top_secret

ECC is only for foreigners who have stayed in the Philippines over 6 months. So long as the wife and kids hold Philippine passports it does not apply to them. The wife needs GCP (Guidance and Counseling Program) from CFO, not PDOS. If the kids are duel citizens they should need nothing from CFO. Just show both passports. If it's their first trip I 'think' they still need to pay travel tax. They would get travel tax exemption on future trips.

My wife heavily used the YouTube videos and found them incredibly helpful. They have hundreds of both civics question quizzes and full mock interviews covering a variety of scenarios. Another useful study aid is the vocabulary words for the English writing test if she wants to practice her spelling. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/writing_vocab.pdf

There are enough anecdotal reports to suspect there might be more strict enforcement against LPRs at the borders lately. It mostly seems to involve LPRs with criminal history in the US. Persons fitting that profile might have legitimate cause to worry and probably shouldn't travel. There might also be more strict enforcement against LPR's that might be suspected of abandoning their LPR status. But for normal law abiding LPRs it seems business as usual. Nothing to worry about.

Just that and a brief explanation in the description field that they had just naturalized and needed their citizenship and passport updated and green card removed.

Today my wife and stepdaughter recieved seperate e-mails saying that their citizenship had been updated in their Global Entry accounts. Checking online it does now include ther new US passports and their old green cards have been removed. So it seems all is updated correctly. So final timeline updating Global Entry online was... 2/25/2025 Submitted online 2/27/2025 Received emails that the cases were escalated 3/24/2025 Received emails that the citizenship and passport had been updated. So not the fastest way to update Global Entry but certainly easy if you aren't traveling for a month or so. https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/questions?language=en_US

Biometric Reuse notice under Documents tab dated today 03/19/2025.

We just had a similar(-ish) case involving a German woman that got some media attention here locally in San Diego. Whether what she planned to do is technically "working" or not is a fair question. However, IMO she should have either been bounced back to Mexico which would probably be no big deal, or else, allowed to voluntarily depart the US at her own expense in the immediate short-term future, which she seemed willing to do. Her spending weeks in detention at very exorbitant taxpayer expense is just idiotic and stupid. Whoever made that decision should have their judgement reevaluated. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/11/german-tourists-ordeal-reportedly-ending-returned-from-us-detention

So, we finally got around to filing N600 for my 12 y/o stepdaughter. Mom naturalized last November and we got her and her daughters US Passports the very next day so the N600 has not been a priority. Our rationale for paying the ridiculous N-600 filing fee is that passports do expire and constantly need renewed. While we got her passport easily, it was not trouble free since the agent at the Passport Agency said our evidence of actual physical custody was not adequate and he was quite insistent we provide additional school enrolment records. Since our next stop was dropping her off at school after her passport appointment anyways, it was incredibly simple to get what they asked for and email it in. But I could very much envision that that might be some sort of major crisis if a lost passport needed replaced overseas 30 years from now and she had the misfortune to get an ill-tempered consular agent. $1355 is ridiculous but we want the forever Certificate that never expires and is 'almost' unchallengeable. Since it is a one-shot deal and the current political environment is.... mistake averse, I figured it was better to take our time, be cautious and make sure every detail was as correct as it could be. We filed online. While I am a big proponent of online filing, it is worth noting that the online N600 has a number of major discrepancies and ambiguities so anyone going that route should very carefully compare the resulting pdf copy of the N600 with what they answered in the online form. Go through filling the entire online form, then before filing download the resulting pdf, AND the N600 instructions sheet, and go back through the whole entire thing, line by line, like about three or four more times until it all makes sense. We used USCIS's own Policy Manual https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-h-chapter-4 as almost a direct check list and guide book for the submission. We went straight down their list of evidence one by one in every category except for the notarized affidavits which we omitted. The USCIS policy Manual actually seems like the best N600 guide I found anywhere. In any case we filed online March 14, 2025. Mysteriously she received two identical pdf receipt notices under the documents tab within an hour of filing. They are addressed to "mother c/o daughter" so maybe they are going to mail a copy to each(??). No immediate notice for reuse or scheduling of biometrics. Online our local USCIS Field Office (San Diego) lists 13 months processing time for N600 though I have seen some people report much faster results. No rush anyways because she has her passport already. So now we wait.

I am literally totally on board with that..... EXCEPT...... there needs to be a very high level of control over the quality and exactly which immigrants should be increasing US population. Immigrants literally made America great in the past and are America's greatest hope for the future. The floodgates should be open..... with careful control. I am hopeful the current administration's inelegant approach is tilting towards that worthy goal.

We just filed this for our daughter. We interpreted this as a simple check "yes", because it is an indisputable fact that she has left and returned to the US on short trips since she first arrived. All follow-up dates, times, entries, exits, and other circumstances are left blank because she is not claiming U.S. citizenship at the time of birth and was not born before October 10, 1952.

If I were wagering I would bet most likely not from USCIS but you never know until you make a trip to the post office. Personally, I always lose a night's sleep fearing the IRS if I receive notice of signature required certified mail. Though, one time I received notice of signature required certified mail and spent the whole weekend fretting over what it might be only to show up at the post office first thing Monday morning to find an overseas airline for some inexplicable reason sent me a promotional frequent flyer membership card by international certified mail.

Does anyone know if an N565 could be filed requesting the name on the existing naturalization certificate be changed based on the preexisting marriage certificate as the legal name change document rather than a new court name change????? I hadn't considered that and can't find an example of that but it would be a way cleaner solution if possible. The N565 requirements for name change asks for a marriage certificate and the date of the marriage but does not offer guidance if the date of the marriage could be before the naturalization.

If you are only changing the last name to married name, it can be done same day because the marriage certificate is the legal name change document and the USCIS officer only needs to acknowledge that. They just change the name the petition was filed under. (but based entirely on the discretion of the interviewing officer if they accept it or not) So same day is possible with a simple change to married name, but never guaranteed. If changing to a totally different name, a judge is required and it most likely means same day naturalization is not possible. My wife totally blew this particular point at her interview when the interviewing officer suggested to her it would somehow be simpler to keep the same name at naturalization and instead change it on her passport application. That is of course totally false and it won't fly with the passport agency but my wife did not know any better, is still stuck with her maiden name she wanted to change, and now there is no way to change it except in the California courts which is a months long process requiring yet another giant stack of paperwork and costing $500+. Plus, after that, another round of passport application, trip to SS office, DMV etc. So maybe it CAN be done same day. But if not, option 2 really sucks.

Generally in the Philippines, if the parents were married, the child will have their mother's surname as a "middle name", which is rather different than the US concept of middle names. On her Philippine passport is the mothers surname listed under the field, "middle name"? (a field which does not even exist on US passports) Middle names are generally treated rather loosely in the US and ether get lumped in as given names or even omitted without much consequences. Probably everything is fine but it might need explained at biometrics or at the pre interview document check if you used any nonstandard Philippine usage anywhere. Her Philippine passport usage would take precedence.

Yes, you should include any tax returns you submitted with the application and highly recommended to bring even if you didn't include tax returns with the application, but not a strict requirement unless you owe overdue taxes.