N-400, reschedule interview? Chicago

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107

Registered Users (C)
I have already bought my airticket to visit my parents in China, I am leaving the states on July 3rd. Few days later, I got the NOA notify me to appear for an interview for naturalization at Chicago office on July 17.
Please HELP! Should I reschedule my airticket (have to pay fines) or should I reschedule my interview date (I don't know when will INS give me another interview time)?
Should I reschedule my airticket to leave the states on July 18th (the day after my interview)? Do I need stay in the states after the interview? Can I still use my Chinese passport to go back to China after the interview ?
I will stay in China until Aug 25th. How long it will take to have the oath ceremony after the interview? Will I be late for the oath ceremony?
Pleaaaaase HELP. I am so overwhelmed right now. And don't know what should I do.
Thank you very much.
 
107 said:
I have already bought my airticket to visit my parents in China, I am leaving the states on July 3rd. Few days later, I got the NOA notify me to appear for an interview for naturalization at Chicago office on July 17.
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Do good to yourself.. Postpone the interview.. have a peace of mind during trip. You may hear otherwise from the forum... but, don't get confused.. Interview letter indicates that name check should have been over.. So, take a nice vacation, enjoy the days, come back and continue.. It might delay the process by, say, 2-4 months; but why care?

OTOH, if you attend the interview and did not know when the oath is, then you might end up screwing the vacation by thinking about the possibility of missing oaht all the time....

Enjoy the vacation!
 
Think twice

I don't agree a bit with knkums. Please for God's sake do not make this mistake. I repeat do not make this mistake by rescheduling your interview. If it was a life and death situation, I would say, yes go ahead and leave for China and later worry about getting your citizenship rescheduled. But, I am hoping that this is not the situation in your case. It's a nightmare to deal with immigration issues. Worst come to worst you will have to pay some penalty to change your air tkts and ofcourse your trip will be delayed, but please get it done and over with and have a peace of mind. You can immediately leave after your interview and take the oath after you get back from China. Getting an oath scheduled is not going to be difficult and challenging but trust me you don't want to change your interview date. The choice in the end is yours. All the best.
 
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Thank you very much for the reply.
Is there anybody know that how long it will take to have oath ceremony after the interview? Will they take my Chinese passport away durning the interview? Can I travel outside the US after the interview?
I have to come back on Aug 25th, my college begins Aug 29th.
Help. Help. Help.
 
Between Interview & Oath

A friend of mine in Chicago told me that he got his oath date withing 2-3 weeks after his interview so you may want to plan it accordingly. They take your passport, Green card on the day of the oath and not on the day of the interview. You can tell the Immigration or Interview Officer on the day of the interview that you are planning to take a trip outside of US and see what he has to say. I am sure he will work with you. Keep us posted.
 
There is some bad data floating around here ....

1) Rescheduling an interview is possible, it does not terminate or jeopardize the process but it WILL introduce significant delays. Definitely not advisable.
2) The USCIS never takes away your current passport, either at interview or at oath ceremony. They do take away your Green Card at the oath ceremony.
3) Oath letter and ceremony usually comes within 3 - 12 weeks after interview but varies hugely depending on the office you are dealing with.
4) You are free to travel on your current passport up until the oath ceremony. Thereafter, you must only leave and enter the USA using your new US passport.
5) Remember that most US passports are taking a long time to issue at the present time. This situation is unlikely to improve in the near future.
6) Whether you use your current (Chinese) passport outside of the US after you become citizen is largely dependent on the laws of China, not of the US.
 
Thank you very much, rwsh, Atlanta Brother, and Knkums.
I think I will reschedule my airticket to July 18th. That means I will have the interview on July 17th and leave the US the next day. And come back on Aug 25th. I will try to bring all the documents they need, so they will not ask me to submit somethingelse the next day.
Is it possible for me to tell the officer that I will be back on Aug 25th, so please don't schedule the oath ceremony before that day?
 
107 said:
Is it possible for me to tell the officer that I will be back on Aug 25th, so please don't schedule the oath ceremony before that day?
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Not normally, although occasionally you will run across a sympathetic IO who will try to accommodate your travel plans. No harm in asking...
 
You should be able to tell the Immigration Officer to reschedule your oath after Aug 25th.
 
107 said:
Thank you very much, rwsh, Atlanta Brother, and Knkums.
I think I will reschedule my airticket to July 18th. That means I will have the interview on July 17th and leave the US the next day. And come back on Aug 25th. I will try to bring all the documents they need, so they will not ask me to submit somethingelse the next day.
Is it possible for me to tell the officer that I will be back on Aug 25th, so please don't schedule the oath ceremony before that day?
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He doesn't schedual the Oath Ceremony at all and unless it's same day oath, it gets set out and placed in a queue. You will get the oath ceremony when they tell you that you get it. That's it. The only thing I can say is he might delay submitting the recomendation in, which in that case it very easily might get forgotten and never sent in.

Another thing is you'll be gone quite a long time, which means you'll have to document that trip when you get to the oath ceremony, because they will want to know and re-review your case if you have left the country. Remember, you are "recommended" for the oath, that does not mean you are guarenteed to get it though. People have been pulled out of the Oath ceremony before or denied at the ceremony due to issues such as travel, felony tickets etc that occured between the interview and oath.

If you want to take the trip, then go for it. Just remember, you will have quite possibly put yourself at risk and or delays to your oath date. Another option is just withdrawl your N-400 application and then re-submit it at a later date when you will not be travelling...
 
Anybody know the fastest way to get US passport now? How long it will take? I pray for that I will have oath ceremony very quick after the interview. I hope it is the same day. Then get the US passport in 2-4 days, get Chinese visa in one day, I still have some time to visit my parents. I really miss them.
My interview time is 1:00pm, is it possible to have the oath ceremony the same day?
 
All depends on if your interview place allows and even has same day oath or not. Some do, many don't. All depends on where you live. Then if they do, it all depends on your N-400 case and if you are approved or if you might need to send in additional information.

If you do get approved an oath ceremony can be anywhere from a few weeks to many months (generally under 6 months is the norm).

Now say you do get the same day oath, then you can get to the passport agency (post office that allows for it etc) and then get an expediated passport which costs more, but gets to you pretty quick. Not sure the timeline, all depends on a number of things, but a couple of days or a week or 2 is generally the time frame from what I've been hearing...
 
Expedite US Passport

107 said:
Anybody know the fastest way to get US passport now? How long it will take? I pray for that I will have oath ceremony very quick after the interview. I hope it is the same day. Then get the US passport in 2-4 days, get Chinese visa in one day, I still have some time to visit my parents. I really miss them.
My interview time is 1:00pm, is it possible to have the oath ceremony the same day?
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Hello 107.

First of all, please don't even think of withdrawing your N-400 application. Very bad idea. This could raise lot of flags to why you did that and bla bla bla. As somebody suggested here that go ahead and apply for your citizenship when you don't have plans to travel. Sometimes things are not in our control. We have parents living overseas. You never know when they need us & sometimes God forbid one has to make emergency trips. At that time are we going to think about N-400 form or our loved ones back home. Something to think about. So let's not go there.
Here is the number to make urgent US passports. Please call this number in Houston and see what they have to say. The number is (713) 529-0400. They are in central time zone so call accordingly. If this doesn't workout, visit your local post office and ask one of the clerks on how to make urgent passports. They are usually very helpful. Please let me know if I can be of any help. Please pray for me as I am in the same boat. The difference is I am still waiting for my interview letter. Just got back from local immigration office and found out that my FP and NC has cleared but case is still pending. I have decided to visit my mother in Paksitan in the first week of July. Be back end of the month. Keeping my fingers crossed & praying that I don't miss my interview date.:)
 
A friend of mine recommend me to talk to representive office. I did. But the sectary looks like too busy to help me. Besides that, I don't think that they will help me. Is there anybody have the experience with representive office or the congressman office? Will they help?
 
Go to your representative's (or senator's) web site. You can find it via http://www.house.gov/ or http://www.senate.gov/.

Once their, find the forms that they want you to fill in do to "immigration case work". Fill in the forms and then fax or mail them to the local office, marking them to the attention of the immigration specialist.

Wait a week or two and then phone the office, again asking for the immigration specialist. He/she probably won't have done anything yet, but if you are polite when you do the followup, you will probably get a response in a day or three.

I've had positive experiences with my congressman's local office and very positive experiences with the local office of one of my senator's. Politeness and making your case that your particular file is the most deserving of all the many things they've got piled on their desk is, to me, the key.

Good luck.
 
Senator's office

107,

I had got in touch with the senator's office regarding my pending case. In my situation, I was not satisfied at all. The only thing they do is tell you the status on your case, that's all. They can't really do anything to speed up your process. Just wanted to share my experience.
 
In my case, I'm pretty sure that I got my interview scheduled as a result of my senator's aid's intervention. My interview had been descheduled months before (my file was in the wrong place), but the problem had been cured within weeks. But, the USCIS wasn't scheduling the interview.

My interview notice went out within hours of the senator's aid's phone call (she phoned in mid afternoon, and it went out that day).

In general, the answer you will get is initially "it's probably name check and so there's nothing I can do" (which is usually right). But, if it's not name check, and you politely urge them on, there are things they can do.
 
Flydog's experience

Good that flydog had a good experience with the Senator's office. Actually flydog's +ve response in a way motivates me. I will call up the senator's office first thing tomorrow and inform them that my NC is also cleared so if they could make some phone calls to speed up my last inquiry and get me the IL as soon as possible.
 
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