Hi guys,
Second post here. So, in February my N400 interview got scheduled for March 25th (I have a I751 pending since Nov 2022). On the day of the interview, I went with my wife and a plethora of evidence, such as life insurance policy showing her as the beneficiary, bank statements, bills, travel plans, etc. When I got called in, I told the IO that my wife was there with me because we have a pending ROC and we'd like for it to be adjudicated. She explained that the interview would only be for the N400 and that she (my wife) won't be needed. She then took me to her office and told me to get comfortable as we were just going to have a "quick and nice conversation".
She started by asking me for our 2023 taxes and if we had filed them, to which I answered no. She later asked when we plan on file and I said that on Tax Day, as we have done in the past years. She then said that she will need those taxes with the transcript before she can move forward with the case, to which I said ok, no problem (not like we had any other option, haha). Then she asked me several questions about my wife, her job, our life together, bills, how she got to the US 20+ years ago, you name it. It really felt more like a I751 interview rather than a N400 one. It's worth mentioning that even though these questions were being asked, she was extremely respectful and dare I say cool. We then spent over 10 minutes talking just about immigrants from my home country and she was amazed about my English skills (first time hearing that, for sure). Then she was telling me about her life and plenty of other stuff, amazing IO I have to admit.
Then the N400 questions started and there were only three: How many representatives in the House of Representatives, What does the Cabinet do and Why are there 50 stars in the flag, all of them I answered them correctly and then we went through the security questions.
She then was telling me how for the oath ceremony I need to bring the GC and Work Permit, etc and then asked me if I had any questions, to which I said yes and I just wanted to inquire about if we were going to get an RFE to send in the taxes. She said that she was very satisfied with the interview and that she believes I should be approved but since we had a pending I751 which wasn't assigned to her, she would need supervisor authorization in order to move forward. She later stepped out of the office to speak to said supervisor and after 5-8 minutes she came back and told me that she had given her supervisor a justification on why she believes my case should be approved but that ultimately that was someone else's decision. She then gave me the paper saying I passed the exam but no decision could be made at the time and later she walked me out to find my wife. During those few minutes walking back to the waiting area we were even talking about how different the offices were when compared to the pandemic times.
Well, two hours later I received a notification that an RFE for Initial Evidence was sent to me. Not going to lie, this kind of pissed me off but it is what it is. It stated that we needed to send proof that by the time the N400 was filed, me and my wife had been in marital union for at least 3 years. Then, My wife and I immediately proceeded to file our taxes for this year as they were ready on TurboTax, we just didn't file them before (something we've come to regret). I thought about holding on to that and wait 21 days for the transcript to be available on the IRS website but the actual letter I received online did not mention said transcript and we didn't want to wait all that time to upload it, further delaying the process. So we decided to upload the 2023 tax return, and the 2020, 2021 and 2022 taxes with their transcripts (which is weird because I had already attached that to the initial submission of the N400 form), alongside employment verification letters from both of our jobs saying that we're each other's emergency contact, my life insurance policy that I mentioned before and our W2s from last year. That was on Monday, 6 hours after receiving the RFE and now the webpage says that they're working on the case again.
Well, that was pretty much it guys. Feel free to tell me what you think about it and let's hope that USCIS doesn't take that long to review the files.
All of this happened in the NYC Field Office.