Houston, TX citizenship interview

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Here's our Houston, TX report on a 3 yr marriage based interview. 9:00 am appointment.

Arrived in the waiting area around 8:30. Maybe 50 people sat in rows. Put the appointment letter in the box by the window with closed blinds as instructed by a sign that was unreadable from where you enter the area. Lot's of workers of many ethnicities opening the door near the window and calling people back. My husband and another couple were called very quickly and the lady took us to another small waiting room. I guess her office was not back with the others. She said wait here and I will get you in 15 minutes when I'm done with these people. It was nice to know we were next in line instead of with the masses. So when the couple came out she fetched the one after us and brought him and his lawyer around to the small waiting room then took my husband back. I had a nice chat with the lawyer while my husband was gone.

Husband was sworn in then asked to put his passport and drivers license on the desk and sit down. She went straight to the reading/writing test. Then six test questions, which he answered correctly. Next she went over the application. At the children part, he mentioned his wife had grown daughters which were not listed because he never considered them as "step-children" because they were married women, on their own before we ever met. (I know the instructions make it clear to list ALL children, even those of your spouse, but he's stubborn so I didn't) He asked her "do you reqired that information?" She said no, not needed.

He took a folder of original documents, our 2011 tax return, and a few joint things to prove the marriage. He never opened the folder. She did not verify my birth certificate or our marriage license. She didn't even ask to see the originals requested in the yellow letter (divorce decree and death certificate that ended our prior marriages.) Could not have been any easier. Interesting note: The entire process from K1 visa to citizenship is done and nobody from USCIS has ever looked at those original documents.

She marked his paper approved and told him to go to the big waiting room and he would get his oath assignment letter in about 30 minutes. The oath is May 16. The lawyer I chatted with told me had we interviewed the first two weeks of the month, we would have made the April ceremony. I guess he goes there alot and knows the drill. While waiting for the oath letter, the lawyer and his client came back into the large waiting room. His client wasn't approved but got the "decision can't be made" thing checked on his form. Makes me think having a lawyer isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Thanks VJ!! You prepared us well. And we must look very honest and believeable since no evidence was collected regarding our marriage.

[tru_loves_journey 117]

Hi Nich-Nick, Great to see your progress. Congratulations!

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

Congrats to y'all! My hubby just filed for naturalization this month & Houston will be our interviewing office as well

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Congrats to y'all! My hubby just filed for naturalization this month & Houston will be our interviewing office as well

Good luck to you. We submitted 2 yrs worth of "jointness" for removing conditions. That may be why they didn't seemed bothered with evidence this time, being just a year later. Since you got to skip that exercise, I wonder if they will ask you for it?

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

Good luck to you. We submitted 2 yrs worth of "jointness" for removing conditions. That may be why they didn't seemed bothered with evidence this time, being just a year later. Since you got to skip that exercise, I wonder if they will ask you for it?

Well I know back in 2008 for his gc interview they didn't look at evidence. It was smooth then & he received his 10yr card. For his naturalization we submitted tax transcripts from 2008-2010 and then a copy of 2011 taxes since we just filed 2011. All of it has always been married filing joint. We also mailed off our house insurance & 2 car insurances that are in our names.

Plus this is our 6th yr anniversary this coming July. That would be cool if he got all this done by our anniversary.

Edited April 29, 2012 by ~PalmTreeGurl~

[cathy2904 97]

Congratulations.

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

NichNick, we got notified from our case number that on April 25 th they mailed hubby a letter for his biometrics so we should be expecting that this week.

When you went to the interview what 6 questions did they ask???

[rocks 494]

Congratulations!

[Visitor 90]

Congratulations Nich-Nick. That process was very fast and happy it went so smoothly for you.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

NichNick, we got notified from our case number that on April 25 th they mailed hubby a letter for his biometrics so we should be expecting that this week.

When you went to the interview what 6 questions did they ask???

He couldn't even remember the questions because I read all 100 quickly on the way to the interview so it was all a jumble. He looked over the book afterward and thinks these were his questions (not in this order)--

What is the supreme law of the land?

What is an amendment?

Who vetoes bills?

What is the capital of your state?

What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?

Who did the United States fight in WWII?

We did early walk-in biometrics at the Houston office out Hwy 290. They claim to be a very busy office, but at 3:00 in the afternoon, it was empty. If that is where you did biometrics before, they moved farther west out 290 from where we went in 2011, so look it up. They said the landlord kicked them out.

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

We just got his biometrics for next Monday the 7th at 3pm!!!!