Betti

I am from San Antonio. I had my interview on June 3rd. So you had to drive from Austin?

Yes, I had to go to San Antonio and am from Austin. I really hope I can attend the oath ceremony in Austin, but the office said it was not guaranteed.

Yesterday morning I had my citizenship interview and civics test in San Antonio.

I arrived 1 1/4 hours before my appointment time and hung out in the car for a while, then moved on to the waiting room. I had to go through security and was called in by an officer at 9.30 am, a half hour after my appointment time. He introduced himself and we chatted a bit on the way to his office. I think he wanted to see how good my English is that way.

I had to stand for the oath and then we went over the N-400 form. I confirmed my name, address, phone number etc. and had to answer all the questions again, for example: Have you ever joined a Communist party, have you ever pretended to be a citizen, have you ever killed someone or been a prostitute. After we were done with that part, he asked for any additional evidence I might have and want to add and I handed him our most recent bank statements, insurance papers, tax reports from 2012 and the title of our house.
We then went on to the test portion and I had to read the sentence "What do we pay to the government?". I passed that part and then had to write the sentence "We pay taxes", which I also passed. Then he asked me 6 questions (my answers in red):

Name one state that borders Canada. New York
How many U.S. senators are there? 100
When was the constitution written? 1787
What ocean is on the east coast? Atlantic ocean
What is the freedom of religion? You can practice any religion or not practice a religion
When must all men register for the Selective Service? At age 18

I answered everything correctly and he told me that my English is outstanding and that he'd recommend me to be approved. My oath ceremony should be some time in July and with a little bit of luck, it might even be in Austin!

So after 5 years and about $3000, we are almost at the end of this journey!

You will only need to enter the number of days you spent outside USA since you enter into USA. if you have never traveled outside USA, enter none.

Thank you very much for your answer! I thought that would make sense, too. :-)

Hi there,

I am getting my N-400 ready and for some reason Part 7 A has me a bit confused.

It says "How many total days did you spend outside of the US during the past five years?".

I moved here in September 2008, so I will have to count all the days between February 23rd (today's date) and September 12th (when I moved to the US) for this answer, is that correct? Plus the one trip I did outside of the US since moving here.

It just seems weird, since I moved here only 4 1/2 years ago and am filing after 3 years of marriage to my US-citizen husband.

Could someone please confirm that I need to include all the days that I still lived in Germany in 2008 before I moved here in this answer?

Thank you and happy weekend :-)

Received my card on Saturday, 6/16!

Card production ordered, I just received the e-mail! Woot Woot!

Thank you for adding me :-)

I've been following this thread since the beginning, but had not logged in in a while (viewed as guest). Now that I've found my login info again, I figured I might as well be part of it.

Congrats on all the recent approvals! Looks like VSC is moving a bit faster these days!

Could someone please add me to the VSC list (info is in siggy)? I am still waiting and slowly getting impatient here. 10 months is way too long. Oh well, should be used to it by now, I guess

Yep, I got one about a month before I was able to file, too.

That's a good list of evidence you have there. I am about to remove conditions myself and I also included copies of the bank statements for our joint checking account throughout the 2 years we've been married now. I understand that they want to see evidence covering the whole time period, so I included statements from 12/09, 06/10, 12/10 and 06/11, so that they can see that we've had these accounts for a longer time.

I also sent photos from us over the last 2 years. If you have life insurance (showing him as beneficiary) or last wills and testaments showing the each other as beneficiaries, you could include those as well. But it looks like you have it all covered already and you have a solid packet.

I will use ACCO fasteners again, just like I did for the AOS packet.

I used the Acco fastener they work well and can hold all your ROC documents, and allows you to keep it to one packet. Drop the sticky notes and use a Cover Sheet this will make it easier for the examiner to see what's in your packet.

　

Cover Sheet (example here)

Awesome, thank you for your answer!

Hi there!

I am preparing to remove conditions in August and am just done copying all my papers. Now in order to make the packet, do I have to keep a certain format? With my AOS packet I was told to use a 2 hole - hole puncher and an ACCO fastener and label the different documents with little sticky notes on the bottom, to make it easier for the person looking at this. I assume it can't hurt to create the ROC packet in the same format, but wanted to see if there is anything else you guys do/did?

Thanks in advance!

It says it can take between 6 and 12 months in the guide:

"I-751 cases are generally completed in 6-12 months, currently." My linkhttp://www.visajourney.com/content/751guide

Greetings everyone,

We made it! We went to our interview this morning and got approved! I would like to thank the VJ community for your crucial guidance, we could not have come so far without you!

When I was an F1 student, I worked on campus and so I applied for a SSN. My card, however, says that I am not allowed to work without DHS authorization. Now that I have become a PR, is it necessary to have my SS card changed to remove the restriction?

Once again, thank you all very much!

I went to the SS office after I received my greencard, but they told me that it is not necessary to apply for a new card. The DHS authoriziation that your current SS card refers to is your greencard (and before it was your F-1 visa), so there is no need to change your actual SS card. The SSN will stay the same for the rest of your life, the only thing that changes are the restrictions. I was told that the only time I'll have to go back and update my status is after I complete the naturalization. (This is all what I was told at the Austin SS office).

Could you move in with your wife and keep working? I know that 2 hours commute each way sounds like a lot, but it would only be for 3 months, if I understood you correctly. Even with the additional gas cost for this it would probably end up cheaper than quitting your job. I think that should be doable to avoid a possible issue at the interview, right?

You can send a certified copy of your birth certificate with your application (or a regular copy), but you will need to have the original for the interview.

I agree with Bobby + Umit.

Check the copy of your AOS packet and look on every single form which address you out there. Make sure it is not an error on your side. When you double checked and you haven't made any mistakes, take that copied AOS packet to the infopass appointment with you.

I would guess that there was an issue with your address (since you said that USPS could not deliver one letter to you). Maybe the interview letter was also not delivered and since you didn't show up your AOS was denied? Or an RFE they sent was unanswered and they denied your application?

Find out the reason for the denial, then you'll be able to figure out what your next step should be.

Good luck!

Welcome to visajourney and congrats on having found each other :-)

Check her J-1 visa and also the DS-2019 to see if the 2-year-rule applies to her. If not, perfect! You can get married and apply for AOS. Please read the guides and also browse the forum for work, student and travel visa (http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/130-adjustment-of-status-from-work-student-tourist-visas/) to find as much information as possible.

Important to know is that it will take about 3 months to get the work permit as well as the travel permit (she won't be able to reenter the US after leaving during this period of time, unless she is granted an emergency AP), about 6 months to receive the conditional greencard and a lot of research, organizational skills and patience to go through this process. You can check out my timeline for more details.

I successfully adjusted my status from a J-1 visa. It was valid until 09/12/2009 and we got married on 08/08/2009, sent out the paperwork about 3 days later. It was never brought up at any stage that this looks "fishy". Just make sure she doesn't overstay her visa to avoid any possible problems in the process.

From application to conditional greencard we paid about $1500, this includes the medical. So start saving up now and start planning your wedding! :-)

Good luck!

Hey, I think it's hillarious. Wonder if something similar has been written about Germans. I can think of a number of wacky things to talk about there. But then, Germans ain't raised to be pansies.

Check out nothingforungood

Wowza, I didn't know that this is such a sensible topic. Thought I'd share a good laugh, sorry if you are offended by the blog. No need to get your panties in a knot though, just don't read it.

Well, if you can laugh about yourself, it certainly is funny.

Maybe I should have put a warning in the title to not read it if you don't have any sense of humor?

The usual suspects will get a laugh over this. You have made there day Betti.

Is there a problem that I don't see?

ditto

I am sorry. Here is the good link: http://www.andgoodis.com/

...you should check out this blog:

AndGoodIs

It's written by an American and it explains in a fun/sarcastic way why Americans do things the way they do.

Edited to fix link

Welcome to visajourney, Cal. I hope everything goes smoothly for you and Christina!