N-400 timeline for Muslims

[Triple Citizen]

Hi,
I recently completed my N-400 process. It took exactly 4 months. I was dealing with NSC/Chicago. Here is my timeline:-

PD = 7/21
FP = 8/10
ID = 10/12
OD = 11/21

I agree with all the other posters who reckon that having a common first and last name as opposed to having a muslim name will slow one's name check down. I moved to the US on a K-1. Went through AOS for my GC. Recently naturalised. Took me a grand total of 4 years from my K-1 entry (11/21/2002) to my oath (11/21/2006). Never did I get delayed in the name check process. I am a muslim and was born in Pakistan, but I have an uncommon first and last name. Or I simply got lucky in all of the stages of immigration and naturalisation.

 

[Obongo]

Hi,
I agree with all the other posters who reckon that having a common first and last name as opposed to having a muslim name will slow one's name check

Right. The FBI will check your FP and name thoroughly
what-ever your religion. It is just that people with common
names need more checking. Simple as that. I don't think the
FBI would try to do a name profiling against Christian vs Jew vs
Muslim, if they did, the first thing a bad guy would do would be
to change his name!

 

[boatbod]

Right. The FBI will check your FP and name thoroughly
what-ever your religion. It is just that people with common
names need more checking. Simple as that. I don't think the
FBI would try to do a name profiling against Christian vs Jew vs
Muslim, if they did, the first thing a bad guy would do would be
to change his name!

Exactly!

This has been mentioned time and again:- what slows people up in namecheck is when their case falls out of the automated system, usually because their name (or some variation of it) generated multiple hits which need to be investigated manually. Obviously thats going to happen more often if you have a common name, or a name which is similar to a known offender in the FBI database.

 

[pg8104]

I know for a fact that your wife is not Muslim!

No, you do not know for a fact that Flydog's wife is not Muslim.

It is not whether you have a Muslim Name or not ... It depends on whether you have a COMMON Name like John, James or whatever ...

Not only that, it's whether or not your name matches someone that has been the focus of or involved with some sort of criminal investigation that has been entered into databases such as the NCIC's.

--

Names are submitted to the FBI via datatape, which clears the majority of them within a few days (yes, I know I'm sounding like the FBI website) and then subjects the rest to manual check. To think that the USCIS discriminates based upon religion or even suspected religion is foolish. For them to do so would be an incredible waste of their time and would put them at considerable risk of losing their jobs.

Sure, several of us feel that the agencies involved with attaining citizenship are inefficient and slow, but that does not necessarily make them racist. I am very upset that my name check took 7 months to clear, but I never once considered this a result of racism. I have a very common Korean last name (Kim) and logic would tell me that someone out there with a similar name did something stupid which screwed me over.

The following should not be considered a stereotypical or racist statement: I used to have a job at the University I went to in which I had to supervise many employees, some of which were Somali students at the university. I noticed that many last names seemed extremely common among our Somalian employees, with some common last names even being used as first names at times (e.g. "Ahmed"). No, this doesn't necessarily mean that the overall Somalian population shares the same name frequency characteristics, but it provides a clue to how common certain names are. To me, it seems that this is what would cause a name check delay in muslim applicants, NOT discrimination against religion.

Just an observation, don't take that the wrong way please.

 

[qili]

To me, it seems that this is what would cause a name check delay in muslim applicants, NOT discrimination against religion.

Just an observation, don't take that the wrong way please.

that would only be a factor if such a "common name" or its derivatives are present in the FBI database. we don't know a lot about the database (or databases) but it does seem to contain lots of terrorists or terrorist suspects. and I would bet that a lot of them are muslims.

so while there may not be a clear mandate to focus on muslim applicants, the composition of the database will assure that.