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Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

Old Mar 4th 2020, 12:47 pm
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Default Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

UKC Married to USC.
Emigrated to US in 2016 with an IR1 (Spouse over 2 yrs) visa.

Hi All,

Been going through the naturalisation process and now have my interview scheduled for late April with an estimated completed date (of the process) of July! Very excited to be nearing the end of the journey. I have been studying for the civics test and will continue to do so before the interview but I'm just wondering what to expect? The interview letter says the process will take about 2 hours and I will be tested in speaking and writing English, along with the Civics test. I understand that, unlike the online practice test, the Civics test will not be multiple choice answers at the interview. Is this correct? Are all the questions simply asked by the interviewer? I would appreciate some feedback from others.

I searched the forum and didn't find a huge amount of posts on the interview itself, though one thread had the great Pulaski's contribution:

Back in 2007, my interview was an hour long, which appeared to be standard, of which 10 minutes was spent on the matter in hand. The rest was spent shooting the breeze about, in no particular order: the Falklands war, the Gulf war(s), Saddam Hussein and other Middle Eastern despots, the (then current) Afghan war and previous conflicts in Afghanistan, the method of government in the UK, the Royal family, the history of the Royal family and how it relates to the government of the UK, including the Act of Union, renovating houses, in the UK and US, rewiring work and electrical standards, plumbing, roofs, and other sundry construction topics, such as hardwood flooring, crawlspaces the joys of working in them, and how to deal with the dirt, damp, and the bugs and critters you might find down there. It was a busy hour!
My letter says to bring:
The letter
Green Card
Passport
Marriage cert
Spouse's birth cert.

Some of the posts I read seem to show people too 3-5 yrs of Tax returns too. Is that still applicable goven they haven't asked for it? Is it wise to just take all the documents I submitted with my original N400?

Thank you
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Old Mar 4th 2020, 1:02 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

Thank you for saving me the effort of finding my own post and reposting it for you.

Others' experience seems to have been very variable, and often only 10-15 minutes and dealing only with the matters relevant to the reason for the interview. In other words, my experience appears to have been a peculiar outlier.
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Old Mar 4th 2020, 1:31 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

I WAS asked for Tax Returns and had copies with me (luckily).

No idea why.. It seemed random at the time. The rest of the interview was a bit of a non-event.



Edit to add... This was a number of years ago now.
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Old Mar 4th 2020, 1:36 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

I think I'm just going to take everything that I submitted with my N400 just in case, it wasn't a huge amount.

Thanks for the replies guys
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Old Mar 4th 2020, 2:56 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

Originally Posted by Nutek
I WAS asked for Tax Returns and had copies with me (luckily).

No idea why.. It seemed random at the time. The rest of the interview was a bit of a non-event.



Edit to add... This was a number of years ago now.
Hubby brought the originals of all the copies of evidence he sent. Although to be honest, USCIS already has your birth certificate, marriage certificate, previous years tax returns from your other applications. It was nice to have the originals with him and yes, he was asked for the original tax transcripts. His interview was short and sweet and most of it was just general kibitizing with the examiner. When he found out I was in the waiting room, he asked to come out and meet me. We had a lovely chat in the waiting room and he was super nice and asked us to wait in the room for the letter giving us the date for the naturalization ceremony rather than having it mailed to him. This was at Federal Plaza, NYC.
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Old Mar 4th 2020, 3:17 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

Yes, the questions are asked out loud by the officer. No multiple choice. You can give any one of the acceptable answers to each question. If you get 6 in a row correct, they stop asking.

The officer will say a sentence out loud and you have to write it (they don't care about spelling). The officer will hand you a written sentence which you have to read aloud.

Bring any tax returns you've done since submitting the N-400.

Rene
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Old Mar 4th 2020, 3:27 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

Originally Posted by Rete
Hubby brought the originals of all the copies of evidence he sent. Although to be honest, USCIS already has your birth certificate, marriage certificate, previous years tax returns from your other applications. It was nice to have the originals with him and yes, he was asked for the original tax transcripts. His interview was short and sweet and most of it was just general kibitizing with the examiner. When he found out I was in the waiting room, he asked to come out and meet me. We had a lovely chat in the waiting room and he was super nice and asked us to wait in the room for the letter giving us the date for the naturalization ceremony rather than having it mailed to him. This was at Federal Plaza, NYC.
Thank you. We have a girl who will be 2 in June, so I'm probably going to advise my wife to stay home rather than try and deal with a bored toddler in the waiting room!

Originally Posted by Noorah101
Yes, the questions are asked out loud by the officer. No multiple choice. You can give any one of the acceptable answers to each question. If you get 6 in a row correct, they stop asking.

The officer will say a sentence out loud and you have to write it (they don't care about spelling). The officer will hand you a written sentence which you have to read aloud.

Bring any tax returns you've done since submitting the N-400.

Rene
Thank you Rene! Good point about the 2019 returns. I do mine on turbotax so I assume what I print out from that is ok?
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Old Mar 4th 2020, 6:48 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

Originally Posted by Harveyspecter
Thank you. We have a girl who will be 2 in June, so I'm probably going to advise my wife to stay home rather than try and deal with a bored toddler in the waiting room!



Thank you Rene! Good point about the 2019 returns. I do mine on turbotax so I assume what I print out from that is ok?
Yes, just make sure you print ALL pages and also make sue you have copies of W-2 and/or 1099 forms as well.

Or you can check with IRS to see if a tax transcript is available yet.

Rene
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Old Mar 4th 2020, 7:08 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

Keep us posted! I'll be using this thread to help prepare for mine in the near future Best of luck!
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Old Mar 4th 2020, 7:48 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

Good luck! My interview was short and very matter of fact, no small talk at all. She did jokingly apologize for making me do the English language test, but it was all straight forward. You'll most likely be approved on the spot. My wife attended with me just in case but wasn't invited into the room, so she didn't need to be there.
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Old Mar 5th 2020, 4:58 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

Practice varys a lot. The 10 questions will be from the 100. Before I retired, the examiners in L.A. would have their computer generate a test for the applicant to read and answer. Sometimes the answers would be oral and sometimes the applicant would write the answers. The applicant would be asked to write a simple sentence such as “I live in Los Angeles.”

BTW, the examiners generally want you to pass.
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Old Mar 5th 2020, 5:14 pm
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Default Re: Got my N400 (Naturalisation) interview! What to expect?

My interview was in May 19, and was all business. Questions, answer, questions, answer.

She stared at me the whole time, presumably to see if my body language gave anything away, and it really did feel like I was being interrogated.

It was, however, mercifully short. Maybe 10 minutes.

Depending on your field office, you may not do everything with the same person. My civics questions where asked and answered in a setting more akin to the DMV before I was taken back to a private room for the interview/interrogation. Between the 2 process, and the waiting, it probably did take a good couple hours in Atlanta.
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