Interview experience (split)

[Alekezam 161]

My wife just completed her interview. 

 

Our experience is as follows and may not be the same for everyone:

 

In addition to what is listed for you to bring to the interview, we brought a whole slew of documents just in case. The officer only asked for what was required. 

 

Our I-751 was still pending prior to the interview and we were given a combo interview for both the I-751 and the N-400. Despite so many on here telling people that they should include a request for a combo interview within their N-400 application we did not do so. It's 2023 so unless we're still living in the past I correctly assumed they would, by default, not only know that our I-751 was still pending but they would also have access to the case file as well. So yeah, in my opinion, no need to submit a request for a combo interview with your N-400 application. 

 

The field office was pretty quiet that day so there weren't a lot of people. My wife was called to do her biometrics literally within a minute of walking in. We were then called to the back by an officer 5 minutes later. The officer this time around compared to the officer who did our I-485 interview was more personable and social. When we sat down in his office he informed us immediately that we would do the I-751 interview first as it was still pending and had to be completed before moving onto the N-400. He then asked us both to stand, raise our right hands and give our oath. He had our case file in front of him and said something to the effect of "your case has been looked at in detail twice already so there's no reason to believe it's not all good". He then asked a couple of generic questions like where we met, what was the date of our marriage, my wife's birthdate and social security.....basic stuff for the most part. Took like 5 minutes. Once done he stated that he approved it but my wife would not be getting a new greencard as she would be receiving her approval for citizenship today. Good start already, I was liking it and the fact that he assumed approval on the citizenship was also a good sign. He then said we were done and he would now move onto the N-400 and indicated that I could not participate. I simply just sat there and kept my mouth shut the entire time. This part took slightly longer but was maybe about 10-15 minutes long. He started off by asking my wife general questions like date of birth, date of marriage, social, a lot of the same questions from the I-751. He then went over a couple of things such as where we have traveled to internationally over the last 2 years. Once he was done with that he went on to the civics test. My wife passed with flying colors. You need to get 6 out of 10 right and my wife apparently answered a straight 6 right because he did not ask 10 questions and stopped at 6. He then moved on to a table that was sitting on the table. He asked my wife to read the phrase that was shown and she did so. It was a pretty basic phrase, nothing complicated. He then asked her to write out a sentence he would give her to write on the tablet. Again, simple sentence, nothing major.  He then went down a list of those silly questions like have you been involved in terrorism, have you ever committed marriage fraud, yada yada. From there he approved and let us know that the oath ceremony would be scheduled some time soon and to be on the lookout for a letter designating the oath ceremony date. We are about to leave the country on a trip in two weeks so I asked him what are our options if the ceremony happens to get scheduled during our trip. He said to just shoot them an email and request a reschedule and they can easily do so. 

 

With that, we were good to go. He asked a couple of personal questions and we had some friendly banter and he congratulated us and walked us back to the front desk. All in all it took about 30 minutes. 

 

I want to note that the only documents he actually asked for were for both of our State Issued ID's, my wife's green card, and her passport. Nothing else. 

 

We are finally glad to be almost 100% free of having to deal with all this stuff now.....

 

Obviously everyone's experiences with this process are going to be different from one another but in general try not to sweat it or overthink it. As long as you follow the instructions given using the USCIS guidelines when filling out applications, you'll be fine. In my time over the years on VisaJourney I have noticed lots of people like to overthink it and rather than simply recommend others do something, they state it like it's a given with no leeway. That's not always the case. Lots of fear mongering that leads people to jump through all sorts of hoops to obtain things they really don't need. Of course, as in any situation, it doesn't hurt to have more than what's required but within reason. That's part of the reason why once we submitted the I-751 and N-400 we already knew it would take time and patience so we weren't constantly scouring VisaJourney on a daily basis. 

 

Anyways that's just my two cents. 

 

Bottom line is we are glad to be done with it all and wanted to share our experience. Feel free to ask any questions and we'll certainly try to help in any way!

 

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Alekezam
Mistake in statement and additional information

[OldUser 6,604]

@Alekezam congratulations on successful interview! Glad it went smoothly.

 

21 minutes ago, Alekezam said:

So yeah, in my opinion, no need to submit a request for a combo interview with your N-400 application. 

In my opinion, there's no harm or downside for asking for it. It's also free 🙂 I've seen only N-400 being conducted with "decision cannot be made" outcome. This is a recommendation to minimize chance of combo not happening.

 

21 minutes ago, Alekezam said:

I want to note that the only documents he actually asked for were for both of our State Issued ID's, my wife's green card, and her passport. Nothing else. 

 

21 minutes ago, Alekezam said:

Lots of fear mongering that leads people to jump through all sorts of hoops to obtain things they really don't need. Of course, as in any situation, it doesn't hurt to have more than what's required but within reason.

By law IO could have asked for more documents. It's better be safe than sorry. A lot of the times, those documents are generally good to have for other life situations. Sometimes US citizen loses their certificate of naturalization or birth certificate. They may not be asked during I-751 / N-400 combo, but they can be vital for other things.

 

Either way, good to hear your story, thank you for the details!

Edited April 21, 2023 by OldUser

[Alekezam 161]

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

@Alekezam congratulations on successful interview! Glad it went smoothly.

 

In my opinion, there's no harm or downside for asking for it. It's also free 🙂 I've seen only N-400 being conducted with "decision cannot be made" outcome. This is a recommendation to minimize chance of combo not happening.

 

 

By law IO could have asked for more documents. It's better be safe than sorry. A lot of the times, those documents are generally good to have for other life situations. Sometimes US citizen loses their certificate of naturalization or birth certificate. They may not be asked during I-751 / N-400 combo, but they can be vital for other things.

 

Either way, good to hear your story, thank you for the details!

I agree, no harm in bringing more information than not but let's be honest, there are quite a few individuals on here that tell people to submit way more than they need to. All I am saying is that at minimum you need to have all the documents that are required as instructed. Each IO is different and I understand that but all we as a community are entitled to do is recommend others to do what we think is best and let them decide what they want to bring in addition to what is required. A more risk averse individual may decide that it is in their best interest to bring way more than what is needed whereas a less risk averse individual such as myself chooses to stick with what is required along with maybe a few additional items. i.e. When filing the I-485 and I-750 I chose to submit several affidavits where others said those are pointless. Those same individuals that feel affidavits are pointless believe that submitting receipts for trips, having a mortgage or rent in both names, joint ownership in a vehicle, joint credit card statements whereas I felt those things weren't necessary (I didn't include any of those things). Are either of us wrong in what we think? No, because cases have been approved using any combination the above said evidence. 

 

I guess my point is that people on here need to be careful with how they phrase things. It's one thing to give an opinion/advice and another to say you "have to or else". I've noticed over the years of being on here as more of an observer than a commenter that there are quite a few people on here that have a tendency to dole out information or answer questions like it's fact so it's only natural for there to be lots of casual members to get all stressed out and confused with what they've interpreted from USCIS Instructions.

 

Appreciate the kind words and best of luck to both current and future applicants!

 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Alekezam
Additional information

[Crazy Cat 41,809]

The question in this thread concerned what to bring for the oath ceremony.  The fact is that there is very little required for the oath.  

5 hours ago, Alekezam said:

My wife just completed her interview. 

 

Our experience is as follows and may not be the same for everyone:

 

In addition to what is listed for you to bring to the interview, we brought a whole slew of documents just in case. The officer only asked for what was required. 

 

Our I-751 was still pending prior to the interview and we were given a combo interview for both the I-751 and the N-400. Despite so many on here telling people that they should include a request for a combo interview within their N-400 application we did not do so. It's 2023 so unless we're still living in the past I correctly assumed they would, by default, not only know that our I-751 was still pending but they would also have access to the case file as well. So yeah, in my opinion, no need to submit a request for a combo interview with your N-400 application. 

 

The field office was pretty quiet that day so there weren't a lot of people. My wife was called to do her biometrics literally within a minute of walking in. We were then called to the back by an officer 5 minutes later. The officer this time around compared to the officer who did our I-485 interview was more personable and social. When we sat down in his office he informed us immediately that we would do the I-751 interview first as it was still pending and had to be completed before moving onto the N-400. He then asked us both to stand, raise our right hands and give our oath. He had our case file in front of him and said something to the effect of "your case has been looked at in detail twice already so there's no reason to believe it's not all good". He then asked a couple of generic questions like where we met, what was the date of our marriage, my wife's birthdate and social security.....basic stuff for the most part. Took like 5 minutes. Once done he stated that he approved it but my wife would not be getting a new greencard as she would be receiving her approval for citizenship today. Good start already, I was liking it and the fact that he assumed approval on the citizenship was also a good sign. He then said we were done and he would now move onto the N-400 and indicated that I could not participate. I simply just sat there and kept my mouth shut the entire time. This part took slightly longer but was maybe about 10-15 minutes long. He started off by asking my wife general questions like date of birth, date of marriage, social, a lot of the same questions from the I-751. He then went over a couple of things such as where we have traveled to internationally over the last 2 years. Once he was done with that he went on to the civics test. My wife passed with flying colors. You need to get 6 out of 10 right and my wife apparently answered a straight 6 right because he did not ask 10 questions and stopped at 6. He then moved on to a table that was sitting on the table. He asked my wife to read the phrase that was shown and she did so. It was a pretty basic phrase, nothing complicated. He then asked her to write out a sentence he would give her to write on the tablet. Again, simple sentence, nothing major.  He then went down a list of those silly questions like have you been involved in terrorism, have you ever committed marriage fraud, yada yada. From there he approved and let us know that the oath ceremony would be scheduled some time soon and to be on the lookout for a letter designating the oath ceremony date. We are about to leave the country on a trip in two weeks so I asked him what are our options if the ceremony happens to get scheduled during our trip. He said to just shoot them an email and request a reschedule and they can easily do so. 

 

With that, we were good to go. He asked a couple of personal questions and we had some friendly banter and he congratulated us and walked us back to the front desk. All in all it took about 30 minutes. 

 

I want to note that the only documents he actually asked for were for both of our State Issued ID's, my wife's green card, and her passport. Nothing else. 

 

We are finally glad to be almost 100% free of having to deal with all this stuff now.....

 

Obviously everyone's experiences with this process are going to be different from one another but in general try not to sweat it or overthink it. As long as you follow the instructions given using the USCIS guidelines when filling out applications, you'll be fine. In my time over the years on VisaJourney I have noticed lots of people like to overthink it and rather than simply recommend others do something, they state it like it's a given with no leeway. That's not always the case. Lots of fear mongering that leads people to jump through all sorts of hoops to obtain things they really don't need. Of course, as in any situation, it doesn't hurt to have more than what's required but within reason. That's part of the reason why once we submitted the I-751 and N-400 we already knew it would take time and patience so we weren't constantly scouring VisaJourney on a daily basis. 

 

Anyways that's just my two cents. 

 

Bottom line is we are glad to be done with it all and wanted to share our experience. Feel free to ask any questions and we'll certainly try to help in any way!

 

 

 

 

Congratulations.  You typed quite a bit.  The OP asked about the oath ceremony....not the interview.  

Edited April 21, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[Crazy Cat 41,809]

4 hours ago, OldUser said:

In my opinion, there's no harm or downside for asking for it.

Exactly.  It's a one paragraph letter.  There is certainly no harm.

[Alekezam 161]

27 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

The question in this thread concerned what to bring for the oath ceremony.  The fact is that there is very little required for the oath.  

Congratulations.  You typed quite a bit.  The OP asked about the oath ceremony....not the interview.  

You're right, I didn't realize that until I finished typing and submitted. 

 

By all means, feel free to move my comments to another more appropriate thread if you have the ability because I do not have that privilege. 

 

 

 

 

[Ontarkie 14,215]

~~Hijack post derailing the OP's thread, plus replies to the hijack post have been split off to their own thread. One Non conductive post has also been removed.~~