wayno

Thank you for the reply. I did a quick call to Ft Lauderdale and he said there would be no problem unless more than a year. He stated it would be a good idea to have something from the DR. or hospital in Medellin as she would just go through a secondary screening. I also called USCIS and the agent stated, as well, that there would not be a problem. She would would go through secondary (so to think of layover time when getting a new ticket) and that she should get a letter from the Dr. or hospital. I asked if I should mail her a copy of the deed to our house and proof of bank account, etc and he stated it would be a good idea so things would go smoothly. BTW, I stated "infopass" to get to an actual person! So it looks like everything will be OK as far as keeping her green card and being allowed in. If a year or more overall, he stated to fly in to get a reentry permit for her next trip (or whatever its called) or visit the consulate in Colombia so her residence won't be cancelled. But if that long, there would be no problem of a quick trip here to get cleared and than go back. Thanks again. I'm not even going to bring this up to her right now as she is too much of a mess right now, (I had to call the airline to cancel/but keep open her ticket) but at least I know she'll be allowed back, just a few more questions than normal at Customs and Immigration I suppose.

My ex wife (still living together but she has been in Colombia since December) may need to stay in Colombia for longer than 6 months. What do we do? I'm panicking in a way she doesn't know because her ticket back is for this Thursday, which will be 5 1/2 months out of the US this year. Why I'm worried is that she called tonight from a hospital. It seems her mom had a stroke or possibly worse. The call went dead and I haven't been able to get up with her. But I'm not trying really hard because of what I know she is going through as she is close to her mom. She has family with her and me being her ex (though still close) I don't want to impose too hard. As of this moment, I don't see her flying home this Thursday so I understand she needs to getnhere by the end of May to keep it under 6 months. I figured I'd ask here as time may be an issue and I don't want here to lose her permanent residence status. So, if she has to hang out in Col for some time, how long would it typically take to get an appointment here in the US to get her passport stamped. We live in MD and everything has gone through the Baltimore service center. Any ideas on what would need to be done? I'm sure she would have to fly here to get it stamped and then return to Col. Thanks for any help I can receive. This just came up and I know she has a lot on her mind right now so I don't want to bring any of this up to her, but I feel I need to at least learn the process. Yes, I plan to call USCIS in the morning if I can actually get through to a person. I just hope they can give me some general info about the process, though with the past history dealing with them, they need a case number and her on the phone.

Unfortunately, my wife hasn't grasped it. She gets by OK, especially after a bottle of wine.....Hmmmmmm!...no she'd fail on the morals part. LOL! But nervousness, more so after failing previously, and really poor at tests/studying (several times for a drivers test) doesn't help. I feel bad because her friends are citizens and a couple of her "friends" are the type to brag at their accomplishments and put others down. (IMO, not real friends)

That was the one that got her. We practiced the 400 questions over and over. I asked in different ways but we did not go over the possible surprise follow up questions except for the time spent out of the country.

Well, my wife passed the Civics test and the English reading and writing part of the test in Feb, but failed the understanding English part of the test (the N-400) as she did not remember her whole phone number and had a problem answering the number of trips abroad question. Those were the only questions. She re-took the understanding English re-do just last week. After extensive studying her N-400 ,she failed. From her description the agent asked 1 question and It sounded like she got it right (Why do you want to become a citizen). She answered "to vote". Was then asked to explain and she got confused and answered again "to vote". No good, sent to the office to see the agent's boss and was told she failed. We just got the letter, and it mentioned a possibility of a hearing----of course for an extra fee. Has anybody requested one? Know of anybody who has? Results? At this point, should we get a lawyer? I need to check locally, but any idea on a price range for a lawyer and if one is worth it? I might have thought wrong but I was always under the impression that a lawyer is good for you if you are bad with paperwork and can help in explaining things but I thought they cant be involved in the test/interview? Or have I been wrong? Up to her citizen attempts (she is terrible at tests) everything has been easy. I must have killed a whole forest on her initial petition for residency making sure all forms were perfect and kept ALL records of our life together back then. Any ideas. She is really feeling down about this. Thanks

Not the best, but she understands and tries. She does have a hard accent.

Hello, Me and my wife were 150% sure and confident that this morning she would walk out of the USCIS office as a "Gringa". But instead, she walked out upset, with the notice that she failed. Of course, USCIS is very hard to get hold of anybody and when I finally did (by saying "infopass" as I read on here as a way to get a person), they were absolutely no help in stating what she needed to do. Here is the breakdown. The first box is marked X ; "You passed the English test and the U.S. History and government test. Sounds good as she passed the civics as well as the reading and writing. The next box marked X is the one stating: "You will have another opportunity to be tested on your ability to" ..........."Understand English". The understand English box was marked X. Boxes for Speak, Read, Write were left blank as she passed those. ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Then the last box marked with an X is the one stating: "A decision cannot be made yet about your application." OK! So, any idea what she would be retested on? Afterall, the box is marked X that she had passed the English and the civics test. It seems, on here repeating questions from the I-400 she stumbled on her phone number. She, like many of us in the modern world, couldn't remember it and she left her phone in the truck with me so a ringing would not distract. But she did state the area code which I would think should show the agent that she understood the question, just couldn't remember the actual number. Another fumble, I think, was that she understood the agent asking, "where in 5 years" (I'm sure that's not how it was asked). And my wife replied "Colombia." In reality, she had been out 9 times (on application), plus a 10th time in which she just got back. 6 times to Colombia and 3 to Mexico. Other questions she repeated to me she answered correctly. Date of birth? Where born? Payed taxes? Address? Do you think I'm right in that she should spend the next month or two studying the I-400? Or do they do the whole test over? A bit upset as I don't see how she could have failed when it is marked that she passed. If she couldn't understand English, how did she answer correctly questions 1,2,3,4,5,6 and write a sentence correctly and read one correctly? Just a bit frazzled right now. Any advice would be appreciated as those at USCIS aren't much help! That computer doesn't know squat!