight the British" and it gives you more than one choice, then for these questions the answer defaults to just one of the choices, the Officer does not expect you to say all three of the choices that are there for that question, as long as you give one answer that is fine, believe me the Officer does not want you rattling off all of the choices because we have to write down all of your answers, and only one answer for those questions is necessary to have passed that question. Many times for the questions that don't specifically ask you to name one or name two things and it gives you more than one choice, it is many times a different way of saying the same thing.
The best way to study the 100 questions is to go to the store, and do this old fashioned, buy a set of blank index/flash cards and make your own flash cards. Go through the entire book and write out each question on one side of the card, then on the other side put the answer, but again remember only do what the question asks you, if the Question says "There were 13 original states, name 3" Do not try to memorize more than 3, pick three, and put those down on the flash card and only remember those three, etc.. and go on for all of the questions and only pick the one or two answers you have to remember. And again, the Officer does not care which ones you give them, as long as it is just one answer or two if the questions ask you to name 2 things etc.. you are fine,
Also when you sit down to study never ever ever sit down and go through all 100 questions in one sitting, that is just too much information overload at one time, Just sit down every night with just 5 questions at a time for about 15-20 mins and only study those 5 questions that night, then the next night study 5 different questions and so on, if you follow this simple way of studying you will have all 100 questions memorized in just 20 days.
Believe me this really helps and is a much more efficient way of studying than trying to do it online with some online quiz, or with a phone app or with the CD or with the book directly. Why???? Because when you are studying like that, you are constantly looking at ALL of the choices for the questions, so for every question that says Name one or Name two and you see a huge list of choices, your eyes are always staring at those other choices and that can be confusing, and if you are listening to the CD then you are hearing them list ALL of the choices, just let your brain focus on the one or two answers you need to memorize for each question. There is only 1 question that asks you to name three things, and that is the question, "There were 13 original states, name three" every other question is just asking you to name one or name two and again for the questions that don't specifically name one or two then those questions just require you to give one answer.
The day of the interview the officer randomly pulls a test sheet, and we have 10 different test sheets that have 10 questions already on them, we must ask only those 10 questions and cannot pick and choose which questions we ask you, if we pull test number 1 then you get asked all of the 10 questions on test number 1, you must get 6 out of 10 questions correctly and we are told that if you answer the first 6 questions in a row correctly then we are to stop the history test as you already passed and then move on to the writing and reading portion.
I hope all this info was helpful,

I will tell you the easiest way to study the 100 questions.. I am an Immigration Officer that spent 10 years interviewing the N-400 application at our Field Office, I no longer interview but I do spend a lot of time talking to N-400 applicants when they come into my ASC site and get their biometrics taken for their application. I show them this simple way of studying for the 100 questions and I'm telling you honestly it is the fastest and easiest way to study. Stay away from the phone apps, the CD and the book, why??? Because you are constantly looking at and hearing too much information that is not needed to successfully pass the test. The administration of the history/civics tests is standard across all of our Field Offices, the test is administered orally, so you are never looking at a written multiple choice question, the Officer will ask you the question verbally and you must respond verbally.
So as you can see in the questions that many of them indicate, Name one or Name two in the question and then they give you multiple choices to pick from, only study what you have to and not more, so for every single question that asks you to Name one thing or Name two things, you go through those questions and pick out the one or two answers that you like and are easy for you to remember and you put that answer on your flash card, then for the questions that don't specifically ask you to name one or name two things and just asks the question like "Why did the colonists fight the British" and it gives you more than one choice, then for these questions the answer defaults to just one of the choices, the Officer does not expect you to say all three of the choices that are there for that question, as long as you give one answer that is fine, believe me the Officer does not want you rattling off all of the choices because we have to write down all of your answers, and only one answer for those questions is necessary to have passed that question. Many times for the questions that don't specifically ask you to name one or name two things and it gives you more than one choice, it is many times a different way of saying the same thing.
The best way to study the 100 questions is to go to the store, and do this old fashioned, buy a set of blank index/flash cards and make your own flash cards. Go through the entire book and write out each question on one side of the card, then on the other side put the answer, but again remember only do what the question asks you, if the Question says "There were 13 original states, name 3" Do not try to memorize more than 3, pick three, and put those down on the flash card and only remember those three, etc.. and go on for all of the questions and only pick the one or two answers you have to remember. And again, the Officer does not care which ones you give them, as long as it is just one answer or two if the questions ask you to name 2 things etc.. you are fine,
Also when you sit down to study never ever ever sit down and go through all 100 questions in one sitting, that is just too much information overload at one time, Just sit down every night with just 5 questions at a time for about 15-20 mins and only study those 5 questions that night, then the next night study 5 different questions and so on, if you follow this simple way of studying you will have all 100 questions memorized in just 20 days.
Believe me this really helps and is a much more efficient way of studying than trying to do it online with some online quiz, or with a phone app or with the CD or with the book directly. Why???? Because when you are studying like that, you are constantly looking at ALL of the choices for the questions, so for every question that says Name one or Name two and you see a huge list of choices, your eyes are always staring at those other choices and that can be confusing, and if you are listening to the CD then you are hearing them list ALL of the choices, just let your brain focus on the one or two answers you need to memorize for each question. There is only 1 question that asks you to name three things, and that is the question, "There were 13 original states, name three" every other question is just asking you to name one or name two and again for the questions that don't specifically name one or two then those questions just require you to give one answer.
The day of the interview the officer randomly pulls a test sheet, and we have 10 different test sheets that have 10 questions already on them, we must ask only those 10 questions and cannot pick and choose which questions we ask you, if we pull test number 1 then you get asked all of the 10 questions on test number 1, you must get 6 out of 10 questions correctly and we are told that if you answer the first 6 questions in a row correctly then we are to stop the history test as you already passed and then move on to the writing and reading portion.
I hope all this info was helpful,

To the Original Poster.. If you naturalize in the U.S. you do not jeopardize your Canadian citizenship. Canada allows dual citizenship so the act of you naturalizing in the U.S. does not jeopardize that at all. If you happen to come from a country that does not allow dual citizenship like, Japan, Philippines, then when you take the oath of allegiance and complete the naturalization process you have lost the citizenship of your former country because they will no longer consider you a citizen upon naturalization in the U.S. For a green card holder here in the U.S. from countries like Japan and the Philippines if they go to their consulate here to renew their passport the consulate will ask to see their green card and when they cannot produce that green card because USCIS took it during the naturalization process, that is how those countries that don't allow dual citizenship keep their checks and balances and are able to find out that their citizens have naturalized in another country. So when a Filipino citizens naturalizes in the U.S. the consulate will find out when they go to renew their passport and they cannot produce their green card to show the consulate because they have naturalized and have a naturalization certificate. Then the Filipino consulate will refuse to issue their passport and notify them that they are no longer a citizen of the Philippines.
So, because Canada doesn't care if you naturalize you will not have renounced your Canadian citizenship unless you sign renunciation papers at your local Canadian consulate and tell them you don't want to be a citizen anymore and turn in your passport to them. There is an actual renunciation process that you have to go through with your own country in order to renounce if you come from a country that does not care one way or the other if you naturalize.
So if you naturalize in the U.S you would always maintain two passports and when you go abroad outside of the U.S. to visit someplace you enter those countries on whatever passport is more advantageous to you, but when you come back into the U.S. you will always and forever present your U.S. Passport for inspection at any border or port of entry. You would never again show your Canadian passport to a U.S. Immigration official at any border or port when you are coming back in once you have naturalized.
Technically the U.S. doesn't allow dual citizenship for their citizens under most circumstances and there is always a fine line between that. The U.S. recognizes that many people naturalize here and are allowed to retain their citizenship from their other country if that country allows them to. When you naturalize in the U.S. our office has no legal right to confiscate your Canadian passport from you as that is property of the Canadian government, the only time Immigration is allowed to confiscate a passport from someone is if they are in the process of deporting a criminal and they are securing their travel document to effect the removal.
Many people born in the U.S. are born dual citizens and they have 2nd citizenship through direct blood/lineage from one of their parents that was still a citizen of another country at the time of their birth here in the U.S. so some people here are born citizens and then also hold another citizenship and that is allowable. Then there are many people that naturalize in the U.S. and they come from countries that allow dual citizenship so even though they take our oath of allegiance and they are telling us in that oath that they "Absolutely end entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty to whom or which they have heretofore been a subject or citizen"...etc.... you are not really renouncing that citizenship unless you would go to your countries consulate and sign renunciation papers to that country and turn in your passport to them, you have not really renounced.
I hope this information is helpful, I am an Immigration Officer with USCIS for the past 20 years now, I spent 10 years interviewing in our Citizenship branch and the derivative U.S. citizenship is my specialty and my geek thing for the past 14 years.. I love my job and I actually just discovered this message board today through something on FB. I know that many of my fellow co-workers will refuse to admit to the people that they interview that you are able to retain your citizenship from the country you are from if that country allows you to have dual citizenship, and Canada and the U.K, and many other countries allow dual citizenship. Many USCIS officers can be really militant about that and will refuse to tell you during the interview process that you are allowed to retain your citizenship from your country if they allow you to, many have the mindset that once you naturalize here they don't want you thinking that you can still retain your previous citizenship. I've heard the way some of them talk to applicants in their office and that always got me angry because they are not telling them the truth.
We have books at work that have a list of many of the countries and it tells us if that country allows dual citizenship or not, and it's very easy to find out, just call your countries consulate here in the U.S. and ask them.

It's actually very easy to pass someone on the history/civics yet flunk them on the speaking and understanding.  Usually in these situations people have memorized the history/civics questions yet they really cannot speak and understand basic conversational English and we have no choice but to flunk them on that portion.  In my 10 years of interviewing N-400 applications I can give you example after example of people that came into my office and could not even understand "Please raise your right hand"  when I tried to place them under oath to start the interview.  They have no idea what those words mean, sometimes they are coached to immediately put their right hand up and say Yes when they walk into my office, so when I see them do this I know right off the bat they are being coached by someone telling them what to do and say, these people really do not understand basic English.  They are then motioned to sit down,  we proceed with the history/civics test and they amazingly pass that, but then when I tell them that in order to continue with the interview I need to place them under oath so at this time can you please stand up and raise your right hand they again have no idea what I am saying and sit there with a blank look on their face.  
 
Many of these people, practice very hard to memorize those questions, so when they hear the question or hear a few key words in the question they know which question and then give the answer.  But the problem comes when they do not understand the simple words,  "Please raise your right hand"  and then when I try to put them under oath  "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"  they have no idea what I am asking.  They further cannot explain what it means to tell the truth.  
 
Also, sometimes they are able to get through the first part of the application,  going over the N-400 is the way that we determine their speaking and understanding English, if they cannot be placed under oath, they immediately flunk that portion, then if they get through the first few sections like, name, and do you want to change your name, their address, and marital information, if they have children etc.. we get to the questions that they must completely understand and answer in a manner that we know they understand,  this is where many of them that really do not speak and understand basic English are not able to pass and move forward.  The most difficult questions for people that truly cannot understand and speak English are the questions about whether or not they have ever been involved in a terrorist organization, if they have discriminated against anyone, if they have been arrested, if they have ever claimed to be a citizen, which many people don't understand what that question actually means, many of them think it means have you filed for citizenship before.  If people do not understand those questions and it's pretty evident that they have a totally blank look on their face and if we ask them to tell us what a terrorist means to them and they cannot, they will flunk speaking and understanding.
 
I think you might not understand just how prevalent the issue is that people pass the history and civics because they are extensively coached and are taught key words and phrases to pick out of the sentences in order to answer those history civics questions correctly, but in reality they cannot speak a word of English with any understanding of what they are saying, they have just memorized certain words in English in order to pass the test.  
 
Now the situation as explained here in this original post by the OP, I do NOT believe that this is the situation with this posters husband, it is very evident from what she has said here that her husband does speak and understand English but he had a Horrible Horrible Immigration Officer that was either very rude and nasty to him for no reason at all or the actual Officer's way of speaking and heavy accent was the problem, which I have seen before in our own office by one of our officers,  so what I was doing in this response here was giving you the examples of other people that can easily pass the history/civics but really do not speak and understand conversational English at that is how we are able to flunk them on that yet they pass the history/civics portion.
 
I had an older Chinese lady one day in my office that I could not place under oath, she was coached to keep her right hand raised the minute she walked in my office and she tried to do that as soon as we got in my office, and she just kept repeating "Yes" "Yes" and finally when I got her to understand that I wanted her to sit down first, we did the history test and she passed it, got the first 6 questions correct, it was pretty easy to see that she had memorized those questions pretty much word for word. She then wrote one sentence correctly and read one sentence out loud.   Then when I told her in these exact words  "In order to move on to the next part of the interview, I need to place you under oath, so can you please stand up and raise your right hand?"  I repeated that to her 4 times, very slowly and enunciated my words to her very carefully, as a good officer you learn to do that, to slow down your speech when needed and enunciate your words very carefully.  That short set of instructions to her and very basic general English and it was very clear she had absolutely no idea what I was saying to her.  Even though I couldn't place her under oath, I still tried to talk to her with some basic questions like  "How did you get to this office today?"  "Are you here with family members?"   "Do you have a family member waiting here for you?"  "Is there someone I can talk to that can explain why I cannot pass you today?"  
 
So, if we are not able to place someone under oath, we are not allowed to continue on with the interview and we cannot attempt to go over the application with them and we must flunk them that day on speaking and understanding.  One sentence or one word that is not understood is not a basis to flunk someone, but if they are not able to understand the most basic of instructions, like "Please raise your right hand?"  It is pretty evident at that point the person does not speak and understand conversational English at all.  And sadly they must flunk that portion of the exam.  
 
And again I do not feel that the OP of this thread is in this kind of scenario with her husband, I really think her husband had a horrible Officer that should have never ever flunked him.  I'm keeping fingers crossed he gets a much better Officer on his second interview.
 
 

Hello, I interviewed N-400 applications for 10 years in our USCIS office, the 2nd interview will only to be going over what part was not passed on the first interview.
So if that officer indicated that the "speaking/understanding" English part was the reason, then the day of the 2nd interview, which will NOT be with that same officer, we are not allowed to do the 2nd interview if we did the first interview, so let me assure you that Mr. Singh will not be allowed to interview your husband again, there will not be a re-exam of the history/civics questions and he will not be required to read or write the sentence in English, chances are the officer will just go over the application itself, that is how we determine someone's ability to speak and understand English, and if Officer Singh noted the questions in which he felt your husband didn't understand those questions will be circled in red and the 2nd interviewing officer will go over those with your husband.
We have an Officer in our office that also has a very very heavy thick accent, he is from Pakistan and we have had several complaints in the past about applicant's not being able to understand him and I totally understand why, so please tell your husband that for this second interview if the next officer is also hard to understand and he is then told he didn't pass then please tell him that he has a right to ask to speak to a supervisor after the interview is over.
I'm sorry he had this experience with that officer.
When I was interviewing N-400's if I got a case that day for re-exam where the previous officer said the person did not pass the "speaking and understanding" English portion I would simply go over the N-400 with them and focus on the areas that were marked in red. Sometimes it's just the questions and not any of the biographic data, and believe me I have interviewed several people the second time that were said to have not passed the "speaking and understanding" English part and when those people came in front of me, their English was just fine and I had no problems speaking with them, and passed them immediately. There are officers out there that are not very nice and if they are crabby that day they will flunk someone when they get frustrated with them, and there is a reason why the policy is set that the same officer cannot interview that person a second time if they don't pass a portion of the interview the first time.
Before our interviews start on re-exam day we have to go through our bundle and look for any cases that we previously interviewed the first time around and if we have any of them in our bundle we have to exchange them with other officers.
I hope this info has been helpful for you!!! Please tell your husband to try and not worry too much,

I will tell you the easiest way to study the 100 questions.. I am an Immigration Officer that spent 10 years interviewing the N-400 application at our Field Office, I no longer interview but I do spend a lot of time talking to N-400 applicants when they come into my ASC site and get their biometrics taken for their application. I show them this simple way of studying for the 100 questions and I'm telling you honestly it is the fastest and easiest way to study. Stay away from the phone apps, the CD and the book, why??? Because you are constantly looking at and hearing too much information that is not needed to successfully pass the test. The administration of the history/civics tests is standard across all of our Field Offices, the test is administered orally, so you are never looking at a written multiple choice question, the Officer will ask you the question verbally and you must respond verbally.
So as you can see in the questions that many of them indicate, Name one or Name two in the question and then they give you multiple choices to pick from, only study what you have to and not more, so for every single question that asks you to Name one thing or Name two things, you go through those questions and pick out the one or two answers that you like and are easy for you to remember and you put that answer on your flash card, then for the questions that don't specifically ask you to name one or name two things and just asks the question like "Why did the colonists fight the British" and it gives you more than one choice, then for these questions the answer defaults to just one of the choices, the Officer does not expect you to say all three of the choices that are there for that question, as long as you give one answer that is fine, believe me the Officer does not want you rattling off all of the choices because we have to write down all of your answers, and only one answer for those questions is necessary to have passed that question. Many times for the questions that don't specifically ask you to name one or name two things and it gives you more than one choice, it is many times a different way of saying the same thing.
The best way to study the 100 questions is to go to the store, and do this old fashioned, buy a set of blank index/flash cards and make your own flash cards. Go through the entire book and write out each question on one side of the card, then on the other side put the answer, but again remember only do what the question asks you, if the Question says "There were 13 original states, name 3" Do not try to memorize more than 3, pick three, and put those down on the flash card and only remember those three, etc.. and go on for all of the questions and only pick the one or two answers you have to remember. And again, the Officer does not care which ones you give them, as long as it is just one answer or two if the questions ask you to name 2 things etc.. you are fine,
Also when you sit down to study never ever ever sit down and go through all 100 questions in one sitting, that is just too much information overload at one time, Just sit down every night with just 5 questions at a time for about 15-20 mins and only study those 5 questions that night, then the next night study 5 different questions and so on, if you follow this simple way of studying you will have all 100 questions memorized in just 20 days.
Believe me this really helps and is a much more efficient way of studying than trying to do it online with some online quiz, or with a phone app or with the CD or with the book directly. Why???? Because when you are studying like that, you are constantly looking at ALL of the choices for the questions, so for every question that says Name one or Name two and you see a huge list of choices, your eyes are always staring at those other choices and that can be confusing, and if you are listening to the CD then you are hearing them list ALL of the choices, just let your brain focus on the one or two answers you need to memorize for each question. There is only 1 question that asks you to name three things, and that is the question, "There were 13 original states, name three" every other question is just asking you to name one or name two and again for the questions that don't specifically name one or two then those questions just require you to give one answer.
The day of the interview the officer randomly pulls a test sheet, and we have 10 different test sheets that have 10 questions already on them, we must ask only those 10 questions and cannot pick and choose which questions we ask you, if we pull test number 1 then you get asked all of the 10 questions on test number 1, you must get 6 out of 10 questions correctly and we are told that if you answer the first 6 questions in a row correctly then we are to stop the history test as you already passed and then move on to the writing and reading portion.
I hope all this info was helpful,

It's actually very easy to pass someone on the history/civics yet flunk them on the speaking and understanding.  Usually in these situations people have memorized the history/civics questions yet they really cannot speak and understand basic conversational English and we have no choice but to flunk them on that portion.  In my 10 years of interviewing N-400 applications I can give you example after example of people that came into my office and could not even understand "Please raise your right hand"  when I tried to place them under oath to start the interview.  They have no idea what those words mean, sometimes they are coached to immediately put their right hand up and say Yes when they walk into my office, so when I see them do this I know right off the bat they are being coached by someone telling them what to do and say, these people really do not understand basic English.  They are then motioned to sit down,  we proceed with the history/civics test and they amazingly pass that, but then when I tell them that in order to continue with the interview I need to place them under oath so at this time can you please stand up and raise your right hand they again have no idea what I am saying and sit there with a blank look on their face.  
 
Many of these people, practice very hard to memorize those questions, so when they hear the question or hear a few key words in the question they know which question and then give the answer.  But the problem comes when they do not understand the simple words,  "Please raise your right hand"  and then when I try to put them under oath  "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"  they have no idea what I am asking.  They further cannot explain what it means to tell the truth.  
 
Also, sometimes they are able to get through the first part of the application,  going over the N-400 is the way that we determine their speaking and understanding English, if they cannot be placed under oath, they immediately flunk that portion, then if they get through the first few sections like, name, and do you want to change your name, their address, and marital information, if they have children etc.. we get to the questions that they must completely understand and answer in a manner that we know they understand,  this is where many of them that really do not speak and understand basic English are not able to pass and move forward.  The most difficult questions for people that truly cannot understand and speak English are the questions about whether or not they have ever been involved in a terrorist organization, if they have discriminated against anyone, if they have been arrested, if they have ever claimed to be a citizen, which many people don't understand what that question actually means, many of them think it means have you filed for citizenship before.  If people do not understand those questions and it's pretty evident that they have a totally blank look on their face and if we ask them to tell us what a terrorist means to them and they cannot, they will flunk speaking and understanding.
 
I think you might not understand just how prevalent the issue is that people pass the history and civics because they are extensively coached and are taught key words and phrases to pick out of the sentences in order to answer those history civics questions correctly, but in reality they cannot speak a word of English with any understanding of what they are saying, they have just memorized certain words in English in order to pass the test.  
 
Now the situation as explained here in this original post by the OP, I do NOT believe that this is the situation with this posters husband, it is very evident from what she has said here that her husband does speak and understand English but he had a Horrible Horrible Immigration Officer that was either very rude and nasty to him for no reason at all or the actual Officer's way of speaking and heavy accent was the problem, which I have seen before in our own office by one of our officers,  so what I was doing in this response here was giving you the examples of other people that can easily pass the history/civics but really do not speak and understand conversational English at that is how we are able to flunk them on that yet they pass the history/civics portion.
 
I had an older Chinese lady one day in my office that I could not place under oath, she was coached to keep her right hand raised the minute she walked in my office and she tried to do that as soon as we got in my office, and she just kept repeating "Yes" "Yes" and finally when I got her to understand that I wanted her to sit down first, we did the history test and she passed it, got the first 6 questions correct, it was pretty easy to see that she had memorized those questions pretty much word for word. She then wrote one sentence correctly and read one sentence out loud.   Then when I told her in these exact words  "In order to move on to the next part of the interview, I need to place you under oath, so can you please stand up and raise your right hand?"  I repeated that to her 4 times, very slowly and enunciated my words to her very carefully, as a good officer you learn to do that, to slow down your speech when needed and enunciate your words very carefully.  That short set of instructions to her and very basic general English and it was very clear she had absolutely no idea what I was saying to her.  Even though I couldn't place her under oath, I still tried to talk to her with some basic questions like  "How did you get to this office today?"  "Are you here with family members?"   "Do you have a family member waiting here for you?"  "Is there someone I can talk to that can explain why I cannot pass you today?"  
 
So, if we are not able to place someone under oath, we are not allowed to continue on with the interview and we cannot attempt to go over the application with them and we must flunk them that day on speaking and understanding.  One sentence or one word that is not understood is not a basis to flunk someone, but if they are not able to understand the most basic of instructions, like "Please raise your right hand?"  It is pretty evident at that point the person does not speak and understand conversational English at all.  And sadly they must flunk that portion of the exam.  
 
And again I do not feel that the OP of this thread is in this kind of scenario with her husband, I really think her husband had a horrible Officer that should have never ever flunked him.  I'm keeping fingers crossed he gets a much better Officer on his second interview.
 
 

Hello, I interviewed N-400 applications for 10 years in our USCIS office, the 2nd interview will only to be going over what part was not passed on the first interview.
So if that officer indicated that the "speaking/understanding" English part was the reason, then the day of the 2nd interview, which will NOT be with that same officer, we are not allowed to do the 2nd interview if we did the first interview, so let me assure you that Mr. Singh will not be allowed to interview your husband again, there will not be a re-exam of the history/civics questions and he will not be required to read or write the sentence in English, chances are the officer will just go over the application itself, that is how we determine someone's ability to speak and understand English, and if Officer Singh noted the questions in which he felt your husband didn't understand those questions will be circled in red and the 2nd interviewing officer will go over those with your husband.
We have an Officer in our office that also has a very very heavy thick accent, he is from Pakistan and we have had several complaints in the past about applicant's not being able to understand him and I totally understand why, so please tell your husband that for this second interview if the next officer is also hard to understand and he is then told he didn't pass then please tell him that he has a right to ask to speak to a supervisor after the interview is over.
I'm sorry he had this experience with that officer.
When I was interviewing N-400's if I got a case that day for re-exam where the previous officer said the person did not pass the "speaking and understanding" English portion I would simply go over the N-400 with them and focus on the areas that were marked in red. Sometimes it's just the questions and not any of the biographic data, and believe me I have interviewed several people the second time that were said to have not passed the "speaking and understanding" English part and when those people came in front of me, their English was just fine and I had no problems speaking with them, and passed them immediately. There are officers out there that are not very nice and if they are crabby that day they will flunk someone when they get frustrated with them, and there is a reason why the policy is set that the same officer cannot interview that person a second time if they don't pass a portion of the interview the first time.
Before our interviews start on re-exam day we have to go through our bundle and look for any cases that we previously interviewed the first time around and if we have any of them in our bundle we have to exchange them with other officers.
I hope this info has been helpful for you!!! Please tell your husband to try and not worry too much,

Hello, I interviewed N-400 applications for 10 years in our USCIS office, the 2nd interview will only to be going over what part was not passed on the first interview.
So if that officer indicated that the "speaking/understanding" English part was the reason, then the day of the 2nd interview, which will NOT be with that same officer, we are not allowed to do the 2nd interview if we did the first interview, so let me assure you that Mr. Singh will not be allowed to interview your husband again, there will not be a re-exam of the history/civics questions and he will not be required to read or write the sentence in English, chances are the officer will just go over the application itself, that is how we determine someone's ability to speak and understand English, and if Officer Singh noted the questions in which he felt your husband didn't understand those questions will be circled in red and the 2nd interviewing officer will go over those with your husband.
We have an Officer in our office that also has a very very heavy thick accent, he is from Pakistan and we have had several complaints in the past about applicant's not being able to understand him and I totally understand why, so please tell your husband that for this second interview if the next officer is also hard to understand and he is then told he didn't pass then please tell him that he has a right to ask to speak to a supervisor after the interview is over.
I'm sorry he had this experience with that officer.
When I was interviewing N-400's if I got a case that day for re-exam where the previous officer said the person did not pass the "speaking and understanding" English portion I would simply go over the N-400 with them and focus on the areas that were marked in red. Sometimes it's just the questions and not any of the biographic data, and believe me I have interviewed several people the second time that were said to have not passed the "speaking and understanding" English part and when those people came in front of me, their English was just fine and I had no problems speaking with them, and passed them immediately. There are officers out there that are not very nice and if they are crabby that day they will flunk someone when they get frustrated with them, and there is a reason why the policy is set that the same officer cannot interview that person a second time if they don't pass a portion of the interview the first time.
Before our interviews start on re-exam day we have to go through our bundle and look for any cases that we previously interviewed the first time around and if we have any of them in our bundle we have to exchange them with other officers.
I hope this info has been helpful for you!!! Please tell your husband to try and not worry too much,

Hello, I interviewed N-400 applications for 10 years in our USCIS office, the 2nd interview will only to be going over what part was not passed on the first interview.
So if that officer indicated that the "speaking/understanding" English part was the reason, then the day of the 2nd interview, which will NOT be with that same officer, we are not allowed to do the 2nd interview if we did the first interview, so let me assure you that Mr. Singh will not be allowed to interview your husband again, there will not be a re-exam of the history/civics questions and he will not be required to read or write the sentence in English, chances are the officer will just go over the application itself, that is how we determine someone's ability to speak and understand English, and if Officer Singh noted the questions in which he felt your husband didn't understand those questions will be circled in red and the 2nd interviewing officer will go over those with your husband.
We have an Officer in our office that also has a very very heavy thick accent, he is from Pakistan and we have had several complaints in the past about applicant's not being able to understand him and I totally understand why, so please tell your husband that for this second interview if the next officer is also hard to understand and he is then told he didn't pass then please tell him that he has a right to ask to speak to a supervisor after the interview is over.
I'm sorry he had this experience with that officer.
When I was interviewing N-400's if I got a case that day for re-exam where the previous officer said the person did not pass the "speaking and understanding" English portion I would simply go over the N-400 with them and focus on the areas that were marked in red. Sometimes it's just the questions and not any of the biographic data, and believe me I have interviewed several people the second time that were said to have not passed the "speaking and understanding" English part and when those people came in front of me, their English was just fine and I had no problems speaking with them, and passed them immediately. There are officers out there that are not very nice and if they are crabby that day they will flunk someone when they get frustrated with them, and there is a reason why the policy is set that the same officer cannot interview that person a second time if they don't pass a portion of the interview the first time.
Before our interviews start on re-exam day we have to go through our bundle and look for any cases that we previously interviewed the first time around and if we have any of them in our bundle we have to exchange them with other officers.
I hope this info has been helpful for you!!! Please tell your husband to try and not worry too much,

Hello, I interviewed N-400 applications for 10 years in our USCIS office, the 2nd interview will only to be going over what part was not passed on the first interview.
So if that officer indicated that the "speaking/understanding" English part was the reason, then the day of the 2nd interview, which will NOT be with that same officer, we are not allowed to do the 2nd interview if we did the first interview, so let me assure you that Mr. Singh will not be allowed to interview your husband again, there will not be a re-exam of the history/civics questions and he will not be required to read or write the sentence in English, chances are the officer will just go over the application itself, that is how we determine someone's ability to speak and understand English, and if Officer Singh noted the questions in which he felt your husband didn't understand those questions will be circled in red and the 2nd interviewing officer will go over those with your husband.
We have an Officer in our office that also has a very very heavy thick accent, he is from Pakistan and we have had several complaints in the past about applicant's not being able to understand him and I totally understand why, so please tell your husband that for this second interview if the next officer is also hard to understand and he is then told he didn't pass then please tell him that he has a right to ask to speak to a supervisor after the interview is over.
I'm sorry he had this experience with that officer.
When I was interviewing N-400's if I got a case that day for re-exam where the previous officer said the person did not pass the "speaking and understanding" English portion I would simply go over the N-400 with them and focus on the areas that were marked in red. Sometimes it's just the questions and not any of the biographic data, and believe me I have interviewed several people the second time that were said to have not passed the "speaking and understanding" English part and when those people came in front of me, their English was just fine and I had no problems speaking with them, and passed them immediately. There are officers out there that are not very nice and if they are crabby that day they will flunk someone when they get frustrated with them, and there is a reason why the policy is set that the same officer cannot interview that person a second time if they don't pass a portion of the interview the first time.
Before our interviews start on re-exam day we have to go through our bundle and look for any cases that we previously interviewed the first time around and if we have any of them in our bundle we have to exchange them with other officers.
I hope this info has been helpful for you!!! Please tell your husband to try and not worry too much,

It's actually very easy to pass someone on the history/civics yet flunk them on the speaking and understanding.  Usually in these situations people have memorized the history/civics questions yet they really cannot speak and understand basic conversational English and we have no choice but to flunk them on that portion.  In my 10 years of interviewing N-400 applications I can give you example after example of people that came into my office and could not even understand "Please raise your right hand"  when I tried to place them under oath to start the interview.  They have no idea what those words mean, sometimes they are coached to immediately put their right hand up and say Yes when they walk into my office, so when I see them do this I know right off the bat they are being coached by someone telling them what to do and say, these people really do not understand basic English.  They are then motioned to sit down,  we proceed with the history/civics test and they amazingly pass that, but then when I tell them that in order to continue with the interview I need to place them under oath so at this time can you please stand up and raise your right hand they again have no idea what I am saying and sit there with a blank look on their face.  
 
Many of these people, practice very hard to memorize those questions, so when they hear the question or hear a few key words in the question they know which question and then give the answer.  But the problem comes when they do not understand the simple words,  "Please raise your right hand"  and then when I try to put them under oath  "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"  they have no idea what I am asking.  They further cannot explain what it means to tell the truth.  
 
Also, sometimes they are able to get through the first part of the application,  going over the N-400 is the way that we determine their speaking and understanding English, if they cannot be placed under oath, they immediately flunk that portion, then if they get through the first few sections like, name, and do you want to change your name, their address, and marital information, if they have children etc.. we get to the questions that they must completely understand and answer in a manner that we know they understand,  this is where many of them that really do not speak and understand basic English are not able to pass and move forward.  The most difficult questions for people that truly cannot understand and speak English are the questions about whether or not they have ever been involved in a terrorist organization, if they have discriminated against anyone, if they have been arrested, if they have ever claimed to be a citizen, which many people don't understand what that question actually means, many of them think it means have you filed for citizenship before.  If people do not understand those questions and it's pretty evident that they have a totally blank look on their face and if we ask them to tell us what a terrorist means to them and they cannot, they will flunk speaking and understanding.
 
I think you might not understand just how prevalent the issue is that people pass the history and civics because they are extensively coached and are taught key words and phrases to pick out of the sentences in order to answer those history civics questions correctly, but in reality they cannot speak a word of English with any understanding of what they are saying, they have just memorized certain words in English in order to pass the test.  
 
Now the situation as explained here in this original post by the OP, I do NOT believe that this is the situation with this posters husband, it is very evident from what she has said here that her husband does speak and understand English but he had a Horrible Horrible Immigration Officer that was either very rude and nasty to him for no reason at all or the actual Officer's way of speaking and heavy accent was the problem, which I have seen before in our own office by one of our officers,  so what I was doing in this response here was giving you the examples of other people that can easily pass the history/civics but really do not speak and understand conversational English at that is how we are able to flunk them on that yet they pass the history/civics portion.
 
I had an older Chinese lady one day in my office that I could not place under oath, she was coached to keep her right hand raised the minute she walked in my office and she tried to do that as soon as we got in my office, and she just kept repeating "Yes" "Yes" and finally when I got her to understand that I wanted her to sit down first, we did the history test and she passed it, got the first 6 questions correct, it was pretty easy to see that she had memorized those questions pretty much word for word. She then wrote one sentence correctly and read one sentence out loud.   Then when I told her in these exact words  "In order to move on to the next part of the interview, I need to place you under oath, so can you please stand up and raise your right hand?"  I repeated that to her 4 times, very slowly and enunciated my words to her very carefully, as a good officer you learn to do that, to slow down your speech when needed and enunciate your words very carefully.  That short set of instructions to her and very basic general English and it was very clear she had absolutely no idea what I was saying to her.  Even though I couldn't place her under oath, I still tried to talk to her with some basic questions like  "How did you get to this office today?"  "Are you here with family members?"   "Do you have a family member waiting here for you?"  "Is there someone I can talk to that can explain why I cannot pass you today?"  
 
So, if we are not able to place someone under oath, we are not allowed to continue on with the interview and we cannot attempt to go over the application with them and we must flunk them that day on speaking and understanding.  One sentence or one word that is not understood is not a basis to flunk someone, but if they are not able to understand the most basic of instructions, like "Please raise your right hand?"  It is pretty evident at that point the person does not speak and understand conversational English at all.  And sadly they must flunk that portion of the exam.  
 
And again I do not feel that the OP of this thread is in this kind of scenario with her husband, I really think her husband had a horrible Officer that should have never ever flunked him.  I'm keeping fingers crossed he gets a much better Officer on his second interview.
 
 

Hello, I interviewed N-400 applications for 10 years in our USCIS office, the 2nd interview will only to be going over what part was not passed on the first interview.
So if that officer indicated that the "speaking/understanding" English part was the reason, then the day of the 2nd interview, which will NOT be with that same officer, we are not allowed to do the 2nd interview if we did the first interview, so let me assure you that Mr. Singh will not be allowed to interview your husband again, there will not be a re-exam of the history/civics questions and he will not be required to read or write the sentence in English, chances are the officer will just go over the application itself, that is how we determine someone's ability to speak and understand English, and if Officer Singh noted the questions in which he felt your husband didn't understand those questions will be circled in red and the 2nd interviewing officer will go over those with your husband.
We have an Officer in our office that also has a very very heavy thick accent, he is from Pakistan and we have had several complaints in the past about applicant's not being able to understand him and I totally understand why, so please tell your husband that for this second interview if the next officer is also hard to understand and he is then told he didn't pass then please tell him that he has a right to ask to speak to a supervisor after the interview is over.
I'm sorry he had this experience with that officer.
When I was interviewing N-400's if I got a case that day for re-exam where the previous officer said the person did not pass the "speaking and understanding" English portion I would simply go over the N-400 with them and focus on the areas that were marked in red. Sometimes it's just the questions and not any of the biographic data, and believe me I have interviewed several people the second time that were said to have not passed the "speaking and understanding" English part and when those people came in front of me, their English was just fine and I had no problems speaking with them, and passed them immediately. There are officers out there that are not very nice and if they are crabby that day they will flunk someone when they get frustrated with them, and there is a reason why the policy is set that the same officer cannot interview that person a second time if they don't pass a portion of the interview the first time.
Before our interviews start on re-exam day we have to go through our bundle and look for any cases that we previously interviewed the first time around and if we have any of them in our bundle we have to exchange them with other officers.
I hope this info has been helpful for you!!! Please tell your husband to try and not worry too much,

It's actually very easy to pass someone on the history/civics yet flunk them on the speaking and understanding.  Usually in these situations people have memorized the history/civics questions yet they really cannot speak and understand basic conversational English and we have no choice but to flunk them on that portion.  In my 10 years of interviewing N-400 applications I can give you example after example of people that came into my office and could not even understand "Please raise your right hand"  when I tried to place them under oath to start the interview.  They have no idea what those words mean, sometimes they are coached to immediately put their right hand up and say Yes when they walk into my office, so when I see them do this I know right off the bat they are being coached by someone telling them what to do and say, these people really do not understand basic English.  They are then motioned to sit down,  we proceed with the history/civics test and they amazingly pass that, but then when I tell them that in order to continue with the interview I need to place them under oath so at this time can you please stand up and raise your right hand they again have no idea what I am saying and sit there with a blank look on their face.  
 
Many of these people, practice very hard to memorize those questions, so when they hear the question or hear a few key words in the question they know which question and then give the answer.  But the problem comes when they do not understand the simple words,  "Please raise your right hand"  and then when I try to put them under oath  "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"  they have no idea what I am asking.  They further cannot explain what it means to tell the truth.  
 
Also, sometimes they are able to get through the first part of the application,  going over the N-400 is the way that we determine their speaking and understanding English, if they cannot be placed under oath, they immediately flunk that portion, then if they get through the first few sections like, name, and do you want to change your name, their address, and marital information, if they have children etc.. we get to the questions that they must completely understand and answer in a manner that we know they understand,  this is where many of them that really do not speak and understand basic English are not able to pass and move forward.  The most difficult questions for people that truly cannot understand and speak English are the questions about whether or not they have ever been involved in a terrorist organization, if they have discriminated against anyone, if they have been arrested, if they have ever claimed to be a citizen, which many people don't understand what that question actually means, many of them think it means have you filed for citizenship before.  If people do not understand those questions and it's pretty evident that they have a totally blank look on their face and if we ask them to tell us what a terrorist means to them and they cannot, they will flunk speaking and understanding.
 
I think you might not understand just how prevalent the issue is that people pass the history and civics because they are extensively coached and are taught key words and phrases to pick out of the sentences in order to answer those history civics questions correctly, but in reality they cannot speak a word of English with any understanding of what they are saying, they have just memorized certain words in English in order to pass the test.  
 
Now the situation as explained here in this original post by the OP, I do NOT believe that this is the situation with this posters husband, it is very evident from what she has said here that her husband does speak and understand English but he had a Horrible Horrible Immigration Officer that was either very rude and nasty to him for no reason at all or the actual Officer's way of speaking and heavy accent was the problem, which I have seen before in our own office by one of our officers,  so what I was doing in this response here was giving you the examples of other people that can easily pass the history/civics but really do not speak and understand conversational English at that is how we are able to flunk them on that yet they pass the history/civics portion.
 
I had an older Chinese lady one day in my office that I could not place under oath, she was coached to keep her right hand raised the minute she walked in my office and she tried to do that as soon as we got in my office, and she just kept repeating "Yes" "Yes" and finally when I got her to understand that I wanted her to sit down first, we did the history test and she passed it, got the first 6 questions correct, it was pretty easy to see that she had memorized those questions pretty much word for word. She then wrote one sentence correctly and read one sentence out loud.   Then when I told her in these exact words  "In order to move on to the next part of the interview, I need to place you under oath, so can you please stand up and raise your right hand?"  I repeated that to her 4 times, very slowly and enunciated my words to her very carefully, as a good officer you learn to do that, to slow down your speech when needed and enunciate your words very carefully.  That short set of instructions to her and very basic general English and it was very clear she had absolutely no idea what I was saying to her.  Even though I couldn't place her under oath, I still tried to talk to her with some basic questions like  "How did you get to this office today?"  "Are you here with family members?"   "Do you have a family member waiting here for you?"  "Is there someone I can talk to that can explain why I cannot pass you today?"  
 
So, if we are not able to place someone under oath, we are not allowed to continue on with the interview and we cannot attempt to go over the application with them and we must flunk them that day on speaking and understanding.  One sentence or one word that is not understood is not a basis to flunk someone, but if they are not able to understand the most basic of instructions, like "Please raise your right hand?"  It is pretty evident at that point the person does not speak and understand conversational English at all.  And sadly they must flunk that portion of the exam.  
 
And again I do not feel that the OP of this thread is in this kind of scenario with her husband, I really think her husband had a horrible Officer that should have never ever flunked him.  I'm keeping fingers crossed he gets a much better Officer on his second interview.
 
 

Hello, I interviewed N-400 applications for 10 years in our USCIS office, the 2nd interview will only to be going over what part was not passed on the first interview.
So if that officer indicated that the "speaking/understanding" English part was the reason, then the day of the 2nd interview, which will NOT be with that same officer, we are not allowed to do the 2nd interview if we did the first interview, so let me assure you that Mr. Singh will not be allowed to interview your husband again, there will not be a re-exam of the history/civics questions and he will not be required to read or write the sentence in English, chances are the officer will just go over the application itself, that is how we determine someone's ability to speak and understand English, and if Officer Singh noted the questions in which he felt your husband didn't understand those questions will be circled in red and the 2nd interviewing officer will go over those with your husband.
We have an Officer in our office that also has a very very heavy thick accent, he is from Pakistan and we have had several complaints in the past about applicant's not being able to understand him and I totally understand why, so please tell your husband that for this second interview if the next officer is also hard to understand and he is then told he didn't pass then please tell him that he has a right to ask to speak to a supervisor after the interview is over.
I'm sorry he had this experience with that officer.
When I was interviewing N-400's if I got a case that day for re-exam where the previous officer said the person did not pass the "speaking and understanding" English portion I would simply go over the N-400 with them and focus on the areas that were marked in red. Sometimes it's just the questions and not any of the biographic data, and believe me I have interviewed several people the second time that were said to have not passed the "speaking and understanding" English part and when those people came in front of me, their English was just fine and I had no problems speaking with them, and passed them immediately. There are officers out there that are not very nice and if they are crabby that day they will flunk someone when they get frustrated with them, and there is a reason why the policy is set that the same officer cannot interview that person a second time if they don't pass a portion of the interview the first time.
Before our interviews start on re-exam day we have to go through our bundle and look for any cases that we previously interviewed the first time around and if we have any of them in our bundle we have to exchange them with other officers.
I hope this info has been helpful for you!!! Please tell your husband to try and not worry too much,

Hello, I interviewed N-400 applications for 10 years in our USCIS office, the 2nd interview will only to be going over what part was not passed on the first interview.
So if that officer indicated that the "speaking/understanding" English part was the reason, then the day of the 2nd interview, which will NOT be with that same officer, we are not allowed to do the 2nd interview if we did the first interview, so let me assure you that Mr. Singh will not be allowed to interview your husband again, there will not be a re-exam of the history/civics questions and he will not be required to read or write the sentence in English, chances are the officer will just go over the application itself, that is how we determine someone's ability to speak and understand English, and if Officer Singh noted the questions in which he felt your husband didn't understand those questions will be circled in red and the 2nd interviewing officer will go over those with your husband.
We have an Officer in our office that also has a very very heavy thick accent, he is from Pakistan and we have had several complaints in the past about applicant's not being able to understand him and I totally understand why, so please tell your husband that for this second interview if the next officer is also hard to understand and he is then told he didn't pass then please tell him that he has a right to ask to speak to a supervisor after the interview is over.
I'm sorry he had this experience with that officer.
When I was interviewing N-400's if I got a case that day for re-exam where the previous officer said the person did not pass the "speaking and understanding" English portion I would simply go over the N-400 with them and focus on the areas that were marked in red. Sometimes it's just the questions and not any of the biographic data, and believe me I have interviewed several people the second time that were said to have not passed the "speaking and understanding" English part and when those people came in front of me, their English was just fine and I had no problems speaking with them, and passed them immediately. There are officers out there that are not very nice and if they are crabby that day they will flunk someone when they get frustrated with them, and there is a reason why the policy is set that the same officer cannot interview that person a second time if they don't pass a portion of the interview the first time.
Before our interviews start on re-exam day we have to go through our bundle and look for any cases that we previously interviewed the first time around and if we have any of them in our bundle we have to exchange them with other officers.
I hope this info has been helpful for you!!! Please tell your husband to try and not worry too much,

You do not need to bring your husband's U.S. Passport, if you obtained your residency based on your marriage to your U.S. citizen husband then we already have all the information we need about your husband in your alien file. There is no need to bring that information again, same thing with your marriage certificate, we already know you are married if you obtained your residency on that marriage.  When we interview you for your naturalization we have your entire alien file in front of us for the majority of the N-400 cases.  If you feel more comfortable go ahead and bring a copy of his passport page but there is absolutely no reason at all to bring his actual passport.  I hope this information is helpful.  I interviewed N-400 applications for 10 years.  Also I have no idea how long the wait is for the Oath ceremony in our Ft. Myers office, it is a brand new office though, they just opened it up a few months ago. I almost put in for a transfer when they were staffing the place but decided it was too costly to move to Florida.  Good luck and don't be nervous...   

It's actually very easy to pass someone on the history/civics yet flunk them on the speaking and understanding.  Usually in these situations people have memorized the history/civics questions yet they really cannot speak and understand basic conversational English and we have no choice but to flunk them on that portion.  In my 10 years of interviewing N-400 applications I can give you example after example of people that came into my office and could not even understand "Please raise your right hand"  when I tried to place them under oath to start the interview.  They have no idea what those words mean, sometimes they are coached to immediately put their right hand up and say Yes when they walk into my office, so when I see them do this I know right off the bat they are being coached by someone telling them what to do and say, these people really do not understand basic English.  They are then motioned to sit down,  we proceed with the history/civics test and they amazingly pass that, but then when I tell them that in order to continue with the interview I need to place them under oath so at this time can you please stand up and raise your right hand they again have no idea what I am saying and sit there with a blank look on their face.  
 
Many of these people, practice very hard to memorize those questions, so when they hear the question or hear a few key words in the question they know which question and then give the answer.  But the problem comes when they do not understand the simple words,  "Please raise your right hand"  and then when I try to put them under oath  "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"  they have no idea what I am asking.  They further cannot explain what it means to tell the truth.  
 
Also, sometimes they are able to get through the first part of the application,  going over the N-400 is the way that we determine their speaking and understanding English, if they cannot be placed under oath, they immediately flunk that portion, then if they get through the first few sections like, name, and do you want to change your name, their address, and marital information, if they have children etc.. we get to the questions that they must completely understand and answer in a manner that we know they understand,  this is where many of them that really do not speak and understand basic English are not able to pass and move forward.  The most difficult questions for people that truly cannot understand and speak English are the questions about whether or not they have ever been involved in a terrorist organization, if they have discriminated against anyone, if they have been arrested, if they have ever claimed to be a citizen, which many people don't understand what that question actually means, many of them think it means have you filed for citizenship before.  If people do not understand those questions and it's pretty evident that they have a totally blank look on their face and if we ask them to tell us what a terrorist means to them and they cannot, they will flunk speaking and understanding.
 
I think you might not understand just how prevalent the issue is that people pass the history and civics because they are extensively coached and are taught key words and phrases to pick out of the sentences in order to answer those history civics questions correctly, but in reality they cannot speak a word of English with any understanding of what they are saying, they have just memorized certain words in English in order to pass the test.  
 
Now the situation as explained here in this original post by the OP, I do NOT believe that this is the situation with this posters husband, it is very evident from what she has said here that her husband does speak and understand English but he had a Horrible Horrible Immigration Officer that was either very rude and nasty to him for no reason at all or the actual Officer's way of speaking and heavy accent was the problem, which I have seen before in our own office by one of our officers,  so what I was doing in this response here was giving you the examples of other people that can easily pass the history/civics but really do not speak and understand conversational English at that is how we are able to flunk them on that yet they pass the history/civics portion.
 
I had an older Chinese lady one day in my office that I could not place under oath, she was coached to keep her right hand raised the minute she walked in my office and she tried to do that as soon as we got in my office, and she just kept repeating "Yes" "Yes" and finally when I got her to understand that I wanted her to sit down first, we did the history test and she passed it, got the first 6 questions correct, it was pretty easy to see that she had memorized those questions pretty much word for word. She then wrote one sentence correctly and read one sentence out loud.   Then when I told her in these exact words  "In order to move on to the next part of the interview, I need to place you under oath, so can you please stand up and raise your right hand?"  I repeated that to her 4 times, very slowly and enunciated my words to her very carefully, as a good officer you learn to do that, to slow down your speech when needed and enunciate your words very carefully.  That short set of instructions to her and very basic general English and it was very clear she had absolutely no idea what I was saying to her.  Even though I couldn't place her under oath, I still tried to talk to her with some basic questions like  "How did you get to this office today?"  "Are you here with family members?"   "Do you have a family member waiting here for you?"  "Is there someone I can talk to that can explain why I cannot pass you today?"  
 
So, if we are not able to place someone under oath, we are not allowed to continue on with the interview and we cannot attempt to go over the application with them and we must flunk them that day on speaking and understanding.  One sentence or one word that is not understood is not a basis to flunk someone, but if they are not able to understand the most basic of instructions, like "Please raise your right hand?"  It is pretty evident at that point the person does not speak and understand conversational English at all.  And sadly they must flunk that portion of the exam.  
 
And again I do not feel that the OP of this thread is in this kind of scenario with her husband, I really think her husband had a horrible Officer that should have never ever flunked him.  I'm keeping fingers crossed he gets a much better Officer on his second interview.
 
 

Hello, I interviewed N-400 applications for 10 years in our USCIS office, the 2nd interview will only to be going over what part was not passed on the first interview.
So if that officer indicated that the "speaking/understanding" English part was the reason, then the day of the 2nd interview, which will NOT be with that same officer, we are not allowed to do the 2nd interview if we did the first interview, so let me assure you that Mr. Singh will not be allowed to interview your husband again, there will not be a re-exam of the history/civics questions and he will not be required to read or write the sentence in English, chances are the officer will just go over the application itself, that is how we determine someone's ability to speak and understand English, and if Officer Singh noted the questions in which he felt your husband didn't understand those questions will be circled in red and the 2nd interviewing officer will go over those with your husband.
We have an Officer in our office that also has a very very heavy thick accent, he is from Pakistan and we have had several complaints in the past about applicant's not being able to understand him and I totally understand why, so please tell your husband that for this second interview if the next officer is also hard to understand and he is then told he didn't pass then please tell him that he has a right to ask to speak to a supervisor after the interview is over.
I'm sorry he had this experience with that officer.
When I was interviewing N-400's if I got a case that day for re-exam where the previous officer said the person did not pass the "speaking and understanding" English portion I would simply go over the N-400 with them and focus on the areas that were marked in red. Sometimes it's just the questions and not any of the biographic data, and believe me I have interviewed several people the second time that were said to have not passed the "speaking and understanding" English part and when those people came in front of me, their English was just fine and I had no problems speaking with them, and passed them immediately. There are officers out there that are not very nice and if they are crabby that day they will flunk someone when they get frustrated with them, and there is a reason why the policy is set that the same officer cannot interview that person a second time if they don't pass a portion of the interview the first time.
Before our interviews start on re-exam day we have to go through our bundle and look for any cases that we previously interviewed the first time around and if we have any of them in our bundle we have to exchange them with other officers.
I hope this info has been helpful for you!!! Please tell your husband to try and not worry too much,

Has your Fiance ever had a B2 visa before?  If this is his first visa chances are he will be denied. That is just the reality of it so I don't want to sugar coat anything.
 
 I've been an Immigration Officer for 20 years now and the State Department is hard on B2 visas.  Don't be surprised if he is denied the first time.  Young single men from very poor countries have the highest rate of refusal, and there really is no actual interview other than a minute or two if that in front of the State Department Officer that will quickly review his application.  The refusal rate is extremely high because people are basically guilty (intending immigrant) and you have to prove you are not an intending immigrant, which he is an intending immigrant based on what you have said so far, the second they hear he has an American girlfriend that is a huge strike against him unless he is wealthy in his home country and his family has money and he has a really good job and owns property. Having a child there is not enough especially since he is not married to the mother, people leave their children all the time in their home countries to come to the U.S. and have family members take care of them so that alone is not a strong enough tie.  It is extremely hard for single men in your Fiance's age range to get B2 visas.  You may see a lot of people here in the U.S. with them, and think it's not that hard but you are only seeing the ones that made it, and not the hundreds and thousands of denials.  
 
Several times we have had State Department Officers comes speak to us at USCIS here in the U.S. for various different training sessions over the years and what has always stood out most was the Officers that spoke about the refusal rate of the B2 visas, on an average day in just one consulate there can be 500 applicants in just one day alone and out of those 500 maybe just maybe 25 people get approved.  The refusal rate is so high that I often wonder why so many people still attempt to even try.  
 
Just be prepared that you may have to end up going to Fiance Visa route the K1 without him ever getting the chance to come here first on a B2 visa to see family members.  The reality is, he is an intending immigrant and the Officer, unless your Fiance lies through his teeth and never mentions you at all, will be able to see through that, and his financial situation and lack of ties to his home country is probably going to be enough to just flat out deny him the first time around, so please don't be surprised if this happens.
 
Going through the K1 process will probably be your best route but if he does  get the B2 then he will be very lucky.  You have not spoken at all I don't think of his financial and social status in Jamaica so I don't know if he is considered wealthy there and privileged or just someone struggling like the average citizen there.      

It's actually very easy to pass someone on the history/civics yet flunk them on the speaking and understanding.  Usually in these situations people have memorized the history/civics questions yet they really cannot speak and understand basic conversational English and we have no choice but to flunk them on that portion.  In my 10 years of interviewing N-400 applications I can give you example after example of people that came into my office and could not even understand "Please raise your right hand"  when I tried to place them under oath to start the interview.  They have no idea what those words mean, sometimes they are coached to immediately put their right hand up and say Yes when they walk into my office, so when I see them do this I know right off the bat they are being coached by someone telling them what to do and say, these people really do not understand basic English.  They are then motioned to sit down,  we proceed with the history/civics test and they amazingly pass that, but then when I tell them that in order to continue with the interview I need to place them under oath so at this time can you please stand up and raise your right hand they again have no idea what I am saying and sit there with a blank look on their face.  
 
Many of these people, practice very hard to memorize those questions, so when they hear the question or hear a few key words in the question they know which question and then give the answer.  But the problem comes when they do not understand the simple words,  "Please raise your right hand"  and then when I try to put them under oath  "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"  they have no idea what I am asking.  They further cannot explain what it means to tell the truth.  
 
Also, sometimes they are able to get through the first part of the application,  going over the N-400 is the way that we determine their speaking and understanding English, if they cannot be placed under oath, they immediately flunk that portion, then if they get through the first few sections like, name, and do you want to change your name, their address, and marital information, if they have children etc.. we get to the questions that they must completely understand and answer in a manner that we know they understand,  this is where many of them that really do not speak and understand basic English are not able to pass and move forward.  The most difficult questions for people that truly cannot understand and speak English are the questions about whether or not they have ever been involved in a terrorist organization, if they have discriminated against anyone, if they have been arrested, if they have ever claimed to be a citizen, which many people don't understand what that question actually means, many of them think it means have you filed for citizenship before.  If people do not understand those questions and it's pretty evident that they have a totally blank look on their face and if we ask them to tell us what a terrorist means to them and they cannot, they will flunk speaking and understanding.
 
I think you might not understand just how prevalent the issue is that people pass the history and civics because they are extensively coached and are taught key words and phrases to pick out of the sentences in order to answer those history civics questions correctly, but in reality they cannot speak a word of English with any understanding of what they are saying, they have just memorized certain words in English in order to pass the test.  
 
Now the situation as explained here in this original post by the OP, I do NOT believe that this is the situation with this posters husband, it is very evident from what she has said here that her husband does speak and understand English but he had a Horrible Horrible Immigration Officer that was either very rude and nasty to him for no reason at all or the actual Officer's way of speaking and heavy accent was the problem, which I have seen before in our own office by one of our officers,  so what I was doing in this response here was giving you the examples of other people that can easily pass the history/civics but really do not speak and understand conversational English at that is how we are able to flunk them on that yet they pass the history/civics portion.
 
I had an older Chinese lady one day in my office that I could not place under oath, she was coached to keep her right hand raised the minute she walked in my office and she tried to do that as soon as we got in my office, and she just kept repeating "Yes" "Yes" and finally when I got her to understand that I wanted her to sit down first, we did the history test and she passed it, got the first 6 questions correct, it was pretty easy to see that she had memorized those questions pretty much word for word. She then wrote one sentence correctly and read one sentence out loud.   Then when I told her in these exact words  "In order to move on to the next part of the interview, I need to place you under oath, so can you please stand up and raise your right hand?"  I repeated that to her 4 times, very slowly and enunciated my words to her very carefully, as a good officer you learn to do that, to slow down your speech when needed and enunciate your words very carefully.  That short set of instructions to her and very basic general English and it was very clear she had absolutely no idea what I was saying to her.  Even though I couldn't place her under oath, I still tried to talk to her with some basic questions like  "How did you get to this office today?"  "Are you here with family members?"   "Do you have a family member waiting here for you?"  "Is there someone I can talk to that can explain why I cannot pass you today?"  
 
So, if we are not able to place someone under oath, we are not allowed to continue on with the interview and we cannot attempt to go over the application with them and we must flunk them that day on speaking and understanding.  One sentence or one word that is not understood is not a basis to flunk someone, but if they are not able to understand the most basic of instructions, like "Please raise your right hand?"  It is pretty evident at that point the person does not speak and understand conversational English at all.  And sadly they must flunk that portion of the exam.  
 
And again I do not feel that the OP of this thread is in this kind of scenario with her husband, I really think her husband had a horrible Officer that should have never ever flunked him.  I'm keeping fingers crossed he gets a much better Officer on his second interview.
 
 

You are very welcome, and you have nothing to worry about.  If you did not know or think you had claim to another citizenship at the time of your naturalization nothing at all is going to affect you negatively now and even if you knew at the time it still would not have negatively affected your naturalizing in the U.S.
 
Please don't worry about that, many times people find out at some point in their life that they may have a claim to another citizenship through jus sanguinis and getting another citizenship through that is O.K. and it does not affect your citizenship in the U.S.  
 
Now since your Great Grandfather never recognized or registered your grandmother that might be an issue for the French government in terms to passing down citizenship to you through jus sangunis and you will have to check up with the French government on all of their rules and regulations and if you have the proper documents to claim it,   If you are able to obtain French citizenship through that manner it is not going to jeopardize your U.S. citizenship at all.  That French citizenship is something that can be conferred to you through blood, family lineage and there is nothing at all wrong with that.  
 
I have the ability to do the same thing through a Great Grandparent on my father's side and I'm strongly considering it at this point.