ian-mstm

Yes, that's about right... mine was 5 months, from submitting the N-400 to the date of my interview.


Maybe 12 to 18 months... give or take. It's no secret (or any great surprise) that it's taking longer to get an interview date... but, to be perfectly honest, people are just impatient... yes, too damn impatient. They drive themselves crazy agonizing over each date posted by USCIS, and living on edge week by week as the processing dates move forward maybe one day in a month... if they're lucky. They imagine the worst possible scenario dealing specifically with their case and then begin to second guess themselves over each tiny detail of their application or evidence. All because they have no patience.

Sorry... that's no way to live. If the dates were not posted (or people didn't bother checking), it would take exactly as long... and people would agonize less, IMHO.

Ian

Archie Wilson

Noted.

My optimistic 'guess' is 8-10 months, now that the first log jam has been broken.

Time will tell.

Archie Wilson

psychobabbler1

*N-400 app to the TSC on July 10th.

*Logged as arrived on the 13th. No idea of when check was cashed.

*Got letter for biometrics in September but weren't able to go till November 7th.

*November 29th, got letter for interview/test for January 3rd.

Archie Wilson

Hi,
It would really help folks get an idea where they stand if you could check your bank statement and see when your check was cashed. Normally, the check is cashed a few days after the N-400 is received. Yours was apparently delayed in being cashed, but your interview date is January 3rd which is really good!

If you can tell us when your check was cashed, many thanks!

Archie Wilson

psychobabbler1

Had DH look (it was his check) and it was cashed August 3rd.

abir007

Finally the check cleared! 100 days to cash the check from the date it was issued.

9/10/2007 - Application Mailed
9/13/2007 - Application arrived at TSC
12/20/2007 - Check cashed
Waiting on ... I-797 Notice of Action?

Archie Wilson

Psycho,

TSC cashed it 20 days after receipt . . . which is longer than it normally takes during the times just before the rush started. With fees changing at the end of July, you were apparently at the beginning of the rush to file, so it looks like yours got first attention before they got completely inundated and went into locked-up mode.

Congrats on your interview date.

Archie Wilson

Dan725

I wouldn't exactly say I'm "agonising" - however, it is good to know what is happening with other people in the same boat - if you fell massively behind compared with others you would then know that you should query USCIS. Simple as that. If noone ever posted any dates about it, you'd never have a clue. And isn't that the point of forums like this - so those that can be arsed to look things up can glean some valuable info.

Dan725

Is it not the case that once the regional service centers have processed the apps, the local centers take over? With me for instance, it will be Tampa.

abir007

Is it for real? If that's the case, when does it happen? Starting with Finger Printing?

I was under the assumption - local centers only provide services like FP/Interviews etc but TSC will still have do all the work for applications like N-400.

Archie Wilson

Abir,

I think you will find that, past the data entry and noticing of the f/p, and interview date, the next logjam and biggest delay on the way to citizenship will be when the various field office schedule interviews. Perhaps, the delay in cashing checks and providing receipts was to allow the field offices to gather resources to be able to handle the glut of N-400 interviews that are going to be necessary. i think Mr. F. recently referred to the situation.

Archie Wilson

dchambe

Wow that's fast! My N400 was received July 10th with a projected interview date within 720 days (Charlotte NC district). It would appear that not all district offices are alike!

Dan725

You might be right - not sure where I get this impression from, maybe someone else can clarify?

Aycee

Meauxna answered a similar question for me on another thread - not sure if it was in the Marriage section or the Immigration one..................
Found it - its on the Immigration section, on 2 December. This was Meauxna's response:

From my own snooping around and direct questions to the District Director here in Oregon, I believe it goes like this: you submit your N-400 to the Service Center. They receipt it, establishing a 'priority date', and generate the biometrics letter/appointment for the Application Support Center for your area (which might be different than the District Office.. example, we have a large-ish city right across the Oregon/Washington border. Vancouver WA residents can come to Portland for their biometrics, but must travel 3+ hours to Seattle for interviews etc).

From the Service Centers, the N-400s are then shipped to the District Offices as their work flow allows. Whatever investigative work and security checks that need doing are done locally. Each office has its own system for processing files and checking to make sure nothing gets left behind, or shipped out before its time. This is not foolproof.. it is literally moving stacks of paper folders around.. I was given a tour of the back rooms in our relatively small DO and the paper mountain was enormous, and mistakes do get made (our I-751 was approved, but sent to storage without the card production notice going out). They can, and will, track down individual cases, but in my experience, we have a 'friendlier' office than many others.

So, for processing estimates, you should always study your District Office's N-400 posted processing dates. I watched ours over a period of time and they were pretty consistent with '6 months' so that I had a good idea of how long my spouse's app would take. It came in just short of that 6 months.

If biometrics take longer in some locations, I suspect that has to do with the overall workload of the ACS serving the region, accounting for the other types of cases that require biometrics.


The District Office stats are available via USCIS Home Page. In my own case, Oklahoma City is the one to watch, and according to their info they are up to 14 April 2007 with N.400s. It's all uncharted territory from here on, I reckon. Most DOs say 7 months process time - but that doesn't tally with the 16-18 month estimate USCIS gave us, nor with the "number of days" stated on our NOAs in most cases. the page is said to have been updated in November.

I think we can call it "a crap shoot".

abir007

Thanks Aycee! This was very informative and helpful. Well ... it seems like USCIS changed some terminologies ... I think District Office are now called Field Offices. In my case it is Louisville, KY ... their N-400 timeframe listed as 7 months, but they also say: "naturalization applications filed after June 1, 2007 may take approx 16-18 months to process." So they don't even know how long it will take ... in summery it will take anywhere between 7-18 months! I am hoping Louisville, KY office is not overwhelmed like TSC or other bigger cities.