2018 San Francisco filers

[anonee 8]

@littleitaly Here is the rough gist of the process:

 

- As @DandelionSF said you have to get four to five forms to fill out (I used the excellent guide here https://transgenderlawcenter.org/resources/id/id-please-quick-guide, also see https://www.courts.ca.gov/22489.htm) to do so, the forms took a weekend to fill out, I then went to the court (in the tenderloin in SF) early one day, spent ~ 2 hours to file the application which cost me $450, the minimum time before you can see a judge is six weeks, I pushed them to ensure that I could see one as early as possible, they put me at 8 weeks. I then called up one of the approved newspapers, paid $60 to run an ad for four weeks.

- I went on the court date, didn't have to see the judge was given the decree providing me with my name change, I got a few transcripts at ~ $25.00 per transcript. 

 

I started the process fairly late, mid February or so when I thought I'd have an interview in April and wrapped up late March. My understanding is that you don't have to have the name change document by the interview, but absolutely need to have it before your oath (which has been a month after the interview).

 

Edited April 11, 2019 by thedarkelf

[Nenton 5]

Hey @DandelionSF,

 

I just got my notice 4/10/2019 and I will be scheduled for the interview in 5/10. I think you will get one soon enough.

 

Good luck,

[Solid_Possibility 4]

1 hour ago, Nenton said:

Hey @DandelionSF,

 

I just got my notice 4/10/2019 and I will be scheduled for the interview in 5/10. I think you will get one soon enough.

 

Good luck,

 

@Nenton - When did you apply again, and was it the SF office? 

[Nenton 5]

@Solid_Possibility

 

I applied online on 4/3/18. I think all April filer is coming up. 

 

UserName.........|GC-Date.|Sent.|Cashd|NOA..|Fprints.|In Line.|Int ltr.|Intrvw..|Oath....|Field Office.....|NBC/IOE
Nenton...........|12/01/15|04/03|04/03|04/06|05/17/18|--/--/--|04/10/19|05/20/19|--/--/--|San Francisco, CA|IOE 

[Solid_Possibility 4]

5 minutes ago, Nenton said:

@Solid_Possibility

 

I applied online on 4/3/18. I think all April filer is coming up. 

 

UserName.........|GC-Date.|Sent.|Cashd|NOA..|Fprints.|In Line.|Int ltr.|Intrvw..|Oath....|Field Office.....|NBC/IOE
Nenton...........|12/01/15|04/03|04/03|04/06|05/17/18|--/--/--|04/10/19|05/20/19|--/--/--|San Francisco, CA|IOE 

thanks!

 

@thedarkelf - looks like you should be coming up soon. @Nenton applied the day before you and got his yesterday! 

I'm guessing I won't hear anything until at least next week...

[Nenton 5]

I am just wondering what the writing test is like. My spelling may be horrible. I have written anything for a while.

[anonee 8]

@Solid_Possibility @Nenton application was 3 days before me (4/03 vs 4/06), so I am guessing sometime mid next week, what with the weekend and all? 

 

@Nenton my understanding is that it will be based on the vocabulary from here (https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Office of Citizenship/Citizenship Resource Center Site/Publications/PDFs/writing_vocab.pdf). You could just make sure that your spelling of those words is correct.

 

 

 

[zedkyuu 12]

1 hour ago, thedarkelf said:

 

@Nenton my understanding is that it will be based on the vocabulary from here (https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Office of Citizenship/Citizenship Resource Center Site/Publications/PDFs/writing_vocab.pdf). You could just make sure that your spelling of those words is correct.

 

Yep, they are very restricted on the writing and reading tests. Most of their English assessment will come from simply talking to you through the course of the interview, but they have lists of terms that they can use for the writing and reading tests, and they are tiny.

 

For the reading test, they will show you a sentence on the tablet screen and ask you to read it out.

For the writing test, the interviewer will tell you what to write, and then you will do so on the tablet screen using the crappy stylus they have.

[littleitaly 9]

On 4/10/2019 at 9:40 PM, thedarkelf said:

@littleitaly Here is the rough gist of the process:

 

- As @DandelionSF said you have to get four to five forms to fill out (I used the excellent guide here https://transgenderlawcenter.org/resources/id/id-please-quick-guide, also see https://www.courts.ca.gov/22489.htm) to do so, the forms took a weekend to fill out, I then went to the court (in the tenderloin in SF) early one day, spent ~ 2 hours to file the application which cost me $450, the minimum time before you can see a judge is six weeks, I pushed them to ensure that I could see one as early as possible, they put me at 8 weeks. I then called up one of the approved newspapers, paid $60 to run an ad for four weeks.

- I went on the court date, didn't have to see the judge was given the decree providing me with my name change, I got a few transcripts at ~ $25.00 per transcript. 

 

I started the process fairly late, mid February or so when I thought I'd have an interview in April and wrapped up late March. My understanding is that you don't have to have the name change document by the interview, but absolutely need to have it before your oath (which has been a month after the interview).

 

@DandelionSF@thedarkelfThank you both very much! this is very helpful. I am gonna spend my sunday filling out the forms!

[littleitaly 9]

3 hours ago, Nenton said:

@Solid_Possibility

 

I applied online on 4/3/18. I think all April filer is coming up. 

 

UserName.........|GC-Date.|Sent.|Cashd|NOA..|Fprints.|In Line.|Int ltr.|Intrvw..|Oath....|Field Office.....|NBC/IOE
Nenton...........|12/01/15|04/03|04/03|04/06|05/17/18|--/--/--|04/10/19|05/20/19|--/--/--|San Francisco, CA|IOE 

@Nentondo you also have I751 pending based on your GC date? if so, did you get a combo interview? I751 & N400.

[littleitaly 9]

On 3/12/2019 at 4:32 AM, JandMA said:

Just got the notice that my interview has been scheduled, but the letter giving the actual date of the interview has not yet appeared in my documents folder. My guess is third week of April.

For those of you still waiting, the notice came 361 days after I filed and 28 days after my counter went to zero. 

Interestingly the email was sent at 3.10 am PST, so I doubt that it was sent by a real person.

@JandMA is it a combo 751/400 interview assuming you also have 751 pending?

 

[Nenton 5]

@littleitaly - No, I only filed N400. I think I removed the conditions a while back, about 3 years ago. I should have applied N400 as well.

[DandelionSF 6]

5 hours ago, zedkyuu said:

Yep, they are very restricted on the writing and reading tests. Most of their English assessment will come from simply talking to you through the course of the interview, but they have lists of terms that they can use for the writing and reading tests, and they are tiny.

 

For the reading test, they will show you a sentence on the tablet screen and ask you to read it out.

For the writing test, the interviewer will tell you what to write, and then you will do so on the tablet screen using the crappy stylus they have.

I didn't open the link but all the reading and writing stuff is also in the booklet with the interview questions that we received at Biometrics. On the last two or three pages. My understanding is that only a selection of these words need to be written/read.

[DandelionSF 6]

5 hours ago, littleitaly said:

@DandelionSF@thedarkelfThank you both very much! this is very helpful. I am gonna spend my sunday filling out the forms!

Good luck and all the best!

[Lemon23 400]

14 hours ago, zedkyuu said:

For the writing test, the interviewer will tell you what to write, and then you will do so on the tablet screen using the crappy stylus they have.

I agree with this, I have to write twice on the tablet since the stylus was not good enough to write on the tablet.