New Timeline thread for San Antonio & Austin area

My oath date is set for 28th June at the Institute of Texan Cultures.

Did the IO give you the oath letter on the same day when you were interviewed? Or you got your oath letter in mail later?

Thanks for all the information!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Locations and Travel related to N-400 application.

Hi,

I am about to send in applications for my wife and me and was wondering what were the locations for:
1) Fingerprinting.
2) Interview.
3) Oath ceremony.

We live in Austin, TX, but wanted to plan out all the travel ahead of time.
I'm assuming that 1) and 2) may not be on the same day for husband and wife, so thats a potential 5 trips related to the N-400. Is everything in San Antonio, TX or some other places as well.

Can someone shed some light on what are the activities (sightseeing, or otherwise) in and around these areas, so we can have something to do if we arrive early or stay after our appointments are done? (Or something for the spouse to do while the other spouse is busy with the official work)
 
Hi,

I am about to send in applications for my wife and me and was wondering what were the locations for:
1) Fingerprinting.
2) Interview.
3) Oath ceremony.

We live in Austin, TX, but wanted to plan out all the travel ahead of time.
I'm assuming that 1) and 2) may not be on the same day for husband and wife, so thats a potential 5 trips related to the N-400. Is everything in San Antonio, TX or some other places as well.

Can someone shed some light on what are the activities (sightseeing, or otherwise) in and around these areas, so we can have something to do if we arrive early or stay after our appointments are done? (Or something for the spouse to do while the other spouse is busy with the official work)




If you are lucky 1) and 2) can also be on the same day.

I know of only two places which I generally visit.These are:-

1)San Antonio Sea World
2)San Antonio River Walk

Search on Internet for these and you will find lot of info.
 
Update

Hey TSCwaiterdude!

Since your wife's 90 day period will be over on 26th June, will you call customer service to find out what's going on? I've called them a couple of times, and they give me the same vague reply over and over again. There is no use talking to them. I asked them if I can talk to an IO, but they said that I have to make an appt. at a local office. Let me know if there is any change.

~ar1
 
ar1,
I did call them couple of times.All I get is 'you have to wait 90 days from FP'.Looks like San Antonio office has slowed down a bit.
 
Finger Printing done

I got my greencard, passport and driver's license with me, all I was asked was greencard. It was a trivial event and took not more then 10 mins. But I had to wait for 2 hours before I got my turn ( even though my appointment was for 10 AM).

I also asked about expired passport, even if your Indian ( non american ) passport expires during the process, thats ok, u can bring your expired passport during the next process

Thanks,
Application Mailed in Date - 05/09/2007
Check was cashed - 05/11/2007
Receipt Date - 05/23/2007
Finger Print Date - 06/15/2007
Interview Date - ??
Oath Date - ??
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Notices to expect?

This is just a placeholder, as I'm about to send in my completed application next week (Before the fees go up!):

N-400 Applications Sent: 07/20/2007
N-400 Applications Received: 07/23/2007
US Postal Return Receipt Received: 07/26/2007
Check Cash Date: (Husband): ??/??/???? (Wife): ??/??/????
Notice Received: (Husband): ??/??/???? (Wife): ??/??/????
Receipt Date on Notice: (Husband): ??/??/???? (Wife): ??/??/????
Priority Date: (Husband): ??/??/???? (Wife): ??/??/????
Fingerprinting Date: (Husband): ??/??/???? (Wife): ??/??/????
Interview Notice Received: (Husband): ??/??/???? (Wife): ??/??/????
Interview Date: (Husband): ??/??/???? (Wife): ??/??/????
Final Approval Date: (Husband): ??/??/???? (Wife): ??/??/????
Oath Ceremony Letter Received: (Husband): ??/??/???? (Wife): ??/??/????
Oath Ceremony Date: (Husband): ??/??/???? (Wife): ??/??/????

Incidentally, I was wondering what correspondence can we expect from the USCIS?
Is there a seperate notice for:
a) Application received date/Priority date.
b) Fingerprinting call/notice.
c) Interview call/notice.
d) Final approval (If approved conditionally at the interview or a "decision cannot be made")
e) Oath date call/notice.

Can anyone shed some light on what are the different notices/correspondence letters to expect?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hey All!

I got my interview letter. Here is my timeline so far.

* Application Receipt Date - 03/29/07
* Finger Printing completed - 05/02/07
* Interview date - 07/24/07

~ar1
 
N-400 San Antonio timeline and our proactive N-400 interview experience

Here are the timelines for my wife and for myself:

For myself
N-400 mailed: March ??, 2007
N-400 received date: March 19, 2007
FP date: April 19, 2007
Interview date as per I-797: June 25, 2007

For my wife
N-400 mailed: March ??, 2007
N-400 received date: March 19, 2007
FP date: April 19, 2007
Interview date as per I-797: July 16, 2007
Actual interview date: June 25, 2007


Our experience generally mirrors those of other posters to this group. The key point to note is with respect to my wife's interview. She was scheduled to interview on July 16th, about three weeks after my interview. On a whim, we both went to San Antonio on my interview date and took her papers along as well.

Prior to my interview, I asked the IO if they could interview her on that day as well. He looked her case up on the computer, went off somewhere, came back with her case file, and said that they could indeed interview her on that day. I was very impressed. The interview itself was fairly benign. The IO went over my N-400 application and verified the questions asked there. He then asked me the 10 civics questions and said that it was all done. Made me sign my photographs, the N-400 application itself, and the naturalization certificate. He did take the certificate back though and said that they would give it at the oath ceremony. Oaths apparently happen in San Antonio at the end of every month. Oaths in Austin (where we are from) are much more infrequent. Since we are going on vacation towards the middle of July, I asked for the August oath date. He said that was probably what we would get anyway. All said, I was done in about 30 minutes.

We both went back downstairs and he then took my wife to process her case. She got done in about 20 minutes, with an experience very similar to mine.

All in all, I was very impressed with the San Antonio office. My IO was very courteous and professional.

I will update this post when we get our oath letter.

Good luck to all, and the moral of the story appears to be that if you and your spouse get interview letters for different dates, you could proactively try for the earlier day. If they have your case file and the pre-processing is done, they appear willing to accommodate you.
 
Interview & Passport Question

Hi All! Congrats to those that made it all the way through the process :)

N400 Mailed 3/28/07
RD 4/2/07
PD 4/2/07
FP Notice 4/11/07
FP 5/4/07
Interview Notice 6/19/07
Interview 7/20/07

Excited yet somewhat nervous about the interview, but from what I have read it should go pretty smoothly. In the letter I received it mentioned bringing your passport to the interview. In talking with several others who have gone through the process, this is not something they were asked to turn over. They did of course provide their Green Cards.

For those that have completed the interview, did you have to turn over your passport?
 
No - you will not have to hand them your green card. Or your passport. You should be prepared though, to show them originals of various documents (including your GC and your passport). Tax transcripts from the IRS (which you can get for free) would be a good idea. I took prety much everything I had, because I did not want to have to go back to San Antonio.

Good Luck,
-r.
 
Here's my timeline:

3/23 - Express mailed N-400 application along with cover letter, marriage cert., joint bank account verification from the bank, joint health insurance, joint car insurance, joint car loan, copy of husband's naturalization cert, front and back copy of my greencard, check for $400, 2 passport photos

3/27 - Check was cashed

4/07 - Received receipt of application and case number. Went on https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/index.jsp to check my case status online and signed up to get email notification whenever case is updated

4/08 - Received finger-print notice letter. Finger-print is scheduled in San Antonio on 4/25.

4/25 - Fingerprint at 11AM. I was sure it's a Thursday. I woke up on Wednesday and getting ready to go to work at 10:30AM. Then for some weird reason, I was asking myself, what's today's date? I looked at my cellphone and started to panick. 4/25 is a Wednesday, not a Thursday. And I only have 30 min. to get to SA from Austin. Well, I drove like a maniac (not really... I mostly kept it at 80-85) and got there at 11:20. It's not too bad. I got in, waited in line, got a form, filled out the form, waited in line again, got a number. Then I sat down for about 20 min and my number was called. Then I was seated in a different area with about 5 or 6 more people, and after 10-15 min, a lady called my name. She scanned my fingers (full hand and each finger). The whole process took about 5-10 min (pretty fast) and I was done. She said I should get an interview notice in 3 months. I told her my friend got his in 3 weeks and she was VERY surprised. Anyway... now i'm just waiting and waiting....

My interview letter came in yesterday. Interview date is 8/7/07. Now i better start studying for my test. Not sure what should i study about. Any idea????
 
Successfully preponed Interview on the day my wife had hers

Interview was on August 2nd. Wife's interview was on July 18th. I went in with my wife an requested them to take my interview too. San Antonio officers were kind enough to do it and took my interview too on the same day.

Questions asked were the exact same from the book that they give during finger printing which has 96 questions. Know your form in and out - they asked me the dates I had gone to India. They asked my wife how many time she went out of the US since she got her green card.

Rest it was pretty casual...my 2 year old kid was with me during the interview. The interviewer was very friendly and did not mind my son making some noise and repeating my answers :).

IO officer said that OATH will not be till September 07 since all they are pretty booked. So dont worry if you dont get your oath letter for some time.

One Problem I face now is that: After the interview the IO gives you a paper with your alien number printed on it and saying that you have passed the tests and are recommended for citizenship approval. My wife got a letter which has some other persons Alien Number on it. Now I am not sure what to do? Her physical file that was updated was hers as she signed on the photographs and also the certificate. The IOs keep updating their computer and I hope they did not have a wrong file open for my wife which caused the wrong interview results to get printed.
Any ideas what I can do? I tried calling the 1800 number and they said that we would have to drive back to the local office to get it clarified. We live in Austin and would like to know if there is any other way rather than driving down there again.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
PROBLEM: Wife received her interview results receipt with someone else's Alien number

One Problem I face now is that: After the interview the IO gives you a paper with your alien number printed on it and saying that you have passed the tests and are recommended for citizenship approval.

My wife got a letter which has some other persons Alien Number on it. Now I am not sure what to do? Her physical file that was updated was hers as she signed on her photographs and also the certificate. The IOs keep updating their computer and I hope they did not have a wrong file open for my wife which caused the wrong interview results to get printed.

Any ideas what I can do? I tried calling the 1800 number and they said that we would have to drive back to the local office to get it clarified. We live in Austin and would like to know if there is any other way rather than driving down there again.
 
Take infopass

One Problem I face now is that: After the interview the IO gives you a paper with your alien number printed on it and saying that you have passed the tests and are recommended for citizenship approval.

My wife got a letter which has some other persons Alien Number on it. Now I am not sure what to do? Her physical file that was updated was hers as she signed on her photographs and also the certificate. The IOs keep updating their computer and I hope they did not have a wrong file open for my wife which caused the wrong interview results to get printed.

Any ideas what I can do? I tried calling the 1800 number and they said that we would have to drive back to the local office to get it clarified. We live in Austin and would like to know if there is any other way rather than driving down there again.



I think better take infopass and visit those folks again..It will cost you one day and few hundred miles but will give you peace of mind.
 
Top