Are there really multiple name checks that happen ?

S

sudipto

Registered Users (C)
Need to confirm something with folks here. Called today to check on the status on my N-400 case (and also my wife's) and got transferred to an immigration officer. He checked our A numbers, verified DOB etc. and then said that our cases are in a queue now waiting to be scheduled for interview. He said once the interview is complete, there will be a background check and then we will be scheduled for oath.

This sequence of steps sounded different from what I have been hearing here, so I asked him if the namecheck has been completed for our cases. He replied back, and I quote - "there isn't a single namecheck; namechecks happen continuously and multiple times at different stages of the case. Your case is in a queue now waiting to be scheduled for interview and you should hear back from us within 30 to 90 days"

Honestly our cases have not been pending for that long (PD is Jan 10, 2008 in Denver DO); but I was still trying to figure out if the cases are stuck in namecheck or not. However, I am more confused after the call than I was before !

Does this make sense to any of you here ? Any ideas on how I should interpret what the IO said ?

Thanks and good luck to everyone ... especially to those stuck in name check for many many months.
 
I might be wrong but I remember someone post a Immigration Process Tree which shows there is another check between interview and Oath which Immigration does it on its own and my guess is it won't take long at all.
I think this is not anything to be worry about. Welcome to waiting list..
 
Nimche said:
I might be wrong but I remember someone post a Immigration Process Tree which shows there is another check between interview and Oath which Immigration does it on its own and my guess is it won't take long at all.
I think this is not anything to be worry about. Welcome to waiting list..
Click to expand...

You are correct. It's called the IBIS check. From what I understand, the IO performs it on his/her computer during the actual interview, as it only takes a couple of minutes to complete.
 
Thanks guys ! So any idea on how to interpret this part of the IOs' statement -- "Your case is in a queue now waiting to be scheduled for interview and you should hear back from us within 30 to 90 days"

Is this a pretty standard response they give everyone ? Or does this mean that THE namecheck (the one with FBI) is indeed complete and the case is really in the queue to be scheduled for interview ?
 
sudipto said:
Thanks guys ! So any idea on how to interpret this part of the IOs' statement -- "Your case is in a queue now waiting to be scheduled for interview and you should hear back from us within 30 to 90 days"

Is this a pretty standard response they give everyone ? Or does this mean that THE namecheck (the one with FBI) is indeed complete and the case is really in the queue to be scheduled for interview ?
Click to expand...

That's exactly what it means - THE name check has been completed. If the FBI name check was still pending, your application wouldn't be placed in queue for interview.
 
sudipto said:
Need to confirm something with folks here. Called today to check on the status on my N-400 case (and also my wife's) and got transferred to an immigration officer. He checked our A numbers, verified DOB etc. and then said that our cases are in a queue now waiting to be scheduled for interview. He said once the interview is complete, there will be a background check and then we will be scheduled for oath.

This sequence of steps sounded different from what I have been hearing here, so I asked him if the namecheck has been completed for our cases. He replied back, and I quote - "there isn't a single namecheck; namechecks happen continuously and multiple times at different stages of the case. Your case is in a queue now waiting to be scheduled for interview and you should hear back from us within 30 to 90 days"

Honestly our cases have not been pending for that long (PD is Jan 10, 2008 in Denver DO); but I was still trying to figure out if the cases are stuck in namecheck or not. However, I am more confused after the call than I was before !

Does this make sense to any of you here ? Any ideas on how I should interpret what the IO said ?

Thanks and good luck to everyone ... especially to those stuck in name check for many many months.
Click to expand...



The posters are right. USCIS no longer schedules interviews for individual for whom name check is still pending. The fact that you are in queue for an interview suggests your name check has cleared.
 
I noticed that to look for background check status it takes them a couple of minutes to get there. I have called 3 times (once a month) and everytime and i always get transferred easily to an IO. First, they say everything looks fine nothing to worry about, but when i ask about the name check specifically they take a couple of minutes to get to the screen that has this info and then they say that we're still waiting for one check which i guess is the name check. They wouldn't let me ask about my husband's application status and he's just much more patient than i am :D
one of the IOs once mentioned that they run checks in each country i've lived in, and having lived in several countries maybe it takes more time or something. who knows :confused:
 
On a somewhat related note, so far I haven't had any problems getting transferred to an IO (probably because our receipt numbers are not yet showing up in online database, so the first level representatives themselves offer to transfer to an IO).

Most of the IOs I have spoken to have been very cordial and polite ... however, two of the IOs I spoke with today were the rudest people ever I have spoken with in a long long time !! For one of them, the voice was very faint over the phone initially (until she adjusted her phone). When I repeated my question (with apology) and said I wasn't able to hear her the first time, she got all bent out of shape, called me "stupid" and asked if I am a refugee and don't understand English (which I do very well, by the way ;) ). Anyway when I asked her next what's the status of name check, she was extremely rude and said that that is none of my business and USCIS can't disclose any status related to communication with FBI. Before I could ask her another question, she abruptly hung up on me (probably a good thing because I was getting really close to saying something that I probably would have regretted later on :D)

I called back immediately and got another person who was very polite and gave me the above mentioned response.

What has everyone else's experience been when talking to immigration officers ?
 
sudipto said:
On a somewhat related note, so far I haven't had any problems getting transferred to an IO (probably because our receipt numbers are not yet showing up in online database, so the first level representatives themselves offer to transfer to an IO).

Most of the IOs I have spoken to have been very cordial and polite ... however, two of the IOs I spoke with today were the rudest people ever I have spoken with in a long long time !! For one of them, the voice was very faint over the phone initially (until she adjusted her phone). When I repeated my question (with apology) and said I wasn't able to hear her the first time, she got all bent out of shape, called me "stupid" and asked if I am a refugee and don't understand English (which I do very well, by the way ;) ). Anyway when I asked her next what's the status of name check, she was extremely rude and said that that is none of my business and USCIS can't disclose any status related to communication with FBI. Before I could ask her another question, she abruptly hung up on me (probably a good thing because I was getting really close to saying something that I probably would have regretted later on :D)

I called back immediately and got another person who was very polite and gave me the above mentioned response.

What has everyone else's experience been when talking to immigration officers ?
Click to expand...


Same as yours. 99% friendly. I am sure that they get their fair share of rude people too. I remember pre infopass sitting waiting my turn at the INS office and seeing some extremely rude people on our side of the counter.
 
sudipto said:
I called back immediately and got another person who was very polite and gave me the above mentioned response.

What has everyone else's experience been when talking to immigration officers ?
Click to expand...


your case is moving really quick. Hope they did not lie about your case... but then you said you cannot see it online too so maybe either your case is done or the lady who picked up the phone did not see ur case online and BS'ed about it.
 
GhantaBro said:
your case is moving really quick. Hope they did not lie about your case... but then you said you cannot see it online too so maybe either your case is done or the lady who picked up the phone did not see ur case online and BS'ed about it.
Click to expand...

Quite possible - although based on the few calls I have made so far, it seems to me that the first level representatives ask for the receipt number and can never pull up the case details - so they transfer me to IOs. The IO always asks for the A# and not the receipt number ... and they seem to have access to more information - so may be they are looking at a different system.

Or may be this is all just wishful thinking ;)
 
Vorpal said:
If the FBI name check was still pending, your application wouldn't be placed in queue for interview.
Click to expand...

I was told my application is placed in the queue for interview many times while my namecheck was still pending. Those IO's over the phone are notorious for giving inaccurate information.

The best way to get the info is to schedule an infopass or involve your congressman or senator.
 
Thanks. I will call again in a couple days to see if they give me the same info or not.

BTW, do they keep track of how many times (and when) you have called before ?
 
you know Sudipto, this is exactly what i was thinking. So, i'm limiting my calls to once a month. But, it would be interesting to know if they really keep track of your previous calls and questions asked. Any ideas?
 
sudipto said:
Thanks. I will call again in a couple days to see if they give me the same info or not.

BTW, do they keep track of how many times (and when) you have called before ?
Click to expand...


coloradon400 said:
you know Sudipto, this is exactly what i was thinking. So, i'm limiting my calls to once a month. But, it would be interesting to know if they really keep track of your previous calls and questions asked. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

It's reasonable to assume that USCIS has a field indicating the number of times someone calls them. If one calls them too often would it arouse suspicion at their end and lead them to do a more rigorous/manual name check against the person's name?? Who knows. Is it by coincidence that the people calling up a lot seem to be the ones stuck in name checks?

We all know the tale of the robber who kept loitering around the crime scene and hobnobbing with the police to find out how much they had found out about the crime. In the end, the police get suspicious of the robber's curiosity and pick him up - and hit pay dirt!
We don't know the answer, but maybe someone can volunteer to ask the next time they call up?
 
Given the volume of cases USCIS is processing, I would highly doubt that they have the "luxury" of tracking the calls against cases ... and do "special processing" (due to increased suspiscion) for cases that gets more calls.

If it was FBI, sure, I can see why they can get suspiscious if someone keeps calling them for the same case, but it somehow doesn't seem realistic that USCIS would do the same.

Of course, this is just a guess ... if you don't want to take a chance, you can't hurt your case by NOT calling ;)
 
sudipto said:
Given the volume of cases USCIS is processing, I would highly doubt that they have the "luxury" of tracking the calls against cases ... and do "special processing" (due to increased suspiscion) for cases that gets more calls.

If it was FBI, sure, I can see why they can get suspiscious if someone keeps calling them for the same case, but it somehow doesn't seem realistic that USCIS would do the same.

Of course, this is just a guess ... if you don't want to take a chance, you can't hurt your case by NOT calling ;)
Click to expand...

Actually it is quite simple (and very low effort for USCIS) to implement if they choose to. No more than a couple of clicks. Most of the required functionality should be already built into their system. Besides, the USCIS does not do the namecheck anyway - FBI does it, and that's where the real effort would be.

Personally, I believe USCIS does keep track of all calls for a particular case. I think that goes without saying. But I don't think they would do additional name checks unless the calls get too frequent. How frequent? Who knows. I'd guess one call per week would certainly do the trick.
 
I Think that if the IO's had the ability to tell the frequency of a caller. They would surely let us know. It would be easier to tell us that we last called in less than 30 days than to feed a BS line.
 
well, the question is do the IOs who answer the phone have the power to either delay or expedite the file or even ask for more security checks or whatever. who knows????
but, the local IO who is reviewing the file probably can and if they do keep track of the phone calls then maybe he/she would be inclined to go into more details and maybe ask more quetions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top