Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
US Citizenship General Discussion	BIO and interview at same place ?	Could be the USCIS wants the immigrants to see more of America. Could be they are in cahoots with the oil companies so you burn more gas. Asked why our local police department couldn't take fingerprints, they don't trust them. None of our agencies trust each other, but we are suppose to trust all of them. Welcome to the USA. chuckle... the day after I arrived in 2007, I bought a car in Tampa and the salesman was a Brit who has been here 20 years. He told me all the junk and said 'welcome to america' with the usual sardonic tone. A lot of these ex-pats are curious personalities - not us of course. I reckon you and me can handle it now and it is 'normal' - but I don't know if that means we have become adjusted or we have become maladjusted	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-26 10:10:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	BIO and interview at same place ?	thanks folks it seems there is no predicting - so the work I did on trying to find out what the ceremony schedules are at Yakima is all for nothing - because I might be 'same day' ceremony at Seattle, or a weekly at Spokane or a bi-monthly at Yakima for all I know. Yet more evidence they we have more chance predicting a horse race than trying to figure out what is happening in this process.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-26 09:26:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	BIO and interview at same place ?	The USCIS site gives my local office as Yakima which is 100 miles away. Next week I have my BIO at Spokane which is 200 miles away !!! Even Seattle is 140 miles away . Does the membership think my Interview and ceremony will be at Spokane or do they chop and change the stages between different offices ? What a crew...	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-25 19:20:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Citizenship Certificate not given	and just when I thought I had heard it all.... I bet the bloody judge dies during my ceremony. Edited by saywhat, 25 August 2010 - 07:07 PM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-25 19:06:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Reapplying for naturalization	They send all back including the check In that case you are a brand new application Rather than change the date on the application, fill it in again on line and print it off. To make sure your check is current, send a new check You are a brand new application so no need to send the form back that they sent you to say they were returning your file... hope you are inside the 90 now ! I sent mine at 88 days to make sure	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-27 11:52:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Reapplying for naturalization	Hello I have send my N-400 application way too early - about 3 months . My N-400 was returned to me for that reason . Now - should i just send same application with the letter I-797 C ( explanation why my application wasn't approved ) ....or I should fill out a new one and send both of them ? Please advice Thx Did they keep your money or did they just send the file back including the check ? Edited by saywhat, 27 August 2010 - 11:27 AM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-27 11:25:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Do passport application at the ceremony ?	That's how myths, legends, gossip, rumors, and even downright lies get started, somehow you almost straightened her out, guess I needed straightening out too! But in my defense, did say to check into it. With a 230 mile drive ahead of us, our only thoughts was getting the hell out of there after the oath ceremony. Plus my wife had to work until 2:00AM and we had to leave an hour later. Nice when you have an oath ceremony during the cities rush hour, don't know what to expect, and no excuse for being late. Four of the five items we could take care of in our hometown, SS was 40 miles away, but took care of that latter. But only 40, not 230 miles. Maybe okay if you live across the street from your SS office, but after that experience, kind of glad its 230 miles away. I am looking fwd to the prints on Thursday - an easy stage I was looking fwd to the interview as I know I can zap the English/Civics stuff - but reading some of the additional questions that people get, I am building up some anxiety. We had a withdrawn K1, followed by another K1 that was granted and also a withdrawn AOS and then when we decided to live in England. Then an immigrant unconditional visa from London. Hope they don't dig back into all that stuff as we had a rocky start. I see some people who had tourist visas prior to their green card, get delayed for further investigations - so I will be glad to get an interview pass with a box A tick to say on to ceremony Reading VJ problems is like doing a google when you feel sick - google tells you all the cancers you have and a week to live and VJ problems make one's hair stand on end too !	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-30 10:32:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Do passport application at the ceremony ?	Folks, I want to think aloud here after reading a few submissions on this subject of passport applications. I am wondering if it makes any sense for USCIS to encourage new citizens to apply immediately for their passports right after the ceremony when they knew very well that the applicant's SS has to be updated first? I have had some friends who had their ceremonies, applied for their passports through the post office, and had no problems. I hope things don't mess up with some of us, especially when we have struggled to come this far. NO the passport can be issued before the ss is updated - that is immediately. There is an urban myth that SS or USCIS files need to be updated first. It isn't true. Passport can be done instantly when the certificate is received The certificate is the only proof needed	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-30 10:23:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Do passport application at the ceremony ?	Hehehe.....the one in Charlotte is like that too. What's the deal? I have never seen so many odd looking people and miscreants in my life. The office itself is grimy and rundown and is located in a rather seedy neighborhood. I can hardly wait to spend two or three hours in line there. Dress up for the interview and down for the SS office. That way they think you are not worth robbing.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-29 14:49:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Do passport application at the ceremony ?	It depends on the office. At my ceremony in Atlanta neither option were offered but I have read at other offices where someone from SSA is on hand to update SSN. Re- the IRS - that is one of the reasons why you update your SSN - your tax status is tied into your SSN so they can see if you are a US citizen or not - and yes, the benefits of being a US citizen instead of a PR spouse of a US citizen if something happens to your spouse are significant. It was one of the contributing reasons why I did decide to pursue US citizenship. Great info. I will just do the SS /driver's license/passport Scary that passport via mail is not 100%. Makes me feel like going to an agency in person and claiming I want to fly in 2 weeks for my granddaughters fictional birthday. oooo naughty....not that I would because I would get 457 years with no visits and no phone and no parole Edited by saywhat, 29 August 2010 - 11:11 AM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-29 11:06:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Do passport application at the ceremony ?	I just found some rather startling info on a government website. Now that the passport fees have increased, they have received a glut of applications and even the expedited ones take 2-3 weeks (somewhat less if you apply at a Passport Agency Office in person as opposed to mailing in your documents---AS IF!!!) The ones that are not expedited take up to six weeks. Yipes. Of course if you happen to live in a few cities like New York, Boston, Miami, Chicago (and a couple more), you can get one on the spot if you need to travel out of the country asap by going to a Regional Passport Office to apply. Sigh..... Yes, I have to make a decision about this. hoping for my ceremony very early November so by then the glut should be past and the passports should be coming out in record time coz renewals will be much lower than normal... Edited by saywhat, 29 August 2010 - 10:52 AM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-29 10:52:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Do passport application at the ceremony ?	I also would not have chosen to file for my passport at the Oath ceremony - SSN yes, passport no. Does mean that the SS can be updated at the ceremony place ? Last time I visited a SS office was Clearwater Florida and it felt like an alleyway in Kabul at 2am. I walked backwards to my car	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-29 10:45:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Do passport application at the ceremony ?	I thought someone posted here a couple of several months ago, the DOS said their passport was delayed because they weren't in that new SS database yet. But read hundreds of post, could be mistaken, could have cracked up. Do know for sure the SS has that database, they refused to do that under Bush, but did it for Obama because he gave them an extra hundred million. There was the Ukrainian lady who believed it would take several months for the USCIS to update their database and the passport could not be issued until then. I put her right on that but she was still doubting what I was saying that the passport could be applied for same date as the ceremony...	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-29 10:42:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Do passport application at the ceremony ?	I also would not have chosen to file for my passport at the Oath ceremony - SSN yes, passport no. I made a number of colour photocopies and made sure I had those before I let the certificate out of my possession for a passport. You can do your passport first or your social security update first. The choice is yours. I chose to do my SS first as I knew I had to hand over the original certificate with the passport application and it would be approximately a month before I got the certificate back. Even though my status hadn't been updated yet in USCIS database, I went with my certificate the following day to SSA and updated my records. They took a copy of the certificate and said that once USCIS database had been updated - probably about 10 days or so - I would receive my new card. I asked if a new card was necessary as my old one was unrestricted and still good, but they said 'yes - a new card would be issued'. I'm glad I did it that way as I received my updated SSN card a little over a week later. I applied for my US passport the day after my SSN, and that is the one that gave me problems. I got my certificate back and my passport card in about a month - but my actual passport went missing in the mail. Nearly 2 weeks after getting the card and certificate I contacted the passport office and they said the passport had been issued at the same time so they cancelled that passport and expedited the re-issue of a replacement. The replacement passport arrived the day after the original passport that had been lost in the mail (over a month - who knows where it went) finally showed up. Others who had applied for their passports at the same time had their actual certificates go missing in the mail. Scary! So, the choice is yours but you might want to do the easy update first at SSA, not because you have to but because it gets it done and out of the way while you wait for the passport to be processed. Remember to update your Driver's License as well, especially if you register to vote. Voter's Registration checks the status as listed on the DL to verify eligibility and I had to go in and show my certificate as I hadn't done my DL yet (it still had 2 years to expire). You also need to have your voter's registration filed and accepted no less than 30 days prior to an election if you want to vote. excellent post - I had not considered the driver's license thing. Hope they don't test my eyes - I always worry about that. Logically they just retick the status on the file but all sorts of weird things happen. I do need to do SS and what about IRS ? If my USC wife dies, they tax her wad heavily before the ALIEN spouse gets it - not so if the spouse is a USC. It's one of the factors that swung me to apply. That stuff about the post office losing the certificate in the mail is something I will try and forget but it makes me determined not to part with the original before getting 3 color photo copies!	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-29 10:38:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Do passport application at the ceremony ?	god !!!! ok thinking its the post office for me !!!!	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-28 21:29:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Do passport application at the ceremony ?	I was planning to hurtle over the road with my certificate (when I get it ) and get 3 color photo copies done - and then whizz round to the post office and apply for a passport I read now that they have a desk at the court and invite you to apply for a passport right there and then.. Presumably this is the USCIS running the show. I don't fancy this coz A: I bet I can't get a copy of the certificate before it disappears B: if it's the USCIS then there is every chance they will ####### it up What do you reckon ? Edited by saywhat, 28 August 2010 - 11:47 AM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-28 11:46:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	When did your case status change to "decision"?	No. You can, however, call the customer service hotline (I know, it's a hit or miss, depends on how you phrase your question really) and ask to speak to an immigration officer or be transferred to a tier 2 rep who can tell you when your interview appointment is, if you have in fact been scheduled. I speak from experience, YMMV. But from my experience, after the online case status changed to "testing and interview", the interview notice arrived in my mailbox within a few days. Again, YMMV when it comes to mail service. By the way, my interview notice arrived from NBC, Missouri. I think you'll be safe but I strongly suggest you call the misinformation line, and if you don't get transferred to an IO, try calling again at a different time or the next day. Hey, that's what I did both times, got the info ahead of the notices -- for the oath ceremony and the interview appt. Enjoy your trip! Good info ! many thanks... when I tried it for Bio she totally stone walled me - even when I insisted on speaking to an Immigration officer. She just said - make an infopass at your local office (it's 100 miles away) However, encouraged by your suggestion I will try those tactics if the notice comes before I go on holiday Amazing how many people are not bothered flying long haul to europe on 9/11 !!! Edited by saywhat, 30 August 2010 - 01:52 PM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-30 13:51:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	When did your case status change to "decision"?	Yeah, no worries. My status has never changed since biometrics and I go for my oath in a couple of days. Such a useful tool isn't it? Hi guys - just a quicky, when the account changes to testing and interview, does it show the interview date on line ? I have my bio on September 2 and on sept 11 (yes 9-11 !! ) we go to the UK for a week so back 19th September. The interview letter may be in my mail box at that time but when i log into my account from my laptop in the UK, I wondered if I would be able to see the date if the interview letter had been generated ? I reckon I am safe that the interview will not be before 20 sept with a bio of sept 2	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-29 13:10:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Immigration documents to bring to oath ceremony	Oh yeah, looking back I guess there was only the one interview then to get the original Conditional GC. Then in that case I have no clue what happened to the old card then. I never had it after I got my 10 year one. Maybe I had to send it back in the mail or something. No idea... I am glad someone else has a bad memnory - or a good memory actually as it would be awful to be able to remember all the bad stuff that happens in life. When I got my 10 year green card I burned everything from my USCIS cases ! No way was I hauling that across the atlantic. I have the main visas/GC etc imaged on my comp of course but all the copy applications - gone for ever. I have zero paper files for my n400 except the 2 notices so far. The rest are pdf files so at least I can read em on my laptop in the hotel room the night before the interview.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-30 16:50:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Immigration documents to bring to oath ceremony	My husband has dyslexia and he passed his interview just fine. Not everyone is perfect at spelling. My son says his girlfriend called him an imberseal Attached Files  imberseals.jpg   22.16KB   2 downloads	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-08-26 18:59:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Interview Result *June Filer*	Thanks for that I learn a bit more every day... So I will get a form that says 'further consideration' because my interview will be well before the 3 year qualifying day at this rate... (november 5) At least I know to expect that now and not get all down in the mouth and wondering what the further consideration is.. yes thanks good info	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-03 11:43:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Citizenship Interview at Miami	Hi Everyone! I wanted to share my experience today.before i go the any details i have a question.at the end of the interview the lady did not gave me any paperwork she just told me that she will recommend me to be a us citizen and they will tell me later when and where to take the oat.is that normal?she did not take my green card. also what do you need to take for oat?how long does it take for miami? I usually take milk with my oat and then microwave it. I take my oats seriously. ok but you should have got the 652 form to say you have passed the English/civics and that you will be advised later about the ceremony. I agree with previous posters that it's no big deal - but to others who are inline for their interview, ask for the 652 form that confirms your test results if it isn't offered.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-03 10:43:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Bringing my mom here...	Don't you have to sign an I-864 to bring your parents here? And if so, won't you be liable for all their medical bills? Really, the only ones getting free emergency medical treatment for free that I know of are illegals. Wouldn't be more advantageous to bring them here illegally? The sponsorship thing covers Government costs such as food stamps - the guarantor is liable for them As far as private bills are concerned (health care etc), each individual is on their own. Even if they die we are not responsible for their costs - that is an urban myth of which there are many. If an individual has been in the country 5 years and is 65, they can buy into Medicare at 65 $6600 per annum. I will be in that position at 65 if my wife stops working and I cannot get insurance via her work I can finally get Medicare on her contribution record when she is 62 but I would have to pay $6,600pa from my 65th to her 62nd Edited by saywhat, 06 September 2010 - 10:37 AM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-06 10:36:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Bringing my mom here...	Hey Thanks for all the posts here..appreciate it!!!...Just to clarify I already hold a 10 year green card permanent rez and was quite happy with that status...good job etc...But my understanding is a permanent resident cannot bring a relative here so....The decision to become a US Citizen but I guess I freaked when I saw the "denounce bit" in the N-400(even though I was aware of Pierre Trudeau and the new law in 1977.."Once a...always a Canadian...." . Apprecaite the info folks.. Best, Kev I spent a year doing my head in about the USC thing and dithering but I am content with it now - totally. I will still be a snotty Brit who eats with a knife AND fork until the day I die and that can't be changed. I will never feel at one with Pat Robertson and that can't be changed. It's just an admin thing which will work for me. It should be fun and I get the short lines at the airport in UK and Seattle. I will be a heck of a better citizen to the US than Paris Hilton and I will pay all my taxes here and break no laws - but that doesn't mean I have to change my personal values or culture any more than the pizza eating Italians in Chicago who are more than tolerated.. A GC holder can bring relatives in but the lines are like 20 years so forget it. Many sponsors die while waiting and so do the sponsored. Edited by saywhat, 04 September 2010 - 11:56 AM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-04 11:53:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Bringing my mom here...	Just to confirm about US Citizenship and taxes. You can renounce US Citizenship at any time but it must be done in person at an Embassy. It's no big deal but they will look at you like you are giving up your chance of immortality. This DOES relieve you of the duty to file or pay US taxes for the rest of your life if you are living outside the US UNLESS A You have renounced for the purpose of evading US taxes (more than avoiding the incovenience of filling tax forms in) B You have a large net worth in the millions You can revisit the US afterwards The 'follow you forever' rules were brought in to catch billionaires who located to zero tax countries such as some in the Caribbean and few if any on VJ need be concerned with these provisions. Where it applies, it applies to USC's AND GC holders so becoming a USC does not expose you more than you are already exposed. I am not without a few shekels so I looked into this extensively before filing N400. A marriage that can never be unwound or a citizenship that is forever is nothing I would sign up to. Heck, even life isn't forever. Edited by saywhat, 04 September 2010 - 11:44 AM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-04 11:42:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Bringing my mom here...	You don't have to file a US tax return if you do not owe US tax... Many Americans go overseas go for years without filing a tax return and there is no penalty if nothing is owing Renouncing US Citizenship is a piece of cake - ok you can't just file a form as you can with a GC, but it means a 10 minute job at the nearest US Embassy and they ask if you are serious about wanting to renounce citizenship of the finest country that has ever existed in the history of the world (Quote Mitt Romney) When you say yes then thats it and you are out from under They only give you a hard time for tax after that if you have millions in the bank and they can prove you only renounced to SAVE tax. If you renounced to save the bother of doing tax forms then thats different and they can't get you. You can still visit the US on visa waiver after renouncing but you can't buy a gun in the US - that's the only prohibition I know of. I looked at all this very hard and for a long time before I filed the N400. Nothing is forever	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-03 11:33:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Natural Born (US) Citizen	120,000 of such ex colonials moved to within 6 miles of my house in Bradford UK - so a few of the ex-colonials were not prevented by the British con trick ..and they can't have hated us very much for our colonial past because they all want to live in the UK alongside their oppressors heck I am talking like an American already Yes Obama's dad was a British Citizen of sorts and so was George Washington and also the female line up from Obama goes to back to a Yorkshire woman ! My supposedly 100% Viking roots were mostly trashed last year when I found a Welsh woman and a Saxon Brummy and a Norman market trader hiding in my family tree... I will never be an equal citizen in the US as there are a few restrictions which will always make me a 2nd class citizen. I suppose that's fair enough as long as Barney Frank can never be Queen of England.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-06 21:29:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Almost time to naturalize	Feel lack of contact and trying to make heads or tales out of those poorly composed forms is the greatest amount of stress, plus waiting for a reply. We actually only had two actual interviews and three biometrics appointments where we could see real people, even armed guards, though I haven't figured that out yet. We did make one infopass appointment, but the day before we had to make that long trip to get my wifes' foreign passport stamped with that I-551 her ten year card finally came in, so we canceled that. Have my grandfathers immigration papers, he went to Ellis Island and can tell an IO filled out the form with hand printing. He must have had a few extra bucks and took a train to Chicago rather than being locked up in New York, kind of famous for major crimes back then. By a few bucks, quite a bit, railroads were charging ten cents a mile when the average daily wage was a buck a day. Have a paper where he attended US citizenship classes one night a week, a Monday in fact for six weeks, then received his US citizenship. So his process was over in less than two months. Today, that same process can last over six years. Really never heard of the USCIS until I asked my wife to marry me, was kind of lucky, talked to a very good officer at the USCIS after I found the phone number, she told me what forms I had to fill out and even sent me all those forms. Wasn't good to read as a US citizen could be fined $250,000.00 and spend five years in prison, but that wasn't nearly as bad as any inaccuracies in filling out all those forms could result in rejection and loss of fees. At that time including the medical cost of the I-693 for both my wife and her daughter, was talking over $4,000.00, so I searched and found a good immigration attorney. Already knew how important it is in the country to find a good attorney, can really get creamed without one. You would think for what they charge, could go in and have one of their experts fill out the form for you, they use to do that and explain the questions. But you are left on your own and just hope and pray you did everything, not right, but they way they want you to do it. Then that endless waiting, that is most of the stress. VJ is an absolute wonder. I would have popped my skull without it. When the immigration lawyer in Milwaukee messed our file up at K1 stage we decided to do everything ourselves from then on (with the help of VJ) We did another K1 and then Advance Parole and then AOS (abandoned) and then UK green card and then relative immigration IR1 and then naturalization. All on our own. The green card help from VJ was amazing as we were sat in a rented house in Lancashire for a year and it never stopped raining. VJ members showed me how to cut months off the process by generating my own bar codes etc and showing me the software and how to do it. We got a massive brick wall with wife's US domicile issue and VJ gave us the ammo to get through it. I know it's going to be a weird feeling when I naturalize but I am glad I am doing it now as I thought a 10 year GC was the bee's knees; but when you look at what can go wrong, it's no more than a super visa and there is always that lurking danger of an accident or changing legislation. It will be great to have the relaxed feeling that I have when I go through UK immigration with my British Passport. Being able to do that in Seattle (and have a shorter line) will help me to feel 'at home'. I am expecting some subconscious side effects when I get the blue passport; like I have a right to have an opinion etc and it will feel more like home. My wife is talking about doing 3 years in the UK and getting her Brit passport as a 'project' when she retires. Not Lancashire though. I won't even drive through there nowadays. We are in the UK this weekend (fly 9/11) and we are off to see George Washington's family home in North East England (In Washington). When we get back I want to see the interview letter in the mail box.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-07 10:12:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Almost time to naturalize	You know I think I am suffering from Stockholm syndrome and will actually miss the USCIS. aaaarrrgghhhh !!! I mean where is the challenge in life ? Slogging it out with the USCIS and trying to outwit all the wobblies they throw at us has been a source of great satisfaction after each step...(only after) That's classic addiction talk - seeking the buzz - the reward and exhilaration after the achievement I need to replace it quickly and not with booze or drugs or women That's assuming I get through the last bits unscathed ! Edited by saywhat, 06 September 2010 - 09:37 PM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-06 21:36:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Two 'A' numbers	Yes, perhaps what I am thinking about is where two numbers were assigned to the same application. The ones I had were two completely separate applications The I-130 green card application process never made mention of the withdrawn K1 and withdrawn AOS - so perhaps it won't get in the way I think wrong names on green cards and two numbers for the same GC file would be more of a problem as half the info would be missing I suppose the answer is that this is the USCIS and anything can happen	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-07 16:13:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Two 'A' numbers	I do not think you should worry about it now. I have read in the past people with similar case as yours, they were fine, no hold up. My case was not approved after the interview but not everyone is the same. Good luck with your interview. Cheers lets hope I am expecting to get a 'not approved' at the interview as my 3 years will not be up until after the interview - guessing at a late October interview with a November 5th GC anniversary date Yes I remember people saying that the IO said there would be a delay until the second 'a'number file arrived but I am wondering how long that could be and whether anyone hit a delay of many months I know the overall paperwork must be all ok as I would not have gotten the uncon 10 year GC card, so it's just whether they muck about for another 3 months or so until they get the two files together... I guess anything could happen..	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-07 14:43:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Two 'A' numbers	Off we go again with the next worry. I have seen more than one post in the past saying naturalization has been held up by having 2 'A' numbers I came in on a K1 with an A number on the visa, and got married, got a SS number, filed AOS, withdrew AOS, we then went to the UK and then filed for an unconditional GC after 2 years married. I got another A number for that So I have 2 A numbers Apparently it is not that uncommon.... What thoughts on whether it will hold up the naturalization ceremony ? Edited by saywhat, 07 September 2010 - 02:21 PM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-07 14:21:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	RFE Sent	Thank you! That does make me feel better. I wont be dreading the mail now They need some programmers there My Mrs could fix that in about 10 minutes so it said 'Biometrics appointment has been produced'	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-07 17:27:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Took Oath in Charlotte 09/01/2010	Hasn't sunk in yet...maybe when the passport comes. I filled out my voter registration today and had to check the box that said "US Citizen". Weird. Well done Jo-Anne ! So you got your certificate before the oath eh... You should have gone to the ladies and climbed out of the window... Anyway you can relax now.. congrats indeed	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-06 20:54:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Passport after Citizen	Hello everyone, We want to take a trip back to my wifes home country for a weeding, her citizens test is next week. Do they send new citizens a passport or do we have to wait for a paper and than go and apply for one. thanks jeremy You get a certificate of citizenship at the ceremony - not at the interview. The ceremony might be same day as the interview or a month or two later - it differs by office You can take the certificate to a post office that handles passports and apply the same day as you get the certificate If you pay extra it will be 2 weeks - otherwise 4 to 6 weeks Get a color photo copy of the certificate before you mail it - they take the original and return it in 2 weeks Its all here >> http://travel.state..../first_830.html Edited by saywhat, 07 September 2010 - 09:29 PM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-07 21:26:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Want to Apply For Citizenship	Hi - if you are still a LPR, then you cannot leave the US for extended periods of time without jeopardizing your status. If you become a citizen, you can leave as long as you want without any problems and without the need to update USCIS all the time. It is worth the hassle in my opinion. I agree I was scared of having to do US tax forever if I am not living in the US; but it's no problem when you look at what happens in reality. The advantages are many including being able to inherit from a USC without a massive tax penalty I am glad I looked into it in depth and glad I didn't decide to stay a GC holder like my pal in Atlanta who has been here 15 years on a GC and is married to a USC. The GC is only like a puffed up visa and carries a big potential downside Do it - you won't regret. Look what happened to Charly Chaplin after 40 years a GC holder. In 1952 Chaplin visited London for the premiere of Limelight. When he arrived back he discovered his entry permit revoked and had been denied the right to live in the United States. As Chaplin pointed out in his autobiography: "My prodigious sin was, and still is, being a non-conformist. Although I am not a Communist I refused to fall in line by hating them." http://www.spartacus...USAchaplinC.htm .	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-08 12:52:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	filing my US citizenship but my middle initial from my green card is incorrect	Feel a team such as a marriage should compliment each other, otherwise there is competition. My wife has some very good attributes as well, but reading the fine print on government documents is not one of them. Found error in her previous marriage certificate, hers, and her daughters birth certificate from not so reliable government sources that had to be corrected first before being submitted to the USCIS. And in those Latin American countries, had to be done in a court of law. Wouldn't have been too expensive if you don't mind waiting 2-3 years for a court date, but by some strange coincidence, all the judges had Miami bank accounts where you could pay a little extra for expedient service that I did for next day service. That "little" is not to be taken literally. I used Adobe Pro Acrobat for all the forms where you can select font size and even has a spell checker. Use a commercial grade HP printer, but still checked that all the "T's" are crossed and the "I's" are dotted. And put in "N/A" in every blank we didn't have to fill out. Even filled out the top portion of that I-693, ha just got back from a doctors appointment where he wrote a note for another appointment, the girl at the appointment desk couldn't make it out. choke I remember a poster on here putting 'N/A' on a line on her her GC forms, and when she got her GC it said her country was 'Netherlands Antilles' I joke you not ! So it's blue passport or bust !	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-08 12:57:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	filing my US citizenship but my middle initial from my green card is incorrect	What can one say when one has an inaccurate green card that was never found until applying for US citizenship? Should have been spotted on day one. chuckle you are like me Nick - it's a personality type thing. My wife is a 'put it off' type whereas I am 'now'. I bought her a kvm switch to run her two computers at once 6 months ago - she never has the time to get it going (a 5 minute job). I ask every week and every week it's later, later, later. You can imagine what it's like when I am booking plane seats and there are 2 left and she is dithering and procrastinating while I am bouncing up and down saying come on ! It's also a good principle for interviews - when they say "you have passed the test and 'x' will happen later". Don't jump for joy and rush out - ask em questions about when and where and who to contact if nothing happens until they are sick of you and they are ready for throwing you out Every process and every document must be inspected and totally understood in detail until there are no questions left... and as far as the USCIS is concerned, a comma instead of a full stop (period) IS a big deal. Like Washington State speed cops, discretion and 'near enough' simply does not happen and differences and inaccuracies in documents sometimes halt applications for a VERY long time. There are plenty of examples on VJ. Obama and O'Bama are not near enough.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-08 10:58:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	filing my US citizenship but my middle initial from my green card is incorrect	thanks "saywhat". where can I have that info pass appointment then? Ok. so I really can't apply my us citizenship now with the incorrect middle initial?.. If you log onto the USCIS site you can arrange an infopass at your local office Sure you can apply for the N400 before you correct your misspelled green card, but what I am saying is there is a danger it will cause delays along the line during the n400 checks. If it was me, I would sort the GC first; but you might prefer to just apply and take it as it comes. I would fear that it might disappear into a black hole that would take a long time to sort out if the problem arose inside the N400 process. You could do an infopass and ask em how long it will take for them to issue a new GC - if the answer is many months, then perhaps just saying don't bother and going for the N400 can't do any additional harm. Edited by saywhat, 07 September 2010 - 09:10 PM.	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-07 21:06:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	filing my US citizenship but my middle initial from my green card is incorrect	Except . . . at the N-400 stage you can choose about any name you want anyway. So while I agree with saywhat in that what he suggested is most likely the most appropriate way to do this, you'll be asked at the interview anyway if you'd like to change your name. At that time you could point out that your middle name was spelled incorrectly but it had not bothered you since you don't use it, but would like the correct spelling to transfer to your new life as a US citizen. My only fear is that they will try and match records and birth certificates and FBI/Court records/Passport etc or whatever and find a discrepancy and it will throw em into a tiz woz. Anything that doesn't fit causes the wheels to fall off with these guys. It's even enough to get a credit card refused so its certainly enough to make a USCIS robot go 'does not compute'. Those guys are not interpretive like google even. My surname being entered wrongly on the POE record was enough for SS to refuse me a number. It was one letter wrong on a 4 letter surname (I wouldn't dare say that on the off topic forum). There is a regulation provision for fixing that informally (one letter)so I got em to accept it the next day. I accept that changing the whole name is possible at naturalization, but getting there with a mis-spelled GC might involve delays and queries If I had time before my intended filing date I would do an infopass and fix it first. It should have been fixed immediately on GC receipt if it was noticed, as these things only fester and hurt us later. We are not dealing with people - this is the USCIS who were brought from the purple prism planet to dissipate our will to live prior to conquest	Captain Oates	Male	England	2010-09-07 19:03:00