N400 in June - No Activity

[lizzybear 0]

Hi,

 

Filed I-751 in July 2022, which was last updated July 14 to show fingerprints were taken.

Filed N-400 in June 2023 under 3 year rule with the I-751 pending. The status is 'being actively reviewed' on June 3, with nothing new since then. 

Estimated time is 'longer than expected to process'.

 

California Service Center, SF Field Office. Seems really odd since many people are getting interviews within months. Any thoughts on what I can do?

[Cloudy Kitten 1]

Hi! I have a near-identical timeline to you (and I’m also Canadian!) Filed I-751 in June 2022, biometrics reused in July 2022 (Vermont Service Center). Filed N-400 in June 2023 under 3-Year Rule, still in Actively Reviewed and showing “Longer Than Expected” (Boston Field Office). I’m working with an immigration lawyer and I recently got in touch with her to get her thoughts. Since the Boston N-400 processing times are 7.5 months, she told me this is consistent with what her other Boston clients are seeing and I that can (likely/hopefully!) expect to get my interview date around the 7.5 month mark, which would be end of Jan 2024 for me. It looks like SF N-400 processing times are similar to Boston (8 months), so my best guess is that you can also expect to hear about your interview sometime in Jan/Feb. Obviously that is just my best estimation based on way too many hours browsing this site, but I do not think you should be concerned that there is anything "odd" with your case - your timeline is still very normal from what I’ve seen. You might also find it helpful to browse the timelines of other SF filers here on VJ, and see what others filing under the 3 Year Rule have experienced. In my own research, most of the folks who got their N-400 interview within a few months of filing were applying under 5 Year Rule; my opinion based on what I’ve seen is that having a pending I-751 makes it take longer to get an interview slot (at least here in Boston). Most recent Boston filers that did a combo N-400 and ROC interview took about 8.5 months from filing to oath date based on what I could find on timelines.

 

In terms of what you can do - you could contact a senator / congressperson, and USCIS also provides the official date when you are “allowed” to reach out about your case on the processing times page (mine is April 20, 2024). But I wouldn’t be worried yet! In terms of the “taking longer than expected” processing time, my personal opinion is that this calculation is driven off the national processing average for N-400, which is at about 6 months (mine started showing longer than expected right at the 6 month mark). I find it misleading, since individual field offices can take longer, and 3 Year vs. 5 Year also have different timelines.

 

Good luck, keep us posted!

[CuriousImmigrant_ 8]

31 minutes ago, Cloudy Kitten said:

Hi! I have a near-identical timeline to you (and I’m also Canadian!) Filed I-751 in June 2022, biometrics reused in July 2022 (Vermont Service Center). Filed N-400 in June 2023 under 3-Year Rule, still in Actively Reviewed and showing “Longer Than Expected” (Boston Field Office). I’m working with an immigration lawyer and I recently got in touch with her to get her thoughts. Since the Boston N-400 processing times are 7.5 months, she told me this is consistent with what her other Boston clients are seeing and I that can (likely/hopefully!) expect to get my interview date around the 7.5 month mark, which would be end of Jan 2024 for me. It looks like SF N-400 processing times are similar to Boston (8 months), so my best guess is that you can also expect to hear about your interview sometime in Jan/Feb. Obviously that is just my best estimation based on way too many hours browsing this site, but I do not think you should be concerned that there is anything "odd" with your case - your timeline is still very normal from what I’ve seen. You might also find it helpful to browse the timelines of other SF filers here on VJ, and see what others filing under the 3 Year Rule have experienced. In my own research, most of the folks who got their N-400 interview within a few months of filing were applying under 5 Year Rule; my opinion based on what I’ve seen is that having a pending I-751 makes it take longer to get an interview slot (at least here in Boston). Most recent Boston filers that did a combo N-400 and ROC interview took about 8.5 months from filing to oath date based on what I could find on timelines.

 

In terms of what you can do - you could contact a senator / congressperson, and USCIS also provides the official date when you are “allowed” to reach out about your case on the processing times page (mine is April 20, 2024). But I wouldn’t be worried yet! In terms of the “taking longer than expected” processing time, my personal opinion is that this calculation is driven off the national processing average for N-400, which is at about 6 months (mine started showing longer than expected right at the 6 month mark). I find it misleading, since individual field offices can take longer, and 3 Year vs. 5 Year also have different timelines.

 

Good luck, keep us posted!

I am actually 5-year rule applying solo after a 5-year EB2 and still has not received any interview notice yet. My filing date was early August and my FO is Montgomery (Processing time as stated by USCIS is 7.5 months). FO is slow but have seen others getting interview notices early (probably in a different area or state but being adjudicated at the Montgomery FO). Again, I have found tons of 5-year and 3-year rule applicants (both) getting their interview notice in 1-3 months which was for me very surprising. Mine is still at the NBC so processing delays are a combination of the NBC and FO delay. There is a chance that the pre-processing at the NBC is slow or your/my FO is slow. But a USCIS contact center representative confirmed that my case has not arrived at the FO yet and still in review at the NBC which makes me a bit frustrated because it should not take 5 months to be processed.

 

One final point which I recently read about is that if you file online there is a chance that your application is not processed in order or first-in first-out. The IOE numbers are assigned in a random fashion and there is no way you can tell which number represents an earlier case and vice versa. You may check this link:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/USCIS/comments/yn60ig/decoding_ioe_case_numbers/

 

Good luck for all!

Edited December 27, 2023 by CuriousImmigrant_