319b Expeditious Naturalization (INA319B)-A Complete Experience Report

[JSWH 262]

7 minutes ago, Sharu said:

Hi,

My husband is also a civilian contractor working for US military abroad....

Thanks for you reply. Funny enough, minutes after posting my question here my case status got updated to The Interview Was Scheduled! My interview is on March 5. I am still in shock and disbelief that it's happening... 

[Sharu 2]

4 minutes ago, JSWH said:

Thanks for you reply. Funny enough, minutes after posting my question here my case status got updated to The Interview Was Scheduled! My interview is on March 5. I am still in shock and disbelief that it's happening... 

@JSWH,

Congratulations and wish you all the best for the Interview.

[Iscir 297]

2 hours ago, miniAussie1 said:

Hi All - Thank you so much for posting your experience and a special BIG THANK YOU to @Qian for giving us hope to get this through ourselves, even after multiple immigration lawyers stated they did not want to help.

 

Context:

• Long time H1B1 holder
• Married Nov 2017 to a US citizen
• Green Card Aug 2019 (lawyers took awhile to apply)
• Filed i-751 June 2021
• Received i-751 noticed of receipt August 2021 with 18 month extension of Green Card
• Received additional extension for Green Card to 24 months due to backlog for i-751 in September 2021
• US citizen husband received work contract overseas in Nov 2021 (non-military)
• Applied for Rentry Permit Dec 2021
• Wasted time with immigration lawyers and then found this amazing forum and help from a co-worker who recently did it the year before

Current status:

• Applied January 7th, 2022 via online to the Washington DC field office and used spouse's parent's address as mailing
• Previous biometrics noticed of acceptance January 21st, 2022
• Left the US on Feb 1st, 2022
• Received email February 5th, 2022 to pick interview (options are Feb 20 through May 1) //Still in shock of the speed of this process//

A few questions for this amazing group:

1. Does my US Citizen spouse need to accompany me to the interview? (I have seen no but want to double check)
2. I would like to leave right after the oath ceremony, do you receive a physical naturalization certificate right away?
3. I know someone have done this, but email from USCIS clearly states that I need a "valid passport" to leave the US. Has anyone recently left on their old passport and applied to their overseas embassy? (Also it does not say valid US passport to leave the US but I am assuming here)
4. Do I need to notify USCIS about my pending i-751 or something about putting them together? and if so how do I do this?

 

Thank you for the help!

Hi! I naturalized last month at Washington DC.
 

1. In my case the US citizen spouse was not needed at all. I had a roc pending and they didn’t let him in, they said they would call him if they needed him but they didn’t.
2. They do interviews Monday and Tuesday, and the oath on tuesdays. So you will have your certificate on Tuesday. 

3. You have to leave with a US passport. Call the passport agency to make an appointment for an emergency passport two weeks before the date you plan on leaving the US. You will have an appointment within three business days if I remember correctly of your departure date. You will get your US passport on the same day of your appointment.  
4. I emailed the same email address they used to ask me about scheduling an interview and told them about my pending I751. I don’t know if it was necessary or not but it gave me peace of mind and they replied saying they were going to request my file to have it with them on my interview date. 

Edited February 5, 2022 by Iscir

[Qian 33]

3 hours ago, JSWH said:

Hi @Qian,

 

First of all, thank you so much for this incredibly helpful topic. I used your information as guidelines when assembling my citizenship application under INA 319(b) provisions. 

Second, I have run into some issue for which I could use your advice. 

My husband is a civilian contractor working for the US military abroad since August 2021. As soon as we had his orders in hand, June 2021, I submitted my N-400. We anticipated the process would take 6 months and by the end of 2021 I would have become a US citizen and move overseas with my husband. The reason why we chose for me to stay in the US for the time being was lack of employment opportunities if not a US citizen in the country of his assignment. Obviously, we did not want to loose a big chunk of our income.

Well, it's been 8 months and no interview date in sight. At this point we decided that we can not continue the separation and I will be moving soon with the N-400 still pending. My question is how would this affect the process? Does it change something in my eligibility? I will notify the USCIS of the change of address. Is there anything else I should do? Can I request to change my field office? I picked Houston out of convenience since we live here but apparently it was a mistake due to huge backlogs. 

 

I had completed ROC and had 10-year GC before the N-400 application submission. 

 

Thanks in advance for your insight. 

 

Hi JSWH

Thanks for the comment! That’s exactly why I posted it.

Agreed with Sharu below, I don’t see a problem you travel now and join him already. Call them to inform the change of address right after your move, otherwise they will arrange a USCIS office for you to do fingerprint. You need to do fingerprint locally overseas and send back to USCIS and maybe put a note to explain you are already overseas, just in case. 

I’m sure you can call USCIS try to change your office, but I personally won’t do that. Becases, 1) I don’t want to confuse things, and cause potential mess 2) once you join your husband, another couple of months won’t be a problem 3) 8 months in, it will happen soon

 

I was the same way, I picked Dallas, one of the busiest office, just because family can attend the ceremony easily and I was with my husband already I didn’t mind waiting. 

 

Just my personal opinion FYI.

 

Hang in there, good luck with your move

Qian

[Qian 33]

2 hours ago, JSWH said:

Thanks for you reply. Funny enough, minutes after posting my question here my case status got updated to The Interview Was Scheduled! My interview is on March 5. I am still in shock and disbelief that it's happening... 

Congratulations! Sorry I replayed to the original questions before I saw this.

(But I was right, I said it’d be happening soon. Lol)

Good luck!

[Qian 33]

3 hours ago, miniAussie1 said:

Hi All - Thank you so much for posting your experience and a special BIG THANK YOU to @Qian for giving us hope to get this through ourselves, even after multiple immigration lawyers stated they did not want to help.

 

 

A few questions for this amazing group:

1. Does my US Citizen spouse need to accompany me to the interview? (I have seen no but want to double check)
2. I would like to leave right after the oath ceremony, do you receive a physical naturalization certificate right away?
3. I know someone have done this, but email from USCIS clearly states that I need a "valid passport" to leave the US. Has anyone recently left on their old passport and applied to their overseas embassy? (Also it does not say valid US passport to leave the US but I am assuming here)
4. Do I need to notify USCIS about my pending i-751 or something about putting them together? and if so how do I do this?

 

Thank you for the help!

Hi there

How exciting! Looks like you are on top of things, and all look great!

Re your questions:

1. The USC spouse does NOT have to be at the interview

2. Yes, your will be issued a certificate of naturalization at the oath ceremony 

3.I left Texas with my old passport because the return tickets were booked under my old passport, and I applied at the US embassy here in Singapore

4.I believe all your applications are on file at one place, when USCIS arranges an interview they will take it into account

 

Good luck!!!

 

Qian

 

[OmarStuck 24]

On 8/20/2021 at 7:48 PM, OmarStuck said:

I have submitted an N-400 application last week for my wife on the basis of "spouse of US Citizen employed at American Institution of Research".

 

Will give details when process is complete.

I uploaded a new topic on my experience.

 

 

[mrbtx 7]

Hello everybody, I made a post on another part of this forum and somebody linked me very kindly to this thread. I am hoping that the experience here can help guide me with my situation. 

 

I just received my Green Card last week (via AOS with marrriage to a USC), however, my USC wife is being asked to relocate to Europe for the next 2 / 2.5 years with her very large and well known US conglomorate company. 

 

Initially I was thinking that I can only apply for a re-entry permit, and I will return back to the US within the 2 years to remove conditions and stay here, however I believe that we may (hopefully!) be eligible for 319(b) expeditious citizenship due to the criteria "American firm or corporation engaged in whole or in part in the development of foreign trade and commerce of the United States, or a subsidiary thereof"

 

Has anybody here filed for 329(b) without going down the military route? 

 

If so, how likely is it that we would be approved given that she is an executive at a large US based company, and will be going to Europe to develop their international business. All of which ultimately benefits the US entity. 

 

If this is something that you guys think would be possible, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much. 

 

 

[Qian 33]

4 hours ago, mrbtx said:

Hello everybody, I made a post on another part of this forum and somebody linked me very kindly to this thread. I am hoping that the experience here can help guide me with my situation. 

 

I just received my Green Card last week (via AOS with marrriage to a USC), however, my USC wife is being asked to relocate to Europe for the next 2 / 2.5 years with her very large and well known US conglomorate company. 

 

Initially I was thinking that I can only apply for a re-entry permit, and I will return back to the US within the 2 years to remove conditions and stay here, however I believe that we may (hopefully!) be eligible for 319(b) expeditious citizenship due to the criteria "American firm or corporation engaged in whole or in part in the development of foreign trade and commerce of the United States, or a subsidiary thereof"

 

Has anybody here filed for 329(b) without going down the military route? 

 

If so, how likely is it that we would be approved given that she is an executive at a large US based company, and will be going to Europe to develop their international business. All of which ultimately benefits the US entity. 

 

If this is something that you guys think would be possible, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much. 

 

 

I believe you are eligible to apply today (online/mail) already, of course, the eligibility is judged by USCIS, and you can certainly DIY it.

My case was not military, that’s why I posted my experience at the first place. Have been receiving questions ever since, many of them were non-military and their cases have been approved within a couple of months too.

Saw your other post, and I think you are interpreting it correctly, you are on the right path.

The most important document of it all, is about your spouse’s employment. You will need something like a letter of employment or a contract from the company, and a description of the company.

If the eligibility can be established, your case should be done before you reach the 90 days window to file AOS.

Good luck!

Qian

[miniAussie1 2]

Hi all, I just successfully completed my 319(b) process. A big thank you to everyone on this forum especially @Qian. 

 

Here are the timelines of my journey:

• Long time H1B1 holder
• Married Nov 2017 to a US citizen
• Received conditional green card Aug 2019 (lawyers took awhile to apply)
• Filed i-751 (Removal of conditions) June 2021
• Received i-751 noticed of receipt August 2021 with 18 month extension of Green Card
• Received additional extension for Green Card to 24 months due to backlog for i-751 in September 2021
• US citizen husband received work contract overseas in Nov 2021 (non-military)
• Applied for Rentry Permit Dec 2021
• Wasted time with immigration lawyers and then found this amazing forum and help from a co-worker who recently did it the year before
• Applied January 7th, 2022 via online to the Washington DC field office and used spouse's parent's address in the US as mailing address
• Previous biometrics notice of acceptance January 21st, 2022
• Left the US on Feb 1st, 2022
• Received email February 5th, 2022 to pick interview (options were Feb 20 through May 1).
• Received confirmation for interview scheduled on March 7th in Washington DC field office //Still in shock of the speed of this process//
• Flew to the US on March 5th
• Naturalization Interview on March 7th
• Oath ceremony on March 8th
• Flew back to Portugal on March 9th
• Passport appointment with the US embassy in Portugal on April 4th

Documents submitted for the online N400 - 319(b) application :

• My international passport
• My 2*2 passport photo
• My international birth certificate
• My permanent resident card
• I-797 extension notice
• Marriage certificate
• Pictures to evidence the bonafide nature of the marriage
• Personal statement where I provided details on why the application and how I qualify under 319(b) and my intention to come back to the US after my spouse's work assignment abroad is complete, showing several ties in the US (property, bank accounts, retirement accounts, husband's family in the US etc)
• USC spouse's passport
• USC spouse's signed overseas employment offer letter
• Signed letter from USC spouse's employer on company letterhead covering his job responsibilities and that he works for an American firm that is engaged in whole or in part in the development of the foreign trade and commerce of the United States (note make sure to include your family member names and that they are ok to relocate with you)
• Joint bank statements (both names must show on statement)
• Joint health/dental insurance (both names must show on statement)
• Joint mortgage / rental agreement  (both names must show on statement)
• Joint car insurance (both names must show on statement)
• Joint US tax returns for the past 3 years (both names must show on statement)
• Daughters birth certificate

Naturalization Interview @ DC Field Office in Fairfax VA:

• My naturalization interview was scheduled on March 7th at 7.30 am. I got there promptly before 7.15 am and was asked to wait outside the building until 15 mins before the interview time.
• At 7.15 am I was let inside the building and after going through security checks, asked to take the elevator to the interview floor. 
• There i went to the lady at the check in desk. She had a hard time finding my name until I remembered that this forum had mentioned asking them to check in the military interview list. And there it was, I was on the special list. She asked me to wait to be called in.
• The USCIS officer came by around 8 am and escorted me to his office for the interview. (Note that it is normal if others who came after you get called before you as there is usually only 1 officer for 319(b) interviews and hence the wait might be longer than non 319(b) interviewees.
• The interview was pretty straight forward. The officer had reviewed my case and asked me questions to make sure my story corroborated. A few things here:
  • Carry originals with you of any copies you submitted in your application - passport, drivers license, green card, marriage certificate, birth certificates, divorce certificates etc.
  • Since my I-751 (removal of conditions) was still pending, the officer told me that prior to my interview, he had successfully closed my I-751 case. The weird part here was that he said that he had cancelled my 10 year green card so whether I passed or failed this interview, I was not going to get a green card (that was scary).
  • He also said that he had changed my address to Fairfax VA (which is the field office address) so he can manage my application.
  • I had expected him to ask about my USC spouse's employment but the only thing he asked me in relation to that was if i had a letter from my USC spouse's employer saying that it was ok for me to accompany my spouse abroad and that I would not be a hindrance to his job. The only document I had with me was the letter from my USC spouse's employer stating they were providing relocation/immigration services to me and my daughter which was acceptable to the officer. (note I would make sure the letter clearly states each family member name and that they are ok to stay or somehow included in the relocation though this is uncommon nowadays)
  • There was some confusion on name change since my green card was on my maiden name while my application was on my married name. However my marriage certificate had the name change approved by the state and was accepted by the USCIS officer. (This was key as only a judge can do the name change and the oath ceremony would have been greatly delayed)
  • Then we moved on the civics test and the english test.
  • And then the magical words from the USCIS officer "You have passed the interview and I would like to add you to the oath ceremony the next day March 8th!"

Oath ceremony :

• Make sure to fill the green paper that the officer provides you (very important : the date you sign should be the date of the naturalization ceremony)
• Also I was asked to add the Washington DC field office address as my address on the green paper.
• Bring your green card(s) and any other EAD cards with you since they will be taken away when you check in
• Due to Covid, no one was allowed for the oath ceremony but the applicants. It was short and sweet :) (extra special since this was on international women's day)

Passport Dilemma:

• I had been calling and trying to get the expedited passport appointment for weeks before my interview but there were no dates available.
• So I decided to fly with my international passport since I could not get any expedited appointment and was not willing to wait the 5-8 weeks of normal processing times for regular passport processing (note that you are required to fly back to your spouse within 45 days of your naturalization) ( @Qian gave me the confidence on this due to their experience)
• I scheduled the passport appointment with the US embassy in Portugal on April 4th. They were very nice and I was in and out within an hour and was told I will receive my passport within 2 weeks by mail. Hooray!

Good luck with your journey and please let me know if you have any questions!

 

 

[Qian 33]

Thank you @miniAussie1for the update!

We could help more people with the reports from recently approved applicants!

And huge congratulations to you!

Qian

[mrbtx 7]

If I am submitting the N400 form online, do I just need to take a picture of the 2 x passport photos that I have, and attach them as evidence?

 

Also, if I am still in the US at present, but will be relocating in the next 6-8 weeks (Abroad address not yet known), should I put my current address as my current home, and my mailing address as my in-laws? (US based address), or, should I put both my current and mailing address as my in-laws? 

[Qian 33]

On 4/18/2022 at 2:53 AM, mrbtx said:

If I am submitting the N400 form online, do I just need to take a picture of the 2 x passport photos that I have, and attach them as evidence?

 

Also, if I am still in the US at present, but will be relocating in the next 6-8 weeks (Abroad address not yet known), should I put my current address as my current home, and my mailing address as my in-laws? (US based address), or, should I put both my current and mailing address as my in-laws? 

Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, I think when you are invited to your biometric appointment, you would be submitting your passport photos at the same time- since you are still in the State side.

You don’t have to have an overseas address, especially you are applying right now from the States.

[mrbtx 7]

I have just submitted my application today. I will keep the thread updated with my progress. Thank you everybody here for the help that has already been shared. 

[Qian 33]

On 4/23/2022 at 3:02 AM, mrbtx said:

I have just submitted my application today. I will keep the thread updated with my progress. Thank you everybody here for the help that has already been shared. 

Good luck! And please report back, looking forward to hearing about it.