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I appreciate all the effort that goes into making this forum possible -- it makes the Naturalisation process that much easier. Many thanks to all involved in running it and to those who contribute.
I wanted to add my own ongoing experience to the discussion to help those who follow. Some of issues are addressed in other threads but finding them requires reading and searching and reading - a FAQ section or sticky thread would be helpful.
I had two major hang-ups on the N400 application. The first was recording all trips since gaining permanent residence - I've had a green card for almost 20 years and that was a difficult section to fill out. I originally entered the US on a J1 visa, then moved up to an H1 and then to a green card. I ended up pulling all my credit card records for the past 20 years and comparing those with passport stamps - it took days!
Second was the issue of encounters with the Police. I got pulled over for supposedly running a red light many years ago. I decided to declare it since the N400 asks whether I'd ever been detained by the Police or not. That declaration had consequences.
I sent in the application, received a timely notification of receipt and and was sent a finerprinting appointment letter in due course.
I was fingerprinted in Atlanta - the support office is a cavernous hall and essentially empty. The doors are kept locked and there is no evidence to suggest that anyone is home except an "OPEN" sign on the door. You actually have to bang loudly on the door to get attention and be let in. There was one person ahead of me and two fingerprint techs sitting around twidling their thumbs. This was aruond 2 pm on a Thursday. Needless to say, I was in and out in about 10 min.
A week later I received a yellow letter asking to bring State ID to the interview and also ORIGINAL or certified copies of all documents pertaining to my arrest. This refers to the traffic ticket declared on the N400. Luckily I had the sense to file the ticket, the cancelled deposit check, the court dismissal letter, and the refund notice, or else I would be looking at weeks of telephone calls to traffic courts etc! J1/H1 etc immigrants should be advised to never throw anything away, no matter how insignificant it may seem!
Three more weeks go by and I decide to check on my progress on the USCIS website, only to discover that my application was "In suspense" because they were waiting for a response to A Request For Evidnce that supposedly had been sent out the day before the N400 receipt. I waited a week or so and kept checking - no change - maybe this was something to do with the fingerprint appointment letter???
Ultimately I decided to call the 1-800 number for the Support Center (on the website) and report that I had not received an RFE. The call was answered by a real person almost immediately, who just read back to me the form-letter response shown on the web, and then took endless details of my case history.
Today I received a letter from the local USCIS recording my call but stating that their records indicate that I was being scheduled for my interview (no RFE). The lesson learned is that (as stated elsewhere on this forum but difficult to believe) is that the website is essentially useless - pick up the telephone if in doubt!
To be continued.....
I wanted to add my own ongoing experience to the discussion to help those who follow. Some of issues are addressed in other threads but finding them requires reading and searching and reading - a FAQ section or sticky thread would be helpful.
I had two major hang-ups on the N400 application. The first was recording all trips since gaining permanent residence - I've had a green card for almost 20 years and that was a difficult section to fill out. I originally entered the US on a J1 visa, then moved up to an H1 and then to a green card. I ended up pulling all my credit card records for the past 20 years and comparing those with passport stamps - it took days!
Second was the issue of encounters with the Police. I got pulled over for supposedly running a red light many years ago. I decided to declare it since the N400 asks whether I'd ever been detained by the Police or not. That declaration had consequences.
I sent in the application, received a timely notification of receipt and and was sent a finerprinting appointment letter in due course.
I was fingerprinted in Atlanta - the support office is a cavernous hall and essentially empty. The doors are kept locked and there is no evidence to suggest that anyone is home except an "OPEN" sign on the door. You actually have to bang loudly on the door to get attention and be let in. There was one person ahead of me and two fingerprint techs sitting around twidling their thumbs. This was aruond 2 pm on a Thursday. Needless to say, I was in and out in about 10 min.
A week later I received a yellow letter asking to bring State ID to the interview and also ORIGINAL or certified copies of all documents pertaining to my arrest. This refers to the traffic ticket declared on the N400. Luckily I had the sense to file the ticket, the cancelled deposit check, the court dismissal letter, and the refund notice, or else I would be looking at weeks of telephone calls to traffic courts etc! J1/H1 etc immigrants should be advised to never throw anything away, no matter how insignificant it may seem!
Three more weeks go by and I decide to check on my progress on the USCIS website, only to discover that my application was "In suspense" because they were waiting for a response to A Request For Evidnce that supposedly had been sent out the day before the N400 receipt. I waited a week or so and kept checking - no change - maybe this was something to do with the fingerprint appointment letter???
Ultimately I decided to call the 1-800 number for the Support Center (on the website) and report that I had not received an RFE. The call was answered by a real person almost immediately, who just read back to me the form-letter response shown on the web, and then took endless details of my case history.
Today I received a letter from the local USCIS recording my call but stating that their records indicate that I was being scheduled for my interview (no RFE). The lesson learned is that (as stated elsewhere on this forum but difficult to believe) is that the website is essentially useless - pick up the telephone if in doubt!
To be continued.....
