dh010447

Hello - been a long time since I've been here but after 10 years the time has finally came to submit our N-400 application!! What a ride it has been!!

Our 4 years and 9 months as PR will be here on Monday and have already completed the online forms, just waiting to submit. I have a question though that I was wondering if anyone might be able to answer. Since both my wife and I will be submitting our forms at the same time, it would be beneficial if we were able to get biometrics appointments on the same date as well as our interviews. And we'd definitely want our oath ceremony on the same day.

Since I dont think we get any choice of dates for any of these, will they "know" that both applications are from the same family and tie dates together or will it just be random? Just looking to see what other peoples experience has been...

sun_burn

From my gleanings elsewhere, the earliest you can request coordination is at the interview. They're usually happy to accommodate a couple if they both happen to clear interviews that day (i.e., no 'a decision could not be made' punt to supervisor). But I may be wrong - I'm a solo N400 applicant right now, since wifey prefers to stay a PR and doesn't want to give up her Japanese passport.

Rete

No, to your questions ... see Awesome Wells' post of yesterday.

You have no way of coordinating interview dates or biometric dates. You can send the N400's on the same day. Different envelopes, please. And hopefully, if your biometric appointments arrive within the same week or so, you can try going together. Often times, they will take you without an appointment at a later or earlier date from the apt date USCIS scheduled for you.

The rest is haphazard.

zzrmark

When I went for my biometrics appt recently the pace was stacked (reminded me of a slightly smaller version of the dreaded London embassy waiting area), not sure if I'd want to rock up there without an appointment, might be a bit different if I lived in a place that wasn't an immigrant hotspot...

daisy

Currently going through this now. Hubby and I both applied in September. We used separate envelopes per the instructions.

We both had biometrics and interview dates/times exactly the same. Sadly, our interviews were canceled (snowstorm, we're in Boston) but the rescheduled interviews are also for the same date and time.

We have good friends who have just n-400. Their experience has been the same. USCIS seems to know who belongs together.

HTH

dh010447

So we applied yesterday and are now $1,450 lighter

Online system is showing an estimated case completion of April 2019. And an estimated review time of 31 days.

15 months seems a long time for completing the case based on the entries over on the trackitt forums. Whats everyone else experience with this? I was expecting (maybe incorrectly) for the entire process to take about 3 months (hence the ability to apply 3 months early)...

GeoffM

Hmm. I've just completed the basics of the online form but need more information to complete it. My wife and I will do hers tonight, hopefully finishing mine too.

Anyway, I thought 5-8 months was typical. I hope 14 months won't be the case. Looking at the field office date for what I assume would apply to me (San Bernadino): 8 months. Hopefully not Chula Vista or Los Angeles as they are longer. How is the field office allocated? Neither are in my county but SB is just over half the distance of CV; LA further still.

sun_burn

There are two major pain points between biometrics and interview: the background check post biometrics , and the wait in the interview queue of the field office.

I've read that the FBI and other TLA agencies aim to send back a background validation response for ~98% of applicants within 30 days. The remainder within 6-12 months. This is why a lot of people see 'in line for interview' between 1-4 weeks from biometrics. But this isn't really reliable it seems - not everyone's status updates to 'in line'. Some go straight to 'interview scheduled'.

Once background is cleared, what I understand is that they put you in the queue for interview by original priority date, not the order in which you clear biometrics. So if someone took longer to clear it, but has an earlier priority date, they go ahead of you in the interview line for the field office.

So at the point where background is cleared, if your field office is 4 months off from dealing with your priority date, that's likely how long you'll wait for an interview.

Rete

It has never taken 3 months for completion. In an election year, it might take approximately 6 months.

You will be going for your biometrics within the next 3 months assuredly but not for the naturalization interview.

Word of caution is do not go by the estimated case completion dates. They are unreliable. You've filed so just continue living and enjoying your lives and once every two months or so have a look at what is the progress of others.

You might want to start a timeline thread that you and others can contribute to so you can compare timeline for the various field and district offices. The important office is the district office. That is primarily where holdups occur. When their cases are to the point that they are completely overwhelmed, other officers will be pulled from their sectors and placed in the naturalization sector to help deal with the load. In some cases, they may also farm some of it out to other district offices.

S Folinsky

The San Bernadino Field Office handles Riverside County. When I was in practice, I found the San Bernadino FO to be quite pleasant to deal with, even when things didn't quite work out as expected.

GeoffM

Ah, thanks for that.

I realized last night that the 8 months I quoted for SB was wrong. In November (when the page was last updated, not end of January as now) they said they were processing cases from May which is 6 months, not 8.

But in any case, Rete is right. We can't hurry things up so it'll take as long as it will take.