form N-400

[piglett]

so this week we are filing form N-400 so my wife can become a citizen.
we were going to send in the paper form but it looks like most folks are now
doing it online & uploading needed documents.

who has already been down this road?



thanks P
 

[robert angel]

so this week we are filing form N-400 so my wife can become a citizen.
we were going to send in the paper form but it looks like most folks are now
doing it online & uploading needed documents.

who has already been down this road?



thanks P

Hey Piglett!

Not much help here beyond the obvious, you know, to check the clunky USCIS. GOV site but it's changed some in the decade or so since we did it and my wife says yes, her friends did it (do it now) online, uploading necessary documents.

Dunno if they still have options as to where and when you can go for the interview and official swearing in ceremony, but at that time, some of my wife's friends went to Atlanta, while back then, we were able to go to smaller city, a lot closer.

Only slip up we had was originally my wife sent in her name Filipino style, which included her Mom's maiden name, which didn't synch right with her USA paperwork, so we had to redo that.

But it was a memorable day. We dressed up a little and went out to dinner after. Might be fun to drill her on the basic US history questions--we were given a 100 question booklet at the biometrics well before the actual day. Later on, they asked her six questions, pretty much the easiest ones.

Don't forget to take pictures!!

Best,

Rob

[mambocowboy]

We didn't have a swearing in ceremony for some reason in 2015....

[Ray]

We didn't have a swearing in ceremony for some reason in 2015....

That's weird.

Did they swear her in at her interview? Usually, a federal judge does the oath.

Ray

[robert angel]

That's weird.

Did they swear her in at her interview? Usually, a federal judge does the oath.

Ray

Gotta say it left me wondering too!

[mambocowboy]

That's weird.

Did they swear her in at her interview? Usually, a federal judge does the oath.

Ray

It was a private interview.  I will ask my wife; nevertheless,  no ceremony any of her family could attend...

[Ray]

It was a private interview.  I will ask my wife; nevertheless,  no ceremony any of her family could attend...

Did she already receive her certificate of citizenship (N-550)?

Just curious because if her interview was recently, it does often take several months or more before the oath ceremony is scheduled.

Ray

[mambocowboy]

Did she already receive her certificate of citizenship (N-550)?

Just curious because if her interview was recently, it does often take several months or more before the oath ceremony is scheduled.

Ray

She got her certificate 3 years ago...

[Ray]

Might be fun to drill her on the basic US history questions--we were given a 100 question booklet at the biometrics well before the actual day. Later on, they asked her six questions, pretty much the easiest ones.

They still have the 100-question list. Oral questions from the list are given at the interview and you need to get 6 out of 10 correct to pass.

The list of questions with answers is available on the USCIS.GOV Website, along with practice tests.

Ray

[piglett]

They still have the 100-question list. Oral questions from the list are given at the interview and you need to get 6 out of 10 correct to pass.

The list of questions with answers is available on the USCIS.GOV Website, along with practice tests.

Ray

Thanks Ray,

I went on amazon & got my wife 2 books to study. the 1st one is the book the Gov. will send her at some point , the 2nd was on the "recommended list"
she goes to bio-metrics in a week




P

[thekfc]

Hey P.


My wife went thru that last year.


It was pretty standard.


We didn't do it online, we sent the forms in. At the time the online process was just starting & they still had some bugs so we didn't want to take the chance so we mail in the forms.


It didn't take that long as we had everything in order and sent in all supporting documents (even those we didn't had to).


Of the 100 study questions they will ask 10 - the wife answered first 6 right correctly so the interviewer stopped. Same questions that is on the list that is on the USCIS website.


She was then asked to read a sentence & then to write a sentence - they were very simple. I think the reading was "Who is the president President of the United States" & the writing was something similar.


She had to wait a little bit for the ceremony as she was getting a name change - that ceremony is done by a judge in a court house and they were backed up at the time as there was a huge amount of additional applicants.


When she did the ceremony the courtroom was packed with standing room only for some folks.


She could have applied for her US passport the same day but we waited a week before sending out for the US passport as we wanted to have copies of the certificate in case it get lost in transit.


So have she have already traveled to the PI with her US passport - that was this pass June & July. Both she and the kid did get the 1 year (visa) Balikbayan stamp, I didn't make the trip with them this time but if I did then I would have also gotten the 1 year visa stamp. They also stayed a little bit in Hong Kong as she also have family there.


On a side note, this time she didn't enjoy her stay as much as it rained just about every day she was in the PI (she was there for a month).

[robert angel]

Make sure the way you write her name matches correctly with the right documents. Initially, my wife included her Mom's name, as is traditional Filipino style, but that didn't match other USCIS documents and hung us up for a while.

My wife just got back from Philippines and she took her family from there to Hong Kong, to their smaller version of Disneyland and to Macau, China. Macau was really 'over the top', with each grand casino trying to outdo the next. One had a glass floor with solid gold Credit Suisse bars under foot

It rained and was super windy almost the whole time  and that was before the recent typhoons. People in HK were a lot less friendly than in Macau, which is only about an hour jet ferry ride away. Macau is far and away the largest by revenue gambling spot on earth and almost all places were open, even if you don't gamble.

My wife having a US passport got her through various lines a lot faster than the rest of the family did with their Phillipine's PP.