Washington, DC Field Office Filers

[AstroCanada 206]

Our journey is at the end now.  My husband took the oath this morning.  In and out in 15 minutes with about 20 people in the room.  He said the staff were actually pleasant for a change.  After several thousand dollars and hundreds of pages of paperwork, I wish I could have joined him, but just glad it's over.  Best of luck to the rest of you all--this forum has been an amazing resource from start to finish of this experience.  We've been better informed than most of the people I know who hired immigration lawyers.  

 

Pro tip: Free/easy parking just across from the office both the surface lot and garage.  

[Dcgirl 1]

Journey almost at the end except for oath ceremony. I had my interview at the Fairfax office about 4 weeks ago on Jan 26th. Easy interview lasting about 10 minutes with a friendly officer. I passed and the officer said I would receive a letter in the mail about scheduling an oath ceremony in 2-3 weeks. My USCIS account was updated the same day as well to note the same thing with “oath ceremony will be scheduled”. The estimated completion time (which never was accurate anyway) also disappeared. However, I haven’t had any updates since then. Is this timeframe normal? Any suggestions about how to follow up? 

[Emad Mo 4]

My wife an I both filled on June 28, but due to payment issues our applications were rejected. We applied again on July 3, and three months later on October 7 we were scheduled at same date and time. Flash forward to January 10  I received my interview appointment for February 8 and passed. On the other hand my wife didn't receive her appointment back then. In my interview I asked the officer why she hasn't received hers and he checked and this was his explanation:

 

Our documents which were collected by USCIS were all in paper so they sent a request to receive them. Somehow her request lost and her process was on hold this is all due to Covid and the fact that the document center is not working at full capacity and for some period of time it was closed. Someone somehow realized that there is a an issue and they requested for her information again (maybe it was a follow up massage that we sent to USCIS) and the documents are on the way. Once received they will put her file on que for interview appointments which needs to be sent out 1 month in advance. 

 

Flash forward to today I'm officially a US citizen. My wife interview was also scheduled last night for end of March.

 

Moral of story: I would contact USCIS. Maybe your documents request is also lost due to Covid. 

 

 

 

[Dcgirl 1]

21 minutes ago, Emad Mo said:

Moral of story: I would contact USCIS. Maybe your documents request is also lost due to Covid. 

Thanks — and congrats on citizenship! Best wishes to your wife to get it soon as well.
 

Did you send your follow up message thru your USCIS account page?

 

I have tried calling the Fairfax office (I can only find a 1-800 number though) and I get stuck in an endless loop of pre-recorded choices that just repeat oath ceremony will be scheduled. So it seems pointless to try that route.

[Mimimi2 1]

6 hours ago, Emad Mo said:

My wife an I both filled on June 28, but due to payment issues our applications were rejected. We applied again on July 3, and three months later on October 7 we were scheduled at same date and time. Flash forward to January 10  I received my interview appointment for February 8 and passed. On the other hand my wife didn't receive her appointment back then. In my interview I asked the officer why she hasn't received hers and he checked and this was his explanation:

 

Our documents which were collected by USCIS were all in paper so they sent a request to receive them. Somehow her request lost and her process was on hold this is all due to Covid and the fact that the document center is not working at full capacity and for some period of time it was closed. Someone somehow realized that there is a an issue and they requested for her information again (maybe it was a follow up massage that we sent to USCIS) and the documents are on the way. Once received they will put her file on que for interview appointments which needs to be sent out 1 month in advance. 

 

Flash forward to today I'm officially a US citizen. My wife interview was also scheduled last night for end of March.

 

Moral of story: I would contact USCIS. Maybe your documents request is also lost due to Covid. 

 

 

 

That’s amazing, congrats to you both! And thank you for the info. 
Yours was done pretty quick considering...

I applied in April 2020 and still haven’t heard a word about biometrics nor interview.

I tried contacting them online but they didn’t give me any new info. 
I might have to try calling! 

[Zaidba 39]

19 hours ago, Emad Mo said:

My wife an I both filled on June 28, but due to payment issues our applications were rejected. We applied again on July 3, and three months later on October 7 we were scheduled at same date and time. Flash forward to January 10  I received my interview appointment for February 8 and passed. On the other hand my wife didn't receive her appointment back then. In my interview I asked the officer why she hasn't received hers and he checked and this was his explanation:

 

Our documents which were collected by USCIS were all in paper so they sent a request to receive them. Somehow her request lost and her process was on hold this is all due to Covid and the fact that the document center is not working at full capacity and for some period of time it was closed. Someone somehow realized that there is a an issue and they requested for her information again (maybe it was a follow up massage that we sent to USCIS) and the documents are on the way. Once received they will put her file on que for interview appointments which needs to be sent out 1 month in advance. 

 

Flash forward to today I'm officially a US citizen. My wife interview was also scheduled last night for end of March.

 

Moral of story: I would contact USCIS. Maybe your documents request is also lost due to Covid. 

 

 

 

Congrats. That is very promising, I have applied in May and still waiting for the biometrics. Hopefully soon.

[Emad Mo 4]

14 hours ago, Mimimi2 said:

That’s amazing, congrats to you both! And thank you for the info. 
Yours was done pretty quick considering...

I applied in April 2020 and still haven’t heard a word about biometrics nor interview.

I tried contacting them online but they didn’t give me any new info. 
I might have to try calling! 

I called them back in September 2020 when I was waiting for two and a half months for my biometric appointments.  The lady on the phone told me if I applied more than three months ago and also the office has been open for more than three months (due to covid) I can fill a form online and request a biometric appointment (or reschedule an appointment). That was not the case back then, so she didn't do anything for me. I don't recall what was the form but she showed me how to access it through USCIS website. A week or two after that my wife and I both received our biometric  appointments so I think that was just coincidence. 

Nowadays I've heard that they don't answer the phone. You can either sift through USCIS website or try your luck with the phone number but if you still haven't receive your biometric appointment you should try to do something about it. I guess this is probably the reason that your case is stuck.

Based on our experience in my wife's case, the whole process between requesting documents and scheduling an interview is about 1.5 months in Fairfax office. The rest is taking biometrics. 

 

 

20 hours ago, Dcgirl said:

Thanks — and congrats on citizenship! Best wishes to your wife to get it soon as well.
 

Did you send your follow up message thru your USCIS account page?

 

I have tried calling the Fairfax office (I can only find a 1-800 number though) and I get stuck in an endless loop of pre-recorded choices that just repeat oath ceremony will be scheduled. So it seems pointless to try that route.

It was in USCIS account. The first response was the standard one which states that your case is in process and it takes time etc. but then it was updated with a weird massage that your request was sent to national center and here is your tracking number (their internal tracking number that is useless to us)

a couple of weeks after that we sent the same question again and mentioned the tracking number and then the response was that you are on the line to schedule your interview. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Zaidba said:

Congrats. That is very promising, I have applied in May and still waiting for the biometrics. Hopefully soon.

Try to find some way to contact USCIS or to move your case. I bet biometrics (or lack of) is the reason keeping your case from moving. 

Edited February 26, 2021 by Emad Mo

[Emad Mo 4]

Just right after ceremony I made a copy of my NC and then handed it to USPS for passport. It feels weird that you spent 5-10 years going after something and in an hour or so you send it away hoping it will come back to you(fingers crossed)!

 

[Zaidba 39]

Does anybody know how biometrics appointments are organized in Fairfax? I applied 10 months ago and have not received a biometrics appointment, and friends of mine applied 3-4 months after me have already done their biometrics. I wrote to USCIS twice and I received the same reply to wait.

Any ideas!!

[Dcgirl 1]

59 minutes ago, Zaidba said:

Does anybody know how biometrics appointments are organized in Fairfax? I applied 10 months ago and have not received a biometrics appointment, and friends of mine applied 3-4 months after me have already done their biometrics. I wrote to USCIS twice and I received the same reply to wait.

Any ideas!!

That is a very long time to wait for biometrics. Would suggest what Emad Mo wrote - call the 1-800 USCIS number, say “technical issue” to get past the auto-response and past the list of choices (otherwise you will keep hearing your account status) and connect to an officer. Ask them about it. Hard to know if they will give a different response, but at least, you get to talk to a live person and explain your situation, as opposed to just emailing them and getting a repeat of the same message. 
 

I suspect because of all the chaos between the pandemic and various immigration laws, and staff getting laid off, things gets stuck at random places sometimes and you have to ping them till you get a person to look into it. 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Dcgirl

[Zaidba 39]

40 minutes ago, Dcgirl said:

That is a very long time to wait for biometrics. Would suggest what Emad Mo wrote - call the 1-800 USCIS number, say “technical issue” to get past the auto-response and past the list of choices (otherwise you will keep hearing your account status) and connect to an officer. Ask them about it. Hard to know if they will give a different response, but at least, you get to talk to a live person and explain your situation, as opposed to just emailing them and getting a repeat of the same message. 
 

I suspect because of all the chaos between the pandemic and various immigration laws, and staff getting laid off, things gets stuck at random places sometimes and you have to ping them till you get a person to look into it. 

Thank you. I will do that.

[Zaidba 39]

Finally, got a biometrics appointment. A step forward.

[Mimimi2 1]

44 minutes ago, Zaidba said:

Finally, got a biometrics appointment. A step forward.

Congrats! It’s nice to see things are moving for you 😄
I’m still patiently waiting and I applied in April 2020... 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Zaidba 39]

1 hour ago, Mimimi2 said:

Congrats! It’s nice to see things are moving for you 😄
I’m still patiently waiting and I applied in April 2020... 🤷🏻‍♀️

Thank you so much. I hope you get a biometrics appointment or reuse soon. Good luck.

[Zaidba 39]

Got my interview appointment.