AnthonyGonsalves

Hi, I am trying to apply for re-issue of Indian passport (current passport about to expire) from USA. I have completed government application form and now trying to complete the VFS part. I chose credit card payment option. However, every time I try to make the payment, it throws this error - "We regret to inform you that your online payment transaction could not be completed successfully.". 

I have now tried several times on different devices and using different credit cards. Seems like some issue on VFS end. 

Is anyone facing the same issue?

Wrote about my experience here - 

1 hour ago, LuFlolady said:

My husband is preparing to apply for naturalization in July and we want to cruise in Dec. I was wondering do you think we will been done with naturalization by December. He will send his paperwork in July any advice is welcome thank you

Processing times depends on your Field Office. Some are quick (less than 6 months) while some in major big cities like Dallas, Seattle, Houston can take close to or longer than a year!

Check processing times here - https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

Wrote about my Oath rescheduling experience here 

@Rose_3001

16 hours ago, Kev139 said:

Rose,

I advised the IO that my wife & I had booked travel. He wasn’t concerned at all, just advised I would need to respond to the Citizenship Ceremony notice, in writing, stating my reasons and evidence of travel…which I did. I’m still waiting for a response from the USCIS, but reasonably confident all will be ok. Good luck! 

Thought I will share my experience as I was not in town when my oath was scheduled. I had tried to find out through immigration forums if it is ok to miss an Oath ceremony due to travel or any other reasons but had not found any useful posts about it. Figured out, it was not a big deal. I had written a letter explaining I wouldn't be able to attend oath on my scheduled date via Certified mail and return receipt. In spite of this, I never received any confirmation of delivery or receipt. Post office said that USCIS get mails in bulk and it's not possible for them to sign proof of delivery. So I don't even know if they read my letter.

As per USCIS, you can miss 1 oath date without any major issues. It will be rescheduled by them automatically. You will get a letter stating you missed your oath on "xyz" date and that they will reschedule it. However, missing 2nd time can lead to abandonment of your application and you would need to re-apply your N400.

Total delay caused due to rescheduling: 2 months (I guess delay was more as mine is a name change (Judicial oath happens once per month) otherwise, it would have been less than a month).

I hope it helps others.

On 3/16/2022 at 11:03 PM, Bene u said:

Was your uscis account updated to interview scheduled. And how long after your interview did you get scheduled for oath. I'm waiting for oath to be scheduled.

Thanks

Yes, it was. My interview was in January. I got original Oath date in mid March. But I couldn't attend it due to travel. So I missed it. They rescheduled me to 2 months later (May).

On 3/2/2022 at 8:39 PM, islandgirl80 said:

I have a friend who is working on her N400 online and she wants to know if attending a certain church like catholic church is an organization. I am not sure what to tell her.. I do not want to give her an answer that I might be wrong.

Usually, the questions regarding organizations are concerned with organizations that are directly in opposition to values and systems of US like any Communist/Terrorist organizations. Ofcourse, no one is going to direclty say "Yes" to these questions and say they had been a part of some org like CPC (Communist party of China etc). These questions are there to document everything. For example, you answer "No" to these questions but in future, they found out you had lied so they have documented evidence to revoke your citizenship! They are not concerned with memberships of Church or religious orgs (Freedom of religion is a Constitutional Right in the US)!

So, I completed my N400 Interview in January (Dallas FO) and got Oath ceremony notice for mid-March (Only a 10 day advance notice). The oath ceremony document was there in my USCIS account online but didn't get any email notice about it. So got to know only when physical notice arrived in mail almost a week later.

Well, the Murphy's laws came into effect and I will not be in town during that period (Can't cancel the travel as well).

Has anyone got experience with rescheduling oath ceremony. How did it go? How much delay did it mean after rescheduling? Any info and tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

My interview was in the 1st week of January in Dallas. Got approved without any issues (Based on 5 year rule).

Applied: March 2021 (90 days before my eligible date)

Interview: 1st week of Jan - approved

Waiting for Oath date now (Was told 3 weeks but no information yet). I did a name change.

20 hours ago, Pandaish said:

Hi All!

 

I am planning on applying for citizenship soon, and I noticed the processing times for N-400 right now can be quite long. I have just under 2 years left on my GC, but I wondered if anyone has a source for information regarding working if CG expires but N-400 is still being processed?

 

Thanks for any input!

Green card is a document proof of your GC status and needed mostly when entering US from a foreign country (similar to US passport for citizens). Expiring gc doesn't mean ur GC status is expiring. Many US citizens never make or renew their passport, doesn't mean they are going to lose citizenship rights.

16 hours ago, roddie2k said:

I'm sure people can speak under condition of anonymity.

There's no need for anonymity in US for such cases. It's your legal right that your application be processed in a timely manner and that's what US is all about. You can sue USCIS at this point of time if processing time is outside their documented processing time for N400 for a particular field office. US is not like some middle east country or North Korea where you need to be afraid of government authorities.

2 minutes ago, Malik85 said:

Did you get any reply from her?

The post says the attorney is not providing or promising any legal advice or action but trying to find out how big the problem is. They want to know how significant or major this is and how many people are affected.

This is for those folks who applied during pandemic (mostly in 2020) and whose cases are stuck and not moving while those who applied in 2021 are already becoming citizens, I came across this post by @AH2020 in one of the threads and thought this would help if anyone is in the same situation

The below was posted in the May 2000 thread and in the  "Federal Records Center" thread.  I just sent an email to Susan, we should all contact her. Anything she can do to get things moving would be fantastic. 

-----------

The law firm Mintz Levin is interested in talking with constituents about their naturalization applications that are not moving forward because the files are sitting at the Federal Records Center. If this is of interest to you, please reach out to Susan Cohen at SJCohen@mintz.com and title the subject line "Federal Record Center" in your email. 

Please know that this outreach will be at no cost to you and they will not provide legal advice. They are exploring how large an issue this is nationally so that they can address the situation head-on. 

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On 12/1/2021 at 1:59 PM, AH2020 said:

The below was posted in the May 2000 thread and in the  "Federal Records Center" thread.  I just sent an email to Susan, we should all contact her. Anything she can do to get things moving would be fantastic. 

 

-----------

The law firm Mintz Levin is interested in talking with constituents about their naturalization applications that are not moving forward because the files are sitting at the Federal Records Center. If this is of interest to you, please reach out to Susan Cohen at SJCohen@mintz.com and title the subject line "Federal Record Center" in your email. 

Please know that this outreach will be at no cost to you and they will not provide legal advice. They are exploring how large an issue this is nationally so that they can address the situation head-on. 

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@JustBelieve @KatieL Check this out.

On 12/1/2021 at 7:23 PM, JustBelieve said:

Where are you getting this information? Lots of my friends who applied after pandemic are still waiting.

From this forum. When you say lots of my friends. How many. May be only a few people who apply during a certain period are caught up. But cases of folks who applied in 2021 are moving smoothly. Those folks should really be suing USCIS at this point.

On 11/30/2021 at 1:23 PM, KatieL said:

Well, it's amazing if they got yours scheduled on time, but it doesn't mean that's the case for everybody. Jan 2020 just got stuck somewhere and it's not moving. It's maddeningly frustrating. 

It's the case for everybody who filed after USCIS opened post the pandemic lockdown. At this point, you should seek proper avenues (suing USCIS in court) to fight your case otherwise you will remain maddeningly frustrated while other cases filed more than a year later get interviewed. 

On 11/5/2021 at 6:22 PM, JustBelieve said:

Yes, like I said it is a hit or miss. If you are unlucky, a lazy officer will grab your case and you will have to wait months and months before you receive the letter

I got interview scheduled as expected from current trends. So, now it's following a proper order and pattern and not hit or miss.

On 11/2/2021 at 5:48 PM, JustBelieve said:

It's a hit or miss. No specific month/year.

Saw in the March 2021 filers thread that they have got interview for December (Dallas).

3 hours ago, AnthonyGonsalves said:

Is your interview at Dallas?

Oh ok, good to know. Mine is also Dallas and applied in March 2021. No notification of interview yet for me. May be because I applied later in March (3/23) and yours is 3/9.

20 hours ago, anjum123 said:

My interview got scheduled today for December 9!😊

 

Is your interview at Dallas?

7 hours ago, KatieL said:

I wish I had the resources, but it sounds kinda ridiculous to spend MORE money fighting something that should've been done right in the first place, and then spend MORE time awaiting the decision. It has been 22 months at this point.

Hmm. 22 months is ridiculous. The least you can do is contact your local Congressmen about this. His/her office might be able to help.

On 10/18/2021 at 3:51 PM, KatieL said:

Did you address the Ombudsman? I wrote to them and they got a reply "the applicant is awaiting the interview... blah blah...looks like it's outside processing times, so you might want to schedule the interview...", which they relayed to me, concluding that "'Since USCIS got back to us, we're closing your case". I wrote back and said - Hey guys, USCIS literally said that you have the power to schedule my interview, so could you please? They replied saying they would return my case to the original person who was handling it. Since then, I got nothing.

At this point, if you aren't getting any help from either USCIS or Ombudsman, and your case is outside the normal processing times as per their website, you can sue USCIS if you have the time and money to do so.

Any idea, what month/year applications are currently interviewing in Dallas?

On 8/24/2021 at 1:25 PM, JustBelieve said:

A friend applied Dec 2020 and he got his interview letter a couple of weeks ago. I am a Jan 2020 in Dallas too and at this point I am just hoping for the best. I understand the backlog is huge but cases should be taken in order they were opened unless it is an emergency case. Neither Ombudsman nor Congress are helping into this.

Wow, Dec 2020 folks receiving interview calls. That's really fast. Mine was pre-pandemic and it took over 12 months (This was in 2019).

Well, USCIS is required by law to adjudicate cases properly and in a timely manner (within the timelines documented on their website). If you have the time and resources to go the legal process route, you can sue USCIS at this point of time. 

Was able to use Chrome and submit N400 without any issues yesterday. No issues encountered while filling or attaching docs.