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thank you both for your comments and advice. I thought it might have something to do with a 10 year rule, this confirmed it for me. I didn't really think they would follow it though, because I know a few people who were part of the CCP and still recieved citizenship before their 10 year mark.

Hello, My husband just recieved a letter in the mail denying his naturalization. I was a little surprised since I did not personally know of anyone who had not passed before. The reason has to do with him being a former CCP member. Below is an excerpt of his letter: On October 5, 2009, you obtained permanent residence status through your spouse in immigrant classification Ir1. USCIS received your form N-400 on June 24, 2013, and on September 11, 2013, you appeared for an interview to determine your eligibility for naturalization. During the naturalization interview and review of your application, the Immigration Services Officer asked you about your involvement in the Communist Party. You stated that you were a member of the Communist Party and that you stopped paying the membership fee since 2008. You also stated that you joined the Communist Party for a better future. According to your statement, you had a been a member of the Communist Party within the 10-year period immediately preceding the filing of your application for naturalization on June 2, 2013. Your membership was voluntary since you stated that no one forced you to join the Communist Party. You did not terminate your membership of or affiliatioin with the Communist Party prior to becoming 16 years of age because at the time you stopped paying membership fee, you were in the age of around 26 years old (2008). Based on the foregoing, you are ineligible for naturalization because you failed to establish an attachment to the principles of the US Constitution and be disposed to the good order and happiness of the US. My questions are these: 1.) The letter goes on to explain how we can overcome the grounds for denial by submitting a Form N-336. The cost is around $600 to do this and it doesn't seem likely the decision will be overturned (but I really don't know how high the rate of overturned appeals are). Has anyone had to go through this process and what more could we possibly say to help his cause? He joined the CCP in his mid twenties for a chance at a better job position (but did not get the job in the end) and said that once someone stops paying their dues after 6 months, they are not a part of the CCP anymore. He stopped in 2009 sometime. 2.) I looked online about non-profit immigration organizations but haven't found very many in the Sacramento, CA area. Does anyone have any experience with these types of organizations and do you think they will help our cause? 3.) My husband doesn't want to appeal because of the cost (it is a lot for us) but I'm afraid this will somehow affect his chance either at extending his 10 yr green card or another try at naturalization in the future. Can anyone elaborate on this? 4.) What do we have to prove with this sentence? He is a law abiding citizen, he pays taxes, he hasn't been in any trouble with the law. I'm really not sure how to interpret this... Based on the foregoing, you are ineligible for naturalization because you failed to establish an attachment to the principles of the US Constitution and be disposed to the good order and happiness of the US. My husband said that when he faced the interviewer, he felt the officer was already in a bad mood and was not friendly in any way. The officer had a thick accent, so when my husband asked if he could ask the same question again, the officer barked that he should be able to understand and answer the question if he wanted to be an American citizen. The officer then asked my husband about the CCP connection and my husband said that a letter had been enclosed in the packet, but the officer insisted on asking him a lot of the questions. I can understand this, maybe he wanted my husband to elaborate on his answers. The officer sent him home with a paper that said he didn't pass the US History portion, We thought we would get a letter asking him to come back for another interview to retake the portion he failed. We were very surprised he received this letter. Based on what my husband relayed to me, I feel like the officer was in a bad mood and chose my husband as a whipping boy. My husband is a very hard worker and a humble person. I know of other people whose character could be questioned and were once CCP members that have become citizens. I feel that this situation with the officer and his treatment of my husband was unfair. Could anyone offer advice, please? Thank you, Christal

it took us about 4 months, going through the California Service Center. Good luck!

Thanks dnoblett, you've always been a great help to me.

Hi there, I was hoping you could give me some advice, given your response to another member. My husband will be applying for citizenship next year. He was not asked the "communist" question during the visa interview, even though he listed it on his DFC application. This time around, it looks like we'll have to put yes to the same question, have you guys had to go through this and how was your outcome? Do you think his yes answer will affect his chances for citizenship? Thank you for your help! Hello, Thanks for the warning. We were always very cautious of this question. The only time it was asked of us was on DS-230 Part II, where it states "...who is a member of or affiliated with the Communist or other totalitarian party". In that case, we answered "no" and it appears to be the consensus among CFL and Visajourney members that a member who quit the CCP can honestly answer "NO" to that question on the DS-230 form. We did CR-1 (direct consular filing), so no GNI-2 form was given. So we were never asked the "are you or have you EVER been..." version of the question. And the question was never asked verbally at the interview. However, in this case (on the N-400), the question undoubtedly includes prior membership, so we must answer YES. I hope that makes sense, and I hope we did the right thing! Thanks.

thanks dnoblett!

Hi dnoblett, I'm an idiot. I am a sponsor and my mother was the joint sponsor. In my mind, I kept thinking my mother was the sponsor and I was a petitioner only. I did file the I-130 for my spouse. Thanks for putting up with my idiotic question. Who filed the I-130 or I-129F petition for immigrations? You for a spouse, or Mother-in-law for a Son? If you did a K-1 or K-3 or adjusted from an other type of non-immigrant visa, you as spouse had to provide an I-864 for huband to adjust status. If you filed the I-130 for a spousal visa, then YOU had to provide an I-864 as primary sponsor, and parent acted as a joint sponsor, since you moved with your husband to a new home, you as primary sponsor need to file an I-865.

Hi, I am mailing this form in a couple days late (the instructions say within 30 days). I would like to know if I need to add a note in there? I didn't do my homework very well and didn't know I needed to fill the I-865 out, since my hubby filled the AR-11 out already. Do you think it will be okay to send with just the I-865, or should I attach an explanation? Thank you.

Hi dnoblett, my mother is my hubby's sponsor and she still lives at the old address. I did take a look at the I-865 instructions and it says it's only for the sponsor, not a spouse as far as I can tell. Should I do one anyways or will that create more confusion for them? thank you very much!

Hi guys, I was wondering if you could help with a few questions. My husband and I just moved into our new house last month. We are sending the packet in this month. My hubby went online and changed his address and printed out a confirmation. On the document, it says "do not mail." So I guess that means we shouldn't include it in the packet. I'm assuming they'll find out new address once they input the I-751 application info? I'm worried things will get messed up though. There are still a few documents (i.e. previous tax returns, car title) that have our old address. Do you think this will be a problem? I don't want to take the tax returns out, but I can probably omit the car title document. Advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you,

thanks for the input joanne. we're just going to hope all goes well.

thank you warpedbored and Randy W!!

thanks for your input. do you know anyone who has done this? and did they need to stay with a tour group the entire time?

Hi there, it's been awhile since I've been on this site, it's changed and I like the new format. Everything is brighter and easier to see. my husband (Chinese citizen) wants to invite his aunt, along with his mother to the US to visit us. I have been told that the aunt may have to file a visitor's visa on her own but may not be able to stay with us once she gets here since she needs to register with a tour group. I'm not sure how much of this is true. can someone point me in the right direction? I've looked a bit on this website but didn't see anything that pertained to my topic. Thank you.

thank you all for your help.

you'll be fine with 50. The more the better. They seem to like candid shots from the remarks made by my husband's VO. I pasted pictures on an 8 1/2 X 11 plain piece of paper and wrote a caption on the bottom, listing off his/my relatives.

thank you Be very cautious around craigslist, and apartment rentals. A popular scam is for someone to list and apartment that they do not own, and then sign a person get the deposit, and then disappear. http://www.fraudguides.com/internet-craigslist-scams.asp http://www.fraudguides.com/craigslist-apar...ental-scams.asp

Thanks a lot! Are you well and rested now after your trip? CQ, Same forum that is pinned in CFL "Communications" sub-forum. Here is the link for San Jose: http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-jose/. IMHO, I have previously been in this area, about 8 to 9 years ago, and even then the prices, on almost everything can be mind-boggling! Hope that you have a really good job lined up. i didn't like San Francisco proper (old Chinatown). However the area near Milpitas, CA (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=OWX&resnum=0&q=Milpitas,+CA&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Milpitas,+CA&gl=us&ei=sJ8cS4uJCoiENJaHqeIC&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CAoQ8gEwAA ://http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&a...ed=0CAoQ8gEwAA ://http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&a...ed=0CAoQ8gEwAA ) has slew of Far Eastern and Middle-Eastern restaurants, and most especially; Chinese groceries, bookstores, malls, etc, etc. My ex-fiancee and I would drive down from Portland, OR to go shopping here. It was far better than Vancouver, Canada. Regard to apartments and your original question, are ranging from moderately expensive to very expensive. Remember that San Jose is at the top of Silicon Valley. They took a downturn, but they darn sure ain't totally broke yet! IMHO, take LA's cost of rent (for whatever apartment range) and stick another $150 to $250 dollars onto their LA's end price, and you will be pretty fairly in the ballpark for San Jose, unless you are willing to sacrifice your standard of living. When you do this the safety of a neighborhood goes down as well. Therefore, YMMV( your mileage may vary) depending on how much cash you have as income, what the both of you think is comfortable, etc, etc. Try this cost of living calculator, http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costoflivin...stofliving.html . I have used it before prior to moving to San Diego. Its calculations were only off about $100 either way, and that is for particular "creature comforts" my wife and I both have. Dave

congratulations!!

Hi guys, I may have found a job in San Jose (fingers crossed, won't know till mid Dec) and I'm not very familiar with the area. Neither are any of my friends or family. I wanted to start off by asking if anyone lived in the bay area and where they would suggest looking for apartments? I will begin the search, but I thought I might get some good advice here also. My husband and I want an affordable and safe area. The job is off of Zanker and Brokaw. We're just not sure what places are considered decent in terms of environment and price. If you could give any suggestions, that would be awesome. Thanks!

I heard something similar from my husband too. I think it's more difficult to have the police help you in China than it is in the US. I lived in China for 1.5 years and had a couple experiences where I felt I definitely would have been safer in the US. I'm a Chinese American, so I look just like the CHinese there. If I were a different skin color, I probably would have gotten help or some situations could have been avoided altogether. 1st incident: I was in Inner Mongolia and called attention to a lady that had her bag open, there was a boy behind her who had his hand in her purse. When I foiled his attempts, his cronies came out of hiding and started throwing things at me, yelling, and then chased me down the street. It was a busy street right next to the police station! No one else wanted to help because they were too scared of the thieves and the police just don't have enough power to stop the thieves. 2nd incident: I was in Nanchang, Jiangxi and a woman snatched an electronic out of my husband's bag. He grabbed her and I began shouting for help. Once again, no one helped and their cronies came out of hiding to confront us. They left us because we didn't make a huge fuss. My husband told me he wasn't going to do anything because they were of the Xinjiang minority and were allowed to carry knives and that they wouldn't hesitate to use them. This was on a busy street in downtown. The police just don't have enough power and/or are corrupt. I say they can be corrupt because I have friends in China who are policemen, or who know other policemen and they relay stories of their "deeds and gifts" back and forth. Also, a lot of the foreigners I know that own shops in China talk about how they have to give "bribes" out to the higher ups in order to stay in business, and it's apparently very common. I knew I had to get back to the US after my experience in China because it really scared me that "police help" was very inconsistent over there. A lot of the Chinese people's actions and ways of thinking are very different from my own ( I thought I knew what to expect since my family was originally from Taiwan, but it's just really different.)

i have an at&t plan that allows me a lot of minutes after 9pm , so what i will do is buy a phone card (specifically from an asian supermarket) and use it after 9pm on the weekdays or anytime on the weekends. I live in California so there are a lot of chinese supermarkets around. its best if you can go to the bigger asian markets, rather than the small. they have the best deal. i bought a 1200 minute phone card for 15 dollars.

yeah, this sounds like a good movie. I taught in a rural area right outside of Nanchang City in Jiangxi, and many of my university students had never celebrated their birthdays until they had arrived at the university, because their parents were too poor to do so. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209189/

congratulations! Thank you for all the organized information. Take Care.

Hi, yes, you should be able to change the interview date. We were able to change our interview date within 2 days via the Guangzhou Consulate website. Give them a reason why and also an estimated date range. It was a speedy process, given what we were told to expect. Good luck.