PundaSmith

Folks, 

I had my interview this morning @ 9.30am at Mt Laurel NJ.

1. I arrived at exactly 8.30am, checked in with my notice and waited patiently.  The LCD TV in the living room kept showing some flash cards of the Civic Test, allowing me to revise a few questions.

2. I got called in around 10am (roughly 30 minutes late).  The officer was very nice, went through my application, made some minor changes to some check boxes that were blank.  

3. She administered the civic and english test, which I passed.

4.  All went well until the question on citations.  Mistakenly, I had noted that I got some traffic fines (all were under $300) but did not include a verification that they were paid.  So, she asked me to go to my county offices where I was ticketed and get verification and come back.  Note - these two places were at the two extreme ends of town, so I ended up using about 1.5hrs driving to both places to get the evidence of payment. Lesson learnt: get receipts (original copies) of all paid fines ready for your interview.

5. I got back around 12.00, she called me back in, I submitted the receipts and was approved.

6. Since they have same-day oath ceremonies, I waited around until about 3Pm and took the oath of citizenship.

Wheeewwww -- over for now .....  onto the next step - sponsorship of my wife.

 Thanks for all your support and contributions to this very useful forum.

best - PS

Folks, 

I had my interview this morning @ 9.30am at Mt Laurel NJ.

1. I arrived at exactly 8.30am, checked in with my notice and waited patiently.  The LCD TV in the living room kept showing some flash cards of the Civic Test, allowing me to revise a few questions.

2. I got called in around 10am (roughly 30 minutes late).  The officer was very nice, went through my application, made some minor changes to some check boxes that were blank.  

3. She administered the civic and english test, which I passed.

4.  All went well until the question on citations.  Mistakenly, I had noted that I got some traffic fines (all were under $300) but did not include a verification that they were paid.  So, she asked me to go to my county offices where I was ticketed and get verification and come back.  Note - these two places were at the two extreme ends of town, so I ended up using about 1.5hrs driving to both places to get the evidence of payment. Lesson learnt: get receipts (original copies) of all paid fines ready for your interview.

5. I got back around 12.00, she called me back in, I submitted the receipts and was approved.

6. Since they have same-day oath ceremonies, I waited around until about 3Pm and took the oath of citizenship.

Wheeewwww -- over for now .....  onto the next step - sponsorship of my wife.

 Thanks for all your support and contributions to this very useful forum.

best - PS

4 hours ago, magic123 said:

Hi all, I've been on hiatus for a while, but thought I should complete my data point.

 

I naturalized on 4/17/2018!

 

There were some hiccups along the way, my test/oath appointment was cancelled due to systems being down. Then on the reschedule there was a snow storm so I was able to complete my interview, but was not able to do my oath. Finally, I took my oath at Westwood NJ at a small library. It was a nice small group. I believe there were 17 of us representing 11 countries. Interesting tidbit: I was classified as my birth country rather than my citizenship country. All those still waiting, hang in there, you're time will come.

 

 

congratulations !!

I "received" my interview notice today (via USCIS website). 

Interview is scheduled for May 22 2018.   Please, can you update the timeline.

best - PS

I "received" my interview notice today (via USCIS website). 

Interview is scheduled for May 22 2018.   Please, can you update the timeline.

best - PS

Hello, 

A question about (state) taxes. 

As stated earlier, I  just received notice that my interview has been scheduled. 

At the time of filing in late 2017, I owed 2016 state taxes, and noted so on the application with explanation that I am making plans to pay it off. I did pay off the 2016 state taxes early this year - in 2018. 

However, I have just filed my taxes and do owe state taxes again for 2017. I applied for installment payments and waiting for a decision on it, so that I can sign a payment arrangement agreement with the state. 

Now that I going for the interview, it is likely this issue will come up. If I am asked if I still owe taxes, I intend to answer yes, but in the absence of a payment arrangement agreement, what other explanation can I give? 
Will receipt of any payment made towards the taxes be sufficient to show that I am making an attempt to pay it off?  How can one deal with this issue?

thanks for your input - PS

1 hour ago, Name O Boy said:

Hi there, good to know. Did you check your status on the  uscis.dhs.gov website or the uscis.gov which is the newly updated website, thanks. 

thanks - i checked today - but no update there yet ..

Hello, 

I recently filed for citizenship and just received notice that my interview has been scheduled. 

At the time of filing in late 2017, I owed 2016 state taxes, and noted so on the application with explanation that I am making plans to pay it off. I did pay off the 2016 state taxes early this year - in 2018. 

However, I have just filed my taxes and do owe state taxes again for 2017. I applied for installment payments and waiting for a decision on it, so that I can sign a payment arrangement agreement with the state. 

Now that I going for the interview, it is likely this issue will come up. If I am asked if I still owe taxes, I intend to answer yes, but in the absence of a payment arrangement agreement, what other explanation can I give? 
Will receipt of any payment made towards the taxes be sufficient to show that I am making an attempt to pay it off?  How can one deal with this issue?

thanks for your input - PS

Hello Folks, just received notice that my interview is scheduled, and a letter is on the way - I guess that must be the interview letter.  

There is no update online yet ... eager to know the date.

Thanks for all the support.

best ~ PS

Hello Folks, just received notice that my interview is scheduled, and a letter is on the way - I guess that must be the interview letter.  

There is no update online yet ... eager to know the date.

Thanks for all the support.

best ~ PS

Folks, thanks very much for all the support here.

I applied in December 2017, completed fingerpriting on January 3, 2018, and have been waiting for interview since then.

I had an INFO pass appointment at Mount Laurel last Friday - 3/31.  the lady told me that my case is "in line" waiting for an interview to be scheduled, and that I currently have about 250 people ahead of me whose interviews have to be scheduled first before mine.  I asked her how many they schedule per week, and she said between 20 to 30.  So, I have few more months to wait. 

Just some update ...

thanks - PS

50 minutes ago, Rabiaa said:

Thank you  and congratulations! So that means very soon I will receive my interview notice.

Sorry to burst your bubble  - check the notices section of the site. You will notice that the "appointment" is actually the one for your fingerprints, and not for your interview. Mine says the same thing: I applied late December 2017, interview letter got mailed on 12/29, and I had interviews on January 3 (walk-in). Ever since, the old site had the same message - that an appointment letter had been mailed, but I have not received any. 

YMMV - but continue checking the new site too.

best, PS

14 hours ago, Excitingjourney said:

For me after my status for interview was updated in old site, It took roughly 2 days for my status to be updated in new site. So i think they are just out of sync but yeah since its updated at one place you should get your date pretty soon.

i have the same conflicting statuses. 

Old Site: I had the message "USCIS has scheduled your interview.." - posted on 12/28 - a DAY BEFORE my biometrics notice date.

Biometrics completed on 1/03 through Walk-in

New Site: Regular "We reviewed your biometrics." notice.

So does it mean they scheduled the interview before the biometrics were done or even submitted ?  Weird ???

Thanks - PS

3 hours ago, PundaSmith said:

Please update:  I had my biometrics taken this morning through Walk-In.

 

My appointment was originally set up for 1/18/18.

 

However, I gave a ride to a friend (whose car broke down suddenly in traffic)  and dropped them off close to the service center.  I did not have my green card with me nor the appointment letter.  But since I was there, I decided to drop in and ask if it was ok to walk-in.

 

The lady at the reception desk decided to help since it was early in the morning before 9am. Since I submitted my application online, I have access to all the documents, including the notice letters and pdf copies of my green card there. They wanted my alien #, so I pulled up my pdf copy of the green card and showed it to them.  With that information, a different officer went into a different room, and printed my biometrics appointment letter. 

 

With my ID (driver's license), they allowed me to to have my fingerprints taken. However, they only took my right hand.  The lady told me that the "system" already has a copy of my fingerprint so they don't need to take all.  [Yes, I travelled out of the country recently in late November 2017 and returned in mid December and my fingerprints were taken by the USCIS before departure and on arrival, so they may be referring to that).

 

Anyhow, I am curious to see if others have the same experience.  And also, how long it will take to process the fingerprints and issue the interview letters. 

 

thanks again, PS

3 hours ago, PundaSmith said:

 

3 hours ago, PundaSmith said:

 

thanks - PS

Please update:  I had my biometrics taken this morning through Walk-In . (appointment originally scheduled for 1/18).

thanks - PS

hello -- just received my biometrics appointment letter (online pdf) - appointment scheduled for 

01/18/2018 @  11:00AM at the Philadelphia USCIS Support Center

Please, update the charts accordingly.

/PS

27 minutes ago, Newbie608 said:

It will take a couple days for the biometric letter to show up in your online account, then you can print. You will also get a hard copy in the mail.

ok. thanks very much.  /PS

Hello,

Happy New Year to you all.

A quick question - I got notice online on 12/29 that my biometrics appointment letter was mailed.  But unlike the Receipt Notice, a copy of the letter is not available online in my case status.

Is it common to have a copy there or must I wait for a hard-copy in the mail?

thanks - PS

my Green Card date is 3/11/2013

4 hours ago, Starkilla09 said:

@PundaSmith I added you and I also updated my ECD.  Also send information on your first green card date, your biometrics and also estimated completion date as well when you have those.

Thanks - 

Green Card Date:  3/11/2013

Estimated Completion Date:  January 2019

I will forward info about bibliometrics once I receive those.

/PS

I also filed mine yesterday .. filed online.

my details are described in my signature..

could you please use this information to update the tracker ?

/PS

13 hours ago, Going through said:

Sometimes there are glitches with uploading documents.  All you can do is keep trying.

One thing you can do is shorten the file names.  This helped me this evening

Thanks very much -- cousin is being sponsored by a work visa (labor cert). Cheers, PS

Is your cousin on a work visa and his employer is sponsering him or is this a family based petiton for his green card?

Hello,

Good Afternoon.

My cousin has a dilemma. His wife entered US legally as a graduate student, but dropped out of the program due to funding issues. As a result, she has been out of status since 2008. Her 1-94 has D/S (duration of stay) on it, instead of an actual expiry date. It is not clear if USCIS has been notified by the university that she is no longer a student.

Currently, my cousin is being sponsored for the green card, but for obvious reasons, cannot include her on the application at the moment, and would have to wait until he gets the green card and becomes a citizen in about 5 years.

The question is that he wants to file for ITIN (W-7) for her. Part of the ITIN application asked for details about her current visa in the US and that students with D/S on their 1-94s can indicate that instead of the actual expiry date.

Is it advisable to apply for it at this time? Would her application for an ITIN tip the immigration authorities that she is still in the country?

Thanks very much for your advice...

rgdsm PS

Hello Forumites,

Thanks very much for a very informative forum. My employer is about to file an H1B as a preliminary step to AOS (I am in US in TN-1).

However, I currently owe some state taxes which I am paying through a payment arrangement. Can owing the state affect my chances of getting an H1B?

Thanks very much - Rgds, Punda