Scandi

I waited 8 months to update my info with SSA (you never get a new SSN btw, it's always the same). I applied for my passport about 2 weeks after my oath. Both passport and SSA went really smooth, no hick-ups (other than the fact that SSA didn't allow in-person service at the time due to the pandemic, hence why waited 8 months for them to "open" so I could go in person). If it was today, I'd do the SSA first as it's so quick and easy - I also changed my name when I became a citizen, so I used my certificate with the name change document to update my name with SSA. They asked for and took copies of absolutely everything, not just my passport (that had my new name on it, of course).

My state (California) has always cared about my legal status too when I have applied for or renewed my license (my application even ended up at the "presence unit" when I tried to renew without sending a copy of my ROC extension letter). But not once have they scanned it. Nowhere, not at DMV, the doctor or elsewhere where I have used it as a regular ID. Scanning the greencard is something I have never encountered, they have only looked at and used the info on it, just like they have done with my DL and/or state ID. No scanning.

Sounds strange, never heard of anybody having to scan a greencard, other than possibly at airports. Grocery store, doctors etc just look at it for identification, they don't scan anything. Neither has DVM every time I have used my greencard there.

The US does not make you get rid of other citizenships when you become a US citizen. The US simply ignores other citizenships.

They don't take the greencard at the interview, only at the oath. If your interview is close to the travel date, you ask to have the oath ceremony scheduled at a later date. A lot of Swedes in the FB group I'm in have requested to have their oath ceremonies scheduled after they come back from their vacation - I haven't yet seen a case where there was an issue with that.

Since you came on a CR-1 you're almost guaranteed to get an interview for your i-751 - so file the N-400 so you can have both interviews in one. No reason to wait and have two separate interviews. For the interview you just need to keep checking your online account where you will find the date and time once scheduled - you usually get 4-6 weeks notice when you're scheduled for an interview. So unless you're planning on staying abroad for a longer period of time, it shouldn't be an issue to be back in time for the interview.

When you choose to file your N-400 via mail (which you can, but I don't recommend it) you later on receive a letter explaining how to set up an account and get a login code etc, which is what you have read about. If you file your N-400 online you don't get a letter like that since filing requires you to create an account on your own if you don't already have one. Once you file online, an account number will be generated (ie you don't have one before filing) and you will find it on your acceptance letter (found under the documents tab in your online account).

Like I said in my previous comment (you're welcome to go back and read it again), you have an online account number if you have filed a petition ONLINE before. Only you know if you did or not. The i-751 was not filed online at least.

It always surprises me when people who pay others (lawyers or other services) to do the work for them, still come to VJ to ask their questions. You'd think whoever they hired would know these things, otherwise it seems like wasted money? Yes you will definitely need the divorce decree. USCIS want to make sure the marriage ended, to make sure your current marriage is actually valid. If your first marriage never ended then that invalidates all "marriages" after that. Since your memory is fuzzy, are you sure you actually got divorced? Legally?

From what I understand you only receive a USCIS account number number if you file a petition online - and I don't think the i-751 is even possible to file online, only via mail. So therefore you likely don't have an account number yet. Once you file your N-400 online you will be given a number by USCIS, it will be on the acceptance letter (NOA1).

There isn't a ton of paperwork to get married. You simply go get a marriage license and get married, afterwards you receive your marriage certificate as proof that you're married. All of us who came on a K-1 went through the exact same process - used our foreign passports to get the license as we had no US govt. issued IDs at the time, naturally. In CA you can apply for the marriage license online, takes a minute - I assume a lot of other places in this country have it online too. Then both parties go in person to pick it up. Then they get married and receive the certificate. No idea why you feel that you had to do a ton of paperwork to get married, there isn't a ton of paperwork at all.

You are always the primary sponsor and will have to fill out an affidavit of support of your own - no matter if you also have a co-sponsor or not, no matter if you have an income or not. So yes, even if your dad fills out his i-134, you still need to fill one out yourself as well. This will also be the case once your fiance (by then your spouse) files for AOS in the US.

When I had to file for ROC we lived kind of like you guys do, never had a rental agreement written up as the house was owned by my USC husband's mother and we paid a crazy low "rent". But we made up a rental agreement anyway, just printed one from the net, filled it out and just asked her to sign it. I obviously have no idea if it made a difference or not, but that was all we could do. I totally get that you don't want to bother your landlord, it's not the same as a close family member like in our case. He might even find it weird and become suspicious, who knows.

Why would you attempt to travel with an expired stamp? That's your only proof of residency - since you don't have a physical greencard the extension letter means nothing. To use the stamp, it needs to be valid, not expired. Always get a new stamp every time the other expires, I believe you can get a new stamp within 30 days before the current stamp's expiry date.

Correct, that's why it's better to take FREE advice from VJ than pay an attorney who doesn't know how how immigration works. The email from the embassy is in most cases generic, ie everyone gets the same letter despite having completely different circumstances. Such an email may therefore not go into detail in each person's case but only list the standard documents needed for everyone - for instance many people don't have any divorces in the past and therefore no divorce decrees, many don't have any criminal backgrounds and therefore won't have to show court documents related to their crimes etc. So most emails won't mention it because it's not something generic that everyone has to bring.

Divorce decree and a signed affidavit of support is needed at the interview stage, no matter if you sent it previously. I'm surprised your fiance didn't bring that. We sent a certified copy of the divorce decree with our initial petition and also had to bring a new certified copy to the interview at the embassy, it's the normal and not just something the CO asked for "out of spite" or anything like that. Certified/original is not needed for the actual petition (hence why they were fine with just your PDF), but is needed for the interview.

Now I'm wondering too, because OP has another thread about "renewing 10 year greencard", but he talks about how they cant file until 90 days before the greencard expires - which sounds more like ROC (i-751). For a regular renewal (i-90) you can file 6 months before the expiration date.

2. Varies greatly between field offices, and another thing that can change how quickly she gets to take the oath is if she will have a name change or not. For me in Los Angeles, including a name change, it was only 3-4 business days between interview and oath in the middle of the pandemic. 3. No advice really, the N-400 was by FAR the easiest step out of all the immigration related processes I have ever been through. If there's something I wish I would've known beforehand, it would be just that - that it was a lot easier than I had anticipated, less worries.

Personally I kept every form I have ever sent to USCIS, just in case I want to petition for a family member in the future and might need the info on those forms (it can be hard to remember every date and info), those are only 2-8 pages each, so not a big deal to keep at all. I also kept every single document I have received from USCIS (NOA1, NOA2, Interview notices etc), NVC and the embassy. Same as above, not many pages at all. Everything else I got rid of, like 95% of my immigration pile was "evidence of a bonafide marriage", so all that went into the shredder. Hardly anything left in my immigration binder now.

You should always expect to get a biometrics appointment with EVERY petition you send in. It's only in recent time that it has become a little more common that they reuse biometrics, but the normal is still to have your biometrics taken for every single petition. Sometimes even more than once per petition.

If you read the oath letter you received it says: Please bring the following with you: -This notice with the reverse side completed. Please refer to instructions below. -All Permanent Resident Cards ("green card") that you may have, valid or expired. -All Reentry Permits or Refugee Travel Documents that you may have, valid or expired -Any other documents USCIS issued to you that you may have, such as employment authorization cards, valid or expired. Yes they want you to hand in EAD, AP, all greencards etc. You can obviously not hand in something you don't have. I didn't have my conditional greencard and was specifically asked why I didn't hand it in and had to explain myself at the oath.

It's normal to get that message and yet later get a biometrics appointment anyway. In some cases they reuse biometrics, definitely, but most of the time they will have you go through it at a later date even if you already got the message it's not needed. Just wait and see what happens. With the biometrics they also take your photo, which is the photo used on your naturalization certificate. For people who actually had their biometrics reused during the pandemic, USCIS either used an old photo, or they had the applicant either bring photos to the interview or had photos taken at the interview. I know of at least one other Swede who had to go take photos at a local CVS after his interview, and bring them back to USCIS so they could use them for his certificate. But yeah, those were pandemic times.

Yup, during covid a lot of SSA office didn't allow in-person appointments, so you had to send your documents via mail. And they returned them via mail to you. I didn't go for that so I waited until my local office allowed in-person appointments again. It was about 8 months after the oath. The covid restrictions haven't been a thing for a long time now, like Mike said, you go there with your documents and you leave with them too.

AFAIK, DCF isn't a thing for Sweden anymore.

It differs a lot, you will see everyone has had very different experiences. I was the beneficiary and traveled to the US on my K-1 visa together with my then USC fiance (now husband) and it was super smooth. No secondary, we were "interviewed" at the regular desk everyone goes to (we got to go together, didn't have to go one by one up to that desk). Again, it was a K-1 so maybe it's a different process than with a CR-1/IR-1. The officer opened my sealed envelope right in front of me and I believe he read a little bit of it because he proceeded to ask me two questions - "What kind of work did you do in Sweden?" and "How many times have you been to the US?", two of the same questions that were asked on the DS-160 and on the embassy during the K-1 interview. Maybe he just wanted to verify that my answers were the same as what he saw in those papers? He asked my USC fiance what he did for a living and what date we had set for the wedding (we didn't have a date at that point). And that was it, just two questions each and then a "Welcome home". Very easy, and the same amount of questions that I used to get when I arrived on an ESTA.