ROC still processing, citizenship interview scheduled.

[stacyt 209]

Hi! I have an interview for my citizenship this Monday the 31st. My 10-year green card (removal of conditions) has been processing for about 13 months (Texas processing time is like 4 months). For some reason, it's been sent to National Benefits Center in Missouri about a month after I applied for citizenship. I now believe they made some kind of human error. We filed a request because I was outside of processing times, and received a generic response "we're working on it". Now, I have my interview for my citizenship, but I have been told by an officer I can't receive citizenship if I don't remove conditions. So, this interview will likely be a merged ROC/naturalization interview. I called USCIS and they conformed my citizenship file is in San Antonio where I have my interview but they can't tell me where my ROC file is...

 

Can someone please share their stories when ROC was processing at the time of interview? I am not very worried they will reschedule this on the morning of....THANKS!

[OldUser 6,994]

1 hour ago, stacyt said:

Now, I have my interview for my citizenship, but I have been told by an officer I can't receive citizenship if I don't remove conditions. So, this interview will likely be a merged ROC/naturalization interview. I called USCIS and they conformed my citizenship file is in San Antonio where I have my interview but they can't tell me where my ROC file is...

That's right, you cannot get N-400 approved without I-751 approved first. That's why nowadays best course of action is to wait for I-751 approval before applying for citizenship, to avoid mistakes on USCIS end.

 

If they don't reschedule the Monday interview, the worst thing that can happen is: you pass N-400 tests and won't approve you until I-751 is approved. Then you will be in a limbo waiting for I-751. If you're waiting for more than a year, you can explore the option of suing the USCIS to get you a decision on I-751. They may send you an RFE and / or call you for the ROC interview as the result. And then you will get approved, hopefully.

 

Best case, they'll have your file on Monday and be able to perform the combo interview.

 

Either way, take your spouse with you.

 

Good luck!

 

 

[Dashinka 24,645]

In general, the I751 package is transferred to the NBC when someone files the N400.  The purpose for that is so the package can be transferred to the local office that will process the N400.  It is correct that the N400 will not be finalized until the I751 is finished, but in most cases, the packages are combined and when the N400 interview is scheduled, the IO conducts a combo interview, and both will be approved assuming you pass the N400 interview and the I751 has no issues, so it is a good idea for your spouse to attend the interview with you in case the IO wants them to participate in an I751 interview,

 

In my wife’s case, she filed the I751 in late 2016, then filed the N400 in early 2018.  She was called for an N400 interview a few months later with no notice of the status of the I751, so i went with her.  When the IO came to get my wife, she asked me to come back as well and conducted a short I751 interview as she had that package on her desk.  This Interview really only consisted of verifying the information on the I751.  Then I was asked to leave, and the IO and my wife proceeded with the N400 interview.  The IO approved both packages and my wife had her oath about five weeks later.

 

I always recommend, if naturalization is ultimate goal, to get the N400 clock moving when the filing window opens.  I cannot say that doing this will Speed anything up, but in my wife’s case, she finalized naturalization when those that filed the I751 around the same time were just gering their 10 yr GCs.

 

Here is a thread of others that filed the N400 with an I751 processing more recently than my wife.  It may be helpful.

 

Good Luck!

 

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by Dashinka

[TastyCake 232]

2 hours ago, Dashinka said:

In general, the I751 package is transferred to the NBC when someone files the N400.  The purpose for that is so the package can be transferred to the local office that will process the N400.  It is correct that the N400 will not be finalized until the I751 is finished, but in most cases, the packages are combined and when the N400 interview is scheduled, the IO conducts a combo interview, and both will be approved assuming you pass the N400 interview and the I751 has no issues, so it is a good idea for your spouse to attend the interview with you in case the IO wants them to participate in an I751 interview,

 

In my wife’s case, she filed the I751 in late 2016, then filed the N400 in early 2018.  She was called for an N400 interview a few months later with no notice of the status of the I751, so i went with her.  When the IO came to get my wife, she asked me to come back as well and conducted a short I751 interview as she had that package on her desk.  This Interview really only consisted of verifying the information on the I751.  Then I was asked to leave, and the IO and my wife proceeded with the N400 interview.  The IO approved both packages and my wife had her oath about five weeks later.

 

I always recommend, if naturalization is ultimate goal, to get the N400 clock moving when the filing window opens.  I cannot say that doing this will Speed anything up, but in my wife’s case, she finalized naturalization when those that filed the I751 around the same time were just gering their 10 yr GCs.

 

Here is a thread of others that filed the N400 with an I751 processing more recently than my wife.  It may be helpful.

 

Good Luck!

 

 

Correct.  We submitted our citizenship online with a pending I751.  Both our I751 and N400 are now at the National Benefits Center awaiting our local office.

 

With limited exceptions, it is best to get the citizenship process rolling even with the I751 pending.  It may, or may not, speed things up but if we personally get a combo interview, say by next spring, then it definitely will have moved things along significantly.

[da95826 387]

12 hours ago, stacyt said:

Can someone please share their stories when ROC was processing at the time of interview?

Our case was similar to yours; we had an i751 pending with a n400 case. We were issued an invitation for the n400 only, but had a combo i751/n400 interview.

 

Both of us were admitted to the USCIS Sacramento field office with n400 invitation, we were both called into the interview from the waiting room. Started out with a short i751 interview and then the n400 interview; in our case the US citizen spouse was allowed to stay throughout the civics test and the rest of the n400 interview. This is uncommon to allow the spouse to attend the n400 interview.

 

At the oath ceremony 6 weeks after the combo interview the spouse was not allowed to witness it, and had to wait outside.

 

Our interview 12 months after filing n400 and 24 months after filing i751.

See our timeline in the signature section below.

Edited October 29, 2022 by da95826

[stacyt 209]

THANKS everyone so much! It looks like I'll be in y'alls situation and will get a combo. 

11 hours ago, Dashinka said:

When the IO came to get my wife, she asked me to come back as well and conducted a short I751 interview as she had that package on her desk.

 

4 hours ago, da95826 said:

Started out with a short i751 interview

What were the questions at the i751 interview? Similar to the previous one (how we met, etc.)?

[Mobius1 175]

6 minutes ago, stacyt said:

THANKS everyone so much! It looks like I'll be in y'alls situation and will get a combo. 

 

What were the questions at the i751 interview? Similar to the previous one (how we met, etc.)?

i-751 is much more than that. Most people don't face a hard time in i751 interview due to the enormous evidence they presented at the time of application. However, for folks lacking evidence, difficult more personal questioning becomes the core of interview. At the end, the purpose of i751 is for you and your spouse to prove that your marriage (was in case of divorce) is real. 

[da95826 387]

7 minutes ago, stacyt said:

What were the questions at the i751 interview? Similar to the previous one (how we met, etc.)?

 

Most of the questions were to the petitioner about the US citizen spouse’s family. A few questions to the spouse about the petitioner’s family. We are a same sex couple, the pettioner is still in closet in Iran so the spouse has never met the family memebers face to face back in Iran but exsensive contact together with souses’ family members in the USA so there was a lot more petitioner to talk about.

Questions also covered what each of us was doing for work, school, where we lived, and talked a bit about traveling together to Toronto and Seattle on holiday. (Petetioner currently a student.)

 

It had been 2 years since our i751 was filed so we brought updated bona fide marriage proof and we talked about some of that evidence. 

We talked a bit about the marriage proof uploaded in the n400 case, she looked and saw it was there on the computer.

Covered additional travel out of the US after filing n400.

 

The i751 interview was maybe 20 minutes, the n400 about 30 minutes or so. We waited 40 minutes to be called into the interview after arriving in the waiting room. We were at the Sacramento Field office about 2 hours.

[ScubaDude 3]

My wife is in the same boat and we have been waiting for the i751 interview for well over a year and we went ahead and filed the N400 online in November 2022.  We still don't have an interview scheduled yet for that, but we hope to hear back soon.  We are also in Austin with an interview at the San Antonio office.  Fingers crossed for a combined interview!