N-400 applied after July'07 and got Interview??

Bobsmyth said:
Meanwhile, the US educational system has made it more difficult for US students pursue a career without having to worry about being in debt for the next 20 years.
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Although that has some truth to it Bobsmyth...I have to disagree on it being a bad or negative trait for several reasons:

1) At least the US education system is built on the fact that no one is too old to get an education. I would rather be in such an environment, where I can make up for my 'mistakes' or 'lost opportunities' at any time in life and NOT be held back by a rigid system that shuts doors past a certain age. For example, in the UK if you don't get certain marks on your exams - and I forget which ones - you can't go to university - you have to be satisfied with technical college.

2) Yes you may end up with debt - but which other country can boast giving its citizens the ability to pay their debt over time, and still live in a high standard of living (compared to a majority of the world's nations)? You truly can't beat that!

3) You get rewarded for being smart in the US. Maintaining a certain GPA automatically qualifies you for some grants and bursaries. When I was in college a few years back (for my undergrad), I worked part-time and managed to get almost 80% coverage of my tuition fews through scholarships and grants. Then when I got a full-time job, I still got scholarships (though not as much) for working full time and maintaining good grades. How many nations give its citizens that opportunity?

In my opinion, the debt accrued in higher education is the least of this country's worries when it comes to education. I am much more concerned with the degrading quality of education in middle and high schools due to lack of resources and underpaid/under qualified teachers.

My 2 cents -
 
Wow, I didn't realize my comments about that website would stir up such good arguments about the Indian vs US educational system. Many valid points indeed..keep the discussion going..

Sorry to disappoint you geetha1, but I'm not from India
 
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For those who are not interested in accumulating student debt, there are very good state/city run colleges. Even if a person decides to take out loans and attend a private institution, living in debt is the American way. Like it or not, it's the truth. I don't know a single person who doesn't have some kind of debt, whether it's credit cards, auto loans/leases, mortgages, etc. We are a consumerist society, and debt is an unavoidable side effect.

As far as quality of education in public schools and lack of qualified teachers, I agree. In NYC, a starting salary for a teacher is about $35,000. Keep in mind, this is a city where a decent 1 bedroom apartment cannot be obtained for less than $1,000 per month. $35K comes out to approximately $1,700 per month (I know this because that's what my first job paid). After taking out $1,000 of that for rent, try living on $700 for a whole month. This situation discourages qualified individuals from becoming teachers, instead seeking out more lucrative employment.
 
LolaLi said:
Although that has some truth to it Bobsmyth...I have to disagree on it being a bad or negative trait for several reasons:

1) At least the US education system is built on the fact that no one is too old to get an education. I would rather be in such an environment, where I can make up for my 'mistakes' or 'lost opportunities' at any time in life and NOT be held back by a rigid system that shuts doors past a certain age. For example, in the UK if you don't get certain marks on your exams - and I forget which ones - you can't go to university - you have to be satisfied with technical college.

- Some folks take 6-more years to graduate. They repeat grades as they wish. as a result their gpa increases. But when you repeat the same class it is so much easier to do better.


2) Yes you may end up with debt - but which other country can boast giving its citizens the ability to pay their debt over time, and still live in a high standard of living (compared to a majority of the world's nations)? You truly can't beat that!

- Some students spend half their life paying off the debt.

3) You get rewarded for being smart in the US. Maintaining a certain GPA automatically qualifies you for some grants and bursaries. When I was in college a few years back (for my undergrad), I worked part-time and managed to get almost 80% coverage of my tuition fews through scholarships and grants. Then when I got a full-time job, I still got scholarships (though not as much) for working full time and maintaining good grades. How many nations give its citizens that opportunity?

- Not necessarily. I have seen too many folks in jobs they are not qualified to do and it shows clearly.


In my opinion, the debt accrued in higher education is the least of this country's worries when it comes to education. I am much more concerned with the degrading quality of education in middle and high schools due to lack of resources and underpaid/under qualified teachers.

- Most of the homework here is done by parents. The education is based on multiple choice/true-false/fill in the blank answers. If one pulls an all nighter, they can still make a good grade. Middle and high schools, here are semester oriented. It is so much easier to make a good grade. Thus we Indians who have spend our school years in rote learning and a system where you take 1 final exam and that is it - do well in semseter based exams. UPTO a point

My 2 cents -
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The relative merits of the Indian vs U.S educational systems is very interesting but probably out of the scope of this forum. So I'll just say a bit about it's connection to U.S immigration and economic competetiveness.

First I agree with most of the points that geetha1 made about what's wrong with the Indian system (I went through a dozen Indian schools in 8 cities through every kind that she mentions- public, govt, private, even some time at an IIT - before I decided to come here), so I have quite a bit of first hand experience.

Secondly, I agree with the points LolaLi made about the U.S education system being flexibile, allowing people to change careers easily, etc

However --and this is my key point - the U.S educational system is simply not competitive (the evaluation criterion = quality of students produced divided by educational costs), and this will (if not already) condemn the U.S to further economic woes

1. in spite of the rote-learning, donations to get into schools etc etc - the fact remains that in science and math, Indian kids (and kids of more than half a dozen other countries) rank a higher than U.S kids - this is not an opinion - it is a fact that has emerged through periodic studies comparing math -science abilites of kids of similar ages across different countries. This differenetial will severely hurt U.S economic competitiveness (and already is hurting the U.S according to a public statement by Bill Gates)

2. Connection to U.S immigration: Given 1, It makes total sense for the U.S to absorb the best Indians, Russians,...whoever has been educated on someone elses dime, to come here and give a boost to innovation here.
 
Denna said:
Yes, We were lucky. :D

And where are you from Nimche?
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Well I am a Persian from Persia but I do look like chinese. I am just kidding.

I have so much trouble to get updates about people who applied in San Diego and figure how much longer should I wait?

Action123: Genie has been deported back.

Vorpal: I have seen you for every Bobsmyth's post you double post. Thats cheating!
 
tsnbagman said:
Do they mention in the IL letter what they want you to bring in the interview or are you supposed to bring everything that you can possibly think of?
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Yes - you should get a form called Naturalization Interview Document Checklist with your interview notice. It gives you a guideline of the minimal acceptable documents you must bring based on how you filed (eg. 5 yrs vs. 3 yrs). I know VSC is including those letters with the interview notice.

Check out: http://www.immihelp.com/citizenship/naturalization-sample-documents.html to view a sample list of documents.
 
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I wonder if anyone found how to check on FBI namecheck program. This is besides InfoPass scheduling.
Everytime I call USCIS, they say they can not transfer me to an IO. You need to have a reasonable excuse to skip the CS.
tnx
 
Nimche said:
I wonder if anyone found how to check on FBI namecheck program. This is besides InfoPass scheduling.
Everytime I call USCIS, they say they can not transfer me to an IO. You need to have a reasonable excuse to skip the CS.
tnx
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It's funny you should ask. I called the USCIS yesterday, got the usual customer service drone. I tried being honest and explained that I'd like to find out if my name check has been cleared. She absolutely refused to transfer me to an IO. She said that they can't transfer callers to IOs. I hung up, called again, and did the "I was talking to an IO and the call disconnected" routine. No luck. I hung up again, and tried calling an hour later. This time, I said that I filed last August, the check was cashed, but I didn't receive my NOA or the FP notice. One would think that this would warrant an automatic transfer to an IO. The drone's response was that she can open a service request for me. I gave up and scheduled an InfoPass for February 15th. I don't know if other DOs operate the same way, but the NYC DO offers appointments as early as 7 AM. I made one for 7:30, so I don't have to miss work. Now that I know about the availability of early appointments, I'll be doing an InfoPass every month if I get stuck in name check. I guess that they'd rather waste my time and theirs, instead of just making things easy for both parties and telling me over the phone. Oh well!
 
Try this: Call customer service, give them a bogus service request number that doesn't show up on online system and tell them you applied last June and still haven't heard anything. See if they are willing to transfer you to IO then.
 
Vorpal said:
It's funny you should ask. I called the USCIS yesterday, got the usual customer service drone. I tried being honest and explained that I'd like to find out if my name check has been cleared. She absolutely refused to transfer me to an IO. She said that they can't transfer callers to IOs. I hung up, called again, and did the "I was talking to an IO and the call disconnected" routine. No luck. I hung up again, and tried calling an hour later. This time, I said that I filed last August, the check was cashed, but I didn't receive my NOA or the FP notice. One would think that this would warrant an automatic transfer to an IO. The drone's response was that she can open a service request for me. I gave up and scheduled an InfoPass for February 15th. I don't know if other DOs operate the same way, but the NYC DO offers appointments as early as 7 AM. I made one for 7:30, so I don't have to miss work. Now that I know about the availability of early appointments, I'll be doing an InfoPass every month if I get stuck in name check. I guess that they'd rather waste my time and theirs, instead of just making things easy for both parties and telling me over the phone. Oh well!
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I called them last week and I was told that I am still within 7 months of the processing time per the NYC DO hence I should not be calling at all until Feb end at least. They did not let me talk to immi officer on the same ground. I will wait until mid-March to call them again and see where we are.

PD 7/28
ND 7/28
 
Bobsmyth said:
Try this: Call customer service, give them a bogus service request number that doesn't show up on online system and tell them you applied last June and still haven't heard anything. See if they are willing to transfer you to IO then.
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That sounds like a very good idea. I've already scheduled an InfoPass, so I'll go anyway (it's a bit more validating to speak with someone face to face), but I'll try what you suggested and see if their response matches.
 
Vik Pal said:
I called them last week and I was told that I am still within 7 months of the processing time per the NYC DO hence I should not be calling at all until Feb end at least. They did not let me talk to immi officer on the same ground. I will wait until mid-March to call them again and see where we are.

PD 7/28
ND 7/28
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So they are still sticking to the 7 month timeline, huh? That's definitely encouraging. I can't wait to find out if InfoPass sheds any light on the situation.
 
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