Rescheduling interviews during cross-country move

[rmdflr 6]

Hi, I submitted my N-400 in July, expecting the process to take at least 6 months. I filed from NYC but my wife and I are moving cross-country to LA. Our plans were to spend a month in Europe in November during the move, so we'd fly back directly to LA with our stuff already there.

 

The problem is that my interview got scheduled for a few days after our planned trip to Europe. I called to explain our situation, and the interview was rescheduled just a few days later, still during our trip. I called again, and my case was referred to the Brooklyn field office. They have now just rescheduled my interview, after our trip, but still in NYC when we asked for it to be scheduled in LA.

 

I'm now concerned about calling repeatedly to reschedule, particularly with how difficult it seems to get information across. Would you advise I reschedule now anyway, to not waste any time? Or would you advise I wait until I move to California, file my change of address with USCIS, and then call to reschedule the interview (with a very short notice this time – less than a week)?

[Vickys_Mom 225]

I will suggest you postpone your trip to Europe and get your N-400 resolved.  As a U.S. citizen you can travel to Europe all you want and you'll be done with USCIS and their issues.

 

I'm assuming you're not going to do that.

 

If you are willing to come back to Brooklyn for your interview, then you just need to reschedule to a date after your trip.  When you request the reschedule specify the dates that you are unavailable.  It is *possible* that someone in the office will observe the number of times you've rescheduled and decide you don't really want to do your N-400 interview at this time.  I doubt they'd throw it away but they might make it more difficult for you to reschedule.  (You might also catch a comment during the interview about how serious your intent is to naturalize with all of these reschedules...you'll just have to be polite and respectful and tell them you had a conflict to resolve.)

 

*Do Not* miss an appointment.  Full stop.  If you miss an appointment they can reject your N-400 and you'll potentially have to start the application over again.

 

If you want to do the interview in the Los Angeles area, you need to ask the Brooklyn office to transfer the application to California.  This may cause additional delays but at least now you don't have to travel cross-country and have some more flexibility in scheduling your appointment.

 

I agree with your desire to do exactly one more reschedule, either in Brooklyn or California.

 

And hold off on any plans to travel outside the U.S. (or even too far from your interview office) until this is done.  You're so close.  Be patient.

 

Regards,
Vicky's Mom

[rmdflr 6]

Thanks, I appreciate the advice! The only issue is that I'm already in Europe. I would have rescheduled my trip but it would have been prohibitively expensive, and I'm here to see a family member who is pretty sick, so I didn't want to delay the trip. I have explained all of this the first time I rescheduled the appointment, and this was acknowledged, but then ignored when new appointment dates were provided.

 

My dates are:

• Up to Oct 20: NYC
• Oct 21 – Nov 27: Europe
• From Nov 28: LA

And the appointments given to me so far are:

• Oct 26 in NYC
• Oct 28 in NYC
• Dec 7 in NYC

I could do a cross-country trip for the Dec 7 interview date, but again, this seems prohibitive and unnecessary. I'm not too worried about explaining why I rescheduled so many times, because this is not me changing my mind several times, but rather, being given interview dates and locations which are incompatible with the plans I stated from the very beginning.

 

My question was about whether I should call and reschedule again now, or at some point around Nov 30 (after I get to LA but before my interview), so that my address on file is actually in California. I'm definitely not planning on just skipping the interview.

 

I think I'll probably just call now, explain again, and hope they get it right this time!

Edited October 25, 2023 by rmdflr