hollywoodgirl

Hi everyone,

I recently applied for citizenship, after months of back and forth over whether to do it, and finally pulled the trigger about a week or two ago and mailed in my application. The main factor that pushed me to do it is that my current green card expires on 1/31/2010 - hence I'd like to get my N400 processed as soon as possible, despite my initial delay.

I've started this thread because I have lots of questions and feel bad hijacking other people's threads, so hopefully I'll have a place to share my experiences and journey as ask questions along the way.

The first question I have is regarding my Fingerprint Notification which arrived today - yay! However, upon close inspection, the appointment date 10/20 in Los Angeles falls on a day when I will be in North Carolina. While you do get the option to reschedule, does anyone have any advice or information regarding the type of impact and delay this could cause? I do travel a lot for work and my schedule is sporadic and last minute so there is no guarantee that when I reschedule I'll even be in town when that notice arrives.

I recall reading a post on here a while back about someone who showed up at their appointment a few days before to verify the location before the day of and was actually able to have their prints done that same day. Any advice if this is something I could *try* to do. I figure it couldn't hurt, although I could only do this on Monday or Tuesday and then I'm out of town until 10/22.

My options to reschedule say the next available Wednesday or the next available Saturday. I would have thought that perhaps those are the only dates they do this, but my initial appointment is for a Tuesday.

Does anyone know if rescheduling would push it back a day? a week? a month?

Unfortunately I absolutely cannot cancel my business trip to North Carolina.

Do you have to go to the location they specify?

Also, out of curiosity, do they take photographs at this appointment too?

How long should i expect the appointment to last? (Assuming one goes on the day and time your appointment is scheduled for?)

I look forward to any help or advice you can provide. I'm so appreciative of all the great advice I've received so far.

Thanks,
Hayey

Noorah101

Try going in earlier than your appointment date. From the reports I've seen on here, everyone doing this has been successful. Bring your appointment letter, your photo ID, and your green card. I am pretty sure they will accommodate you.

Rene

Ozzidoc

It's a 10 minute appointment. Now that you have the letter, you can go in any time before the appointment.

Photos and prints will be taken

hollywoodgirl

I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks - since they ask if you would prefer a Wednesday or Saturday appt, I'm even going to try going tomorrow morning.

*fingers crossed*

hollywoodgirl

Thanks for the reply.

My dad said he was his appointment (at a different location, for I-90 renewal biometrics) for almost 2 hours, which included the 30 minutes he showed up early, so glad to know that's not the norm.

By the way, do you know why they take photos? I submitted photos with my application, so just curious what these would be for.

I have the most hideous photo on my green card which I've been walking around with for 10 years, so if this photo is going to haunt me for a while too, I'd love to know beforehand... (so I don't show up after my morning run!)

Noorah101

I don't know. The photo that ended up on my husband's naturalization certificate was the one he turned in with the N-400 application (which was horrible, by the way...we never thought about a picture being on the certificate so hadn't really cared how bad he looked...wahhh!) Even the officer who interviewed him looked back and forth between him and the photo and finally said wow, you look different in real life. LOL I wonder if we had brought new passport style photos, we could have used those. Now he's forever stuck with a terrible photo on his certificate.

Rene

hollywoodgirl

Worth possibly doing my hair tomorrow morning... ah, the vanity

Although the photos with my original application weren't too terrible

Ozzidoc

Actually, they took photos, but I never saw what they were used for.

hollywoodgirl

Well a quick update - I went there this morning, not knowing their hours and pulled up outside and was thrilled to see that they are open Tuesday through Saturday from 8am-4pm or something like that. It was around 12pm and I was really hoping that I was going to be able to get in and get this all done.

My husband waited in the car, with my cell phone, etc and I pulled the door open to discover it was locked!!

They had a variety of signs posted on the door, the two most notable ones saying that effective Nov 2nd they would be open Tuesday - Friday 8am-4pm (maybe it was M-F) but that they would no longer be open on the weekends; while the other sign said very clearly that October 30th would be the last Saturday they are open (which makes no sense since the 30th is a Friday).

Completely disappointed I left, and swung back around about an hour later, just in case, but yup, definitely closed. There was a guy there during my first stop who had missed his appointment from yesterday and he said they're only open on Saturday if you have an appointment. His english wasn't great and what he was saying didn't make much sense, given the signs saying that they were still open until 4 on Saturdays.

The only think I can think of is that Monday is Columbus Day, and since they're normally closed on Mondays, they were closed today for the holiday on Monday? But you'd think there would be a sign to this effect.

Anyone know anything about the ASC on Pico Blvd, in Los Angeles?

Do I have to go to this place, or could I go somewhere else?

At least I know I can't go on Monday, which I'd planned to try.

My last shot is Tuesday before I leave on my trip. However, I was going to request the next available Saturday appointment if I had to reschedule, and it seems by the time it gets processed, they will no longer be open on the weekends.

Soooo frustrating. Okay, *deep breath* - I know I need to be very patient over the next few months

hollywoodgirl

Well, I never heard back from anyone on why they were closed or if I could go somewhere else. So I am going to try again this morning at 10:30am.

*fingers crossed*

hollywoodgirl

I did it! Got my prints done and got in and out of there in about an hour or so. Maybe a little longer, but done. The guards at the entrance were really nice and friendly and the woman who did my prints couldn't have been more sour or grumpy but I'm done - yay!

They didn't take a photo btw.

Anyone know the time frame between prints and interview??

Any info would be great?

meauxna

It still depends on your local office's timeline and how long your security checks take.
In general, offices are keeping to their goal of "6 months' start to finish.

We'll be able to calculate yours as soon as you get your interview letter, so be sure to post then.

Ozzidoc

Yay!! I've been watching BE for the last few hours...waiting for your update.

hollywoodgirl

I have a new update. I've been like an impatient child checking my status online each day since I had my fingerprints done. It said that the sent a RFE on 10/6, which I didn't receive, although I'd suspected it was my biometrics letter (dated 10/7), but wasn't going to assume anything and was going to write to them on 11/6 if the status didn't change and/or I didn't receive anything.

However, last night I logged on, not expecting any change, and voila, my case had moved to the interviewing stage. I'm currently traveling so haven't check my mail all week, so not sure if I've actually received a notice or not yet, but I'll be home on Friday night and will find out.

My biometrics appt was scheduled for 10/20, but I actually went on 10/13.

Things have been moving along pretty quickly and I'm guessing now that the RFE they mentioned probably was the biometrics, despite the date discrepancy.

I am so excited. Better start studying those questions

A I

Were you provided with a study packet while you were having the figerprints taken ?