Interview experience today at USCIS - Holtsville

Name
Amherst22
Country
United States

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

 

Citizenship and Naturalization

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