Should We File N-400 Now or Should We Wait - COVID Delay

[EXPAT_Life 0]

My wife became a green card holder in February 2011.  Her current green card expires in May of 2023.  In April 2016, I (her US citizen by birth husband) accepted a job working at a US military base overseas that allowed us to live on base as a family.  We are both contractors but are not members of the US military.  My wife has decided to pursue naturalization and we are prepared to file the N-400 online.  However, due to COVID travel restrictions, we have not been back to the US since August of 2019.  If we were to leave here for any reason under the current travel ban, we would be subject to a lengthy quarantine (30+ days) and multiple COVID tests in order to return.  We are hoping to return to the US in the summer of 2022.  Traveling with our US citizen (by birth) children adds to the cost and complexity of trips abroad.

 

We believe my wife will be eligible for naturalization despite living and working outside of the US for the last 5 years.  She lived continuously in the US for 5 years with only occasional brief trips to her native country before we moved to work abroad.  We have multiple things that tie us back to the US and we intend to return to the US if our contracts are not renewed in the future.

 

Our concern is that if her application is processed too quickly, we will not be able to return to the US in time to perform things like a biometrics appointment, interview, or the oath.  We have seen a wide range in processing times on this site and we understand each case is handled individually.  Throughout our immigration process, my wife's processing times have almost always mirrored the projected time frames.

 

If she is approved for naturalization, is the USCIS flexible in scheduling the next steps in the process?  We are afraid of filing and then losing our fee if we are unable to meet the  USCIS requested timeline for processing and having to reapply.  We fully anticipate being back in the US for a month-long vacation in about 12 months at the earliest.

 

Also, is the husband expected to attend the interview?  If an interview date cannot be set during our vacation, then my wife may need to attend the appointments on her own due to work and school requirements.  I would want myself and our kids to be there...especially for her oath taking but we do not know if that will be possible.

 

Houston, Texas, would be our preferred location but people from our current location who have pursued naturalization have normally been directed by USCIS to use the Honolulu offices.

 

Any feedback on filing while overseas or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks for reading.

[millefleur 5,047]

**Moved from US Citizenship Case Filing and Progress Reports to USC General Discussion**