jaysaldi

My wife applied for her assort and passort card in Houston this week. She had travel booked five days away. They took her original naturalization certificate and a copy, as well as a copy of her drivers license. She got a receipt telling her to come back the next day between 1130a - 3p to collect the passport. There was a line right on the receipt for her to authorize someone else to collect the passport for her. She signed authorizing me to collect it. The next day I drove to the office with the signed receipt, they checked my ID and they handed me an envelope containing her new passport, her original naturalization certificate, and her new passport card.

Update: I took everyone's advice here and had my wife apply for passport at the passport office the day after her ceremony and she got the passport the next day

My wife had her oath ceremony at the M.O. Campbell educational center yesterday March 27. 1300 new citizens. Friends and family allowed. It's a small basketball arena. Friends and family sit in the upper deck, new citizens sit in the lower section. Her letter said to arrive at 8. We got there at 7:20. Plenty of parking. At 7:30 or so they started letting people in. Friends and family through one line to the upper seats, new citizens to the check in lines and lower seats. Then they would have the new citizens get out of the seats row by row and do more checking in and whatnot. The actual ceremony started at 10 am when the judge showed up. 45 minutes of judge talking and then a lady giving a speech. Lots of emphasis on voter registration. Ceremony ends and then new citizens have to line up again to get their certificates. My wife got out at 11:30 a.m. Call me jaded but I think this ceremony is best avoided. It was a 45 minute drive there and then 2.5 hours of waiting for the ceremony to start and then the ceremony itself is pretty boring and it's not like your family member is getting singled out for an award. The M.C. said a few times "We do this every month on Wednesdays." I don't know if that means the last Wednesday of every month, or the fourth Wednesday of every month. Someone posted back in the thread about a ceremony on March 6 I think, which would suggest they are more often than once a month. My wife's interview was Feb. 28, so I'm sure it was too late for the March 6 cutoff. But anyway, if someone is naturalizing through the Houston office, and you want to guess when your oath ceremony will be, I think 3-5 weeks after your interview and on a Wednesday is a pretty good guess.

My wife interviewed in Houston on Feb 27 2024 and was approved on the spot. Within two days he myuscis account showed oath ceremony date of March 27. Letter arrived in mail a week later

She will have a US passport to fly back to the USA. The US passport is in her married name. Her Cambodian passport is in her maiden name. The ticket was already booked months ago in her maiden name. The question is do we need to change the name on the ticket to her married name or can she just show her US passport and the marriage certificate and check in with her Cambodian passport.

This is what she has done for the last two years, when the green card that authorizes entry to the USA bears a different name from her Cambodian passport. She carries the marriage certificate. But in those situations, she would be "flying on the Cambodian passport" under her maiden name and CBP would get its advance passenger information of her arriving on the Cambodian passport, despite her having green card in married name. I just thought maybe the process might have to be different now. Like she can't show passport A to match the booking and then show passport B in new name as proof she can enter the country. I worry the airline won't allow it. Maybe I'm overthinking this.

Because Ive already booked the flight back in August under her maiden name. I haven't booked the flight there.

US now. She has her oath ceremony in a few weeks and then we plan to get her a US passport and fly to Cambodia, returning in August.

For the last couple of years, my wife has had a green card in her married name and Cambodian passport in maiden name. When she flies to the USA, we book in her maiden name, she shows her Cambodian passport in maiden name, and then the airline will ask for proof she can enter the USA and we show her green card in married name and marriage certificate proving name change. And they accept that. My wife should be naturalizing and getting a US passport later this month. This is faster than we expected. I have already booked her on a one way trip from Cambodia to the USA in August, in her maiden name. Her new US passport, like her soon to be confiscated green card, will be in her married name. So here is the question. Can she keep the August reservation in her maiden name, check in for the flight, and when the staff says "Where is your proof you can enter the USA'' she just shows US passport in married name and marriage certificate, like she did with the green card before. And then when she arrives in USA, she shows the American passport? Or does she now have to do a name change on the August ticket?

The other thing I meant to mention is that my wife's citizenship interview consisted only of the reading/writing/civics test. No questions about our marriage, her 380 days spent outside the USA in the last three years, no looking at the tax returns, bank statements, proof of my own US citizenship, our marriage certificate, her passport, etc. It was just reading, writing, civics, done.

September 19 2023. Interview notice was mailed on January 11, 2024. Interview date February 27, 2024.

My wife had her interview at Gears Road yesterday. Everything went smoothly. We arrived 15 minutes before her appointment time. You check and they give you two numbers to listen for. The first number is to get called to a window for biometrics. This took about 30 seconds for her number to be called, even though the waiting room had a lot of people waiting. Then 10 minutes after she finished the biometrics they called the second number to go to Door 1 for her interview. She was back there about 10-15 minutes. They tested her on reading and writing and asked her some of the civics questions. It sounds like they may non-randomly choose easier questions from the 100 question prep book. Like they didn't ask who authored the Federalist papers and who is your Congressional representative. They asked the easier stuff. She passed and they said she'll get a letter in the mail about her oath ceremony.

We may want to leave the USA within a few days after her oath ceremony. Not for an emergency reason. I have a solo vacation planned for mid-April and she doesn't want to stay in the US alone while I'm gone, she'd rather go back to Cambodia for a few weeks. Initially we planned that she would stay with my sister in New England but that has fallen through.

I've gotten replacement passports or valid second passports at the embassy in Cambodia about four times, most recently in 2023. It generally takes 8-10 days.

What's the process for replacing a naturalization certificate while abroad? Is it much different from traveling abroad with a green card and losing the green card? I figured it would involve going to the embassy, hopefully showing a copy of the naturalization certificate, showing your Us driver's license, etc. if you have that, showing your foreign passport, and saying "Hi, you issued me a K1 visa here 5 years ago, I moved to the USA and naturalized and seem to have lost my certificate, can you get me a new one and issue me a US passport?" No good? I do see now that there is a form N-565 to replace naturalization certificate and that takes six months in the USA. I can't find any reference to whether US embassies abroad issue these certificates. My gut tells me there must be thousands of naturalized American citizens living in Mexico, many of whom returned to Mexico without ever getting a US passport, and who later lost their naturalization certificates and Us passports if they ever had one, and who need replacements while in Mexico. I'm just not seeing any data points about what replacing a naturalization certificate and getting a passport abroad entails. We all know that the "must enter/leave the USA on American passport" rule isn't enforced, but I do have some concern that the embassy could give her a hard time if she lost the certificate and/or applied for a USA passport, as they might say "If you were really American you would have left the USA on an American passport. It's giving me something to think about anyway. We live in the Houston area, can I wait until she hopefully passes the interview and gets an oath ceremony date and then book her flight for 4-5 days after that and make an emergency passport appointment for the day after her oath ceremony?

Thanks. We're thinking she may want to travel to Cambodia within 3 -14 days of her oath ceremony. Hence I thought it would be easiest if I booked the flight in her maiden name which is what her Cambodian passport is under. And then she flies to Cambodia, gets a US passport at the embassy, and flies back to the USA on a ticket in her married name with her US passport. Do new passports issued at embassies take longer than renewal passports?

Thanks. What is the risk that I'm not seeing? She fills out the form, goes the embassy with the naturalization certificate, and she's entitled to a US passport, right?

In my experience, it's faster and easier to get a US replacement passport at an embassy abroad. Takes about ten days. My wife has her N400 interview coming up in a few days. If she passes and gets sworn in as a citizen next month and has a naturalization certificate, can she fly out of the USA on her foreign passport and then apply for a US passport at a US Embassy abroad, rather than trying to get the US passport here in the USA? Is there any downside to doing this? Thanks

thanks we are in the same jurisdiction, we just moved a few miles

My wife filed her N400 in September and her interview is scheduled for next week. In December we changed addresses and she submitted a change of address to USCIS. Should she have also filed some kind of amendment to her N400 to change her answers to "what is your address" and "what is your spouse's address"? We didn't do that. Is there anything she can/should do now? I'll make sure she has a copy of her driver's license and my driver's license showing we both reside at the new address, and copies of some bank statements and credit card statements with the new address. Is she likely to face any problems based on not having amended her answers, and is there anything we can/should do now? Thanks.

Ah, we live in Montgomery County, a 45-60 minute drive from downtown Houston. My wife's interview is next week in Houston. I just assumed the oath ceremony would be in Houston too.

when is your oath ceremony?

I don't know, but can I ask, what date was her interview? My wife is interviewing in Houston next week and I am curious about timeline from interview to oath ceremony. Thanks.

I'm surprised the US immigration lawyer who prepared/reviewed this submission used or approved the language of "formal engagement ceremony" and "celebrate our bond and commitment." I just would have said "engagement party" or at most "engagement ceremony." The words "formal" and "bond" were unnecessary and would tend to do more harm than good, in my opinion.

When I saw "ceremony to celebrate our union" i thought "Noooooo. You had an engagement party to celebrate your engagement." Repeat that until you get it down cold. Engagement party. To celebrate your engagement. There has been no "union" and will be no "union" until you marry in the USA, got it? Don't refer to her as "my wife" anywhere at any time from now until you marry. Do not use or show any photos of her in a wedding dress. I see your attorney has already filed the K1. Did he or she include the wedding dress photos? Perhaps you should discuss with your lawyer concerns you've read that you are now "too married" for a K1 visa. I don't think your K1 application is as doomed as some other posters here do. Engagement ceremonies are common in some Southeast Asian countries and if you DON'T have an engagement ceremony the consular officer may wonder if you are truly engaged. I believe that some of the examples involving people deemed "too married for a K1" were from countries where engagement ceremonies are not common. If you can present this as an engagement party I think you're fine. But I agree with others that your description of this "union ceremony" and the bridal dress photos may be somewhat problematic.