IsItLekker

Hi guys! This will be our final check in here. Hubby took his oath today and it was a beautiful little ceremony in a library. He was able to register to vote this evening after we got back and voted for the first time in a US election. They also gave him a full American Flag provided by a local veteran's chapter. Good luck everyone! Your day will be here soon!

Well, today was the citizenship interview at the Centennial Field Office (Denver). Since the I-751 had not been approved yet, they did a joint interview. I went with hubs and took our young son just in case they needed to talk to me, but they didn't. We made the error of stopping at Starbucks on our way to the interview and I was forced to down the whole coffee in the parking lot since you aren't allowed to bring food or drink inside. 🤢 We passed through security and had to give them his interview letter at the desk in the waiting room. We arrived the recommended 30 minutes early for the appointment and they were about 20 minutes late. The whole appointment took about 20 minutes from when they called him back, so we were there for over an hour. Officer approved both the I-751 and the citizenship application. Hubs was told to look for the oath ceremony scheduling in about a week in our mail, but we were notified the oath ceremony had been scheduled online about two hours later. Oath Ceremony will be November 7th at 11am at a library in Colorado Springs! Hubby is excited and I'm so proud of him. Almost done!!!

Well, today was the citizenship interview. Even though our I-751 showed no movement, turns out they had it and did a joint interview. I accompanied my husband just in case they needed to speak with me, but they didn't. The whole appointment took about 20 minutes. Officer approved both the I-751 and the citizenship application. They didn't even ask to see any of the documents he brought with him. He was told to look for the oath ceremony scheduling in about a week in our mail, but we were notified the oath ceremony had been scheduled online about two hours later. Oath Ceremony will be November 7th! Good luck to everyone, our Removal of Conditions journey is over.

Still no movement on our I-751, but we just found out hub's citizenship interview has been scheduled for next month. 

July 2022 - Applied I-751

July 15, 2023 - Applied N-400

Biometrics Waived

September 18 - Interview Scheduled

Oct 26 - Interview Date

We just received notification today that the interview has been scheduled for Oct 26th! I'm so grateful this process seems to be going more quickly than the other stages. 

Applied: 7/15

Re-used Biometrics

Interview Scheduled: 9/18

Interview Date: 10/26

Hey guys!

Even though we already knew biometrics were waived from the document online, we did receive a paper copy of the notice to reuse fingerprints in the mail on Monday (7/24).

Now we wait!

Still no movement on our case since we received the extension letter a few months ago. We did go ahead and submit the N400, so we are hoping that we will get the joint interview with the citizenship interview. Anyone else on here applied for the n400 yet?

Hey all!

Didn't see an option for Denver in here and figured I would start one. Anyone with recent experience at the Denver office to kind of give us an idea of what is coming? There aren't too many timelines active, but I'm hoping there are more people in the forums that just haven't set them up.

We only just applied (July 15th), but from what other people have posted, I'm hoping we might get a November interview date.

Anyone with experience also doing the joint interview (Removal of Conditions) with the USC spouse at the same time? I'm going to be pretty heavily pregnant by then, and I'm trying to figure out what to expect.

Hi guys!

Final stage! Hubs just applied on 7-15-2023 for Citizenship through marriage. Biometrics have been waived, so I guess all we do now is wait and see when they can get us in for an interview (it appears I will also have to be there since we haven't had the removal of conditions interview yet). We also received the 9 month estimate, but I'm hoping it will be faster since others at our field office (Denver) seem to get appointments within four months or so.

Good luck to us all!

It looks like everybody is getting the extension letter. Nice of them to offer us four years!

On 8/30/2022 at 12:07 PM, T&JL said:

I am very curious how this turned out for you.   I married my husband in canada but i live in Colorado. He just immigrated here a month ago.  I am trying to change my name and running into the same walls.  You have done a lot of leg work here.  Any help is much appreciated.   

If you were married abroad (in this case Canada), you will have to either apply for a court ordered name change (costly, and time consuming) or go to a local county clerk and recorder and get "married" again in the state of Colorado. Getting married again is a lot less painful. Arapaho County totally knew what was up and it was relatively painless once we realized this was the best course of action. I think Denver and El Paso Counties also had the ability to do this, but Arapahoe had the shortest wait times. I would call their office first to confirm they are still doing it this way, and then schedule the appointment for a marriage license online. Make sure you take your original marriage certificate with you and the process should take around thirty minutes. After you get it and the certified copies, you should be able to get your name changed at the DMV.

We just received our biometric appointment letter today... they have him going in on the 23rd! Thank goodness there were no delays with the mail. 😐 I'm also grateful it is sooner rather than later. We were worried they would schedule it for when our baby is due next month, so it is a relief. We ended up at the National Benefits Center as well...I guess many months of waiting are ahead!

Hey July filers! Well, the time has finally come for us to return to Visajourney. We sent our form off via Fed Ex on 7/20 and received notification they delivered it on Monday. Hubs just got a text about half an hour ago confirming USCIS has received the form and there is a pending credit card transaction. We were freaking out because we just moved last month, but the address change didn't go through on my credit card (very long story). I spent the past hour hounding my credit card company to confirm that they were going to process the charge. Now we just await the NOA to find out where we will be headed. Step 1 completed, I guess. 

Oh dang, I realize I forgot to update this thread so people will know the maddening drill. I ended up communicating with a Senior Constituent Advocate for my US Representative. She hooked me up with the head of the DMV for the region of Colorado I live in. 

First, they are well aware of the fact that this issue exists. My perplexed call to them was not the first and it will not be the last. The advocate mentioned that she was trying to garner enough information to be able to push for them to do something about this at the congressional level (other states have similar issues), due to the fact the requirements are discriminatory and unnecessarily burdensome to women (as women are usually the ones to change their family name after marriage).

It turns out there is really only one quick legal channel to change your name on your driver's license in the state of Colorado if you were married abroad. I confirmed this both with the representative's office and the head of the DMV.

You must go in to a local county office (does NOT have to be the county you live in) and you have to set an appointment to get a marriage license.

In our case, we brought our foreign marriage certificate and it was noted in the system at the time we applied for the new license that we had been married abroad and the date of that marriage. Apparently, it is totally legal to remarry the same person. We signed the new license in front of the issuing admin and were issued a new marriage certificate from the county. The whole process took less than half an hour. They also issued a couple of certified copies of the marriage certificate at the same time (you want these... they are cheaper if you get them at the same time).

When you go to the DMV you can take the actual certificate or the certified copy with your social security card to the DMV. Apparently this is enough for the name change.

Federal law regulating the issuance of "real ID" driver's licenses are responsible for this giant pain in the behind. As of when I spoke with these offices, there was no active plan to improve the process. Hopefully, this will help you if you are trying to get your name changed in Colorado.

P.S. If you wait for your passport, you can use it to change your name without all this nonsense, however, I only received my passport with my legal name a few weeks ago due to the outrageous backlog. The whole name change process has been a 1 out of 10, do not recommend. 

Hi guys! Monthly update time for April 2021!

For the entirety of April, 73 VJ member petitions have been approved by the USCIS across all the centers (by timeline).

Approximately 3 cases a day (work day) by the organization as a whole.

Of those 73 petitions approved, 24 of them were at Potomac - about 1 petition a day.

The first petition of the month was approved on the 2nd of April.

The latest NOA1 approved this month was February 1st of 2021, due to exceptional circumstances. The latest NOA1 approved without expedite or I-129f was likely around June 29, 2020. 

The current estimated range for application completion on the USCIS website is between 13 - 16.5 months from your PD. If you filed before December 26th, 2019, and you still have not received any notifications about your case, you should call USCIS and find out what is going on. This is especially true given the instability in processing times we've been experiencing at this particular center. Get any issues resolved as quickly as possible. Same goes for RFEs. If you haven't received a response to your RFE within 60 days, you should be contacting them.

We are a small center (only 2,252 petitions recorded) and right now our daily rate of approvals is pretty slow. Keep in mind, some filers do not have their timelines set up and so their data is not contributed to the pool, so it may be even more effective than my numbers show here. Please encourage any and all Potomac filers in the forums to go ahead and set them up so we can start to get more accurate readings on our timelines.

Congratulations to all of you who were approved this month! We hope things continue to go favorably for our fellow filers and that many more will receive good news over the next month!

Hi guys! Monthly update time for April 2021!

For the entirety of April, 73 VJ member petitions have been approved by the USCIS across all the centers (by timeline).

Approximately 3 cases a day (work day) by the organization as a whole.

Of those 73 petitions approved, 24 of them were at Potomac - about 1 petition a day.

The first petition of the month was approved on the 2nd of April.

The latest NOA1 approved this month was February 1st of 2021, due to exceptional circumstances. The latest NOA1 approved without expedite or I-129f was likely around June 29, 2020. 

The current estimated range for application completion on the USCIS website is between 13 - 16.5 months from your PD. If you filed before December 26th, 2019, and you still have not received any notifications about your case, you should call USCIS and find out what is going on. This is especially true given the instability in processing times we've been experiencing at this particular center. Get any issues resolved as quickly as possible. Same goes for RFEs. If you haven't received a response to your RFE within 60 days, you should be contacting them.

We are a small center (only 2,252 petitions recorded) and right now our daily rate of approvals is pretty slow. Keep in mind, some filers do not have their timelines set up and so their data is not contributed to the pool, so it may be even more effective than my numbers show here. Please encourage any and all Potomac filers in the forums to go ahead and set them up so we can start to get more accurate readings on our timelines.

Congratulations to all of you who were approved this month! We hope things continue to go favorably for our fellow filers and that many more will receive good news over the next month!

Thank you so much for all of the replies you guys! I really appreciate everyone taking the time to answer. I honestly thought it was just going to fall through the cracks. 😅

So I have continued to reach out, per some of the advice on this thread. Unfortunately, I did not send off to get my passport yet as it required my original marriage certificate and I thought I needed it for the DMV (bummer). If it was a matter of just changing it whenever, I'd go ahead and apply for the passport and deal with the license later, but since my name is already changed federally, I am on a deadline in the state of Colorado to inform them of my name change (within 30 days). That is why I have been in a bit of a panic... that deadline is in less than a week. 

So far, I have sought 2 avenues proposed here. Remarrying in state and court ordered name change.

Remarrying appears to be the fastest method, but I still question the legality of it all. It will officially solemnize our marriage in the state from the date we sign the license, but it supposedly will acknowledge we were previously married.

Court ordered name change seems to also be an option, however since it must be performed in the county where I live, I am less than thrilled with this option as they had no idea what to do when I called them. I was told to consult an attorney. Also, I must submit to finger printing and background checks which could taken a few weeks before I can even apply. 

I contacted the Colorado Attorney General's office and they gave me a canned response about calling my county and asking them for the process to record the marriage (...I have already done this and the result was still rejected by the DMV, probably due to the fact my county has no idea what is going on). However, he did provide me with an email for Vital Records for the state, so I have contacted them to see if they can explain it to me, so that I may in turn explain it to my county clerk and recorder. 

I've determined the word register, record, and certify mean different things to different people. None of the offices are on the same page here. I'll keep you guys updated if I hear anything else, if for no other reason than that there will be an answer to this clusterf**k for anyone else going through this insane process in the future. 

2 hours ago, Timona said:

What state are you in?

I am in Colorado unfortunately. I seriously had no idea this was even a thing. It wasn't until my second trip to the DMV and a heated argument with the supervisor that I finally went online and found this. https://dmv.colorado.gov/change-your-name-your-credential It clearly states that foreign marriage certificates are not accepted in the state. The frustration for me was that it never even occurred for me to google this specific thing since it has been accepted by all other government agencies. We even had it apostilled by the high court in HK to try and avoid all problems with being able to identify the document. On all the forms and explanations I found for Colorado, it never mentioned foreign certificates being an issue even once. Only this one page. I tried calling local Clerk and Recorders in other counties and nobody seems to know what to do. They all suggested I just file for a marriage license and get married again.

Hi guys!
 

I have no idea if anyone here knows the answer, but I am at a total loss. I have been trying to get my last name changed since my husband immigrated in October. I was able to get my name changed on my Social Security card and my voter registration. I can even get my name changed on my passport. However, when I went to change my name on my driver's license, I was informed that I had to take the marriage certificate to the clerk and recorders office in my county and register my marriage in the US as they couldn't accept my marriage certificate from abroad (Hong Kong). I went and had the marriage certificate recorded by the clerk in my county, and even received a certified copy of the document (noting the marriage). I went back and was told once more that they cannot accept the document. The DMV will not accept the foreign marriage certificate, so... what do I do from here? The US recognizes our marriage, but the state does not. My social security number is no longer tied to the name that is on my photo ID. Do I need to get remarried in the US? Is that even a thing? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi guys! Husband and I completed our visa journey back in October, but I thought I might share this with you as I did on the Potomac 2019 filers group. Hope it helps!  Update time for October 2020 - March 2021!

For the entirety of this period, 505 VJ member petitions have been approved by the USCIS across all the centers (by timeline).

Approximately 4 cases a day (work day) by the organization as a whole.

Of those 505 petitions approved, 115 of them were at Potomac - about 1 petition a day.

The first petition of October was approved on the 1st.

The latest NOA1 approved in March 2021 was July 7th of 2020, potentially due to expedite. The latest NOA1 approved without expedite or I-129f was probably around May 20, 2020. 

The current estimated range for application completion on the USCIS website is between 12.5 - 16.5 months from your PD. If you filed before December 9th, 2019, and you still have not received any notifications about your case, you should call USCIS and find out what is going on. This is especially true given the instability in processing times we've been experiencing over the past year (yay COVID). Get any issues resolved as quickly as possible. Same goes for RFEs. If you haven't received a response to your RFE within 60 days, you should be contacting them.

Potomac is a small center (only 2,224 petitions recorded) and right now the daily rate of approvals is pretty slow. Keep in mind, some filers do not have their timelines set up and so their data is not contributed to the pool, so it may be even more effective than my numbers show here. Please encourage any and all Potomac filers in the forums to go ahead and set them up so we can start to get more accurate readings on your timelines.

Congratulations to all of you who were approved over the past 6 months! We hope things continue to go favorably for our fellow filers and that many more will receive good news over the next month! ❤️

Oh my goodness you guys. I am so sorry I have been MIA. I just came back to check in and found out what has been happening with Potomac center.  I've been digging to make up for all the time that was missed since my last report, so hopefully this will help. Update time for October 2020 - March 2021!

For the entirety of this period, 505 VJ member petitions have been approved by the USCIS across all the centers (by timeline).

Approximately 4 cases a day (work day) by the organization as a whole.

Of those 505 petitions approved, 115 of them were at Potomac - about 1 petition a day.

The first petition of October was approved on the 1st.

The latest NOA1 approved in March 2021 was July 7th of 2020, potentially due to expedite. The latest NOA1 approved without expedite or I-129f was probably around May 20, 2020. 

The current estimated range for application completion on the USCIS website is between 12.5 - 16.5 months from your PD. If you filed before December 9th, 2019, and you still have not received any notifications about your case, you should call USCIS and find out what is going on. This is especially true given the instability in processing times we've been experiencing over the past year (yay COVID). Get any issues resolved as quickly as possible. Same goes for RFEs. If you haven't received a response to your RFE within 60 days, you should be contacting them.

Potomac is a small center (only 2,224 petitions recorded) and right now the daily rate of approvals is pretty slow. Keep in mind, some filers do not have their timelines set up and so their data is not contributed to the pool, so it may be even more effective than my numbers show here. Please encourage any and all Potomac filers in the forums to go ahead and set them up so we can start to get more accurate readings on your timelines.

Congratulations to all of you who were approved over the past 6 months! We hope things continue to go favorably for our fellow filers and that many more will receive good news over the next month! 

On 3/24/2021 at 2:02 AM, Izb said:

Hi folks, 

I am new here, and I have a question. 

My husband filed I 130 for me on 15 august 2019, and we received NOA1 on August 20 with IOE#. 

But from that day, we have not yet heard from USCIS ever. Is it normal? Does anyone have the same case? 

No that is not normal! 😮 Have you tried to call and speak to someone at USCIS? 

On 1/14/2021 at 10:44 PM, SammyMiami said:

Glad I found your thread!! 🙌   ....With Joburgs consulate being closed, are they still doing interviews? We finally finished the paperwork today and are waiting for the NVC to approve. 

We don't have enough South Africans posting on here to be able to find any information atm. However, if you join our Facebook group, it keeps growing and as people find out new things, they keep us all updated. With the consulate being closed due to COVID, it will take some time before they are able to open again. It depends on the level of lockdown for their area and SA as a whole. Back in July I think it was, the department of state issued guidelines for how and when consulates could reopen/resume consular services according to local conditions. 

12 hours ago, MavisAndBoclay said:

Can anyone confirm that the documents the NVC requires (i.e. police clearance, birth cert.) expire within six months of obtaining them? I do not see anything stated like that on the travel.state.gov website.

Birth certificates don't expire. Police certificates are valid for one year. 

Hi guys! Just to update you. Hubby is safely stateside. He had AP as his status for six days, but it changed to issued. It's quite common, and others have had similar experiences. He picked up his passport at the DHL three days after the status changed to issued (would have been shorter, but that Thursday was a public holiday). We ended up using a travel agent to book passage out of SA to the US. She was very professional and got us a very reasonable deal on our tickets. He flew with Qatar Airlines from Johannesburg to Doha and transferred to New York. The plane was rather empty as was the immigration line, which he was through in five minutes. They did pull him aside into a room while they checked his documents which had been submitted electronically. It took about three to five minutes and he was through due to the lack of people. He had a 12 hour layover in JFK and caught a flight with Delta from New York to Denver in the evening. JFK has a airport hotel (TWA) which allows for short term day stays if you have a long layover. If you pass through this airport, don't leave and go into the city, or you will be quarantined. Good luck you guys!