N-400 March 2018 Filers

[watashi 24]

24 minutes ago, Maria and Jason said:

Officers at my GC interview told me that background checks for both AOS and N400 have a component where they check with your country of origin and their relationship with those countries/time for them to answer plays a big part in processing times.

Per-country caps apply to green cards directly (except in case of exceptions like immediate family of US citizen), but not to naturalization. Of course this may indirectly impact naturalization since AoS applicants from backlogged countries (e.g. India, China, Philippines) will take longer just to get a GC. But there's no reason to believe that naturalization speed is impacted by nationality of an applicant who is already a PR and eligible to apply for naturalization. There's not sufficient data to support such a claim, nor any official statement, whereas immigrant visa per-country caps are established information. 

[CarlHamilton 252]

3 minutes ago, watashi said:

Per-country caps apply to green cards directly (except in case of exceptions like immediate family of US citizen), but not to naturalization. Of course this may indirectly impact naturalization since AoS applicants from backlogged countries (e.g. India, China, Philippines) will take longer just to get a GC. But there's no reason to believe that naturalization speed is impacted by nationality of an applicant who is already a PR and eligible to apply for naturalization. There's not sufficient data to support such a claim, nor any official statement, whereas immigrant visa per-country caps are established information. 

I think the point is that the background check takes longer, not that there is a legal impediment. I can see how a police report from New Zealand would be faster than, say, Yemen.

Edited March 27, 2018 by shomer

[watashi 24]

5 minutes ago, shomer said:

I think the point is that the background check takes longer, not that there is a legal impediment. I can see how a police report from New Zealand would be faster than, say, Yemen.

 

Yes sorry, I have misread part of the original post. Unfortunately there's usually no information from the applicants as to whether their AoS BC took unusually long. On the other hand there's little transparency as to when one is done with BC and just 'stuck in the system', anyway. 

[Name O Boy 511]

In my opinion for naturalization process country of origin doesn't matter because you go through an FBI background check. The purpose is to find out if the applicant has ever breached the law since living in the U.S. I am also of the opinion that country of origin might not be an issue for USCIS but for some immigration officer, it might be a concern. An officer with a prejudice might treat an applicant from a developed country differently than the one from third world country. Having said that it is against the law of the USCIS and U.S. However, there is a USCIS online complaint form which is an option for the applicant to report if he/she is being unfairly treated by the immigration officer. 

[mariaaa 14]

What does the last column in this tracker mean, NBC/IOE? Is it the service center? I am just wondering because in the appointment letter they put in my service center, 'NBC' but my case number starts with 'IOE'? I am wondering at the same time, if this field means service center that would makes sense, except that in the online filers, I see there's two from CA that has NBC in their records too.

[CarlHamilton 252]

1 hour ago, Name O Boy said:

In my opinion for naturalization process country of origin doesn't matter because you go through an FBI background check. The purpose is to find out if the applicant has ever breached the law since living in the U.S.

Are you sure?  Is this just your opinion or do you have facts to back this up?  It would make perfect sense for the FBI to consult with law enforcement in the home country to make sure the person is not a threat.  I'm not sure if they really do that, but maybe they should.  In other countries applicants for long-term immigration benefits must produce a clean police record from their home country. 

[Maria and Jason 55]

Let me make it clear that I am not advocating that it does take longer for someone from certain countries to obtain naturalization. However, I think it would be an interesting data point as based on a few officers I spoke to, the FBI background check still goes through DHS and back to your country of origin.

 

For example I've noticed in the Canadian forums that many people had the entire N400 process done in 3 months. I know that the US and Canada share almost all of that info. I wonder if that has any influence.

[CoffeeVegan 223]

2 hours ago, marianav said:

What does the last column in this tracker mean, NBC/IOE? Is it the service center? I am just wondering because in the appointment letter they put in my service center, 'NBC' but my case number starts with 'IOE'? I am wondering at the same time, if this field means service center that would makes sense, except that in the online filers, I see there's two from CA that has NBC in their records too.

Same question from me as well!

[CarlHamilton 252]

53 minutes ago, Maria and Jason said:

Let me make it clear that I am not advocating that it does take longer for someone from certain countries to obtain naturalization. However, I think it would be an interesting data point as based on a few officers I spoke to, the FBI background check still goes through DHS and back to your country of origin.

 

For example I've noticed in the Canadian forums that many people had the entire N400 process done in 3 months. I know that the US and Canada share almost all of that info. I wonder if that has any influence.

The way to test this would be to compare the duration of green card background checks with that of citizenship checks.  If that is consistent for the same person (short GC check, short citizenship check, etc.) and also across different individuals of the same nationality, you'd have something solid.  I don't know if you can build that with the data on here, but it would be interesting.

[bsp 32]

1 hour ago, Maria and Jason said:

Let me make it clear that I am not advocating that it does take longer for someone from certain countries to obtain naturalization.  However, I think it would be an interesting data point as based on a few officers I spoke to, the FBI background check still goes through DHS and back to your country of origin.

From what I've been told, there's two components to the FBI background check: 1) fingerprint check against Federal and state agencies for any law enforcement interactions in the US and 2) a wider name check that includes a broader range of Federal intelligence agencies looking for deeper issues.  USCIS will never provide transparency on how this works (for good reason), but it's not difficult to imagine that citizens of some countries - say, the Five Eyes partners - would clear this part of the process quicker that someone from a country deemed to be a higher risk by the intelligence agencies.  I'm not sure we'll ever know for certain though given the opaqueness of the process.

[Name O Boy 511]

3 hours ago, shomer said:

Are you sure?  Is this just your opinion or do you have facts to back this up?  It would make perfect sense for the FBI to consult with law enforcement in the home country to make sure the person is not a threat.  I'm not sure if they really do that, but maybe they should.  In other countries applicants for long-term immigration benefits must produce a clean police record from their home country. 

U.S embassy or consulate do an extensive background check when an applicant applies for the initial visa in his/her country before coming to U.S. DHS and the embassy in those countries want to make sure they don't grant a visa to someone who has performed an act of crime in his/her country. I have never heard before that USCIS or any federal agency did any background check in the immigrants home country during the naturalization process. Having said that they might contact a small number of applicant's home country officials if they suspect something wrong. Bearing in mind they contact the U.S consulate first in the applicant's country of origin in that case. The best example I could give you is the recent operation Janus where a naturalized citizen was denaturalized because he lied during the whole immigration process and in this case applicants country of origin must have been contacted to verify. It took USCIS 14 years to find out he committed a fraud. If USCIS suspects something wrong they will absolutely find out the background details which may be quick or might take time. 

[marynemoga 10]

Hello there! I filed online 03/20, got NOA 1 online 03/21 and in the mail a few days later. 03/24 I got an email notification saying I've been scheduled for Biometrics but no date. I just checked my online account and I see the appointment notice for 04/12. This is moving really fast! 

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

15 minutes ago, marynemoga said:

Hello there! I filed online 03/20, got NOA 1 online 03/21 and in the mail a few days later. 03/24 I got an email notification saying I've been scheduled for Biometrics but no date. I just checked my online account and I see the appointment notice for 04/12. This is moving really fast! 

 

I think it is rather a hurry up and wait scenario at present, unfortunately.  

[CoffeeVegan 223]

On 3/27/2018 at 9:11 AM, Lovetoteach said:

How are everyone's Biometrics appointments going? I have mine tomorrow.  Is it still possible to get a stamp to extend my Green Card as it expires in almost five months ?

Goodluck on the biometrics! Mine is scheduled for April. I thought stamping was in Detroit office only not in the application centre but I could be wrong.

[Ingrid28 69]

Just did my biometrics. It was smooth and easy. Took 5 minutes.