what to bring to inter.

[HOWARDICU 0]

my wife is going for her test next week, what does she have to bring with her she came into the country on a fiance visa, i have the tax doc., marriage cert., what proof do I have to bring? I sent proof when I did her 10yr. green card do I have to get another copy of birth cert.? my passport is exp.

[NickD 202]

my wife is going for her test next week, what does she have to bring with her she came into the country on a fiance visa, i have the tax doc., marriage cert., what proof do I have to bring? I sent proof when I did her 10yr. green card do I have to get another copy of birth cert.? my passport is exp.

Interview form we received stated to bring in all the original evidence and a lot depends upon your IO as to whether they want to look at it or not, wife's IO was a real stinker on this subject. Where others reported, they never looked at it. But if they ask for it, and you don't have it, you can expect long delays. Recently they have been asking for a joint utility bill which is about the dumbest form of evidence you can have, but we brought one as a friend of my wife didn't have one, causing her extreme delays.

Is crazy, like you never been to the USCIS before with USC, same old evidence, then three more long trips, biometrics already done three times before, forgot about that EAD card, the interview, then the oath ceremony. But then, IT'S OVER!!

Ha, talk about building a high speed railroad from Chicago to the twin cities, only reason we had for wanting that is to visit the USCIS.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

my wife is going for her test next week, what does she have to bring with her she came into the country on a fiance visa, i have the tax doc., marriage cert., what proof do I have to bring? I sent proof when I did her 10yr. green card do I have to get another copy of birth cert.? my passport is exp.

It is not a test, it is an interview

I brought a copy o every document I ever sent to the USCIS or presented at the fiancee interview..YES, ALL of them. I also brought with me every shred od evidence I could find of a legal and legitimate marriage. Among them, joint bank statement, joint insurance, correspondence from the school with both of us a "Parents" school inenrollemnt records, utility bills, copies of oru driver's lisences (Alla received a driver's license before her interview,shos same address as mine) basically anything and everything.

I never needed ANY of it, so I took it all back home.

[jasminelily 1]

my wife is going for her test next week, what does she have to bring with her she came into the country on a fiance visa, i have the tax doc., marriage cert., what proof do I have to bring? I sent proof when I did her 10yr. green card do I have to get another copy of birth cert.? my passport is exp.

It is not a test, it is an interview

I brought a copy o every document I ever sent to the USCIS or presented at the fiancee interview..YES, ALL of them. I also brought with me every shred od evidence I could find of a legal and legitimate marriage. Among them, joint bank statement, joint insurance, correspondence from the school with both of us a "Parents" school inenrollemnt records, utility bills, copies of oru driver's lisences (Alla received a driver's license before her interview,shos same address as mine) basically anything and everything.

I never needed ANY of it, so I took it all back home.

Agree. Better safe than sorry. Bring everything you can imagine as long as you can manage to carry. If they ask but you don't have it, it will be a long delay. If they don't ask, then just take everything home, doesn't hurt.

[jsnearline 2]

When we received our interview letter, there was an N N-659 Naturalization Interview Document Checklist enclosed instructing us what to bring.

Key things we're bringing include...

green card

our birth certificates

our passports (current and expired)

our marriage certificate

birth certificate of child

tax return transcripts covering past three years

proof of marital union and residence for past three years

- current and prior leases for past three years

- bills in both our names

- joint bank statements

- car title showing joint ownership

- letter from our pastor

originals of any other documents we submitted as part of the N-400 application

Edited June 30, 2009 by jsnearline

[James 2]

When we received our interview letter, there was an N N-659 Naturalization Interview Document Checklist enclosed instructing us what to bring.

Key things we're bringing include...

green card

our birth certificates

our passports (current and expired)

our marriage certificate

birth certificate of child

tax return transcripts covering past three years

proof of marital union and residence for past three years

- current and prior leases for past three years

- bills in both our names

- joint bank statements

- car title showing joint ownership

- letter from our pastor

originals of any other documents we submitted as part of the N-400 application

The N-659 form contradicts the yellow sheet, at least in our case. N-659 says to bring "the original and a photocopy of the applicable items listed below" (emphasis theirs). The yellow sheet, while listing only a couple of the items listed on the N-659, says "Unless previously submitted, please bring the below requested documents to your naturalization interview" (emphasis theirs).

One of those items on the yellow sheet is "all passports," but the second is the proof of termination of all previous marriages -- which we of course submitted with the N-400. According to the N-659, we're supposed to bring the original and a copy of that second document, but according to the yellow sheet, we don't have to bring it because we already submitted it.

We're just bringing the original, along with the originals of the other docs on the N-659. Although if you are being overly cautious, you should bring the original and a copy of all of the docs listed on the N-659 -- not just the original. Has anyone actually brought both the originals and the copies?

[jsnearline 2]

We never got the "yelloe letter" but there is a conflict between the interview notice itself and the I-659. The interview notice says to bring any passports used to enter the US. The I-659 says to bring ALL passports including expired ones. We're going to follow the I-659 since it is more expansive. Better to have too much than not enough and be missing something the IO wants to see.

We will be bringing originals. We'll also bring copies of any original documents we don't want USCIS to keep.

Edited July 2, 2009 by jsnearline

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Recently they have been asking for a joint utility bill which is about the dumbest form of evidence you can have, but we brought one as a friend of my wife didn't have one, causing her extreme delays.

The city I live in is just as bad. The only thing they'll accept as proof of residency for getting a kid into a school here is a utility bill with an address in the district. Funny thing is, they don't care whose name is on the bill, as long as the address is inside the school district. Consequently, we get gangsters from the neighboring "big city" coming into town on the commuter train every morning to go to school here because they used some relative's utility bill to register. There's a long procession of them walking to the high school every morning from the 8:10 train!

Just before my daughter started her sophomore year in high school, we moved from a rented home to a home I purchased two blocks away. I listed the new address on the school registration forms, but I hadn't gotten a utility bill at the new address yet. They refused to accept the DEED TO MY HOME as evidence of living in the district, and almost didn't allow her to register, even though my daughter had attended school in the district since she was in kindergarten. They finally agreed to allow her in temporarily for a 30 day period until I received a utility bill.

[NickD 202]

Ironically, waiting in line at our DMV, hear the same thing when other proof of residence is not available, bring in a utility bill, now the USCIS is asking for the same thing.

We have electric, water, gas, cable, phone, and cable, just a few short years ago, all were in town, but the last four were purchased by huge corporations and calling them with that 800 number just led me in circles, the offices in town were shut down. Thank God, electric and water are still here, so just called them to add my wife's name to the bill, but could have just as easily said, Laura Bush is my wife, they don't care. Anyway, wife's IO asked for a utility bill that we didn't submit with our evidence, she just whipped out our electric bill, IO copied it and said fine, you are okay. Four years of joint tax returns, property tax bill, joint insurance plus all the other evidence we sent was just not enough for her. Is it crazy? Damned right, but depending on your IO and which side of the bed they got up in that morning, the power of life or death is in their hands. Suppose you could take them to court with extra expense as that form of evidence is not even listed, but again more delays.

Wouldn't a marriage certificate be enough? In my state by saying I do, half of everything you own belongs to your spouse, your spouse could just walk away and get a divorce, but also has the option to take you to court and get half of everything! Only way to get their name on the property tax bill is to put your home in both yours and your spouses name, you don't do that, unless your serious. And what about your spouses green card, that should be enough for all the proof you supplied to even get that!

USCIS forgets about all what you have been through, even wanted our divorce papers as proof we were free to marry, but demanded those at the AOS. But if you want USC, you have to do it, again.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Ironically, waiting in line at our DMV, hear the same thing when other proof of residence is not available, bring in a utility bill, now the USCIS is asking for the same thing.

We have electric, water, gas, cable, phone, and cable, just a few short years ago, all were in town, but the last four were purchased by huge corporations and calling them with that 800 number just led me in circles, the offices in town were shut down. Thank God, electric and water are still here, so just called them to add my wife's name to the bill, but could have just as easily said, Laura Bush is my wife, they don't care. Anyway, wife's IO asked for a utility bill that we didn't submit with our evidence, she just whipped out our electric bill, IO copied it and said fine, you are okay. Four years of joint tax returns, property tax bill, joint insurance plus all the other evidence we sent was just not enough for her. Is it crazy? Damned right, but depending on your IO and which side of the bed they got up in that morning, the power of life or death is in their hands. Suppose you could take them to court with extra expense as that form of evidence is not even listed, but again more delays.

Wouldn't a marriage certificate be enough? In my state by saying I do, half of everything you own belongs to your spouse, your spouse could just walk away and get a divorce, but also has the option to take you to court and get half of everything! Only way to get their name on the property tax bill is to put your home in both yours and your spouses name, you don't do that, unless your serious. And what about your spouses green card, that should be enough for all the proof you supplied to even get that!

USCIS forgets about all what you have been through, even wanted our divorce papers as proof we were free to marry, but demanded those at the AOS. But if you want USC, you have to do it, again.

In think their point is that just because you were eligible for that other thing when you applied for it doesn't necessary mean you're eligible for this thing you're applying for now. Anyway, it's their game so we have to play by their rules, regardless of how random and bizarre those rules sometimes appear to be. I sometimes wonder if these requirements aren't just meant to test our determination.

I'm surprised about the divorce law you talk about, though. In California, which is a community property state, anything you owned before entering into the marriage remains your own property unless it's co-mingled with your new spouse's property. Getting married only entitles each spouse to half of the marital assets, which means assets acquired after the marriage began. When an older couple have acquired significant assets over their lifetime prior to the marriage, the state actually expects that each person will want to protect those assets in case of divorce, whereas USCIS practically requires you to give up that protection and share half of those assets with your spouse as soon as you are married. Go figure...