Los Angeles, CA - N-400 Timeline

[citizen2008]

from what i read, it takes time to prepare the case, so by the time we expect ILs in couple months - if we get ILS - we stop, if we don't - we file WOM?

EXACTLY, that is what I am saying. It takes TIME to prepare the case, going through appointments with the ATTORNEY and such. So, I am going to get started NOW.

 

[caliSun]

EXACTLY, that is what I am saying. It takes TIME to prepare the case, going through appointments with the ATTORNEY and such. So, I am going to get started NOW.

Hi citizen2008,

Sorry I misread your post, yeah, it's a good idea to start preparing now. I would like to do the same, did you consult an attorney already?

 

[Feliz-LA]

what about this instruction to file without lawyer?
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=194681

 

[caliSun]

Did you call on the customer service number, 800-375-5283? I tried that number and kept getting referred to more recordings. Never got an option to speak with a human. The system wanted my Receipt Number at every turn and since it has never been entered into the system I could get nowhere.

To escalate to talk to a customer representative, the options are 1-2-6. I called twice and each time I was successfully transfered to next level customer service, which I thought is thereal IO. And at the second time, the IO seems very patient, so I asked him specifically about my name check, after a couple minutes holding, he told me that my background check is not returned from FBI. I asked him is that the name check, he said yes.

 

[citizen2008]

Hi citizen2008,

Sorry I misread your post, yeah, it's a good idea to start preparing now. I would like to do the same, did you consult an attorney already?

I have an appointment with an Attorney tomorrow. I will let you guys know how it goes and what I learn from it

 

[Feliz-LA]

CaliSun, as i said, i think 800 number IOs don't have info about name check - if is clear or not, so they make up stories. Nobody know nothing in US CIS. even if you call one day and IO says you'r all fine and in line for interview - dont get excited, you can call again next day and another IO will tell u - still in namecheck. or some other new thing.

 

[yummyk]

Have there been any 2 month (or anything equally ridiculous) processing timeframes in LA, or is this strictly a NYC phenomenon?

Haven't seen any crazy timelines like in the NYC DO, but with USCIS you just never know. They might be out there, and just not reporting in here. Relative to the size of the district, and the size of the backlog, there just aren't that many LA filers on this board.

 

[yummyk]

As others have contributed valuable reports after their Interviews, I will do the same:

My interview was scheduled at the Federal Building, 300 N. Los Angeles, at 7:30am. I arrived about 10 minutes early, I was called in a little after 8am. The security guard at the door was super nice, applicants inside seemed super nervous.

I was called in, the adjudications officer introduced himself, and swore me in before I event sat down. From there, it was just easy questions. Affirming all my answers on the N400 about my criminal record or criminal behavior, affiliation with enemies of the US, owing any taxes, etc. He just paged through my application and had me affirm my answers.

To show how easygoing he was: I wanted to correct a "travel outside the US" date that I was off on by one day in my application. I had brought a whole new official page to staple on, but he just wrote on my existing one with a red pen - no big deal.

On the page he was reading all my "travel outside the US" dates, there was a barcode sticker. He scanned it and my info came up on his screen - it looks like they already know the travel dates we've taken.

Next, he asked me to take some time to read the oath that I would swear by at the oath ceremony, asked if I was comfortable with it. I said yes, and signed and dated a folded sheet of paper with my name on it.

Next, he spoke aloud a sentence in English and had me write it out : "They live in a very big house."

I think that after that came the civics questions. I was all over them, I'd studied hard, he kind of laughed-
What are the colors of the flag?
How many branches of government are there?
What is the most important right granted to US citizens?
Who is the Commander-in-Chief of the United States military?
How many Supreme Court justices are there?
Who elects Congress?
What are some of the requirements to be eligible to become President?

After that, he said "OK, you passed," and handed me form N-652, which states the results of your Naturalization Interview.

The June oath ceremony is full, the next one is July 11th.
Because I'm traveling the week after 7/11, it wouldn't leave me enough time to get a US passport, and I wouldn't be allowed to travel with my other passport at that point. My officer recommended that I just use my native passport for my July trip, taking the next oath ceremony on August 13th. That was great advice, and I was happy he saved me the headache.
The official notice for the ceremony date will come in the mail.

I was pretty relaxed walking into the interview, although I had a couple question marks of nervousness. It was even friendlier and more laid-back than I thought it would be. I had brought a ton of supporting documents with me, none of which I needed. So the one word of advice I have to applicants, as long as your case isn't crazy complicated (in which case I wouldn't have experience to share): Relax.

But really, nothing about the interview was scary. The officers are nice, the questions are simple, and no one treats you like you don't belong there. Hallways are lined with American flags, everyone is friendly.

Congratulations, and thanks a lot for sharing. That's a new one about the bar code scan for travel dates - has anybody else had that experience? Do we know for sure that the bar code is linked to travel dates? Previous posters have indicated that IOs check passport stamps rather than their screen when looking for travel dates.

 

[caliSun]

CaliSun, as i said, i think 800 number IOs don't have info about name check - if is clear or not, so they make up stories. Nobody know nothing in US CIS. even if you call one day and IO says you'r all fine and in line for interview - dont get excited, you can call again next day and another IO will tell u - still in namecheck. or some other new thing.

Feliz-LA, I tend to agree with you not trusting the 800 number IOs. Still I was SO disppointed when I heard he told me that my name check is still pending. It's like a nightmire came true.

 

[nyc_naturalizer]

To escalate to talk to a customer representative, the options are 1-2-6. I called twice and each time I was successfully transfered to next level customer service, which I thought is thereal IO. And at the second time, the IO seems very patient, so I asked him specifically about my name check, after a couple minutes holding, he told me that my background check is not returned from FBI. I asked him is that the name check, he said yes.

Call again. The exact same thing happened to me once, even though I already knew that I'd cleared namecheck. I'm pretty sure the person on the phone (who I suspect was not even an IO) was just making it up. There is no reason why an IO should have to "put you on hold" just to see if your background check is complete. The IOs I've spoken to who seemed to know what they were talking about (with dates, etc) had that information available instantly.

 

[caliSun]

Call again. The exact same thing happened to me once, even though I already knew that I'd cleared namecheck. I'm pretty sure the person on the phone (who I suspect was not even an IO) was just making it up. There is no reason why an IO should have to "put you on hold" just to see if your background check is complete. The IOs I've spoken to who seemed to know what they were talking about (with dates, etc) had that information available instantly.

I wonder if the 800 IOs even have the information regarding if your name check cleared or not, he told me from his screen and said it didn't show that my background check was cleared. And he also told me that he didn't really see my FP cleared, i called the 304 number and confirmed my FP was sent back to USCIS on 12/18/07.

The IO I talked with seems really nice and it's hard not to trust him. He told me that my name check was sent to FBI on 12/07/07, which is close to my FP date.

 

[Feliz-LA]

Most recent timelines together in order of FP done (pages 33-43 of thread - Nov 15, 07 - May 19, 08)
since it's the beginning of FBI check - i though it makes sense to sort by FP - to see if there is pattern

FP dates, with OD
Mar 22, 07 - jjj240 PD Mar 07, 07 --- IL Sep 08, 07 - ID Oct 02, 07 - OD Nov 30, 07
April 04, 07 - mimithecat PD Mar 07, 07 --- IL Sep 09, 07 - ID Oct 03, 07 - OL Jan 28, 08 - OD Feb 21, 08
May 18,07 - wael megid PD Apr 18, 07 -- ID Jan 11, 08 -OD Apr 30, 08
May 24, 07 - ranapratap PD Apr 16, 07 - IL Dec 20, 08 - ID Feb 01, 08
May 26, 07 - Muks PD April 10, 07 - ID Jan 11, 08 - OD Feb 1, 08
May 28, 07 - rd070901 PD Apr 16, 07 - IL Dec 25, 07 - ID Feb 26, 08 - OD Mar 20, 08
May 30, 07 - ninim2200 PD Apr 17, 07 ---IL Nov 29, 07 -ID Jan 23,08 - OD Feb 21,08
June 20,07 - SoCalDude (San Bern.)PD Apr 19,07 -- IL Jan 23, 08 - ID Mar 15,08 - OD May 22, 08
June 22, 07 - sambangis (Santa Ana) PD May 25, 07 - ID Dec 03, 08 - OD Jan 18, 08
July 13, 07 - Yafoulli PD May 30, 07 --- IL Jan 19, 08 -ID Mar 25, 08 - OD Apr 30

FP dates with IL and ID
June 25,07 - Faye PD May 29, 07 ----IL Jan 19, 08 - ID Mar 19, 08
July 06, 07 - arashijing PD May 24,07 ---IL Jan 22, 08 - ID Mar 18, 08
Aug 21, 07 -Jedi.Knight PD Jul 02, 07 --- IL Mar 18,08 - ID May 07, 08
Aug 31, 07 - century city PD Jul 05, 07 ---IL Mar 20, 08 - ID May 19, 08
Dec 18, 07 Caifitas PD July 28, 07 - IL rec Apr 3 - ID May 15

FP dates, no IL yet
Feb 29, 07 - shopgirl PD Jan 29, 07
Aug 21, 07 - alect - PD Jul 13, 07
Sep 25, 07 - ftm -PD July 27,07
Dec 18,07 - caliSun - PD Sep 27,07
Dec 22, 07 - yummyk (Santa Ana)- PD Aug 21,07
Jan 17, 08 - citizen2008 - PD Oct 04
Jan 18, 08 - Feliz LA - PD Oct 30,07
Feb 07, 08 - Manlika2004 - PD - Jan 14,08
Feb 07, 08 - AusCal (VJ)- PD Sep 12, 2007

FP unknown

eternal wait - PD July 25, 07 --- IL Apr 17, 08 - ID Jun 20, 08

here's my record for LA DO so far

DATE 2008- PD 2007- forum name

IL
Sunday Sep 9, 2007 ---- March 07, 07 - mimithecat
Thursday Nov 29, 2007 --- April 17, 07 - ninim2200
Thursday Dec 20, 2007 --- April 07 - ranapratap12
Thursday Jan 17 --- May 23, 07 - arashijing
Saturday Jan 19 --- May 26. 07 - Yafoulli
Saturday Jan 19 --- May 29, 07 - Faye
Tuesday Mar 18 --- July 2, 2007 - Jedi
Thursday Mar 20 --- Jul-5, 07 Century City Laguna Niguel
Thursday Apr 17 --- July 25,07 - eternal wait VJ

ID
Monday Jan 7 --- April 10,07 Muks
Wednesday Jan 23 --- April 17, 07 - ninim2200
Friday Feb 1 --- April 07 - ranapratap12
Monday Feb 25 ---- May 26. 07 - Yafoulli
Tuesday Mar 18 --- May 23, 07 - arashijing
Wednesday Mar 19 --- May 29, 07-Faye
Tuesday Mar 25 --- May 26. 07 - Yafoulli
Wednesday May 7 --- July 2, 2007 - Jedi
Monday May 19 --- Jul 5, 07 - century city Laguna Niguel
Friday Jun 20 ----Jul 25.07 - eternal wait VJ

OL
Wednesday Jan 23 --- April 17,07 - ninim2200 -same day
Monday Jan 28 --- March 07, 07 - mimithecat
Friday Feb 22 --- April 07 - ranapratap12

OD goes by Oath date -location- PD 2007 - forumnames OATH SCEDULE

Friday Feb 1 ---April 10,07 Muks
Thursday Feb 21 ---July 19, 07 - Deena--- April 17, 07 - ninim2200, ---March 07, 07 - mimithecat
Thursday Mar 6 oath -court 75
Thursday Mar 20 oath-LA CC ---April 07, 07 - ranapratap12
Thursday Apr 10 oath -court
Wednesday Apr 30 oath-LA CC ---May 30,07 - Yaufulli
Thursday May 8 oath -court
Thursday May 22 oath-LA CC --- Apr 19, 07 -SoCalDude (San Bern)
Thursday Jun 5 oath court, 75
Thursday Jun 19 oath quiet cannon, 2700
Thursday Jun 5 oath court, 75
Thursday Jun 19 oath quiet cannon, 2700
Thursday Jul 3 oath court, 75
Friday Jul 11 oath ConvCen 12 000
Thursday Jul 24 oath court, 75

please update your timelines in signatures or post them in your DO's thread

 

[nyc_naturalizer]

I wonder if the 800 IOs even have the information regarding if your name check cleared or not, he told me from his screen and said it didn't show that my background check was cleared. And he also told me that he didn't really see my FP cleared, i called the 304 number and confirmed my FP was sent back to USCIS on 12/18/07.

The IO I talked with seems really nice and it's hard not to trust him. He told me that my name check was sent to FBI on 12/07/07, which is close to my FP date.

It seems that the IOs have a million stories to tell. At least the CSRs are consistently uninformed.

 

[Feliz-LA]

i found only person with August PD: yummyk - Aug 21,07
only 1 with September PD: AusCal from VJ - September 12, 07
and only 2 October PDs - citizen2008 - PD Oct 04 and me - PD Oct 30,07

--------------
AusCal full timeline:
N400 at California SC, Field office- Los Angeles

Sep 3, 2007 Application Mailed
Sep 12, 2007 - Priority date
Nov 9,2007 - check cashed
Nov 20,2007 - NOA1: "expect to be notified within 425 days of this notice",
Jan 10, 2008 - fingerprints appointment (letter lost due to mailing address receipted incorrectly)
Feb 7, 2008 - fingerprints done (took about 10 min - as a walk-in)
*online status "case received OcT 29", no touches showing.

 

[texasdude]

Feliz-LA

My PD is October 3rd, DO - Los Angeles
Still waiting....

 

[Manlika2004]

Called Customer Service this morning (Tuesday, 20 May 2008) told them could not bring case up on computer; asked about FP and name check. CIS rep said he did not know if FBI name check was done or not and said it usually takes about 7 months. He did not say anything about FP. I don't know if he even looked up the file.Seems like everyone who calls gets a little bit different response from them. I guess it isn't worth calling.

 

[yummyk]

Called Customer Service this morning (Tuesday, 20 May 2008) told them could not bring case up on computer; asked about FP and name check. CIS rep said he did not know if FBI name check was done or not and said it usually takes about 7 months. He did not say anything about FP. I don't know if he even looked up the file.Seems like everyone who calls gets a little bit different response from them. I guess it isn't worth calling.

That's the bottom line with CSRs - they are next to useless. The only way to teast out information over the phone is to get transferred to an IO. The IOs at least have access to other databases, and can sometimes provide you with a bit more information. However, as evidenced here on this board, the IOs clearly do not understand how the entire process works from end to end, hence the conflicting stories we see posted. InfoPass is about the same as an IO on the phone, although when you are right there in their face it may be more difficult for them to blow you off. In terms of information, it's about the best you're going to get.

Just one note about my timeline - although I post here a lot, I live in Orange County, so I am covered under the Santa Ana DO. Not sure if Santa Ana and LA have similar timelines, since the USCIS didn't even bother posting processing estimates for Santa Ana last month. I had one InfoPass in April, and they asked me to wait three months. I suppose I will make another one for July as the time draws nearer.

 

[Bobsmyth]

Called Customer Service this morning (Tuesday, 20 May 2008) told them could not bring case up on computer; asked about FP and name check. CIS rep said he did not know if FBI name check was done or not and said it usually takes about 7 months. He did not say anything about FP. I don't know if he even looked up the file.Seems like everyone who calls gets a little bit different response from them. I guess it isn't worth calling.

CIS reps don't have the info you're looking for. You'll need to talk to an IO to find out if FP and name check cleared yet.

 

[citizen2008]

Hi citizen2008,

Sorry I misread your post, yeah, it's a good idea to start preparing now. I would like to do the same, did you consult an attorney already?

Calisun

I just got done with an appointment with a great attorney. He basically said he would be willing to work on this with me and wants to start it as early as June. He said given my situation, I do not need to wait for another 3/4 months and get started with this BY June 2008. We had a very long conversation and he is absolutely convinced that I have a valid case. Then I mentioned about YOU and FE-LIZ and others who are in the same boat and he was more than willing to accomodate all of us because we are all sept/oct filers and he thinks enough time has elapsed to justify it to the court and he also knows the district Attorney and he seems confident that if he pushes our case, he will be able to get us some news soon. He actually has a gameplan in mind already and he was actually thinking of a class action lawsuit about this. But then he mentioned that that would probably take more time to get us naturalized. So he finally opted to go for individual WOM with me and others (each will be a different retainer agreement) and different case altogather. I am so excited that he will represent my case. From what I have read over the net, this attorney has a great reputation in LA area and he definitely seems to know the plan of action and he seemed very knowledgeble. The reason I have confidence in him now is because I myself have been coming to this board for almost a year, and picked up a few legal arguments and Immigration related information and get the feeling that he knows his stuff. I have decided to retain him by next week or so. By the way he has a great fee structure as well. I am getting ready and let him do it for me. The arguments for this case, as we discussed seems sound to me, and very much shows his professional superiority and believe me I have dealt with some lawyers before.

He agreed with me that it is actually USCIS management structure that causes the delay. WOM is the only way to compel them to do it quickly. As we are all sept and october filers, he will use the same cookie cutter arguments for all our cases, then he is sure the AUSA will take him seriously.

If you want to jump on board, that would be great. I will send you his personal information via PRIVATE MESSAGE. Would you like that? and please give me your thoughts on this!

What you think?

 

[Feliz-LA]

could you please PM me his name/contacts and fee? thank you