out of country for citizenship interview

J

jayate

Registered Users (C)
I need to be out of the country during interivew for N400 process

Did anyone else go thru it. How long did you have to wait for the
interview to get rescheduled? any issues for them accepting the
gravity of situation?

The INS office told me 6-9 mos. INS phone officer replied 2-6 mos.

Worth the wait and complications or prepone? I know thats a personal
decision. I am trying to find out how much trouble postponing interview is.

Side note: Interview - formality or a moderately painful experience? Please
weigh in..

Always,

Jayate.
 
jayate said:
Side note: Interview - formality or a moderately painful experience? Please
weigh in..

Always,

Jayate.
Click to expand...

Formality if your case is straight forward as in no tickets(DUI),no arrests,no travel to coutries that on watchlist, no divorces etc.

Otherwise you are in for the pain of your life!
 
MasterUSA said:
Formality if your case is straight forward as in no tickets(DUI),no arrests,no travel to coutries that on watchlist, no divorces etc. Otherwise you are in for the pain of your life!
Click to expand...

and....if you broke your (continuous) residence, did not file your taxes, acted as non-resident, have "fishy" immigration history, voted, claimed you are US citizen, lied about something, did not register for SS....etc.etc.

This interview is no formality and I would not understand it as a "lame" session. For example, IO will review all your files and can question, re-examine, ask for more evidence and judge all the previous immigration rulings. In other words, you can go to the interview for a citizenship, and complete it without GC.

I can say that I had the most straightforward case (interview less than 10-15 minutes), but I was very prepared.

In terms of postponing your interview , please read the other thread.

Do not know your personal reason....You know the best....And as you said, you need to make a decision. However keep in mind:

1) Please do not consider USCIS as a commerical busniesss trying to adjust to your needs and willing to go 20 extra miles to satisfy its customer. You need to shift your understanding and think about USCIS as a government agency dealing with an extremely important issue - immigration.

2) In any case, if you decide to postpone it, you will be faced with (1) delays (for sure) - can range from 2 months up to 1 yr; (2) potential confusion with your USCIS records (things like USCIS thinking that you did not show up for your interview and closing your file....and you having to spend extra time, energy and patience to correct these administrative mistakes) and (3) unpredicability - next interview will be based on USCIS time, not your wishes, i.e. might be in a bad space again.

3) So If I were you, only MAJOR EMERGENCY (medical, acts of god, death etc.) could prevent me not to attend the interview.

Changing a tourist airline ticket (for fun or familiy visit) would be at the bottom of my list of priorities no matter of cancellation/changing fees.

The citizenship interview is ONCE in your lifetime (hopefully) and I would do all humanly possible to attend it.

Good luck!

P.S.: I'm not a lawyer or an immigration expert. I'm just an ordinary guy. You are soley responsible for your actions.
 
If this is a business trip - reschedule it. If its a personal trip and someone isn't dying, reschedule it.

Do absolutely everything you can NOT to reschedule your natz interview. Sure you'll read about people who rescheduled with minimal impact, but by far the most common outcome is long delay and uncertainty. Do yourself a favor...
 
You can travel immediately after the interview (but before taking the Oath). Once the I/O mentions that you have been recommended for naturalization they will also ask you if you are ready to take an Oath (if you are in VA, there is a possibility for taking same day Oath). At that time, you can request USCIS to schedule your Oath after you come back from your Overseas trip (I am assuming its a short one).

Remember that once you take the Oath, your GC will be taken back as that's when you become a Naturalized citizen. After taking Oath, you will have to have a US Passport to travel (plus the visa situation depending upon the Country you are planning to visit). Others on the forum can advise your further.

Good luck.
 
Do you have an interview scheduled? Because it is not clear from your post. You can try to postpone it and the whole process will take longer than usual.
I would say the interview is just a review of the application and the history/civis test. Not the torture it is made out to be. Traffic tickets and other small problems shouldn't be an issue because the natives are not perfect drivers/humans.
It is your personal choice whether you want to prolong your dealing with an unpredictable gov agency.
 
aabbcc11 said:
I would say the interview is just a review of the application and the history/civis test. Not the torture it is made out to be.
Click to expand...

Well that really depends on the specifics of the case in question. 95% of people have straight-forward cases and their interviews are conducted in 10-15 minutes with no hassles. The other 5% have serious issues, and frequently end up posting here....
 
Superstring nailed it. Don't miss the interview at any cost. I gave up saving couple of thousand dollars to not disturb the N-400 processing.
 
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