Hi Folks,
This is my first time to post here. I would like to share my happiness with all of you because I’m all done with USCIS for myself (though I’m sure I will need to deal with them some years later for my fiancé
). Finally got my US passport on my hands now after waiting for almost 6 months since my N-400 was dropped into the mail box. My case is not a simple one, so I’m going to share it with all of you and hope to help who have similar situations with me.
My whole process is a bit out of the normal processing time in Seattle DO which is usually less than 3 months. I waited exact 3 months to take the oath after my interview. Why? As titled, I had extensive travels to my home country in the past 5 years which is 578 days. Here is my travel pattern:
08/16/2009 - 12/20/2009: 126 days
04/19/2009 - 08/09/2009: 112 days
02/07/2008 - 02/18/2008: 11 days
11/24/2006 - 01/17/2007: 54 days
08/12/2005 - 02/07/2006: 179 days
03/29/2005 - 06/25/2005: 88 days
I know this number is definitely not a very bad one comparing with some of you here who have over 900 days. Isn’t it? So what made me to get such a long wait? Right, it’s another titled reason - WORKING ABROAD.
For my last two trips, they are obviously back-to-back trips. Plus, I have worked for a local company in my home country for 4 months during the trips. I didn’t realize this would raise a red flag for my citizenship until I started my naturalization process.
Besides the above 2 reasons to make me wait, I consider myself might not have as much as luck with those people who were out of the US longer than I did but passed the interview and took the oath without any hassle. I prepared the supporting documents to show my ties to the US quite well and brought them with me to the interview as I knew I would be asked for them definitely. I had my tax transcripts in the past 4 years and my parents’ tax transcripts in 2005 because I was listed as a dependent of them when I studied abroad. I had a statement explaining the reasons for my individual trips. I had my bank statements showing I have saving and CD as well as credit card statements. I had my parent’s home loan statements and so on. However, the officer didn’t want to look at any of them. I also had my passport pages with my travel records copied but the IO insisted I mailed her the copy of the all pages of my expired and current passports as well as all the documents mentioned above. The whole interview lasted for less than 10 minutes and not much questions I was asked for. And I ended up with “decision cannot be made” statement and form N-14 requesting supporting documents (not specified) to prove my continuous residency. OK, so I mailed all the documents I could provide the next day (the package was an inch thick, LOL). Here is the list:
1. A copy of expired and current Washington State issued I.D. cards
2. A copy of latest utility (water) bill of the current home address under my parents’ names
3. Copies of rental payment receipts and rental agreement of previous home addresses under my father’s name
4. Copies of settlement statement of the current home address under my parents’ names
5. A typed statement regarding financial support during current unemployment
6. Copies of my partial bank statements and credit card bills
7. Copies of my Credit of Deposit renewal letters
8. Copies of my partial bank statements from another bank- cell phone bills of my whole family have been paid by the direct withdrawal from my bank account
9. A copy of reference letter for employment while aboard with written explanation
10. Copies of a reference letter and an job offering letter from previous employers in the US
11. Copies of parents’ tax account transcript and tax return copy for 2005
12. Copies of my tax return transcript for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009
13. Copies of health insurance coverage
14. Copies of all pages of the expired and current passports.
15. A list and summary of all trips outside the U.S. in the past 5 years with reasons and related documents. (copies of all boarding passes, hotel reservation itineraries, school transcripts and graduation ceremony invitation)
After sending these documents, what I could do was just to wait. I made a call to 1-800 number two weeks after send the documents to make sure USCIS received them. The 2nd level IO couldn’t check this kind of information for me. So I made an appointment to InfoPass two weeks later and was informed that the IO who interviewed me did have my package on hands. OK, I waited then!! After two weeks, I went to the InfoPass again. Pretty good news to me, my case was recommended for approval and I should be able to receive my oath letter in two weeks. I think the last InfoPass did trigger the IO to review my case. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive anything in those two weeks. So I made a call to 1-800 number again and good news to me again! My oath letter was sent out on the same date I called. Oh well, I only believe it when I see the letter though! And the end of the story? Ya, I did receive the OL after 2 days with the oath date a month later.
Oops…this is such a long post, I really hope this can help someone who need this kind of information!!
Once again, thank you for this forum giving me a lot of information during my naturalization journey.
This is my first time to post here. I would like to share my happiness with all of you because I’m all done with USCIS for myself (though I’m sure I will need to deal with them some years later for my fiancé
). Finally got my US passport on my hands now after waiting for almost 6 months since my N-400 was dropped into the mail box. My case is not a simple one, so I’m going to share it with all of you and hope to help who have similar situations with me.My whole process is a bit out of the normal processing time in Seattle DO which is usually less than 3 months. I waited exact 3 months to take the oath after my interview. Why? As titled, I had extensive travels to my home country in the past 5 years which is 578 days. Here is my travel pattern:
08/16/2009 - 12/20/2009: 126 days
04/19/2009 - 08/09/2009: 112 days
02/07/2008 - 02/18/2008: 11 days
11/24/2006 - 01/17/2007: 54 days
08/12/2005 - 02/07/2006: 179 days
03/29/2005 - 06/25/2005: 88 days
I know this number is definitely not a very bad one comparing with some of you here who have over 900 days. Isn’t it? So what made me to get such a long wait? Right, it’s another titled reason - WORKING ABROAD.
For my last two trips, they are obviously back-to-back trips. Plus, I have worked for a local company in my home country for 4 months during the trips. I didn’t realize this would raise a red flag for my citizenship until I started my naturalization process.
Besides the above 2 reasons to make me wait, I consider myself might not have as much as luck with those people who were out of the US longer than I did but passed the interview and took the oath without any hassle. I prepared the supporting documents to show my ties to the US quite well and brought them with me to the interview as I knew I would be asked for them definitely. I had my tax transcripts in the past 4 years and my parents’ tax transcripts in 2005 because I was listed as a dependent of them when I studied abroad. I had a statement explaining the reasons for my individual trips. I had my bank statements showing I have saving and CD as well as credit card statements. I had my parent’s home loan statements and so on. However, the officer didn’t want to look at any of them. I also had my passport pages with my travel records copied but the IO insisted I mailed her the copy of the all pages of my expired and current passports as well as all the documents mentioned above. The whole interview lasted for less than 10 minutes and not much questions I was asked for. And I ended up with “decision cannot be made” statement and form N-14 requesting supporting documents (not specified) to prove my continuous residency. OK, so I mailed all the documents I could provide the next day (the package was an inch thick, LOL). Here is the list:
1. A copy of expired and current Washington State issued I.D. cards
2. A copy of latest utility (water) bill of the current home address under my parents’ names
3. Copies of rental payment receipts and rental agreement of previous home addresses under my father’s name
4. Copies of settlement statement of the current home address under my parents’ names
5. A typed statement regarding financial support during current unemployment
6. Copies of my partial bank statements and credit card bills
7. Copies of my Credit of Deposit renewal letters
8. Copies of my partial bank statements from another bank- cell phone bills of my whole family have been paid by the direct withdrawal from my bank account
9. A copy of reference letter for employment while aboard with written explanation
10. Copies of a reference letter and an job offering letter from previous employers in the US
11. Copies of parents’ tax account transcript and tax return copy for 2005
12. Copies of my tax return transcript for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009
13. Copies of health insurance coverage
14. Copies of all pages of the expired and current passports.
15. A list and summary of all trips outside the U.S. in the past 5 years with reasons and related documents. (copies of all boarding passes, hotel reservation itineraries, school transcripts and graduation ceremony invitation)
After sending these documents, what I could do was just to wait. I made a call to 1-800 number two weeks after send the documents to make sure USCIS received them. The 2nd level IO couldn’t check this kind of information for me. So I made an appointment to InfoPass two weeks later and was informed that the IO who interviewed me did have my package on hands. OK, I waited then!! After two weeks, I went to the InfoPass again. Pretty good news to me, my case was recommended for approval and I should be able to receive my oath letter in two weeks. I think the last InfoPass did trigger the IO to review my case. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive anything in those two weeks. So I made a call to 1-800 number again and good news to me again! My oath letter was sent out on the same date I called. Oh well, I only believe it when I see the letter though! And the end of the story? Ya, I did receive the OL after 2 days with the oath date a month later.
Oops…this is such a long post, I really hope this can help someone who need this kind of information!!
Once again, thank you for this forum giving me a lot of information during my naturalization journey.