Immigration.com Community Stories

From what I remember, I posted my experience travelling outside United States about 1 year ago. Well, I have another story or experience to tell; I went to Vietnam a couple weeks ago with my Indonesian passport and Green Card. Please don't bother making a RTD, if you are a green card holder. You are basically wasting money and time. If you have a valid passport, you go for it. The custom officer at the airport don't even bother looking at your passport, beside when he/she needs to stamp your re-entry.

I will copy and paste the conversation between me and the Norwegian Embassy in San Francisco/CA. I just think the Embassies should be aware about the Travel Document...they look at it like it's an alien from Mars!!!

ME: Good morning Norwegian Embassy SF-CA

I live in Santa Barbara-California however I was born in Brazil and I have political Asylum. I just got my Refugee Travel Document and I was wondering If I need the "Schengen Visa" since I am not allowed to use the Brazilian passport anymore.
Can I go to Norway using the Travel Document or I need the "Schengen Visa"?

NORWEGIAN EMBASSY: You do need a visa. Please bring both your travel document and old passport to the interview. Guidelines are found here:

http://www.norway.org/Embassy/Visa-a...San-Francisco/

Regards,

SO, I GATHERED ALL MY PAPERS, BANK STATMENTS, PICTURES, COPIES OF THIS AND THAT BLAH,BLAH, BLAH...AND I DROVE FROM LOS ANGELES AAAAAALLLLLLLL THE WAY TO SAN FRANCISCO JUST TO GET MY VISA. I HAD MY INTERVIEW AND HE SAID THAT I WOULD GET MY RTD IN 5 BUSINESS DAYS...EVERYTHING WAS FINE.

...days later...

NORWEGIAN EMBASSY: Dear xxxxxxx,

I just left you a voicemail. As I was printing your visa I realized you’re a Brazilian national, who then would not normally need a visa to enter Norway. Do you still have your Brazilian passport, or is the U.S. Travel Document your current form of id? You may fall in between the various regulations, so I just want to make sure before I send your passport back (so you don’t have any issues on the border)

Regards,

ME: I would prefer to have the Schengen Visa even if you are not sure that it is required. Often, the airline personnel at the airport ticket counters or the cruise ship personnel at the ports are not familiar with the visa requirements. They tend to err on the side of caution. If I don't have a visa, I might be delayed boarding or denied a boarding pass altogether. I will be on a very tight timeline during my trip with a short connection in Germany and then only five days in Norway. Upon arrival in Venice, I will have only a couple of hours to get on the ship. So, any delay could ruin all of our plans.

As an asylee in the United States, I am forbidden from using my Brazilian passport for travel. I must use only the Refugee Travel Document issued by the United States or I risk losing my asylee status and could be deported to Brazil.

As I have paid the fees and provided all the required documentation, please issue the Schengen Visa.

Thank you so much

NORWEGIAN EMBASSY: Dear xxxxxxx,

UDI has confirmed that as a Brazilian national with a US-issued travel document, you do not need a visa to enter Norway. I have also checked that Italy and Germany accept U.S. travel documents in the same fashion .

As such, I have cancelled the visa in your travel document, since we cannot issue visas to citizens of countries that do not require such permission to travel. I will include a letter with your passport that explains why we have not processed your visa, in case you are worried about airline personnel/ border authorities.

I have of course refunded the visa fee (which will go back on your card). I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this process has caused you.

All, wanted to share my interview experience today at USCIS - Holtsville.... arrived at 12:30 PM for 13:05 PM inteview, very light crowd, was promptly called in at 13:10PM. The officer was very cordial and while walking to his office, first thing he suggested was that he wanted to change the eligibility status to 5 yrs since GC vs. the 3 yr route through spouse, which meant avoiding all the unnecessary paperwork req'd to verify marital relationship, etc. So that seemed like a good start to the interview process. Next, we came to his office, he swore me to tell the truth and then I sat down. He opened my folder, which seemed like a 500 page bundle (containing my entire immigration history, I suppose...), and then asked me for my green card and my passport. We did the three required tests, all cleared w/o issues, he pointed out that I did well and that questions were set random. He seemed very open and willing to strike a non-formal conversation at any point. Then started to verify all the questions on the N400 form, asked me if I had travelled anywhere since filing the application. Noticed that last I had travelled was to Africa, asked me about that visit and then spent about 3-4 mins talking about his past vacation experiences.. At this point I was getting anxious to just get the process completed .

Then continuing through the paperwork, he changed my eligibility status to 5 yr rule, everything was going smooth, couple of more general verification, and then came to page 10 (moral character) where the drama began...he asked me any citation and I indicated I had received a jumping the red signal traffic violation (red light camera notice) in the mail for which i had paid via cc (~$60). He stopped, and then related to it saying yes my wife has taken care of such instances in the past but how does it work? He questioned further, what happens if you don't pay or do you need to go to the court, etc... he was not sure anymore, asked me to wait as he went to verify the notice with a colleague. After about 5 mins, returned and said I think I need my supervisor to weigh in on this one as it seems to be a citation but this should not derail my application. And then he edited ques #15 to #17 as "Yes". He again commented that offense here is a loose term so I should not be concerned and made my put my initials on the edits. Basically, this violation now becomes a citation and I did not want to argue and upset him, so just accepted his concern. We cont'd on, and he repeated that he will recommend a "grant" on my application but will need his supervisor to weigh in on the citation. He made me sign the last page of N-400 and then I saw him circle "grant" in another sheet along with the date stamp. He took the citation and pinned with the app and said that we were done. He told me that the oath letter should arrive in a few days and gave me the directions to the federal court house in Central Islip.

All in all, a very bitter sweet experience, though I strongly believe that the officer was doing everything right and wanted to do the right thing but at the same time until you as an applicant know that you don't have a confirmed "Approved" status, you don't have the peace of mind. I also suggested should I could stay longer if needed but he was quick to note that I should go and wait for the decision in the mail... Overall, the entire process from start to finish lasted about 20 mins and the officer was very professional and courteous. I was not asked any papers or documents as he felt it was a straight forward application.

At about 4PM EST, got a status update on my case - "Post Decision Activity - Your case is under review with a supervisor". I only hope that this gets resolved and is a non-issue.

For information please visit this link

http://forums.immigration.com/forumdisplay.php?18-US-Citizenship

 

sharing my Oath experience at the Brooklyn courthouse.

scheduled for 8:30am. you can take subway there but we decided to drive and paid $14 for an all day pass about two blocks away. Got in about 7:45am. went through security. cellphones are not allowed so we checked it in. went up to second floor and partner was told to go to third floor and wait in the cafeteria. went in and sat down. had to sit in the sixth row as there were a lot of people in there already. people kept coming in till about 9:15am and the whole room got filled up. about 229 people. we just sat around and people kept giving us things. packet filled with info, message from the president, passport application form etc., citizen's almanac, guide to the constitution, voters registration form which i filled up right there and there. we had to go up row by row, went to one table, handed in the oath, described any changes after interview (if there were), then on to next table, looked at naturalization certificate, checked for errors and signed (i signed like i do on all my credit cards and all other documents). then went back and sat down. while the rest of the room went through the process i filled out my passport application (bring a book if you can, it gets boring). then we waited for judge. the main officer tried entertaining us by telling us what countries were represented and how many and another lady spoke to us about filing a complaint in case we faced any discrimination (i thought: welcome to america, here's how to file a compliant...lol).

then the families were brought in and were scattered all over the room. judge walked in, we raised our right hand and said the oath of allegiance, then put our hand on our heart and said the pledge of allegiance and sat down. the judge gave a short speech about his own story which was very nice. my boyfriend thought this was the best part of what he saw. then we quickly went row by row and picked up our naturalization certificates and walked out. tonight i party a a newly minted American citizen!

For information please visit this link

http://forums.immigration.com/forumdisplay.php?18-US-Citizenship

 

Hi, everyone. Here is my today's interview experiences. My interview was scheduled at 8:10am. I was about 35 mins earlier before my interview time. It was early but there were still a lot of people waiting for their interview in the naturaliztion waiting room. I waited for about 45 mins to get called by my IO. He's nice guy with not too much talk and mostly focus on his work. I followed him to enter his office and he got me sweared. He's very professional and doing thing pretty fast. He checked my green card and passports. Then he asked all the questions in the N-400 form. He asked me how do I go to work? I told him sometimes by train and sometimes I drive. When we went on good moral character questions, I told him I got 3 citations(tickets) which I forgot to mention on the N-400 form. It seemed he didn't much care about it, not even asked me to give him the dispostition papers. So I asked him do you need the dispostition papers. He said yes and then looked my dispostion papers about the details of my tickets for correcting my form. He's done very quickly on it. He also printed out my selective service paper despite I had it with me during the time. Then we move on the english and civics test, I easily passed. He told me I passed the test and gave me the recommandation for approval, but because of the three tickets he needs my case to get supervisor's review. He offered me to 2 choices: (1)To wait for 2-3 hours to get my oath letter today or (2)Go home and wait for the oath letter to be sending in the mail. I chosed first chioce. He told me not to leave and led me to the oath letter waiting room. The total interview time lasted less than 15 mins. I waited for almost 3 hours to get my interview letter. It's pretty good interview experience!  And thanks to the folks here because you've been all helpfull!!

For information please visit this link 

http://forums.immigration.com/forumdisplay.php?18-US-Citizenship 

State:  United States

• On may 7th I had my Interview. It did not go so well and I do not understand why? I am an F1 student, I have never worked outside campus or on campus, I had no criminal record. The interviewer asked me bunch of yes or no questions and only looked at my current passport and I-94, nothing else. In the end she said she does not see any problems however I will hear from uscis in 30-60 days of my acceptance or denial.
  
  I am so terribly dissapointed, I feel like this whole DV is a joke or something. I had done everything by the book yet I am having problems while others do many illegal things and they get a green card..

Just wanted to share my timeline and some lessons learned. The whole process took a little over 6 months and now I'm a citizen of the United States of America.

Final Timeline:

06/06/11: Mailed N-400 (Dallas lock box) Priority Mail from NoVA
06/07/11: USCIS received date
06/23/11: NOA received, FP scheduled for 07/20/11
07/20/11: FP done - walk-in at scheduled time
08/19/11: YL received
11/14/11: Online change of status to testing and interview
11/16/11: IL received & Status changed twice
12/21/11: Interview
12/23/11: Oath ceremony

Some tips, based on my experience:

1. DON'T submit anything related to traffic fines under US$500. Not even on the Good Moral & Character Section. At the time of the application it was a little unclear to me and after tons of research I opted to inform them (rather than omit) about a minor traffic citation. If I had to submit the paperwork again I would not have mentioned it, I would just bring the original to the interview in case they asked.
2. Bring your original documents to the interview. Even if you sent copies before. Don't focus only on the documentation they ask you to bring on the Interview Letter (like I did). In my case it all went well but it would be nicer if I had all the extra documents I left at home. If your process is through marriage, don't forget to bring recent proof that you still married.

Other than that everything went well. The oath wasn't on the same day (as usual for VA residents) because of the holidays.

I wish everybody an excellent 2012, best of luck with your future endeavors.

Appointment: 9:40am

Arrived around 9:15am, there were about 50people in the waiting area, checked in with the receptionist, and sat down for my interview. 30mins, 45mins, 60mins, 90MINS went by still no one called my name. Finally someone around 11am called me, so walked all the way down to the other end of the hallway.

After the formalities, I was asked if I had brought anything that I hadn't already submitted, I handed him proof of selective service registration.

I was asked the following questions:

1. What is one promise you make when you become a USC?
2. What movement tried to end racial discrimination?
3. Who is the Governor of your state now?
4. Where is the status of Liberty?
5. Who is the first President?
6.Name two national holidays.

After that, he asked me to read one sentence in English, and then asked me to write a sentence, then congratulated me that I passed the interview. He then typed a few things, made sure my name was spelled exactly the way it is on my birth certificate, and then printed me a copy of oath appointment, I was scheduled to come back around 1pm. Then he walked me out, I would say the whole process to about 20mins.

I had about 90mins in between, so went out to lunch, came back and waited in the waiting area until my name was called. I was handed a US Naturalization package, and was escorted to the conference room where the Oath was scheduled to take place. The ceremony started promptly at 2pm, and probably took about an hour. After which we were handed the certificate. We took some pics, then went back downstairs and registered to vote.

It went pretty smoothly...I wish rest of you folks the very best. It will take about 6months from the time you mailed the application, so hang on tight, you will get there soon.

Thanks for everyone who helped me directly and indirectly by your valuable posts and insights.

For more information on this please visit this link .

Had my interview in Detroit office this morning. The interview went off really well.

While I was entering, the IO told me that I have come on a really good day because if I got thru the interview today, my oath ceremony can be as early as next week.

The only documents I was asked for were the passport, green card and drivers license. I had a foreign trip after the application and I provided him a sheet listing travel dates etc in the same format as it is in the application form. He updated the details, reviewed the application form in detail and made me verify all the details. Then he went thru the Yes/No questions on the form about criminal offences, arrests etc and then the questions pledging loyalty to USA. Then he asked me to sign on the form and a couple of other documents including the photographs.

Then he moved on to the English and History/Civics questions where he said that I can see that you are comfortable with English but I need to go thru the questions. He asked me to read "How many US Senators are there?" and made me write "We have one hundred Senators". The History/Civics questions were as follows:
What is the "rule of law"?
How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?
What major event happened on September 11, 2001 in United States?
What ocean is on the West coast of the United States?
Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
What is the name of the national anthem?
Once I answered 6 questions right, he said that you have passed the test and gave me the letter "recommended for approval". I was asked to wait for sometime so that I could collect the Oath letter which is on 4/26/2012 at 9:15 A.M.

Overall the IO was really nice and it was a very simple and systematic process. There is absolutely no need to worry about anything. As far as studying for the questions, I just started studying a couple of days earlier because I had just returned from a vacation last week. Just go thru the questions a few times and they will stick in your memory. I would recommend reading the detailed description after each question because it helps knowing the answers rather than just memorizing them.

All the best to everyone. Thanks for all your inputs. It made the whole process so much easier

For more information on this experience please visit this link

http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?546017-2011-November-N-400-Tracker 

Hi everyone!.I filed N-400 application on 11/21/11 based on the 3 year rule. Interview was scheduled on 3/19/12 at NYC (Federal Plaza). I was a little nervous because everybody was telling me that the NYC office is really hard on marriage based citizenships. Interview was scheduled at 7:00am, there were like 100-150 people on the room (7th floor). I was called in at 8.10am. The first thing the officer asked me (even before saying good morning) was "did you bring your wife and a lot of evidence with you?" I said yes she is here, would you like me to call her? He made sure she was there and told me all he needed was her driver's license. Then he finally took me to his private office and after having me sworn he asked me to have a seat and start reviewing the application meticulously, asked me for my passports, green card and drivers license. My complete A-file was in his desktop so he reviewed everything and told me "did you have to come for a second interview when you applied for your green card?" I said yes, i had a stokes interview at the 6th floor almost 4 years ago. Then he went to the civics test: what is the rule of law, why 13 stripes on the flag, what is the ocean on the west coast, how old you have to be to vote in a federal election, what is the name of the national anthem, and who is the speaker of the house. For the english test he made me read "what do we pay to the government" and made me write "we pay taxes". After i passed the tests he went to the evidence, i have attached the past 3 years of taxes along with the application so i gave him the just filed 2011 with official IRS transcripts (he was thankfully and glad i brought these), then i gave him proof of joint car insurance, utility bills, joint credit card statements, and he said that he was very satisfied and doesnt see anything shady in my app and stamped a big red APPROVED stamp on the N-400. He gave me the N-652 saying that i pass the tests and that a decision will be mailed to me, wrote "non-waiting" at the bottom of the form and told me that i should receive an oath letter soon and not to worry. Yesterday my status online changed to "on March 27! We scheduled you for an oath ceremony and sent a notice providing the date, time, and location" supper happy here, i should receive the letter tomorrow. If you have the evidence they ask for the past 3 years you should be ok. If your wife/husband goes with you to the interview: bonus points. Good luck to everyone! Update: Oath letter received, ceremony scheduled on 04/13/12