Feliz

HAPPY END to my Visa Journey!:

I am deleting my second N-400 details from my signature, so I will save them here

Los Angeles DO

01/30/09 - PD for Second N400,

02/04/09- NOA1,

02/21/09 - FD walk-in

03/16/09 - IL issued (rec'd 03/20/09)

05/12/09 - ID passed!!!

05/27/09 - called and got OD

06/01/09 - rec'd paper OL (issued on day of call 05/27)

06/26/09 - OD (LA Sports Arena) - I am a US Citizen !!!

total = 147 days or 4 months, 27 days. = almost 5 months

just updating this thread with my stats in my signature

and adding 3 Los Angeles threads:

amnonbabs

Oath story Feb 27 2009 http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=181599

Interview story Dec 11, 2008 http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=166603

AusCal

Interview Jan 6, 2009 http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=172239

Oath Letter delay of December'08 - February'09: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=169446

I will come here every so often, but my main forum is http://forums.immigration.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18 and Los Angeles thread (on March 3 last page is 70): http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.p...560&page=70

I just realized that this story had no closure:

so shortly MY FIRST N-400 WAS DENIED because my physical presence in US was 20 days less then required exactly 50% out of 3 years (or 5 years if not based on marriage).

here is full timeline:

N400 at California SC, District office- Los Angeles

Oct 30, 2007 - Priority date, Nov 9 - check cashed (number 2 08 10XX on the check matched my case number WSC*002 08 10XX )

Nov 30 - NOA1: "expect to be notified "within 425 days of this notice", Dec 26 - fingerprints letter

Jan 18, 2008 - fingerprints done

Jul 15, 2008 - Interview letter issued

Sep 15, 2008 - Interview date - denied

online status "case received Nov 7, 2007", last touch Dec 4, 2007 - and hasn't change ever since (up to today - March 3, 2009)

here is a detailed story: http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=286146 (and I generally spend more time there now, if you need to PM me)

my new timeline for second application - is in my signature

July stats for LA DO http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showpo...;postcount=1420

I got my IL (see signature) and LA is finally sending ILs to January 2008!!! check cumulative stats for VJ and IP in IP LA thread

it's THE time of a month again

anybody else?

priority date: 07/25/07

Interview date: June 20, 2008

I PM'ed eternal wait couple days ago, I hope the interview went well and we hear about it soon

Feels great to actually post news about IL in the mail!

District office - Seattle, WA

Priority Date - October 9th, 2007

Biometrics - January 3rd, 2008

Interview letter received - June 20th, 2008

Interview scheduled for August 25th, 2008

Yay!

Congrats! I hope LA will finally reach October soon. I have copied your stats to Seattle thread if you don't mind:

http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showth...124#post1924124

We just received our interview date today (April 17)!

priority date: 07/25/07

Interview date: June 20, 2008

Good luck on your interview today!! :thumbs: I hope we hear good news from you soon!

ok guys, thank you for responding!

they are finally sending ILs in June 08 to September 07 PDs for August 08 ID - AusCal be ready!

anybody from LA??

also make a top announcement in BIG RED LETTERS on the top of every page - and

I will not benefit from anything I will offer here, I know pretty much everything I need for my process and I am sure I can get through sooner this year or if I get denied - possibly next year.

it's just better for next "generations" of newbies and to keeps forum cleaner and looking better:

I suggest creating 2 subforums in the N400 section -

1) "Subforum by filing months" - and let it update ( threads with latest messages float on top)

2) "Subforum by SCs (with states in the title) and inside separate threads by DOs" make it alphabetical and stable, so new posts don't mess up alphabetic order

and leave general questions outside where they are now

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=197782

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=311

it's nice to be from Nebraska, Oklahoma or Ohio and be done in 3 month and not care about anything or anybody else

but for NYC and SoCal and DC it's hard to watch how while some people who filed back in June-July are pending, others are done very soon and that makes everybody else nervous and question - may be something is wrong, may be they are stuck namecheck, may be they need to call and write and complain, may file a lawsuit, and so on.

The most ripped off are August-September filers, they actually PAID higher fees for this recent speed up of Feb-Marcg 08 cases while waiting themselvs.

it's a lot of unfair things USCIS does, and it may be ok for May 08 filers who are just fingerprinting, but further down uneven progress of same month will cause unnecessary anxiety and confusion.

Dear VJ forumers, especially whose who have applied for N400 recently,

speed of processing doesn't depend on Service center or Month of filing, creating such threads only adds to confusion of new applicants. Inside of same Service Center it may take (as of May 2008) total 2 to 15 month of processing because speed depends on District Offices.

as I wrote in FAQ:

For people waiting for Interview Letter: how to find your District Office' current processing speed

Your case's processing speed and your future Interview Date depends on FBI Name Check clearance and then on now busy (or how backlogged) is your Local Distric Office (DO), so don't compare your own priority date and progress to any other Service Centers or other DO timelines who filed in same month with you - only compare with your own DO.

After you file N400 USCIS starts process by cashing check and initiating FBI Name check and Fingerprints, so once you got findgerprinted consider FBI process fully launched (Detailed explanation of USCIS N400 FBI Name Check http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=136848 ). Only after FBI returns your results to your Service Center (the one of 4 big ones), your Service Center puts you in line for an Interview Date at your District Office, once there is an available date and time (may take 2-3 month in busy offices, see step 3) they schedule your interview, send your case to your DO and you receive your Interview Appointment Letter (IL). All following procedures are very specific to your DO, some give you Oath letter right away, some send it 2 month later, so check with your DO's people's experiences only, don't read (or rehearse) just random or over 6 month old Interview descriptions.

1) Locate your DO by ZIP code here: https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=of....office_type=LO

2) Find your DO's official processing dates (update usually on 15th of each month)

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/ptimes.jsp

3) Find people with close to yours Priority Date (PD) from your Field Office on this forum or others, for example this one has lots of DO specific info:

http://boards.immigrationportal.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18

4) wait until people with PD LATER then yours start receiving Interview letters, schedule Infopass - usually 2 weeks ahead, if still not received, go to Infopass and Inquire about case status - it may be

A. stuck on "Name Check" - then you are unlucky

B. "FBI Clear all checks and it's forwarded to Field Office , expect interview letter within 60 days"

either way go home and schedule another Infopass within 2 weeks - if no letter - schedule another Infopass in 2 more weeks,

if no letter within 4-6 weeks of fact that people who filed after you got their letters from your field office, start considering filing WOM lawsuit against USCIS about delayed Name Check and read about it. your main document could be that that NOA1 gives you X amount of days and that is passed.

5) once you receive Interview letter - make sure you prepare for Civics and prepare to give evidence and clear confident answers for any unclear parts of your application that could make you ineligible - it means within 3 (for US citizen spouses) or 5 years such things as: a lots of traveling, separate address with US spouse, job abroad, name change, oath wording change, crime and legal issues, taxes, communism, terrorism etc.

6) if you happen to confuse Officer on Interview about your unclear eligibility, they may say "Approval pending" and they "need supervisor's approval of case", which may take another 2-4 month, but in this case you have much more right to file lawsuit - as USCIS is required by law to make desicion within 120 days.

Good Luck to everybody!

in your signature timelines - except Service Center - please also mention your DO.

it's last days of May ILs - keep your eyes on mailboxes!

yummyk on ImmiPortal got IL - apparently LA and Santa Ana DOs are somewhere between last week of July and Aug 21st 2007. hopefully Sep and Oct ILs are next - June 17-29!

applicants can't just declare he's Jehovah's witness or buddist and change oath, USCIS require tonns of proof that applicant attends regularly from church etc etc.

plus even if there is such a draft, women, older men and people with useful professions and skills most likely will be used for noncombattant things from cooking\nursing to translations and highly professional tasks, like surgeries, engineering, biochem, programming etc,

the only guys in real danger of being drafted and sent to battle are young healthy males up untill 32 with no other army-applicable qualifications.

bump

the reason why 08 PD are getting ILs is that USCIS is trying to cut "average processing time" by processing in wrong order (to cover up their mess)

really, i did not know this. is it just a "pilot" for certain district office?

seems like nobody knows anything between FP and IL - even the IOs themselvs even at INFOPASS or escalated 800 call. all they can tell for sure - is if FP or IL was sent to you, but between - they can make up a story, but if you call or make infopass many times - you hear different story every time.

all n400 applicants have basically 2 options - simply wait for IL or file WOM. unfortunately no reliable info on what is actually going on in USCIS, what is their current speed, have the new IOs started to work or where exactly is your case - no info is available.

i think most cheap thing to do is wait till somebody with PD after you get IL from your DO, ask them to make you copy of their NOA and IL (the more cases the better) and file a WOM by yourself without lawyer.

or if you are middle age male from Iraq or have name that sounds like Al Kaeda members, it kinda makes sense to expect high possibility of being stuck in namecheck and file WOM early - based on your DOs pre backlog processing times.

another idea - is file WOM based on number of days in NOA1, but for LA it is 425... hopefully it will take less or about 365 in most cases

Dear AusCal and nscvet , could you please post your timelines to

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthrea...560&page=44

the reason why 08 PD are getting ILs is that USCIS is trying to cut "average processing time" by processing in wrong order (to cover up their mess)

based on some IL patterns NYC people at the other forum suggest that NYC is processing from start point Jan 08 in 2 directions - back and forward, who knows could be true for LA too, but that way me and other October-Nov PD would have gotten something, but not yet.

ok, 17th was Saturday, expect ILs in the next 2 weeks, keep an eye on mailboxes!

some people have their interviews rescheduled, cuz the DOs are used for trainging new officers, that could be a reason why there are no news from LA, but we'll see this month, usually IL's for next month are sent between 17th and 23-25th of each month, so keep your eyes on the mailbox!

if anybody from August and September PD gets IL from LA DO, could you please send me message? thanks!

calling all Los Angeles applicants - please post your news and timelines here!

seems like LA got the most applications out of all DOs, so the July hump will be reeeally long, right now IL (interview Letters) are sent to last week of July, hopefully July will be done by end of June 2008, after that there is a big drop of applications lower even then normal level, so probably all of August-Sep-Oct will be processed within 1 month (supposedly July or August), so people who like me filed in the end of 2007 - aim for August to receive IL, and to have oath 3-4 month later.

unless they really hire those super fast new officers, then be prepared to get ILs with short notice like in some other DOs.