Suudsu
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Posts posted by Suudsu
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6 hours ago, millefleur said:
That's too bad! It seems it's just totally random right now whether you end up with the new or the old. I guess it will take them a few years to phase out the old design completely.
Thanks millefleur! I agree that it will take time to phase it out completely.
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7 hours ago, happytree said:
Also, with the new passport design coming up, does anybody know which passport offices are issuing the new design? My wife got the old design from office 42.
It's not the office that issues the passport, it depends on which passport printing facility it comes from. They don't all have the new printers to print new passports yet. See this thread for more:
7 hours ago, happytree said:Her record locator starts with 42.
My sons and mine's start with 55 both are still processing.
Is there a list somewhere of the record locator codes?
Google is your friend. 42 appears to be New Orleans, 55 appears to be Dallas.
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On 11/4/2021 at 7:23 AM, Suudsu said:
Passport book and card application. Expedited everything and just waited for the process to play out.
10/08/2021 - Applied for passport book and card at USPS. Application sent using next-day priority mail.
10/09/2021 - Application delivered to State Dept PO Box in Philadelphia.
10/13/2021 - Check cashed.
10/13/2021 - Passport application status 'In Process'. Locator shows as '79' (Houston).
10/27/2021 - Passport application 'Approved'.
10/29/2021 - Passport book received. Shipped from Tucson, AZ. Requested regular size book, and received regular size old design. 😞
11/01/2021 - Passport card received.
Still waiting on the return of the Naturalization Certificate.
11/08/2021 - Naturalization Certificate received by First Class mail. Postmark shows mailed on 11/04/2021, from Houston, TX.
The certificate condition itself is good. It wasn't folded. The certificate has a few staple holes in one corner (USPS stapled my application when I submitted it).
So all up, one month to the day from when I submitted it.
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Shipped from Tucson, AZ. Requested regular size book, and received regular size old design. 😞
Oh well. I guess I only have to wait ten years to get one of the new design...
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Passport book and card application. Expedited everything and just waited for the process to play out.
10/08/2021 - Applied for passport book and card at USPS. Application sent using next-day priority mail.
10/09/2021 - Application delivered to State Dept PO Box in Philadelphia.
10/13/2021 - Check cashed.
10/13/2021 - Passport application status 'In Process'. Locator shows as '79' (Houston).
10/27/2021 - Passport application 'Approved'.
10/29/2021 - Passport book received. Shipped from Tucson, AZ. Requested regular size book, and received regular size old design. 😞
11/01/2021 - Passport card received.
Still waiting on the return of the Naturalization Certificate.
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2 hours ago, freemanrnd said:
219 S DEARBORN 7th floor, Room 713 CHICAGO IL 60604
I guess they moved the ceremonies indoors again to accommodate the weather.
Congrats on getting an oath date!
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5 hours ago, freemanrnd said:
Congrats!I still waiting for oath date,15 days, looks like my date be on my vacation in November(
Thanks! Good luck!
I waited three weeks from approval to the notice showing up in myUSCIS. Then the ceremony date was two weeks later. So for me, the ceremony was five weeks after the approval.
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Hi everyone, I completed my ceremony today in Chicago and am now a US Citizen!
The ceremony was in the Quincy Courtyard outside the courthouse. There were about 60 attendees at the ceremony. We were assigned seats that were well spaced-out. Guests were allowed to be present, but there was nowhere for them to sit (so they were all grouped together on a single bench: not great social distancing). Guests were also restricted by security to about 1/3 of the courtyard area (not beyond the flagpole). We were allowed to take photos, just not of the judge, and not pointing back into the courthouse security.
It took a long time to check everyone in for the ceremony, one-by-one. When we were checking in, they checked our ceremony invitation letter, collected our green card, and then showed us our naturalization certificates (to check for errors). After confirming that there were no errors, we were seated. (Side note: if it rained, I would have gotten wet in my seat. I don't know what they would have done if the weather were rainy)
As others have said, there is really no benefit to getting there more than 30 minutes early. Checking people in was completed about 15 minutes after the posted start time of the ceremony. So the ceremony started 30 minutes after the posted time. The whole ceremony itself then went for about 30 minutes. The judge personalized the ceremony a bit, to make it as special as one could, given the pandemic circumstances.
It was breezy outside today, and a bit chilly in the shade. The judge remarked that with the weather cooling off that they didn't think there would be many more weeks this year that they would be able to conduct outdoor ceremonies. It's a pity, because I'm sure that when they go back to indoor ceremonies that they will necessarily be smaller groups.
At the completion of the ceremony, we were handed our certificates, and instructed to check the details one last time (because if we noticed there and then that there was a mistake on it, it could be corrected USCIS for free). They were emphatic about signing the certificate in black ink only, and not laminating the certificate.
They also said that USCIS takes about 7-10 days to update their records with Social Security. This was interesting to me, because (hopefully) that is one less next government office to go through updating. In any case, USCIS encouraged us to contact SSA to find out about getting a new Social Security card, without a 'DHS authorization' annotation on it.
- freemanrnd and Greg C
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4 hours ago, freemanrnd said:
But timeline said that random people get same date like you and AAZA,i don't see other days.Only one in month
I really hope that there are not a whole month's worth of applicants at the ceremony. That would be more people than I would be comfortable seeing (for anything), given the pandemic.
I'll share my experience after the ceremony.
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23 hours ago, freemanrnd said:
I understand ceremony in chicago once a month?Now people got for october 5,next in november?I have vacation in november((
I don't think the frequency of ceremonies is only once a month. The latest from the court for the northern district of illinois (Dec 2020) was two ceremonies a day, five days a week.
https://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/_assets/_news/Naturalization Ceremonies Resume dec 28.pdf
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13 hours ago, Suudsu said:
I found it in myUSCIS. No notification yet, but I expect I will receive a text and email notification tomorrow morning about it.
As expected, I got a text and email notification this morning.
- Aaza and freemanrnd
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My oath ceremony notice was mailed today! I found it in myUSCIS. No notification yet, but I expect I will receive a text and email notification tomorrow morning about it.
It's been about three weeks since my interview: it feels a lot longer than that. Two weeks notice before the date of the ceremony.
The ceremony will be conducted outside in the Quincy courtyard on Dearborn. The ceremony date will be about 51 weeks since the date of application. Not too bad, given all things pandemic.
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5 hours ago, freemanrnd said:
Hi had interview 9/11 Chicago got paper congratulations recommended to approval, since no status change ,account still says "interview scheduled"
Called uscis they told wait 120 days((
Interesting that Chicago conducted interviews on 9/11: a Saturday. I guess some officers are working weekends to clear up the backlog?
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5 minutes ago, gogojogop said:
Hi All,
I was scheduled for the interview two weeks ago, but in St. Louis on September 28th. After 19 months and 20 days of waiting.
Good luck to everyone. Things are moving!
That's great news! Good luck!
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13 hours ago, Aaza said:
Hey guys
How long does it take to get the actual Oath Ceremony letter ( In Chicago ). Got done with the interview on 9/3/2021
30 September 2020 : Applied
20th June : Biometrics Scheduled
12 July 2021 : Biometrics
12 July 2021 : We are actively reviewing your case.
3 September 2021 : Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled
Don't know, also waiting for the same letter for a Chicago ceremony. Looks like oaths happen about 5 weeks after interviews, so probably get the letter within two weeks of the interview.
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13 hours ago, mrbtx said:
My wife is an exec at a fortune 500 company, so not sure if she falls under one of those categories unfortunately. That would have been ideal otherwise.
Unless she would fall under this classification?
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American firm or corporation engaged in whole or in part in the development of foreign trade and commerce of the United States, or a subsidiary thereof;
What do you think?
I haven't done such an application, so I don't know whether you qualify.
A company that size has at least someone in Human Resources (HR) who deals with all the immigration cases of the company. I think one free resource for you could be for your wife to talk to HR to see if they have experience with this: you might he surprised.
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9 hours ago, mrbtx said:
Hi everybody, I am currently at the "ready to be scheduled for interview" stage of my AOS GC application through marriage to my USC wife. We have however just found out that my wifes company wants to send her to Europe most likely in 1Q next year. I am a UK citizen, and most likely would be able to transfer with my company, but from what I understand, if I leave the US before my GC is approved, or even when I receive the conditional 2 year GC, my GC would be abandoned. Is this the case, or would there be a way that we could maintain my GC if we can show that this EU assignment is a short term (2 year) thing? Would I have any other options other than reapplying for a GC from the new EU country once we are asked to come back to the US? We are trying to weigh up the options, and I really hope the only one isn't that we would have to go through all of this process again once the time comes to return to the US.
Thanks in advance for any help / advice.
If you receive the conditional GC: rather than going down the re-entry permit route, depending on the nature of your wife's employment, you may qualify for expeditious naturalization based on your spouse's foreign employment under 319(b).
https://hk.usconsulate.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/266/2017/04/acs_wwwf319_a.pdf
https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-g-chapter-4
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I passed my interview today!
Parking: I had a positive experience with parking at 515 S Financial Place. Easy to book ahead of time on Parking.com. I took the printed parking pass, and displayed it on the dashboard of my car. I don't think there was anything else I had to do. It's a short walk from there to the federal building.
https://parking.com/chicago/parking-near/41.87451766/-87.63259430/515 S. FINANCIAL PLACE
I only tried to enter the building 15 minutes before the start of my interview. Everyone was very helpful. I expected that I would have to wait for maybe 30 minutes, but there was a very short wait.
Interviewing officer asked me only to produce my green card and passport. I had an organized folder with everything else prepared, but was not asked to produce it. Interviewing officer needed to verify my identity by taking a photograph (necessitating me briefly removing my face covering), and also fingerprints using a fingerprint scanner.
Honestly, after my interview, I could hardly remember which Civics questions were asked until I sat down and went through the list of 100 questions ('oh, that one was one of them.'). I also cannot remember the order that the questions were asked. The questions I got were:
What does the Constitution do?We elect a president for how many years?What is the highest court in the United States?Why did the colonists fight the British?What did Martin Luther King Jr. Do?What ocean is on the West coast of the United States?Reading (sentence appears on an iPad):Who can vote?Writing (write on lines spaced vertically about 2 cm apart on an iPad with a provided stylus):Citizens can vote.The interviewing officer made me very comfortable. Went through confirming some of the details of my application. Not all of the 'no' questions were asked, but all of the 'yes' questions were asked.
Had to sign the iPad twice using a stylus. Once to confirm that there were no changes to my application, and a second time that I was willing to do the oath.
At the end of the interview, I received a notice saying that I had been recommended for approval. The whole interview was done in ~25 minutes.
In terms of pandemic things, the building was at really very low occupancy. It felt quite empty.
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The Next Generation Passport is now on the State Department website since the 21st of July!
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/passport-help/next-generation-passport.html
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23 hours ago, xczme said:
Thanks for your reply, do I need a CPR test, to get into Europe? I'm flying in and out of Dublin!
No idea what's needed to travel. But personally, I would prefer a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, rather than cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
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4 hours ago, Greg C said:
Hey, does everyone's case status switch from "Case Was Received And A Receipt Notice Was Sent" to "We Are Actively Reviewing Your Form N-400, Application For Naturalization" ? Or do some people just jump right to "Interview Has Been Scheduled" ?
For me, was just a jump to 'has been scheduled'.
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4 minutes ago, Aaza said:
I see a lot of people with reuse letters but has anyone gotten their biometrics done recently ( in person).
I am trying to figure out how long it is taking to get an interview once the Biometrics are submitted.
Aaza, have you completed biometrics yet? From your posts, appears you filed on 30th of September 2020.
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6 hours ago, Crocs said:
After 6 weeks of waiting since my interview on Jun 2, I finally got my oath ceremony scheduled notice today. It will be on Aug 13 in Rockford, not Chicago. Maybe that is the reason why it took longer than other people.
Here's a news article on Rockford restarting naturalization ceremonies.
It hasn't been obvious to us, but I'll bet that over the previous months that ceremonies in Chicago have either been conducted for the Eastern district or the Western district.
Updated My SSN with SSA and it was simple
in Passports, etc. - What to do now that you are a US citizen
Posted
This is a great tip. Worked for me. I mailed my SS-5 application to my local SSA office, a cover letter and passport card on the Monday, received the passport card back safely via UPS Express on the Thursday.
Find your local office using the office locator (bottom of the page).
https://www.ssa.gov/agency/contact/