Decision pending on my wife's application

[sampatel1 0]

Today, me and my wife went to the USCIS Office for our Interview.

We were called in by 2 different Officers around the same time.

Mine went perfectly well and I was out in 20 mins with the Approval and my Oath ceremony was 2 hrs later and I am now an US Citizen.

In case of my Wife, we had a name change.

Her interview went well, although she got a little confused on one of the questions: i.e. When were we out of the country the last time, to which my wife replied last year. In the moment, she forgot that we had been out for a few days in MArch this year. The Interviewer asked her about it and to that my Wife replied that she accidentally said the same.

The rest of the interview went well. She passed the Civics test.

On her way out, the Interviewer said "Congratulations ..."

But, then gave her the page which says "Decision pending ... cannot be taken at this time".

My wife asked the Interviewer as to why her case was pending and if there was anything wrong with the application.

The Interviewer said that since my wife has a name change, she will have to take the oath before a judge and that she will get a letter in the mail although I was still expecting her to pass.

Does the name change cause any issues and delays? Do all applications which invole name change get a "Decision Pending ..." status?

Ours was an Employment based application (my employment) and we finished 5 yrs on our Green Card last month.

My wife has had a crystal clean record on all fronts so far and so I was 100% sure her application will get through, but somehow she is now stuck in the "Decision Pending ...." status.

Has anybody been in a similar situation? Any idea how many days it will take USCIS to respond?

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

It is truly the name change, your wife is fine but she must have the oath before a judge. How long that takes depends on your local office- most do them once a month but the next one may be full already.

[Jamericanlove 31]

I think I've read that when there's a name change involved the case file goes through additional processing. I think your wife is fine and you'll get her oath letter soon in the mail. Congrats on your citizenship!

[sampatel1 0]

It is truly the name change, your wife is fine but she must have the oath before a judge. How long that takes depends on your local office- most do them once a month but the next one may be full already.

I understand that the Oath Ceremony in Dallas takes place once a month. What I did not understand is why they could not approve her right there and then? I have been reading forums and many of them have got approval even with name change immediately. Most of the folks who got the pending status had some other issues. In our case, we were not asked any other docs. When we went to the Interview, all we had was our GC, Driver's License and Passports.

Any idea how long it takes to update the status on the USCIS website?

For both of us the status still shows "Interview" although I got my Oath yesterday.

Does it take time for the systems to update?

[BigDaddy28 228]

Having a pending case while you want to change your name is not weird at all. USCIS doesnot have to the authority to change your name, a court has to do that. So your case is approved but it has to be pending because they have to schedule your wife for a ceremony in the court. She has to take oath in front of a judge and the judge has to approve the name change. There is no other way around it. How long will it take to schedule that depends on availability of the ceremonies and how soon they are.

Don't worry about your status any more as you are a US citizen, some people never see it updating lol, there is somebody here who is a US citizen but his I751 is still pending lo. You don't trust that case status. USCIS will update their system, you might see it if they do you might not see it but they have it in their record that you are a citizen. Now to be on the safe side apply for your passport because that's what you will need from now on. Congrats and I hope your wife hears something soon.

[sampatel1 0]

Its been over 11 days now. I have not seen the Status change for my Wife's application nor I have received any letter yet.

The next court ceremony in Dallas will be held on 19th Aug 2013 and looks like my wife is going to miss that one as I would imagine the letter would have been here by now.

Hopefully she will be able to get on the next one in September.

[BigDaddy28 228]

The August one might be full already. Maybe that's why you didn't hear something yet.