Couple of quick questions about the N-400 and application

S

Starscream

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

Ok I have a few quick questions,
I Live in North NJ, Bergen County, I was eligible for citizenship on Feb 4rth 07
So they have my application along with the $400,

As of yet the check has not been cashed (I also only sent one check for $400 instead of 2 for $330 and $70) Hopefully that will be ok,

also I did have a couple of driving tickets, None that I was arrested for, and none that included any points,
So I didn't put them on my application, There seems to be a lot of fuss on this board about listing these,
Firstly, I know I have a few, nothing major but I don't remember dates or anything,
and secondly does it really matter?
I don't have a criminal record and my FP's are already in the FBI's system as I own a dozen hand guns and have been checked out so much now by the FBI I get an instant approval for weapons where as before Immigrants have to wait 24 hrs for a NICS check (at least in NJ anyway)

Also my district office is Newark NJ,
Now Ive been looking on the board and people are showing a 3 to 4 month start to finish timeline, My question here is does it matter what country you are from as to where your place in line is and how speedy your application is?

And also when you become a USC do you have to hand in your current countries passport?

I hold a British Passport and would actually like to keep both, as in dual citizen,
I know America is funny with that but does the US inform the UK that im now a citizen here and not to issue another UK passport?

(also I see the words "priority date" in a lot of peoples sigs, What is it?)
and also, Whats an infopass?


Just trying to get up to speed on the immigration lingo,
 
Starscream said:
Hi,

Ok I have a few quick questions,
I Live in North NJ, Bergen County, I was eligible for citizenship on Feb 4rth 07
So they have my application along with the $400,

As of yet the check has not been cashed (I also only sent one check for $400 instead of 2 for $330 and $70) Hopefully that will be ok,

also I did have a couple of driving tickets, None that I was arrested for, and none that included any points,
So I didn't put them on my application, There seems to be a lot of fuss on this board about listing these,
Firstly, I know I have a few, nothing major but I don't remember dates or anything,
and secondly does it really matter?
I don't have a criminal record and my FP's are already in the FBI's system as I own a dozen hand guns and have been checked out so much now by the FBI I get an instant approval for weapons where as before Immigrants have to wait 24 hrs for a NICS check (at least in NJ anyway)

Also my district office is Newark NJ,
Now Ive been looking on the board and people are showing a 3 to 4 month start to finish timeline, My question here is does it matter what country you are from as to where your place in line is and how speedy your application is?

And also when you become a USC do you have to hand in your current countries passport?

I hold a British Passport and would actually like to keep both, as in dual citizen,
I know America is funny with that but does the US inform the UK that im now a citizen here and not to issue another UK passport?

(also I see the words "priority date" in a lot of peoples sigs, What is it?)
and also, Whats an infopass?


Just trying to get up to speed on the immigration lingo,
Click to expand...

Hey, that's a bit more than a couple of questions. Some of them to be honest can be answered over time if you peruse this forum, you're going to have at least 3 months to do this. You'll see the priority date when you get your receipt notice from USCIS, don't sweat it, it is the time they start processing your application, which should be a few days after you mailed it.
I don't think the U.S. will notify the U.K., but if the U.K. asks you in the passport form if you have any other citizenship then you won't have other choice but to lie, will you?
There are all theories about country of origin and speed of process. It is all speculation, the main thing that can slow you down is the FBI name check, and although it seems that muslim names get affected more than other names, it is not always true. I know people with non-muslim names who are also affected. You won't be able to predict anything just by your name or country of origin, you'll have to wait or make an infopass if your process takes much longer than usual. By the way, look for infopass in the USCIS website. www.uscis.gov I think there are links right there in the front page.

Single check of $400 is perfectly fine. I think it is also normal that your check hasn't been cashed yet, wait a few more days.

The way you describe your traffic ticket situation it is a non-issue from the point of view of being able to get citizenship. The problem might be if the officer asks you for court documents and things like that at time of interview, if you don't have the documents it might delay the adjudication of your case. If the officer doesn't ask you for anything then you should be fine. I don't have experience in this area so take this traffic comment with a grain of salt.

That's it from me.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions,

Im not sure if the UK passport agency asks about citizenship in other countries or not,
Its been almost 10 years since I got mine lol,

and I get to keep it right? I don't hand it in at the interview?

It expires this year, I guess I could renew it early by "loosing it" before my interview, I am planning to travel back and forth to the UK to visit family etc as I have been doing all the time Ive been in the US,

Its going to look very stupid when someone like myself whos accent is the same as Hugh Grants to land in Heathrow and be told I'm only allowed to stay in the UK for 6 months and not work lol,

Id like to fly back to the UK with my UK passport and fly back into NJ with an American passport,

But in all honestly I'm never planning on moving back to the UK, so if what I mentioned above is not possible its not a problem, it would just be "nice" to hold both passports,

and all my friends and family over here will always know me as English anyway, Ive been here 5 years and don't sound any different, Id even have to get used to calling myself "American"
 
Starscream said:
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions,

Im not sure if the UK passport agency asks about citizenship in other countries or not,
Its been almost 10 years since I got mine lol,

and I get to keep it right? I don't hand it in at the interview?

It expires this year, I guess I could renew it early by "loosing it" before my interview, I am planning to travel back and forth to the UK to visit family etc as I have been doing all the time Ive been in the US,

Its going to look very stupid when someone like myself whos accent is the same as Hugh Grants to land in Heathrow and be told I'm only allowed to stay in the UK for 6 months and not work lol,

Id like to fly back to the UK with my UK passport and fly back into NJ with an American passport,

But in all honestly I'm never planning on moving back to the UK, so if what I mentioned above is not possible its not a problem, it would just be "nice" to hold both passports,

and all my friends and family over here will always know me as English anyway, Ive been here 5 years and don't sound any different, Id even have to get used to calling myself "American"
Click to expand...

Don't worry they are not going to take your British passport during the interview, or oath. You keep the passport, and as far as I know the U.S. won't say anything to the U.K. Your idea of using the U.K. passport to enter the U.K. and your U.S. passport when coming to the U.S. is what most people in dual citizenship do. The U.S. definitely wants you to identify yourself as a U.S. citizen when you leave or enter the U.S., but doesn't care as far as I know what you use to travel from country to country outside the U.S.
It would have been good to renew the passport before finishing your naturalization, but some countries refuse to renew passports if they have more than 6 months of life in them. I don't know about the U.K.

Most likely the U.K. passport agency has the forms online, check them out, see if they ask you about other citizenships, if they don't you can probably wait and apply for the passport later on.

There are some websites around of british expats that probably have dealt with dual citizenship issues in detail. I would do a quick search in Google or any other similar search engine of your choice for british expats and dual citizenship see what you can come up with.

Good luck.
 
I found this in a british expats forum:


Quote:
Originally Posted by explorerman View Post
Another quick question...
I know I've seen it on here somewhere but can somebody give me a link to something that I can show my wife that I will maintain my UK citizenship even after I go through with the US citizen deal. She is all panicky about this whole renouncing of my UK citizenship.


The UK doesn't recognise US law, so they don't recognise that statement in the naturalisation ceremony about renouncing citizenships....only way to renounce your UK citizenship is through the embassy or that sort of thing, it's a process and not much point to it unless you want a security clearance in the US, and even that isn't a guaranteed thing.

There are some nations that don't allow dual citizenship though, but the UK ain't one of them.


From

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=422892&page=4&highlight=dual
 
Once again, Thanks so much for helping me out,

Now all I can do it wait for the INS to get round to me,

Seems mines always the last one to be done, Im the last guy in the room, and the last name to be called,
 
Britian allows dual citizenship, and in fact its pretty hard, if not impossible to permanently renounce your British citizenship even if you do it in front of a consular official. So don't worry, keep your British passport and retain the flexibility to visit the UK & Europe without having to stand in the long immigration lines of non-EU nationals. (BTW I hold a UK passport too)
 
ok great news :)

Is it better to say Ive lost my passport and get a 10 year one now?
the reason I ask is because te address I have in the UK is my mums home address,

as soon as I become a USC she wants over here pronto lol,
so what UK address would I use?
Unless I use my Aunts? but would I have to prove I have moved there?
 
You don't have to give a UK address. When I last renewed my UK passport, I did it through the British Embassy in Washington DC. They let me pay the fees with US$ and couriered it direct to my house here in Maryland. Only took a week or so as well!
 
The British consulate in Washington is in the British embassy. However, if you start looking for the "embassy" in NYC, you might spend a lot of time doing it :)
 
Ive found the UK consulate in NYC,

The website seems a little confusing and theres no straight answers for Brits living abroad,

But They replace/renew passports that will expire in 9 months,

So thats gives me a little time to get my USC and both new passports,

Very Very Very glad I don't have to give up my citizenship to Old Blighty!

Now what about my missis and when I take the plunge, "Kids"
Can they have UK passports too?
 
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