Boundless_damsel

Yup, identical here. I think all options have been exhausted (almost 18 months for me). I was planning to sue them (have been out of the country which made it difficult to serve my mandamus, but I will be doing that upon coming back). Anyone interested in joining in on a class action to get out individual results while also making the system a bit more responsible to those who will come after us?

I appreciate your reasoning here, @Imperium--i think one assumption that I am wrestling with here is the one whether it's the i751 that actively delays the adjudication of n400 (I e. Is the regional service center the culprit) or whether it's the local field office that is in charge of the n400 that is not pulling its weight. In my case, the n400 has been pending for almost 17 months (way above the processing times for my field office) and i751 for almost 29 months...my intuition is to argue that both are unreasonably delayed, although I am hesitant if I should identify the regional center/local field office as my jurisdiction. My guess is that both. Would love to pick your brain on this

I very much appreciate your guidance here. I am initiating the process as well. I am not a lawyer, although am in a somewhat germane field. I am curious if you resorted to any resources beyond the review of various sample WOMs to imitate the language? I am asking mostly because I added a few more arguments than what I saw elsewhere and was wondering if it makes sense to have a second set of eyes go over that to ensure I adhered to the 'legal writing' style. Any suggestions?

I am curious if there is a minimum required advance notice that an applicant is entitled to before appearing to the interview? On a purely anecdotal level, I know that these notices usually come in 4-6 weeks in advance, but I am not sure what is legally mandated (if anything).

Congratulations! Very happy for you! Wondering if you'd have to pledge loyalty to the Buckeyes as part of your ceremony (joking, of course. or half-joking. You truly never know how OH would react in respect to one's football preferences, haha. At least that's my recollection during my 1 year stint in Columbus.)

8 months in for you with n400, right?

Love the null set reference. They sure are. I am planning on doing the same thing you are thinking of, it seems like, although I am thinking of doing it with a smaller price tag. Make sure you cover all bases though before doing the 5k leap (not doing so will not doom your legal attempt per se, but will make it slightly less convincing--although likely still very successful)

Aha! So they follow a cookie cutting template... great! 30 days to respond, then wait for another 90 to reach out again, and 4 months fly by just like that! They are efficient at wasting time, what can I say! Matches my experience --both times I emailed them. @JaBe007--yours as well, right? @zanzala--did you end up writing?

Freedom of information act allows individual applicants to inquire about the decision-making process behind a specific case. It gives you access to all the documents you have submitted plus any annotations and stamps from the officer (s) reviewing it. In my case FOIA was not really helpful --it only showed my documents along with a time stamp when they were received. Essentially that meant that my documents were collecting dust and no one has touched them.

Very interesting! I actually did use foia--in fact, that was my first course of action, before contacting the senator and the congresswoman. In my case, there were absolutely no notes - of any kind - on both of my applications. When did you make your FOIA request? I sent mine in in October and received it in November.

Fascinating! I am very curious what are the caveats that they listed. I had a similar experience - in fact, much worse -with Ayanna Presley. Completely unresponsive, I reached out five or six times, provided everything they needed, and they never followed through - and not only that, they failed to even respond to my multiple follow ups (I and more than happy to follow up a couple of times but when you follow up multiple times with no response that's just a complete lack of accountability par excellence and almost a parody for what being a people's representative mean).

Both times I reached out to Markey, they took exactly 30 days to respond (apparently this is how long it takes for the USCIS person to get back with the requested information) Yup. This exactly what I got--an identical response to yours

Did you try her?

I mean, I have not surveyed all the LPRs to make a claim that it's irrelevant for most people, so I cannot answer your question with certainty. But if that's not an issue for you personally--great! One less thing to worry about!

that's exactly right--I think people are not realizing that gifting can be interpreted very liberally (i.e. you don't need to receive a full-blown inheritance for that to be counted as a gift. )

Ok friends, I think, after some (relatively cursory) research on VJ and other forums I regret to have reached the following conclusion: Most people who had their I751 approved PRIOR to submitting their N400 at the Boston office, got approved within 6-7 months (on average). Most people who submitted N400 WHILE their I751 was pending (regardless of how well-done the submission was)have been waiting for at least 8 months until adjudication (or likely much longer). I wish I'd have better news to report.

Thank you! That's is super helpful and I am including the stats as part of my draft for Warren!

yup--there is a difference between gift, inheritance (and some, not all) real estate related taxes. The bottom line is that tax law is not as advantageous for green card holders in these domains. And yes, certain educational scholarships are reserved only for citizens. Government has more jobs than you'd imagine--the public sector, broadly defined, is quite big. GC allows you to travel freely back to the US and a few nearby countries, but that's nowhere near what a citizenship can give you. And politics, there are limitations to which elected offices you can hold. Hope this clarifies it a bit!

I am failing to read in between the lines here, but, regardless, wish you much success on your journey

Sorry your tag was missing! Do you want me to add anything from your experience into the petition? Do you plan to write to a senator (I wrote to Markey)?

As you know from my posts, I filed almost a year before you (for both I751 and N400 timelines), and I am 100% with you about the lack of transparency part. This is exactly what is bugging me the most--it does not feel right when there is a major variance in how cases are handled. I assume your file was thick enough to approve your application even without opening your file. Same went for me. And all of that begs the question, why, given same or worse inputs (i.e. quality of applications and filing at the same time) we get such different outcomes--some applications are processed within several months, while others take year(s). Big sigh. Also, I wish the only advantage of citizenship would be voting--alas, there are many more limitations (depending on one's needs, of course).

Tax-related, job prospects, educational opportunities, family reunification (for the most part), political participation--that's quite a bit, no?

My running joke about the inefficiency of the system is that you can possibly have several children by the time they deign to judge your marriage bona fide with i751 True story--a friend of mine submitted i751 application when her first baby was 3 months old. She still has not been approved and by now she already has her second child (who is older than what her first baby was when she sent in the app). I guess the "threshold" to prove the legitimacy of marriage is quite high...

Hi friends! I will be escalating it further by writing a petition (this one will go to Warren). In a nutshell, it will point out that people are frustrated not just because it takes so long, but also because people with identical timelines are not processed in a similar (ish) way and there is no transparency or accountability towards the constituents. Do that, as part of my letter, I would love to include any stories you might have of any acquaintances of yours who applied at the same time as you, but have already had their N400 processed. If you could share those with me here, that would be great (no need to reveal personal identity details--sufficient to say, for example, AK applied in June 2022 and had their N400 interview in December 2022. You get the idea:) Thanks so much for helping me/yourself/others out! @rebnoe @TastyCake @Robbernosky @zanzala @JaBe007 Happy to share the text here, if anyone will be interested.

Ok, folks, here goes the rant (with a question towards the end): Background: filed N400 in March 2022, Boston field office (very comprehensive submission). 3 year rule (i751 filed in March 2021--again, a pretty impeccable submission, if I dare say so myself). I751 transferred within 4 days since the N400 submission. Currently, I am at 12.5 months mark for N400 and 24.5 for i751. I would have anticipated a combo interview by now--instead, a delightful radio silence. I did FOIA at 8 months mark (the result suggests my files have not been touched). I reached out to the senator and the district representative (at 9months mark and 10 months mark respectively). USCIS response to all these inquiries --nada. Just restating the summary of my cases (which of course I already know...). I reached out via senator's office once again at 12.5 months--same response. I did point out to the senator's office rep that my case is outside of the 12 months mark (current processing time for Boston office). I checked previous USCIS field specific reports, all confirming that the majority of cases should have been processed by now. Any suggestions for my next steps? At this point, I expect this process to take at least 15-16 months and I am hoping to do whatever I can to not make it even longer. Thoughts?