Tally of Time and Money Spent on Spousal Citizenship

UPDATED***

I was really curious after my last entry about how much time and money we've been required to spend so far on Albert's path to citizenship. This is what we can remember:

	Fee (in USD)	Time Duration
For the US government to check to make sure I was single before getting married	$50	1 day
For the TW government to verify this check	$12.50
I-130 form for green card	$535	6 months
I-864 form Affidavit of Support	~$400*	1 year 2 months
Biometrics	$85	1 day
Interview at American Institute	0	1 day
Receiving the green card in the mail after entering the US	0	1 month 2 weeks
Waiting to be eligible to file I-751	0	2 years
I-751 form to remove conditions from green card	$595	1 year 7 months
Biometrics	$85	1 day
N-400 application for citizenship	$640	200 days
Biometrics	$85	1 day
Waiting for Oath Ceremony Applying for a US passport at the ceremony	0 $205	1 week 6 days
Total	$2,492.50	5 years 3 months 33 weeks 1 day

This does not count money spent on postage for each application and gas spent going to biometrics and interview appointments



*I wrote in a previous entry that we had to spend this much but when I checked the USCIS website they said there is no fee if you submit it to the Department of State abroad. Somehow this was not applicable to our case back then.

Update: I-751 and N-400 approved!

Our I-751 petition to remove conditions from Albert's green card had been pending for 1 year and 7 months and our N-400 application for citizenship has been pending for 200 days. In mid November 2018 we went to the Detroit USCIS office for his first N-400 interview. I was not allowed to sit in on the interview. He passed the civics and English tests, and at the end she told him she could not make a decision on his citizenship because his I-751 was still pending.

After a few weeks we received a letter addressed to both of us for a follow up N-400 interview with the same officer.

So we arrived for the follow up appointment and thankfully I was allowed to enter the same room as my husband this time to participate in the interview. The officer first asked for evidence that we have lived together. She then asked us individual questions in the same room next to each other. This is what I can remember:

• How did you meet?
• Did your parents attend your wedding?
• When are you going to have kids?
• What is your annual income?
• Do your parents (Albert's) want to become citizens?

Then she asked for evidence of our marriage before entering the US on his conditional green card. Luckily, I brought our collection of pictures that we had already submitted with our I-751 along with albums of our weddings plus guestbooks from the receptions. She asked us a few questions about the pictures- like "Who is this?" etc. Then she said she would look over all of our evidence in detail and make a decision later. A little over a week later his N-400 case status showed that an oath ceremony is being scheduled, and a few days after that his I-751 showed that it was approved. We received a letter confirmation of his green card being made soon after and are still waiting for the N-400 decision notice + oath appointment. We read that it may take up to 5 months get an appointment. Yesterday the I-751 case status changed again and said his case was moved to a local jurisdiction, which I'm assuming means that his permanent green card is being processed there.

So we are really excited that things have turned out for us and are looking to celebrate once we get the letter for the ceremony! This was the perfect Christmas present for us!

 

Still Waiting

It's been over a year since we filed Albert's application for removal of conditions from his green card and still no decision or response (besides the notice that they received it). Now it's already time for him to apply for citizenship and I wish we could have gotten a decision on our previous application by now since we had to spend hundreds of dollars for the fee. I mentioned last time there may be an interview but we didn't get called for one. I hope that's a good sign.

The naturalization application will also cost quite a lot and perhaps the most strenuous part of it is to remember and list all of the trips he has made outside of the US within the past five years. I'm also wondering what the interview will eventually be like. The last time we had to go to a USCIS center was for his biometrics (which he has to do again later) and I wasn't allowed to stand next to him while he talked to the officer and completed the fingerprints, even though I'm his wife and petitioner. I felt very uncomfortable about that because I've always been next to him at the American consulate appointments in Taiwan, and I worry how he will be treated by the officer. I imagine at his naturalization interview it will be the same, and I feel there will be an opportunity for unfairness during the US knowledge test. Basically, the officer will ask you about ten questions and you have to get most of them right to pass (I forget the exact numbers right now), but they could easily choose what they think are the hardest questions to give to him. They also assess your English ability by how you answer those questions, but it's just by the officer's subjective feeling. I am not worried about that at all because Albert's English is native-like. When I first met him I thought he was American because of his language abilities. I just think that way of assessing English ability would be very unfair and unsound for English language learners who may not be at a high level. This is based on what I learned during the degree I just received in TESOL.

Still, I'm hoping for the best and that the officers making a decision on our upcoming application will see the truth that we are happily married and that this marriage is in good faith. We've put so much hard work, time, and money towards our efforts to get him citizenship.