VenusAngel

Good news, I am in the oath scheduling queue! I believe I know why the IO was suspicious of the number of days I was out of the country. I reviewed my application and in the box where it asks how many days you've been out of the country in the past 5 years, the number I entered more than 600 days. My citizenship application is based on 3 years of marriage and I was not a resident in the US for 2 out of the 5 years. When the IO saw that the number was high, it roused his suspicion and persuaded him to have my application reviewed further. I'm glad I passed the test

I was hoping my experience would serve as an example of an interview that did not come with a kind, humble or pleasant immigration officer. While reading the experiences of so many others, I almost came to expect an IO with these kind of characteristics, and was thrown off when that was not the case.

Thank you for all your responses, they've been quite enlightening. I did not realize that a joint filing was so important. I know many couples who keep their finances separate and we count ourselves in that category. We share expenses but have separate bank accounts. I have a job and my husband chooses not to work as he receives a generous allowance from his family. I submitted tax forms as married filed separately as he was a dependent of his family, which was fine by me. We may reevaluate that decision if it turns out that this may effect my naturalization application.

But the immigration officer seemed more concerned with the number of days I've been out of the country. I may have left the country a half dozen times for 2-3 days at a time in 2010 and 2011. The frequency of my visits increased in 2012 when my sister had a baby. I felt a desire to visit more often and see my niece grow up. I couldn't have been gone more than 70 days in the past three years. That's far below the minimum residency requirement for citizenship.

In any event, I hope this inconvenience resolves itself in the coming weeks...

My interview didn't go so well and I left the Boston JFK Building frazzled and upset. I felt my interviewer was sarcastic and rude. I forgot his name ...I want to say his last name was Mendez or Rodriguez. He sat by a cubicle facing the window close to the door where you enter.

He asked where and how I met my husband. I gave him the answer. He asked what I did for a living. I named my employer, which is fairly recognizable. He dismissively said he never heard of it. Then he asked why I live and work here in Boston when my employer is headquartered elsewhere in the state. I explained I was a satellite office. He suspiciously asked why they needed a satellite office in Boston. I said things happen in Boston that are relevant to other parts of the state. He took issue with this and seemed suspicious.

We went into the 6 questions pretty quickly:

1) What's the ocean on the west coast?

2) What happened on 9/11?

3) What do the thirteen stripes represent?

4) What is the rule of law?

5) How old do citizens have to be to vote for the president?

I forgot what the sixth question was. I answered them correctly. He didn't ask me to read a phrase, he just handed me a pen and asked me to write "There are one hundred senators."

He asked what my husband does for a living. I said he's a student. He asked for my tax forms. I handed them to him and he questioned why I didn't file jointly with my husband. I said it's because he is a dependent of his family. He asked how old he was and why I wasn't supporting him. Again, I said he receives money from his family. While asking me these questions he was curt, suspicious, and judgmental.

He commented that I leave the country a lot. I said that is true, I visit my family about 5-11 times a year on holiday weekends (They live across the border in Canada, so it's not far away). He asked if I had left since filing. I said yes, I had left Labor Day Weekend, Thanksgiving and Christmas. He told me to write it down on a paper. I asked if I could see what the last departure in 2012 I had written down was. He seemed annoyed. After I asked again, he handed me the application and I saw that I had already written that I had left Labor Day Weekend, so I wrote down that I left during Thanksgiving and Christmas. He questioned why I didn't write down that I had left Labor Day Weekend. I explained to him that I had already written that down on the application. He seemed annoyed, distrustful and suspicious again.

He started asking me other questions. Do you support communism? No. Have you ever been arrested/detained? No. Are you a spy? No. He scoffed and said "Not yet?" -- which I felt was inappropriate. I slightly balked and felt uncomfortable when he asked if I would bear arms and fight for the country. Me, bear arms? I hesitated somewhat incredulous, but I said yes.

He ended the interview and said I travel out of the country too much and it will have to be reviewed. I was flabbergasted. I said I only leave maybe once a month or once every other month for 2-3 days at a time. He said that I wasn't allowed to leave more that half a year at a time. I said I've never been gone that long, that my days out of the country would _definitely_ not amount to that. He looked at me like I was wrong and asked "Definitely?" "Yes, definitely," I said.

He asked me to leave and said I would get an answer in a couple of weeks.

I was frazzled. I had papers scattered around me. I began collecting them and he asked me to hurry up and leave.

Altogether, I felt like I was being interrogated like a criminal. He made me feel like it was a crime to visit my family (at most) once a month on weekends. He was rude, sarcastic and altogether unpleasant. I hope no one else has an experience like I did!

My green card was approved on 09/20/2012

@Yurika & Jim: NOA date August 1, 2011

I got a response in the mail from USCIS. Bad news, they want more evidence. I have no more evidence to give them. I gave them 3 years of leases, joint auto insurance, costco cards, photos, and 2 affidavits. They want more evidence of joint financial responsibilities. But our finances do not work like that. He doesn't have a job and is a dependent on his family. I have a job and money goes into my account. He's responsible for utilities, I'm responsible for groceries. We don't have joints accounts, shared tax returns (he's a dependent on his family), joint utility bills, or joint loans (we've never borrowed money for anything). As I mentioned, we have joint auto insurance that I pay for and that covers him. Other than that, we have nothing further from the list of evidence of financial records USCIS requires. What to do?!

How much longer should we wait before we contact a field office to find out if there will be any further movement on our cases?

I-751 Date: July 19, 2011

NOA1 Date: August 1, 2011

Biometrics: August 26, 2011

Approved: WAITING

GC Received: WAITING