Wow!! My husband was in a similar situation, 2 WDUI, street fights, open container when he was immature and stupid ( like 15 years ago) same field office. What I think helped my husband to get his citizenship was our attorney, and it took 2.5 years to get it. Even at the interview, our attorney was there because my husband said officer was very very strict and she was asking an explanation for every single arrest he got in the past, disposition papers. My husband said if attorney wouldn't be present at interview ( he is a shark) he wouldn't get his citizenship.

yeah I think that's the mistake we made, we did it ourself. his previous denial was based on lack of documents, so we thought now it should not be an issue. we did not have an attorney present at the interview. did your husband also get a decision can't be made notice? how long after did it take for him to get a decision? just don't know what to expect, I mean to deny someone for reckless driving at this point seems ridiculous. he is since then married to me, USC, has a good job, good income, by all means a law abiding citizen and living in this country since he was a child, for over 20 years. he has never even left since he arrived here. I hope they take into consideration and don't deny him.

Also, in this community I read about one guy he was convicted for Grand Larceny and he served 6 years in prison, he got his citizenship in Newark NJ. Sometimes I feel is the officer who is in charge of the case, because that guy shared his timeline and he got his citizenship in 1 year 8 months and my husband had it in 2 years and 6 months.

I think I actually found this forum because of your post haha. I have been scouring the internet for some kind of information of what to expect. I think I commented on your post also.

yeah, it's true, depends on the officer too I guess. my husband said she was very rude and confrontational as soon as he passed the civic exam and she got to his file. she told him, I don't know why you're here, you're not going to get it, and kept trying to get him to admit to things that were not true, and kept saying nothing says case closed in all evidence he submitted. he waited for her to stop talking and pointed out where it said CASE CLOSED on his disposition and that is when she said he will probably not get it but she will check with supervisor. she made the issue that he doesn't have 5 clean years after probation. I mean the initial case is from 2010, it's ridiculous that they still want to fixated on that when it is not even a DUI in court records anymore. let's see. so far nothing.

Well my husband had and RFE also. It was disposition papers about child abuse when he was a teenager, but the outcome in that case was dismissed because it was somebody trying to make false accusations at that time, court sealed the case because my husband was underage and it was in New York. He went to the court in that town and requested those disposition papers and it was a pain in the ass to get them. it took almost 1 month to respond to RFE and it took 90 days to get an answer about RFE. Also I recommend to look Jim Hacking Law videos because in one video he explained what steps you can take if citizenship is not approved. According to Jim Hacking you can appeal and request for another officer to take a look in the case and if next officer denials the case, last step is take the case to a federal court and judge can make a decision.

that’s ridiculous, I have my oath ceremony scheduled finally after stressing out my self rather I would my citizenship, I had 2 dui’s so I waited the 5 years for gmc I provided court papers that my case was closed I was on probation my probation ended in 2020 but mine was approved I just think it depends on the field and the officer some officers are mean. mine was very nice I told the officer listen that’s my past when I thought it was cool now I’m a mother of 2 kids I have responsibilities….I seriously thought I was not going to get mine either. but don’t worry if it’s been over 5 years he will be approved if I were him I would find a lawyer to work on that to speed up the process it’s really frustrating not knowing what’s going to happen that was me after my interview and I provided everything that the cases were closed.

@lisa thanks. how long after interview did it take for your husband to be approved? about appealing it - it costs almost the same as filing naturalization all over again and still a possibility it can be denied. I guess we just gotta wait until we get a decision notice to figure out what next steps are. we did not receive any RFE. we filed online and uploaded everything, at the interview she made copies of everything again. so just waiting. I don't know if I should hold my breath, seems like she was going to make a recommendation not to approve with the way she was grilling my husband. don't know what to expect and can't do anything except wait.

@blessing blessing glad you got your approval, blessing. it's definitely an excruciating wait. yeah the officer said he can't justify GMC because probation officially ended in 2019. I hope the supervisor overrides her decision. can you tell me how long after your interview you got your approval?

I did reach out to an attorney, he said to wait until decision letter came to figure out next steps.

@ilse somarriba my recommendation is take your attorney at the interview, ours charged $1000.00 to attend the interview with my husband but it was the best money invested, he totally changed the dynamic during the interview because the officer was very strict and he started to be nervous and intimidated, thank god our attorney saved the interview. I dont understand if applicants know they have a record and they know USCIS they are not friends, they are looking to find something to deny your case, why people dont like to invest in a good attorney specifically if applicants have background.

@ilse fingers crossed, God willing you will be approved. I second what Lisa said, definitely take an attorney. we regret not doing that. good luck, hope all goes well. did you apply for your i-485 with the i-130?

been 2 months now... no update.

@HC any update on your case ??

@blessing blessing no :(

@HC try finding a lawyer

@blessing we are going to wait until December and if we still don't have a response, then we will hire an attorney. USCIS has 120 days to provide an answer. right now it's been almost 3 minths, so they have a little more time. from what I've been reading on the internet, there's no reason to deny, probation and DUI should not be barring from GMC. really hope it's just waiting on a supervisor and God gets us through this.

@hc contact Uscis after 120 days and they will send a request to your office where you had your interview to make a decision my friend was going through the same situation and did the same thing Uscis had to send a request to the office where she had her interview after that it only took few days to hear from the officer who did her interview.

@blessing still no response, we sent a letter to the field office. let's see.

sent letter to field office on 12/4z no response. contacted USCIS 1/3/23, they said they will forward request to local field office for response. let's see.

hi, did your case got approved?

my father have the same issue as your husband have. He had a DWI reduce to reckless driving in VA and 12 months of probation. When he filed the form, he only filed the case with the judge decision. He went on interview the other day, they told him that they need the outcome of the probation. We went to court and they said that they don’t have it since it is an unprivilge probation. We contacts the center where called VASAP which is where he took his class for reckless driving and probation. We asked for a letter and they gave me the letter which saying that he had completed the probation and remaining good character. question is that, would that be everything they asked for? what kind of documents did you gave them? thank you