What to do when an old passport no longer available?

M

Mr-Jinks

New Member
Hello,

My wife and I have sent out N-400 application. My spouses old passport was collected by the embassy when she got her new passport. Which means that she would not be able to produce prof of her absence from the US at the time of the interview...

Can someone please help me to understand how it will affect the process and what are the consequences i.e. delay time in process, rejection etc. Is there
anything that can be done at this point?

P.S. Both of us immigrated to US through DV Visa program back in 1997.

Thank you in advance!
 
There's no effect on processing since passports are not a requirement for naturalization as they are only used as cursory checks for past travel.
 
I am sorry mr. Bobsmyth, but I am afraid I am more confused now than before...

Since she (my wife) has traveled abroad three times since 1997, where the longest time out of the country was two weeks, how would she be able to prove that she was, in fact, absent on the days she says she was and returned on the dates she did provide on N-400.

According to the post by JohnnyCash see excerpt below:

[2] Passport: It's required mainly to verify applicant's absence from the United States as it contains the record of ALL the trips that an applicant has taken outside the United States which could determine applicant's eligibility for naturalization as to his/her continuous presence in the United States. And it's also required to verify applicant's citizenship/nationality. Officer does retains the right to ask for it as it is relevant to the information on the application. Plus, it's also used to establish applicant's identity which is very important at the time of naturalization. You should bring all the passports (even the expired ones) that you might have carried. Also, it is better to take the photocopy of the first page of the passport wherein biodata is as it has been noticed that some people are recently asked for it. If a passport is recently expired, then it is not a problem because adjudication officers like to see the passport to verify the trips taken outside the US than the validity of the passport.

It sounds as if you fail to produce an old passport, then there is no way for IO to determine whether she were absent for more than 6 month at the time or not. Thus, may result an investigation on USICS part or a simple denial based on "luck of evidence/prof" (please excuse my choice of words) on our part.

Please advise....
 
All you do is write down the dates that you traveled abroad. You don't have to produce your old passport. They cannot deny you base on missing old passport because you have put down the dates you traveled on the N400. They will able to verify that with airline records, entry records on their system. It's not your responsibility to have old passports becuase some country collected the old passport when new ones are issued. But you do need to have your current passport, either current or expired. You heard me correct, Yes, you can have an expired passport when you apply for citizenship.
 
Good to hear that since my current passport expired since dec 2008 and I didn't bother renewing it, hope i won't get in any trouble for that during the interview...can anybody comment on that?
 
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