N-400 April 2020 Filers

[orangeal 12]

9 minutes ago, Yupibotan said:

Finally decided to pull the trigger and submitted FOIA request too. At this point nothing can make it worse 🙂

Not to discourage anybody from being proactive about their case, but my Congressional aide was told that they will not take extraordinary measures with my case unless l can make a compelling case showing how not being a citizen is impacting my life or dependents negatively. Date of filing is not a sufficient reason. I have submitted several 'out of normal time requests'. In fact, as soon as l get a response ( still working on your case!), I submit another. Recently, they locked me out of the submission portal for some days because of my perseverance. That's how it is. I'm used to shoddy treatment just based on who l am and where l come from, so nothing surprises me. We shall overcome!

 

[orangeal 12]

5 minutes ago, AH2020 said:

I filed April 20, 2020, Field office is San Diego. 

I have opened several service requests, contacted congressman, Senator, Ombudsman. They said my file was stuck at the NRC.  I filed the FOIA on 12/10. I honestly have no idea if this is what triggered things but it obviously didn't hurt. 

Thanks and good luck. Your date is very close to mine (April 18) but Detroit field office's hands are tied, really. They're waiting for NBC.

[igoyougoduke 1,650]

8 hours ago, orangeal said:

Not to discourage anybody from being proactive about their case, but my Congressional aide was told that they will not take extraordinary measures with my case unless l can make a compelling case showing how not being a citizen is impacting my life or dependents negatively. Date of filing is not a sufficient reason. I have submitted several 'out of normal time requests'. In fact, as soon as l get a response ( still working on your case!), I submit another. Recently, they locked me out of the submission portal for some days because of my perseverance. That's how it is. I'm used to shoddy treatment just based on who l am and where l come from, so nothing surprises me. We shall overcome!

 

just file a mandamus lawsuit in court. congress men are pretty much useless 

[KatieL 8]

On 1/5/2022 at 8:48 PM, stformummy said:

Hi Katiel, is your n400 interview in Dallas? 

Yes it is!

Also, I just realized that I was posting on this thread this whole time, even though I did not file in April 2020. I filed in Jan 2020. My bad!!! 

[stformummy 1]

5 hours ago, KatieL said:

Yes it is!

Also, I just realized that I was posting on this thread this whole time, even though I did not file in April 2020. I filed in Jan 2020. My bad!!! 

Alright. Thanks. I filed in July 2020, and Dallas is my local field office. Still waiting for interview to be scheduled. Congratulations once again. 

[Libertate 17]

My logic that filing FOIA triggers a new request to the record center actually worked. Could be a coincidence but my and my partner's cases (filed on the same day) just moved to the "interview scheduled" stage. Both interviews were scheduled for 2/7/22. Kind of a bummer because I decided to move to an area with better processing time to help my case. Luckily, AR11 has to be submitted within 10 days of the move and because I am moving 2/1/22 I can still go to my interview.

[GingerCat 14]

On 1/7/2022 at 9:54 PM, Libertate said:

My logic that filing FOIA triggers a new request to the record center actually worked. Could be a coincidence but my and my partner's cases (filed on the same day) just moved to the "interview scheduled" stage. Both interviews were scheduled for 2/7/22. Kind of a bummer because I decided to move to an area with better processing time to help my case. Luckily, AR11 has to be submitted within 10 days of the move and because I am moving 2/1/22 I can still go to my interview.

Congrats. What was you file date and which field office if you don’t mind me asking?

[Libertate 17]

14 hours ago, GingerCat said:

Congrats. What was you file date and which field office if you don’t mind me asking?

Thank you! I filed 5/2/20. My field office is Minneapolis, MN.

[Cloggie 17]

My field office is San Fernando Valley. Any other applicants filed there?

[Kristina B. 4]

I submitted another request through the online tool they have for applications "outside of the normal processing time". This answer was even less helpful than the last one. 

[sfo-user 3]

So, I’m f**cked, right? No interview or oath this year? Is there even a point in suing? I applied 22 months ago and they’ve not even started on my case.

 

“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) records confirm that your constituent's case is currently pending the completion of pre-processing checks. Our records further indicate that the National Benefits Center has requested your constituent’s file from the National Records Center (NRC). Like other Federal agencies, USCIS has taken necessary measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, our agency has worked to balance the safety and health of our workforce with the needs of our applicants and petitioners. The NRC is currently operating at 25% staffing capacity after weeks of being closed due to local COVID-19 safety protocols. As a result, the NRC is only transferring urgent case files. USCIS expects your constituent's file to be transferred to the National Benefits Center in the upcoming months, when staffing capacity at the NRC increases to fulfill routine file requests. We understand your constituent’s concerns regarding the processing of his application. USCIS is striving to resolve these issues as soon as possible."

 

"However, the local field office is unable to expedite or schedule an interview until the pre-processing is complete at the National Benefits Center. We are unable to determine when the pre-processing will be completed and ask your patience and understanding while this situation persists.”

[thewaitingame 34]

14 minutes ago, sfo-user said:

 

So, I’m f**cked, right? No interview or oath this year? Is there even a point in suing? I applied 22 months ago and they’ve not even started on my case.

 

“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) records confirm that your constituent's case is currently pending the completion of pre-processing checks. Our records further indicate that the National Benefits Center has requested your constituent’s file from the National Records Center (NRC). Like other Federal agencies, USCIS has taken necessary measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, our agency has worked to balance the safety and health of our workforce with the needs of our applicants and petitioners. The NRC is currently operating at 25% staffing capacity after weeks of being closed due to local COVID-19 safety protocols. As a result, the NRC is only transferring urgent case files. USCIS expects your constituent's file to be transferred to the National Benefits Center in the upcoming months, when staffing capacity at the NRC increases to fulfill routine file requests. We understand your constituent’s concerns regarding the processing of his application. USCIS is striving to resolve these issues as soon as possible."

 

"However, the local field office is unable to expedite or schedule an interview until the pre-processing is complete at the National Benefits Center. We are unable to determine when the pre-processing will be completed and ask your patience and understanding while this situation persists.”

Yeah I brought this up before, FOIA is processed at NRC. Requesting FOIA would basically tell USCIS to send files to NRC and not the other way around. As step 3 in the process is "Your responsive documents have arrived at the National Records Center."

[sfo-user 3]

1 minute ago, thewaitingame said:

Yeah I brought this up before, FOIA is processed at NRC. Requesting FOIA would basically tell USCIS to send files to NRC and not the other way around. As step 3 in the process is "Your responsive documents have arrived at the National Records Center."

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean by that. So, my case is indefinitely stuck there without any recourse, including lawsuit? I've not requested a FOIA.

[thewaitingame 34]

2 minutes ago, sfo-user said:

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean by that. So, my case is indefinitely stuck there without any recourse, including lawsuit? I've not requested a FOIA.

Oh sorry I didn't know that you didn't file FOIA. A lot of people did and it "supposedly" triggered some sort of action. I don't know if the lawsuit would do anything either. It's not USCIS's fault. You can try to sue the NRC...

[eizerr 4]

44 minutes ago, sfo-user said:

 

So, I’m f**cked, right? No interview or oath this year? Is there even a point in suing? I applied 22 months ago and they’ve not even started on my case.

 

“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) records confirm that your constituent's case is currently pending the completion of pre-processing checks. Our records further indicate that the National Benefits Center has requested your constituent’s file from the National Records Center (NRC). Like other Federal agencies, USCIS has taken necessary measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, our agency has worked to balance the safety and health of our workforce with the needs of our applicants and petitioners. The NRC is currently operating at 25% staffing capacity after weeks of being closed due to local COVID-19 safety protocols. As a result, the NRC is only transferring urgent case files. USCIS expects your constituent's file to be transferred to the National Benefits Center in the upcoming months, when staffing capacity at the NRC increases to fulfill routine file requests. We understand your constituent’s concerns regarding the processing of his application. USCIS is striving to resolve these issues as soon as possible."

 

"However, the local field office is unable to expedite or schedule an interview until the pre-processing is complete at the National Benefits Center. We are unable to determine when the pre-processing will be completed and ask your patience and understanding while this situation persists.”

The response which you received is actually a complete b/s - likely some copy paste canned ####### they send to the senators to make it more detailed or official. I literally have seen someone having the same response pasted a month ago here.  

There are people filing as late as Aug-Oct 2021 already getting their interviews and oaths done and therefore, the files from NRC successfully retrieved, even being non-urgent

 

I am also in SFO office and also waiting since March 2020. Everything going to be alright - I have a friend who filed in Dec 2019 and just passed their interview in the end of Dec, the cases are slowly moving and soon it will be our turn.