Sunday, May 13, 2018

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.

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