Carl

Let me add my own assurances as to how easy it is. As long as he can hold a decent conversation in English, has a good working knowledge of the answers and read and write simple sentences he will pass. Ying had zero trouble.

Ying will be checking in at 11:30 AM on Thursday, May 21st for a 2 PM ceremony. The end is finally in sight. B)

Bob, want's Xiao Mei know that citizenship is easy if she has paid attention and has immersed herself into American culture. Ying has learned a lot in the last 3+ years and was ready. Ying knows some Chinese people here in Kerrville who have been here much longer than her, but have hardly ventured beyond the Chinese restaurant, where most of them work, that they can hardly speak English and watch nothing but Chinese programming on the internet to the point that they now almost nothing about American culture, but if Xiao Mei has been getting out and about, she will have no trouble

The US recognizes dual citizenship but China doesn't. Congratulations Ying!!!! America needs more citizens like you. Ya beat me to the punch

She has already learned that type of swearing from me....being the old soldier I am, I have a fairly colorful vocabulary

Our appointment was set for 9:30. We left Kerrville between 7:30 and 7:45. According to Mother (my GPS), we had an arrival time of 9:00. Needless to say the traffic into San Antonio was slower than usual due to the rain and also because some lady was driving her Cadillac Escalade down the middle lane of I-10 at 45 miles an hour (speed limit was 65) gabbing on her cell phone. When I was able to pass her I found a gap of at least 30 car lengths between her and the car in front of her. I missed one exit, but thanks to Mother I was able to get back on track. We got to the INS building about 9:20 and settled in for Ying's turn. Ying's name was finally called about 10:45. The officer was a woman who apologized for the delay because her computer and printer had crashed and she needed IT to fix the problem. In the meantime she was using another office till it was fixed. Ying said the officer was not comfortable in the office, but once she was told her computer was ok, she and Ying went back to her office. When Ying's name was called, I told her to "Knock 'em dead." The officer asked Ying if that was her husband and after Ying said yes, the officer remarked that I looked more nervous than what she was. Ying said before the interview even started the Officer had her sign her Citizenship Certificate and they made some small talk about how she (the officer) wanted to learn Chinese and about the cost of adoptions in China. She ran through the questions on the N-400 so fast that Ying initially said no when asked if she supported the Constitution but recovered when officer asked with a smile, "You don't?" to which Ying responded "I mean I do." Ying said she was asked 6 questions. 1. How old do citizens need to be to vote for President? (18) 2. How many Senators are there? (100) 3. Who is your representative in Congress? (Lamar Smith) 4 When was the Constitution written? (1787) 5. What is the Ocean on the east coast of the US? (Atlantic) 6. What was a problem that led to the Civil War? (Slavery) She had to write out two sentences. 1. California has the most population of the states. 2. New York was the first capital of the United States. Now all we need to do is wait for the date of her ceremony and then she can apply for her passport and plan our next trip to China. Both won't be soon enough as far as I am concerned.

Ying has used Yahoo voice for almost 2 1/2 years, she loves it. It is already part of Yahoo messenger, the only thing you purchase credit in $10 or $25 increments as you need them, pay $0.015 per minute for China. If you want incoming calls can also select a US telephone number from almost anywhere in the US that you want for about $2.50 a month and use like a normal phone from anywhere in the world (call your family from China pay $0.01 per minute). Any calls when you are offline go to voice mail which you can check anytime. Ying uses it to call her family and friends in China, in China we prefer it over the landline for most calls and I use it to make calls to the US.

When I call to remind a veteran for an appointment and I get a wife/girlfriend or a female vet, I get a lot of "thanks" or "you got it" followed by "hun," "sweetie" or "babe". I also get the occasional "honey chile."

Best to wait, if possible, for her to get her green card. Travel back and forth will be no problem. On our second trip, Ying's 2 year card was technicaly expired, but she had thye extension letter and had no trouble getting out of China and back in the US.

you might also see if any of your friends or any family has a degree in History or Social Sciences (heavy in the political sciences). I happen to have degrees in both and as such Ying is always asking me to clarify certian question she has as to the why and wherefore of American politics.

Look at our timeline. Ying applied January 15th and she is scheduled for her interview April 28th.

Ying finally has her interview date. On April 28th Ying will be inteviewed at USCIS San Antonio, Texas. She will begin studying in earnest on April 1st. Finally the end is near.

I don't know if anybody has posted about this, but there is a new Asian shopping center that opened in Austin, Texas. They have a huge Asian supermarket that rivals the ones we saw in Houston, Las Vegas and Portland, Oregon. Ying was amazed and estatic that we don't have to go all the way to Houston to get the Chinese products she likes most. Their websits is... Chinatown Center---Austin Texas

I liked this one. Ying commented on the ones she thought was beautiful. Quite a few had that big beautiful eyes that reminded me of the girls of Japanamation

When I ordered my passport I sent in birth certificate. It was returned with the passport. Are they handled differently from the certificates?

We just got an I-797 that said the FBI couldn't process Ying's fingerprint card, so she needs to redo it next week. I had a feeling that because she was in and out so fast last week that this might have happened.

Just get a letter or memo on official company letterhead stating what your annual salary is signed by the head of your HR department. If it is above the 125% threshold, you won't have any problems.

We pretty much sent the same packet we did for her 10 yr green card. Ying wanted to wait till she got her 10 yr card because her okd card had her maiden name and her new had her married name.

And which part of the question "name change DURING NATURALIZATION" is it that you can't figure out? No need to be insulting, just pointing out to others who are not as far as you might be in the process that there are other options out there that can be utilized earlier instead of waiting for the end.

Again, thanks, but this answer is irrelevant. I am looking for name change applied for on, and only on, the Naturalization application during the Citizenship process. Hardly irrelevant.... a name change is a name change whether you do it when you adjust status or apply for citizenship. We chose to do it when she adjusted her status so that all her legal ID is now in her married name while she waits for for her citizenship to go through.

Ying changed her when she filed for her 10 year card, keeping her family name, at my insistance, as her middle name.

Has INS suddenly become efficient? Today Ying and I went to San Antonio to do her biometrics. Her appt was 12 noon. We got to the INS office about 11:40. Ying went to the little girls room while I filled out the paperwork. When we turned it back in she was given #64. As we were going back to our seat, a guy calls out 63. He calls it out about three or four times, then says 64. Ying is back there all of 5 minutes, then comes back and says she is done. we was back in the car and heading for lunch at 12 noon. I was shocked, last year when we went for her 10 year green card, there was the same amount of people there as today, but we had to wait almost an hour before her turn came up and it took them nearly 30 minutes to get her prints because the girl who did it could not get any clear ones.

THE BEER WALL http://i43.tinypic.com/33crtw9.jpg http://i42.tinypic.com/29xd8yb.jpg I see the beer, but do they have cheetos in China?http://premium1.uploadit.org/Caseyorourke//chestercheetah.jpg

I was in a different boat. I had two divorces, one in California and one in Oregon, but at the time I lived in Texas. The Consulate in Houston could not certify documents from either state and the one in San Francisco would not issue any documents for anyone living in Texas. I called the Consulate in Houston, to find out how I could get everything ok'ed. I talked to a lady (at the Consulate) and she asked me if I was ever married or divorced in Texas, I told her no, so she said to just do a notarized statement I was never married in the State of Texas, get an Apostitille from the Texas Secretary of State and send it to them. I did and I got everything was approved with no problem. The Chinese marriage office will translate and keep the notarized statement and the Embassy certification/Apostille. The only documents you will need for a CR-1 will be COPIES (DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS (for a CR-1 you don't need any documents notarized, just the ability to send originals if requested)) of all the pages of the red marriage book, registration book, divorce decrees, birth certificates (hers and any children) and translations of these documents. For you, if you were never married, you won't need any sworn statement that you are single. All the INS/DOS needs is a copy and/or translation of your marriage certificate (which you should already submitted with her information) and copies of any divorce decrees you might have, if you are single, you don't need it.

That is a lot. The last time we went to china we flew from San Antonio to Los Angeles on United, transferred to Asiana flew from LAX to Incheon Korea (Seoul), then from Incheon to Yanji, China.