N-400 interview "a decision cannot be made at this time"

[israelidude 8]

Hello everyone,

 

I had my interview yesterday. I passed the English and civics test no problem. But the interviewer said that she sees one issue with my application. She said that it shows that I've spend more than 6 months abroad. Which is incorrect. I haven't spent more than 13 days out of the states. I've left the country 5 times over the course of 5 years for no more than 2 weeks at a time. I also filled out the info correctly on my N-400. I've retrieved the travel info from the USCIS website. So that's how I know its correct. 

 

The IO was a bit confused and couldn't handle the numbers. She had issues reading the dates and trying to confirm the dates I was out of the country. I tried to assist by suggesting to look at the passport stamps, and said that I can provide pay stubs to prove that I was in the states at the time. But the lady wouldn't even tell me the time frame.

 

She finished off by saying that it's not a big deal and that everything should be fine. I asked her, when should I expect to hear back. She said she is really busy and has some other interviews to do. She wont get to it this week, but if I dont hear anything within 120 days then to contact them again.

 

Can this be resolved with an infopass appointment? This is just very frustrating because I've done everything by the book. I pay my taxes. I dont break the law. I want to be an American. And when the lady asked me if I'm willing to renounce any other nationalities I have I replied with "100% yes". 

 

I know it's not true. I haven't spent more than 6 months outside. Will her supervisor be able to figure that out? 

 

Later on I went home and looked up my records again. I have an arrival without a departure in 2014. But I also have an arrival and departure record for the same day. The reason is because I went to Niagara Falls. And apparently I crossed over the rainbow bridge to the Canadian side twice in one day. Its possible they didnt stamp me on the way out the first time. 

 

I can prove 100% I was here in 2014. What do I do? Am I just being paranoid? Please help me out guys.

Edited January 11, 2019 by israelidude
Typo

[HonoraryCitizen 179]

43 minutes ago, israelidude said:

Can this be resolved with an infopass appointment?

No, don't worry yourself. A complete waste of your time. However dumb she is, five minutes with a calculator will resolve this. The Canada thing happens to many many people. It is nothing unusual.

 

43 minutes ago, israelidude said:

Am I just being paranoid?

Yes you are just being totally paranoid.

 

Relax and just wait for your approval. Will likely happen within the next couple of weeks to a month.

Edited January 11, 2019 by HonoraryCitizen

[israelidude 8]

Thanks, I appreciate the response. I just felt so disappointed. Yea that's what I thought. The supervisor should be able to figure it out easily.

 

Still cant help but be a bit worried, but I agree.

[Hypnos 6,576]

Agreed. This is why USCIS has supervisors who are needed to check some of their underlings' work, it's to catch silly mistakes like this. 

[Santos12 41]

19 hours ago, israelidude said:

Hello everyone,

 

I had my interview yesterday. I passed the English and civics test no problem. But the interviewer said that she sees one issue with my application. She said that it shows that I've spend more than 6 months abroad. Which is incorrect. I haven't spent more than 13 days out of the states. I've left the country 5 times over the course of 5 years for no more than 2 weeks at a time. I also filled out the info correctly on my N-400. I've retrieved the travel info from the USCIS website. So that's how I know its correct. 

 

The IO was a bit confused and couldn't handle the numbers. She had issues reading the dates and trying to confirm the dates I was out of the country. I tried to assist by suggesting to look at the passport stamps, and said that I can provide pay stubs to prove that I was in the states at the time. But the lady wouldn't even tell me the time frame.

 

She finished off by saying that it's not a big deal and that everything should be fine. I asked her, when should I expect to hear back. She said she is really busy and has some other interviews to do. She wont get to it this week, but if I dont hear anything within 120 days then to contact them again.

 

Can this be resolved with an infopass appointment? This is just very frustrating because I've done everything by the book. I pay my taxes. I dont break the law. I want to be an American. And when the lady asked me if I'm willing to renounce any other nationalities I have I replied with "100% yes". 

 

I know it's not true. I haven't spent more than 6 months outside. Will her supervisor be able to figure that out? 

 

Later on I went home and looked up my records again. I have an arrival without a departure in 2014. But I also have an arrival and departure record for the same day. The reason is because I went to Niagara Falls. And apparently I crossed over the rainbow bridge to the Canadian side twice in one day. Its possible they didnt stamp me on the way out the first time. 

 

I can prove 100% I was here in 2014. What do I do? Am I just being paranoid? Please help me out guys.

I'm on the same boat. My case has been pending for almost 80 days. I literally did everything by the books and I still didn't get a same-day decision. I keep sending service requests every 30 days but I get the same answer - your case is under review. And apparently my field office doesn't take InfoPass appointments anymore. It is frustrating when we obey the law and do everything strictly correct and get rewarded with a delay and no answers.

[israelidude 8]

4 minutes ago, Santos12 said:

I'm on the same boat. My case has been pending for almost 80 days. I literally did everything by the books and I still didn't get a same-day decision. I keep sending service requests every 30 days but I get the same answer - your case is under review. And apparently my field office doesn't take InfoPass appointments anymore. It is frustrating when we obey the law and do everything strictly correct and get rewarded with a delay and no answers.

Yes, especially when USCIS is the one making the mistake. Its amazing how they can put you on "pending" status and mess with you. All that without any supporting evidence to what they are claiming. If you dont have evidence to show that I was out of the country for 6 months why bring it up? I can shut that argument down in a second. But the IO wasn't smart enough to look through the dates properly. The longest period of time I was out of the country was 13 days. 

 

She couldnt even tell that the one date that I have an arrival without a departure was on the same day as another re-entry. I was in Niagara Falls. And crossed the rainbow bridge twice. One of the times they forgot to stamp my passport. But when you check this info on the website it clearly says the location of where that happened. 

 

If you have some sort of a brain you just say.. Oh the dude was just walking over the bridge to view the falls. Who would have thought that going to pay respect to an engineering wonder created by Tesla and America would get me in this mess. 

 

All I did was check out Niagara Falls. I am so upset that USCIS are behind on technology. They cannot provide a real time update. Which just tells me how archaic things are over there.  

[israelidude 8]

I did hear that if you dont hear back in 120 days, you are allowed to file a motion. The court will give you your citizenship then.

[israelidude 8]

22 minutes ago, Santos12 said:

I'm on the same boat. My case has been pending for almost 80 days. I literally did everything by the books and I still didn't get a same-day decision. I keep sending service requests every 30 days but I get the same answer - your case is under review. And apparently my field office doesn't take InfoPass appointments anymore. It is frustrating when we obey the law and do everything strictly correct and get rewarded with a delay and no answers.

What was your interview like? Did the interviewer find any issues? I heard they sometimes dont even explain why. The lady that interviewed me was about 70 years old. She kept complaining about her eye sight and she couldn't operate the computer properly. She even said: "I dont know if its a mistake that you made. Or a mistake that 'they' made". I obviously didnt argue or raise any major concerns because I didn't want to shoot myself in the foot so to speak. But I could tell she shouldn't be doing this job.

 

Too much is on the line. You cant have a person go through 15 years of paying and paying and paying and waiting and waiting and waiting. And then have them go through hell because of a mistake that the IO made. I really hope that the supervisor will catch her mistake. 

Edited January 12, 2019 by israelidude

[Santos12 41]

4 minutes ago, israelidude said:

Yes, especially when USCIS is the one making the mistake. Its amazing how they can put you on "pending" status and mess with you. All that without any supporting evidence to what they are claiming. If you dont have evidence to show that I was out of the country for 6 months why bring it up? I can shut that argument down in a second. But the IO wasn't smart enough to look through the dates properly. The longest period of time I was out of the country was 13 days. 

 

She couldnt even tell that the one date that I have an arrival without a departure was on the same day as another re-entry. I was in Niagara Falls. And crossed the rainbow bridge twice. One of the times they forgot to stamp my passport. But when you check this info on the website it clearly says the location of where that happened. 

 

If you have some sort of a brain you just say.. Oh the dude was just walking over the bridge to view the falls. Who would have thought that going to pay respect to an engineering wonder created by Tesla and America would get me in this mess. 

 

All I did was check out Niagara Falls. I am so upset that USCIS are behind on technology. They cannot provide a real time update. Which just tells me how archaic things are over there.  

 Sometimes they create unnecessary delays to people because they're able to see everything on their systems. If your entry/exist dates were showing correctly on the CBP's website, then those are the dates they should see on their end. Unless the dates were not showing correctly then the IO might need more time to make a decision based on some other information. Otherwise, I don't understand why they would delay your case. Did you apply under the 3-year rule or the 5-year rule?

[israelidude 8]

1 minute ago, Santos12 said:

 Sometimes they create unnecessary delays to people because they're able to see everything on their systems. If your entry/exist dates were showing correctly on the CBP's website, then those are the dates they should see on their end. Unless the dates were not showing correctly then the IO might need more time to make a decision based on some other information. Otherwise, I don't understand why they would delay your case. Did you apply under the 3-year rule or the 5-year rule?

5 year rule. I was married but I am divorced and brought my original divorce decree to the interview. The interviewer said that the dates are the only issue. And when she saw that I was a bit disappointed, she said: "I just need to confirm the dates with my supervisor. Usually I do these things alone." 

Its like going to a dentist that doesnt know what he is doing. Just sitting there hopeless while he is plucking your teeth out.

[Santos12 41]

10 minutes ago, israelidude said:

I did hear that if you dont hear back in 120 days, you are allowed to file a motion. The court will give you your citizenship then.

You have that option after 120 days but I heard it's costly because you'd probably need to hire a lawyer and it might take even more time until the court decides to hear your case due to the courts being full with backlog cases.

 

 

 

[israelidude 8]

Im not fearing denial. I believe they will be able to figure it out. My concern is that she pushed me to the back of the line. For no good reason..

[Santos12 41]

6 minutes ago, israelidude said:

What was your interview like? Did the interviewer find any issues? I heard they sometimes dont even explain why. The lady that interviewed me was about 70 years old. She kept complaining about her eye sight and she couldn't operate the computer properly. She even said: "I dont know if its a mistake that you made. Or a mistake that 'they' made". I obviously didnt argue or raise any major concerns because I didn't want to shoot myself in the foot so to speak. But I could tell she shouldn't be doing this job.

 

Too much is on the line. You cant have a person go through 15 years of paying and paying and paying and waiting and waiting and waiting. And then have them go through hell because of a mistake that the IO made. I really hope that the supervisor will catch her mistake. 

My interview went fine. During the interview the IO seemed like she was going to approve me but at the ended she said she couldn't approve me yet because of pending background checks. I thought to myself, after 8 months waiting?

 

[israelidude 8]

Just now, Santos12 said:

My interview went fine. During the interview the IO seemed like she was going to approve me but at the ended she said she couldn't approve me yet because of pending background checks. I thought to myself, after 8 months waiting?

 

Right?! How weird is that? Why dont you go over the case for a minute before you invite me for an interview. I dont understand why they do all this checking and looking and talking during the interview. They have about a year to gather info about us. Why not be a professional and attend the interview prepared? Its funny I feel I was more prepared than the interviewer. 

[Santos12 41]

2 minutes ago, israelidude said:

Im not fearing denial. I believe they will be able to figure it out. My concern is that she pushed me to the back of the line. For no good reason..

You should be fine. From what you said there is no apparent reason for a denial. When was your interview? Give it a few weeks. You can also make requests online. But yes, it is unfair that we get pushed to the end of the line.

I also think that it was a little unprofessional of her to say that she is busy and that she had more interviews to do. I don't know why an IO would say such thing.