B. Tracking Your Application and Dealing with Delays

• Library: Becoming a U.S. Citizen (Nolo) (2021 Ed.)

B. Tracking Your Application and Dealing With Delays

After you file your application, you will want to know:

• whether it successfully made it into the USCIS system (discussed in Subsections a and b, below), and
• whether there has been an unreasonable delay getting your interview or fingerprinting appointments (see Section B2, below).

How Long Does It Take to Become a U.S. Citizen?

The nationwide average wait was anywhere between four and 24 months between submission and interview in early 2021, depending on region.

1. Your Application's First Stop: The USCIS Lockbox

To be certain that your naturalization application got to USCIS and was appropriately logged in at its mailroom, and to protect yourself against its being lost later, collect all of the following:

• any online, email, or text response USCIS sends you
• any mailing confirmation that you receive, such as a certified mail receipt, if you used the U.S. Postal Service (see Chapter 3, Section D)
• your canceled check or credit card statement showing the DHS charge, and
• USCIS's official receipt notice on Form I-797C, which should arrive by mail to confirm that your application has been logged into the USCIS system. USCIS usually sends the receipt within six weeks of receiving your application. (A sample receipt notice is shown below.)

It's also important to get your hands on the postal or delivery receipt so that you can later show it to USCIS if it loses your application.

Next, keep an eye on your bank or credit card statements to see when your check has been cashed or a charge made against your account. Then make a copy of the check or bank record and put it in your personal citizenship file—it will also be useful if USCIS loses your application.

If you paid by check, and you're lucky, your bank might provide copies of your canceled checks. This is handy, because USCIS might (but doesn't always) print the case number on the canceled check. This gives you a way to verify whether your case made it into the system, and you can use this tracer number to track your application using the USCIS website. However, many banks no longer return canceled checks, or they destroy them.

If weeks or months go by and the bank or credit card company doesn't indicate that USCIS has charged you, it might not be a problem—sometimes USCIS is slow to act. However, if you don't also get a USCIS receipt notice, this will help confirm your suspicion that USCIS has lost your application. Below we discuss what to do if USCIS takes an unusually long time to send you your receipt notice and what to do if USCIS says that elements of your application are missing.

a. Delayed Receipt Notices

If you don't get your USCIS Form I-797C receipt notice within two months of mailing, we recommend that you follow up.

Unfortunately, USCIS lockboxes and Service Centers are like walled fortresses. You can't visit or call them. Your best option would normally be to check the status of your application online, at www.uscis.gov. But to use this, you would need the processing number from your USCIS receipt notice. If USCIS has failed to send you a receipt notice and hasn't canceled your check, you won't get very far.

So, you will have to call 800-375-5283 to inquire about a missing...