Arlington or Maryland experience

B

bulbul-dude

Registered Users (C)
Hi
I will be applying for US Citizenship in the next few weeks. After browsing through forums like these and others =some other research, it seems that Arlington takes 12-15 months from filing to swearing ceremony.

Does anybody has experiences with Baltimore, MD office as they process in half the time as Arlington office? (this is what I heard... and they have oath ceremonies on almost daily basis rather than wait for 2-4 months for oath letter!)

Also, the current District processing times for Washington (Arlington) office for N-400 on USCIS website is INCORRECT as October/November 2003. It is actually October/November 2002.:eek: I personally confirmed this by calling Arlington Office.

Please, anybody with Maryland N-400 experience.:confused:

yours lovingly
Bulbul-dude:D :p
 
Virginia

Hi guys..

i live in VA.

timeline

sent N400 doc May 2003
fingerprinted july 2003
interview ???????????
oath ?????????????

slow..
 
Re: Virginia

My timeline from Northern VA

-Priority date March 31, 2003
-Fingerprints done: June 10, 2003
-Interview letter received: february 17, 2004
-Interview date: April 21, 2004

Note that on-line status disappeared 3 to 4 days before receiving the interview letter and that the letter mentions "request to appear for INITIAL interview"...as if there was a second one planned. Apart from greencard, passport and photo ID, nothing else seems to be specifically required to bring for the interview. The IRS letter 1722 is required only for those who spent more than 6 months outside the US.

----------------------------------------------------------------------



QUOTE]Originally posted by hiko
Hi guys..

i live in VA.

timeline

sent N400 doc May 2003
fingerprinted july 2003
interview ???????????
oath ?????????????

slow.. [/QUOTE]
 
thanks pms1

Thank you for ur great info pms1!!

So i think mine also should be soon...i hope..
where is your interview place? what time?
 
Interview is at USINS, 4420 North Fairfax Drive, Room 200, Arlington VA 22203.
Time is 08:40 AM
The letter states that one should not arrive any earlier than 30 minutes before the scheduled appointment time.
What is really interesting is the "Interview Document Checklist":
(1) If you are applying on the basis of marriage to a US citizen, bring.....
(2) If you have a dependent spouse or children and have been ordered to provide financial support, bring...
(3) If you did not register with the Selective Service..., bring
(4) If you have ever been arrested or detained, bring...

and so on ! My point is that I was led to believe, from all the threads on N-400, that I should bring a marriage certificate, the IRS letter 1722, etc...in all cases. Nothing could be more wrong. The Document checklist is, as said above, "if..., then bring".

I don't know if my timeline is typical or not. I know someone who filed 3 months before me (i.e. January 2003) and has not yet received his interview letter. His guess (and mine) is that current nationality/citizenship may play a role..but that is just a guess.
 
To PMS1......

:confused: :confused:
it boggles my mind that Arlington Office is processing applciation for November 2002 and PMS1 has PD of March 2003 and he/she is appearing for interview?

What the heck does that suppose to mean besides the "brilliantly spectacular" luck of PMS1?

:confused: :confused:
 
To Bulbul-dude

You should not try to find any logic whatsoever in the "official" processing times posted on the INS website and should not believe that every application is processed in the order it was received.

To complete your information on my supposed "brilliantly spectacular luck", the N-400 application was sent March 17, 2003 and had a priority date of March 31, 2003. The first notice I received in April said (and I quote): " You will be notified of the date and place of your interview when you have been scheduled by the local INS office. You should expect to be notified within 90 days of this notice" End of quote.

So, like most of us, I have been waiting for 13 months to be scheduled for an interview and not the "90 day" printed in the notice that acknowledged the N-400 receipt and payment.

Hang in there. Don't think about it too much. Your turn will come. Good Luck !
 
Hi Bubul-Dude

Tha'ts me again. I understand you will be applying in Maryland. Is that right?

For your information, there was a new thread this morning on another immigration site (British Expats) with the following timeline in Maryland:
Priority Date: September 19, 2003
Fingerprinting : November 17, 2003
Interview Date: March 1, 2004

As it said, Baltimore is one of the few INS district offices with an excellent track record of efficiency and, may be as important, with daily oath ceremonies, which is not the case in VA.

So, when you apply, you may find yourself very lucky, compared to others. Note also that the person who has an interview on March1 wants to reschedule because of travel plans already made...(never thought it would take less than 6 months)...
Have a good day.
 
PMS1
Thaks for this Great info... gives a sigh of relief that MAYBE I should get away from PD to Oath ceremony in 6-8 months in Baltimore, MD.
My request to you is

Do you have the URL of that website?

Thanks again...:)
 
Hi Bulbul-Dude,

You will find it at http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=210117
if the link does not work, just do it the long way by going first to britishexpats.com, then click to forum, then "US immigration", etc.
From what I have seen/read over the last 13 months trying to understand how long it takes, how applications are processed, what pitfalls may be around the corner...it appears that MD is a great place to file (less applications, less crowded, efficient district).
In other words, you may be "lucky" to apply in Md.
Have a good day.
 
Hi bulbul-dude,

My Baltimore Timeline

Priority Date: December 27, 2002
Fingerprinting : March 2003
Interview Date & Oath : May 20, 2003

All the best
 
Hi bulbul-dude,
My Baltimore processing exact dates

Details:
Priority date : Dec 21, 2002
Finger prints : Feb 12, 2003
Interview : May 20, 2003 9:00 AM
Oath : May 20, 2003 2:00 PM
INS center : Baltimore, MD

Good Luck
 
many thanks...

dear pullapati
thanks for the info.. i guess you are lucky to see it go through all that fast in less than 6 months...

i am in the process of filing my application within next few weeks... if you don't mind could you please post your experience here about your interview and how it all went through...after you appear for interview in May

Also after you oath how long it takes to get the US passport...
Good luck and best wishes....
 
bulbul-dude,

Me & my wife had the interview on May 20, 2003. It was very cool & the officers are very friendly. My wife's middle initial on the applaction did not match with the Birth certificate. The officer told they need to sent to court for name change which will take a week & she will receive within 5 to 6 weeks a letter when she can take the oath.
Our interview was at 9:40. Both of us arrived at 8:40. I was called by 9:00. The officer asked few questions and gave a paper with 10 question to read loud and anwere them. I answered 9 out of 10. She said I need to answer atleast 6 (60%). She asked to write "I know to write in english". She said I passed and if I want I can take the oath at 2:00 PM. The total time spent was less than 15 min. I said I can & went to take oath at 2:00. It took nearly 30 min. I received my Naturalization certificate and went to post office and applied for passport.

I applied for the US passport on the day I had my interview/oath May 20 2002 in Post office. I received my passport Jun 06 2003. The issue date on the passport was May 28 2003. I applied for normal processing. I was told it will take 5-6 weeks to receive the passport.


Best of luck
 
Awesome

Do you by any chance know that one can apply for some form of express service paying few extra dollars that they can receive the US passport in say less than a week?

Do you came across that issue while filing the application at Post Office?

I thought u will be appearing in May 2004. But, it is great that you did it last year.

I hope that once i get the interview date, i will take oath the same day and apply the apssport as well.
 
Yes. You can apply for express service paying extra dollars. One of my friend did in Nevada state and got with in 10 days (Don't rember exact days).
 
Some Humour....

Just to mention this humorous moment that I was facing last year.. i want to know that if it is going to effect me during my citizenship interview.

I don't have a birth certificate with me... I lost it couple of years ago and to the best of my knowledge it only said BOY... not my name...and above all it was issued in one of the villages in North India.

Last year, I tried to file an application for a duplicate birth certificate and the response I got (from that municipal corporation which covers that village area where I was born) that there is no record for such and such certificate and according to them I DO NOT exist on the planet!!!!!1:eek: :D

You can understand how system works in India... anyways if during citizenship interview they ask me about birth certificate which I do not have at the moment and technically speaking I Do NOT exist... what are my options here.. try to get the certificate from India--the other way-- spending billions and billions of man hours and money to get one or tell them that I Do NOT exist:D

Any suggestions please..Any workarounds here one can suggest if they ask one of me....
 
No it is not going to effect during your citizenship interview. They have the complete file, when you have applied your Green Card. So they do have a copy of your Birth certificate. So you dont need to worry about it.
 
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