FeelingYoung66

Filed our N-400 online on July 31, 2024. The usual receipt acknowledgment and biometrics reuse letters were immediate. Like many others we were a bit lazy about filing as we could have done so as early as June 24th (GC anniversary date) or even up to 90 days earlier than that I suppose. The initial time estimate given was 7 months but dropped to 6 the next day. Our field office is Dallas which from all evidence is perhaps the busiest one in the country, so 6 months is probably about right. We envy those who are getting interviews much sooner than that. Btw.. I am a naturalized citizen myself and still remember my citizenship "interview" in downtown Dallas in February 1978. It was at about 3:00pm on a cold Friday afternoon in an old decrepit government building and it seemed like the interviewer and I were just about the only ones there. He looked like he had been doing this for a long time and was nearing retirement. His questions about government were basic at first but got progressively more difficult. Since I had lived in and was educated in the US from an early age, I was pretty much acing the test. He got a little frustrated that he couldn't stump me and finally asked me to name as many members of Jimmy Carter's cabinet as I could. (Carter was president at the time.) After I had named five or six of them he finally waved his arms and asked me to stop. He then chuckled and started signing things in front of him on his desk. Then he suddenly looked up at me and said "Son, you're more American than most American's!" We laughed (mine was more a sigh of relief) and I took the oath of allegiance the next month. I'm 70 years old now and that interview has always been a favorite memory of mine. I will be so proud of my K-1 wife (from Canada) when she gets to vote for the first time in an American election.

I used FedEx 2nd day air for our I-751. They delivered it in Tempe the next morning, a full day early. Hard to complain about that.

Even before sending the 751 to Phoenix I wondered if that might be the case. But is this an educated guess on your part or do you know this for certain.

Return transcripts and a copy of the front and back of the 1040 for that year.

I forgot to mention that we also included the usual miscellaneous items like copies of driver's licenses and W-2's from work that show us both living (headquartered?) at the same address. A nicely written cover letter was included as well.

Sure. 1) Three years of Federal Tax transcripts - Married filing jointly 2) A six-month apartment lease in both names. 3) My wife's car lease that I co-signed. (A BMW. I spoil her.) 4) Auto insurance policy in both names. 5) Homeowner's insurance policy in both names. 6) Three credit card statements showing joint use of one credit card account. One monthly statement chosen from each year, 2020,2021,2022. 7) Four well-written affidavit letters from friends and relatives. 8) Several photos of my wife and I traveling together and at a family get-together. Of note is that my wife and I do not have any joint bank, credit union, or investment accounts, so no evidence was included that we did.

In my opinion completely not necessary. Our I-751 submission was this month (May 2023) and was less than 100 pages. The 48-month extension and waived biometrics letters were received less than two weeks later.

Yes. Probably in today's mail. A fatter envelope than the other two.

Relax, nothing out of the ordinary here. According to your timeline you filed on May 8th, so it's only been just over a week. You'll probably get some mail around the 20th - 23rd.

We received our I-797 NOA (48-month extension) in today's mail. A separate mailing also arrived with the notification that the biometrics are to be re-used, and a third envelope with the online access code. We never did receive a text message, but that was no biggie since this whole thing from start to finish took less than two weeks. Some comments. 1) Our I-751 submission was well under a hundred pages long, and that included 4 sworn affidavits and several pages of photos. 2) The only financial ties evidence presented were three consecutive years of Federal tax returns (Married filing jointly), one joint car lease, and one shared credit card. That was it. 2) We saved $2,500 by doing this ourselves. The immigration attorney we used for the original K-1 Visa and the AOS wanted that sum to fill-out the I-751 and send it in with all the evidence paperwork that we would have had to supply her with anyway. I'm not saying that using an attorney is a bad idea, but if you're reasonably diligent and have the time you can easily do this yourself and save a wad of money.

Does anyone have any guesses as to why some petitioners get a text message at this stage and some don"t?

Regardless of opinions as to their worth, at the present time the official I-751 instructions say you should include at least two affidavits. I included four.

No. Location means Arizona or Illinois. Simple. Where did I say there was a choice?

May I humbly suggest that everyone be specific about which location they are sending their I-751 to. Most don't mention it, and I think it would help in determining if one location is any faster (or slower) than another. Thanks.

My wife and I FedEx'd our joint I-751 to the Tempe AZ address today (05-02). In the end we were a little light on financial ties, but fairly strong otherwise. Feeling pretty good about it overall.