MaddiGibbs

Hey everyone!
So, finally decided to file for citizenship and we've got our finances, attorney and evidence all figured out and ready to ship and file.

Naturally, as everything is ready, Covid-19 is spreading rapidly and businesses are now talking about lockdown plans, etc. The local uni (ECU) has even extended Spring Break and put classes Online.

My concern is filing citizenship with an attorney will deplete our savings massively (around $2100 total)…. And I would rather use an attorney because I used WIC for about a year immediately after my son was born in 2016 and the paperwork is more in depth. Should I hold off until we know more about what financial plans are in place for Americans who will be out of work due to the lockdowns/ contracting the virus? Or bite the bullet and get the process started?

Also, there's a Covid cluster up near Raleigh/Durham, where I normally have my biometics taken..... Does anyone know what happened if these lockdowns close the USCIS locations? The entire system will grind to a halt as people stay home (understandably!).

I'm not nervous about the virus itself, but, like everyone, I'm nervous about the domino effect it'll have on this, my friends and my family.

Thanks all
-Maddi

Guindalf

Firstly, I would like to suggest that using an attorney for Naturalization is overkill and a waste of money, even if you did use WIC four years ago!

Second, it depends on how long you have lft of your Green Card as to whether to proceed or wait. If it were me, I'd go ahead. The reason being that all that really can happen is a delay. Government agencies are hyper-safe when it comes to things like this and the worst that would happen is a delay.

MaddiGibbs

Why would you say that using an attorney is overkill? I'm curious now : )

Noorah101

Because the paperwork is very simple. Naturalization is the easiest step along the whole immigration journey.

Rene

MaddiGibbs

Is it?? It looks like the hardest.
They ask a bunch of evidence again which we've finally finished gathering.

Also two things (1)I did use WIC in 2016/2017 so that has me nervous and (2) my husband has two children from a precious marriage. We know we new dto include them but their whereabouts is unknown (long story).

Little things like that, plus the interview questions make me really nervous. We didn't have an interview for the i751 case.

-MG

Nutmegger

Look at it this way: only you can gather together your personal information -- an attorney can't do it for you. Only you can do the prep work and go into the interview and answer the questions. So if you take your time and do your homework, ask questions of the good folks on BE along the way, you will save a lot of money by not using an attorney for something you can do yourself. Whatever you may think, this really is the easiest step of the immigration process.

MaddiGibbs

That's fair we noticed we were doing all the leg work still :/

Pulaski

I agree with all the above advice - using an attorney for a citizenship application is almost certainly a complete waste of money - and I would add, that unlike all the preceding steps in our visa journey, this final step is one that the federal government actually wants you to complete, so unless you're a war criminal or a convicted drug dealer, you're pretty much certain to be approved.

S Folinsky

I am a retired immigration attorney. The posters here are generally correct that most naturalization applications are straightforward and don’t need an attorney.

i volunteer at our local bar association’s Immigration Law Assistance Project and we do prepare N-400 applications for people to file themselves. But we do a preliminary review to ascertain if filing should be avoided or if a private attorney would be a good idea. From your posting, I think at least a preliminary review by a qualified immigration lawyer might be a good idea.

Rete

For the ignorant posters, what is WIC? Is this a goverment benefit? If so, you were not entitled to receive it for yourself unless you received it for a USC child. I assume this is for milk, etc.

You do not need to include the addresses of the children. You give their names and birth dates (assume you know them) and list address as UNKNOWN

The interview is basically a test ... a civics / US history test. They give you the 100 questions to study and you are asked 10 questions. If you get the first 6 right you are finished with the test. It is assumed you can read and write an American English sentence, i.e. It is a beautiful day outside.

The rest of the interview is just going over your evidence and verifying your time outside of the US.

You can complete and file the N-400 online.

Pulaski

WIC = Women Infants and Children, a federal government voucher program where the federal government funds state agencies to provide vouchers which can be exchange for basic foods such as bread milk, cheese, eggs, etc, or for beer and cigarettes from iffy gas stations and convenience stores. .... This may be the reason that gas stations and shabby convenience stores that seem to make most of their money from selling beer, cigarettes, and lottery tickets also sell bread and milk.

To your question, it is presumable that Maddi Gibbs qualified for WIC as the result of being the mother of a baby who happens to be a USC. In any case I sincerely doubt that accepting WIC vouchers for nutrition for an infant would be an impediment to obtaining US citizenship.

S Folinsky

I really can’t say but the immigration bar is seeing some mighty strange denials on discretionary grounds.

Also, OP mentioned in passing hubby’s children. A translation of that into naturalization-speak is two children he does not support - an issue of lack of good moral character.

petitefrancaise

we used an attorney for my son's naturalization recently. He had one issue of being out of the country on 2 occasions for a couple of extra days which made me nervous. In the end, that wasn't an issue but one of his signatures was and she more than paid for herself at that point. Her interventions meant that we didn't have to bring him back from the NL and miss time out of college just to re-do a signature on an ipad.
I think if there is something out of the ordinary in your application, or if there is something that makes you nervous about your situation then engage an attorney.