D-R-J

We did DCF and filed only two weeks after our wedding, so I don’t think it being a recent wedding would be an issue. I wonder if the embassy would confirm if they’d accept your petition before actually getting married… We were lucky that they still had USCIS offices abroad when we did ours, and didn’t need to worry about exceptional circumstances.

We were told by our interviewer that it sped up our case, but my wife’s I-751 had been pending for three years and her n-400 for two years. There’s a difference between fast and faster (than really, really, glacially slow).

Hmm…I wouldn’t be surprised if their excuse was that it was business days and not calendar days. Maybe having a congress person or senator inquire on your behalf would help.

Hmm…your best estimate is probably the total time from your field office minus how much time you’ve been waiting already. USCIS says Milwaukee completes 80% of n-400 cases in 8 months. My wife received her interview notice about a month before her interview date.

The man who interviewed my wife said that there was no way her i-751 would have been in front of him if she hadn’t filed the n-400. I think his direct quote was “you jumped the line.”

I see the blanket authorization of US military on military bases abroad, but not government employees. https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-6-part-b-chapter-3

I don’t think you need to be working for the military or federal government to qualify for DCF. The USC spouse needs to be legally residing in the country abroad and have an “exceptional circumstance.” This one may apply to you: ”Short notice of position relocation – A U.S. citizen petitioner, living and working abroad, has received a job offer in or reassignment to the United States with little notice for the required start date.”

I’m not sure if there are differences for military families, but I would look into direct consular filing. Since your husband is legally residing in German, I think you’d qualify. It is a much faster than going through the processes in the US.

Did you check her status on CEAC? https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?TSPD_101_R0=0883343043ab20006dfb7faa5c8a29f7774522f9a248e388b5f9ead8843ecbd20e9194dc2f653feb086bd7d6b61430000e36b3b12218359b86f79c6e6154b9638225a0ca83b99b0a7cbf0eb020f9514258346220cdde7c7be83839a314725437

That was the email address for correspondence regarding immigrant visas when my wife was getting hers in 2017. If I recall, it took them a long time to reply (2 weeks), but they did eventually. Make sure you include your case number.

My wife recently had a combo interview at Baltimore. Make sure your spouse comes with you for the interview. You are in a tricky spot. Not enough time to definitely get a passport with expedited service, but travel not close enough for the urgent travel service. You will also need to send the original naturalization certificate, so it makes to impossible to do urgent if you’ve already sent in for expedited. My mom had success getting a passport last minute with the help of her congressman’s office. I believe she did expedited service and they ensured her passport arrived the afternoon before her flight.

Should not be a problem. Tell the interviewer you made a mistake on your form that you’d like to correct. You’ll be fine if you’ve spent less than six month outside the US.

Hmm…I’d be surprised if she needed to do another interview. What does that status say when she logs onto CEAC? Maybe contact DHL to see if the visa is ready for pick up. If not, I’d send an email to the embassy to clarify (IVACCRA@state.gov).

No, only my wife was allowed in

I believe this is the guide for your situation:

She won’t be able to get a US passport until she becomes a US citizen.

I think you are definitely overthinking this. I don’t think they are worried about wet signatures. If they have a question, they will call your relative in Ghana to confirm. When my wife was there (DC), they asked her to sign for her dad when she left the signature part blank. The important thing to them is that the form is filled. I think I was my wife’s other guarantor, and I think I just put my US passport number in and crossed out “Ghanaian” on the printed form.

We did online and had no issues. At this point it feels to me that more could go wrong with paper.

They guy interviewing my wife said that applying for naturalization helped us. We were still down in the queue for an I-751 interview, but the n400 interview queue was shorter and they processed together.

We are on the 17th in Baltimore.

My wife’s oath ceremony is coming up and we were wondering the same thing. I hope someone will chime in with some useful information for you.

Good point. I guess I just feel uncomfortable with them checking a box that says “married” without official documents showing that’s the case. Checking any other box would equally be inaccurate.

Ugh. We have managed so far DYI, but perhaps that's at an end. With the appreciation of the dollar, at least the bills will be less expensive than they would have been otherwise.

My wife had her citizenship interview today and will hopefully have her oath ceremony in the near future. We have started thinking about filing petitions for her family members and I was wondering if anyone in here could share their experience with documenting traditional marriages and divorces? On the State Department's Reciprocity Schedule for Ghana it says that you can use a "Customary marriage certificate," but it says that "[t]he application for the registration of the marriage must be made within three months of the marriage ceremony." My parents-in-law were traditionally married in the 80's, so it would seem to be too late to register. Is their only option to also get married civilly? This is what it the State Department's Reciprocity Schedule for Ghana says "Persons married under customary law who subsequently wish to marry under civil or ordinance law must obtain a civil marriage certificate which reflects the words "married under customary law" in the space provided for "condition."" So have them do a civil marriage? My wife's sister's situation is even more complicated, she is divorced from a traditional marriage. The State Department's Reciprocity Schedule for Ghana says "Documentation of the dissolution of a customary marriage is a decree, issued by a High Court, District Court, or Circuit Court along with a statutory declaration by the couples’ families, stating that the marriage in question was dissolved in accordance with customary law. You may find a record of the dissolution of a customary marriage on the reverse of the customary marriage certificate." How can this be recorded on the reverse of the customary marriage certificate if there is no certificate. In addition, what if the other ex-husband's family isn't willing to cooperate? I feel like there are a lot of headaches in the future. Someone please tell me this isn't as daunting as it seems! I'd appreciate hearing any personal experiences. Thanks!

FYI