My thought on filing n400 whilst i751 is pending

[mcdull 474]

This morning I went to get a stamp on my passport. Obviously, I had to ask about my pending i751.

 

I was told that since I filed N400, my pending i751 will be pulled aside and sent to NBC so they could combine my i751 together with my N400.

 

Then the combo file will be sent to my field office. It takes Vermont Service Centre few months to send my i751 to NBC and then few month for NBC to prepare my files for the Boston field office.

 

Based on what I was told, I reckoned that if you aren't in a rush to become a citizen, I'd rather wait for your service centre to make a decision on your i751. 

 

 

 

 

[charmander 692]

3 hours ago, mcdull said:

I was told that since I filed N400, my pending i751 will be pulled aside and sent to NBC so they could combine my i751 together with my N400.

 

This is not true. My I-751 was approved by VSC after I applied for naturalization. Even if they do conduct a joint I-751/N400 interview, Boston is among the fastest FOs in the country for N400 processing. According to the most recent timelines Boston is back to 4-5 months processing time. Think about the possibility of being done with USCIS forever by the beginning of 2018.

[mcdull 474]

5 minutes ago, charmander said:

This is not true. My I-751 was approved by VSC after I applied for naturalization. Even if they do conduct a joint I-751/N400 interview, Boston is among the fastest FOs in the country for N400 processing. According to the most recent timelines Boston is back to 4-5 months processing time. Think about the possibility of being done with USCIS forever by the beginning of 2018.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm, interesting.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

Maybe they've been told to tell us plebs that to mitigate the inevitable rush of N400s when everyone realizes the I-751s are just collecting dust at Vermont and California.

[jxn 86]

So after many months reading this sub-forum, I would say the consensus is that filing for N-400 with I-751 pending neither speeds up nor slows down one's Removal of Conditions application.

 

However, it seems like when USCIS intakes your Naturalization application, they simply combine it with your pending RoC, right? Does that mean that one would normally get the ten-year green card sooner by not immediately filing for citizenship?

 

I want to avoid the limbo of having the expired green card with the extension letter and eventually the I-551 stamp in the foreign passport. The sooner we get the ten-year green card the better.

 

What are your thoughts?

[charmander 692]

10 hours ago, jxn said:

So after many months reading this sub-forum, I would say the consensus is that filing for N-400 with I-751 pending neither speeds up nor slows down one's Removal of Conditions application.

 

However, it seems like when USCIS intakes your Naturalization application, they simply combine it with your pending RoC, right? Does that mean that one would normally get the ten-year green card sooner by not immediately filing for citizenship?

 

I want to avoid the limbo of having the expired green card with the extension letter and eventually the I-551 stamp in the foreign passport. The sooner we get the ten-year green card the better.

 

What are your thoughts?

lots of scenarios are possible but right now there is absolutely no guarantee when you will get the 10 yr card. What you are doing is 1) you are not delaying your naturalization and 2) ensuring uscis can no longer delay adjudication of your roc for an unjustified reason, for instance service center cannot blame the workload backlog anymore. 

[hsa12390 30]

17 hours ago, charmander said:

This is not true. My I-751 was approved by VSC after I applied for naturalization. Even if they do conduct a joint I-751/N400 interview, Boston is among the fastest FOs in the country for N400 processing. According to the most recent timelines Boston is back to 4-5 months processing time. Think about the possibility of being done with USCIS forever by the beginning of 2018.

Given that Boston is one of the fastest FOs, do you think it would make more sense to send N-400 paper application as opposed to online? I've been debating for a few weeks whether to apply online or not (our I-751 was already approved)

[charmander 692]

8 minutes ago, hsa12390 said:

Given that Boston is one of the fastest FOs, do you think it would make more sense to send N-400 paper application as opposed to online? I've been debating for a few weeks whether to apply online or not (our I-751 was already approved)

Oh I have no idea on that. Maybe you could check how these guys filed. http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/citlist.php?op6=All&op7=Boston+MA&op1=&op2=&op4=1&op5=5%2C10%2C11&cfl=

Two most recent filers have filed in April 2017, one had oath already (3.5 months total processing), the other will have interview end of this month (most likely to be done in 5 months total).

[hsa12390 30]

1 minute ago, charmander said:

Oh I have no idea on that. Maybe you could check how these guys filed. http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/citlist.php?op6=All&op7=Boston+MA&op1=&op2=&op4=1&op5=5%2C10%2C11&cfl=

Two most recent filers have filed in April 2017, one had oath already (3.5 months total processing), the other will have interview end of this month (most likely to be done in 5 months total).

Wow that's good to know! Given how glitchy the online application is and the fact that we live in Boston, I'm more convinced to do a paper application. Thanks!

[mcdull 474]

34 minutes ago, hsa12390 said:

Wow that's good to know! Given how glitchy the online application is and the fact that we live in Boston, I'm more convinced to do a paper application. Thanks!

Boston here too, filed a month and a half ago, haven't heard anything.

[jxn 86]

3 hours ago, charmander said:

lots of scenarios are possible but right now there is absolutely no guarantee when you will get the 10 yr card. What you are doing is 1) you are not delaying your naturalization and 2) ensuring uscis can no longer delay adjudication of your roc for an unjustified reason, for instance service center cannot blame the workload backlog anymore. 

Is it correct, though, that USCIS combines the pending I-751 with the new N-400 application and thus doesn't issue a ten-year green card?

[hsa12390 30]

2 minutes ago, mcdull said:

Boston here too, filed a month and a half ago, haven't heard anything.

Did you file online or paper? Also your case may be more complicated since your i-751 isn't approved yet. Hopefully you hear something soon

[charmander 692]

3 minutes ago, jxn said:

Is it correct, though, that USCIS combines the pending I-751 with the new N-400 application and thus doesn't issue a ten-year green card?

Just as I said above, no it is not correct. They did not combine mine. My I-751 was approved by Vermont service center while my N400 was pending. I received the 10 year card 2.5 months ahead of my N400 interview.

 

There is no written rule here, hence I'm just going to speculate. If the I-751 is not already assigned to an officer; i.e. it is sitting in a box or sack, perhaps the service center thinks this is a great opportunity to dump that file to the field office for the joint roc/n400 interview. If the I-751 is already assigned to an officer and sitting on his/her desk (god knows for how long), maybe then they give that officer a call and ask to work on it immediately.

[mcdull 474]

23 minutes ago, hsa12390 said:

Did you file online or paper? Also your case may be more complicated since your i-751 isn't approved yet. Hopefully you hear something soon

I filed online...  I was told at info pass yesterday that my i751 and n400 would be combined for an interview in somewhere between 8 months to a year.

[charmander 692]

1 minute ago, mcdull said:

I filed online...  I was told at info pass yesterday that my i751 and n400 would be combined for an interview in somewhere between 8 months to a year.

Have you received in line for interview notice yet? When is your 3rd anniversary?