Received Oath letter after completing Citizenship - Help

This really sounds like a tough one...

One course of action that I have not seen suggested in this thread is to contact your congressperson. I have made the experience that calling as a citizen gets you much better treatment than when you inquire as an immigrant about USCIS issues. You could call and request to talk to the Director of Immigration Affairs. Introduce yourself as a constituent and explain the situation. Then ask them to use their liaisons to the USCIS to clarify the issue. Be polite but firm. Knowing that you can vote gets their attention much more than when a non-citizen calls.

I have used this with success repeatedly whenever my application seemed stuck by having my wife (a US citizen) call.


trygc said:
I got my GC in June 2002 and applied for N-400 in July 2007. So there should not be any time issue.

I was told by the agent that they might give me a new cerificate of citizenship in the oath ceremony and I might have to surrender my existing one because it never existed in the first place according to the system. Since I already applied for US passport based on the existing certificate of citizenship am I at the risk of losing my passport too?

Should I just take copy of certificate of citizenship to the USCIS building because they might take the original.

The agent told me that I should not travel till the issue is resolved and at risk of not entering US because I have no valid documents if I surrender the current Indian citizenship

1. My debate is should I go to Oath ceremony where it is more informal to defend my case or take an Infopass and get into USCIS building

2. My spouse also got the citizenship at the same time and never got the second oath letter like myself. But her case status online shows it is pending approval. So I am planning to take her also with me to just make sure that her records are straight. In that case I need an Infopass for her because at oath ceremony USCIS will not bring her file.

So this looks like visiting two separate times and presenting our cases differently. What is your advise?

Thanks for all your inputs
Trygc
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You are right; I missed that one since it was a one-liner at the end of your post, sorry.

Taking this course of action will hopefully get an answer before the oath date. The other advantage of this approach is that one has one representative and two senators (well, in most states anyway... :)), so one can do this three times...


jimgreener said:
I believe I had suggested to call congressman or senator . That is a good advice.
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Scary! I would also not ignore it. I would go to the oath with the naturalization certificate. And call my congressperson and senator.

Actually, my case status online still shows that the case is pending. Should I be worried too? :confused:
 
Thats scary. So now people have to worry about this too?? For how long?

I think the online status never changes.:) I once put in random numbers for online status and saw cases from like 5 years ago still showing pending.
 
As soon as I was scheduled for interview my case number disappeared from the system.When I entered my case number it said "case not found" or something like that.
It is quite common as whenever the case is transfered from service center to the local district office for interview, the case is not updated on web site.
That is one of the reasons I did not trust what the IO told the OP.
My advice to him was (and still is) to call USCIS again and talk to a different IO and see what he says.
 
Sounds to me like the OP's case is a simple administrative mistake that will be resolved but going to DO and having them update their system. The customer service rep said that according to their system, the OP is not a citizen. What determines if you are a naturalized citizen is that you took sworn oath, not what their system shows you are. Likewise, if their system showed by some mistake you are a naturalized citizen but you never showed up for oath, you are in fact not a citizen.
I don't see the need to contact congressperson since the issue will be resolved. Mistakes do happen.
 
That's not a bad idea. It would show this as a case example of what type of mistakes can happen. The Ombudsman could reference it in the annual report as part of ongoing recommendations to USCIS.
 
Bobsmyth said:
I don't see the need to contact congressperson since the issue will be resolved.
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As long as they actually do resolve it by updating the system without a fight, rather than continuing to say the OP is not a citizen.

But an ongoing refusal to acknowledge somebody's citizenship after they went through the oath and got a passport would be a stealthy and scary back-handed attempt to denaturalize and would need strong attention from all powers that can assist. If USCIS fails to cooperate and correct the error, and they don't get a big slap from Congress and/or courts for doing this, that makes every naturalized citizen vulnerable.
 
I don't see USCIS putting up a fight on this issue especially when they realize the OP previously took the oath and was handed a certificate. It's one thing to say "our system doesn't reflect you being a US citizen", and another to say "your not a citizen, no matter what that certificate says, until our system is updated". Again, what determines that you are a naturalized citizen is haven taken a oath, not on what the USCIS computer system shows.
 
>>> what determines that you are a naturalized citizen is haven taken a oath, not on what the USCIS computer system shows. <<<

I think Computer system takes precedence over everything. You could take Oath in your living room or before an IO but until it is recorded that you are a Citizen things are dicy. IMHO.
 
Update

Friends Thanks for your encouraging words and help. Here is the latest update.

Called USCIS and spoke to an officer. The officer is friendly and patient.

1. The officer asked me to schedule an Infopass to discuss my case. There was no update made after I completed the interview so there was no record of my citizenship.

2. The officer asked me not to attend the Oath because it can be fixed at DO itself. There is no need for a new Oath since I am already a citizen.

3. The officer also told me that usually there should be a timelag between completion of citizenship and online status update. but online status should reflect the actuality eventually.

So my advice for the friends is to make sure that their status reflect actual otherwise meet your DO.

Thanks
Trygc
 
nitin_swami said:
>>> what determines that you are a naturalized citizen is haven taken a oath, not on what the USCIS computer system shows. <<<

I think Computer system takes precedence over everything. You could take Oath in your living room or before an IO but until it is recorded that you are a Citizen things are dicy. IMHO.
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IMHO, what determines citizenship is the presence of an original naturalization certificate. A computer system can crash and/or get infected by a virus, causing millions of naturalization records to disappear. If this were to happen, the only way to prove one's citizenship would be to present a naturalization certificate.
 
trygc said:
Friends Thanks for your encouraging words and help. Here is the latest update.

Called USCIS and spoke to an officer. The officer is friendly and patient.

1. The officer asked me to schedule an Infopass to discuss my case. There was no update made after I completed the interview so there was no record of my citizenship.

2. The officer asked me not to attend the Oath because it can be fixed at DO itself. There is no need for a new Oath since I am already a citizen.

3. The officer also told me that usually there should be a timelag between completion of citizenship and online status update. but online status should reflect the actuality eventually.

So my advice for the friends is to make sure that their status reflect actual otherwise meet your DO.

Thanks
Trygc
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The online status is hardly ever updated and means absolutely nothing. I've been a citizen since last September, yet my case status shows as received and pending. There are many other naturalized citizens whose online status still shows the same information. Also, there are probably just as many applicants whose status has never appeared online to begin with. There is absolutely NO REASON to schedule an InfoPass or be concerned with online status. This is a non-issue.
 
Vorpal said:
There is absolutely NO REASON to schedule an InfoPass or be concerned with online status.
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That is true, if the only thing wrong is the online status.

But having them think you are not a citizen, and getting a second oath letter as a result of that incorrect thinking, is not a trivial thing to be ignored.
 
nitin_swami said:
I think Computer system takes precedence over everything. You could take Oath in your living room or before an IO but until it is recorded that you are a Citizen things are dicy. IMHO.
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Paper records take precedent over electronic ones. An invalid online status that is defendant on a legal document does not invalidate that legal document.
In the OPs case, there is no dispute from USCIS that he is in fact a US citizen. What they are disputing is what their computer systems shows, which can be easily rectified by him showing the certificate to USCIS.
 
Hi Bob,

whilst in the end you might be right, in THIS country the computer is always right, not matter how bad the info is.

I am a 23 year veteran of IT consulting, trust me - that's a simple fact.
 
MartinAub said:
Hi Bob,

whilst in the end you might be right, in THIS country the computer is always right, not matter how bad the info is.

I am a 23 year veteran of IT consulting, trust me - that's a simple fact.
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The computer is only as right as the information it relies on. Reminds me of the movie "The Net" with Sandra Bullock and the also on this season's 24 TV series theme..a firewall intentionally created with a back door that allows for all kinds of mischievous things to take place.
 
Yeah,

or tell me why the immigration officer even mentioned that allegedly I overstayed a visa more than 10 years ago - AFTER flipping my US passport.

It's like: WHO CARES DUDE, I SWOR AN OATH
 
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