We were retained by a woman from Hungary who had obtained her lawful permanent residency more than 15 years earlier. She had been worried about applying for her U.S. citizenship due to an arrest that she had for shoplifting several years earlier. The case was actually dismissed and was entirely explainable. In order to file her application for naturalization, we had to locate the original and certified disposition of the case. Once we had all of the documents required, we filed the N-400 with USCIS. The process went very quickly and she was sent a notice for a fingerprint appointment within a few weeks. After she had been fingerprinted we received the notice for the final interview date to take place at 26 Federal Plaza. A few days prior to the interview, she came into our offices to prepare for the exam. We staged a mock interview, since she was nervous, and went over the history questions that she would have to answer. Once we were comfortable that she was ready for the exam, we let her know. We accompanied her to her interview a few days later. At the interview we provided the original disposition of the shoplifting arrest and answered the questions the officer had surrounding it.
We were lucky enough to have a lovely officer review the case and because we were completely prepared, she passed her exam and was told that day that she was recommended for approval. Approximately a week later we received the appointment for her oath ceremony in the mail. The entire application process took less than four months from the time we filed the N-400 to the time she was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.
Citizenship granted.