Interview time period in USA

[ohman 5]

My wife and i are currently living in Thailand for the past three months.

 

We applied for citizenship (n400) in September 2017 at the Santa Ana Office in California.

 

Everything has went smoothly.

 

We just got an interview apointment for the end of June. 

 

My question is, i am really busy with work. I need to know how much time we need to be in the usa to complete the entire process (interview, oath, receiving passport... whatever else?). I have tried to figure out time frames for stuff like this in the past, and been way off base causing myself huge problems. 

 

Her English is pretty darned good, and she has studied for dozens of hours for the test.

 

I would be very appreciative to anyone who could provide me with a conservative timeframe we will need to be in the usa from that end of June date, so i can buy the plane tickets and plan my work schedule.

 

Thank you!

Edited May 25, 2018 by ohman

[Hypnos 6,578]

It could be a same-day oath; or you could wait a month or two or longer for an oath ceremony. 

 

Your wife failing to live in the US may be an issue. 

[ohman 5]

1 hour ago, Hypnos said:

It could be a same-day oath; or you could wait a month or two or longer for an oath ceremony. 

 

Your wife failing to live in the US may be an issue. 

Thank you. So there is no way to know if we need to be there one day, or up to two or three months? 

 

If that turns out to be an issue it will be fine we will just consider it a failed attempt. Really my only concern is how long we will need to be there. But if it is impossible to know i understand. Thank you. 

[JoannaV 174]

If you look at the N-400 timelines on this site, and then filter them to only those from Santa Ana field office, (think this link will take you straight there: http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/citlist.php?op6=All&op7=Santa+Ana+CA&op1=&op2=&op4=1&op5=5%2C10%2C11&cfl=0 ) there aren't a tonne of them to compare but none are same-day. Generally 3-4 weeks between interview and oath. But it's not just field office, depends on the locality where your residence is. The most recent Santa Ana timeline, the user wrote in one of his posts that at his interview the IO mentioned when his oath ceremony would be and it was indeed then. (But whether you'll get that useful information still depends on the IO and your own oath location.) I was able to find someone on Facebook in my city who had taken the oath recently to ask how long she had waited, but I was active in various local FB groups hence easily came across someone to ask. (*My* oath was one week shy of three months after my interview.)
 

Passport, eh. Some people get it in two weeks through the standard service. Other people end up having some kind of second waiting-for-petition-approval experience. However, if you need it in a hurry you can go to a passport agency with proof of travel and get it expedited.

[ohman 5]

15 minutes ago, JoannaV said:

If you look at the N-400 timelines on this site, and then filter them to only those from Santa Ana field office, (think this link will take you straight there: http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/citlist.php?op6=All&op7=Santa+Ana+CA&op1=&op2=&op4=1&op5=5%2C10%2C11&cfl=0 ) there aren't a tonne of them to compare but none are same-day. Generally 3-4 weeks between interview and oath. But it's not just field office, depends on the locality where your residence is. The most recent Santa Ana timeline, the user wrote in one of his posts that at his interview the IO mentioned when his oath ceremony would be and it was indeed then. (But whether you'll get that useful information still depends on the IO and your own oath location.) I was able to find someone on Facebook in my city who had taken the oath recently to ask how long she had waited, but I was active in various local FB groups hence easily came across someone to ask. (*My* oath was one week shy of three months after my interview.)
 

Passport, eh. Some people get it in two weeks through the standard service. Other people end up having some kind of second waiting-for-petition-approval experience. However, if you need it in a hurry you can go to a passport agency with proof of travel and get it expedited.

Thank you. I will have a look at that chart.

 

I would like to change my question: what is the maximum amount of time we can possibly have to wait, assuming one interview and approval? It sounds like yours was three months. Maybe we can just spend three months there, or I suppose i can buy one way tickets but it costs about twice as much that way. That is just what i will have to do i suppose. Thanks again. 

Edited May 25, 2018 by ohman

[ohman 5]

Thanks for linking the chart. 

 

Most of them seem to be within a month, but it sounds like i can't bank on that. 

[JoannaV 174]

There are some more Santa Ana filers here:

It looks like Southern California is good in general at ensuring oath capacity matches applicants so they don't run months behind. But again, can't say if that applies to every single locality.

[ohman 5]

8 hours ago, JoannaV said:

There are some more Santa Ana filers here:

It looks like Southern California is good in general at ensuring oath capacity matches applicants so they don't run months behind. But again, can't say if that applies to every single locality.

I  think i am going to assume five weeks for the oath. All the data i have looked at that seems reasonable. And maybe give a buffer of another couple of months to get the passport. So maybe book a roundtrip flight for 12-13 weeks? If anyone has any advise otherwise i am all ears. Thanks again. 

[TBoneTX 45,865]

Thread is moved from the US Citizenship main forum to the Case Progress subforum.

[bsp 32]

On 5/26/2018 at 4:45 AM, ohman said:

I  think i am going to assume five weeks for the oath. All the data i have looked at that seems reasonable. And maybe give a buffer of another couple of months to get the passport. So maybe book a roundtrip flight for 12-13 weeks? If anyone has any advise otherwise i am all ears. Thanks again. 

Assuming same day isn't offered - which it sounds like it isn't - then you're probably looking at ~6-8 weeks for the whole process if everything goes smoothly, but of course being USCIS things happen so 3 months probably gives you enough breathing room.   The alternative is presumably to fly back-and-forth twice which could get expensive, so perhaps just book the return leg as a fully-refundable flight so that you can move it forward or back as necessary? 

 

As others have mentioned, a bigger issue may be if the CO determines that your wife has abandoned her residency.  People often think of it as being a timeframe thing, but there's actually a few different ways you can abandon your GC including "mov[ing] to another country, intending to live there permanently."  This is obviously a tricky one as plans change so "permanency" is difficult to ascertain, but they'll look for things like maintaining a house/rental here in the US, insurance etc.  Not sure what your particular circumstances are, but your wife should probably be ready to address it at the interview if it comes up.

[ohman 5]

23 hours ago, bsp said:

Assuming same day isn't offered - which it sounds like it isn't - then you're probably looking at ~6-8 weeks for the whole process if everything goes smoothly, but of course being USCIS things happen so 3 months probably gives you enough breathing room.   The alternative is presumably to fly back-and-forth twice which could get expensive, so perhaps just book the return leg as a fully-refundable flight so that you can move it forward or back as necessary? 

 

As others have mentioned, a bigger issue may be if the CO determines that your wife has abandoned her residency.  People often think of it as being a timeframe thing, but there's actually a few different ways you can abandon your GC including "mov[ing] to another country, intending to live there permanently."  This is obviously a tricky one as plans change so "permanency" is difficult to ascertain, but they'll look for things like maintaining a house/rental here in the US, insurance etc.  Not sure what your particular circumstances are, but your wife should probably be ready to address it at the interview if it comes up.

Thanks. 

 

Yeah we could very well have a problem with that, but what can you do?

[bsp 32]

13 minutes ago, ohman said:

Thanks. 

 

Yeah we could very well have a problem with that, but what can you do?

Yeah, it's possible that it won't even come up as COs expect people to travel back to see their families and 3 months is not unusual, but you never know so better to be prepared with whatever evidence you have.  Obviously if asked about it she can't lie as that could end up much worse.

[ohman 5]

On 6/3/2018 at 9:10 PM, bsp said:

Yeah, it's possible that it won't even come up as COs expect people to travel back to see their families and 3 months is not unusual, but you never know so better to be prepared with whatever evidence you have.  Obviously if asked about it she can't lie as that could end up much worse.

Thanks for the info! Appreciated. She will do her best, and i will have my fingers crossed

Edited June 5, 2018 by ohman