Hi,
I just wanted to update this thread with my experience of obtaining citizenship as the posts and responses from this forum helped me a lot during my process as i had tons of unanswered questions. My priority date was March 29th and i got my green card through my employment. Some of the issues I was worried about were;
I had over 600 days of travel in the last 5 years which were mostly for business but i never stayed out longer than 6 months for any trip. I documented all my trips on the form and ensured i matched with my passport.
My fingerprint was done manually, not electronically as they were not clear enough and therefore took 2 weeks longer than the average application.
My first interview letter never arrived
What i learnt from this board and experience
I found a few people who had priority dates were around mine and closer and found that usually they reached the next steps approximately at the same time.
The online status is not important BUT when the status changes to case not found; your letter should have been mailed to you. Give it 2 to 3 weeks and then get an infopass, DO not wait and you have nothing to lose by keeping upto date. If you see someone with similar dates as yours, get that infopass and find out whats going on or write a letter. I wrote a letter after 4 weeks but they did not get back to me and i found that my interview was scheduled approximately 7 weeks after my finger printing stage (average interview time was 6 weeks after finger printing so monitor other applicants postings).
They give you 30 days to give a reason why you did not appear for your interview BUT as mentioned above, even this letter may not come to you for whatever reason so get the infopass at least 4-6 weeks after you have done your fingerprints if you have heard nothing and your online status already changed to 'case not found'.
My interview was rescheduled 4 weeks after I sent the letter explaining that i never received the letter. There is no format, i just wrote a formal letter explaining that i wrote a letter to inquire and i even attached a copy of the letter.
The interview was smooth and i had a pleasant experience as everything was in order. Only my passport, california id and application was checked. 6 questions all from civic list on website. I got my oath letter in 15 minutes after the interview.
The oath was pretty smooth with approximately 2 hours max to complete everything and explanations.
I needed my passport within 2 days so I had already researched and found travisa in sf which processes your passport but you need to apply in advance on their website and fax documents over. they did a great job and the overall cost for everything including the post office setup as i personally delivered and picked my passport was about 310 usd and it was all worth it because i had my passport in less than 48 hours.
Good luck in your process and stay positive. Read other peoples experiences, even from the past, to prepare yourself as you can never over prepare and above all, be confident yet humble, when interviewing.
Thank you for all those who contributed in anyway to the forum and answered questions!
My timeline was follows
Mailed N400 on 24th March 2006
Priority date 29th March 2006
Finger printing April 29th
Online case not found status - May 15
First interview date - July 19th 2006
Second interview reschedule - August 31st 2006
Oath - September 26th 2006
Passport applic hand delivered to Travisa - Sept 27th 2006
Passpôrt picked at Sept 29th
HTH,
n400cali
I just wanted to update this thread with my experience of obtaining citizenship as the posts and responses from this forum helped me a lot during my process as i had tons of unanswered questions. My priority date was March 29th and i got my green card through my employment. Some of the issues I was worried about were;
I had over 600 days of travel in the last 5 years which were mostly for business but i never stayed out longer than 6 months for any trip. I documented all my trips on the form and ensured i matched with my passport.
My fingerprint was done manually, not electronically as they were not clear enough and therefore took 2 weeks longer than the average application.
My first interview letter never arrived
What i learnt from this board and experience
I found a few people who had priority dates were around mine and closer and found that usually they reached the next steps approximately at the same time.
The online status is not important BUT when the status changes to case not found; your letter should have been mailed to you. Give it 2 to 3 weeks and then get an infopass, DO not wait and you have nothing to lose by keeping upto date. If you see someone with similar dates as yours, get that infopass and find out whats going on or write a letter. I wrote a letter after 4 weeks but they did not get back to me and i found that my interview was scheduled approximately 7 weeks after my finger printing stage (average interview time was 6 weeks after finger printing so monitor other applicants postings).
They give you 30 days to give a reason why you did not appear for your interview BUT as mentioned above, even this letter may not come to you for whatever reason so get the infopass at least 4-6 weeks after you have done your fingerprints if you have heard nothing and your online status already changed to 'case not found'.
My interview was rescheduled 4 weeks after I sent the letter explaining that i never received the letter. There is no format, i just wrote a formal letter explaining that i wrote a letter to inquire and i even attached a copy of the letter.
The interview was smooth and i had a pleasant experience as everything was in order. Only my passport, california id and application was checked. 6 questions all from civic list on website. I got my oath letter in 15 minutes after the interview.
The oath was pretty smooth with approximately 2 hours max to complete everything and explanations.
I needed my passport within 2 days so I had already researched and found travisa in sf which processes your passport but you need to apply in advance on their website and fax documents over. they did a great job and the overall cost for everything including the post office setup as i personally delivered and picked my passport was about 310 usd and it was all worth it because i had my passport in less than 48 hours.
Good luck in your process and stay positive. Read other peoples experiences, even from the past, to prepare yourself as you can never over prepare and above all, be confident yet humble, when interviewing.
Thank you for all those who contributed in anyway to the forum and answered questions!
My timeline was follows
Mailed N400 on 24th March 2006
Priority date 29th March 2006
Finger printing April 29th
Online case not found status - May 15
First interview date - July 19th 2006
Second interview reschedule - August 31st 2006
Oath - September 26th 2006
Passport applic hand delivered to Travisa - Sept 27th 2006
Passpôrt picked at Sept 29th
HTH,
n400cali