springguy

Sure, we applied at Tomball Post office (122 Holderrieth Blvd, Tomball, TX 77375). Yep, only photocopies of my DL and wife's DL + original birth certificate of the minor. No marriage certificate copy or naturalization copy or original GC. I would say go ahead and apply through the post office and check what they are recommending for documentation (you can also show the required documents list from passport site if the agent is not aware). Keep an eye on status and once you are at week#5/6 or so reach out to your congress representative office - these days passports are shipped in 6 weeks- usually they respond to mails within one business day. Also most of them have dedicated staff to help out on things under the purview of federal government. Best wishes!

My wife and I became citizens back in May. We have two minors with GC, and went to apply for our passports at USPS. All four applications were 'packaged' separately. The USPS agent did not take the original Green Card of my minors, he only attached their original birth certificate (not born in US) and a copy of our DLs. He did not attach our marriage certificate nor our naturalization certificates. He was supremely confident that none of that is required. I insisted to attach the green card, and he re-insisted that it is not required. I went with the agent's recommendation. Cut to week #9, I assumed will get a RFE, the status was still 'In-Progress'. Reached out to senator letting them know that we did not attach the GC and requested assistance to connect with passport office to validate documents. And magically next day the application was approved. My senator office said, all they did was placed an inquiry ( locator #35). No other follow ups from their side either! We received all passports before end of that week. And a letter from passport office asking us to send the original GCs to USCIS national record center (Lee's Summit, MO) and we did that promptly. Like 1 Quote

Did they take your minors' original green card as part of the application?

Miracle - we received passport for my minor children. A recap - the USPS agent did not take their original Green Card, he only attached their birth certificate (not born in US) and a copy of our DLs. He did not attach our marriage certificate nor the naturalization certificates. It was week #9, the status was still 'In-Progress', reached out to senator letting them know that we did not attach the GC and requested assistance to connect with passport office to validate documents. And magically next day the application was approved. My senator office said, all they did was placed an inquiry at locator #35. No other follow ups from their side either! So, not sure if GC is required or not for minor kids.

Awesome, great to hear that it was approved. It did not change from Approved to Shipped for my wife (I have heard many cases where status displays in-progess but passport is delivered. So, it can be very erratic). The passport was delivered 6 days after it got approved If you have not already, sign up for USPS informed delivery email notifications and check that out. It will eventually show the tracking number.

Wow, I would say contact your congressmen. They typically work on pushing such cases. We, family of 4, applied for passport on June 1st (all routine and first time). All applications assigned to locator 35. My wife got her passport delivered on June 21st(under 3 weeks). My application and kids application are still in process. So, not sure what is the rationale of order and how it gets processed.

@mam521- did they take your kid's GC while applying for passport? We applied at a USPS this morning and they returned my children's green card original and photocopy. He just attached our DL copies to their forms and their original birth certificate (non US)- he did not attach copy of certificate of naturalization either. For wife and my application,n he added our CON original and copy, DL.

My wife and I filed N-400 through our company attorney (Employment based GC, 5 yrs rule). through paper mail and sent only GC copy along with the application. No marriage certificate, no tax transcripts, no residence proof9. We pushed our attorney to add it but they simply refused. We took those items for interview but the IO did not ask us for anything. The IO only wanted to verify and crosscheck the original GC, passport and state ID. Just sharing our experience 🙂

This exact thing happened for me and my wife.

The status should transition to 'Oath Ceremony Notice Was Mailed' . Do check documents tab, sometimes the document gets placed few hours before the status changes. Best wishes! '

Houston FO, 5 years employment based GC 02/21/2023 - Application received by postal mail 02/24/2023 - NOA 03/24/203 - Bio (notified 03/04) 05/02/2023 - Interview (notified 03/28) 05/03/2023 - Approved day after interview 05/27/2023 - Oath Ceremony (notified 05/05) Total time - 95 days.

If you are trying to book a passport appointment through USPS (or even Harris county public library accepts passport applications) do it immediately after midnight when the slot opens or definitely before 6 am (Monday to Friday) . USPS opens slot only four weeks in advance. Harris county public library opens only two weeks in advance - so, as I type, I can see many appointments available for May 23 at Barbara Bush and Aldine public library Site - https://hcpl.net/passports/

Thanks for the heads-up, appreciate it! Any idea if children are allowed in Gears rd oath ceremony ? (Tweenagers). Also, how long is the overall process in Gears rd?

Oath ceremony scheduled. It's on Sat 05/27 at Gears Rd office (proving my earlier theory wrong once again). Fort the benefit of future visitors leaving my timeline here. 02/21/2023 - Application by postal mail 02/24/2023 - NOA date 03/24/203 - Biometric (notice received on 03/04) 03/28/2023 - Interview notice received 05/02/2023 - Interview 05/03/2023 - Approved next day 05/27/2023 - Oath Ceremony (notified on 05/05) Total time - 95 days!

FYI, I just checked my status and see that oath ceremony has been scheduled - Sat, May 27@1pm, Gears Road office!

Fantastic! Congratulations. Please let know once oath ceremony is scheduled.

Congratulations and best wishes! Good choice on prioritizing oath ceremony first. It a hard battle with USCIS to reschedule anything. I absolutely stand corrected - I give up trying to understand the pattern. There was one oath ceremony on Apr 27th (Thursday) held in Gears Road. From what I have heard, the Gears Road oath ceremony can accommodate only few hundreds.

It was approved, and status changed to Oath ceremony will be scheduled for both of us (Wife's status changed yesterday around 6pm and my status changed today). So all good!

It was approved, and status changed to Oath ceremony will be scheduled for both of us (Wife's status changed yesterday around 6pm and my status changed today). So all good, waiting for oath ceremony!

FO - Houston , 5yrs employment based GC holder My wife and I had our interview today. We were both slotted at for the same time, but interviewed by different IO. We are applying as 5 years GC holder (employment based ) After the usual process of biometric and waiting, I went in first. Officer just wanted to see my letter, state ID, GC and passport. Civic test, reading writing were completed -all easy peasy. Moved on to N400 form - verified name address date of birth marriage children etc. After few yes no Qs, made me sign the oath of allegiance on ipad. All very positive, only so far! He printed the letter and as he was ready to approve, the system was not allowing him to approve and would just hang. He tried multiple times and he couldn't complete the approval process. Apparently this is a common occurrence especially for afternoon interviews in Houston (per IO, by the time it is afternoon, EST, CST and PST offices are in full swing and system performance can degrade significantly). End result checked on passed the test but a decision cannot be made at this time. He said, there is no need to worry, his supervisor will have to do a review and will get approved in a day or two and then he should be able to update in the system. I came out, and my wife was still waiting to be called. She got called within five mins, by another IO. The IO asked for letter, GC and State ID and no passport. Interview was cake walk, personal information verification and few yes no Qs, signed oath of allegiance. And same thing repeated for her as well - IO was not able to mark the case as approved and system just hung. She also got the decision cannot be made checked in the letter and officer said it should get approved in couple of days and said do not lose any sleep over it. So here we are, both sitting tight with fingers crossed. If any of you have gone through, please share your experience. I will keep y'all posted when it changes .

My wife and I had our interview today. We were both slotted at for the same time, but interviewed by different IO. We are applying as 5 years GC holder (employment based ) After the usual process of biometric and waiting, I went in first. Officer just wanted to see my letter, state ID, GC and passport. Civic test, reading writing were completed -all easy peasy. Moved on to N400 form - verified name address date of birth marriage children etc. After few yes no Qs, made me sign the oath of allegiance on ipad. All very positive so far! He printed the letter and as he was ready to approve, the system was not allowing him to approve and would just hang. He tried multiple times and he couldn't complete the approval process. Apparently this is a common occurrence especially for afternoon interviews in Houston (per IO, by the time it is afternoon, EST, CST and PST offices are in full swing and system performance can degrade significantly). End result checked on passed the test but a decision cannot be made at this time He said, there is no need to worry, his supervisor will have to do a review and will get approved in a day or two and then he should be able to update in the system. I came out, and my wife was still waiting to be called. She got called within five mins, by another IO. The IO asked for letter, GC and State ID and no passport. Interview was cake walk, personal information verification and few yes no Qs, signed oath of allegiance. And same thing repeated for her as well - IO was not able to mark the case as approved and system just hung. She also got the decision cannot be made checked in the letter and officer said it should get approved in couple of days - do not lose any sleep over it. So here we are, both sitting tight with fingers crossed. If any of you have gone through, please share your experience. I will keep y'all posted when it changes

The 12am (Monday early morning to Friday early morning) trick is the only way to get appointments with summer holidays approaching fast. There are public libraries which have appointments as well. And they open slots 2 weeks ahead. Again, have to book around 12am to get an appointment

Congratulations! Amazing that oath ceremony is scheduled so quickly. Did you front load application with more documents - like tax transcript etc ? Also, did the IO ask any additional documents for verification? I applied through postal mail and only submitted GC copy and nothing more. I have next month and was wondering what kind of documents I need to carry.

Hearty Congratulations! it is a big advantage that SFO does same day oath ceremony! How many people take part in that oath ceremony? Also, I applied as a LPR for 5 years, but through postal mail and I only submitted green card copy (Submitted as per M-477 checklist from USCIS. Even though I'm married with kids did not submit marriage certificate or birth certificates). My interview is scheduled for May 2nd, and per my attorney, all I need to carry is three years tax transcripts (plus GC, passport, appointment and letter and state ID). Did the IO ask anything about marriage, kids at all? Also, do they ask about where you work etc?

Congratulations, that is fantastic, Pretty quick!