oriana77

4 hours ago, bunkx said:

Has anyone here tried to file a lawsuit or writ of mandamus? Even the processing time receipt date is past my submission date and my interview was July 30, 2021. This is way outside of the 120 day adjudication window they're supposed to be working with.

 

On another note, I heard federal workers will be going back to the office in April so maybe this will help with the congestion at the national archives with the A files

Hey, I understand your frustration since I was just recently in your position. Forget about the 120 days, they don't follow that. I don't know what state you live in but it varies state to state (especially in big cities like NYC) and it also varies case to case. Have you read the past answers on this forum/topic? My best advice is to calm down and be patience. Your day will come. I had my interview on January 28, 2021 and they approved my naturalization this past February. Something that I learned in the hard way is that those 120 days for us is like 7 days for USCIS. 

I hope this information is helpful. I didn't notice it on time but one day BEFORE my approval, I got an email from the ombudsman saying that they took care of my inquiry bla bla bla and that I should check my account but it really looked like a generic email TO ME, so I didnt even pay close attention to the email; and 2 days AFTER my approval I got a text  about that same inquiry made in December, and now I'm getting this email today. 

I cannot say or garantee that making that inquiry helped me because there's no way for me to know. But it seems that the inquiry somehow made some "push" to my case. What you guys think??? 

I added a letter to my inquiry explaining how this delay was affecting me, especially for my Masters degree because I requested a name change, etc. Now I just got another email which is the one attached here. My oath is finally on March 10. 

For anyone waiting over 1 year (or close to one year) for a decision to be made, I would highly recommend to make the inquiry. 

4 minutes ago, Coco&Kitten said:

Wow, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Very happy to hear the good news, yeah it seems that sooner or later (in your case much later) they finally get to the decision.

Yes, I got my oath ceremony notice yesterday for Feb 22nd, funny that it is going to be on 2-22-22, a date I will never forget 🙂

I have not received the mail letter yet, just the on-line notification.  So, I would suspect yours will come in the next few days.

Woowwwwww congratulation again, im soo glad for you Coco, in less than 2 weeks you will be oficially a US citizen!!!   

And yes, I'm using your timeline to track mines, lol lol. I think I should get the online notification by the end of next wait. And because I requested a name change, my oath must be judicial, and before covid they were doing judicial ceremony once a week only, so my calculation is that my ceremony will be in late March, but lets see.

Just now, AlexUSA said:

I live in Las Vegas, NV and as you mentioned, I can print out the form and everything would be fine. But just was curios to hear from others to see if this is a normal procedure as the ceremony is on the next Thursday, I should have already received the letter and was thinking it's delayed more than normal.

One friend did his naturalization about 3 weeks ago and he never got the letter my mail, he simply printed it out. I don't think this will be your case, but the information may be useful for you. 

1 minute ago, AlexUSA said:

How long does it usually take to receive the oath ceremony letter? Mine is saying was mailed on Jan 27th and my oath ceremony is scheduled for Feb 17th, but I've have not received there letter yet after about 13 days.

in what state do you live?  Can't you print out the letter from your USCIS account? just in case. 

more news on this page: after a little bit over 2 years since I applied and after exactly one year and 10 days after my interview USCIS finally approved my case and I am in line for oath ceremony.  Like @Coco&Kitten. By the way did you got your Oath ceremoy date yet? I want to know how long do they take to let you know the date.

I will never know what exactly delayed my case  either...other than USCIS is understaff and the pandemic made things worse. I don't know if the last inquiry made in december helped me, there is no way to know really and like @Coco&Kitten said PATIENCE IS KEY!!!  I still cannot believe this process is almost over. I am going to keep updating about the oath ceremony (if that is still relevent.)

I really loved this community, y'all helped me TREMENDOUSLY to not feel alone in this process. 

4 minutes ago, Coco&Kitten said:

Finally some news: after more than 9 months waiting for a decision to be made, they finally approved my case and I am in line for oath ceremony. 

 

I will never know exactly what caused the delay, maybe the A-file was stuck at the FRC, maybe my case was forgotten.  I had just put a second inquiry to my Senator two weeks ago, not sure either if that is what got it updated.  Maybe it was just timing, someone said here once: you just have to be patient, YES, I think I have been.  Each case is different, patience is the key.

 

Anyway, this thread in particular has somehow kept me from going insane at a times, so thank you all for your updates and encouragements.  I will keep checking on here and wishing everyone else waiting good luck, you will get there.

congratulations!!! your waiting is finally over....

5 minutes ago, Ring of the lord said:

When did you file and interviewed ? I’m sorry you may mentioned it earlier but I missed 

No problem. I filed my n400 october 2019 and my interview was on Jan 28, 2021

and honestly I dont want to overthink about this. I called them again because my green card is close to expire and my renewal card process is also super slow (like EVERYTHING IN NYC), and I need to travel soon and they were fast to schedule me an infopass for an extension. I'm going to let this go at its own pace because I'm going to be busy for the next 5-7 weeks. Probably the approval happens in the upcoming weeks. 

7 minutes ago, Ring of the lord said:

NOTHING , inquiry were sent to Brooklyn Office over one month ago but they even did not bother to send a response . Senator sent inquiry on my behalf and nothing there too 

Same here. My inquiry was sent to the Brooklyn office and then last week I got a mail. I knew the mail wasn't important because I didn't received any email notification from my USCIS account... anyway, in the mail, they basically stated that I made an inquiry based upon my case is outside the normal processing time HOWEVER according to their own brooklyn office's proccesing time, my case is not outside of their timeline and again that I have to wait for a decision to be made. 

5 minutes ago, Ring of the lord said:

Hey wondering if you see any movement yet?

Hey, no updates yet! What about you?

1 hour ago, Ring of the lord said:

Try senator, it can create very small impact. I can feel your anger and frustration as I’m in the same boat. Seems like we are helpless and hopeless. USCIS can play however they want, all these posted processing time, 120 days, ombudsman, congressional help are meaningless. Court May be our only help .anyway what’s your exacts status and timeline? 

I don't know but something/ an update must happen before the year ends. I love the US but USCIS is depressing! I am going to follow your advice and contact senator. The USCIS website said "interview was scheduled" and I received that notice on december 21, 2020. Imagine that! When I called to USCIS this past  August, I was shocked when the rep told me cases undeer 1 year after the interview are not that bad and the cases with high priority are cases over 600 days. I was SHOOOCKED!!! 

49 minutes ago, Ring of the lord said:

Let’s see if the immigration officer calls you. I don’t wanna kill your hope, but chance for you to actually get a tier -2 office’s call is slim. Did you try senator ?

Trust me I'm well aware of that. I told her, officers are not calling people back and she said to me " Do you want me to file the request or not then" I was hating every second of that phone call. I haven't tried with senator yet. I was reading that the volumen of petitions the senator are getting for similar cases to us are insane...

18 hours ago, Ring of the lord said:

Even if the case is outside of normal processing time, what do you think they can do? I had an issue, they bought the matter to the attention of uscis, and uscis wasn’t responding to them in 5 months. When I called ombudsman office, they said they can’t do anything even if uscis doesn’t reply to them in 10 years, they have no power over uscis. It just a place where some people got employment and wasting taxpayer money. The only good about this office is that it contributing in the reduction of national unemployment rate, since some people are employed there for doing nothing . 

USCIS IS ALREADY GETTING RIDICULOUS! The woman who answered me at the USCIS phone a few minutes ago, she talked to me with an attitude of S% ## $ telling me that she did not have all the time to answer my questions.

HOWEVER, she quickly recognized that she cannot not give me the answers to my case because she is just a custumer service rep. So I tell the woman that I should go to Tier 2, and then she said that my CASE DOES NOT APPLY to speak with an officer even though my case is from 2019. The conversation started getting heat up from my end  she had no choice and other than saying she was going to file my request for Tier 2 . She gave me a case number for tier 2  and at the end she mentioned that now officers are calling within the first 30 days.

On 12/1/2021 at 11:32 PM, oriana77 said:

when did you file your inquiry with the Ombudsman?

Hey sorry for my late reply, but I filed my inquiry with the Ombudsman 10 days ago, as of today no update on my case yet. I'm sure something MUST happen this month. It's almost a year since my interview

7 minutes ago, bing10 said:

 

Yes, that was very similar to my experience with her office. They were helpful with making an enquiry, but no use following it up.

 

You are now out of normal processing time, so also file out-of-processing time requests (1 a month), file with the Ombudsman, contact your Senator (Gillibrand, not Schumer, his office is useless).

 

For me, it took moving out of state to get my case approved. The very day they processed my change of address, Brooklyn office approved the N-400.

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to contact Gilibrand tomorrow. 

Where did your oath took place? in NYC or your in new state?

1 hour ago, Jessy1990 said:

Yes you are right. Ombudsman won’t do anything. I also contacted them and they gave me a generic response. 

when did you file your inquiry with the Ombudsman?

4 minutes ago, bing10 said:

 

Your case isn't too dis-similar to mine on time-scales, even down to the un-helpful Brooklyn Congresswoman's office! (Congress person Clarke by any chance?)

 

I wouldn't read too much into the response you received to the enquiry. My understanding is there is a congressional liaison person who does these responses, and it's just a generic response when they take a quick look at your file. I had various responses, including one that said there was a problem with my case, which made me very nervous.

 

I think Brooklyn field office is just disorganized and over-worked, and your case will be adjudicated eventually.

 

 

yes, i contacted Yvette Clarke. 

The waiting WITHOUT having a real information of what is going on is what is killing my patience. When I asked for a more specific answer to the caseworker from Clarke's office, she got really upset at me, like telling me "take what they say, this is all we can do for you" it was frustrating to be honest. 

39 minutes ago, Coco&Kitten said:

Exactly the same answer I got from my Senator.  Apparently the A-files (which contain your whole immigration and non-immigration history) are locked at the Federal Records Center.

https://www.archives.gov/frc.  I posted some info somewhere here and on reddit.  There are lots of cases like this.

 

They are not fully operational, hence the delays in transferring these files to the local offices. Some officers need this file in order to make a decision.  That is why there are so many cases in here where people have been told "a decision cannot be made because I don't have your file".  Unfortunately I don't think there is much to do, other than hope they re-open those centers at full capacity again.

 

But I see your case is from 2019.  Have you tried to open an inquiry with ombdusman?

No, I haven't tried to open an inquiry with ombdusman yet! I was thinking doing it this week. I talked to a lawyer and he said to me that the Ombdusman is not doing much lately, but I am gonna do it anyway. and I was thinking that the delay was due to my name change, but i'm sure at this point, it has nothing to do with that. 

2 minutes ago, Jessy1990 said:

Have you thought of instituting an action against Uscis? I mean two years is a looonnng time. 😮‍💨 

I've been strongly thinking about that! Something in the back of my head says to hold it up for a few more weeks, but trust me this process is driving me nuts

On 9/29/2021 at 3:17 PM, Coco&Kitten said:

I have been re-reading this entire thread.  So, any updates on the pending cases? @Soccer.Player(I know you got an RFE, did that get resolved?), @Neickers, @hxk, @oriana77, @anakai, @leonidas_alexan, @bunkx, @judefabulous, @robot11... not sure if I forgot anybody.

 

So, on my end, only one update: after 120 days I contacted my Senator.  They contacted my field office (in Denver) to inquiry about my case.  About 2-3 weeks later they received an answer from USCIS stating that my A-file remains locked at one of the Federal Records Center.  Apparently many centers are still closed because of COVID, so they can't retrieve those files for review, thus causing the delay.  Anybody else has heard of this?  to me it seems unbelievable that they cannot retrieve a file in a timely manner (4-5 months).  So, at this point I think I am stuck waiting.

 

I was curious if anyone else has made any progress.

I just made my second case inquiry. They replied to my first inquiry exactly 60 days after saying that my case is on the line and that they are experiencing a delayed because of Covid. I could clearly noticed that that response was useless and that the officer barely take a lot on my case. However, I filed my case in October 2019. This is already 24 months, and I feel that writing my senator is a waste of time based upon in other cases. 

I've been reading all the comments here and this is definitely a USCIS problem. Hopefully any of us take all these delays personal as I know for sure we all deserve the approval. Some cities will move faster than others.

I live in Brooklyn, NY and this office take care of TONSSS of cases. I recently knew that one of my friend's mother got her interview in February of this year and the lady got approved in the spot. However is still June and she hasn't received a date for her oath yet (this is crazy right!!!?). That also made me realize how slow USCIS  is working  in general and of course is frustrating. My Interview was in January 28, 2021. I called USCIS because its been over 120dats and they said they sent a complain form to my office so I should get an answer within the 30 days or less from the Brooklyn office. I'm hopeful..  in the back of my head my mine me said that complain form is BS... but I still 1% hopeful!!! 

The best of lucks for y'all

On 4/23/2021 at 6:57 PM, bing10 said:

 

I already tried with the Ombudsman, but they won't do anything until the case is outside regular processing time, even if it's past the 120 days.

 

I called, emailed, filed case requests, had senators and representatives make inquiries, but nothing. 

 

I'm moving to a new state soon, so I'm hoping that might get things moving, when my case gets transferred to a new field office and case officer. If not, suing seems to be the only other option.

 

I've learnt along the way to try not to get too stressed about it. Back at 120 days I was a stressed-out mess about it, but now I'm just pretty chill about letting things to do with this just happen.

 

 

Omg, I had my interview on Jan 28, 2021. I filed in Brooklyn but I had my interview in Cadman Plaza in Manhattan and when the officer printed the decision cannot be yet made paper she told me that in about 60 days I should be getting an answer. During the interview she asked me if I had my birth certificate with me? I said because I didnt expect her to ask me for it. She said that my birth certificate was supposed to be in my file but she couldn't find it. She kept checking but nothing, then she asked me to upload my birth certificate to my USCIS which I did. I thought that after uploading my birth certificate things should move faster. In 3 weeks it will be 4 months since my interview and no answer from them..

On 12/23/2020 at 8:48 PM, aSangria said:

Hi all! I have my interview for the 29th and I got a call today telling me that my interview would be rescheduled due to recent travel. I called the USCIS contact center for more information but nobody has a record of this cancellation. I called 5 times and spoke to different reps to really make sure someone wasn’t missing anything. All told me that it’s still scheduled for that date. I’m in NY so I’m following the state rules of testing out of quarantine but I’m still told that USCIS wouldn’t cancel like that due to travel. Do I just go to my interview anyway?!? Anyone ever hear of this happening?

Yes, go to your interview on the 29th, if you haven't received any other letter stating that your interview was rescheduled is because nothing has changed; and even if they change it, they will let you know that same moment (thru letter or by the USCIS online) when you will have your next interview date. Don't worry and good luck. 

On 12/22/2020 at 7:43 PM, oriana77 said:

where and when did you apply?

Your time will come, i also read people getting their interview scheduled but in other counties like Queens or in Long island moving faster and getting their interviews in september and october and no news for me until yesterday 12/22 and I know that feeling that it must be something wrong, but the reality is that each office is different even in the same state. Wait 2 more weeks because it seems that most USCIS offices begun to move faster