Oath Ceremony Rescheduling - Question on long term travel

[Spardasa 78]

As fate would have it, we received our naturalization ceremony date 2 weeks after my wife/kids are to fly to Brasil to spend 5 months there.  My wife's mother isn't in the best of health, she wanted to spend significant time there with them, and has made several plans already in that 2 week interim.  We also enrolled our oldest daughter in pre-school also.

 

Does anyone have any experience to share if we decide to not change flight arrangements, and to request they reschedule her oath ceremony to sometime after Jan 3rd, 2024?  Do we risk a high likelihood of having her case closed?

 

We had been waiting since Feb of this year to be scheduled..   

[gamm3 13]

I would delay the trip until after the oath ceremony. Then you need to call for an emergency passport appt 2 weeks before the new "trip." We were just able to get an appt in Atlanta by calling on the spanish line. The other option is - can she apply for the passport in the embassy in Brazil? I know people here will probably be scared of that option, but I think it is probably doable. Has anyone ever done that?

[Spardasa 78]

22 minutes ago, gamm3 said:

I would delay the trip until after the oath ceremony. Then you need to call for an emergency passport appt 2 weeks before the new "trip." We were just able to get an appt in Atlanta by calling on the spanish line. The other option is - can she apply for the passport in the embassy in Brazil? I know people here will probably be scared of that option, but I think it is probably doable. Has anyone ever done that?

 

I'll be coming later in the year, so if worst case, we can apply for her passport same day of the event, she flies to Brasil using her Brazilian passport, and then I bring the US Passport so she can re-enter the USA.

 

Interesting enough, the US embassy in Dominican Republic actually mentions this scenario of only traveling with the certificate of naturalization:

 

https://do.usembassy.gov/do-not-travel-without-us-passport/

 

 

[Crazy Cat 41,853]

10 minutes ago, Spardasa said:

she flies to Brasil using her Brazilian passport

Dual Nationality (state.gov)

 

"U.S. nationals, including U.S. dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States. U.S. dual nationals may also be required by the country of their foreign nationality to use that country’s passport to enter and leave that country. Use of the foreign passport to travel to or from a country other than the United States is not inconsistent with U.S. law.  "

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[Crazy Cat 41,853]

23 minutes ago, Spardasa said:

Interesting enough, the US embassy in Dominican Republic actually mentions this scenario of only traveling with the certificate of naturalization:

Do not travel without US passport - U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic (usembassy.gov)

It doesn't advocate doing that.  This is what it says:

"The American Citizen Services Section wants to remind all U.S. citizens not to travel outside the United States without a valid U.S. passport.  While dual citizens may be able to travel abroad with alternative documentation, all U.S. citizens are required to present a U.S. passport to re-enter the United States.  We have seen many individuals who have recently naturalized as U.S. citizens travel outside the United States with only their naturalization certificate and/or passport of another nationality be turned away when attempting to reenter the United States.  Your trip could easily be extended as one must schedule an appointment at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo to obtain a passport while in the Dominican Republic. To avoid delays, obtain your U.S. passport prior to departing for an international trip and verify that the passport will not expire before your return to the United States.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[Spardasa 78]

7 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Do not travel without US passport - U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic (usembassy.gov)

It doesn't advocate doing that.  This is what it says:

"The American Citizen Services Section wants to remind all U.S. citizens not to travel outside the United States without a valid U.S. passport.  While dual citizens may be able to travel abroad with alternative documentation, all U.S. citizens are required to present a U.S. passport to re-enter the United States.  We have seen many individuals who have recently naturalized as U.S. citizens travel outside the United States with only their naturalization certificate and/or passport of another nationality be turned away when attempting to reenter the United States.  Your trip could easily be extended as one must schedule an appointment at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo to obtain a passport while in the Dominican Republic. To avoid delays, obtain your U.S. passport prior to departing for an international trip and verify that the passport will not expire before your return to the United States.

 

Thanks!  

 

I'll wait and see if anyone else can share a similar experience to my original post.

[gamm3 13]

Yes - it says that, but there is no legal ramification or fine for leaving the US on a different passport and no immigration passport check when leaving the US. Thats a great option that you can bring the passport for her. I think with that situation I would just delay the trip until after the oath ceremony. There is another question asked on the day of the oath ceremony about travel you have done since the interview. It's probably not a problem since will be less than 6 months, but easier to avoid having to answer yes to that question.

 

And yes I saw that same thing on the DR website!

[carmel34 3,631]

6 hours ago, Spardasa said:

Does anyone have any experience to share if we decide to not change flight arrangements, and to request they reschedule her oath ceremony to sometime after Jan 3rd, 2024?  Do we risk a high likelihood of having her case closed?

The only experience I can offer is at my husband's oath ceremony in Atlanta USCIS field office on June 28, just prior to the ceremony the officer asked if any candidate had plans to travel outside the US in the near future.  One person raised his hand, and they took him aside to reschedule the oath ceremony for after he returns to the US.  The oath ceremony notice has a number your wife can call to reschedule for early 2024.  They won't close the case if she reschedules now.  Just make sure she has proper documentation of her LPR status that is valid until after she plans to return (valid green card, extension letter if ROC is still pending, stamp in passport, etc.).  The downside of delaying until 2024 is that when she fills out the questionnaire on the day of the rescheduled oath ceremony, she will have to answer that she was recently out of the US for an extended period (6 months?), which could affect her eligibility to naturalize based on the continuous residence/physical presence rules (see below for link).  I suggest that you just delay her travel plans until after the oath ceremony in two weeks, and use her flight itinerary to submit an expedited passport application at the nearest Dept. of State Passport Agency, and request their Urgent Travel Service, which takes 1-2 weeks to get a passport.  Are the children US citizens and already have their US passports?  Option 1, delay the oath ceremony until after she returns, could mean a further delay to naturalize because of continuous residence/physical presence issues.  Option 2, go to the scheduled oath ceremony in 2 weeks, will delay the departure to Brazil.  Your choice, but I would go with 2.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/continuous-residence-and-physical-presence-requirements-for-naturalization

Edited July 6, 2023 by carmel34

[Spardasa 78]

58 minutes ago, carmel34 said:

The only experience I can offer is at my husband's oath ceremony in Atlanta USCIS field office on June 28, just prior to the ceremony the officer asked if any candidate had plans to travel outside the US in the near future.  One person raised his hand, and they took him aside to reschedule the oath ceremony for after he returns to the US.  The oath ceremony notice has a number your wife can call to reschedule for early 2024.  They won't close the case if she reschedules now.  Just make sure she has proper documentation of her LPR status that is valid until after she plans to return (valid green card, extension letter if ROC is still pending, stamp in passport, etc.).  The downside of delaying until 2024 is that when she fills out the questionnaire on the day of the rescheduled oath ceremony, she will have to answer that she was recently out of the US for an extended period (6 months?), which could affect her eligibility to naturalize based on the continuous residence/physical presence rules (see below for link).  I suggest that you just delay her travel plans until after the oath ceremony in two weeks, and use her flight itinerary to submit an expedited passport application at the nearest Dept. of State Passport Agency, and request their Urgent Travel Service, which takes 1-2 weeks to get a passport.  Are the children US citizens and already have their US passports?  Option 1, delay the oath ceremony until after she returns, could mean a further delay to naturalize because of continuous residence/physical presence issues.  Option 2, go to the scheduled oath ceremony in 2 weeks, will delay the departure to Brazil.  Your choice, but I would go with 2.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/continuous-residence-and-physical-presence-requirements-for-naturalization

 

Muito obrigado!

 

Both of our daughters already have their US / Brasil passports so I'm not worried about that part.  

 

My wife has her 10 year green card that was just issued earlier this year, so we are good on that portion.  

 

That's very interesting they had someone reschedule their oath ceremony even though travel would be a few weeks past it?  Did you see if they scrutinized anyone who had checked yes they had left the country during the N-400 period?  

 

I will talk with her and see what she wants to do.  It would be a 5 month period out of the country so we skirt the 6-12 month ordeal, last absence she has had since April 2019 was in 2021, being out of the country for 2 months.  

 

[ineedadisplayname 497]

8 hours ago, carmel34 said:

The oath ceremony notice has a number your wife can call to reschedule for early 2024

I don't think it works like that. I had to reschedule the N-400 interview and there was no choice provided. Just got a letter with the new date. USCIS canceled the new date a day before because of bad weather. Got another letter with the latest date. Had a trip planned. Tried to reschedule it, it got denied because it had no basis (looks like paid trips are not a real concern of them that you loose a bunch of money on hotels/flights) so I had to show up or would needed to start over.

 

Not sure what happens if you try to delay the oath ceremony, at some point they might fed up?

Edited July 7, 2023 by ineedadisplayname