Magi Stark

Still waiting on the oath ceremony scheduling, but I have TWO international trips in the next few months, and considering my luck I just know it's going to be either during or right before, lol. So an emergency passport is in the forecast. I know I have to be within 14 days of the trip to be able to make an emergency appointment. Can I schedule an appointment before for after the ceremony, or do I have to wait to be a citizen to even make the appointment? I don't want to inadvertently make a "false claim of citizenship". Example: Oath is 8/21. Trip is on 8/28. Make appointment on 8/18 (not a citizen yet) for 8/25 (citizen). Also, how certain is it to be able to even get an appointment? Are there cases where appointments are just not available, period? Under no circumstances am I rescheduling the oath. So I want to plan ahead to minimize the economic impact on cancelling/rescheduling my trips.

Only from anecdotal evidence based on what you find online. Even then, just because it happened to certain people doesn't mean it happens to everyone at the same field office. I used Google: "N-400 <field office> same-day oath". If you add "reddit" or "visa journey" or another immigration forum at the end, you can narrow your search even more. You can also ask directly on one of the N-400 facebook groups to see if anyone has in the same field office has a recent experience.

Can confirm, 7/7 interview. The civics test is oral, and there are no multiple choices given to you. You have to know the answer, and the answer must be oral as well. The written test is on a tablet. You are given a tablet to read a sentence. Then you have to write that same sentence (at least that was my case) back on the tablet.

You have two issues here: Continuous residence: Be an LPR for 5 years. Physical presence: be physically present in the US for 30 months (or 913 days or 2.5 years) out of those 5 years. If your parents are already not living full time in the US, this could present a problem, especially under the current administration. The rule of thumb is you should spend more time per year in the US than out of the US, even if it's less than 6 months. So if you're doing 4 months abroad, 2 months in, 5 months abroad, 3 month in, 4 months abroad, 1 months in, etc., this represents an issue for the continuous residence as USCIS might determine you broke continuous residence by staying out of the US so much, even if the trips were less than 6 months and the total time in the US adds up to 30 months by the time you apply. Assuming they turn a blind eye to that, or time spent abroad is not as bad, you still have the physical requirement to meet. You and your parents have to sit down and count every single day spent out of the US, (the day you depart and the day you return count as days in the US), and time in the US cannot total less than 30 months (or 913 days) by the time the oath takes place. Some offices will be more strict than others in this regard. If you're missing a few days to a couple weeks, some offices will just wait and schedule you later, while some offices might deny the case and ask you to reapply. For the physical requirement, yes, every little trip counts. So if your parents have already spent too much time abroad, and plan on continuing to spend months at a time abroad, and take week-long trips regularly, it's very unlikely they'll qualify for citizenship. They're almost 2 years into their 5 year residence. If they've already spent more time abroad than in the US, just assume you have to start over, or start counting from the last entry when time in the US exceeds their time abroad. If they've spent more time in the US than abroad, just make sure they continue to do that and make sure they have met the physical number of days in the US ideally by the time they apply. It just much easier that way. If you haven't taken a look at the N-400, you have to list every single trip taken during your LPR period. You have to list days you departed/returned and where you went. Start an Excel spreadsheet with the same format as the N-400 for trips abroad and start keeping track of your trips now.

MN here. Can confirm. Real ID is just a type of ID that meets minimum federal requirements of identification. Enhanced Driver's Licenses are a special type of ID that serve as proof of citizenship, and they qualify as being Real ID compliant. EDLs can be used for land/sea crossings between the US - Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Get EVERYTHING! The advantage of an EDL is that it's one less thing to carry around on a daily basis.

Been a super busy week, so just getting around to posting an update. Interview successfully completed on July 7th, although it was a bit of an unusual experience. Officer was a formal and to-the-point lady. She wasn’t rude, but she wasn’t super friendly either. My attorney said he’d never seen her before, so likely a new officer. Started by getting sworn in and verifying my personal info. She asked for my DL, GC, and SSC. Then the civics test (answered first 6 questions correctly) and the English test. Then, we went over pretty much the entire N-400 application - addresses, jobs, trips abroad, citations, yes/no, etc. I’ve had a couple immigration violations in the past, which had all been disclosed, so there were some questions about that, then we moved on. Because of this, I was fully expecting a “can’t make a decision right now” checkbox. This is where things got a little confusing. Towards the end of the interview, the officer became a little friendlier and started speaking like she was ready to approve the application. She touched on the oath ceremony, updating the SSN, asked about upcoming trips, and said to stay out of trouble until the oath. Then, as I was reading the tablet verifying everything before signing off, she puts my giant file on the table, and says everything seems in order and I should get approved, but she still can’t make a decision as she has to go over the entire file more in detail. She said to give her a couple weeks or so. Then, she hands me the N-652 with “Congratulations! Your application has been recommended for approval” checked. And I was like, o_O , what just happened? The next day I got the approval + in line for oath updates. Two days later I got a cancelled scheduled oath + oath will be scheduled updates. But as far as I can tell from my history and API updates, I was never actually scheduled for an oath ceremony, so not sure what that’s about. Anywhoo, here I am still a bit confused, relieved, excited, and back to checking my USCIS account every 2 hours, lol. Anybody happen to know if there’s a difference between “Your Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, was placed in line for oath ceremony scheduling” and “Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled”? It had never really hit me that there’s two differently worded updates for the same thing.

That's the NEXT step. It doesn't mean your interview HAS been scheduled, it means it HASN'T been scheduled yet.

From when I researched this, it seems to indicate you're applying under general 5-year rule/provision. However, I don't know if that's 100% accurate, nor can I verify where the source got the info. Like all other codes, it's mostly collective mind-hive guess work. 😃

Fingers crossed it doesn't take much longer to be rescheduled! 🤞🤞

More like a day later... 😂

That's the current/next step. It's kinda confusing, I know. You'll notice it doesn't have a checkmark like steps 1 & 2. Once the interview is scheduled, you'll see the checkmark, and it'll move to the next step.

Yeah, exactly this. It's the reason so many are obsessed with applying as early as possible. It's a race to the INTERVIEW - delayed background checks, misplaced files, chaotic administration, backlogged and understaffed offices, RFEs, cancelled interviews, civil unrest, and the list goes on and on and on. There are people who easily wait upwards of 8 months just for the interview, and during all this times there is NOTHING you can do. You're at the mercy of the "processing times." Once the interview happens, they have exactly 120 days to adjudicate. It doesn't matter that the ground opened up and swallowed the entire building, staff, and file - they make a decision or you sue in federal court. Really, it's much better to get the interview regardless of what else USCIS might still be waiting to get or complete.

The N-400 has no effect on the B1/B2 visa application. Your MIL has to apply on her own merits though. She needs to be able to prove she has strong roots in Peru that she will return to. If you guys are proving for her economically, that will be detrimental to her tourist application. She can't really be a tourist with tourist money if people in the US are sending her money to survive down there, which in turn would make her more likely to stay. So just SUPER strong evidence of her roots and financial means in Peru, and no lying in the application or interview if the subject of who she's coming to visit pops up.

From other interview cancelled posts I've seen, rescheduled interviews do not have the "based on request" wording. I'm with Frankjavir on this one. If Bat man did not request the interview be rescheduled, he should call or inquire further to be on the safe side.

It is the USCIS website, but it seems like they went back to the old Progress tab.

UGH! That sucks. For the longest time I'd freak out every time I got an email hoping it was notification of interview. Now I freak out every time I get an email thinking the interview has been canceled, lol. I'm sorry that happened and hoping for a quick re-scheduling. 🤞

Yes, it's based on field office, it makes sense why they would include the case field office location in the same place. My timeline says I'm about 1/2-way through the average processing times and they have closed 52% of cases like mine, which seems about right.

I like the new format/view better too.

Aren't tax returns only needed if you're applying on 3-year basis or if you owe taxes?

Agreed. The old Progress tab was useless and confusing because of the current step vs checkmark progress bar. I bet they had a ton of confused people calling/chatting asking why they hadn't received their interview notice, lol. I like the new format better. It actually shows you more detailed information about each possible step, and you can still see your current stage from the regular Case History tab. It also clearly displays where your case sits compared to the field office's average processing times. Probably a lot of people calling within 1-2 months of submitting their case asking what's going on.

I also got an API update on my 5 year anniversary, and then the interview was scheduled like 2.5 weeks later. I wonder if it's an automatic thing that pushes cases on the anniversary date so an officer takes a look at them.

That's because not every update, either from you or USCIS, has an event code associated with it. So when an update with no event code happens, it gets logged under the current/last event code. My JSON currently has 3 FTA0's, one for each API update that happened between my IAF (initial acceptance) and FJ (interview scheduled) event codes. There is a document with all the event codes for all the different types of applications that USCIS processes. FTA0 is "Database checks received". Based on what applicants have seen, it seems to coincide with when their cases get sent to the next stage, which doesn't usually happen until the background check has been completed and sent back to USCIS. No one knows for sure, but it seems to match that event code description.

Oh, I know. I mostly put it all there for future reference so people see how unreliable these estimates are and don't pay too much attention to them. I hadn't kept track of the "Progress" tab before the 4/11 update, but it went like 7, 4, 6 months, I think. Then it changed to 3, 4, 3, 4 after the 4/11 update. I wish they would just get rid of it, lol.

Got the interview update and notice today! Full timeline with details: 2/10/25 - Online application submitted. NOA + Biometrics Reuse (e-docs). 2/14/25 - API update indicating background check was completed. (FTA0) 4/11/25 - API update, no new code. Progress tab 3 months. Milestone/Overall Days reset to 74/104. Time until case decision/next milestone 3/2 months. 5/10/25 - API update, no new code. Progress tab 4 months. Milestone/Overall Days reset to 67/104. Time until case decision/next milestone 4/3 months. 5/11/25 - Progress tab 3 months. Milestone/Overall Days reset to 43/80. Time until case decision/next milestone 3/2 months. 5/28/25 - Interview Scheduled for 7/7/25. API code FJ. Progress tab 4 months. Milestone/Overall Days reset to 99/99. Time until case decision/next milestone 4/4 months.