Arrive at the Oath ceremony at least 30 minutes before the actual time. There are many other people who will get naturalized with you who are also required to be checked in with USCIS. If you are not able to attend the ceremony as scheduled, all you need to do is return the notice (Form N-445) to your local USCIS office. Along with the form, submit a letter explaining why you are not able to attend the ceremony and request the USCIS to reschedule the ceremony date. As the ceremony is considered to be a serious formality, make sure you dress in proper attire to respect the event.

At the ceremony, you will be required to return your Permanent Resident Card (green card) to the USCIS. Since you will be getting your citizenship certificate at the ceremony, your green card is no longer needed. If there is a gap between your interview and the ceremony, be prepared to face a few questions. You can find the expected questions on the back of the notice (Form N-445) that you will receive from the USCIS. Some general questions will be related to having traveled outside the US during that period. Make sure you read the questions carefully and note down the answers before you get to the Oath ceremony.

It is mandatory that every candidate who has filed the citizenship form to recite the Oath of Allegiance to become an American citizen. The Oath of Allegiance must be recited at the ceremony in front of a USCIS official. Once done with reciting, you will get a Certificate of Naturalization.

If you cannot take the complete Oath of Allegiance as it is, you have to mention it in writing either at the time of filing your application or at your scheduled interview. You should have valid reasons and explain why you need to take a modified Oath of Allegiance. You have to mention in your request, the words in the Oath of Allegiance that you want to be exempted from reciting. You should also give a detailed explanation as to why the words are against your religious belief. You may be requested to give additional evidence to substantiate your request for a modified Oath of Allegiance. USCIS will grant modifications to the Oath of Allegiance on a user-specific basis.

After you take the Oath, finally you will get your Certificate of Naturalization. This is the proof of your citizenship and you can use this as proof that you are an American Citizen. It is highly recommended you go to your nearest Social Security Administration (SSA) office to update your Social Security record soon after you get your naturalization certificate.

The 58 countries on the list this year are: Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kiribati, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Nauru, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Samoa, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Vanuatu.

The H-2A and H-2B program allows U.S. employers to bring in to the U.S., temporary workers to be employed in agricultural and non-agricultural jobs respectively. USCIS may approve H-2A and H-2B petitions only for nationals from the eligible countries. USCIS may approve petitions of nationals from countries not on the list only if it proves to be beneficial for the United States.

This list does not affect the status of the H-2A and H-2B visa holders who are currently in the U.S. unless they plan to extend or change their status.

Information regarding the states and the corresponding Lockbox facility will be published on the USCIS website on January 1, 2012. Petitioners are advised to check which Lockbox facility has jurisdiction over their place of residence and send their Form I-130s to the appropriate address. Sending a petition to the wrong address will result in a delay in its processing.

Persons who are filing Form I-130 along with Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status need to continue sending their applications to the Chicago Lockbox facility. Persons filing the petition from outside the United States, from a country that does not have a USCIS office, have to continue sending their applications to the Lockbox facility in Chicago. Those who are filing the petition from a country that has a USCIS office have two options – they can either file it with the Chicago Lockbox facility or send it to the USCIS office having jurisdiction over their area of residence.

Until the end of 2011, petitioners can mail their applications to the Chicago facility from where they will be routed to the appropriate USCIS Service Center for processing. Form the beginning of 2012 the change in filing location will come into effect. Please make sure that the applications are sent to the correct address.

USCIS is planning this as a staggered transformation with the first release being the Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status. They have posted an online video on their site demonstrating the creation of an online account and the process involved in submitting the I-539. Though this is in the testing stage, USCIS says there may be changes depending on the feedback they receive. This video is for demonstration purposes only.

1.a US citizen or national,
2.a lawful permanent resident (LPR) whose residence is in the US, or
3.a foreign national performing active service in the US Armed Forces.

Currently, the US recognizes any person born in the US as a US citizen, ignoring the constitutional requirement under the 14th Amendment that one must also be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the US.

According to estimates from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released in a March 2011 report on birthright citizenship, approximately 200,000 children were born in 2009, and granted US citizenship, to foreign national mothers legally admitted to the US on a temporary basis, despite the mother owing allegiance to a foreign country. They also estimate that between 300,000 and 400,000 children are born each year to illegal aliens.

The report also stated that in the context of overall population, 192,100 children born to non-immigrant foreign nationals in a single year may not seem too significant, but it must be added to the estimated number of children born to illegals (300,000-400,000) every year.

Recently, 34 people in Maine were recognized as being official citizens of the US. They were not required to go through the testing that most people who want to become US citizens have to go through. The reason being, all the 34-children derived their American citizenship through their parents who have already gone through the naturalization process. Citizenship was celebrated at a special ceremony inside the Children’s Museum and the kids were given their official documents. 33 of them were from Somalia and they left behind a brutal civil war in their homeland of Somalia and the remaining one was from China.

The last few days of the registration period saw a surge in the number of persons registering for DV-2013. However, this year the number of registrations has gone down considerably when compared to last year. There were only 8 million applicants this year, nearly half of last years count of 15 million registrations.

The drop in registrations has been attributed to the fact that this year Bangladesh was not an eligible country. A majority of registrations in the previous years has been from Bangladeshis. Only countries that are considered low-immigration countries are eligible to participate in the Diversity Lottery program.

The Diversity Visa Lottery program, run by the U.S. government issues 55,000 visas to registrants from countries that have low-immigration rates. Of these 55,000 visas, 5,000 visas have been allocated for use under NACARA since DV-1999. Winners are randomly chosen from all the qualifying entries and the winners are invited to apply for a green card to come and live and work permanently in the United States.

Participants are required to check on the E-DV website for the status of their applications. Checking the website is the only means to find out whether a person has won the lottery or not. Winners will not receive any sort of written or email communication regarding the results. They may receive an email reminding them to check their case status, but they will not receive any information regarding whether they have won the lottery or not. This is an effort to put an end to the many fraudulent activities conducted by various parties as a means of collecting money from unsuspecting participants. The Department of State regularly warns the public to be aware of such fraudulent emails and notifications.

The Diversity Visa program is one of the quickest ways to get a green card, which means that there will be more participants for the program. This program is a free program. All applications are submitted online. With Bangladesh out of the list of eligible countries, the number of participants has gone down by nearly half this year. The number is expected to drop further in the coming years as the Senate has proposed to charge an entrance fee for the lottery program.

Nigeria, Ghana and Ukraine have had the largest number of registrants this year. All registrants can begin checking their status beginning May 1, 2012.

Form I-131, Application for Travel Document is filed by applicants to apply to the USCIS for a Re-entry Permit, Refugee Travel Document or an Advance Parole Document. These documents allow permanent residents or conditional permanent residents, refugees or asylees to reenter the U.S. after a temporary stay abroad. The Advance Parole Document is used to temporarily parole a person into the United States.

U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents who are sponsoring family based green cards for their close relatives to come to live and work in the U.S. permanently, need to take responsibility for their beneficiaries. They need to ensure that the beneficiaries do no become dependent of the government for any welfare; or they are need to accept responsibility to pay back any welfare the government might extend to the beneficiaries.

This responsibility is undertaken by means of a contract between the sponsor and the government. The sponsor has to file form I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213 of the Act, to make the contract legally binding. By signing the contract, the sponsor accepts legal responsibility until the beneficiaries becomes a U.S. citizen, or until he or she can be credited with 40 quarters of work in the United States.

When the sponsor is not able to meet the minimum financial requirements to sign Form I864, he or she can get a member(s) or dependent(s) of his or her household to co-sponsor. To do this, each co-sponsor has to complete and sign a separate Form I-764A, Contract Between Sponsor and Household Member. This makes them responsible, along with the sponsor, for the intending immigrant.

I-864 and I-864A Affidavit of Support Forms Updated

Both Form I-864 and I-864A were recently updated by the USCIS. The current forms have Edition Date 09/19/11. USCIS accepts previous editions too. It is best, however, to use the latest version of the forms that the government provides.

As of October 30, 2011 Forms N-336, N-600 and N-600K forms will have to be filed at the Phoenix Lockbox facility. Form N-300 has to be filed at the Dallas Lockbox facility. The local offices that receive these forms will forward them to the appropriate address until December 02, 2011. After December 02, 2011, all such applications that are still filed at the local offices will be returned to the applicants.

USCIS is doing this for the benefit of the applicants and therefore expects persons seeking benefits using the four N-forms – N-300, N-336, N-600 and N-600k to follow this update that USCIS has posted on its website.

It is to be noted that persons who file the wrong form while seeking an USCIS benefit will forfeit their filing fees. Their applications will be rejected. They will have to re-apply using the correct form and pay the new fees again.

Advance Parole is for person having a pending Form I-485, Application to Adjust Status to Lawful Permanent Resident (green card holder), and who intend to travel before the I-485 application is approved. A Refugee Travel Document is for applicants who hold Refugee or Asylee status and who want to travel abroad and a re-entry permit is for green card holders who will be outside of the US for an extended period of time, generally a year or more.

If you are filing Form I-131, Application for travel document based on your pending or approved Form I-821, you have to mail the form to the USCIS Dallas Lockbox facility. Do not forget to attach a copy of the I-797, Notice of Action that shows that your application was accepted or approved. If you are applying to get your advance parole document renewed, the USCIS will accept and adjudicate Form I-131 filed up to 120 days before the date your current Advance Parole document expires.

You are required to complete biometrics at an USCIS Application Support Center (ASC). If you are applying for a Refugee Travel Document when you are abroad, you have to get the biometrics done at an overseas USCIS facility. All applicants aged between 14 and 79 years applying for a Refugee Travel Document or Re-entry Permit have to be fingerprinted as part of USCIS biometric service requirements. After you file this form, USCIS will review it and will notify you in writing of the time/location of your biometrics appointment. If you do not attend for biometrics, it might lead to a possible rejection of your application. If you are applying for a Re-entry Permit and/or Refugee Travel Documents and aged between 14 and 79, you should pay an additional $85 fee for biometrics.

The submission fee for advance parole or re-entry permit is $360 and for a Refugee Travel Document for an applicant aged 16 or older is $135. For a child below the age of 16 years, the fee is $105. For applicants aged between 14 and 79, a biometric fee of $85 is required for a Reentry Permit and a Refugee Travel Document , unless the applicant resides outside of the US at the time of filing the form. But note that a biometric fee is not needed for advance parole applicants.