BincoLee

Well, the wife had her interview today 10:30am appointment time. I want to advise everyone that this is second hand information from a wired and excited woman so I had to glean portions of the following events: The interview was conducted at our local FO in Irving, Texas or for those not familiar with Irving, you can say Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. For that reason we left the house at 6:30am, why you ask so early the traffic in this area is horrendous and we did not want to risk traffic and a back log due to a wreck or construction so we gave ourselves ample time (it's about an hours drive anyway).
 
We arrived about 7:50am so we had a long wait until her appointment time, but we were ready we had pillows, blankets snacks, etc. You know the wife had to bring her make up kits and comb, brush, lipstick, etc since she would be messing her hair up while waiting (women) 😁. The place had interviews starting at 7am so they were in full swing once we got there. They would not let her enter the building until 15 minutes prior to her scheduled time. I knew from talking to several other people as they came out that I would not be allowed to go inside the building.
 
These are the questions they asked her remember you need 6 correct out of 10. The wife got the first 6 correct so they only asked 6 questions:
 
1. Who is your US Senator
2. Name your US Representative
3. Who veto's bills
4. What state borders Mexico
5. What is Benjamin Franklin famous/known for
6. What is a constitution
 
She had a short sentence to read: Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
Sentence to write: What is one promise that you make when you become a United States citizen?
 
She said the IO was cordial and told her she had passed the civics and reading and writing portions. The wife said she saw our I-751 package on his desk all 6lbs of it. He asked where her spouse was and she said in the car, it was at that time he told her  the interview was a combination, but there was no need for me to attend. She said he was concerned to see 2022 taxes and he wanted proof that we were living together. He also asked for items from the filing of the I-751 until the interview, which by the way served as items for the N400 too. Mind you all this happened in about 15 minutes she said the IO seemed rushed but he did not miss a beat. The IO gave her a Form N-652 which stated she had passed the civics, written and writing test. It also stated that he would be recommending approval of the I-751 and the N-400.
 
One important detail I think everyone should know she said the I-751 sitting there in all its glory was basically an after thought and the IO did not waste to much time on it.  He had already gone through it as it was in disarray sitting on his desk. All in all the wife said she was relaxed and the everything  happened like she had studied and we had rehearsed (we did plan on her going inside the interview alone without me.) She was not bothered by that fact since we covered it as a possible scenario before hand.
 
As of a few minutes ago we got status  saying "Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled." Just a side note in all the excitement the wife forgot to take a picture besides the USCIS name plate, so I have to drive out AGAIN this Saturday so she can get dressed up again just to take a picture of the sign on the building geeezzzz!!!!!  End of story!
 
 

Was just curious about my application status, login to my USCIS account and saw the status changed to "Interview Was Scheduled"!! 
Interview date is on May 23, 11:10AM!

Before that it was "We scheduled you for a biometrics appointment".
 
As a side note, someone at the ASC where my husband did his bio appointment gave him this outdated notice that says "Naturalization applicants with a filing date of Dec. 1, 2020 or later are required to take the 2020 version of the civics test."
 
I immediately started laughing when he showed it to me. Just another classic example of USCIS' typical modus operandi of "the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing".
 
For anyone reading this, this isn't true. They are using the 2008 version of the test, as evidenced by the experiences shared here on VJ by those who have had their naturalization interview and by USCIS itself:
 
Civics Test 2008 Version
The 2008 version of the civics test is an oral test, and the USCIS officer will ask you up to 10 questions from the list of 100 civics test questions. You must answer 6 questions correctly to pass the 2008 version of the civics test. 
Applicants who filed their Form N-400 before December 1, 2020, will continue to take the 2008 civics test at initial exam, re-exam, or N-336 hearing.  Applicants who file their Form N-400 on or after March 1, 2021 will also take the 2008 civics test at initial exam, re-exam, or N-336 hearing.   
The even more ridiculous thing is I'm pretty sure the 2020 version was never "required" and it lasted a very short amount of time (5 months maybe?). During that period of time, people had the option of taking either version.
 
It's baffling that my local ASC is giving out information that is a) years out of date, and b) not accurate even when it wasn't out of date. 

Popping virtual champagne 🥂🍾 for the entire house! 🎈✨🎉🎊🍾🥂🤗🥳🍾🥂🍾🥂🍾🥂🍾🥂🍾🥂🍾🥂🎊🎉🎈✨🥂🍾🥂🍾

That's probably the best idea, for now I can only finish gathering my paperwork anyway.

Mine isn't a divorce waiver situation AT ALL. It is two denials for two filings, and nothing to do with the divorce waiver at all. It is something significantly more serious than that, which is why I am in almost seventh year of this ROC process. 
 
I'm certainly not minimising it in any way at all whatsoever -  I was a suicidal bleeping mess when I received each of my denials, and I truly wouldn't wish that on anyone (except possibly my ex-spouse who can burn in hell for maliciously causing this whole mess out of narcissistic spite )
 
What I am doing, is giving my assessment based on the information provided and quoted, and from my direct personal experience of a sort of similar situation, and stating what I know of the law, and their rights and protections under it.
What I am certainly not doing, is scaremongering and telling someone to pack their bags and that they will have to leave, because it isn't the case and it simply does not work in that way. 
They are a very VERY long way from that, happening, if ever and they have many options available to them and avenues to explore before it even gets close to that point.

My wife had the combined N-400 and i-751 interview today. We arrived at 7:45 for 8 am interview, but weren't called in until about 9:20AM. I went in with her, and the officer said there will be two of them with one there just for observation. They had both the files with them.
 
The second officer started with the i-751 interview and checked her birth certificate and our marriage certificate in addition to the green card/passport etc. She told us that she'll ask questions and if she directs them to one of us, the other person should not respond. Here are some questions she asked - 
(To me, the petitioner): Wife's full name and maiden name and the date and place of birth (To wife): My full name and date of birth (To wife) When and where did we meet? (We met in India while I was visiting family) (To wife) What happened after that? (To me) Was I on a vacation? Was I already a US citizen at that point, and why did I go there How did we keep in touch after I came back to the US? How often did we see each other between the first time and until she immigrated to the US Details of each trip (To wife) When did we meet on my second trip - wife replied it was right before we were getting married, we went to buy our rings (To me) What does my wife's ring look like - and then she asked my wife to show the ring to her How come we got married so quickly (about 6 weeks from us meeting to me proposing her, and then the wedding was about 1.5 months after that) (To wife) How many people were at the wedding? (To us) Why are there no pictures in our file (We submitted a lot of pics with our i-751, but they were almost all following her immigration since we didn't think marriage pics would be necessary anymore) - wife offered to show the pics on her phone, she said she'll check them later (To wife) How many days were the wedding events (since Indian weddings have many events over a few days) (To me) What is our address, phone number Have we ever lived at any other address?  (To me) Why did I wait two years to put my wife on the home deed? - I said just getting a trust company to do the paperwork took time. She said it wasn't a good excuse. I explained that California being a community property state, I didn't think it mattered that much. NOTE: we had submitted home deed transfer copy with i-751 docs, so they were prepared to ask this question beforehand. Asked if we had traveled since our i-751 application in 2018 and asked to see itineraries, which we had brought. Asked for our 2018 tax return.  
The questions were quite intense but I think we answered everything satisfactorily. At this point, the officer conducting i-751 interview told me that they'll continue my wife's interview and move on to the naturalization interview and I didn't need to be present for that so she escorted me out, telling me it might take another 30-45 minutes.
 
My wife came out about 20 minutes after that. She was asked a couple more questions, such as if we both have personal bank account (in addition to the joint statements we submitted) and how is the joint bank account money spent. My wife showed pictures from our wedding events on her phone (Q13 above), specifically ones showing many guests. She also made copies of our bank joint account statement, travel itineraries in the last year, and took some other pics we had brought with us from recent trips. All this while the other officer was interviewing her for naturalization.
 
Naturalization interview questions - 
 
Name the US war between the North and the South What are the first 10 amendments called? Name of the speaker of the house Who makes federal laws What are the two major political parties Name of the president For the English test, she had to read "Who can vote" and write (on the tablet) "Citizens can vote".
 
She was approved for N-400 but it's pending i-751 approval. They didn't say anything about the status, just said they will send the update. If the i-751 petition is approved, she won't receive a new green card and instead will take the oath directly. Fingers crossed all went OK!

Hi everyone, I’ve just passed my N-400 and I-751 combo interview this Monday 02/10 at Dallas USCIS Field Office. I have been observing many of your previous experience regards the combo interview and they really helped me a lot for mine. Everything went pretty smooth. My interview was scheduled at 2:00pm. My husband and I arrived at 1:30pm, went thru the security check, then checked-in at the reception area where they took a picture of mine and got my finger-prints scanned. Then we went to upstairs and waited there until 2:15pm. The IO was a very nice lady. She called my name; my husband also stood up and came with me. The IO didn’t say a thing about him coming along with me. After we sat down, she quickly explained that she had to adjudicate my I-751 first, then she would move to the N-400 interview later. I-751 questions: How did you two meet? Did you exchange phone numbers / email addresses? What is your spouse’s b-day? What do you like most about your spouse? What is the least thing you like about your spouse? Where do you work? Where does your spouse work? Where did you live right after getting married? How far is it from Chicago & Iowa? What is your current address? Do you have any children? During the interview, we had some small talks about the Chicago Bear, about the winter time in the North as I told her I just stayed in IL for one winter and I decided I didn’t like the cold so we both moved to Dallas later on. So it was kind of a conversation which I think has helped us to show the IO about our marriage life. Also she did reviewed all the evidences that we submitted with the I-751 form and asked some questions regards random locations where we took the photos. At the end of the I-751 interview, the IO asked if we have any other evidences that we wanted to update. Since we only submitted the purchase contract of our new house at the time we filed I-751, in this interview I brought our mortgage papers and the property deed I printed out from my county’s website which showed both my husband and me as the owners of the house. I also gave her our joint tax forms of 2018 & 2019. I asked her if she needs to see more of our updated photos but she said no need. Civic questions: What is the name of the national anthem? We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years? In what month do we vote for President? What is the capital of the United States? The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words? What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment? After completed with the civic questions, the IO then asked a list of yes/no questions as showed in the N-400. I had a speeding ticket after filling the N-400 so I also brought the receipt and the dismissal order from the court to show that I already paid the fines. I didn’t tell my husband about the ticket so when I told the IO that yes I had a speeding ticket, my husband was like “no, you didn’t have any ticket”, and I told him “Yes I did. I was afraid that you would be mad at me so I didn't tell you”. The IO was like “Ohhhh, so we have a little secret that has just been revealed now. But I am glad that she tells the truth”. She said a lot of people swear to tell the truth but they still hide things. The IO joked with me that I was in bad luck to get pulled over on I-75 as she saw a lot of people usually drive at that speed. She was fine with all the documents I brought in to show that I already paid for the ticket. I think thru this conversation, it also showed that we have a normal husband & wife life. So, I guess it is still fine if you have some differences between your answers, as long as the IO can see a bona fide marriage from how you interact with each other from day-to-day life. At the end, she confirmed with me once again about my name change (I requested a name change when I filed the N-400 form), updated my traffic ticket and that I paid all the fines, and also updated my latest trip back to Vietnam to visit my parents. Everything was showed on a tablet screen and I had to sign to confirm all of the changes were correct. Then she told me that she approved both of my I-751 and N-400 and gave me a paper which she checked on the box “Congratulations …...” and that she already put my name in queue for the Oath ceremony, so I would expect to receive the letter about the Oath in 4-6 weeks as they had to wait for a judge to do the ceremony (I guess because I requested for name change so it would take longer???) She also told me that I shall not receive the 10-year GC as I am going to be soon a US citizen, but I will still see on the USCIS website that my I-751 will be approved.   **** My I-751 & N-400 timeline: 6/30/2018 – I-751 application sent 7/01/2019 – N-400 application sent 7/04/2019– Biometric appointment for I-751 scheduled on 7/17/19 7/05/2018 – Biometric appointment for N-400 scheduled on 7/26/19 7/17/2019 – Combo biometric for I-751 & N-400 (I came in, showed the 2 letters to the guy at the reception and asked if I could do both today since the 2 appointments only 1 week apart. He said yes of course) 8/08/2019 – I-751 was transferred to another USCIS office. That office now has jurisdiction over your case (NBC Lee Summit, MO) 01/06/2020 – N-400 interview was scheduled 02/10/2020 – I-751 & N-400 combo interview 02/11/2020 - We placed you in line for Oath ceremony & no update on the I-751         

Requesting an expedite to avoid the ban being implemented is not a legitimate reason. A request like that would be denied