I am happy to announce that I became a citizen of United States of America starting yesterday. The oath ceremony was nice and emotional for me. Let me tell you my story with the INS, if you think yours is bad wait until you hear mine. I have been in the country for 20 years now. It took me 8 years to get my green card, waited 5 years and applied for my citizenship in November 2003 had my interview back on June 29, 2004.
Lucky me I was stuck in the infamous name check!! I didn't want to hire another lawyer; I had already hired three for my green card. The first who screwed my case royally was not a real lawyer but a notary public who cheated so many naive immigrants like me. The second one was very competent and did a great job but left in the middle of the case to become an immigration judge. She forwarded my application to another well know lawyer. Unfortunately by then, the immigration had denied twice my case because they couldn't reach my second lawyer. Needless to say, I was reluctant this time to hire another lawyer for my naturalization. After 3 years of waiting for my name check to be cleared, I decided to hire an immigration lawyer (but this time I did my homework and searched for the best immigration lawyer in Boston) in one month my name check was cleared and my oath letter was in the mail. If you ask me I don't think we need to go through this nightmare, but let me tell you I should have hired my lawyer 2 years ago!! Did you know that under the Equal Access to Justice Act you can be reimbursed for the attorney fees and cost of court? It is worth it don’t sit and wait! do something about it, it really works! but be careful with the unscrupulous mediocre lawyers out there!!
Lucky me I was stuck in the infamous name check!! I didn't want to hire another lawyer; I had already hired three for my green card. The first who screwed my case royally was not a real lawyer but a notary public who cheated so many naive immigrants like me. The second one was very competent and did a great job but left in the middle of the case to become an immigration judge. She forwarded my application to another well know lawyer. Unfortunately by then, the immigration had denied twice my case because they couldn't reach my second lawyer. Needless to say, I was reluctant this time to hire another lawyer for my naturalization. After 3 years of waiting for my name check to be cleared, I decided to hire an immigration lawyer (but this time I did my homework and searched for the best immigration lawyer in Boston) in one month my name check was cleared and my oath letter was in the mail. If you ask me I don't think we need to go through this nightmare, but let me tell you I should have hired my lawyer 2 years ago!! Did you know that under the Equal Access to Justice Act you can be reimbursed for the attorney fees and cost of court? It is worth it don’t sit and wait! do something about it, it really works! but be careful with the unscrupulous mediocre lawyers out there!!
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