FrankD18

Just now, marcusa said:

back then, i had both my NIW I-140 approved in 2 months and EB-1A I-140 approved in 1 months, as i filed both within a week myself. 

unfortunately, my 485 petition was processed for 14 months before approval.  

That was a nightmare !!! i hate the feeling of being desperate like that...

Went through EB-1A as well (as many other folks doing research I suppose). I think it was in 2008, and there was maybe 3 months total between application and receiving permanent resident status. It was incredibly quick. I suppose citizenship was longer to balance things out :-)

1 minute ago, marcusa said:

did you paper file N400 back at the beginning ?

I'm not sure what you mean. I filed the N400 early January 2016. It was filed only once. After that, fingerprints in February. And then it was status quo until I contacted one of my senators in May 2017. I think I called USCIS about 30 times starting October 2016. Bumped to Tier 2 maybe 10 times. And I got around 5-6 letters saying 'yeah sorry, we're a tad late'...Anyway, it's done now, and short of not being able to vote in November, and a bit of stress, my life was not affected. 

1 minute ago, marcusa said:

Florida has a huge amount of immigration needs. Their field offices are supposed to work more efficiently.

 

Do you have the feeling that if your mother country was a matter affecting your background things ? i know some original countries are not on their favorite list,which might cause the processing "extremely " delayed.  

 

The canadian guy next door has interview at NYC with a month after fingerprint....what?! unbelievable.....！

I'm from western Europe, with a terminal degree, a job at a big company, no record of any sort, pay my taxes (a lot) on time, and none of the other red flags...so there is absolutely nothing in my background that could cause this type of delay. One of my colleagues got an interview 3 months after applying. Same company, same field office.

7 minutes ago, marcusa said:

1 year and 8 months long after Biometrics ? seriously ? 

 

can you disclose which state you are living and which field office was processing your application ?  

Have you tried to contact senators or first lady for assistance ?

 

was it possible that you and many other applications were buried under the desk because of the Presidential election by the end of 2016. It was chaos during the transition of different US government, especially Trump administration was not friendly at all on immigration policy.

 

 

It was in Florida. I did contact one of our senators, and that's when things actually picked up. It's possible, but I know a couple of folks who applied in April 2016, in the same city, and got citizenship in time to vote. 

48 minutes ago, Going through said:

Wow---2 months inbetween interview and oath---that's unusually long to wait for that, isn't it?

Well, it was 16 months between the biometrics and the interview, so that was on par with the rest I suppose ;-)

1 hour ago, Going through said:

Congrats!  I hope to be in your shoes next month or so  

Can you give a little bit more detail about how the interview and oath ceremony was?

Sure. 

The interview was pretty chill. The USCIS officer was very friendly and acknowledged that my processing time was surprisingly long and she couldn't see why. 

We chatted for 15min or so. She asked me a bunch of questions about my recent travels, if anything had changed in my application recently etc. Then the 'test' started.

The English test basically was 'read this sentence' and 'write this sentence'. I thought it was funny since we had been chatting for 15min or so. 

Then she asked me 6 questions from the 100. Since I answered all of them there was no need to ask 10. I was given a paper saying that it was all good (I forgot the phrasing exactly, but it's along the lines of you're approved). 

A couple of days later my status changed on the USCIS site saying that a letter would be sent with time and day for the oath ceremony. It still took over 2 months between the interview and the oath.

The oath took about 3hrs. I arrived with 38 other applicants. The first 1h30 was in a room where they called us one by one to check if anything pertaining to travel abroad, marital status, criminal record etc has changed since the interview. I had travel abroad for a few days so I brought my passport as proof (the oath letter tells you what to bring for the ceremony). It was merely a whole bunch of waiting, and an officer telling us how we would proceed. Then we went to the courtroom where friends and family were, and the ceremony itself lasted an hour or so. 

Couple of speeches (from the judge, various organizations in town, an invited speaker) then the oath, then the pledge of allegiance. And I was able to register to vote immediately after that.

2 minutes ago, HK12 said:

Congratulations!!! What a long wait, but all's well that ends well, right? Were you stuck in their background checks for that long? Just curious, since I have been stuck for 7.5 months since my biometrics now.

 

Honestly, I have no idea. I started calling from late August 2016, and was given various answers, most of them being along the lines of it's normal, be patient. I asked to be bumped to tier 2 several times also to no avail. At no stage was their any indication that background check was an issue. Besides, in my job, I've had to have several of these and it was never an issue. Other folks applied after I did where I live (somewhat small city), it was processed at the same center, and they were citizens within 6 months. So, really no idea what the hold is.

What the hold was :-) 

After applying for citizenship early January 2016, followed by biometrics mid February 2016, and then nothing at all until June 2017 (yes, 2017!) when my interview was scheduled, despite a very straightforward application, I became a US citizen Thursday last week! Awesome ceremony and a great speech by the judge presiding over it.

Quick question: I have my oath ceremony scheduled tomorrow (after having applied in January...2016...with a very straightforward application, good job, degree, no legal issues etc. seems that it just fell through the cracks). Anyway, I answered no to all questions except for travel outside the country. I was out for 2 weeks for both work and vacation. The document says to bring a proof for whatever answer we say yes to. Do I need to bring my passport? And if so, can they actually take it away? 

I checked today on the USCIS website, and some 17 months after applying, my status now says that the oath ceremony letter was sent! Woohoo!

On 7/21/2017 at 11:28 PM, rjgacek said:

Did you mean January of 2017?? Or it took you over one year and 7 months???

January of .... 2016! One year and 7 months. As of today, still waiting for the oath ceremony to be scheduled.

13 minutes ago, bestluck said:

Frank! You are scared me I am going to send my case to Jacksonville Florida and Going to apply soon under 3 years rules for Citizenship 

Several friends in the same area applied to the same office after I did, and were citizens within 6 months of application. 

So hopefully your application won't get stuck in citizenlimbo as mine was.

6 minutes ago, Hopeful2004 said:

What's your field office? It's just so hard to predict anything with UScIS.

Jacksonville

1 minute ago, Hopeful2004 said:

My guess is you're stuck in background check. I was stuck there for nearly 5 months. I applied in Dec 2016 and will be taking that oath next week. 

So you applied 11 months after I did and will be a citizen before I am ;-) sigh...I'm past background check since I had the interview and approval now. Just waiting for the oath ceremony.

Actually, I just called them and they said that there was nothing unusually long with this application...hmmm...so I guess the advertised time frames are made up? ;-)

Where I live, I know at least 3 people who were in the same situation I was, same work place, applied to the same office, in March 2016, and where citizens on time to vote. 

I got my interview in june this year, so clearly a bit late to vote...I know of one person who interviewed a week after I did, and whose oath ceremony is scheduled already (same city, same office, heck we had the same IO)...so it's hard to not think it's a bit personal  (I know it isn't, but it's frustrating)

1 hour ago, lovelyalex said:

 

 

You're thinking about this the wrong way...  They have so many applications to sort through right now, for a variety of reasons (new president with strong opinions on immigrants, not to mention there is an increase in applications around an election year which adds to a backlog) on top of delays and processing issues with background checks last year.  Scores and scores of people were delayed because their background checks had to be run again, even after they'd been interviewed and approved.

 

It's not personal.  You, as an individual, are literally just a drop in the ocean right now, in a sea of drops waiting at various stages.  Sure some people do go through a bit quicker and the waiting is tough... but hang in there!

 

But at this stage I would recommend what others have said and get an infopass at your FO and see what the scheduling hold up is.

 

I guess you miss the first post. I already had my interview. It just came a long time after I applied (15 months). I applied in January of 2016. Way before the elections. 

I was just curious about what others typically had seen in their applications. Not so much in conjectures about why mine was so slow.

I'm not really sure why it would get stuck there. From Western Europe, high degree, no record of any sort, definitely not a 'risky candidate' in any way.

I know it can still take a couple of months after so I'm not worried at this stage. I'm just curious about the whole thing, because even the IO was surprised that my interview was a full 15 months after I had applied.

I'm just curious about folks' timeframe between application for naturalization to being a citizen.

My case was very straightforward (degree in demand, permanent residence granted because of my work record)

Applied for naturalization in January 2016, fingerprints soon after, then NOTHING for a year. I had to start calling over and over 

again, talk to Tier 2 etc. and finally got my interview in June of this year.

Now, as we are getting close to 2 months post interview, I still don't have a date for the oath ceremony.

I also know people who applied at the same location, from the same city way after I did, who are already citizens.

So somewhat curious if it's just one of those 'fell through the cracks thing' or something else.

Well, I applied in January 2016...I got my citizenship interview in June....2017. Now I'm waiting for the ceremony. Hopefully not another 15 months.

I called them over and over and over again. And my case was very straightforward.