N-400 and I-751 Combo Pending -- Part 2

[kc2177 6]

1 hour ago, zilchfox said:

I recognize that office as the one that approved my I-485 without interview. You think that’s a possibility?

I'm thinking that anyone who applies for N400 and wants the I751 adjudicated at the same time, the I751 goes to NBC first... But that's just a guess based on other similar stories on here and my experience.

[Fr8dog 312]

I spoke with several officers over the last few months and here is what they have told me.

 

Your file has to be sent to the NBC when you apply for the N-400. Regardless of who has it or what is being done with it, it will be sent back immediately. Mine was laying in the local office waiting for a decision on my ROC.

 

Depending on the IO (there level and willingness) they may do a combo interview even when it is not mentioned in the letter. It depends on several things including; is your file complete, did you bring your spouse, do they have time to do it, are they able to access both programs (they are not the same program), does their office allow it (I'm sure there are more reasons).

 

Now the fun part. Apparently there are more files with missing paperwork than used to be the norm. In my file all evidence submitted during the AOS was gone by the time the looked at my file for the ROC. So I got an RFE for that one. Ones they had that they forwarded it to the local office for an interview. During the interview the officer told me my wife's divorce papers were missing too (luckily I had copies). The file than stayed at the local office for 130 days without anybody doing anything (It than moved to the NBC for the N400). When I had my N400 interview, I was told that the ROC had not been processed since the content of the original envelope, the one I handed in when I entered on my I-129F 4 years ago, never made it into my file until about a week ago. As I was her last interview of the day and she was authorized to do so, she promised me she would hammer both of them out after I left. At about 6pm local time I got the approved message for both the ROC and the N400.

[Mike E 11,741]

On 12/1/2019 at 9:22 AM, zafi said:

do you guys recommend to take spouse to interview if I-751 is already pending?

If you are expect a quick N-400 decision yes. The N-400 IO can’t convert the case to a combined  I-751 / N-400 interview without the petitioner.

 

 I expect us to be in this situation because California back logs are long and I perceive N-400 cases have a higher priority. And I am going.  
 

Remember that there is a conditional basis for naturalization (it is mentioned in the constitution);  it is essentially a civil right.  

Edited February 1, 2020 by Mike E

[AstroCanada 206]

On 1/31/2020 at 6:49 PM, zilchfox said:

I recognize that office as the one that approved my I-485 without interview. You think that’s a possibility?

One never knows for sure what will happen with USCIS, but if you did the I-485 without an interview, it's less likely to get a waiver for the I-751.

[PonJor 69]

We just submitted our N400 online today with a pending I-751 (March 2019 )

Edited February 2, 2020 by PonJor
Added filing location

[PonJor 69]

Case finally popped up on USCIS website.

 

February 2, 2020

We received your application

You submitted your application on February 02, 2020

We will begin reviewing your application by conducting a background check in order to identify any issues that need to be addressed. We will schedule a biometrics appointment to collect your fingerprints. We will also review your application to make sure you have submitted all of the required information and documentation.

 

Estimated case completion time is November 2020 (9 months) and estimated wait time is 6 days (to get biometric notice?) 

[tidius 6]

Hi, 

 

I wanted to share my experience with what turned out to be a successful combo interview both for the I-751 and N-400 applications. I filed my ROC application in August 2018 and the N-400 in July 2019. Early in January 2020 I received an appointment letter for my naturalization interview while no action had been taken on the I-751 since my biometrics appointment back in 2018.

 

I attended my naturalization interview without knowing whether they would also deal with the I-751 and, following the insightful comments from this forum, I decided to bring my wife along, just in case. However, there was a notice before going through security at the USCIS building stating that companions were not allowed. Always willing to follow the rules, and since I had not received a specific notice to bring my wife to the interview, she didn't come in and went to grab a coffee nearby. Inside in the waiting area there were many applicants with their spouses. Oh, well.

 

When I got called in, the officer seem surprised when I showed her my green card extension letter and I explained that my I-751 was pending. She took my documents and left the room for around 10 minutes. It felt like one hour, though. She came back with another officer, although they stayed chatting outside of the office, and the senior officer asked whether I had brought my wife along. I jumped in and explained that she was not inside the building, but was nearby having a coffee, so I could ask her to join us if needed. After another 5 minutes, the initial officer came back and she said that my wife would not be needed, but that we would go through my I-751 first, just with me, then move on to the naturalization interview. Combo interview, yay!

 

Interestingly, my I-751 file was there. I guess I wasn't sure whether it would have been transferred at all before going in. I was a bit surprised that she hadn't noticed that given that she was surprised that my I-751 was pending, but she probably didn't check the file before calling me in.

 

The I-751 questions were few and quite generic, e.g., where did we meet, when did we marry, do we have children, where do we leave, etc. She said that everything seemed fine and then moved on to the naturalization interview, first the civics, then the language test, then we went over my application thoroughly. Overall, it probably took around 30 minutes. At the end, she said that she approved both my applications and asked me if I had any questions. Oh, yes, I did.

 

I asked her what would happen to my I-751 and whether I would receive my 10-year green card at all. She offered that she was "recommending" me for approval on the I-751, but that her decision had to be validated by her supervisor since she didn't have authority to approve that petition, so she indicated that I should receive either an approval notice or an RFE, if her supervisor disagreed with her criteria. She also said that they would still send my 10-year green card, which I shall give back at the naturalization ceremony. I also asked about the naturalization ceremony timeline since I have a planned trip overseas in late February, but it will take 6-to-8 weeks, apparently.

 

The day after the interview I received an email saying that my I-751 had been approved and that a notice was sent, which I have not yet received as of today. I also got the notification that my naturalization ceremony invitation will be send shortly. So, overall, a rather smooth and pleasant experience. I'm glad I could do my combo interview, being approved for both cases, and that my wife was not even required to attend the interview. 

 

I hope my experience is useful for those of you who are still hanging in there. Good luck!

[Lola_lalo 211]

My child who is my U.S. spouse's legal stepchild received the 10 year green card last week. How long do you think my card takes from now?

[ruby103 6]

 

Hi everyone,

I’ve just passed my N-400 and I-751 combo interview this Monday 02/10 at Dallas USCIS Field Office. I have been observing many of your previous experience regards the combo interview and they really helped me a lot for mine. Everything went pretty smooth. My interview was scheduled at 2:00pm. My husband and I arrived at 1:30pm, went thru the security check, then checked-in at the reception area where they took a picture of mine and got my finger-prints scanned. Then we went to upstairs and waited there until 2:15pm. The IO was a very nice lady. She called my name; my husband also stood up and came with me. The IO didn’t say a thing about him coming along with me. After we sat down, she quickly explained that she had to adjudicate my I-751 first, then she would move to the N-400 interview later.

I-751 questions:

1. How did you two meet?
2. Did you exchange phone numbers / email addresses?
3. What is your spouse’s b-day?
4. What do you like most about your spouse?
5. What is the least thing you like about your spouse?
6. Where do you work?
7. Where does your spouse work?
8. Where did you live right after getting married? How far is it from Chicago & Iowa?
9. What is your current address?
10. Do you have any children?

During the interview, we had some small talks about the Chicago Bear, about the winter time in the North as I told her I just stayed in IL for one winter and I decided I didn’t like the cold so we both moved to Dallas later on. So it was kind of a conversation which I think has helped us to show the IO about our marriage life. Also she did reviewed all the evidences that we submitted with the I-751 form and asked some questions regards random locations where we took the photos. At the end of the I-751 interview, the IO asked if we have any other evidences that we wanted to update. Since we only submitted the purchase contract of our new house at the time we filed I-751, in this interview I brought our mortgage papers and the property deed I printed out from my county’s website which showed both my husband and me as the owners of the house. I also gave her our joint tax forms of 2018 & 2019. I asked her if she needs to see more of our updated photos but she said no need.

Civic questions:

1. What is the name of the national anthem?
2. We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?
3. In what month do we vote for President?
4. What is the capital of the United States?
5. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?
6. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?

After completed with the civic questions, the IO then asked a list of yes/no questions as showed in the N-400. I had a speeding ticket after filling the N-400 so I also brought the receipt and the dismissal order from the court to show that I already paid the fines. I didn’t tell my husband about the ticket so when I told the IO that yes I had a speeding ticket, my husband was like “no, you didn’t have any ticket”, and I told him “Yes I did. I was afraid that you would be mad at me so I didn't tell you”. The IO was like “Ohhhh, so we have a little secret that has just been revealed now. But I am glad that she tells the truth”. She said a lot of people swear to tell the truth but they still hide things. The IO joked with me that I was in bad luck to get pulled over on I-75 as she saw a lot of people usually drive at that speed. She was fine with all the documents I brought in to show that I already paid for the ticket. I think thru this conversation, it also showed that we have a normal husband & wife life. So, I guess it is still fine if you have some differences between your answers, as long as the IO can see a bona fide marriage from how you interact with each other from day-to-day life.

At the end, she confirmed with me once again about my name change (I requested a name change when I filed the N-400 form), updated my traffic ticket and that I paid all the fines, and also updated my latest trip back to Vietnam to visit my parents. Everything was showed on a tablet screen and I had to sign to confirm all of the changes were correct. Then she told me that she approved both of my I-751 and N-400 and gave me a paper which she checked on the box “Congratulations …...” and that she already put my name in queue for the Oath ceremony, so I would expect to receive the letter about the Oath in 4-6 weeks as they had to wait for a judge to do the ceremony (I guess because I requested for name change so it would take longer???) She also told me that I shall not receive the 10-year GC as I am going to be soon a US citizen, but I will still see on the USCIS website that my I-751 will be approved.

 

**** My I-751 & N-400 timeline:

6/30/2018 – I-751 application sent

7/01/2019 – N-400 application sent

7/04/2019– Biometric appointment for I-751 scheduled on 7/17/19

7/05/2018 – Biometric appointment for N-400 scheduled on 7/26/19

7/17/2019 – Combo biometric for I-751 & N-400 (I came in, showed the 2 letters to the guy at the reception and asked if I could do both today since the 2 appointments only 1 week apart. He said yes of course)

8/08/2019 – I-751 was transferred to another USCIS office. That office now has jurisdiction over your case (NBC Lee Summit, MO)

01/06/2020 – N-400 interview was scheduled

02/10/2020 – I-751 & N-400 combo interview

02/11/2020 - We placed you in line for Oath ceremony & no update on the I-751 

 

 

 

 

[frakina 22]

My wife had the combined N-400 and i-751 interview today. We arrived at 7:45 for 8 am interview, but weren't called in until about 9:20AM. I went in with her, and the officer said there will be two of them with one there just for observation. They had both the files with them.

 

The second officer started with the i-751 interview and checked her birth certificate and our marriage certificate in addition to the green card/passport etc. She told us that she'll ask questions and if she directs them to one of us, the other person should not respond. Here are some questions she asked - 

1. (To me, the petitioner): Wife's full name and maiden name and the date and place of birth
2. (To wife): My full name and date of birth
3. (To wife) When and where did we meet? (We met in India while I was visiting family)
4. (To wife) What happened after that?
5. (To me) Was I on a vacation? Was I already a US citizen at that point, and why did I go there
6. How did we keep in touch after I came back to the US?
7. How often did we see each other between the first time and until she immigrated to the US
8. Details of each trip
9. (To wife) When did we meet on my second trip - wife replied it was right before we were getting married, we went to buy our rings
10. (To me) What does my wife's ring look like - and then she asked my wife to show the ring to her
11. How come we got married so quickly (about 6 weeks from us meeting to me proposing her, and then the wedding was about 1.5 months after that)
12. (To wife) How many people were at the wedding?
13. (To us) Why are there no pictures in our file (We submitted a lot of pics with our i-751, but they were almost all following her immigration since we didn't think marriage pics would be necessary anymore) - wife offered to show the pics on her phone, she said she'll check them later
14. (To wife) How many days were the wedding events (since Indian weddings have many events over a few days)
15. (To me) What is our address, phone number
16. Have we ever lived at any other address?
17.  (To me) Why did I wait two years to put my wife on the home deed? - I said just getting a trust company to do the paperwork took time. She said it wasn't a good excuse. I explained that California being a community property state, I didn't think it mattered that much. NOTE: we had submitted home deed transfer copy with i-751 docs, so they were prepared to ask this question beforehand.
18. Asked if we had traveled since our i-751 application in 2018 and asked to see itineraries, which we had brought.
19. Asked for our 2018 tax return.

 

The questions were quite intense but I think we answered everything satisfactorily. At this point, the officer conducting i-751 interview told me that they'll continue my wife's interview and move on to the naturalization interview and I didn't need to be present for that so she escorted me out, telling me it might take another 30-45 minutes.

 

My wife came out about 20 minutes after that. She was asked a couple more questions, such as if we both have personal bank account (in addition to the joint statements we submitted) and how is the joint bank account money spent. My wife showed pictures from our wedding events on her phone (Q13 above), specifically ones showing many guests. She also made copies of our bank joint account statement, travel itineraries in the last year, and took some other pics we had brought with us from recent trips. All this while the other officer was interviewing her for naturalization.

 

Naturalization interview questions - 

 

1. Name the US war between the North and the South
2. What are the first 10 amendments called?
3. Name of the speaker of the house
4. Who makes federal laws
5. What are the two major political parties
6. Name of the president

For the English test, she had to read "Who can vote" and write (on the tablet) "Citizens can vote".

 

She was approved for N-400 but it's pending i-751 approval. They didn't say anything about the status, just said they will send the update. If the i-751 petition is approved, she won't receive a new green card and instead will take the oath directly. Fingers crossed all went OK!

[John andrew 8]

On 2/2/2020 at 2:36 PM, PonJor said:

We just submitted our N400 online today with a pending I-751 (March 2019 )

did you receive yet your BIO-METRIC Appointment yet and did you done it already:) i received it yesterday in the mail and its 03/03/2020 but i am trying to walking in today lol  

[PonJor 69]

15 minutes ago, John andrew said:

did you receive yet your BIO-METRIC Appointment yet and did you done it already:) i received it yesterday in the mail and its 03/03/2020 but i am trying to walking in today lol  

Yes, we received it in the document tabs on 2/12/20 and in the mail on 2/13/20. My husband tried to do a walk in last Thursday morning, but was turned away. His biometrics appointment is this Thursday (2/27/20) and he'll go then. Good luck, I hope it works out for you!

[John andrew 8]

1 hour ago, PonJor said:

Yes, we received it in the document tabs on 2/12/20 and in the mail on 2/13/20. My husband tried to do a walk in last Thursday morning, but was turned away. His biometrics appointment is this Thursday (2/27/20) and he'll go then. Good luck, I hope it works out for you!

it works for me try at 2 pm i swear it was empty

[ramus_maximus 49]

We had our I-751 interview(2nd), 1st one was a combo with N-400.

 

Waited 30mins past our appointment time. Then finally called in by the IO. She started by asking what documents did we bring for the interview as stated in the interview notice. We had tax returns for last three years since the application. Affidavit signed by friends, bank statement with both names, insurance cards ( auto, health, vision , dental), car purchase documents, furniture purchase docs, credit cards statement as authorized user, all the flight itineraries since the application, photos (about 30) also since the application.

 

Then IO asked some personal questions like do we have kids, where do we work, when was the last time we visited my wife's family, where do they live, etc. I think the IO was satisfied with our answers and evidences that we brought with us.

 

Wife had already passed the N-400 civics exam so the next step was to approve the I-751 in 1-2 days and approve the N-400 and pass the file for scheduling for oath ceremony. The said just wait for the oath letter in mail and should not take more than 2 months for the remaining process to clear up.

 

Almost to the finish line after 3 years and 4 months of waiting. 🤞

[John andrew 8]

14 minutes ago, ramus_maximus said:

We had our I-751 interview(2nd), 1st one was a combo with N-400.

 

Waited 30mins past our appointment time. Then finally called in by the IO. She started by asking what documents did we bring for the interview as stated in the interview notice. We had tax returns for last three years since the application. Affidavit signed by friends, bank statement with both names, insurance cards ( auto, health, vision , dental), car purchase documents, furniture purchase docs, credit cards statement as authorized user, all the flight itineraries since the application, photos (about 30) also since the application.

 

Then IO asked some personal questions like do we have kids, where do we work, when was the last time we visited my wife's family, where do they live, etc. I think the IO was satisfied with our answers and evidences that we brought with us.

 

Wife had already passed the N-400 civics exam so the next step was to approve the I-751 in 1-2 days and approve the N-400 and pass the file for scheduling for oath ceremony. The said just wait for the oath letter in mail and should not take more than 2 months for the remaining process to clear up.

 

Almost to the finish line after 3 years and 4 months of waiting. 🤞

awesome that was really a win win lol congrats dear