boatbod said:
Wow, I'm really confused....
You said you've been resident in the US since age 8 (and are now 30), but your GC date was either 2001 or 2002. That math doesn't work unless you were illegal for many years...
If your GC was issued in either 2001 or 2002, I'm pretty sure you should be able to remember which year, and thus whether the date printed on the card was correct or not.
Sorry, I didn't realize I was causing some confusion. I said that I've been here since I was 8 - not a PR. I was a TR under my dad's petition. It wasn't until 2001/2002 that I got LPR status. I honestly don't remember since I was in college and my mom took care of immigration matters - until now. I guess I should have looked at that more carefully.
I just have to make it clear - I have no problem waiting the full 5 years. I'm not here to cheat anyone or cut in line. Becoming a US citizen won't change much in my life other than not having to apply for visas to Europe twice a year. I have a great paying, artistic/creative career in advertising and I can take lovely vacations outside the country. As much as I look forward to voting, I'll also have an extra year not being bored to death waiting in a courtroom to see if I have to serve on a jury or not.
When I realized (perhaps incorrectly) that I was eligble to apply for naturalization, I thought I had everything I needed to complete the application. And I completed it as directed. As I'm sure many here are aware that one should complete USCIS forms properly or suffer delays and consequences. According to PART 3-C on the instruction form for completing an N-400:
Date you became a Permanent Resident - Write
the official date when your lawful permanent
residence began,
as shown on your Permanent
Resident Card. To help locate the date on your
card, see the sample Permanent Resident Cards in
the Guide. Write the date in this order: Month,
Day,Year. For example, write August 9, 1988 as
08/09/1988.
So I did just that. I didn't set out to skip a year of waiting. I would never knowingly do that out of fear that they'd accuse me of lying and permanently deny me a chance to become naturalized. I may be naive but I'm not stupid.
What I guess perplexes me is how I could go through an entire process of becoming a citizen - just short of taking the oath - only to find out at the end of the interview that there is a discrepancy that I'd have to start over. I don't care about paying another fee - I've paid more over the years to getting UK and Schengen visas. It was more the disappointment that, having gone through nearly the entire process, I was basically told "Oh, just kidding. You fell for the oldest trick in the book! Try again in a year, dumbass!"
I just find it ironic that applicants suffer the consequences of mistakes of their own doing (inadvertent or otherwise), while the CIS merely shrugs when they make mistakes. I realize that the agency is large and mistakes happen but they should also be held accountable to the highest of standards. After all, they hold in their hands the lives of so many. And these lives aren't cattle or sheep, they're the lives that over the years have built this country. Yet often times, large bureaucracies overlook the personal toll it takes on individual lives.
It's a bit bizarre, really. When the USINS was part of the DOJ, people heard of unbelievable mistakes and basically just shrugged it off. It was, after all, the INS and the perception was that only those who cared were the few who were affected. But now that they are under the auspices of the DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, I find it a bit alarming that my case will go through nearly to completion without raising a flag. When my name and "supposed" Resident Since date was run through their secure, multi-million-dollar, DHS & NCIC-linked computers, there was no alert stating that 2001 is not the same as 2002. Is it any wonder that terrorists were successful in 9/11? Many of those who committed those horrendous crimes on that day were supposed to have been flagged and monitored by law enforcement. But they weren't and they went about their business unimpeded. Boy, that must have been one embarassing administrative mistake. "Whoops! My bad!" said the analyst.
I know there's a wide discrepancy between 9/11 and my case but the point is that in both cases, mistakes were made on their end - mistakes have have consequences. If the DHS can't cross-reference the dates on their computers against what I provided - on something relatively insignificant as an application for naturalization - then heaven help us all if they make a boo-boo cross-referencing a bad guy against a list of all known bad guys.
As to the question of what I do and do not remember, I am at a loss for an explanation. I can remember what year the Challenger exploded but for some reason, I can't remember exactly when I got my GC. I remember who Kelly Kapowski and AC Slater are but I can't remember why the name Caspar Weinberger is in my head. And for that, I apologize.
The original intent of my post was out of sheer disappointment after being quite excited at the thought of finally becoming a citizen of a country I love. I just wanted to know some of your opinions on whether I have any hope of salvaging my experience today; whether there were avenues I hadn't yet explored; or whether I should just call it a day and wait another 8 months before applying again. Perhaps I was just looking at my citizenship as an extra present under my Christmas tree.
If there honestly isn't, I'll still be a bit sad but I'll understand. I can't help if people think I'm a fool, have ulterior motives or simply want an easy solution. At this point, I'm just looking for constructive assistance. If you have any questions as to what I was thinking or what I know, just ask and I'll tell you honestly. Please don't presume to know me, or what I know or should have known.
I do want to thank those who offered links and advice, dire as they may have sounded to me. I know I shouldn't get my hopes up but I was just trying to be optimistic. In any case, what's 8 more months before I reapply? By August 2007, I'll get another 5-figure bonus that should be more than enough to cover the fees for a new N-400.
Thank you all for your help and Happy Holidays!
