Please help - ? re spouse getting US citizenship

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greenbeanie

New Member
OK, I did read through some of the site so my apologies if I am asking something in a sticky or FAQ somewhere. Like many newbies, I am here because I'm panicked about my personal situation. Any and all help and advice appreciated!

I am a US citizen, my husband is British. He has lived in the US for 12 years, we have been married for 10 of those years. He has a GC, no conditional status. We have 3 children - all US and UK citizens (all born here but registered in Britain and have both passports).

We are planning a church related move to Ireland in 30 days. It may be a few years or may be a permanent move. He applied for naturalization in Oct, was fingerprinted in Jan and has been told he is "on a waiting list" for an interview. Is there anything we can do to expedite this? We would dearly love to have the interview/oath done before we leave the country. If necessary he would fly back for it but that would be an expensive interview.

HELP!!!

THANKS!!!!!!
 
It's not just the expense of flying back that you need to worry about. An applicant for citizenship needs to be still residing in the US during the application process all the way up until final approval at the oath (unless meeting allowable exceptions like the military). Short trips are OK, but long trips and other activities that indicate that one has moved overseas could lead to denial of citizenship (those "other activities" include overseas employment, spouse and kids living overseas during the applicant's long trips, selling one's US residence or terminating the lease, etc.).

At this point, it is way too early to do anything to expedite it. There are many other people in the queue waiting longer than your husband. However, once he is interviewed, they are required by law to decide the case in 120 days, and if he is still waiting 120 days after the interview he can file a lawsuit to force them to complete the process ASAP. Otherwise, without having been interviewed, the case would have to be pending for much longer than a year before any requests or lawsuits to expedite would be taken seriously.
 
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greenbeanie said:
OK, I did read through some of the site so my apologies if I am asking something in a sticky or FAQ somewhere. Like many newbies, I am here because I'm panicked about my personal situation. Any and all help and advice appreciated!

I am a US citizen, my husband is British. He has lived in the US for 12 years, we have been married for 10 of those years. He has a GC, no conditional status. We have 3 children - all US and UK citizens (all born here but registered in Britain and have both passports).

We are planning a church related move to Ireland in 30 days. It may be a few years or may be a permanent move. He applied for naturalization in Oct, was fingerprinted in Jan and has been told he is "on a waiting list" for an interview. Is there anything we can do to expedite this? We would dearly love to have the interview/oath done before we leave the country. If necessary he would fly back for it but that would be an expensive interview.

HELP!!!

THANKS!!!!!!
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You would be shooting yourselves in the foot if you try to expedite the process on the grounds that you plan to relocate permanently within the next month, as that itself is sufficient grounds for denying the application. Also, your husband would lose the green card status as well if you relocate now for a few years or permanently.

I think the best course of action would be to postpone the Ireland relocation till after your husband completes the naturalization process.
 
Thanks for both responses. Our understanding was that we could request expediting for any ministerial/missionary related work - or military but that doesn't apply to us! We are maintaining a residence in the US for now - not employment obviously but address/house etc. We were advised (by people who know nothing about it btw) to get an immigration lawyer and/or contact our congressman. Are those both bad ideas?

Thanks again for having this site and your responses. You guys are the best!
 
greenbeanie said:
Thanks for both responses. Our understanding was that we could request expediting for any ministerial/missionary related work -
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The law does not support expediting for that reason.
We were advised (by people who know nothing about it btw) to get an immigration lawyer and/or contact our congressman. Are those both bad ideas?
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Lawyer would be a waste of money, and contacting the Congressman would be a waste of time. 6-12 months is a normal time frame for most cases. Neither the lawyer or Congressman is going to be able to do anything to expedite the case if the waiting time has not yet become abnormally long. And you'll definitely make things worse if you create the impression that you want it expedited to facilitate your overseas relocation.
 
You must be in one of the slower DOs. In some DOs, people who applied Jan/Feb already got their FP and interview letter. I am not sure about my DO-not enough statistics to find general timeline for interview letter. But yeah unless you get your IL-I guess not much you can do. Although when compared to a few years ago-now is like record breaking speed.
 
Thanks so much for your answers! I contacted a couple of law firms but they agreed that it was too soon to get a lawyer involved. We decided to take our chances with USCIS and ask them to expedite our case based on our travel plans. They did send an email to our "local" office (actually 300 miles away) and asked them to expedite it if possible. We got a call the very next day to show this Thursday/yesterday. Needless to say, we dropped everything and went. My husband passed the interview/test and they just happened to be having an oath ceremony today and fit him in! So he is actually an American citizen!!!!! Incredible. It is unbelievably, blessedly over just two weeks later. Including the 300 mile trip home again! Thanks for your help and input and best of luck to all of you pursuing your American dream!

BTW, the USCIS office initially said they couldn't do anything and when he asked if he should contact his congressman for help, they said, "Well, we could actually send an email to your local office". Don't know if it always works out that way but seemed to send the message that he was really serious about it!
 
Conmgratulations, greenbeanie, I'm glad it worked out so well for your family. I will admit though, I am somewhat shocked - the USCIS listening to your concerns, going out of the way to provide personal service......I guess pigs can fly LOL
 
greenbeanie said:
Thanks so much for your answers! I contacted a couple of law firms but they agreed that it was too soon to get a lawyer involved. We decided to take our chances with USCIS and ask them to expedite our case based on our travel plans. They did send an email to our "local" office (actually 300 miles away) and asked them to expedite it if possible. We got a call the very next day to show this Thursday/yesterday. Needless to say, we dropped everything and went. My husband passed the interview/test and they just happened to be having an oath ceremony today and fit him in! So he is actually an American citizen!!!!! Incredible. It is unbelievably, blessedly over just two weeks later. Including the 300 mile trip home again! Thanks for your help and input and best of luck to all of you pursuing your American dream!

BTW, the USCIS office initially said they couldn't do anything and when he asked if he should contact his congressman for help, they said, "Well, we could actually send an email to your local office". Don't know if it always works out that way but seemed to send the message that he was really serious about it!
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This is certainly shocking and goes against all logic of naturalization process that I have ever heard. So does that mean I can also ask them to expedite my case once I apply for the same reason? I am not saying that I will but I am just saying that you were VERY fortunate that this happened. This is unheard of.
 
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