Pittsburgh Interview Experience

S

Shyam123

Registered Users (C)
Hi Everyone ! I had my interview today and it went very well. The lady who interviewed me was very friendly. I was little concerned as I spent more than 550 days in India for personal reasons. I had total 8 trips but all of them lasted less than 6 months. She did ask me about the trips and looked satisfied when I explained the situation and showed the travel document. I saw a big file in her hand carrying my immigration history.
After going through my Application she took the civics test and I answered all 10 questions.
Finally she took my signatures and gave me N-652 form showing the result that I passed the test and recommended for citizenship. I will have to wait for couple of weeks for my oath letter.

This forum was really helpful throughout the process and I thank everyone for sharing their experiences.

11/04/06 Application to VSC
11/06/06 Application Received at VSC
11/08/06 Check Cashed
11/15/06 Notice Date
11/24/06 FP scheduled (missed the date as the letter arrived on 11/25/06)
12/01/06 FP done (walked in and got it done without any issues)
01/08/07 IV letter received
02/08/07 Interview done. :)
 
Interview @ Denver IO

After stucking in naming checking for 10 months, I finally got interview date on Feb 28th, 2007. Since I will have an international trip in the arly of March, 2007.
1. Does any one know what USCIS will do with green card? i.e. Do they take away my green card after IL, or I can still keep it?

2. Does anyone know Denver IO can have IL and oath at same day?
Please advise.
thank you.
Wei
 
1. You are no less and no more than a permanent resident until you take naturalization oath.
2. Don't know anything about Denver DO. Search for a timeline thread.
 
You hand in your GC during the oath ceremony, so until that moment, you are still an LPR with the same freedoms/restrictions on travel. i.e. you must maintain N-400 physical presence and continuous residence criteria right up until you take the oath.
 
Shyam123 said:
Hi Everyone ! I had my interview today and it went very well. The lady who interviewed me was very friendly. I was little concerned as I spent more than 550 days in India for personal reasons. I had total 8 trips but all of them lasted less than 6 months. She did ask me about the trips and looked satisfied when I explained the situation and showed the travel document. I saw a big file in her hand carrying my immigration history.
After going through my Application she took the civics test and I answered all 10 questions.
Finally she took my signatures and gave me N-652 form showing the result that I passed the test and recommended for citizenship. I will have to wait for couple of weeks for my oath letter.

This forum was really helpful throughout the process and I thank everyone for sharing their experiences.

11/04/06 Application to VSC
11/06/06 Application Received at VSC
11/08/06 Check Cashed
11/15/06 Notice Date
11/24/06 FP scheduled (missed the date as the letter arrived on 11/25/06)
12/01/06 FP done (walked in and got it done without any issues)
01/08/07 IV letter received
02/08/07 Interview done. :)
Click to expand...

Congratulations, and thanks for the information. I have a few questions for you regarding your trips outside the US. Was your interviewer interested more in the number of trips you made or the total amount of time spent outside the US? What travel documents did you show her?

The reason I ask is that I have about 14 trips outside the US over the 5 year period and although the total number of days outside the US is quite low (less than 50 days total), I do not want to get into a big discussion about why I had so many trips, what I was doing etc. In your experience, is there anything that I should bring or do at the interview in order to prepare myself?

Thanks for your help.
 
Hi Yummyk,
If you are outside the country for only 50 days, I don't think you will have any issue. They may just ask a reason for the trips. In my case the stay was longer as well as I had to take re entry permit so she wanted to know more details. All they look for is whether you maintained proper ties to U.S. or not in last five years. If the length of the trips were short, in my opinion that question doesn't arise at all. Good Luck...
 
Many short trips to different locations would probably stimulate less questions than many short trips to the same destination. I don't think the IO is solely interested in either number of trips or duration (assuming within the rules) - he is more concerned with the overall picture formed for the evidence available.

In my case, I'd made a series of longer trips to a variety of locations (5 months away each year for 3 years) but it didn't cause any questions because the overall picture was pretty obvious that I never intended to abandon my residency.

Every case is adjudicated individually. There is no single formula for guaranteed success - except perhaps never leaving the US, and never committing any sort of crime.
 
Thanks for the input, folks. I live in California quite close to the Mexican border, so this is why I ask. I have many short trips to Mexico, and some I do not even plan on reporting since they are less than 24 hours (and there is no corresponding stamp in my passport). Mainly I was just vacationing there, since it can be a nice weekend getaway, and I enjoy the benefits that it has to offer (one of which is that it is much cheaper than southern California).

As I said, I am trying to avoid a big discussion with the Interviewing Officer about why so many trips, what I was doing etc. I certainly was not trying to establish residency there or something like that, but I just want to avoid any hassles in case I say the wrong thing.
 
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