Philadelphia PA - N-400 Timeline

desi in love

hi to all mature and seasoned members of this forum ( phillydude, rahul, joeF)

I had never take citizenship seriously untill I fell in love with this sweet desi gal in india. :)
I filled N400 from Miami April 03, got fingerpriniting done, moved to philly august 03, informed the INS and got an acknowledgement. Now Im waiting for interview like crayzee, moreover I dont even know which office my file is.

Gurus ne clues about how to trace my office Fax/phone nos etc etc?

thanks in advance
 
Welcome to Phila.

I would recommend the following checks

a) Check FBI fingerprint status Ph: (304) 625-2000
b) Check FBI name check status Fax: (202) 324-3367 (Name,A#,DOB,Email)
c) Visit Philly DO and find out tentative interview date:- (http://uscis.gov/graphics/fieldoffices/philadelphia)
d) If this girl is in India, you may want to use Direct Consular Filing (DCF) , which is much faster than a K1 or K3. There is some info about this in this forum (under a thread I started)
e) Collect any and all forms/docs necessary for Interview , DCF , now so you have a minimal wait time after your CZ.

Philly takes about a year to process

All the Best
Rahul
 
Last edited by a moderator:
manoo said:
hi to all mature and seasoned members of this forum ( phillydude, rahul, joeF)

I had never take citizenship seriously untill I fell in love with this sweet desi gal in india. :)
I filled N400 from Miami April 03, got fingerpriniting done, moved to philly august 03, informed the INS and got an acknowledgement. Now Im waiting for interview like crayzee, moreover I dont even know which office my file is.

Gurus ne clues about how to trace my office Fax/phone nos etc etc?

thanks in advance
Click to expand...


I would call Vermont service center make do the following:
1) Make sure file is not misplaced
2) Ask why interview is not been setup yet.
 
VSC unfortunately has no phone line for enquiries. You need to either take a trip down to the physical center (I'm doing it every 2-3 weeks). Calling the Philly DO will help , or you can call Natl Cust Svc, they can tell you if you are pending "Interview Scheduling". Follow up-Follow up-Follow up
 
Hi people!

I just found this forum a day before yesterda, looking for some info about the interview in Philadelphia.

My interview was yesterday and I passed. It was easy, I was more than well prepared, studied history, government, knew how to spell my Senators' names.

Make sure to bring you passpors, all passports you ever had since you came to the US.

I also brought all my tax records and the IRS 1722 form for the past 5 years, but the examiner did not ask for it. It's still better to have it because I've heard sometimes they ask for this form. You can get the 1722 form by mail if you call IRS.

If you don't have time to get 1722 by mail you can try going to local IRS office but you must prove to them that you need that form immediately and cannot wait for it. Basically you can show your INS appointment letter and a paper that came with it that specifically mentiones the 1722 form.


My advice to all is make sure you don't just know the answers to sample questions, but you know how to spell the answers because the exam requires you to write the answers, not just answer then. It's not a multiple choice, you just have to write the answer the best you can.

Don't count on being in and out in 10 minutes, My total time was about 75 minutes. It was busy in the office, the interview itself took about 20 minutes, the rest was waiting.

I arrived exactly on time - to the minute.

The examiner said that the oath ceremony may take place around the July 4 holiday, but they don't know for sure where and when in will take place, also he said it can take place in Harrisburg as sometimes it does. They still waiting for official word from their bosses.

Harrisburg is about 4 hours drive for me, of cause I would not mind going their if I have to.


By the way, I applied at end of July 2003.

If you study the 2 official books on US history and Government that you can download from bcis website, you will pass without a problem.

You must know how to spell well.

Good luck.
 
100 questions

Cramming 100 questions from BCIS site should be enough rather than reading the civics book? Opinions....
 
I don't think they ever deviate from the standard 100. Most offices have a standard subset (from the 100) that they ask of all applicants. New York (Garden City) office where I had my interview had a sheet of paper with questions that was used for everyone...
 
Phillydude - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! I've been thinking about you all day - I'm looking forward to hearing about it!!! :D
 
More details

My interview was scheduled at 11:00 AM and I arrived at the USCIS office at 10:15 AM. I was called in around 1 PM yes, thats correct, 1 PM. I was hungry and my bladder was full. Anyways, once inside, it took approximately 15 minutes. I had a name change request, and the officer said it has to be done through the court since all my documents had my middle name as last name. Apparently, they can do small changes but the officer decides whether they can do it internally or through the court. All questions where from the standard 100 questions and he went through the application to make sure everything was upto date.

As far as oath is concerned, I am from Bucks County and Bucks county does not do oath ceremonies and we will have to go to Philadephia. In other words, Philadelphia courts serve both Philadelphia and Bucks County residents. Currently they schedule this once a month for 75 people (down from 100 due to renovation of the court). He was not able to tell me how are ahead of me but said it could be anytime in July/AUgust/Sept and he was pretty sure it will not be in June.


That's about it.
 
Took the oath on July 1, it was a big ceremony in Philadelphia convention center. 1500 from 130 countries people became US citizens.

My application priority date was July 25 2003, so the total time from applying to getting naturalization certificate was approximately 11 months.

My wife applied 2 1/2 months after me and she still has not received an interview letter.
 
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