N-400 April 2020 Filers

[Scandi 4,166]

3 minutes ago, roddie2k said:

It is not a rumor. I had posted this  on this forum based on a call with a USCIS agent last Monday (6/8) which is when he stated that it is 'likely' to open on June 22nd. 

Not  sure who posted the info on facebook. 

Yeah, but we also know about the misinformation line, and how they love to throw inaccurate info out there just to get people off the phone. So for now it's unfortunately just a rumor.

[Thelord 42]

So it seems like the scheduled furlough date is now pushed back a little bit to August 3rd if they don't get funding they will put 70% of the staff on furlough

 

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2020/06/uscis-pushes-potential-furlough-date-for-13400-employees-back-to-august/

 

I am seeing a lot of people in Dec 2019/Jan 2020 topic are getting interview scheduled for this month and July. Again, I think anyone who can get the interview in July is lucky.

 

Also, USCIS is having a webinar tomorrow (Thursday June 18th) at 3pm EST: 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMIuus8mRJM

[millefleur 5,046]

5 hours ago, Thelord said:

So it seems like the scheduled furlough date is now pushed back a little bit to August 3rd if they don't get funding they will put 70% of the staff on furlough

That is curious since I've always assumed USCIS was funded via its filing fees. Is there some additional funding they need?

[Thelord 42]

13 minutes ago, millefleur said:

That is curious since I've always assumed USCIS was funded via its filing fees. Is there some additional funding they need?

 they are funded by the filing fees. but they "claim" that the number of applicants dropped by 60% and thus they don't have the same level of revenue as before. They blame it on COVID19 but to be honest this is much more than that and it goes back to the anti-immigration agenda of the current administration that led to reduction of filers. It is funny that USCIS was signalling major deficits even BEFORE the COIVD19 and now they have a perfect excuse. 

[Scandi 4,166]

10 minutes ago, Thelord said:

 they are funded by the filing fees. but they "claim" that the number of applicants dropped by 60% and thus they don't have the same level of revenue as before. They blame it on COVID19 but to be honest this is much more than that and it goes back to the anti-immigration agenda of the current administration that led to reduction of filers. It is funny that USCIS was signalling major deficits even BEFORE the COIVD19 and now they have a perfect excuse. 

You'd think cases would be approved a lot faster and things would run a lot smoother with that much less applications, if that was the case. But nope, it only got worse. 

[Bose12 32]

Biometrics begins July 13th. From the USCIS webinar. So we just relax till then.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Bose12

[millefleur 5,046]

Just now, Bose12 said:

Biometrics begins July 13th.

Just saw that! Let's hope they don't push it back again at the last minute.

[aliare 8]

1 minute ago, Bose12 said:

Biometrics begins July 13th.

yeah, but it's phased reopening, so there is no guarantee our particular offices will open on July 13. 

[Bose12 32]

Just now, aliare said:

yeah, but it's phased reopening, so there is no guarantee our particular offices will open on July 13. 

True.

[Bose12 32]

We will know by monitoring other threads. They will start rescheduling next two weeks. 

[Alexabbas334 17]

A friend just had his ceremony today at the Detroit USCIS office. It was a drive through ceremony. 

[Thelord 42]

4 minutes ago, Alexabbas334 said:

A friend just had his ceremony today at the Detroit USCIS office. It was a drive through ceremony. 

to be honest the ceremonies is the easiest part during the pandemic because it requires minimum interaction.

The real challenge are first the biometrics which has the highest interaction with the USCIS employee and the devices that everyone should use, and on the second level the interviews.

[millefleur 5,046]

2 hours ago, Thelord said:

to be honest the ceremonies is the easiest part during the pandemic because it requires minimum interaction.

The real challenge are first the biometrics which has the highest interaction with the USCIS employee and the devices that everyone should use, and on the second level the interviews.

I think drive through interviews are very unlikely. The whole point of a face-to-face interview is so they can watch your body language and observe, and interviews stateside are usually done in a smallish room with no barrier between the interviewer and interviewee...I don't get why they can't just have a glass barrier like at the embassies, but at least during our ROC, it was done in an open room. There may be some deliberate psychological reason for why they want to do it in open rooms?

 

I would think biometrics would actually be easier: they can just have someone disinfect the fingerprint machine after each use and since there's no interview or discussion involved, the officer could be behind a glass barrier during that process - verify ID simply by looking at the person and checking ID. Require masks and mandatory hand sanitizer for each person and it seems like it shouldn't be that big of a deal. 

[MJS2020 17]

1 hour ago, millefleur said:

I think drive through interviews are very unlikely. The whole point of a face-to-face interview is so they can watch your body language and observe, and interviews stateside are usually done in a smallish room with no barrier between the interviewer and interviewee...I don't get why they can't just have a glass barrier like at the embassies, but at least during our ROC, it was done in an open room. There may be some deliberate psychological reason for why they want to do it in open rooms?

 

I would think biometrics would actually be easier: they can just have someone disinfect the fingerprint machine after each use and since there's no interview or discussion involved, the officer could be behind a glass barrier during that process - verify ID simply by looking at the person and checking ID. Require masks and mandatory hand sanitizer for each person and it seems like it shouldn't be that big of a deal. 

Biometrics are the toughest to pull off. People are checked at the entrance by a security guard and will have to remove their masks to be authenticated. Then they have to wait with multiple other people. Finally, the applicant will have to take their mask for a picture.

I do believe that the biometrics will be the bottleneck of this process. I am still waiting for a biometrics appointment for soon to be 4 months. It would be great if the USCIS reused the biometrics they have on file but I highly doubt it will happen for naturalization purposes. 

Edited June 23, 2020 by MJS2020

[millefleur 5,046]

11 minutes ago, MJS2020 said:

Biometrics are the toughest to pull off. People are checked at the entrance by a security guard and will have to remove their masks to be authenticated. Then they have to wait with multiple other people. Finally, the applicant will have to take their mask for a picture.

This could be accomplished with social distancing. Airports are still running and those have people going through security. And they're verifying ID at airports by looking at people's faces. USCIS could just limit the number of people per day and in the building at any given time, and it would probably be safer than grocery shopping or visiting an airport or going through customs at ports of entry.