TruLoveFound

My wife is trying to bring my mother-in-law here to the U.S. After gathering the info needed and submitting it we find that she needs a Hong Kong Police Clearance as she worked there for 4 years. This is kind of confusing as the HKPD web site states that "A photocopy of a letter from the relevant Consulate / Immigration Authority / Government Authority, which contains his or her name and clearly indicates that the production of the Certificate is required." is needed, how do we get this? We are at the stage where we are about to submit the AOS package with the next package due for submission being the DS230 which requires the above clearance from the HKPD. Does anybody have experience with this?

My wife is trying to bring my mother-in-law here to the U.S. After gathering the info needed and submitting it we find that she needs a Hong Kong Police Clearance as she worked there for 4 years. This is kind of confusing as the HKPD web site states that "A photocopy of a letter from the relevant Consulate / Immigration Authority / Government Authority, which contains his or her name and clearly indicates that the production of the Certificate is required." is needed, how do we get this? We are at the stage where we are about to submit the AOS package with the next package due for submission being the DS230 which requires the above clearance from the HKPD. Does anybody have experience with this?

Anyone else???

That's what I thought but it's a complex process to get a police certificate from Hong Kong...there's a lot of different documentation and such that you need and one is a Hong Kong ID card which I don't believe her Mother kept so I'm not sure how she would circumvent that in order to obtain her police certificate?

Okay, my wife wants to bring her Mother here from the Philippines. Her Mother worked in Hong Kong from 1994-98 and this is the only time she was outside of the Philippines, does she need a Police Clearance/Certificate from there considering it was 10 years ago? How would the U.S. Embassy know she worked there?

Thank you for the info S and S.

What are the total fees for the entire process?

Thanks

Would anybody else like to help who has recently done this who could provide actual figures and not just a link to help find the info? Thanks!

My wife who just became a Naturalized Citizen would like to petition her Mother who lives in the Philippines, about how long is the I-130 process taking now? What are the total fees including petition filing, medical exam, visa and any other applicable fees? Thanks to all who can help!!!

To my lovely wife Ann as she officially became an American citizen today! She took her Naturalization oath today with 41 other new citizens at the Neshobe Elementary School in Brandon, VT. She is from the Philippines and she's been here in the U.S. for almost 4 years now. Her citizenship journey hasn't been easy and there's been lot's of obstacles for us to overcome, logistically, emotionally and financially but we have made it and her journey has now come to an end and culminated in her becoming a citizen of these great United States of America!!! She also registered to vote so she will be able to take part in the upcoming Presidential election this November, the first ever election here the U.S where her vote will count towards determining the next President of the United States of America!!!

bump

Yup, it's a different set of biometrics fees. I don't understand why they don't keep a set of the fingerprints on file somewhere so they don't need to take them 3 different times but then again if they did that they wouldn't be able to soak you for an additional $80 each time. The grand total you will need to pay currently is $675. If you're not submitting soon I would suggest keping a watch out on the USCIS web site as we all know the fees WILL keep going up even if the level of service doesn't match!

I just wanted to see how many other's there are on this message board who are taking their oath at the Neshobe Elementary School in Brandon, VT on May 21, 2008? Where are you from and how long has your journey been? Where do you live? Any fellow Vermonter's? I figured it would be nice to maybe get to know each other a little bit before the ceremony so that we can greet each other there and not be a bunch of strangers !!!

I forgot to mention that her oath taking ceremony will be held May 21, 2008.

Well, my wife had her Naturalization Interview yesterday and she passed with flying colors! It took her about 15 minutes. At first she was worried because her interviewer looked very stern and she was so nervous that she sat down in the chair even after he told her not to sit yet as she had to take the oath to tell the truth during her interview...lol. After that her interviewer actually joked about how big her file was compared to the others he usually processes saying she obviously doesn't like trees...lol (her file was about 5 or 6 inches thick compared to most that are about 1 inch). Then he started reviewing her N400 and proceeded to ask her the "Yes or No" questions in part 10. After that he had her sign part 13 and part 14 and her picture. He then started asking her the civic exam questions, the particular questions he asked her are as follows:

1.) What are the colors of our flag?

2.) Who makes the Federal laws in the United States?

3.) What are some of the requirements to be eligible to become president?

4.) Who nominates judges for the Supreme Court?

5.) When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

6.) Which President is called The Father of our Country?

7.) Who is the Commander in Chief of the US Military?

8.) What US Citizenship and Immigration form is used to apply for naturalized citizenship?

9.) What is the most important right granted to United States citizens?

10.) How many branches are there in the United States government?

She answered all of her questions correctly and then he asked her to write the sentence "I live in Vermont". After that he told her that she had passed but she wasn't quite done as he needed to update some stuff on the computer. He then told her where to go for her oath taking ceremony, gave her the N445 form Notice of Naturalization Oath Ceremony and explained how to fill it out and that the questions are pertaining to her actions from the date of her Naturalization interview to the day of her oath taking (not any time prior to her interview). He then told her she was done and gave her the Citizens Almanac and that was it. She said she wanted to come out all sullen and gloomy to tease me into thinking she had failed but I could see a sparkle in her eye and I knew she had passed . Now if anyone who has already taken their oath could explain how the day goes and what to expect we would appreciate it?

Don't worry Miri, that's what it said on my wife's biometrics NOA too and look how fast it went for us. Of course this all depends on how much of a backlog your local field office has and the FBI name check but just wanted to give you some hope that it can take a much shorter time then what they list!

1. St. Albans, Vermont

2. As of Jan. 15th they are processing June 02, 2007

3. NOA receipt says 365 days

4. 12-20-2007 Submitted my wife N400 to VSC.

12-21-2007 UPS confirms that her application arrived.

01-03-2008 Check Cashed by USCIS.

01-10-2008 Received NOA Receipt Notice.

01-15-2008 Received NOA Biometric's Appointment Notice.

01-28-2008 Biometrics/fingerprints done.

02-20-2008 Received NOA Interview Appointment Notice.

04-15-2008 Naturalization Interview (wish us luck)

Hi there everyone. I thought I would update my wife's status for everyone so those who are going through the same process can judge their own timeframes. We went through VSC with our local field office being in St. Alban's, Vermont. We just received her interview appointment notice today and she is scheduled for her interview on April 15, 2008 (which also happens to be my birthday so after we're going to celebrate !!!

12-20-2007 Submitted my wife N400 to VSC.

12-21-2007 UPS confirms that her application arrived.

01-03-2008 Check Cashed by USCIS.

01-10-2008 Received NOA Receipt Notice.

01-15-2008 Received NOA Biometric's Appointment Notice.

01-28-2008 Biometrics/fingerprints done.

02-20-2008 Received NOA Interview Appointment Notice.

04-15-2008 Naturalization Interview (wish us luck)

We can now see the light at the end of the immigration tunnel...yahoo!!!

Hello all,

Well, my wife just had her Biometrics (fingerprints) done this morning. Didn't take too long...maybe 15 minutes. After we asked an employee about how long after the Biometrics are done would my wife receive her civics test and she said that they are processing applications from August through October right now so since we filed in December that it would probably be another 3 or 4 months. This was good news as it's much faster then we had heard previously...she actually said that the VSC is now the fastest in processing the N400's because they don't have any backlog (we're assuming she's talking about the infamous June/July backlog that everyone was complaining about). We also asked about the oathtaking and she said that it's done once per month and is generally about 1-2 months after you pass the civics test but she said depending on how many people are scheduled for one group that it could happen as soon as a couple of weeks after passing the civics test. Good news for Vermont filers for sure!!!

12-20-2007 Submitted my wife N400 to VSC.

12-21-2007 UPS confirms that her application arrived.

01-03-2007 Check Cashed by USCIS.

01-10-2007 Received NOA Receipt Notice.

01-15-2007 Received NOA Biometric's Appointment Notice.

01-28-2007 Biometrics/fingerprints done.

Does anyone know when and where the oath taking ceremony takes place at the VSC?

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We have recently submitted my wife's N400 application (December 21,2007). We have already received the Receipt NOA and last week we received the Biometric's NOA but we are still unable to view her case status online, we get a "Case Retrieval Error". My view is that since we have received these two NOA's that we shouldn't worry too much about not being able to view her case status online...yet...but I would still like to know why it's taking so long and make sure that nothing is wrong (don't want any glitches in the system deleting her case). Has anybody else run into this and if so what have you done about it?

Just an update. We received my wifes biometric's appointment notice today. The updated timeline is as follows...

12-20-2007 Submitted my wife N400 to VSC.

12-21-2007 UPS confirms that her application arrived.

01-03-2007 Check Cashed by USCIS

01-10-2007 Received NOA Receipt Notice

01-15-2007 Received NOA Biometric's Appointment Notice (actual appointment date is January 28, 2008)

Anybody know approximately how long after your biometrics are done that your interview is scheduled?

I called USCIS this morning and the lady I spoke with said that all naturalization application numbers have an asterisk. As for not being able to check the case status online she said that because of the deluge of applications that they have fallen behind as far as updating the web sites database and to give it a week and check again and if we still don't have any luck to call back.

Were you ever told as to why your number has an asterisk? Did you also get a message saying that your case cannot be retrieved and to check to make sure you entered the correct case number?