Tampa Timeline?

z350 said:
You were sooo Lithuanian! It was easy to recognise you. :D :D
Your face is not of Eastern European (Slavic) type. I should add other tips you gave me and the fact you stand when they call your country of former citizenship ... So I'm not a Sherlock Homes.
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If I showed you old pictures of my father and grandfather, you'd probably say they all look Lithuanian; they all look a little like me (or vice versa). Mrs. Laripu thought you were probably looking when they called the country of origin. Can I call you Sherlock Z anyway? :D

z350 said:
I don't care much about it anymore. Just don't wonna be crazy about it like some of us here. I will never beg for it.
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You don't have to beg. It's only bureaucracy. Instead of begging, they substitute filling in forms! I feel a little crazy again now, and will until I get my certificate back with a passport.

Anyway, give my congratulations to Mrs. z350. :)
 
Laripu said:
Mrs. Laripu thought you were probably looking when they called the country of origin.
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1. I become suspicion when I saw a person of your age with wife who looked like Lithuanian or Scandinavian ( but rather Lithuanian).

2. Hint about hair.

3. When you stand after they called your ex-country (of cause it is not Lithuania ;) ) my guess was sealed. :D
 
z350 said:
1. I become suspicion when I saw a person of your age with wife who looked like Lithuanian or Scandinavian ( but rather Lithuanian).
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Funny! :D My wife is originally German! (But now a Canadian/American citizen with no German citizenship.) If I tell her you think she looks Lithuanian, she'll hit me! :p
 
Name Change & Oath?

hwpd said:
Naw... I wouldn't say it's over, until I have the Naturalization certificate and certificate of name change in my hands.
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Hi HPWD,
When was your oath date? Was it at the Tampa Courthouse? Did they give you the naturalization certificate right away? What all do you need to apply for a passport after taking oath with Name Change?

Our interview is on 8/23/06 and my wife has applied for a name change. I understand she has to take her oath elsewhere and not the Tampa Convention Center like me. When are these oath dates scheduled for? How can I get more information on this?

I am also planning to make a trip right after our citizenship. What is a realistic time frame to get passports? I realize it is going to cost extra, but I need to make this trip anyway. Thanks for all your help.
 
v1v1v1 said:
I am also planning to make a trip right after our citizenship. What is a realistic time frame to get passports? I realize it is going to cost extra, but I need to make this trip anyway. Thanks for all your help.
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Expedited costs $157, but they claim 2 weeks turnaround. Expect 3 weeks.
Regular cost $60 less. They claim 6 weeks turnaround. Expect 7.

We did it, expedited, at the post office on Ehrlich and Dale Mabry. Note: they take your certificate and send it to the State Department, which sends it back with the passport.
 
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Laripu said:
Funny! :D My wife is originally German! (But now a Canadian/American citizen with no German citizenship.) If I tell her you think she looks Lithuanian, she'll hit me! :p
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No,
I meant following:

1. I become suspicion when I saw a person of your age who looked like Lithuanian or Scandinavian ( but rather Lithuanian). :)
 
Got my passport

I got my passport on Thursday, August 3, 2006. I'm done. The state department returned my certificate of citizenship without any damage to it. (Except that the post office had stapled my picture to the certificate - so there are a couple of little holes - no big deal.)

Now I can immediately commit a felony, go on welfare, and apply for a FEMA grant when a wind breaks a twig on one of my trees. ;) OF COURSE I'm kidding!
 
First off, congrats Laripu, Mrs. Laripu, and Mrs. z350! I hope everything went well with Mrs.Maryvams as well?

I was sworn in at the p.m. ceremony on July 24th, and am now awaiting receipt of my passport. I applied a couple of days after the ceremony, since I decided to go to the DMV and get my DL changed and renewed, as well as register to vote, first. I didn't go for the fast processing with the passport, so we'll see how long it takes. You received yours very, very quickly, Laripu! Most everything I read said that it was taking 3 weeks for fast, and 7 weeks for the "regular" processing. Maybe this means they're catching up.
 
N-400 Application

I am new to this board and just wanted to share my details about the N-400 Application:

N-400 Applcation Sent : 07/15/2006
Appl Recvd Date : 07/18/2006 (RD)
Priority Date: 07/18/2006 (PD)
Notice Date : 07/25/2006 (ND)
 
Welcome & congrats.

Congratulations Caillie!

Welcome bsnl. Did you receive notice for your interview? If so that would be incredibly fast. What about fingerprints? Don't worry about the process: it's all painless. :) The waiting is the only thing that hurts.
 
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Finger Print Notification

Thanks Laripu.....I did get the FP notice today in mail with the appt date 08/23/2006 in ASC Tampa.

I guess I did a small mistake while filling my N-400 form. I reported traffic ticket (Speeding) under Option 15 (any offense for which not arrested) instead of option 16 (Cited by Law enforcement officer). I have 2 questoins:

1. Does reporting under incorrect option be a problem at interview?.....all options looked same to me so I just checked one but then just realised (from one of the post) that it should be option 16 for traffic citations.

2. I do not have any reciept for the fine that I paid for this ticket...I got this ticket in NJ in 2003 and now I am in Tampa....Do I need to contact the municipal court to get the copy of the reciept?

Any help is greatly appreciated..

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N-400 Applcation Sent : 07/15/2006
Appl Recvd Date : 07/18/2006 (RD)
Priority Date: 07/18/2006 (PD)
Notice Date : 07/25/2006 (ND)
FP Notice Date: 08/01/2006
FP Appt Date: 08/23/2006
 
bsnl said:
1. Does reporting under incorrect option be a problem at interview?.....all options looked same to me so I just checked one but then just realised (from one of the post) that it should be option 16 for traffic citations.

2. I do not have any reciept for the fine that I paid for this ticket...I got this ticket in NJ in 2003 and now I am in Tampa....Do I need to contact the municipal court to get the copy of the reciept?
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Of course, I can't tell you what will happen at your interview. As they say, YMMV. But I can tell you that I had a parking ticket I forgot to put on the form, and when I mentioned it at the interview the guy said he didn't care about it. I had also forgotten to send in a couple of photocopied documents for both myself and my wife: the final divorce decree for my wife's first marriage, and our birth certificates. We brought those to our interview and yet we weren't asked for them. I figured that copies were available to them in our old green-card application from 5 years ago, so maybe that's why they didn't ask about them again.

Then again, maybe you get an immigration officer who's having a bad day and hammers you... maybe the best advice is to prepare like mad and then don't worry about it. Contacting the courst for a receipt isn't hard, and you probably have plenty of time. Send them a note asking for the receipt, and then you won't have to worry about it.
 
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DMV records

Thanks for your inputs Laripu....I also had one parking ticket which I forgot to put in my N-400 and may be I can get a reciept for both the tickets (parking and speeding) by contacting the court....also how do I get the getting DMV history for last 5 years...I need to get last 2 years from Florida DMV and 3 years prior to that from NJ DMV...I mean can u pls let me know the process of getting this history...sorry for the basic questions but I really don't know how to get these....I do know about how to get the tzx transcripts from IRS...
 
bsnl said:
Thanks for your inputs Laripu....I also had one parking ticket which I forgot to put in my N-400 and may be I can get a reciept for both the tickets (parking and speeding) by contacting the court....also how do I get the getting DMV history for last 5 years...I need to get last 2 years from Florida DMV and 3 years prior to that from NJ DMV...I mean can u pls let me know the process of getting this history...sorry for the basic questions but I really don't know how to get these....I do know about how to get the tzx transcripts from IRS...
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I don't know how you would get DMV history, and I don't know that you need DMV history. I think that if there's something on your record that CIS needs to know about it, they already know it and you just have to tell them if they ask you. You can show them ticket receipts if they ask, and then what else would you have to tell them?

Sorry, but I'm a little confused.
 
Tampa Sub-office N-400 timeline

January, 2006- Sent application to Texas Service Center
March, 2006 - Fingerprinting
June 21, 2006- Interview
Still waiting for Oath Taking ceremony letter

I called INS service center and they told me they're waiting for my background check...
 
This is a nice thread for Tampa....good info. I'm still a year away from from applying though but I'll be checking this thread periodically.
 
Documents for Interview

Hello everyone, I am in the same process as you and would like to thank everybody for taking the time to post your experiences to help people like me.
I started my process in May.

N-400 Mailed : May 1, 2006
Check Cashed : May 4, 2006
Notice Date : May 7, 2006
FP Notice Recd : June 4, 2006
FP Date: July 16, 2006
Interview Notice Recd: August 12, 2006
Interview Date : September 21, 2006

It would be nice if Mr.Laripu or someone who been through the interview can enlighten me as to what documents they carried for the interview and which ones the officer asked for. Appreciate all your help.
 
lukelecarre said:
It would be nice if Mr.Laripu or someone who been through the interview can enlighten me as to what documents they carried for the interview and which ones the officer asked for. Appreciate all your help.
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I took the things that they asked for on the interview letter, plus the tax information that I had obtained from the IRS (to prove that I have been filing income tax every year since becoming a PR). I also took all the letters and forms I had from dealing with USCIS prior to my interview, just in case (there were some issues I had with an incorrect date).
The only thing they wanted to see were my passport and green card. They didn't even ask for the tax information. But I'd take the additional documents, just in case. Better to carry too much than to have to come back.
Of course if you're applying based on marriage to a US citizen, you are required to have more documents. I think you're supposed to mail those in with your application though. If you didn't, the interview is your chance to bring them.
 
lukelecarre said:
It would be nice if Mr.Laripu or someone who been through the interview can enlighten me as to what documents they carried for the interview and which ones the officer asked for. Appreciate all your help.
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Here's what I followed: Link to a thread on this portal - docs to bring to an N-400 interview
Look especially at the two long posts from JohnnyCash. I understand that this was put together from lots of people's worst cases: it's comprehensive.

(I forgot my marriage certificate, and the divorce decree for my wife's first husband, since my wife had those in her package!)

Here's what they actually asked for in my interview:
1. My appointment letter.
2. Picture ID (security guard at the door asked for this). I used my driver's license for this - no need to drag out the Canadian passport! :rolleyes:
3. Two identical colored pictures (which later go on the naturalization certificate).
4. Green card - they looked at it for a moment.

My whole interview went very smoothly. Maybe they didn't ask for more documentation because I haven't moved or divorced, or even changed jobs since my green card was issued? I don't know.

Good luck to you. I'm sure it will all work out well.
 
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