Divorced, what evidence to bring to my citizenship interview

[pazzee 29]

My interview is in a little under two weeks. I am filing for citizenship under the 5 year rule. My GC is marriage based. Got married in December 2016. Received 2-year green card in June 2017. Applied for removal of conditions sometime in 2019 and it was approved in September of 2020 and got my 10-year gc. We ended up filing for divorce in January 2021 and it was finalized in March 2021. I applied for the N400 on June 24. I got my interview notice for a September 20 interview. What do I bring other than the interview letter, my green card, divorce decree and passport? Selective service doesn’t apply to me. I was planning on bringing our old marriage certificate. Do I need to bring my ex’s birth certificate? We are still cordial so I would ask her for it but she’s been backpacking in Europe for the past 4 months and will not be back in the US until early October. She would probably be ok with her dad letting me in to get it from her place. My documents from my I-751 are digitized so I can easily print them out and bring them with me, but will they even be needed? It’s about 150 pages of evidence of the marriage plus the application and cover letter.  I also have a physical copy of the I-130 she applied for me and my I-485 somewhere in my files that I can bring too. That packet was significantly smaller.

 

Should I bring evidence of the dissolution of our marriage? I can print out texts back and forth between and us when we were discussing separating and the state of our relationship and the change in her plans for the future.

 

I want to come in and be prepared but I also don’t wan’t to overwhelm myself with too much paperwork.

 

 

[Mike E 11,735]

1. Are you paying alimony or child support?

 

2. Are there any children from the marriage or relationship?

 

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Mike E

[pazzee 29]

Quote

4 hours ago, Mike E said:

1. Are you paying alimony or child support?

 

2. Are there any children from the marriage or relationship?

 

 

No to both. I filed and it was an uncontested divorce. 

 

The topic of kids is actually what led to the divorce. I had always wanted them and thought she was on board. We had expressed to each other how we wanted to use a sperm donor or adopt while we were dating and through most of the marriage but nothing was really concrete at the time. I admit, I was more enthusiastic about starting a family than she. When the pandemic hit and we were both wfh I really got into researching both options seriously and began discussing timelines , steps required and finances. Eventually, our discussions revealed pandemic-life had made her realize she didn’t want children anymore and she would rather work remotely and travel with me as much as possible. She’s currently pursuing polish citizenship to get that coveted EU passport. Before she and I started dating, she was a bit of a global nomad so this wasn’t totally out of left field for her or some sort of pandemic-induced mid-life crisis but I thought it was something she had put behind her. Now I look back and I wonder if *I* and our little home life was her mid-life crisis and now she’s back to baseline.

 

 

[Mike E 11,735]

Sorry for the trauma.  
 

Bring evidence that you are not required to pay alimony. Also the divorce documents should explicitly say there were no kids. Bring those documents 

[pazzee 29]

12 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Sorry for the trauma.  
 

Bring evidence that you are not required to pay alimony. Also the divorce documents should explicitly say there were no kids. Bring those documents 

Thank you so much. It’s been a rough almost two years since feeling like the rug had been pulled out from underneath me. I was reviewing our immigration files the other day and came across the pictures we submitted and letters of affidavit from our friends and family attesting to our relationship and broke down crying. They were such beautiful and hopeful letters. I’m looking forward to citizenship and finally moving on and hope to never have to look at those again.

 

Should I bring those files? Or at this point am I just providing evidence of our divorce?

[Mobius1 175]

Bringing documents with you does no harm. You will punch yourself if they delay your natz because of an rfe document you could have brought.

 

Go prepared.

[Mike E 11,735]

11 minutes ago, Mobius1 said:

Bringing documents with you does no harm. You will punch yourself if they delay your natz because of an rfe document you could have brought.

 

Go prepared.

Agreed. I expect a routine interview, but there is a bell curve with every thing.  
 

Out of thousands of people that I’ve met, only 3 had their house burn down.  Some might argue that based on that I don’t need fire insurance.  
 

Carrying more documents is just insurance.  

[pazzee 29]

2 hours ago, Mobius1 said:

Bringing documents with you does no harm. You will punch yourself if they delay your natz because of an rfe document you could have brought.

 

Go prepared.

Will do. I just have to figure out a system of organization. I’ve been to one interview which was for the 2 year green card. That was super casual and our file was much smaller and more manageable then. Everything fit in one manila envelope. Plus 2 separate photo albums. I think this time I won’t bring the albums and just the printouts. 

[OldUser 6,296]

9 minutes ago, pazzee said:

Will do. I just have to figure out a system of organization. I’ve been to one interview which was for the 2 year green card. That was super casual and our file was much smaller and more manageable then. Everything fit in one manila envelope. Plus 2 separate photo albums. I think this time I won’t bring the albums and just the printouts. 

You never know who is going to interview you and what their mood is going to be on that day. Good luck!

[Mike X Man 37]

There are specific forms that are needed to bring to your interview, take those with you and place them in a separate binder. In another binder bring all other documents that were needed during your AOS/ROC etc. It's best if you had them and not need them than having a no decision for weeks/months/years, receiving RFEs and waiting for another interview. Some IOs are pretty quick, others want to dig if they see a red flag and you want to put out those flames immediately by having supplementary evidence with you to corroborate what you say. Always go over prepared and be organized in case you need to fish for some obscure document. Just remember to respond only to what you are asked and not to volunteer information that was not asked. Good luck. 

[MexPhil 5]

On 9/8/2022 at 2:08 AM, pazzee said:

My interview is in a little under two weeks. I am filing for citizenship under the 5 year rule. My GC is marriage based. Got married in December 2016. Received 2-year green card in June 2017. Applied for removal of conditions sometime in 2019 and it was approved in September of 2020 and got my 10-year gc. We ended up filing for divorce in January 2021 and it was finalized in March 2021. I applied for the N400 on June 24. I got my interview notice for a September 20 interview. What do I bring other than the interview letter, my green card, divorce decree and passport? Selective service doesn’t apply to me. I was planning on bringing our old marriage certificate. Do I need to bring my ex’s birth certificate? We are still cordial so I would ask her for it but she’s been backpacking in Europe for the past 4 months and will not be back in the US until early October. She would probably be ok with her dad letting me in to get it from her place. My documents from my I-751 are digitized so I can easily print them out and bring them with me, but will they even be needed? It’s about 150 pages of evidence of the marriage plus the application and cover letter.  I also have a physical copy of the I-130 she applied for me and my I-485 somewhere in my files that I can bring too. That packet was significantly smaller.

 

Should I bring evidence of the dissolution of our marriage? I can print out texts back and forth between and us when we were discussing separating and the state of our relationship and the change in her plans for the future.

 

I want to come in and be prepared but I also don’t wan’t to overwhelm myself with too much paperwork.

 

 

I wish nothing but the best for your interview. If I may ask; where did you file your N400? How lucky you must be because you filed it on 6/24 and interview set for 9/20, like this same year? That would be just 3 months? Just out of curiosity too; when  you applied for N400, when did you get the biometrics done? I hope you answer me because I am asking for my dad. He has a flight back to Manila on 11/12 and I'm thinking if I'm gonna push with  his N400 application now, and hope that he will be biometrics before 11/12, and just be waiting in Manila until hopefully his interview when he comes back here on 5/1. If I apply him now, it would be a little over 8 months waiting for his n400. I was also hoping to reschedule his interview in case he gets called before 5/1. I guess, I was just trying to ask for the timeline this year 2022 if you could shed some of your N400 timeline experience; I would really appreciate it. Again, good luck bro and you got this!!!

[pazzee 29]

14 hours ago, MexPhil said:

I wish nothing but the best for your interview. If I may ask; where did you file your N400? How lucky you must be because you filed it on 6/24 and interview set for 9/20, like this same year? That would be just 3 months? Just out of curiosity too; when  you applied for N400, when did you get the biometrics done? I hope you answer me because I am asking for my dad. He has a flight back to Manila on 11/12 and I'm thinking if I'm gonna push with  his N400 application now, and hope that he will be biometrics before 11/12, and just be waiting in Manila until hopefully his interview when he comes back here on 5/1. If I apply him now, it would be a little over 8 months waiting for his n400. I was also hoping to reschedule his interview in case he gets called before 5/1. I guess, I was just trying to ask for the timeline this year 2022 if you could shed some of your N400 timeline experience; I would really appreciate it. Again, good luck bro and you got this!!!

Hi, I filed online. Yes, I applied in June of this year. It was accepted immediately and I got a notice on my uscis account that my biometrics was being reused (from 2019) within a couple hours of submission of the N400. On Aug. 10, the website had my notice of action with my interview date and I received the physical copy of it in the mail the following week. Chicago field office. Good luck to your Dad!

Edited September 10, 2022 by pazzee

[Mike E 11,735]

Oh I’ve more thing: bring a pair of passport photos. In theory USCIS doesn’t need them and technically  isn’t supposed to ask for them, but I’ve seen at least one case in 2022 where the LPR was required to bring passport photos back to the field office after the interview.  If USCIS doesn’t use your photos, you can use them for your actual passport and passport card.  

[pazzee 29]

4 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Oh I’ve more thing: bring a pair of passport photos. In theory USCIS doesn’t need them and technically  isn’t supposed to ask for them, but I’ve seen at least one case in 2022 where the LPR was required to bring passport photos back to the field office after the interview.  If USCIS doesn’t use your photos, you can use them for your actual passport and passport card.  

Thank you for the tip. Will do.