dedalus: when is your oath and where?
I am sorry i dont have answer to your question since i would also like to know.
thanx.
New York City - N-400 Timeline - Naturalization Experiences
- Thread starter JohnnyCash
- Start date
dedalus: when is your oath and where?
I am sorry i dont have answer to your question since i would also like to know.
thanx.
jimgreener
Registered Users (C)
Hello
I have my interview scheduled in dec. at NYC. I have applied on 3 yr marriage based N400. I had asked this question earlier but did not mention that it was a marriage based case..
What documents that I need to bring to the interview to prove I am still married to the same person.
Has anyone been thru the same situation at NYC?
I have my wife as 401K beneficiary .
We have joint mortgage, bank accounts
She is beneficiary on my work life insurance plan.
I am beneficiary on her life insurance.
I have join tax returns (including IRS transcripts)
We have a 5 yr old .
As far as bills are concerned , mostly we do online billing and we do have joint electricity.but I don't have all bills saved.
DO I need more? What else should I be collecting.
and we spends all my money shopping together;-)
I have my interview scheduled in dec. at NYC. I have applied on 3 yr marriage based N400. I had asked this question earlier but did not mention that it was a marriage based case..
What documents that I need to bring to the interview to prove I am still married to the same person.
Has anyone been thru the same situation at NYC?
I have my wife as 401K beneficiary .
We have joint mortgage, bank accounts
She is beneficiary on my work life insurance plan.
I am beneficiary on her life insurance.
I have join tax returns (including IRS transcripts)
We have a 5 yr old .
As far as bills are concerned , mostly we do online billing and we do have joint electricity.but I don't have all bills saved.
DO I need more? What else should I be collecting.
and we spends all my money shopping together;-)
jimgreener
Registered Users (C)
JohnnyCash
Volunteer Moderator
Though having a life-insurance policy between the spouses is NOT important to prove the legitimacy of the marriage, but it's seemed it's the most important document USCIS asks for in NYC district office. If you review the interview experiences of people from NYC area then you will find that most applicants were asked about it. Some applicants didn't have it with them at the time of interview which made their case to be delayed for so long...Even some recent applicants were drilled for it...Infro is one of them. So, I would strongly suggest for every NY applicant to take this with them to the interview. It's good that you have this. So no worry in this area.
Also, it's good if you can take your spouse with you (if they would allow your spouse to be in) and make sure adjudication officer notices that your spouse is there...This will make everything so smooth and wouldn't make the officer to doubt the legitimacy of the marriage.
Further, make sure to take the copy of passport or the birth/naturalization certificate of your spouse to prove your spouse's US citizenship. Also, rental lease or morgage paper wherein both persons' names are there, and the copy of any bills, bank statements and anything that has both names together but make sure to take for the last 3 years of those bills/statements because they wanted to have the proof of last 3 yrs relationship/marriage.
Good luck...
Also, it's good if you can take your spouse with you (if they would allow your spouse to be in) and make sure adjudication officer notices that your spouse is there...This will make everything so smooth and wouldn't make the officer to doubt the legitimacy of the marriage.
Further, make sure to take the copy of passport or the birth/naturalization certificate of your spouse to prove your spouse's US citizenship. Also, rental lease or morgage paper wherein both persons' names are there, and the copy of any bills, bank statements and anything that has both names together but make sure to take for the last 3 years of those bills/statements because they wanted to have the proof of last 3 yrs relationship/marriage.
Good luck...
jimgreener
Registered Users (C)
What if someone does not have life insurance.In my case I have life insurance from my employer and my wife has a private life insurance. I hope that is ok>
JohnnyCash
Volunteer Moderator
Life Insurance is an insurance regardless it's provided by an employer or anyone else. You have an insurance policy from your employer and your wife also has a life insurance. The key point for USCIS is-a life insurance btw the parties wherein spouse is the beneficiary...regardless of which spouse. For example, if you have a life insurance policy then your wife should be there as beneficiary for immigration purpose so that USCIS could determine the legitimacy of marriage. Likewise, if your wife has a life insurance policy then you should be the beneficiary.
And as I said earlier that if someone doesn't have a life insurance then it's not a big deal but it is surely a big deal in NY district office because most of time this is asked and people even were asked to come back with this later on, which delayed the processing.
Also, you may also take a Will to show to the officer to prove the legitimacy of your marriage. It's not that hard to make a Will by your own; otherwise you can seek an attorney's help for this by paying $100.
I guess nothing is happening in NY. no oaths no interviews. no update.
ANYONE who has oath scheduled in NOV??????????
I did quite a search and got to know that court in brooklyn has oath ceremonies 4 days a week. now which day they dont have ceremony? by ready ppls past oaths , no one had ceremony on Monday. so i think its Tue thru Friday.
I live in LI. and i wanted to know any parking garage near brooklyn court where one can park all day. I posted this question days back but no one actually answered it. i was hoping bobsmyth and vorpal would chime in with answer since they had oath in brooklyn and they seem very active on this board. but nopes. I would really appreciate any input.
Thanx.
Bobsmyth is actually from North Carolina and had his oath in Durham.
Since I live in Brooklyn, I took the train to the oath ceremony. There are, however, many parking garages all over that neighborhood. I'm not sure of the exact addresses, but they are eevrywhere.
Here is an interesting update that I received a few days ago from Senator Clinton's office. They sent me a letter with an enclosed printout by the USCIS:
Control Number: XX-XXXXX
Your constituent was interviewed on 7/22/2008. Please be advised that 8 CFR Section 335.3 states a decision to grant or deny the application shall be made at the time of the initial examination or within 120 days after the date of the initial examination of the applicant for naturalization. A decision has not been rendered. The applicant will be advised by mail of all further actions.
So they are definitely aware of the 120 day limit. A separate notice I received from my House Representative's office also stated that until that time, nothing can be done to request expedited service on the case except for a dire need situation, which is typically a humanitarian/life or death situation.
Here is a Section 335.3:
§ 335.3 Determination on application; continuance of examination.
(a) The Service officer shall grant the application if the applicant has complied with all requirements for naturalization under this chapter. A decision to grant or deny the application shall be made at the time of the initial examination or within 120-days after the date of the initial examination of the applicant for naturalization under §335.2. The applicant shall be notified that the application has been granted or denied and, if the application has been granted, of the procedures to be followed for the administration of the oath of allegiance pursuant to part 337 of this chapter.
(b) Rather than make a determination on the application, the Service officer may continue the initial examination on an application for one reexamination, to afford the applicant an opportunity to overcome deficiencies on the application that may arise during the examination. The officer must inform the applicant in writing of the grounds to be overcome or the evidence to be submitted. The applicant shall not be required to appear for a reexamination earlier than 60 days after the first examination. However, the reexamination on the continued case shall be scheduled within the 120–day period after the initial examination, except as otherwise provided under §312.5(b) of this chapter. If the applicant is unable to overcome the deficiencies in the application, the application shall be denied pursuant to §336.1 of this chapter.
[56 FR 50497, Oct. 7, 1991, as amended at 58 FR 49914, Sept. 24, 1993]
A couple of other observations:
- Apparently being "in queue for oath" does not necessarily mean that the application has officially been approved.
- Apparently, a decision can be made at the interview (contrary to what is sometimes stated at this board)
- New York seems to be very quiet these days. I am wondering whether there was a push to get oaths done before the election and now things are backing up.
JohnnyCash
Volunteer Moderator
Why do you think it's taking so long in your case to have a decision? Is there any complication or something else? Otherwise, very rarely it takes such a long time to have a decsion. Did officer tell you about name check to have cleared? What was the behavior of officer during the interview? Sometimes if officers are nasty then they do put the files away under the dust. Where were you interviewed? I don't see your interview experience here.
Thanks for following up, JohnnyCash. There are no major issues with my application, so I can only speculate. I have no continuous residency problems (several overseas trips for max. two weeks each), no criminal history or even speeding tickets. The interview itself was fairly straightforward. (That was also the reason why I did not post a detailed narrative, since I just wanted to provide a summary once everything was done.)
I was interviewed at 26 Federal Plaza in NYC (see my signature). The only possible reasons for a delay I can think of could be that I requested a modified oath (and provided documentation) and that I had a longstanding trip planned for two weeks in late September and gave the IO the dates to ensure that the oath would not fall into that range, hoping that it would be long before that.
The IO was friendly and courteous, and the interview went smoothly. The only unusual thing was that she needed to talk to her supervisor regarding the modified oath request, since she had never encountered it before and told me that she needed to take a closer look afterwards. I signed photos, paperwork etc. at the interview, and she congratulated me verbally at the end.
When I checked in through the congress liaison in early October, I was told that "the file looks good" and is in queue for oath. According to the congress liaison, the name check had to be cleared for the application to be put in queue, although I never got explicit confirmation from the USCIS.
So there is nothing glaring with the application, as far as I can tell. It would be good to know whether others have recently seen any New York OL activity, since the New York board has been pretty quiet in the last weeks.
JohnnyCash
Volunteer Moderator
Given the specific-detail of your case, all I could think of the following as to why it's taking so long to have a decsion on your case-
(1) Pending Name Check- It could be possible that your Name Check is still pending. Not always name check is done prior to the interview. Though USCIS has implemented a policy lately about scheduling an applicant for the interview only once all the background checks are done, but it's not always the case as 'hard and fast' rule. Besides, the policy of scheduling for an interview only once all background checks are cleared is a matter of USCIS interim policy and not as a matter of laws/rules. Thus, you should have asked the officer if your name check is cleared or not.
(2) Your file is lying under the dust somewhere in the corner or under the pile of files. It happens. Immigration officers are so busy and under tremendous pressure. They don't have much time to conduct interview. And they interview 8-12 applicants in a day. So, once they are done interviewing with one applicant, they very rarely get the chance to go over with that person's file. Thus, it could be possible that your file is under the pile having dust on it.
Other than these two assumptions, I don't see any other reason in your case for not to have a decision; otherwise it NEVER takes such a long time in NY district office. Oath is conducted 4 times a week in NY area, and most of time 200- more applicants in the Oath Ceremony. So I don't think finding a spot for you for the Oath ceremony is the reason to have delay in your case nor I see any complication in your case so to say it needs supervisor approval or needs review/investigation further. Plus, officer wasn't nasty either. Just keep your finger crossed. Hopefully, you will hear from them soon particularly when you are approaching to 120 days in a few days since you were interviewed.
Good luck....
(1) Pending Name Check- It could be possible that your Name Check is still pending. Not always name check is done prior to the interview. Though USCIS has implemented a policy lately about scheduling an applicant for the interview only once all the background checks are done, but it's not always the case as 'hard and fast' rule. Besides, the policy of scheduling for an interview only once all background checks are cleared is a matter of USCIS interim policy and not as a matter of laws/rules. Thus, you should have asked the officer if your name check is cleared or not.
(2) Your file is lying under the dust somewhere in the corner or under the pile of files. It happens. Immigration officers are so busy and under tremendous pressure. They don't have much time to conduct interview. And they interview 8-12 applicants in a day. So, once they are done interviewing with one applicant, they very rarely get the chance to go over with that person's file. Thus, it could be possible that your file is under the pile having dust on it.
Other than these two assumptions, I don't see any other reason in your case for not to have a decision; otherwise it NEVER takes such a long time in NY district office. Oath is conducted 4 times a week in NY area, and most of time 200- more applicants in the Oath Ceremony. So I don't think finding a spot for you for the Oath ceremony is the reason to have delay in your case nor I see any complication in your case so to say it needs supervisor approval or needs review/investigation further. Plus, officer wasn't nasty either. Just keep your finger crossed. Hopefully, you will hear from them soon particularly when you are approaching to 120 days in a few days since you were interviewed.
Good luck....
My interviewing officer never told me if name check was pending , he said, you should get notice for ceremony in about 3 weeks. shook my hand and thats all.
after that day, it took him 784 days to send me oath letter. right when i was preparing for 1447b.
I think thay can , in 784 SECONDS make decision, and send notice in mail.
I should have filed 1447b on 121th day, but i didnt.
but right now after all that time i really really hope everything goes smooth at oath and i become citizen. i'm just afraid they gonne pull me off the ceremony and send me home telling me they will send me letter in mail.
lets see.
after that day, it took him 784 days to send me oath letter. right when i was preparing for 1447b.
I think thay can , in 784 SECONDS make decision, and send notice in mail.
I should have filed 1447b on 121th day, but i didnt.
but right now after all that time i really really hope everything goes smooth at oath and i become citizen. i'm just afraid they gonne pull me off the ceremony and send me home telling me they will send me letter in mail.
lets see.
Thanks, JohnnyCash. While both possibilities exist, it seems to me from the indirect information I received through the congressional liaison that option (1) is less likely. This leaves option (2), which is somewhat scary, imagining my file between old sandwich leftovers and maybe some spilled soda...
Since the dedicated congressional liaison on the USCIS side apparently does not speak to the interviewing officer, it is quite possible that the several inquiries never made the IO aware that my file was in the pile. I am wondering whether it would make sense to call the USCIS customer "service" number directly and talk to an IO, since more than 90 days have passed or whether there is no point in trying until 120 days have passed? From what I have seen so far on this board, calling before 120 days seemed pretty futile.
My interviewing officer never told me if name check was pending , he said, you should get notice for ceremony in about 3 weeks. shook my hand and thats all.
after that day, it took him 784 days to send me oath letter. right when i was preparing for 1447b.
I think thay can , in 784 SECONDS make decision, and send notice in mail.
I should have filed 1447b on 121th day, but i didnt.
but right now after all that time i really really hope everything goes smooth at oath and i become citizen. i'm just afraid they gonne pull me off the ceremony and send me home telling me they will send me letter in mail.
lets see.
Sorry to read that, eddie1975. Could you post your details or add them to the signature, please?
filed jan 2006
fp late feb 2006
Int. august 2006
2nd fp october 2008
oath 14th nov.2008
Finally passed the interiveiw
_________________________________________________________________
Guys,
I had the 2nd interview today at Garden City. In my previous interview I was told to come back with more proofs for my marriage as my case was three years marriage based. The appointment was at 10 AM. I reached Garden city office at 9:30 AM. Check in at the gate and went to 2nd floor. I had my wife and daughter with me but they were not allowed to the 2nd floor and were told to wait in the waiting lounge at Ist floor. The 2nd floor waiting lounge was full. I drop my appointment letter in the box and took a seat.
Immigration officers were coming to the lobby and calling the names of the candidates. Finally after a wait of approx 2 hours my name was called by a white IO in his mid 50's (This was a different IO than the last time). He escorted me to his office where my A file was already opened on his desk. He offered me to be seated (No oath nothing). Then he read my appointment letter (N-14) and asked me if I have the requested documents. I said yes and started to hand him the files one by one. I had arranged different documents like bank statement, health insurance, prescription insurance, vehicle insurance etc) nicely in different file covers. After like 4th file he stopped me and said this is enough to establish the relation. I had like 10 files (joint credit card statement, bank statement, statement from the land lords and neighbor, letter from my pension plans etc). Then he asked me if I have submitted my children birth certificates. I said yes, I did in my initial interview. He started looking into my A file and finally found it. He asked me If I three children from this marriage. I replied yes. He started shaking his head but did not say anything.
Finally he said congratulation I am approving your case and you will get the Oath letter in the mail in the next three to four weeks. I said thank you and left his office. The whole interview lasted about 10 minutes.
Guys I thank this forum and all of you including Vorpal, Bob, Jonnycash, and others who gave their valuable inputs and expert opinions. Thank you and good luck to other waiting for the interview.
Today I had an interview for citizenship at Garden City New York . This was my worse experience with USCIS. My case was 3 years marriage based. No criminal record, no moral issue not even a parking ticket. The interveiw was scheduled at 8:00 AM. I was called Approx. 9:10 AM by a lady officer (Black decent). From the start of the interview the officer was extremely rude and unfriendly. She started with the civic test which I passed with 10 out of 10 then she gave me three sentences to write which I did. After that she started with the application. She verified all the things on the application form. Asked about a trip of less than a month to home country. I said this was to visit my extended family back home. Then she proceeded to the rest of the questions including # of children, their dates of birth, names etc. etc. In this whole process she was not frindly at all. It's seemed like she was grilling me. After that she asked me about Tax transcripts which I handed over to her. I filed joint tax returns for the last eight years. Then she started working on her computer. At this point I thought its over and I am approved. Then she told me to show here the utilitiy bills , bank statements, house lease and health insurance information under both of our names. I had bank statments only which I gave it to her but she said this is not enough. Show me the apt. lease for the last three years. I told her that I am subleting a portion from my brother in law who own the house. She said OK show me the health insurance information. I gave her my health insurance card. She said "NO its not acceptable you have to show me the proof that you both are covered under this insurance for the last three years". I said Ok I can get a letter from my insurance company. She said OK " You either get this until 3 PM today or come back on November 17, 2008 with the proof and if you choose today & don't show up by 3 PM she will deny my case". I was shocked. I repeatedly requested her to please give me at least a day to get this letter but she insisted to inform her right now if I want until 3 PM today or November 17. I requested her to please give me at least 10 Minutes to check with my insurance company if they can fax me a letter. She said no as fax is not acceptable she needs original. I then conceded and requested her to give me the November 17th to come with the requested documents.
Guys It was extremely horrible experience. The interview lasted for one and half hours. Please advice what should I do now. Like I mentioned I am subleting a portion of a private house from my cousin who owns that house. I have no lease, no utilities bills under our joint name But I have joint bank statements and joint health insurance for the last three years. Will that be enough? Please advice.
Suprisingly she asked me If I have life insurance. I replied no. You will not believe me, she got annoyed and said " WHY NOT".
Guys what should I do now? Should I hire the attorney?
-----------------------------
VSC/NYC
11/19/2007 N-400 Applied
1/23/2008 Finger print
3/23/2008 Name check cleared
9/24/2008 Interview (Request more evidence)
11/17/2008 Approved (Waiting for Oath).
_________________________________________________________________
Guys,
I had the 2nd interview today at Garden City. In my previous interview I was told to come back with more proofs for my marriage as my case was three years marriage based. The appointment was at 10 AM. I reached Garden city office at 9:30 AM. Check in at the gate and went to 2nd floor. I had my wife and daughter with me but they were not allowed to the 2nd floor and were told to wait in the waiting lounge at Ist floor. The 2nd floor waiting lounge was full. I drop my appointment letter in the box and took a seat.
Immigration officers were coming to the lobby and calling the names of the candidates. Finally after a wait of approx 2 hours my name was called by a white IO in his mid 50's (This was a different IO than the last time). He escorted me to his office where my A file was already opened on his desk. He offered me to be seated (No oath nothing). Then he read my appointment letter (N-14) and asked me if I have the requested documents. I said yes and started to hand him the files one by one. I had arranged different documents like bank statement, health insurance, prescription insurance, vehicle insurance etc) nicely in different file covers. After like 4th file he stopped me and said this is enough to establish the relation. I had like 10 files (joint credit card statement, bank statement, statement from the land lords and neighbor, letter from my pension plans etc). Then he asked me if I have submitted my children birth certificates. I said yes, I did in my initial interview. He started looking into my A file and finally found it. He asked me If I three children from this marriage. I replied yes. He started shaking his head but did not say anything.
Finally he said congratulation I am approving your case and you will get the Oath letter in the mail in the next three to four weeks. I said thank you and left his office. The whole interview lasted about 10 minutes.
Guys I thank this forum and all of you including Vorpal, Bob, Jonnycash, and others who gave their valuable inputs and expert opinions. Thank you and good luck to other waiting for the interview.
Finally Approved!
Just wanted to provide a quick update. I finally ended up calling the USCIS Customer Service line and talked to an IO. (The robotic Service Rep. was willing to open a service request, as more than 90 days had passed since the interview, but the computer would not let her do it.) The IO confirmed that the background check had cleared, and that my application was "suspended" on the date of the interview. He was very professional and friendly and advised me to make an InfoPass appointment to see what the issue is, since he could not see more from the system. He was based in California.
After a few more follow-ups with Congressional staff, I was almost ready to follow through with the InfoPass and also think about next steps, but my wife called them again yesterday (she is an American citizen) and stayed at the phone while they talked to the USCIS liaison. They told her that the application was still pending and that it was definitely not "suspended." They also requested a response in writing so I could use it in the future. Sure enough, I got a call back from the Senator's office today (exactly 120 days after the interview), telling me that my application was granted, my oath is on December 17 and that I should expect an OL within the next few days!
One interesting observation was that an American citizen seems to be taken more seriously by Congressional staff than non-citizens, so having a close relative (such as a spouse) available to put some polite but persistent pressure onto them seems to help a great deal. Obviously, this option is not available to everyone.
Thanks everyone for their help so far. I have one question: Has anyone had their oath at the Westchester Courthouse and can provide some information about how long the ceremony takes and other details?
Thanks, JohnnyCash. While both possibilities exist, it seems to me from the indirect information I received through the congressional liaison that option (1) is less likely. This leaves option (2), which is somewhat scary, imagining my file between old sandwich leftovers and maybe some spilled soda...
Since the dedicated congressional liaison on the USCIS side apparently does not speak to the interviewing officer, it is quite possible that the several inquiries never made the IO aware that my file was in the pile. I am wondering whether it would make sense to call the USCIS customer "service" number directly and talk to an IO, since more than 90 days have passed or whether there is no point in trying until 120 days have passed? From what I have seen so far on this board, calling before 120 days seemed pretty futile.
Just wanted to provide a quick update. I finally ended up calling the USCIS Customer Service line and talked to an IO. (The robotic Service Rep. was willing to open a service request, as more than 90 days had passed since the interview, but the computer would not let her do it.) The IO confirmed that the background check had cleared, and that my application was "suspended" on the date of the interview. He was very professional and friendly and advised me to make an InfoPass appointment to see what the issue is, since he could not see more from the system. He was based in California.
After a few more follow-ups with Congressional staff, I was almost ready to follow through with the InfoPass and also think about next steps, but my wife called them again yesterday (she is an American citizen) and stayed at the phone while they talked to the USCIS liaison. They told her that the application was still pending and that it was definitely not "suspended." They also requested a response in writing so I could use it in the future. Sure enough, I got a call back from the Senator's office today (exactly 120 days after the interview), telling me that my application was granted, my oath is on December 17 and that I should expect an OL within the next few days!
One interesting observation was that an American citizen seems to be taken more seriously by Congressional staff than non-citizens, so having a close relative (such as a spouse) available to put some polite but persistent pressure onto them seems to help a great deal. Obviously, this option is not available to everyone.
Thanks everyone for their help so far. I have one question: Has anyone had their oath at the Westchester Courthouse and can provide some information about how long the ceremony takes and other details?