N400- My Experience

[indusa 1]

I want to post about my experience on filing N400.

I am from India and married to USC for 10 years. We got married in India and she had to come back to the States to file I-130 and she also filed for K-3 visa. So I arrived in here on K3 visa and did all the paperworks for Employment Authorization and AOS and I finally received 10 year GC in 2004.

After receiving the GC we were happy that we didn't have to deal with the INS (that's what they were called then) anymore for a long time. When you are having fun, time just files by so fast. One day in May 2011 I was just looking though my important papers and saw that my GC was going to expire in 2014 and having dealt with INS before and experienced how inefficient they were, we decided to go ahead and file N400.

Everyting was going smoothly till I came to the question about "Regestering for Selective Service." I did not even remember if I had registered or not so I checked with their site and found out I had not registered. Researching about this turned out to be a big headache. After 3 weeks of calling around and browsing the net, I found out I was on non immigrant K3 visa till 2 months after my 26th B'day. OOoof what a relief! I also have more than average speeding tickets and one case of driving without license. I had to use a seperate page to list all my tickets and traffic infractions.

I sent out the form on June 19th and they received it on June 21st and they cashed my check on June 23rd. I received a letter to be present in New Orleans on July 21st for Bio Meterics, they even had an appt time. I couldn't believe the new agency, USCIS was moving this fast and acting so efficiently. I found the employees to be very friendly and Knowledgeable unlike INS employees.

Within a week I received a letter stating about my interview in Jacksonville on 30th of Aug. The letter stated that I had to bring my

Marrage certificate

Selective Service regesteration

Certified copy of my children's BC

They also had an insert in the mail asking me to bring a whole bunch of other documents, like Tax Transcripts, wife's BC, passport etc. I didn't bother to bring anything that pamplet said. The Appointment letter also said "Please keep your appointment even if you are missing some of the documents." I was glad my appt was at 9am because I would be able to drive back home the same day.

I went about 1/2 hr early to the interview and the security asked me to place the interview letter in a small slot and wait. Sharp at 9am the Immigration officer came and got me and administered the oath. I should say he was very friendly and nice. He asked me for my GC and went over the application. I was sure he was going to grill me about the bunch og Traffice tickets I had. When he came to that part he asked me "Have you been arrested for any crime you have comitted?"

Me: hmm I drove without a drivers license once and was not.....

IO: No, let me put it this way. Have you not got caught for a crime you had comitted?

Me: No

IO: ok

Then he went on to ask the civic questions and I answered the first 6 correctly and he didn't go further. He then asked me to read "Where does the Congress meet?" and asked me to write "Congress meets in Washington D.C." Then he signed me the paper that said they would recommend me for the Oath ceremony and said congratulations and lead me out. In all it took less than 10 minutes and they did not ask me any documents I took with me. Now I am in que for the Oath ceremony.

They have come a long way in terms of customer service since early 2000's. In all it took me less then 3 months to complete the n400 process. Kudos to USCIS.

[aleful 1,905]

I want to post about my experience on filing N400.

I am from India and married to USC for 10 years. We got married in India and she had to come back to the States to file I-130 and she also filed for K-3 visa. So I arrived in here on K3 visa and did all the paperworks for Employment Authorization and AOS and I finally received 10 year GC in 2004.

After receiving the GC we were happy that we didn't have to deal with the INS (that's what they were called then) anymore for a long time. When you are having fun, time just files by so fast. One day in May 2011 I was just looking though my important papers and saw that my GC was going to expire in 2014 and having dealt with INS before and experienced how inefficient they were, we decided to go ahead and file N400.

Everyting was going smoothly till I came to the question about "Regestering for Selective Service." I did not even remember if I had registered or not so I checked with their site and found out I had not registered. Researching about this turned out to be a big headache. After 3 weeks of calling around and browsing the net, I found out I was on non immigrant K3 visa till 2 months after my 26th B'day. OOoof what a relief! I also have more than average speeding tickets and one case of driving without license. I had to use a seperate page to list all my tickets and traffic infractions.

I sent out the form on June 19th and they received it on June 21st and they cashed my check on June 23rd. I received a letter to be present in New Orleans on July 21st for Bio Meterics, they even had an appt time. I couldn't believe the new agency, USCIS was moving this fast and acting so efficiently. I found the employees to be very friendly and Knowledgeable unlike INS employees.

Within a week I received a letter stating about my interview in Jacksonville on 30th of Aug. The letter stated that I had to bring my

Marrage certificate

Selective Service regesteration

Certified copy of my children's BC

They also had an insert in the mail asking me to bring a whole bunch of other documents, like Tax Transcripts, wife's BC, passport etc. I didn't bother to bring anything that pamplet said. The Appointment letter also said "Please keep your appointment even if you are missing some of the documents." I was glad my appt was at 9am because I would be able to drive back home the same day.

I went about 1/2 hr early to the interview and the security asked me to place the interview letter in a small slot and wait. Sharp at 9am the Immigration officer came and got me and administered the oath. I should say he was very friendly and nice. He asked me for my GC and went over the application. I was sure he was going to grill me about the bunch og Traffice tickets I had. When he came to that part he asked me "Have you been arrested for any crime you have comitted?"

Me: hmm I drove without a drivers license once and was not.....

IO: No, let me put it this way. Have you not got caught for a crime you had comitted?

Me: No

IO: ok

Then he went on to ask the civic questions and I answered the first 6 correctly and he didn't go further. He then asked me to read "Where does the Congress meet?" and asked me to write "Congress meets in Washington D.C." Then he signed me the paper that said they would recommend me for the Oath ceremony and said congratulations and lead me out. In all it took less than 10 minutes and they did not ask me any documents I took with me. Now I am in que for the Oath ceremony.

They have come a long way in terms of customer service since early 2000's. In all it took me less then 3 months to complete the n400 process. Kudos to USCIS.

congrats! just one small step left until citizenship. enjoy your Oath Ceremony.

[RussianGirl 0]

Awesome! Congratulations and thank you for posting your story! :dance:

[NickD 203]

Certainly you were a LPR for over five years and weren't required to provide all that proof of a valid marriage stuff for the three year.

In defense of the old INS, not as nearly political then as they are now, at least the forms were comprehensible. But one thing hasn't changed, only dealing with one agent instead of a board of people for any other type of governmental certification. That agent can either be nice, we had that, or not so nice, also had that, so getting a good agent is more of a stroke of luck. Consider yourself, lucky.

[indusa 1]

Certainly you were a LPR for over five years and weren't required to provide all that proof of a valid marriage stuff for the three year.

In defense of the old INS, not as nearly political then as they are now, at least the forms were comprehensible. But one thing hasn't changed, only dealing with one agent instead of a board of people for any other type of governmental certification. That agent can either be nice, we had that, or not so nice, also had that, so getting a good agent is more of a stroke of luck. Consider yourself, lucky.

Ya, I agree with you on the "one agent" thing. He can have a bad day and give you a hard time if he want to. Also about the selective service thing, many that come over here don't know anything about regestering for selective service. Many are scared to register for anything for the fear of facing immigration problems later on. If it is so important to the US govt why don't they include it in the immigration form and give the option for the immigrant to register or not to register?