N-400 JANUARY 2012 FILERS

[Ruffie 22]

Oh and I found an email address for the military point of contact in Nebraska so I sent an email there ref. the average processing time for overseas naturalization.

[Blessed N Favored 6]

Oh and I found an email address for the military point of contact in Nebraska so I sent an email there ref. the average processing time for overseas naturalization.

Did you try the military hotline number as well?

[HuffyTheSlayer 22]

Oh and I found an email address for the military point of contact in Nebraska so I sent an email there ref. the average processing time for overseas naturalization.

My co-worker was in the reserves when she naturalized. She got an email from a CO very quickly after applying and got emails from the same CO every step of the way. She was in the US though and active military. But hopefully you will get a helpful CO who can check on your status and see what kind of timeline you might expect from Frankfurt.

Did you try the military hotline number as well?

That's what I was thinking of. If you don't get help via email, hopefully you can speak to a human being on the phone.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I'm with the check cash date as not being significant. The NOA notice is often before the check shows up at the bank so you get that first landmark quickly enough.

The name field is plenty long enough to add the eligible date without adding columns.

UserName-Eligible date...|Sent.....|

DeathStrike-3/20/12......|01/04/12.|

Notscenenough-4/1/12.....|01/06/12

Edited February 16, 2012 by Nich-Nick

[pandawars 7]

I'm with the check cash date as not being significant. The NOA notice is often before the check shows up at the bank so you get that first landmark quickly enough.

The name field is plenty long enough to add the eligible date without adding columns.

UserName-Eligible date...|Sent.....|

DeathStrike-3/20/12......|01/04/12.|

Notscenenough-4/1/12.....|01/06/12

That's only if the user has a short username for the forums. The current formatting works great. It has all the pertinent info...if not too much info...and gives someone who's perusing the website a good idea of how long things take. This is my personal experience on how I found out about VJ in order.

1. Googled about Naturalization

2. Found USCIS website and downloaded the guide, application, and answered some practice questions

3. Found some forum posts mostly from visajourney.com and immigration.com about people discussing their naturalization process.

4. Signed up for visajourney and immigration.com forums but I wasn't able to post anything on immigration.com's forum.

5. Read up on people going through the process of naturalization and realized that it takes on average 3 - 6 months.

6. It was around New Years 2012 and decided to take a chance and apply for my N-400 even though my 10 Year GC was expiring at the end of April. I figured I had a clean file and was immediately eligible since I've had my GC since 2001.

7. Spent and continue to spend hours and hours reading about people's N-400 timelines and their interview experiences, etc.

After all this, the information that's most helpful is seeing how long each step of the process takes and why, if users are willing to share, their process is taking longer than normal, being excited about users who are flying through the process, etc.

Again, I just don't see how someone's eligibility date is important. The 90 day early filing option is there...but it's a set 90 days. The other days between each step is different for everyone as you can all see from looking at everyone's timeline. The 90 day requirement will never change from user to user.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Again, I just don't see how someone's eligibility date is important. The 90 day early filing option is there...but it's a set 90 days. The other days between each step is different for everyone as you can all see from looking at everyone's timeline. The 90 day requirement will never change from user to user.

I see it as useful because it seems the people who are already eligible to naturalize are lining up for the interview while the ones who are not eligible until April will not be put in line until closer to their eligibility date. It kinda gives you a way to compare oranges to tangerines, rather than looking at oranges and apples. How would we ever see a correlation like maybe- "when you are a month away from elibility, they will put you in line". How close to eligibility are most people interviewed? I'm just curious about the pattern and if there is one. People think doing bio appointments early will get them an interview sooner. But if they hold off until closer to eligibility date then it doesn't matter. How important is eligibility date? We have no data to compare. That's just my opinion.

[DeathStrike 9]

Thats kind of the way I look at too. by knowing the eligibility date, I can know

1. if 'generally' people are interviewed before or after their eligibility date. And how close/far.

2. pattern of that field office about oath ceremonies and interview schedules

check cashed and NOA are supposed to be close by.. so may not give us much information about patterns too.

Edited February 16, 2012 by DeathStrike

[Blessed N Favored 6]

Thats kind of the way I look at too. by knowing the eligibility date, I can know

1. if 'generally' people are interviewed before or after their eligibility date. And how close/far.

2. pattern of that field office about oath ceremonies and interview schedules

check cashed and NOA are supposed to be close by.. so may not give us much information about patterns too.

Generally, looking at other posts, nobody has been interviewed before their eligibility date. So that's a given right there. I made my observations (basically so has everyone or rather most people who were interested to know) based on people's timeline/signature info or simply inquired from the member.

[DeathStrike 9]

Generally, looking at other posts, nobody has been interviewed before their eligibility date. So that's a given right there. I made my observations (basically so has everyone or rather most people who were interested to know) based on people's timeline/signature info or simply inquired from the member.

I guess the list is supposed to give us the information to 'estimate time for a N400 process'. NOA will be issued after check is cleared definitely, so NOA is pretty much ~7 days from check cashed. Having both the info is not giving us much info anyway.

not everybody will apply 90 days before. Btw, are you sure 'nobody' was scheduled for interview before their anniversary? if so then this settles .... we can pretty much say anniversary date has no meaning other than the 90 days application eligibility. But if not, this will help people to better estimate their 'expected timeline'. especially this gives more info about the field office than the lockbox.

[Ree 9]

I guess the list is supposed to give us the information to 'estimate time for a N400 process'. NOA will be issued after check is cleared definitely, so NOA is pretty much ~7 days from check cashed. Having both the info is not giving us much info anyway.

Speaking about cashed checks. I checked my bank account, and I saw that the check was cashed two days after the notice date and almost a week after my priority date. Also, what about people who sent money order and therefore cannot track when their money check was taken? So, I think that column about check cashed is very irrelevant

By the way, what do we mean under NOA date? Is it priority date from NOA and biometrics letters? Or the notice date from the receipt letter?

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I guess the list is supposed to give us the information to 'estimate time for a N400 process'. NOA will be issued after check is cleared definitely, so NOA is pretty much ~7 days from check cashed. Having both the info is not giving us much info anyway.

My check cleared my bank after NOA was in hand and after bio email notice too. I think my bank is just slow to post things.

Btw, are you sure 'nobody' was scheduled for interview before their anniversary? if so then this settles .... we can pretty much say anniversary date has no meaning other than the 90 days application eligibility. But if not, this will help people to better estimate their 'expected timeline'. especially this gives more info about the field office than the lockbox.

I read an interview story here on VJ---everything went well but the IO said he couldn't approve because he didn't meet the eligibility criteria (yet). He would approve it after the eligibility date.

[cwaf 1]

just an update here..still no letter for a biometrics interview 2 weeks after the NOA. The last update to the case number was the note that they that they received the N-400 and sent us a letter. The rest of the note is their form letter. I guess we can still see a bio letter, so we continue to play the immigration waiting game.

During this step, USCIS initiates the background checks of the applicant/petitioner and identifies issues that may need to be addressed either during an interview or by asking the applicant/petitioner to submit additional information or documentation. USCIS reviews the applicant's/petitioner's criminal history, determines if there are national security concerns that need to be addressed, and reviews the application/petition for fraud indicators.

If you have filed an I-485, I-589, I-751, N-400, I-90, I-821, I-131 or I-765, you can expect to receive an appointment notice to appear at an Application Support Center to have your fingerprints and/or photographs taken. The timing of your appointment is determined by the number of applicants ahead of you that also need a biometric appointment. We try to schedule biometric appointments as quickly as possible and in most cases you will receive your appointment notice within 30 days of submitting your application. We will send your appointment notice approximately 14 days ahead of your scheduled appointment. It is important that you keep this appointment. If absolutely necessary, you can request that your appointment be rescheduled however, please be aware that rescheduling may delay the processing of your application. Please follow the instructions on your appointment notice if you need to reschedule. Occasionally, you may receive an appointment notice to appear at an Application Support Center to have your fingerprints taken when you have filed a form other than those listed above. In these situations, you may receive your appointment notice more than 30 days after submitting your application or petition.

[pandawars 7]

just an update here..still no letter for a biometrics interview 2 weeks after the NOA. The last update to the case number was the note that they that they received the N-400 and sent us a letter. The rest of the note is their form letter. I guess we can still see a bio letter, so we continue to play the immigration waiting game.

During this step, USCIS initiates the background checks of the applicant/petitioner and identifies issues that may need to be addressed either during an interview or by asking the applicant/petitioner to submit additional information or documentation. USCIS reviews the applicant's/petitioner's criminal history, determines if there are national security concerns that need to be addressed, and reviews the application/petition for fraud indicators.

If you have filed an I-485, I-589, I-751, N-400, I-90, I-821, I-131 or I-765, you can expect to receive an appointment notice to appear at an Application Support Center to have your fingerprints and/or photographs taken. The timing of your appointment is determined by the number of applicants ahead of you that also need a biometric appointment. We try to schedule biometric appointments as quickly as possible and in most cases you will receive your appointment notice within 30 days of submitting your application. We will send your appointment notice approximately 14 days ahead of your scheduled appointment. It is important that you keep this appointment. If absolutely necessary, you can request that your appointment be rescheduled however, please be aware that rescheduling may delay the processing of your application. Please follow the instructions on your appointment notice if you need to reschedule. Occasionally, you may receive an appointment notice to appear at an Application Support Center to have your fingerprints taken when you have filed a form other than those listed above. In these situations, you may receive your appointment notice more than 30 days after submitting your application or petition.

Looking at your timeline on your signature, you didn't get your NOA in hand until Feb 7th. It's only been 10 days. As you can see on most timelines for people who have gone through that step, it can take longer. Just keep checking the website for updates(unless you signed up for updates via email/text) and I'm sure you'll get a notice soon.

[cwaf 1]

Looking at your timeline on your signature, you didn't get your NOA in hand until Feb 7th. It's only been 10 days. As you can see on most timelines for people who have gone through that step, it can take longer. Just keep checking the website for updates(unless you signed up for updates via email/text) and I'm sure you'll get a notice soon.

I am going by my email NOA which came sooner. I am not concerned if we do not get a biometrics notice and go straight to interview. I would be happy if she does not have to go down there twice.

[pandawars 7]

I am going by my email NOA which came sooner. I am not concerned if we do not get a biometrics notice and go straight to interview. I would be happy if she does not have to go down there twice.

when was your last biometrics?