Yes guests are permitted - the numbers need to be kept small though as space is limited.

There was a good 200 people being sworn in at the ceremony last May and between us we probably had 500 guests rammed in there like sardines!

Where was your ceremony? Mine will be in Denver. I am wondering whether the location makes a differences to the number of people being sworn in.

I am sure that it does. Mine was Atlanta, so a similar size to Denver. If anything, Denver is bigger.

interesting. How long was your ceremony?
Also, I have heard about individuals who are naturalizing describing their journey a little. Did this happen at your ceremony?

Including getting everyone in and out of the room, about 2 hours. The actual ceremony maybe 30 minutes.

No that did not happen at my ceremony.

- Introduction
- Video on the history of naturalization and 'the immigrants of America'
- Read out the names of all the countries providing new USCs at the ceremony, and we stood up when our country was called.
- Swearing in
- Video from Trump welcoming us as USCs
- Pledge of allegiance (family were allowed to come forward and take photos at this time)
- End of ceremony/Handing out of certificates.

Hubby's was in Federal Court in Manhattan. Not much room at all. Approximately 200 oath takers and about as many visitors. Sardines in a can.

No video, no photos allowed with the Judge.

Stood for countries called and pledge, name called and certificate handed out (Judge had already left the court room).

All in all approximately 30 minutes while doing the paperwork prior to the ceremony took about 2 hours.

I had 3 guests with me at the federal courthouse for swearing in and it was packed, so I'm glad we got there earlier. The judge didn't like people standing in his courtroom, so everyone had to squeeze into seats together. No cameras or phones allowed, we didn't tell our story, but we took in turns of standing up to say our name and what country we were born in.

To keep everyone updated, on Thursday I attended the oath ceremony and Naturalized in Denver. The ceremony had 52 people naturalizing from approx 24 different countries. The ceremony lasted about 2 hours. Individuals naturalizing stood up as the name of the country they were from was read out. UK had about 4 people, but there were around 7 from Canada and 9 or 10 from Iraq. Most other countries were represented by one individual.

Registered to vote straight after but as has been noted here before there wasnt anyone to take passport applications.

One thing that struck me was that the photo of you on the naturalization certificate, at least in my case, was the one taken at my biometrics appointment as part of the n400 application. Some other may find this useful in preparing themselves beforehand in the way they want to be captured on the certificate. I had just presumed the photo on the certificate would have been the most recent one taken, which would have been the citizenship interview.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has been active on these forums. I have posted about various situations, such as temporary visas and the N400. The guidance, advice, experiences and assistance provided by the members of this forum has been invaluable. The forum, and most importantly its members, provide an excellent resource.

Congratulations and welcome to the club!

Yes it is certainly worth nothing that the biometrics photo is the one that is used for the certificate.