Baltimore Strange Interview Experience (Selective Services)- Must read

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magesh_kk

Registered Users (C)
Hello All,

Me and my wife had our citizenship interview at baltimore field office today and below is our experience

11:00am - Start from home (gaithersburg)
12:00pm - Arrived Baltimore, parked at garage parking right after W. Lombart st.
12:10pm - Walking into the USCIS building
12:20pm - Security check complete
12:25pm - Walk into room no 103 and handover our interview letters to the receptionist
01:00pm - Waiting...Waiting...Waiting... I thought atleast if I get the call before 2:00pm,
I can make it for oath at 3:00pm. Since my wife has a name change, I know she has to come again
to the court for oath.
01:30pm - Still waiting....
01:45pm - mmmm
02:05pm - My wife get the call
02:25pm - She comes back with a big smile. Her N652 had crossed on "passed" and "congratulations...."
02:45pm - I get the call

Officer took me into a room. He asked me to swear Iam telling the truth..He went thru N-400 form and started asking almost all questions from that...
Then he came to the section "Selective services..." (which I had crossed "NO"). He asked me a question "Where you in US before your 26th birthday??" and I said "Yes"...but "I was in a H1B Non-immigrant visa which does not require me to register for selective services"...but he seemed to be not listening and handed me a paper asking me to write whatever I told him...and also he crossed "YES" on that section striking "NO".. I do not want to argue with him and hence wrote everything (When I first came to US, I came in H1B visa (nonimmigrant visa) and I was exempted from registring for selective services. As per law, I was not required to register for selective services then") on the paper and handed over to him. I took the test and passed on the test. He printed me the N652 paper guess what..he had crossed "passed" and "decision yet to be taken"....and congratulated me twice and told me there is no ceremony today and I should be getting my oath letter in couple of weeks to one month.
03:10pm - I came out confused and later realized should I have asked him "why he crossed "YES" for selective services and why he crossed "decision yet to be taken"...but it's too late already...

Legally, I was not required to register for selective services...although its true I was in USA before my 26th bday but I was in H1B and when I got my GC I was 29yrs which was too late to register. Other than that I have a clean record and my case is very straight forward...

am I screwed now? Is it going to be another 5 years..?? Should I go to any congressman or senator??
Should I write a letter to that officer explaining these things clearly once again OR should I wait for couple of months to see if I get any letter??
Will this guy be talking to his supervisor or higher rank officers and get a decision or what ?
Sometimes these officers are really nuts as they don't even know the basic laws that we people know..

Anybody had any similar experiences like this? Pls. advice.. Iam so nervous...
 
sometimes when junior IO's interview you, your application has to be approved by a supervisor/senior IO, even when you pass the IV, from what I've read. If that's the case, then it's a normal occurrence. if he said your oath letter will come soon, then I guess that the supervisor/senior IO just has to take a look at your explanation/application. If there was any other problem, he'd not have said your oath letter would come in a few weeks.
did you ask him if he recommended your application to be approved? I guess not.

if the IO was a senior officer, I don't know why he didn't "decide". after all, it seems that the explanation (assuming what you said was correct; i have no clue about laws associated with H1B visa stuff.) about the SS should be pretty easy to understand, and they should be knowledgeable enough to see that...

Perhaps other people with similar/more experience will chime in, and they can explain. I was just taking a guess..

you can always schedule an infopass and ask all your questions, for the sake of peace of mind.
 
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You got your GC at 29, so you are obviously over 31 now, so why the heck is he harping on Selective Service when it is essentially irrelevant at this point in time?

Must have been an IO who got hired yesterday. Or ate too much of something and got constipated.
 
From the N-400 application question 33, you correctly answered NO

Are you a male who lived in the United States at any time between your 18th and 26th birthdays in any status except as a lawful nonimmigrant?

Sounds like this was an IO who doesn't realize that an H1B is an nonimmigrant visa, checked YES and used your answer as a supporting statement to answer 33.

If you answered "YES," but you did not register with the Selective Service and you are now 26 years old or older, attach a statement explaining why you did not register.

You have nothing to worry about since all is needed is a check from a supervisor. Technically the IO should have taken your answer of NO and move on, but since IO didn't take into consideration that H1B is non-immigrant visa and that IO didn't check (or have) info from selective service in front of them, the IO decided to mark it as YES and take your statement as evidence instead. The end result is the same, but it can look confusing to the applicant.


Note: Some of these IOs are ex military and follow a strict chain of command process, even if it defies logic and common sense.
 
Thanks Guys

Thanks Guys... Any body with some good suggestions?thoughts?advice??

I didn't sleep the whole night yesterday and Iam not able to concentrate @ work. This is really killing me. I want to do something fast rather than waiting for months & years... What can I do now ??? Just be patient :-(

Life sucks man.. My wife who came with me in H4 now she is citizen and she brags abt it & laughs :(
 
vikram1 said:
Thanks Guys... Any body with some good suggestions?thoughts?advice??

I didn't sleep the whole night yesterday and Iam not able to concentrate @ work. This is really killing me. I want to do something fast rather than waiting for months & years... What can I do now ??? Just be patient :-(

Life sucks man.. My wife who came with me in H4 now she is citizen and she brags abt it & laughs :(
Click to expand...

good suggestions?thoughts?advice?? - relax, ask your wife to take you out this weekend and paint the town red.
You just happened to have an inexperienced IO who was not sure of himself. Just one of those things life drops on on every now and then. Don't lose sleep over it. It is very clear that your answer to the question and explanation in writing in the interview are correct.
 
Try to be optimistic about the outcome; pessimism will stress you out you for nothing. This is nothing to loose sleep over. You'll get a decision letter within a few weeks. There's nothing you can do but wait and check up with USCIS every few weeks until you get your decision letter.
 
Just enjoy life; Think of all the people who wait for years and still haven't gotten the ILs. That should make you feel better; at least you're at a point IF (and i doubt highly that anything will happen) something weird happens, that you can get on the legal side and do all sorts of stuff to make things happen. that's a big plus, imo.

but like others have said, some senior ee-ay ee-ay O is gonna take a 2-sec look at it, and you'll get an OL soon.
(even withOUT any "problems" sometimes a senior IO has to approve the application after passing the interview, AFAIK, and the outcome is the same)
 
No worries...you will take Oath before your wife will. So, this way, (1) you can brag about it (2) She will have a sleepless nights. Eitherway, you are going to be miserable with wrath of your wife. I am just kidding here. You will be fine and both of you will be standing together to take Oath to become a proud USC. Congratulations!!!
 
2BUSCTZN said:
No worries...you will take Oath before your wife will. So, this way, (1) you can brag about it (2) She will have a sleepless nights. Eitherway, you are going to be miserable with wrath of your wife. I am just kidding here. You will be fine and both of you will be standing together to take Oath to become a proud USC. Congratulations!!!
Click to expand...

OP's wife already is USC.
 
Yeah MISSED that part. Any way...well...so are next in line Vikaram. By the way...Bobsmyth...did you share your Oath experience? Did you get your PP or PC? Thread link would be great!
 
2BUSCTZN said:
Yeah MISSED that part. Any way...well...so are next in line Vikaram. By the way...Bobsmyth...did you share your Oath experience? Did you get your PP or PC? Thread link would be great!
Click to expand...

Yes, I had oath and shared experience in the Raleigh thread..I haven't got around to PP application yet..plan on knocking out SS, PP and voter registration on same day next week.
 
selective service

I am in the same boat as vikram1. I came to US on F1 visa when I was 25 years old.
I got my GC when I was in 29 years old. I never registered for selective service and I have marked the relevant item as "NO" in the N400 form.

I have n400 interview at Baltimore on 11/20/08. I hope I get an experience IO who undertsnads the difference between immigrant and non immigrant visa.

vikram1 please keep us posted about any future news on your case.

Thank you

Vik_b
 
Yuppy !!!!!!!!

Guys,

Today is my day. I got my Oath letter today and I'm jumping up & down. Oath is scheduled on 10/31/2008 @ 9.00am and the oath letter says (come in proper attire) what the heck..that day is Halloween day and I'm thinking of going on George W. Bush costume :-) (just kidding)

Best of luck guys... My total citizenship process was exactly 4 months.

Vikram
 
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