LAN400

Hi Friends,
  I would like to share that today my case status was updated to " Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled" . What a relief! As I feel that we the members of this forum are like a family, I am going to share more detailed information about my case that you might find helpful:            Brief of my Case: 2015 received GC, EB1 category (as Exceptional Scientist) Sep 2020: Submitting N-400 Dec 2020: Bio Reuse March 2021: Interview (It went well, only 5 mins, the only inconvenient part was that the officer was nagging why my lawyer is going to join the interview on the phone. She said it's difficult for her to talk loudly and she asked me to do the interview without him, but I didn't agree. After the interview she said I want to approve you, but your physical file is not here and I can't technically approve you. Then she marked " No decision ..." and  said the I should receive the decision and Oath in 2-3 weeks.  Aug 2021: Oath will be scheduled  Here's my follow up while my case was pending:  (During first 90 days) Talking with a Tier-1 Officer by calling USCIS monthly: the best way to get hold of the real agent is just telling" info pass", then you will be directed to the agent (Tier 1) directly. Every time that I called, their agent had ZERO information about my case. Tier 1 agents are there only for some technical support and the only beneficial service you can get from them is asking them to set a call back from Tier 2 who is a real USCIS officer. Usually, they don't agree to set up the call for you, but in my experience the best method of communication with them is being very polite, short, and asking them right away to schedule you for a Tier-2 officer. Don't explain too much. Also, if the person is not friendly, just finished the conversation and don't ask him/her to schedule a call back for you, because then they will say "No" and will put "No" on their system as well and when you call later the next agent will tell that you request was already disapproved and will not approve you case. (on day 90) Talking to a Tier-2 officer: After 90 days, I asked for a Tier-2 officer call back and she called me back after 20 days at 5 pm friday. Remember they will call within 20 days business days (not calendar day). I talked with her quickly and she said the system doesn't show any information about your case. Then she sent a request through email to my local office. After 2 days I received a response that "We are still reviewing your case. The case is in final processing. We will mail you a notice when we make a decision". In my opinion it was a good sign, however my lawyer and some other lawyers who I chatted with on AVVO website believed that it's a generic response and worthless. (on day 120) Submitting inquiry to the Senator office: I submit a request to my senator's office. Then they submitted my request 5 days later to the USCIS and asked me to wait for a month. In my experience, the senator's offices are so busy, therefore you have to keep following up with them to make sure they will follow your case with the USCIS office. Call them every 3 days till you will get the confirmation that they submitted your case. (on day 150) Submitting inquiry to the White House: I submitted a letter to white house at (https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/) (on day 153) Submitting inquiry to the Congress: I submitted a request to my congresswoman's office. After a day, I received a confirmation letter and they asked me to submit my documents and I did. This was the only time that I felt somebody cares about my case, as they wanted to present my case in strong detail. (at day 156)  My case was updated to "Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled" Here are some other information that I gathered from different resources about pending naturalization cases: Background check process: My lawyer believed that sometimes the USCIS assigned some cases to a special unit at Washington DC for further investigation (for example if you have some irregularity in your case in the past, or you are for a muslim country, etc.) and he believes the interviewing officer can't do anything until your case will be cleared from Washington. Based on this theory, he believed that sending an inquiry to the USCIS or talking to a USCIS Tier-2 officer is a waste of time and only annoys your interviewing officer. He only suggested me two options: 1) contacting the congress as they can push the USCIS, unless the case is not stuck on the background check process in D.C.; 2) Suing the USCIS. Suing the USCIS: The logic behind suing the USCIS is pushing the USCIS authorities in the higher level at DC to check the whole system and find out where your application got stuck. I communicated with many lawyers about this option and some of them were so pushy to convince me to file right after 120 days. Also the cost is around 4-5 K, however there is no guarantee for getting approval. It only pushes the USCIS to make a decision which can be "Yes" or "No". Just remember, one of the requirements for being successful in suing the USCIS is having enough documents that you have already tried different ways to communicate with USCIS. so, if you plan to sue them you need to keep record of all your communications with the USCIS. Some useful website or forums: Visajournay, ***removed***, AVVO, Legally (legally predicted that my case will be approved in Aug and it was true)   Finally, I would like to wish every one of you best of luck with this weird, unpredictable, painful, and BS process of waiting. I believe for us that we pass 120 days and no decision made yet is a sign that the didn't find any negative point in our case to deny it. Please be positive, every one of us deserves to be the citizen of this wonderful country. This country has been built based on immigration. Unfortunately, the previous administration was xenophobic and hateful of immigrants and they tried to make the process lengthy and painful and take the joys of naturalization away from us. The good news is the new USCIS leadership is a nice lady who believes in helping immigrants and I suggest that if you are tired and want to sue the USCIS, please wait a little bit more that she may change some of the current and unfair policy at the USCIS and hopefully clear the pending case.   Best wishes to all of you🤗  
 

Hi Friends,
  I would like to share that today my case status was updated to " Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled" . What a relief! As I feel that we the members of this forum are like a family, I am going to share more detailed information about my case that you might find helpful:            Brief of my Case: 2015 received GC, EB1 category (as Exceptional Scientist) Sep 2020: Submitting N-400 Dec 2020: Bio Reuse March 2021: Interview (It went well, only 5 mins, the only inconvenient part was that the officer was nagging why my lawyer is going to join the interview on the phone. She said it's difficult for her to talk loudly and she asked me to do the interview without him, but I didn't agree. After the interview she said I want to approve you, but your physical file is not here and I can't technically approve you. Then she marked " No decision ..." and  said the I should receive the decision and Oath in 2-3 weeks.  Aug 2021: Oath will be scheduled  Here's my follow up while my case was pending:  (During first 90 days) Talking with a Tier-1 Officer by calling USCIS monthly: the best way to get hold of the real agent is just telling" info pass", then you will be directed to the agent (Tier 1) directly. Every time that I called, their agent had ZERO information about my case. Tier 1 agents are there only for some technical support and the only beneficial service you can get from them is asking them to set a call back from Tier 2 who is a real USCIS officer. Usually, they don't agree to set up the call for you, but in my experience the best method of communication with them is being very polite, short, and asking them right away to schedule you for a Tier-2 officer. Don't explain too much. Also, if the person is not friendly, just finished the conversation and don't ask him/her to schedule a call back for you, because then they will say "No" and will put "No" on their system as well and when you call later the next agent will tell that you request was already disapproved and will not approve you case. (on day 90) Talking to a Tier-2 officer: After 90 days, I asked for a Tier-2 officer call back and she called me back after 20 days at 5 pm friday. Remember they will call within 20 days business days (not calendar day). I talked with her quickly and she said the system doesn't show any information about your case. Then she sent a request through email to my local office. After 2 days I received a response that "We are still reviewing your case. The case is in final processing. We will mail you a notice when we make a decision". In my opinion it was a good sign, however my lawyer and some other lawyers who I chatted with on AVVO website believed that it's a generic response and worthless. (on day 120) Submitting inquiry to the Senator office: I submit a request to my senator's office. Then they submitted my request 5 days later to the USCIS and asked me to wait for a month. In my experience, the senator's offices are so busy, therefore you have to keep following up with them to make sure they will follow your case with the USCIS office. Call them every 3 days till you will get the confirmation that they submitted your case. (on day 150) Submitting inquiry to the White House: I submitted a letter to white house at (https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/) (on day 153) Submitting inquiry to the Congress: I submitted a request to my congresswoman's office. After a day, I received a confirmation letter and they asked me to submit my documents and I did. This was the only time that I felt somebody cares about my case, as they wanted to present my case in strong detail. (at day 156)  My case was updated to "Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled" Here are some other information that I gathered from different resources about pending naturalization cases: Background check process: My lawyer believed that sometimes the USCIS assigned some cases to a special unit at Washington DC for further investigation (for example if you have some irregularity in your case in the past, or you are for a muslim country, etc.) and he believes the interviewing officer can't do anything until your case will be cleared from Washington. Based on this theory, he believed that sending an inquiry to the USCIS or talking to a USCIS Tier-2 officer is a waste of time and only annoys your interviewing officer. He only suggested me two options: 1) contacting the congress as they can push the USCIS, unless the case is not stuck on the background check process in D.C.; 2) Suing the USCIS. Suing the USCIS: The logic behind suing the USCIS is pushing the USCIS authorities in the higher level at DC to check the whole system and find out where your application got stuck. I communicated with many lawyers about this option and some of them were so pushy to convince me to file right after 120 days. Also the cost is around 4-5 K, however there is no guarantee for getting approval. It only pushes the USCIS to make a decision which can be "Yes" or "No". Just remember, one of the requirements for being successful in suing the USCIS is having enough documents that you have already tried different ways to communicate with USCIS. so, if you plan to sue them you need to keep record of all your communications with the USCIS. Some useful website or forums: Visajournay, ***removed***, AVVO, Legally (legally predicted that my case will be approved in Aug and it was true)   Finally, I would like to wish every one of you best of luck with this weird, unpredictable, painful, and BS process of waiting. I believe for us that we pass 120 days and no decision made yet is a sign that the didn't find any negative point in our case to deny it. Please be positive, every one of us deserves to be the citizen of this wonderful country. This country has been built based on immigration. Unfortunately, the previous administration was xenophobic and hateful of immigrants and they tried to make the process lengthy and painful and take the joys of naturalization away from us. The good news is the new USCIS leadership is a nice lady who believes in helping immigrants and I suggest that if you are tired and want to sue the USCIS, please wait a little bit more that she may change some of the current and unfair policy at the USCIS and hopefully clear the pending case.   Best wishes to all of you🤗  
 

Congratulations @LAN400!!! Very happy to hear you finally got an update 😃
And many THANKS for taking the time to write down your experience and tips to get through the process.  I totally agree with you, we are like a big family here and I also truly appreciate all the help that comes through this site. 
 
Let us know when your oath ceremony happens!

This is my understanding after reviewing some websites/forums and also talking with some lawyers regarding the delays after the interview. 
  Based on the current procedure at USCIS which is reshaped by TRUMP administration, for having final approval the adjudicator officers must have and review the whole permanent  immigration file of each applicant which is paper-based and it's called A-file. Since There are severe delays on transferring the A-files between USCIS central offices and local offices which handle the interviews, this step caused significant delays at USCIS.    On the other hand, due to the coronavirus and the severe backlog at local offices due the pandemic, USCIS is under huge pressure for delay to schedule interviews, therefore USCIS has decided to schedule interviews as much as they can to reduce the backlog before the interviews and officers have been asked to run their interview based on the temporary electronic file that they have on their system (even though if they didn't receive the A-file).    Additionally, based on another striking rule by the previous administration, after receiving the A-file and making the decision by the officer, the decision should be confirmed by a supervisor for many cases which caused another significant delay.   When we as applicants will follow up with the USCIS local office and inquire them about the cause of delay and request them to provide us an ETA, since the local office doesn't have the enough knowledge about the whole process, the USCIS can't estimate how long it will take for each case to complete the procedure, therefor they will come up with some nonsense stories such as "the delay is for background check, etc.,".    To me, it seems the most effective way to get a response from the  USCIS is sending a lawsuit after 120 days (with Ccing the USCIS director, US attorney, General and local USCIS jofficers and the adjudicator officers at the lawsuit). This way the whole system will get involved and since they don't want to deal with the court system, they will move their A** quickly to look at the whole system to discover where the causes of delay are and they will solve the delay and will provide the decision within 30-60 days after receiving the lawsuit.