kud

Finally, Alla and the children are coming. She bought her tickets to make the journey here!

Great News, Congrats

So for all the wives becoming, "American" are they still Russian too or are they 100% American now?

I only ask because a Mexican buddy of mine wouldn't drink Corona, XX, or Negro Modelo... he had to have BUD becuase he was American. Are your "new American" wives doing anything similar?

Do they keep their Russian passports as well and maintain Russian citizenship?

In my case she is Russian-American, picking what ever she thinks is best at the time.

Ceremony is next Friday, my Wife will be an American :dance:

We have our Ceremony Date :dance:

September 19 we will be done!!!!!

Except for the N-600 for the Kids.

Done !

Ceremony is next Friday 9/19.

We just got the Oath letter. Best luck to everyone.

Congratulations. We are still waiting and hoping.

Had our Infoview appointment today. They told us that both A Files are at record processing and after that they will be returned to the Interviewing officer. If there is no problems he will schedule the Oath ceremony. ETA 3 to 6 month.

Kud,

Got any good news? Please keep us updated.

All quiet on the eastern front

I went to the infopass again. The officer said that the Baltimore office got my file in July, and said the file could easily sit in there for TWO monthes not been touches, because their processing certer has been piled up with files and they have no plan to faster the processing. She suggested me not expecting anything within the next two monthes....

What do you think?

2 month sounds better then the 6 month they told me. Good Luck on a speedy resolution.

Has anyone noticed that we're loosing our russian members of VJ?

Haven't seen Jeff in a while. ( Kazan tiger....i think that was his nick)

It's vacation time after all.

I am back from 3 weeks in Paris with my Family, and just trying to catch up at work and honey dues.

But S. Ossettia, as well as Abkhasia, are an altogether different story - Russia never claimed them as its own land. Please quote where Russia ever said "this is ours now"? Russian troops in the region are strictly peacekeapers to prevent the killing of local folks by the Georgian military.

Considering that it takes decades to get Russian Citizenship if ever but S. Ossettia and Abkhasia's received there Russian Passports in weeks I would say Russia is claiming it is there land.

Congrats

Had our Infoview appointment today. They told us that both A Files are at record processing and after that they will be returned to the Interviewing officer. If there is no problems he will schedule the Oath ceremony. ETA 3 to 6 month.

Kud,

Got any good news? Please keep us updated.

All quiet on the eastern front

Had our Infoview appointment today. They told us that both A Files are at record processing and after that they will be returned to the Interviewing officer. If there is no problems he will schedule the Oath ceremony. ETA 3 to 6 month.

Made Infopass appointment for next Monday. Hope to hear something positive.

Does anybody have any updates? I am planning to make a infopass appointment after 4th of July.

Any news? We just got back from Vacation, no mail in our mailbox

bumping

see my time line or signature line

Same thing happened to us in Baltimore. Still waiting

kud,

Please keep us updated for any progress. Thanks!

You bet and likewise please

I went to the interview in Baltimore office. It all went well, I got aapproval letter and sent to the afternoon's oath ceramony. But just before the ceromony, one officer came and call my name and told me that I cannot take the oath because they found two A files for me, they need to consolidate the two files.

Does anyone have the same situation? How much longer we have wait for the result? is anything we can do to help them faster the process, such as request another A files from the USCIS Record Center?

Please post your experience and suggestions, it is greatly appreciated!

Same thing happened to us in Baltimore. Still waiting

Congratulations!

We are still in the 2nd A-File limbo

We got our final interview date in the mail today. Scheduled for July 21, 2008 at our local office. As I understand my wife has to go at it alone. However, I can have her fill out a G-28 and then I can make an appearance as her attorney. But would that only stir up unnecessary trouble since we are related?

I would go to the interview center for moral support, but wouldn't appear as her attorney, don't think it would pass the smell test. Might want to look at the N-400 forum and the post regarding the 20 most difficult questions for review purposes. Best of luck!

My wife just went through her interview on May 13. I went with her, but was not allowed inside the back room where the interview was conducted. I stayed in the waiting room. The interviewer did ask if I accompanied her to the interview. I guess it was a plus that I did. But really...what can anyone do for their spouse by sitting in on the interview? At this point in the process US citizenship is all about the applicant, not about the US citizen spouse. The applicant either meets the criteria or they don't. They shouldn't need coaching or comments from the peanut gallery during the interview. That defeats the purpose of US citizenship IMO. It is inappropriate IMO. The whole point should be that the applicant has made the personal commitment and effort to meet the criteria to become a US citizen.

On a side note...both of my grandparents were Soviet citizens. My grandfather became a US citizen in 1943 after living in the USA for 33 years. My grandmother lived in the USA for 54 years and never became a US citizen even though she easily could have met the requirements. She just kept renewing her green card every 10 years once that was required. Green cards did not become a requirement for foreigners until WW2. Before that it was not required of foreign nationals living in the USA. Everyone has their own personal reason for becoming a US citizen. For my grandfather it was to get a security clearance to work in restricted areas at the Port of Houston during the war.

Also on a side note...my wife is still waiting for a letter from US-CIS to tell her when and where to go to the naturalization ceremony. After the interview she got a paper stating that she passed the interview and the interviewer "recommended" that she be allowed to become a US citizen. She was also verbally told that the next naturalization ceremony was on June 14 in Houston. Unless she gets a letter soon it doesn't look like she will become a US citizen on June 14.

Nothing new when dealing with US-CIS. Things happen when they happen.

Good luck Satellite with your wife's interview. I hope it turns out OK.

On another side note...the mail arrived today with a letter from Homeland Security that informed my wife that she is officially scheduled for the US naturalization oath ceremony on June 25 here in Houston. So it looks like I will be married to an American woman after June 25th. It will also almost be the end of our visa journey. My stepdaughter won't be eligible to apply for US citizenship until the end of 2009.

Also on another side note...my wife has begun the process of having her Russian university diploma evaluated and is thinking of either resuming her teaching career here or applying her existing degree toward some other line of work. I think she has begun to realize that she can do much better than the part time minimum wage work she is doing now. It served its purpose in letting her get her feet wet in the US job market and I think now she has the confidence to move on to bigger and better things.

Congrats Peejay, we are still waiting on them getting the 2nd A_File.

It's official, I passed the CA Bar on my first try. Results came out on May 16, 2008 at 6:00pm.

http://members.calbar.ca.gov/exam/

The anxiety I felt over this and the difficulty of the thing cannot even compare to getting a visa for my wife. The visa was a lot more simpler, easier, and honestly less stressful.

As soon as I receive the official paper work I can get sworn in and finally add Esquire to my name.

It's the coolest thing in the world. I had to share with everyone.

Congratulations

Had our Citizenship Interview yesterday. My Wife passed the Interview, but we are on hold because a second A file that is missing. One of our Russian Friends had the same problem and it took 4 years to clean up. I sure hope we will be faster. Our Russian friend was here on his own (no American relation). I guess, I will give them a little time and then it will be time to sick my Senator on them.

Huh? What do you mean "a second A file that is missing" ??

That's what the Interviewer told my Wife and and then me when the interviewer walked her out to the waiting area. I know that your A-File has all your immigration paperwork in it. Why a second A-File? I am clueless

Well, how long do I wait before I sick my Senator in the CIS regarding my Wife's missing A-File

Had our Citizenship Interview yesterday. My Wife passed the Interview, but we are on hold because a second A file that is missing. One of our Russian Friends had the same problem and it took 4 years to clean up. I sure hope we will be faster. Our Russian friend was here on his own (no American relation). I guess, I will give them a little time and then it will be time to sick my Senator on them.

Had our interview today. Passed the test, but didn't proceed because a second A-file was missing , whatever that means.

My appointment was at 10:45 in the morning and we arrived there around 10:30 ("we" being my husband and I). After about 20 minutes of waiting, an officer came and got me (my husband was not allowed in and the officer did not ask to see any documents from him, even though my citizenship is based on our marriage, just FYI)

I was asked to take an oath (that i would tell the truth blah blah blah). Then we went over my application basically. He asked me if my information was correct, address, phone number. Asked me if my marriage was still good (yes) and if I had any proof of that. We got a baby girl back in October, so he wrote that down, and then asked to see some tax returns from this year. That was enough for him to verify that our marriage was in good faith. Then he asked me the questions that were already on the N-400, you know "were you ever part of the communist party", that sort of thing. I did fail to file my state taxes one quarter back in 2006, by mistake, so he asked me for some documents that showed that I had paid what was due and that i did not owe any more taxes. Then I signed my application. The whole time he seemed to be doing a hundred things at a time, printing stuff, checking things in my file, typing stuff on his computer. The guy was really nice and professional by the way, I really liked him. Then he asked me to read a sentence, I think it was something like "My car is parked in the garage", then I had to write "I drive a blue car to work". Then came the civics test, and I was asked 10 questions (there were pre-printed on a sheet of paper, so I guess this is totally random, not up to the officer who interviews you) Here are the ones I got:

1- What is the legislative branch of our government?

2- Who is Chief justice of the Supreme Court?

3- What are some of the basic beliefs of the Declaration of Independence?

4- Who wrote the Star Spangled Banner?

5- What is the supreme law of the US?

6- What are the 2 major political parties in the US today?

7- In what month is the new president inaugurated?

8- Name 2 Senators from your State.

9- Where is the White House located?

10- What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

Then my officer told me I aced my test (hurray!) and congratulated me. He told me that I was recommended for approval, gave me a document saying just that, and told me to wait for my letter with the information about the oath ceremony! I was so happy! I was out by 11:20.

Hope this helps you guys prepare. Good luck to you!

M.

Congratulations