-B&T-

Hi guys....

I am a filipina and born in philippines..

I am a naturalized US citizen though with a US passport...

Me and my 2 girls(they are both US citizen) are planning to go back in philippines for 35 days vacation..

I am just wondering..

Do we need to pay extension fee?

does anyone know how much is extension fee?

Hi there:)You can stay up to 1 year through the balikbayan program.Just carry your old philippine passport or birth certificate with you and have them ready when you reach the immigration area.No need to pay extra its only 35 days vacation.

Hello February filers!

I received my oath letter yesterday set for June 24, 2010 in Phoenix , Arizona.

Wala lang...just want to share this songs to those who have a LDR's.

Stay in love and don't let go...

Thank you all. I have been waiting for a notice to arrive or a phone call from USCIS if I have to go back for the photo signatures. Will keep you posted and hopefully I will get the oath letter instead.

Congratulations and thank you so much for sharing your experience. I have my interview coming up in Phoenix.

You are welcome and good luck on the upcoming interview! I know you will pass. They were nice and friendly there… you'll be fine.

Congratulations!

Speaking about photos, they made me put my first name on the left side and my last name on the right side (or vice versa) on the front of the photos that I originally submitted. I do remember that from the interview, but I cannot remember what 'general knowledge' questions they asked as soon as I left the interview. Just that I passed them all. The IO was in such a rush.

Thank you! Now am worried I hope I won't have to go back for photo signatures

Hello to all my fellow VJers,

I had my interview yesterday in Phoenix; it was great, very smooth and quick process.

There were only few people when I, my husband and our 2-year old arrived. I guess because it was still early and parking fee is $5 dollars (just a heads-up for those from Phoenix who will be having their interview soon ) and you can carry your cell phones it's allowed but you have to shut it off though. After we passed security, (x-ray machine and showing ID's) we were directed to go to the second floor -101 where the interview will be conducted. We sat down for couple of minutes and then my name was called in. The IO who called my name was friendly she introduced herself and told me she will be my interviewer for my N400 application. Appointment time is 7:45 I got interviewed around 8 o'clock. She was fast, as soon as we got into her office; she asked me to sit down and began asking the 6 questions right away.

I was asked for the following:

1. When was the declaration of independence adopted?

2. What do we call the first 10 amendments to the constitution?

3. Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?

4. Who wrote the declaration of independence?

5. Name one of the two longest rivers in the US?

6. Who is the speaker of the house now?

I got them all correct then the IO asked me to read the sentence "Who was Abraham Lincoln?" then she then gave me a piece of paper and asked me to write "Abraham Lincoln was the president during the civil war".

She said congratulations you passed the English and civics test. She then asked me to stand up and raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth and etc. After swearing-in, she asked me to sit down again.

She pulled out my N400 application from the thick files of documents that we submitted. She asked me my full name, date of birth, social security number, (Thanked God I memorized those coz I left my SS Card in the house) address and telephone number. Asked me also of my husband's name, our date of marriage and if we are still married and if we are still living in same address. I answered yes to both questions and that we never moved maybe next year back in the East coast.

I was asked if I have travelled outside US since becoming a LPR I said no but my husband and I crossed the border twice but only for couple of hours each trip and she asked when and I answered in summer of 2007 and she said "ok". Gosh, I worried so much about it because I can't remember the dates (No stamps on our passports and was careless did not expect that I need to provide these infos) of when we crossed the border in Nogales. Luckily, she did not give me a hard time about it and just went through my application.

The IO explained to me that I need to do a name change because I am using my father's last name as my middle name when I got married and it's not followed here in US.

She told me "Do not worry, nothing will be change in your name it will still be the same like you want it to be, we just have to formalize it in writing that you are using your father's last name as your middle name" so I was happy and relieved. She gave me 2 copies of documents for the name change and asked me to check the spellings and signed it.

The IO asked me if I understand the pledge of allegiance and asked if I am willing to take the oath and I said yes. She asked me if I have violated any laws, if I ever got arrested or got into trouble and I answered no to those questions.

She said congratulations, you passed the interview and you will be notified in mail for your oath taking ceremony in 2-3 weeks. She gave me the N-652 form (Naturalization interview results)

I brought all the originals of the documents that I submitted but I was not asked for any documents any more at the interview not even asked to sign pictures? (Just remembered this while typing)Did she forget to ask me? When I submitted the application I wrote my name and alien # on the back of each photo with a pencil I guess that was it right? Why some people here were asked to sign their picture ID's at the interview? Did I miss something? Hopefully not...

Thank you all and have a great weekend everyone.

I entered here as K1, got my 2 year GC already and will expire this coming October,my question is When is the soonest possible time I can apply for citizenship?

We are sending my 10 yr GC application by July or so, is it possible to send the application for 10 yr GC and citizenship at the same time?

thanks

No you can't apply for both at the same time. For US citizenship application base on marriage to a USC you have to be an LPR for 3 years. You will have to wait approximately one year after you filed the I-751 before you can send in your application for Naturalization. Read the GUIDES above it sure does help.

Good luck.

Hi, I will be having my interview on June 3 at 7 am. Anyone having their interview the same day? I will have my medical on Monday and Tuesday May 17-18. Hope everything will go well.

Good luck sa interview mo. We have the same time and date but mine is for the Citizenship interview. Ga-graduate na rin ako sa USCIS university soon! lol. No more paperwork’s!

Just relax and don’t be nervous yaka mo yan!

Congratulations! And thank you for sharing your interview experience.

Can anybody attend the seminar without the VISA and just come back for the CFO sticker?

Yes...

1 year 8 months and counting

Hey, sis you must have insomnia!

wow you can get her in the sun?????? Pam is at the point she is saying she got too dark!!!...lol....she doesnt understand that the girls here will die for her color ...she still doesnt believe me about tanning booths she thinks i am lying about people wanting to do that!!!...lol

Yes, Charlie, sunlight helps to reset your body's sleep and wake cycles too. But here in AZ, that is a big no especially at summertime where it's very hot outside even in the early morning? Pam might pass out! Hot shower and warm milk before going to bed will help also.

Hey, I remembered one poster said before that dancing the 'Lambada' before going to bed will help too! :rofl:

I don't get philippine politics, I have asked a lot of filipinos what each person is running for and what they plan to change. I even visit the canidiates websites and this info isnt listed

So is it just a popularity contest? Does not 1 person list what they are going to do, and have that list checked by the people to make sure it happens?

I did not see anyone speak out about the terrible pollution, and garbage in the philippines (should be a priority issue), and smog/pollution clean up or rules

Also I didnt see anything about government given birth control, and education in the schools, they need that badly.

While they are at it, new rules for seperation of church and government/state , and that would clear up most issues. Better infastructre and traffic rules would help

Good post I wish the politicians back there would think this way too. Philippines population is very alarming and really needs an action. One child family policy would be great!

Tell your wife to avoid taking naps during the day it will help with the transition.

There's also sleeping aids at the health store that you can buy I think its called melatonin.

Exercising will help also and sun exposure.

So i had my interview today in boston, i got there about an hour early, and since it was kinda slow they went ahead and did the interview. Because the questionaire is different for everybody, im not gonna even going to bother, i believe they change the questions for everyone so just study the naturalization test and you should be fine. I got the first 6 right and the guy stopped, i think its 6 out of 10 or something like that.

Anyways the questions are first, and then you go to another room where you wait to be called in, and then they ask you questions on your application, like have you ever supported a terrorist group, have you ever claimed to be a citizen, have to ever voted, do you support the constitution, willing to bear arms for the US.etc (most of the questions that are on the application, they ones that were either yes or no. It was pretty quick like 5 minutes.

OH I DIDNT HAVE A PASSPORT, THE LADY ASKED FOR MY GREENCARD, DRIVERS LICENCE, AND PASSPORT, AND I SAID I LOST THEM LIKE 10 YRS AGO, AND ALL SHE SAID WAS OK!!!SWEET RIGHT!!

AND SHE STAMPED APPROVED, i was so psyched..lol i was like wheew.

So after that was over i had to wait some more (didnt mind had a day off from work), and all i did was write my name on the passport photos, and the lady said ure done, your oath letter will be on the mail. The whole thing was like 2 hrs, but most of the time is spent waiting!!

GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!

So you did not send any copy of your Green Card too with your application? You are very lucky, you don't have passport, GC, DL and you passed? Some IO were very strict you must have had very kind interviewer that day

Congrats anyway, at least you were approved!

Congratulations! And thank you for sharing your interview experience.

Yes, the work on your application is suspended until they receive additional information. The additional information that they require is your biometrics. You should be receiving your biometrics notice any day now. When you complete your biometrics the processing of your application will continue.

This is a really crazy process USCIS adopted after their most recent website re-design. It implies that the problem is with you and that you need to submit something; it doesn't pay any notice to the fact that this is a normal part of the process and that they are waiting for biometrics, not additional documents from you. They are trying to combine too many 'notices' under one umbrella notice and it is causing all sort of angst and worry among the recipients.

For what it is worth, your application is seldom even reviewed except to see that you have included the fee, until the actual interview. Since they KNOW you will be interviewed they don't really waste any time reviewing a file until the actual time of the interview and decide then whether or not they need to see any documents. I have never seen anyone here receive an actual RFE for evidence for the N400 prior to the interview. All of the RFE 'letters' are for biometrics.

You will probably also receive a letter telling you to bring certain documents to your interview - and it won't have a date or time on the interview, causing more worry that maybe you have missed the interview notice. You haven't. It arrives in about 1 to 2 weeks after the 'notice of documents to bring to interview' letter. It would make sense to mail the two of them together - but heck, USCIS has never been known for using much common sense.

Very true! When I received my yellow letter I had to read it few times and looked for the interview date I was only asked to bring DL and passports at the interview but I will bring with me all of the originals of what I sent in with the application just to be on the safe side.

my wife is renting an apartment and i just want to make sure i get her address right for the i130 forms

she wrote her address as block 27 #2000 barangay pulido extension gma cavite

the box asks for her "address number and street" thers also an apt number to the far right

so can i write block 27 #2000 in the number and street box and do i write barangay pulido extension after that or know? or do i write 2000 for apartment number?

Thank you for helping me

If she had been using that address ever since and you have had no problem with the mailings then just follow that format and don't forget to put zip code also.

Block 27, Barangay Pulido extension GMA Cavite City, area code here, Philippines

Then put apartment #2000 on that far right box.

I actually got the nerve and asked them if they have a coupon code hehehe.. and of course they said they don't give it away individually just by mass email and they apologized that I haven't received any in the past. And promised that I will get one in the future whenever they send one out.. I didn't call just email. I find it nice but it sucks that there is not coupon codes online anymore... Times are hard especially this recession..

I have been with Xoom for 3 years and never receive any coupons through e-mail so I think it's a bogus info that they gave you. I'm thinking of dumping xoom already coz their rates are getting ridiculously low every time I send.

Hi,

How have you all been?

Well I went to my N-400 Citizenship interview back in March, I passed the test easly, I wasn't approved on the spot because the officer told me i had to send more evidence that I live with my wife, so this is based on 3yr permanent resident married to a USC.

Fine, I sent in more evidence in April, and on May 1st I recieved a touch on my Removal of conditions application that was approved 2 years back?

Is that Normal? Has it happened to anyone here in the past?

Thanks

Yes it's pretty common it happened to me too, I had touches on my AOS and I751 and some other members reported the same thing as well. I guess it's normal that they have to look your old files.

Salt Lake City, Utah Naturalization Interview Experience May 2010

I hope this is searchable for others because this will be the first time anyone mentions a Salt Lake City interview experience here on VJ, I was somewhat disappointed to not find anything when I searched for it before, so I am now pleased to provide this information to whoever it may benefit.

The USCIS office if on the west side of the freeway just north of the 5300 S exit in a really nice looking office building but the inside is somewhat run down. There is a small waiting are for about 40-50 people, it was half full during my time there. I arrived 30 minutes early for my interview and waited about 30 minutes past my appointment time so about an hour all in all.

I was surprised by how under dressed some people were, there was a guy in there wearing a denim jumpsuite with muddy boots and a stained haines shirt under it.

A very friendly and courteous gentlemen asked me to follow him to his office when my name was called, so I did. He asked me for my drivers license and my permanent resident card and told me to have a seat. I asked if he wanted to see all the documents I brought (and told him what I had with me) but his response was that he would asked to see the needed paperwork as we go through my application. I was asked to sign my photos and then he asked which country I would like to have as my previous country of citizenship on my naturalization certificate as I at this point was a holder of two passports.

We went through the N400 page by page, question by question verifying everything, at the end he had me sign it and told me that I would have to do the testing portion. I was asked to read 'How many states does the United States have ?' and then write 'We have fifty states.' The following six questions were asked for the civics portion:

Who wrote the declaration of independence ?

Who is the commander in chief ?

What is the party of the current president ?

What are the two major political parties in the US?

Name three out of thirteen original states.

Name one states that borders Mexico.

At that point he congratulated me and told me I was being recommended for naturalization, gave me an information sheet about the oath ceremony and told me where and when it would be (but I have to wait for the actual oath letter to arrive in the mail) and then wished me good luck and let me out. I must say this was probably the best experience I have ever had with government officials, I was treated very well and everyone at the office was just super friendly !

Just a couple of additional remarks. I applied based on the 5yr rule (not married) so they asked me how I ended up here without close family around, I am also overly paranoid so I brought a bit more evidence than asked for, here is a breakdown;

Requested evidence:

All travel documents and passport ever issued by any government

Green card and drivers license

Proof of selective service registration

Court documents certifying that the two speeding tickets I had were paid

Additional photos

Voluntary evidence:

Tax returns

Copies of change of address forms (that were previously submitted)

Bank statements

Copy of my driving record

The only thing they requested to see out of all this (apart from DL and PRC) were the court documents (even though the fines were under $500) and contrary to many reports on here, they did keep my originals, both my the court docs and my tickets.

Just another note, same day oaths and oath letters are never available in Salt Lake, ceremonies are held every 4-6 weeks for about 200 people and they are always held at the Rose Wagner theater downtown on 200 South.

Let me know if anyone has any questions, and I will be happy to answer them.

Congratulations Capt. P! And thank you for sharing!

Tks alot Aleful, could you be so kind to send me the link about the 100 questions?

I really appreciate it!!!! :-)

Here's the links for Naturalization test..

http://www.uscis.gov...90aRCRD&print=0

http://mysite.verizo...CivicsTest.html

Good luck!

Hello guys,

I received my interview letter yesterday 04/29/10 and scheduled on 06/03/10 at 7:30 am in Phoenix.

No biometrics this time by the way, I-751 FP are still good.

I forgot I changed my display name from I-10 WEST TO AMPI sorry about that.

Here is my N400 TIMELINE

02/25/10-N400 packet sent

03/08/10-NOA1

04/29/10 Interview letter received

06/03/10-Interview appointment date.

Thank you.

Yesterday, I couldn't even spell "lawers", and now I is one.

Pasensya na po. Gusto ko lang magpatawa. Hindi naman ganito kaseryoso ang Visa Journey. Mas masaya dati.

I Agree! Mga seryoso masyado mga tao ngayon lol.

Hello guys,

I received my interview letter yesterday 04/29/10 and scheduled on 06/03/10 at 7:30 am in Phoenix.

No biometrics this time by the way, I-751 FP are still good.