N-400 June 2013 Filers

[Jamericanlove 31]

Congrats Brijo! You guys can finally move on with your lives free from the USCIS. All the best to you and your lovely family for the future. Thank you and your wife very much for your service.

[besaangel 17]

Let us know your experience and good luck!

I will thanks

See a few other photos in my photo album. http://www.visajourney.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=lastupby&uid=53636

Congrats

[hobokenworkingman 4]

Congrats!!!!

See a few other photos in my photo album. http://www.visajourney.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=lastupby&uid=53636

[JoBri 545]

Thanks y'all.

At this time I would like to write a review here for what occurred yesterday at USCIS for naturalization.

We left home at 1AM, traveling through the night, and arrived a little early for our 9:30AM naturalization interview/oath appointment. We went inside just past 9AM. After going through door security, we were directed to go wait in the waiting room. The guard mumbled something about a mail slot in there. I saw a mailbox on a wall in there and tried to figure out the significance of why that guard mentioned a mail slot. Another immigrant got my attention and told me that across the room on the other wall was a mail slot to drop our interview appointment letter in. I am glad he told me that, or we would not have known.

The IO came into the waiting room and called for my wife right on time. I was so bold to ask if I could go back with her, with our 3 year old son, and he allowed me to. He said it is not allowed, but he would let me come back too. He asked my wife all the yes and no questions, such as have you ever had any ties with terrorist organizations, things like that from on the application form. Then he read her a sentence "The President lives in the White House" and he told her to write down what he said. He asked her to read several different sentences from a piece of paper. He asked her several of the civics test questions. I was so nervous that I cant tell you what he asked, but my wife can, but she is at work right now. My wife couldnt understand him very clearly because he spoke fast and not very clearly, so 3 different times she asked him if he could repeat the question, which he did. He apologized and said he sometimes speaks too fast because of when he was in the Navy... not sure how the Navy contributed to that. She passed all her tests. And remember how I posted about bringing extra stuff to the interview not on the list? I am glad I did, because the IO asked to see our marriage certificate. That wasnt on our Military Naturalization list to bring. My wife handed the file folder to me and I knew right where to go to pull out the certificate. Am glad I was allowed to be in there with her. She was nervous. She told me later that she is glad she reviewed for the civics test as much as she did, because unless she had done that it would have been so difficult to pass. I really nagged her a lot to keep reviewing. I think being nervous and all, a person's brain kind of shuts down. And when a new voice is asking you the questions and it is difficult to understand him it makes it harder too. But because of studying the questions over and over again the right answers came out of her mouth. He threw in one off the wall question, asking her "Who was the 16th President of the United States?" I knew that answer, but could say nothing, but my wife didnt know. The IO just laughed and said he asks everyone that. The answer is Abraham Lincoln, by the way. He also asked her what Martin Luther King, Jr is known for. She answered correctly...I think she said something about civil rights protests. She spoke in such a soft and timid voice that I had trouble hearing my own wife, even though I was right next to her.

Then we ran into a snag. In the Philippines it is the custom that when a woman marries, your last name becomes your middle name and you drop your former middle name. Your spouses name becomes your new last name. So we got married in the Philippines in January 2008, and that is how they handled her name change. It was that way in her new passport she got before leaving the Philippines, on our marriage certificate too. That was her name on her US Visa. It was that name on her US drivers license, Social Security Card, with the banks, loans, with the military, her credit report all in that name. And here the IO is telling her that in becoming a citizen here she cant have any other middle name than the name she was given at birth! That is crazy! We were both shocked. It is the Philippines law, and that is her legal name in the Philippines, the name she came here with, the name she has used these YEARS since being in the USA. Now he is telling her she has to have a NEW name?? He said she can have her name changed legally to the name she has been using all along (which is her REAL legal name! Geesh...) but then she couldnt take the oath yesterday. She would have to wait until that was done by a judge. Or she could use the name that USCIS gave her to use and take the oath that day. How crazy is THAT?? I never heard of any such thing as that. Her LEGAL married name in the Philippines, and this IO is telling her she cant use it. I was afraid to say much. My wife didnt want to have to wait to take the oath. But I asked several questions, such as about her SSN, her credit history, the banks, the IRS and her name, and lastly I asked this retired Navy guy "what about her payroll signature? In the military you have to sign everything with your payroll signature and anything else is not acceptable. How does she change everything in her life to this new name that isnt even hers??" He said he was sorry, that is just the way it is when becoming a citizen here, they like to correct everything that slipped between the cracks. So we went out of his office and told him to go ahead then, we'll change it. We were so much in shock... A new name that isnt even her name???

So we waited out in the waiting room again, and later the IO came over to her and told her that after seeing the looks on our faces and how distraught we were he decided that she could keep her name, that immigration would accept whatever he put down on the papers. She just had to sign the form again using her "real" old name, rather than the new name USCIS gave her. Now how crazy is that?? I think the IO made a mistake in what he was telling her, and after i went on and on about "what about this?...What about that?... " questions, he thought hard about it and went to his Director, and was told of his error. And he came back to her and told her he was letting her keep her name because of what he saw on her face about losing it, to cover up that he had actually made a huge mistake. I dont think he would be wilfully breaking the law about the name just to make my wife happy! And can you imagine going back to the Philippines ever and trying to tell them that she is (her real name) but that the USA gave her a different name? For any legal matters in the Philippines it would sure have been hard to prove who she is. She owns land there, under her real name, not the fake USCIS name. Geesh... Anyway... That all got worked out then. Again I am glad I was with her, because she doesnt speak up about things like I do. I kept questioning that IO which she would not have done, and he thought through it all then. Or maybe it was just a test somehow. He told us how some really bad people come through there and how he hates having to sometimes send them back to their home country. He said that last Friday there was a whole room full of bad people, and people he had to send home. And he said how you can tell just by looking into the faces of the people if their marriage is real or not too. He said he saw a couple last week who you could tell their marriage wasnt real. He leafed through my wife's file on his desk then and remarked how thick the file was. That is the first I noticed her file there. I glimpsed one page of it, a page with several pictures on it that I had sent long ago in the process, years ago. Apparently every single piece of paper we ever have sent to the USCIS over these years is all put together in one huge BOOK of a stack, at one location, for the final step of the naturalization interview. Every single piece of paper... He studied the pictures, then he looked through more and more pictures. He remarked how he is happy to see so many pictures, and went on to say how some people have only a handful of pictures and that you can tell they just changed their clothes to make it look like different days. But in our pictures you could see my wifes hair getting longer and shorter, and see her going from not being pregnant to pregnant, then the birth of our son, and him growing up and us together all the time. The file was probably 3 inches thick...My wife said 5 inches... I was very thorough all the way through.

So we waited in the waiting room again, after signing the papers again, this time with the correct name. Then the IO called her and all the other people in the waiting room in the military and their family and guests to come with him. I had our camera with me. The IO had sent in the email to my wife to bring our camera to take pictures at the oath. But the guard asked me when we first came in if I was authorized by someone to bring that camera. I told that guard the IO said to bring it. They let me keep it... but apparently that was another rule the IO broke. I was allowed to take all the pictures I wanted to at the oath ceremony. The director came in the room to administered the oath and she was a nice lady. Now we just have to let the people know where my wife works about her new status, USCIS told us, and get her SSN changed, and order a passport. USCIS pushed us to get a passport right away. It sounds like when she gets her passport they will take her naturalization certificate away from her. They told us we are allowed to only make a black and white copy of the certificate, but to do so right away because we need to keep that for proof. I seem to recall though that they take the original documents to make the passport, then return those documents later. Maybe that is what the IO meant.

One guy joked after the oath ceremony something about the questions he had to go through in the interview. What a fool... Our IO told him that even after getting naturalized, if they discover any fraud down the road they will revoke the citizenship, as he has done in the past as well. He said they will continue to look through things. I just happened to overhear that little private conversation. NEVER joke about something so serious... That clown was an idiot to do that.

I was awake for 43 hours with no sleep... We got up Sunday morning at 8AM to go to church, packed Sunday afternoon and checked and double checked everything, drove all the way there through the night, did the interview and oath, drove all the way home, and I finally went to sleep 43 hours later at 3AM Tuesday morning.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Brijo

[BigDaddy28 228]

Congrats. Did you apply for the passport right after the ceremony? Of so I think that when you do that somehow DOS won't need the certificate because it is copied by USCIS (another trusted government agency).

[JoBri 545]

Congrats. Did you apply for the passport right after the ceremony? Of so I think that when you do that somehow DOS won't need the certificate because it is copied by USCIS (another trusted government agency).

They never mentioned that option to us,, and we never knew anything about that. They only told us that we should first get her SSN changed and also inform her employers, then get her passport done.

[BigDaddy28 228]

They never mentioned that option to us,, and we never knew anything about that. They only told us that we should first get her SSN changed and also inform her employers, then get her passport done.

well basically a US passport is the most well known (nationally and internationally) and proof of US citizenship. There is always that chance of putting the certificate with other documents and forgetting about it or loosing it. But your US passport becomes your primary proof of citizenship before the certificate even with USCIS. Besides some people don't know the process with the USCIS and some agencies don't really have a good knowledge of that certificate but the US passport cuts the doubts. I guess that's whythey emphasize on the passport so much.

[JoBri 545]

well basically a US passport is the most well known (nationally and internationally) and proof of US citizenship. There is always that chance of putting the certificate with other documents and forgetting about it or loosing it. But your US passport becomes your primary proof of citizenship before the certificate even with USCIS. Besides some people don't know the process with the USCIS and some agencies don't really have a good knowledge of that certificate but the US passport cuts the doubts. I guess that's whythey emphasize on the passport so much.

I know what a passport is, and its significance. We just didnt have anyone tell us yesterday that we could get that started at their facility without having to surrender the naturalization certificate.

[mae232 0]

Hi I just got my interview letter..my interview is scheduled on August 28..I'm super nervous! Guess its time to study...please update my timeline..thanks..

[nightingale 59 0]

Congratulations Brijo.

[Jay2Pnoy 3]

Hi I just got my interview letter..my interview is scheduled on August 28..I'm super nervous! Guess its time to study...please update my timeline..thanks..

Good Luck!

I am curious, what was the date on the notice? I remember you stated you received notification about the interview appointment on a Sunday, two days ago. I am also scheduled for interview as per my online update yesterday but I have yet to receive the letter. This makes me nervous since my surgery is scheduled Aug 26, I don't expect to be interviewed at least towards the end of September... mine better not be last week of August!

[mae232 0]

Good Luck!

I am curious, what was the date on the notice? I remember you stated you received notification about the interview appointment on a Sunday, two days ago. I am also scheduled for interview as per my online update yesterday but I have yet to receive the letter. This makes me nervous since my surgery is scheduled Aug 26, I don't expect to be interviewed at least towards the end of September... mine better not be last week of August!

The date on the letter is August 11..

[Jay2Pnoy 3]

The date on the letter is August 11..

So that was Sunday, hmm. Do the CIS DA's really work on Sundays? Maybe if you are in Cailfornia, too much backlogged on applications I guess.

Thanks!

[mae232 0]

I thought it was kind of unusual too..I don't think they work on Sundays but I read that it might be because of the delay in their system...the letter came from my DO since it had their address..I guess your interview schedule will depend on your DO workload...

[Jay2Pnoy 3]

I thought it was kind of unusual too..I don't think they work on Sundays but I read that it might be because of the delay in their system...the letter came from my DO since it had their address..I guess your interview schedule will depend on your DO workload...

You're maybe right, let's assume that they don't. I agree with you, it will ultimately depend on the workload of the DO but I have also read someone from my DO scheduled for the interview in like 3 weeks at the time of interview notice receipt. So I freaked out when I read your post. Well, cross my fingers.