Does spouse need to attend interview (5-yr rule)

[BlueDevil 61]

Are they any circumstances wherein it is required, or advisable that the spouse attend the N400 interview?  I filed under the 5-year rule and there is a chance that my interview might get scheduled (whenever that happens!) at the Memphis office.  That is where I had my AOS interview.  It is an extremely inconvenient office for me to go to since it is a 6-hour one way trip, which involves an overnight stay.  If it is not required that my wife attend, it would save her from having to take days off from work for it.

 

I do plan on taking all the evidence of our marriage etc... along with me but just wanted to see if there were any situations where it would be required for her to be present as well.  

 

I'm still hopeful that the assign my case to the Nashville office, which would only be a 3-hour one way drive.

[Dashinka 24,512]

I am not aware of any requirements for the spouse to attend an N400 interview even if filing under the 3 year rule.  In my wife's case, I was in the waiting area at the time, but I was not invited into the actual interview for the N400 (I was initially brought back as we had a combo I751 interview first, but then I was dismissed and my wife completed her N400 interview).

 

Good Luck!

[BlueDevil 61]

31 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

I am not aware of any requirements for the spouse to attend an N400 interview even if filing under the 3 year rule.  In my wife's case, I was in the waiting area at the time, but I was not invited into the actual interview for the N400 (I was initially brought back as we had a combo I751 interview first, but then I was dismissed and my wife completed her N400 interview).

 

Good Luck!

Thanks for the info! I’m sure we can have my wife come with me but just wanted to avoid it given the drive if she wasn’t needed, or looks like even allowed into the interview room. Cheers!

[sweetadams 138]

4 hours ago, BlueDevil said:

Are they any circumstances wherein it is required, or advisable that the spouse attend the N400 interview?  I filed under the 5-year rule and there is a chance that my interview might get scheduled (whenever that happens!) at the Memphis office.  That is where I had my AOS interview.  It is an extremely inconvenient office for me to go to since it is a 6-hour one way trip, which involves an overnight stay.  If it is not required that my wife attend, it would save her from having to take days off from work for it.

 

I do plan on taking all the evidence of our marriage etc... along with me but just wanted to see if there were any situations where it would be required for her to be present as well.  

 

I'm still hopeful that the assign my case to the Nashville office, which would only be a 3-hour one way drive.

I don't think she have to go since it's not a combo interview. Also with the COVID, I believe the letter now specifically states only you should appear for N400. You should give them a call if you are worried about it. In my opinion, I don't think it is necessary and also you are already in the 5-yr category where I heard it is much more relaxing interview.

[BlueDevil 61]

6 minutes ago, sweetadams said:

I don't think she have to go since it's not a combo interview. Also with the COVID, I believe the letter now specifically states only you should appear for N400. You should give them a call if you are worried about it. In my opinion, I don't think it is necessary and also you are already in the 5-yr category where I heard it is much more relaxing interview.

That’s good to know that the letter specifically states that only the person filing should appear. I didn’t think that she would need to appear especially since I’m at the 5 year mark now. 
Also good to know that the 5 year interview is more relaxed. Just curious - in what way is it more relaxed if you have some more info on that topic?

[H.Angy 51]

7 hours ago, sweetadams said:

I don't think she have to go since it's not a combo interview. Also with the COVID, I believe the letter now specifically states only you should appear for N400. You should give them a call if you are worried about it. In my opinion, I don't think it is necessary and also you are already in the 5-yr category where I heard it is much more relaxing interview.

It is a relaxed interview even if you apply under the 3 years rule and you have all the papers in order and meet all the requirements. Why would it be more difficult?

[JFH 12,190]

Why would your interview be moved to a different office?

 

The N-400 interview does not require the spouse to be present even for the 3-year rule. And during COVID times there are even more efforts to reduce the number of people in the building at any one time and spouses cannot even wait in the waiting room. 

[BlueDevil 61]

1 hour ago, JFH said:

Why would your interview be moved to a different office?

 

The N-400 interview does not require the spouse to be present even for the 3-year rule. And during COVID times there are even more efforts to reduce the number of people in the building at any one time and spouses cannot even wait in the waiting room. 

With regards to the local office issue, up until 2018 the Nashville office only serviced biometrics appointments and we only had one full service local office in the state out in Memphis. Even after the Nashville operations opened up to full service (interviews included), I have seen several cases in the progress reports threads where folks have been sent to the Memphis office, even though the Nashville office was only a few minutes away for them. Very frustrating given the distance some of us have to travel to the Memphis location. So I am not sure which office they will assign my case to. I am really hoping it is the Nashville office!

 

Glad to hear spouses aren’t required to be present for the interviews. Makes things much easier for us. 

[JFH 12,190]

1 hour ago, BlueDevil said:

With regards to the local office issue, up until 2018 the Nashville office only serviced biometrics appointments and we only had one full service local office in the state out in Memphis. Even after the Nashville operations opened up to full service (interviews included), I have seen several cases in the progress reports threads where folks have been sent to the Memphis office, even though the Nashville office was only a few minutes away for them. Very frustrating given the distance some of us have to travel to the Memphis location. So I am not sure which office they will assign my case to. I am really hoping it is the Nashville office!

 

Glad to hear spouses aren’t required to be present for the interviews. Makes things much easier for us. 

Sometimes they move things around for workload balance. The same happened last summer when people in western Washington state were sent to Yakima and Portland, OR. I’m so far south in Washington that Portland would be closer but so far my application is still in Seattle. The way I see it, this is my last step on the USCIS journey and if I have to make one long dreadful car journey for it to be all over than so be it. I’ll then be done with USCIS forever. 

[BlueDevil 61]

12 minutes ago, JFH said:

Sometimes they move things around for workload balance. The same happened last summer when people in western Washington state were sent to Yakima and Portland, OR. I’m so far south in Washington that Portland would be closer but so far my application is still in Seattle. The way I see it, this is my last step on the USCIS journey and if I have to make one long dreadful car journey for it to be all over than so be it. I’ll then be done with USCIS forever. 

That’s exactly where my head is at! While Nashville would be a far more convenient location, at this point I’ll suck it up and do the 12-hour drive if it means that I can done with this last step sooner. 
 

Looking at the quarterly processing data I just pulled, the Memphis office seems to get far fewer cases assigned to them and have half the pending load that the Nashville office has as of Q3. So I almost wish even with the longer drive that my case gets assigned to Memphis. 

Edited December 12, 2020 by BlueDevil