TastyCake

Warren is useless. Try Markey.

Thanks for the reply, Prizm. Hope all is well with you these days. 🙂 We did my wife's N-400 online 6 months ago. It seems (operative word) the I-751 (which we referenced in a 'cover letter' of sorts for our N-400) got subsequently yanked from the Petrified Forest... aka Vermont Service Center... and I believe (operative word) it is now paired with our N-400 and is currently collecting dust in Lee's Summit, MO. Perhaps waiting for the local office in Boston to say they are ready for our cases??? (I ask rhetorically) Our N-400 is 6 months old but our I-751 is technically 18 months old. Probably the most distressing thing right now is when I run a VJ report of Bostonians in the same position as us I see people who filed an N-400 a few months BEFORE us ostensibly waiting for some movement. So what does that tell us? I have no idea why there is such a lack of progress in Boston. Are the USCIS employees there too busy watching the Bruins on the big screen to adjudicate cases in a timely manner? Last year we fell for the 'File your N-400 because it helps to speed things up' recommendation. The truth of the matter is it hasn't done a thing. We are now writing our Senators asking for help but I don't expect that to bring positive results. We'll try anyway. I personally feel they'll find Jimmy Hoffa before we ever see movement on our open cases from the USCIS. It's so frustrating. You do all you're asked to do in a timely manner, submit impeccable packages only to be held up by nonsense. Best of luck to you and yours and all our hopes that your 'distractions' get reconciled soon. 🙂

Question for all on the board. I am trying to identify how reliable the statuses are on our online accounts. Here we have ScubaDude who was sitting there minding his own business and then... whammo! ... he and his wife receive her 10-year green card. Is this uncommon? Or have people noticed this is a frequent occurrence? Meaning it is not out of the ordinary to be staring at the same status for months... no change... and out of the blue you get a green card in the mail even though the status still remains the same.

Attention fellow Bostonians! There is a pattern going on here. I encourage activism from ALL of you in our area to start writing Warren, Markey and your local U.S. Representative and register your complaints... VEHEMENTLY!!! You don't need to use profanities or talk like a street urchin. However, you need to come across as frustrated AND angry but express yourself in a mature manner. If all of us do this... now... it will certainly get someone's attention that suddenly there's an influx of letters about the inefficiency and lack of transparency of the USCIS. There are no guarantees this will yield results but sitting on our hands certainly isn't helping. Below is a link to Warren and Markey. Click the Contact button for each and start exercising your rights. https://www.senate.gov/states/MA/intro.htm At this link, go down to Massachusetts and locate the representative for your district (if you don't already know who it is) and write that individual as well. https://www.house.gov/representatives It's time for activism. It's time to voice your displeasure. Calling up the USCIS and speaking to a Tier 2 agent is tantamount to hitting your head against a wall. Don't even waste your time.

We just received our 48 month extension letter. I'm sorry but this country is an absolute embarrassment to itself in the 21st century.

My view was predicated on how the response was framed. It didn't pass the smell test for me. I don't claim to be an immigration expert but my original question was around why there seemed to be more 5-year LPRs getting interview letters. Jorge's response made sense... there are more 5-year LPRs out there (something I didn't realize). If evidence and criteria made the difference, why aren't marriage-based LPRs subject to 5 years as they require more scrutiny (to use yours and Yana's rationale)? And why aren't LPRs who are here for non-marital reasons able to file after 3 years if they are more straightforward with less to look into? Each path has its own separate criteria and needs to be adjudicated. You could argue that poring through 5 years of history (to determine legitimacy) would take additional time. I do appreciate yours and Yana's perspective.

Not sure I agree with your rationale but thanks for responding.

Has anyone noticed that 5 year LPRs tend to get more love from the USCIS with the N400 than their 3 year LPR counterparts? On the USCIS account website it indicates there is a 7 month turnaround time for the N400 but with a disclaimer that this estimate is only for the 5 year LPRs... estimates for 3 year LPRs can vary. This is an anecdotal observation but it seems to me that I see far more 5 year LPRs announcing that they received an interview letter. Nowhere near as many 3 year LPRs.

You missed my sarcasm.

I am not expecting much movement until after I qualify for Social Security.

Boston appears to be real slow.

I see what you mean. I never noticed that before. This was not an issue for our N400 online.

Because we submitted the N400 through my wife's online account I don't recall anything in the way of identity validation. We did this almost two months ago so perhaps I have forgotten something but nothing jumps out. Also, DOS ID... never heard of it and I don't believe it came up in any of the online questions for the N400. Surprisingly, I found the online N400 to be fairly intuitive. The key is to be prepared. I would recommend having the following on your computer... in PDF format... for attachment in the appropriate section. You should have this all done in advance for when you start the N400. Also, if she has traveled internationally in the last 3-5 years try and dig up the departure and arrival dates, country(ies) visited, etc. This will make the process go very smoothly for you. Assuming you are the U.S. citizen... 1. Front and back of her Green Card 2. Her Green Card extension letter 3. Your birth certificate 4. All divorce decrees (if applicable) 5. Your marriage certificate 6. Your tax transcripts for the last 3 years (you can get these online at the IRS website) 7. Mortage or, if you rent, your last 3 leases 8. Last 6 months of bank statements from your primary checking account. That should be enough for now and then just bring more to the interview when it happens 9. Declaration Page for the last two years for auto, home/renters insurance contracts (attach more if you have them) 10. A short note alerting them to your pending I751 (including the case number) if this applies to you. You should do this so they are aware you would like a combo interview at your local field office. If you don't have a pending I751 then this obviously doesn't apply You can pay one of two ways: 1) Credit card 2) ACH transaction directly from your checking account Слава Україні !!!

We did it at 2.9. We're hoping to see some movement on our case in the March-April timeframe but who knows? We have our eyes on Boston filers who have filed as far back as August. Nobody has reported an interview date yet but maybe we will start seeing a pattern in the first couple of months of 2023.

We're in the same boat. Boston filer and we submitted the N400 online a month and a half or so AFTER you. So, I guess we will queue up the egg nog for the holidays and not give this much thought as it seems like it's going to be a while. Frustrating but nothing we can do about it.

You mentioned he asked for the 'trips'. What was he looking for? Documentation of the trips you took outside of the country as indicated on your N400? We don't have any airline tickets, etc. for our trips anymore from the last couple of years. Not sure if I ever read anyone having an N400 in which they were asked to produce anything pertaining to their trips. I am aware of situations where people were asked about them. About all we may still have are passport stamps.

This post is for those who submitted an N400 (especially if you did it online) within the last 6 or so months and, like us, are in the Boston area and will be processed out of the Boston field office. Has anyone seen any movement yet? In particular, anyone receive a letter with an interview date? I ran some reports here on VJ but not sure how comprehensive the results are as not everybody maintains a VJ timeline. Thanks in advance for any intel you may have on this matter.

I'm convinced the service centers are now punting most of the I751s and letting people get frustrated so they submit the N400 and letting the field offices handle them.

With this in mind, we are not going to worry too much about this or read into things too much. We're just happy to be out of the Vermont Service Center. We are now waiting with anticipation for her N400 interview letter. My wife is 40 questions into the 100 she needs to study for the civics test. She's doing well so far. She can probably already blow the doors off the majority of Americans out there who were born and raised in the U.S. Prior to submitting her N400, we had come across some posts here on VJ that gave us the idea to include a short note about our pending I751. Eh... worth a shot.

We submitted my wife's N400 online. As part of that submission we included a letter referring to our pending I751 (we included the case number) and expressed our hope for a combo interview. We then subsequently received a transfer notice in the mail for our I751 to the National Benefits Center. In the transfer notice we saw the words, 'In order to speed up processing...' Last night the status of the I751 changed to Case Was Updated To Show Fingerprints Were Taken. Seems to suggest background checks could be happening soon. Have others in our situation experienced the same thing? I am wondering if the National Benefits Center is working to adjudicate the I751 when what we were hoping for was a combo interview at our local field office in Boston. Thoughts?

Correct. We submitted our citizenship online with a pending I751. Both our I751 and N400 are now at the National Benefits Center awaiting our local office. With limited exceptions, it is best to get the citizenship process rolling even with the I751 pending. It may, or may not, speed things up but if we personally get a combo interview, say by next spring, then it definitely will have moved things along significantly.

Our I751 has been 'moved to another office' (presumably the National Benefits Center) so not approved yet. I suspect at some point we will have a combo interview.

Apparently pigs CAN fly. The USCIS was amazingly fast. Two days after online submission of my wife's N400 we received a status update for our I751... the first in a year TO THE DAY... indicating it has been transferred to another office (NBC). So Vermont is now out of the picture and it appears we are now in the queue waiting for our local office to make the next move. After 1 year of nothing, we have status updates, notices being sent. It's refreshing.

Thank you very much for the detailed response. Great intel. 😊

Thanks. After submitting online we got two documents back. One was the receipt notification. The second said fingerprints reused. That saves us a trip. Now, what WILL my wife and I do with the $85 refund I am sure we will get <sarcasm off> 😄