N-400 Seattle (Part 2)

[mnt96 22]

Hi everyone, super happy to share that I passed my interview on 1/25. yeahhh!!!!!!!!

 

The officer was super nice and it was easy breezy.

• He put me on oath
• Took my greencard and ID.  Kept my greencard
• Did civics and writing test
• We went through my application where I updated him on my address, unemployed status, traffic tickets I forgot to mention, and associations I was once a part of.
• Signed paperwork
• Took oath right at his office
• Interview took about 25 minutes
• He walked me out to the lobby where I waited for my certificate for about an hour

I then went to the passport agency in downtown Seattle and applied for my passport.

Got it after 2 hours.

 

Super happy this journey is over.

Wishing everyone all the best of luck in their journey and hope it ends soon.

Goodluck!!!!

[arnab221 29]

On 1/27/2022 at 4:50 PM, Hamilton said:

Hi all! Just filed for citizenship, can't believe I get to join the club for one of the slowest local offices!! The system is predicting 14 months, but maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised!

If the USCIS is to be believed , virtual interviews will soon create a leavel playing field as it would allow faster offices to share interview workloads of slower offices remotely . They plan to create a central pool of officers and allocate them to any interview nationwide time zone permitting. That would mean wait times across the country would become uniform. 

https://youtu.be/ukqAmPgAN4w?t=564

Edited February 5, 2022 by arnab221

[Hamilton 511]

13 hours ago, arnab221 said:

If the USCIS is to be believed , virtual interviews will soon create a leavel playing field as it would allow faster offices to share interview workloads of slower offices remotely . They plan to create a central pool of officers and allocate them to any interview nationwide time zone permitting. That would mean wait times across the country would become uniform. 

https://youtu.be/ukqAmPgAN4w?t=564

Thanks for sharing this link!

 

If anyone else wants to watch -- the report about using more video-based interviews and evening out disparities in wait times across offices takes place around the 1 hour mark. 

 

Does anyone think this will actually happen soon enough to help those of us already in line? I feel like that's hoping for too much.

[PedroDaGr8 245]

On 2/5/2022 at 2:14 PM, Hamilton said:

Thanks for sharing this link!

 

If anyone else wants to watch -- the report about using more video-based interviews and evening out disparities in wait times across offices takes place around the 1 hour mark. 

 

Does anyone think this will actually happen soon enough to help those of us already in line? I feel like that's hoping for too much.

From my understanding, it has already begun to some degree. In the old Seattle thread, there were a few people who mentioned they went to the Tukwilla site and their interview was a video interview via an iPad with an officer in Spokane via an iPad. USCIS mentioned in a recent report that they conducted over 42,000 video interviews, it is clearly in the testing phases still but it does seem like they are working to implement it.

Edited February 7, 2022 by PedroDaGr8

[Hamilton 511]

3 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

From my understanding, it has already begun to some degree. In the old Seattle thread, there were a few people who mentioned they went to the Tukwilla site and their interview was a video interview via an iPad with an officer in Spokane via an iPad. USCIS mentioned in a recent report that they conducted over 42,000 video interviews, it is clearly in the testing phases still but it does seem like they are working to implement it.

That's awesome! Man, I'd be more than happy to drive all the way to Spokane or Portland to get an interview sooner too.  

[phdng 4]

My interview has finally been scheduled for March 9th!!!!! I filed online on Oct 10th, 2020 -- it will have been 15 months by the time I get to the interview. Whew!

 

I filed under the 3-year marriage to US citizen rule, but the interview letter doesn't say anything about my spouse having to attend the interview with me. Does my spouse need to attend the interview with me? I tried searching online but couldn't find a definitive answer. Some people say spouses should come just in case, but others have said spouses aren't even allowed to come inside the building due to COVID protocols.

 

It sounds like to they would take your green card at the interview. I have a plan to travel internationally on April 21st, and even the expedited option still takes 5-7 weeks for the passport to arrive. 4/21 is 6 weeks away from 3/9 -- right within the range but that's cutting a little too close.

 

If the US passport doesn't arrive in time, will they give me any additional documentation after the interview that would allow me to enter the US with my old passport?

 

Or should I just wait until 5 days before my trip and apply in-person at the Passport agency downtown for "emergency" travel? 

[A1982 9]

Hi - 

 

April 2021 filer here.

 

Thought I'd chime in to:

1) point out this link that appears to have more recent data in it than the Google Doc that has been circulated here; the last 2 data points in it appear to suggest that interviews are happening 16-17 months post filing right now.

2) also point out that I personally know someone (French + what is likely an uncomplicated and rather straightforward case) who interviewed and became a citizen 2 weeks ago, and his interview took place 15 months post filing. 

 

All very limited data points, I know - but directionally at least, I am hoping it means that my April 2021 filing will lead to an interview by July 2022 (15 months post filing, that is). 

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by A1982

[Jaanu-96 1]

1 hour ago, phdng said:

My interview has finally been scheduled for March 9th!!!!! I filed online on Oct 10th, 2020 -- it will have been 15 months by the time I get to the interview. Whew!

 

I filed under the 3-year marriage to US citizen rule, but the interview letter doesn't say anything about my spouse having to attend the interview with me. Does my spouse need to attend the interview with me? I tried searching online but couldn't find a definitive answer. Some people say spouses should come just in case, but others have said spouses aren't even allowed to come inside the building due to COVID protocols.

 

It sounds like to they would take your green card at the interview. I have a plan to travel internationally on April 21st, and even the expedited option still takes 5-7 weeks for the passport to arrive. 4/21 is 6 weeks away from 3/9 -- right within the range but that's cutting a little too close.

 

If the US passport doesn't arrive in time, will they give me any additional documentation after the interview that would allow me to enter the US with my old passport?

 

Or should I just wait until 5 days before my trip and apply in-person at the Passport agency downtown for "emergency" travel? 

that's awesome! happy for you!!

[A1982 9]

1 hour ago, phdng said:

My interview has finally been scheduled for March 9th!!!!! I filed online on Oct 10th, 2020 -- it will have been 15 months by the time I get to the interview. Whew!

 

I filed under the 3-year marriage to US citizen rule, but the interview letter doesn't say anything about my spouse having to attend the interview with me. Does my spouse need to attend the interview with me? I tried searching online but couldn't find a definitive answer. Some people say spouses should come just in case, but others have said spouses aren't even allowed to come inside the building due to COVID protocols.

 

It sounds like to they would take your green card at the interview. I have a plan to travel internationally on April 21st, and even the expedited option still takes 5-7 weeks for the passport to arrive. 4/21 is 6 weeks away from 3/9 -- right within the range but that's cutting a little too close.

 

If the US passport doesn't arrive in time, will they give me any additional documentation after the interview that would allow me to enter the US with my old passport?

 

Or should I just wait until 5 days before my trip and apply in-person at the Passport agency downtown for "emergency" travel? 

Hi there. October 10 2020 to March 9 2022 is 17 months, not 15. Did you mean that you had filed on December 10 2020, or did you mean that the process will have taken 17 months? Thanks!

[phdng 4]

2 minutes ago, A1982 said:

Hi there. October 10 2020 to March 9 2022 is 17 months, not 15. Did you mean that you had filed on December 10 2020, or did you mean that the process will have taken 17 months? Thanks!

Haha yes, I did mean 17 months.

 

Hadn't had coffee yet when I wrote that -- I was just adding 5 months to a year and I must have thought there were 10 months in a year 

[A1982 9]

3 minutes ago, phdng said:

Haha yes, I did mean 17 months.

 

Hadn't had coffee yet when I wrote that -- I was just adding 5 months to a year and I must have thought there were 10 months in a year 

Thx for clarifying. 

 

I hope that the news from that Youtube video shared above (USCIS update on progress vs Executive Order) see the timeline be further compressed to 15 (or less) months in a more consistent manner in the near future.

Edited February 8, 2022 by A1982

[phdng 4]

Also, funny enough, I got my interview scheduled today and the online estimation jumped from 3 months to 18 months .

 

Just another data point to show that we should just all ignore that online estimation. Honestly, USCIS should just remove that online estimation or replace it with a table of current wait time at the local office, which would be infinitely more useful.

 

 

[Hamilton 511]

7 hours ago, phdng said:

Also, funny enough, I got my interview scheduled today and the online estimation jumped from 3 months to 18 months .

 

Just another data point to show that we should just all ignore that online estimation. Honestly, USCIS should just remove that online estimation or replace it with a table of current wait time at the local office, which would be infinitely more useful.

 

 

It also says that the online estimation is based on 5 year rule naturalizations, so it's hard to know if the 3 year rule ones are any different (longer, faster...). Congrats on getting scheduled!

[louissss 5]

Hello everyone,

I filed N400 online on October 1st 2020 and got Biometric on August 10 2021, then my status changed to "Case is being actively reviewed by USCIS" with estimated time 12 months. I started seeing others filed later than me got the interview scheduled which make me feel extremely bad. Is there anything wrong with my case?

[arnab221 29]

On 1/29/2022 at 8:51 PM, mnt96 said:

Hi everyone, super happy to share that I passed my interview on 1/25. yeahhh!!!!!!!!

 

The officer was super nice and it was easy breezy.

• He put me on oath
• Took my greencard and ID.  Kept my greencard
• Did civics and writing test
• We went through my application where I updated him on my address, unemployed status, traffic tickets I forgot to mention, and associations I was once a part of.
• Signed paperwork
• Took oath right at his office
• Interview took about 25 minutes
• He walked me out to the lobby where I waited for my certificate for about an hour

I then went to the passport agency in downtown Seattle and applied for my passport.

Got it after 2 hours.

 

Super happy this journey is over.

Wishing everyone all the best of luck in their journey and hope it ends soon.

Goodluck!!!!

 @mnt96:   How did state the fact to the officer that you "forgot to mention" the traffic tickets and what was the exact response ?   I had a speeding ticket from 2006 and a "no headlamps" ticket from 2012 which I omitted . I was not sure if I should be mentioning something from this old. I do not retain any documentation from these citations either.

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by arnab221