Los Angeles, CA - N-400 Timeline

Hi,

I am a new member here. I applied for citizenship nov 2007 and was fingerprinted in the LA field office in Jan 2008.

After that I moved to the bay area in Apr 2008 and notified the USCIS of my change in address. I recently received my interview letter for Sep 16 in the LA office even though I reported the change of address three months ago.

I have some questions

1. Can I change the field office to one in the bay area at this point?
2. Typically, how much delay would it be before I get another interview letter? I think I would go to the San Jose field office.
3. If I go to the LA office for the interview, would they even conduct the interview given that I live in Northern CA now?
4. What is the number to call USCIS to reach a person I can talk to? I tried the 800 number listed in my notice and I could never get an option that allowed me to talk to an CSR?

Thanks in advance for any help.

-mapran
 
Feliz-LA said:
POCTOB, I am not sure, when I called prices were 800 and +++ just for 2 hours of lawyer time being present at interview, think i'd rather risk and go myself or reapply for 670 bucks, since it has gotten so fast now.
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"Past performance does not guarantee future results"

It's not just re-apply, it's time wasted, being stuck in namecheck, worry about moving/changing address/AR-11/re-entry in US/questions "are you US citizen?"/etc - for me it cost much more than 800 bux.

Well, it might be just "better be safe than sorry" me :)

Still, wish you luck in having nice Interview IO.
 
mapran said:
After that I moved to the bay area in Apr 2008 and notified the USCIS of my change in address. I recently received my interview letter for Sep 16 in the LA office even though I reported the change of address three months ago.
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Well, don't want to scare you, but you could be in trouble.

I just did same move from Los Angeles to San Francisco, changed address online in USCIS and they scheduled my interview in Los Angeles :eek:

I called USCIS (use 1-2-2-6 which is "if you case outside of normal processing times") got to second-level "real" IO and he told me "my interview will be canceled because I no longer reside within Los Angeles and transfer between LA-SF takes several months and then in SF they have to do complete review of my application again" (namecheck again?) :confused:

I had to cancel my move, change my address back to Los Angeles and "hope for the best" (which translates to "pay a good lawyer big bux")

Get to second-level "real" IO (use 1-2-2-6 which is "if you case outside of normal processing times") and confirm if you can still attend LA interview (did you do online change of address - do you have confirmation page printout?) and after that maybe talk to a lawyer.

Feliz - you see what I mean by "you have to worry about moving/changing address"?
 
POCTOB said:
Well, don't want to scare you, but you could be in trouble.

I just did same move from Los Angeles to San Francisco, changed address online in USCIS and they scheduled my interview in Los Angeles :eek:

I called USCIS (use 1-2-2-6 which is "if you case outside of normal processing times") got to second-level "real" IO and he told me "my interview will be canceled because I no longer reside within Los Angeles and transfer between LA-SF takes several months and then in SF they have to do complete review of my application again" (namecheck again?) :confused:

I had to cancel my move, change my address back to Los Angeles and "hope for the best" (which translates to "pay a good lawyer big bux")

Get to second-level "real" IO (use 1-2-2-6 which is "if you case outside of normal processing times") and confirm if you can still attend LA interview (did you do online change of address - do you have confirmation page printout?) and after that maybe talk to a lawyer.

Feliz - you see what I mean by "you have to worry about moving/changing address"?
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Thank you for your response. I just called USCIS and the cust rep told me that she recommend that I attend the interview in LA and that it is not a problem that I am San Francisco resident. That is completely different from what you were told <sigh> I don't know what to believe now.
 
mapran said:
Thank you for your response. I just called USCIS and the cust rep told me that she recommend that I attend the interview in LA and that it is not a problem that I am San Francisco resident. That is completely different from what you were told <sigh> I don't know what to believe now.
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Ok, you obviously new here and don't know the difference between USCIS cust rep and USCIS second-level "real" IO.
The difference is the former are just regular clerks who doesn't know what they talking about and later are REAL IMMIGRATION OFFICERS (that doesn't mean you can trust them either).

I'm really sorry to say that, but I think you don't have time to figure all these issues out, and whatever you do, just pray for approval.
 
Thank you for your response. I just called USCIS and the cust rep told me that she recommend that I attend the interview in LA and that it is not a problem that I am San Francisco resident. That is completely different from what you were told <sigh> I don't know what to believe now.

Same thing happened to a friend of mine. She moved from LA to San Jose DO and her address change did not go thru fast enough. She decided it was easier just to fly down to LA for the interview and get it behind her. She had to come here for the oath too.
 
Manlika2004 said:
Thank you for your response. I just called USCIS and the cust rep told me that she recommend that I attend the interview in LA and that it is not a problem that I am San Francisco resident. That is completely different from what you were told <sigh> I don't know what to believe now.

Same thing happened to a friend of mine. She moved from LA to San Jose DO and her address change did not go thru fast enough. She decided it was easier just to fly down to LA for the interview and get it behind her. She had to come here for the oath too.
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I have decided to fly to LA to attend the interview. I'm just worried that they will say they cannot conduct the interview because I am not a LA resident anymore. However, from your friend's case, it looks like they do conduct the interview. That is a relief.
 
Just an update - like I wrote earlier, at my Interview, the officer told me that I would get into the August 13th ceremony. However, I haven't received the official letter yet.

I've started to lose hope for August, but it's good to see that jedi knight received the invitation to 8/13 rather recently (we have similar timelines), and that others are reporting a backlog with oath letter processing.
 
Hi Centurycity!

centurycity,

I made two phone calls, and one of them was transferred to a second level IO. That person told me (about 1 week prior) that my oath ceremony had been scheduled. However, he couldn't tell me anything. Then I got the letter about a week later.

Perhaps you could try the same thing?

Best,
-jedi
 
jinto12 said:
hello to everybody. this is my first time in this forum, so please forgive me if im posting this reply in the wrong thread. I got the Interview appointment for Sept 8, but now i recieve a letter telling me that i have an interview with a adjudication officer in two weeks.
The reasons they tell me for the appoint are
1. complete application, petition, or appeal process
2. in regards to your N-400 personal interview.

I was wondering if any of you had recieve the same letter?
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I have recvd similar letter to meet with an Adjudication officer (AO) at Soto Street, LA office. I am not sure as to why this need for adjudication but maybe because I have applied for a name change on my N-400 application. I do not have any criminal nor traffic violation. My adjudication letter lists the same reasons as stated in your letter. Please post your experience with AO and if you find anyone else who had similar experience. Thank you.
 
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I have recvd similar letter to meet with an Adjudication officer (AO) at Soto Street, LA office. I am not sure as to why this need for adjudication but maybe because I have applied for a name change on my N-400 application. I do not have any criminal nor traffic violation. My adjudication letter lists the same reasons as stated in your letter. Please post your experience with AO and if you find anyone else who had similar experience. Thank you.
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i will let you know of my experience since my interview with the AO is on aug 6.
 
Jedi.Knight said:
centurycity,

I made two phone calls, and one of them was transferred to a second level IO. That person told me (about 1 week prior) that my oath ceremony had been scheduled. However, he couldn't tell me anything. Then I got the letter about a week later.

Perhaps you could try the same thing?

Best,
-jedi
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I'm going to try some good old-fashioned patience :)
 
centurycity said:
I'm going to try some good old-fashioned patience :)
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Well, you're only two weeks away from the August 13th oath date so I am surprised that if you have been scheduled for this oath they haven't sent you the letter. You may wish to make an InfoPass appointment. If you truly are scheduled for the oath on the 13th then they should have no problem printing you a letter at the appointment.

Also, I am curoius how they were able to tell you at your interview in May that your oath would be on August 13th. Are they always able to do that, especially so far into the future?

At any rate, don't despair. As I have noted here and in the Santa Ana DO forum in previous posts, between now and September 26, 2008 there are 65,000 oath slots in the LA area. This is a huge spike in the number of oaths that are typically scheduled over a two month period. Hope that everything works out for you and that you take the oath on the 13th as planned.
 
Jedi.Knight said:
centurycity,

I made two phone calls, and one of them was transferred to a second level IO. That person told me (about 1 week prior) that my oath ceremony had been scheduled. However, he couldn't tell me anything. Then I got the letter about a week later.

Perhaps you could try the same thing?

Best,
-jedi
Click to expand...


So I decided to call - my oath letter was sent July 23rd, interesting.
It's either lost in the mail or still bouncing around and I'll receive it today or tomorrow. Their general rule is to give it 30 days (seriously?).

She couldn't tell me my oath date, but I got her to narrow it down - it's not August 13th, but it is in August.

What was the other August interview date someone reported receiving?
I'm guessing it's in a few weeks.

If I don't get the letter in one more week, I'll make an InfoPass appointment.
That's fine with me.

Great advice, jedi.
 
yummyk said:
Also, I am curoius how they were able to tell you at your interview in May that your oath would be on August 13th. Are they always able to do that, especially so far into the future?
Click to expand...

The officer interviewing me had a list of oath ceremony dates on his wall, with the filled ones crossed off. The last two listed were July something and August 13th, and because I would be traveling internationally in July, he said he'd recommend me for the August 13th date instead to make life easier. He was very helpful, but also stiff and professional of course.

Thanks for your words of encouragement, I appreciate them.
 
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