TheyLoveMe

On 12/11/2021 at 11:29 AM, Wayne- said:

Just did this last month mailed to the downtown Seattle office.  NC was returned in 2 weeks, name was changed in 2 weeks and the new card arrived in mail at  3 weeks. 

 

After a call to the help line

 - they asked for our address and then told us to send to the Seattle Office (915 2nd ave).   The Rep I talked to said you should send to the office that serves your area.  Afterwards, I used this webpage and it gave me the same address  secure.ssa.gov/ICON/main.jsp

 - we sent overnight USPS

 - the Rep also said

   * send to: ATTN CSR Unit (department that does name changes)

   * use certified mail

 - we included all docs to show name change, which for us was NC and Marriage certificate (she waited until NC to use marriage name)

 

We watched for progress by creating an account on "My Social Security" on ssa.gov.    The last name changed on the online account a week before we received the new card in the mail.  

 

A rant on USPS,  the online tracking of the letter showed it was delivered to a different zip code then the office location.   I had waved the signature requirement,  as I did not want the letter held up a day or so waiting for a mail room person providing a signature, knowing that some of the large buildings just get mail left in a lock box in the basement.   This was because of a DOL issue I posted earlier.  This caused us a bit of stress thinking about lost mail, as I was looking up wait times for the replacement  time Certificate of Naturalization Document.

 

.  

Thanks for sharing this, anyone with similar experience at the Bellevue office? I've been trying to get connected to an agent for days but it seems to be an impossible task.

On 9/30/2021 at 9:23 AM, mnt96 said:

Congratulations @TheyLoveMe 👏👏

Thanks and good luck to all of you that are still waiting, your time to celebrate will come. 

8 hours ago, leethompson said:

Today was the day!

 

Seattle appointment at 10:15am, delayed slightly by a long and slow queue to get checked in. 
My interview was with a very friendly officer from the Spokane office via an iPad.
In total it took about 20 minutes, and I was approved right there.

 

My questions were (can’t remember the exact order):

1. Who signs bills in to law?
2. Name a US territory?
3. What party is the President part of?
4. What month do we vote for president?
5. How long do we elect a senator for?

 

I had my own USCIS binder of paperwork with me (copies of all my previous filings, plus copies of birth certificates, marriage certificate, and updated bank and mortgage statements), but none were asked for. After the call was done (and I signed the final bit of paper) they took my green card and directed me back to the waiting room, letting me know it would be about an hour’s wait until I could take my oath. 
 

In less than 10 minutes a group of six or eight of us were called in to a room and the officer checked we were all there, reading out our names from the stack of citizen ‘packs’. Then we read out the oath, and were handed our packets! All done!

 

She advised us to get going with our passport applications, as the wait time is like 3+ months right now (I have my appointment booked for tomorrow for some time now) and before I knew it I was back out at my car and on my way home. I registered to vote using the online form right when I got home! 
 

I want to extend a massive thanks to everyone here;  when my dates were months away, it was awesome to follow along with you all as you made your way through the system. I wish everyone else who’s still waiting the very best and know it will all be done in time. 
 

(My next move is to update the tracker spreadsheet!)

Congrats @leethompson! My appt is tomorrow

Anybody has has any recent experience booking passport appointments online  at the USPS

Anybody has been successful at booking an appointment at Usps for the passport?

14 hours ago, Mica93 said:

Interesting. I received a letter telling me I did not need to go in to do my biometrics in December 2020. It seems like the 3 year and 5 year residency applicants are on a different timeline. 

I applied under 5 year residency and got my biometrics re-use notification on April 2021, I have interview scheduled on Sep 29.

On 8/16/2021 at 8:42 PM, TheyLoveMe said:

Mine has Tukwila field office.

My bad, it actually came from Spokane office but I have the appointment at Tukwila.

On 8/11/2021 at 11:44 PM, swadesi said:

@TheyLoveMe did you get it from Spokane Field office as well?

Mine has Tukwila field office.

On 8/14/2021 at 12:24 AM, Deco20 said:

https://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/edlproof.html#citizenship

 

You can't apply for an EDL without the original naturalization certificate. You now have to wait to get the passport or the certificate back.

Would it make sense to get the EDL first? Also, does anybody know when you can update your status in your social security? Is it only possible after you get the passport back?

6 hours ago, leethompson said:

Well, not even 24hrs after I joked about being a week out, when I signed in to check just now I discovered my interview has been scheduled! Hooray! 

 

Tuesday Sep 28 @ 10:15am in Tukwila

 

Mine also has the Spokane Field Office address at the bottom of my letter, like @swadesi above.

 

Note: no email or text notification, I was just doing my daily 'I wonder if anything has changed' logging in and saw the update.

 

Congrats Leethompson! I also got it Today, I remember you recently mentioned our cases timelines were similar and you were absolutelty right . My Interview is on Sep 29 at Tukwila office as well.

Congratulations! My estimated time is 15 days but I have not received any notice lately so I expect this will change to the "we are taking longer than expected" message. We will see, I hope I get this done at least by the EOY.

3 hours ago, wase said:

I got the same email at 4:38 am - On my account, the estimated time has changed from 'It is longer..' to 13 months. Under Document section, I see the notice for Interview Scheduling for Aug 19th - I filed in Feb 2020.

Good for you! At least something actually changed, let's hope is just a delay in the system and we might be getting something during the week.

Got an email this morning (3am) saying that USCIS has taken action on my case. I logged in but the only difference I see is that the time until decision went down from 10 to 2 months (which I think is good), but there nothing new under the documents section.

No many updates this week

16 hours ago, Ashi2ash said:

Hi guys!! I had interview may 19 Wednesday. When I showed up after checking in and wait for my number to be called. Some body maybe officers open door and she said your interview is canceled. We reschedule you and let you know. It’s been week now and no update. I read this 40 pages of this topic and didn’t find my experience. Do you have any idea what can I do. Some people say  file lawsuits against uscis will work and they speeding my case. Applied December 2019 bio December 2019 . Any advice or experience will appreciate 

I’m sorry about your experience. It might be worth to hire an immigration attorney for your case if it’s still possible. Hopefully you get your reschedule notice soon 

On 5/24/2021 at 9:02 PM, jolyn69 said:

Hello everyone. First thank  You Lord ..and secondly thank you to all visa journey members  who helping me a lot answering all my questions since  I started my journey here in the US.

I would like to share my interview experience in PORTLAND OR so i can give you some idea how it goes .Because my appointment is so early 7:30 am today (05-24-21) i decided to stay in the hotel. I arrived at 7:10  am so the security told me to wait 5 more minutes outside. exactly 7:15 they allow us to enter the building and check our belongings together with my interview letter. He  told me to go upstairs and stay in the waiting area. The immigration lady officer call my name around 7:40 .She is very nice and make me comfortable. she asking me my passport ,drivers licence and green card. Before she will start the test she offer me to take an oath if i will pass.

 

first civic test

 

-what month we vote for president

-what do some states have more representatives that other state

-we elect the representative for how many years

-who was the president during the world war 1

-what is the capital of your state

-what stop of government from becoming too powerful

 

Reading test

what is the capital of united states

 

Writing test

 Washington D.C. is the capital of united states

 

Information about Me

-are you living same address on your application 

-are you still working at same employer 

-are you re marry (no) (because i am widow)

 

yes/no.

Have you ever claimed to be a U.S citizen 

Do you owe any overdue tax

 

The IO told me  congratulations . I takes only 12 minutes and I am done .She told me to  come back at 2 pm for my oath ceremony. We have 15 persons in the room and takes only 5 minutes. I am now a U.S. citizen .I am so happy and thankful that i took my oath at the same day so i  could not come back . Hope everyone  who are from Seattle and transfer to Portland have a good experience and Good luck.

 

 

 

Congrats! And thanks for sharing the details!

4 hours ago, nikgon said:

 Yes, browse through my few recent comments in the history about the name change.

 

SSN card update is tricky. https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-01981

 

TL;DR: it's a pain in the elbow. Offices are not yet open, so you'll have to do it over mail. To submit the documents, you need to send them originals of everything: ID, naturalization certificate (or passport) etc. And they don't say how long they take (which means they take forever). So it's another way your documents are potentially going to get locked up somewhere for months with a possibility of loosing them.

 

Good luck!

 

Curious to hear experiences of others as well. 

What if you just don't change it until they open? Unless you are changing jobs and they ask you for the new SSN card,  however even when I got my green card I switched jobs and still didn't have my SSN card updated, my employer just took the one I already had. So not sure if there is a rush to get the new one, I'd just wait until they re-open, unless it's absolutely necessary go get it updated.

21 minutes ago, CdnRN said:

I wonder why there’s a difference. That seems odd. But in reality the actual completion time is all over the place so I suppose it may be accurate??? Sigh. 

Mine says 9 months, I applied in June 2020.

6 hours ago, Ashi2ash said:

So frustrating. Drive from Everett to uscis they let me in check in and then going second floor. Waiting some lady came out we have to cancel your interview and should be reschedule. She said she called me but I didn’t pick up unknown number or whatever. After 18 months she said she doesn’t have my files ready. Is there any one have same experience!!!

Sorry to hear about your experience 😩, hope you get your interview soon and everything goes smoothly 

11 hours ago, Per said:

After 12 years as a green card holder, I submitted my N-400 application on January 6, 2020. On April 30th, my USCIS Account page finally updated with an interview date - June 3, 2021! I'm two weeks away.

 

I haven't been using this forum until now, but reading this thread really helped me feel confident about the interview and understand that I can expect a same-day oath at the Tukwila field office. This is key for planning the rest of my summer, so thank you ReasonableOrange8, Kam, TheDude123 and others!

 

This thread also has bomb tips for getting your passport: I am going to prep my passport application and photos ahead of time so I can go to the Bellevue USPS office and do a walk-in application the same day.

Congratulations on your interview notice! Quick question: why specifically the Bellevue office, are they the only ones taking walkins? 

A friend shared this with me: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/uscis-seattle-district-takes-steps-improve-backlogs-marcouiller#share-modal

so only naturalization applicants from south Seattle are supposed to be transferred to Portland. Can people in this forum confirm if that’s true?

I got my name change done Today, just in case I get my interview sooner than expected 😎

6 minutes ago, MGMA said:

Processing times changed from 18-20 to 17.5-21. UCIS is saying we can do it faster, but not for everyone. Some people will be slower 🤣

Half month faster 😅

On 5/10/2021 at 9:02 AM, kels430 said:

All this talk of passports got me thinking... My husband would like to keep his Mexican citizenship and have dual citizenship. His appt is May 19th, and we plan on traveling back to Mexico two months later. Can we wait on the US passport since he will still have his Mexican passport? Thanks!

You may not be admitted to the US if you don't show your US passport once you are a citizen. 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/Advice-about-Possible-Loss-of-US-Nationality-Dual-Nationality/Dual-Nationality.html 

Quote

U.S. nationals, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States. Dual nationals may also be required by the foreign country to use its passport to enter and leave that country. Use of the foreign passport to travel to or from a country other than the United States is not inconsistent with U.S. law.