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top_secret

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  • City
    San Diego
  • State
    California

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  • Immigration Status
    Naturalization (approved)
  • Place benefits filed at
    National Benefits Center
  • Local Office
    San Diego CA
  • Country
    Philippines

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  1.    TBoneTX reacted to a post in a topic: N-600 for 12 y/o stepdaughter
  2.    OldUser reacted to a post in a topic: N-600 for 12 y/o stepdaughter
  3. top_secret
    Well I figure I'd come back and update the timeline on this thing since although it was approved on July 28 we still do not have the citizenship certificate yet. After the July 28 approval, the status changed again on August 19 to "Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled'. Although at 12 y/o she does not need to do an oath so I assume that would just consist of showing up and being handed the certificate. No further updates until October 10 when the status changed to "Oath Ceremony Notice Was Mailed" and then the following day a pdf copy of the notice appeared under the documents tab with a scheduled appearance at the local USCIS field office October 29. So from approval to printing and handing over the certificate is an additional 3 months. So final timeframe is 7 1/2 months. The State Department completed essentially the same task issuing her passport in less than 24 hours for 1/6th the cost. Looking at USCIS's Facebook page is seems that in previous years they try to make some kind of USCIS Halloween costume party for children receiving certificates of citizenship at the end of October so we will see about that. Honestly, it seems a bit odd tying Halloween and citizenship together somehow.
  4.    top_secret reacted to a post in a topic: Philippines K1 Visa: Surprise passport delivery problem
  5.    Carpe Vinum reacted to a post in a topic: True or False: CFO can require police clearance or FBI report for petitioner
  6.    top_secret reacted to a post in a topic: FBI Clearance Required?
  7.    top_secret reacted to a post in a topic: Getting Married in Philippines
  8.    Edward and Jaycel reacted to a post in a topic: Philippines CFO experience 09/17/2025 FBI Background Check is Required
  9.    Aquabac reacted to a post in a topic: Philippines CFO experience 09/17/2025 FBI Background Check is Required
  10. top_secret
    The total scheduling meltdown and 1 year+ appointment scheduling delays at US Embassy Manila for CR/IR cases after becoming documentarily qualified have apparently improved quite a bit more recently. Be careful that you are looking at very recent cases for any accuracy guessing appointment backlogs.
  11. top_secret
    USCIS has access to expunged and other hidden records, but CFO does not. Never volunteer anything more than is specifically asked.
  12.    top_secret reacted to a post in a topic: DFA/CFO confusion for changing last name on passport
  13.    W199 reacted to a post in a topic: Name change dilemma: legal change vs. waiting for arrival in US
  14.    OldUser reacted to a post in a topic: Name change dilemma: legal change vs. waiting for arrival in US
  15. top_secret
    In my opinion, if you do want to change your name then you should go all in to change it to exactly what you want as soon as possible and if at all possible get it changed on your foreign passport BEFORE your interview. Then you automatically start your whole new life in America with all your new US documents automatically coming with your desired name from day one with no further effort. If you find yourself with multiple names on your green card, social security card, state id, banking, employment and everything else, it's a huge hassle that can follow you around a very long time. I have no idea how hard it is to change a middle name on a Canadian passport but it costs at least $415 and can take over a year to change a name in a US green card once it's been issued in a non-desired name. Plus every other document and ID issued while waiting for the green card change. I could guess a Canadian name change might be faster, easier and cheaper. I would at least look into it and putting effort into going that way if at all possible. It is not easy after you get to the US.
  16. top_secret
    OFW's should have already completed CFO-PDOS. If they return to the Philippines and receive a fiancee or marriage visa from US Embassy Manila, they should "upgrade" to CFO-GCP to pass Philippine exit immigration the first time with the new visa in their passport. If they receive the new visa from a US Embassy outside the Philippines and use it without first returning to the Philippines then it is irrelevant. No one cares except Philippine exit immigration if someone has an unused fiancee or immigrant visa in their passport.
  17.    top_secret reacted to a post in a topic: Case “is still being processed” but there’s an approval letter in my USCIS account
  18.    TBoneTX reacted to a post in a topic: Is it realistic to hope to get a passport within a week of oath?
  19.    OldUser reacted to a post in a topic: N 400 filer with child delayed due to Alien Registration Requirement
  20. top_secret
    Hasn't there always been a requirement to file an I-90 (for free) in most cases when a LPR child turns 14??? I would think normally that would satisfy even the new registration requirement (????) Is it possible they are requiring the G-325R in this particular case because the I-90 was not filed in a timely manner???? I'm just trying to understand it better myself.
  21.    top_secret reacted to a post in a topic: DFA/CFO confusion for changing last name on passport
  22.    top_secret reacted to a post in a topic: DFA/CFO confusion for changing last name on passport
  23.    top_secret reacted to a post in a topic: St. Luke tuberculosis lab smear results are late
  24.    RO_AH reacted to a post in a topic: DFA/CFO confusion for changing last name on passport
  25. top_secret
    On the bright side, if the sputum test results had been positive they would have contacted her early. "Late" results implies it's negative and that everything must be just fine. Do proactively follow up but most likely its just bureaucracy that will easily be resolved within a day or two.
  26. top_secret
    DFA has no CFO requirement to change a name on a passport. Whoever told you that is incorrect.
  27. top_secret
    My wife and stepdaughter both had US passports on hand in well under 48 hours from her oath ceremony. She also had her Naturalization Certificate returned by hand at the same time, which is way better than waiting a month for it to be returned by untracked mail. You can make an expedited passport agency appointment online here. https://passportappointment.travel.state.gov/. If you want to just browse appointment availability you can start an appointment with any date and you would be able to view available appointments on a calendar before having to commit to anything. In the case of my wife she preemptively made an appointment for the day after her interview so she would be ready if she got a same day oath and she could change it if her oath was delayed.
  28. top_secret
    We have a fairly simple power of attorney which delegates most of the responsibilities of guardianship for my stepdaughter to me, and explicitly defines exactly the wishes and directions of her mother is for any reason she was not able to care for her child. The idea is that we do not expect to need it at all and it certainly does not offer any permanent legal guardianship but if anything unexpected were to happen it would at least give me some legal authority to independently care for and take whatever steps I needed to act in the child’s best interest until such time as a more permanent custody arrangement could be settled by the relevant courts and it clearly expresses my wife’s wishes for her daughter in such circumstances.
  29. top_secret
    It covers marital union in the USCIS policy manual and the definition seems fairly straightforward. https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-g-chapter-2 So to me it seems that if you actually resided together overseas that 100% counts as "marital union".
  30. top_secret
    Turbotax and probably just about any other tax preparation software has an amend return option whereby you just go through the whole guided process for your return again making whatever changes that need to be made and at the end it spits out a PDF prepared 1040X ready to print and mail. Generally super easy if you used tax preparation software and potentially quite a significantly greater additional return.
  31. top_secret
    Could just mean whatever fingerprints they had on record were fine but they didn't accept her picture for some reason and needed to retake it.
  32. top_secret
    Knowing my neighbors, I do not think any type of unannounced visit by any type of government agent would go particularly well. The best possible outcome I could imagine is they would just shout at them to get the eff off their property and don't come back come back without a warrant. Possibly that would be interspersed with various threats of violence. Then they would probably try to tip me off that some kind of feds were asking questions about me. They are nice neighbors but definitely no one you would ever want acting as your character reference.
  33. top_secret
    DigItize (scan) certain paper documents contained in your A-File. Scanning completed. (totally just a guess)
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