Taterbug

Hey all,
Well the letter arrived in the mail yesterday for my interview for N-400 in Charlotte, NC. For a change, my husband was the one who actually went out to get the mail yesterday. Does anyone else in this forum have a spouse that loves to tease when it comes to a long awaited letter that finally arrives in the mail???? I had to chase him around the house, out the door and in the yard before I finally tackled him to the ground for it!!!!! I won!!!!! Anyhow, my interview is on May 2nd at 0930. Here's hoping that the American Government/History class I took for my BSN pays off for this too.

NCTarheel

Congrats Taterbug! Be prepared for a same day oath ceremony. I had my interview on March 20 and was surprised when I was told that I could attend the oath at 2:30 pm the same day. I was staying in a hotel (out-of-towner) and had to request the hotel staff to allow late checkout since the wife and kids were still there waiting for me.

ian-mstm

Yah... Sheila and I used to play that game also! Sometimes she won... sometimes I won! Congratulations!

Ian

Taterbug

Hey thanks for the info!! I hope the oath ends out being the same day. I just want to get this all finished. I can't wait to apply for a passport too
My husband and I have decided to stay at the Embassy Suites.....heck, may as well spoil ourselves. It is final INS chapter......

Taterbug

You gotta play hardball sometimes though. We don't get a whole lot of snow here in NC but 2 winters ago we did and when we did the tackle thing, he got the "snow-up-the-shirt" treatment. Every Canadian has to treat a southern American to this tradition!! HA!
I didn't feel bad either because when I came here about 6 years ago, he tried to tell me that everyone in the south ate "Rocky mountain oysters" and "Chitterlings" Right!

Taterbug

Hey NCTarheel, Just curious, what was your interview/oath ceremony like? How many people did you take the oath with? Were there very many different nationalities? How many test questions were you asked? Sorry about all the questions.....just getting a little nervous. Thanks
Tater

tijbedi

When did you apply? How long did it take?

Taterbug

[QUOTE=tijbedi]When did you apply? How long did it take?[/QUOTE

Hi, I applied in June 05, fingerprinted in March 06 and interview in May 06. I had to enquire several times about the fingerprinting appt though. After I got this appt, the appt for the interview came quicker than I expected.

tijbedi

Is this the average time that it takes for a N-400 to go through?

Rete

I doubt that there is such a thing as an "average" time. Each case is individual. For NYC the timeline is approximately 18 months for naturalization and yet my husband's only took 6 months from filing of the N-400 to the oath ceremony. The same holds true with all service centers and district offices country-wide. Your best timeline is to use the charts given by the USCIS and go from there factoring in the recent timelines of others in your jurisdiction.

tijbedi

Where did you file?

NCTarheel

It's nothing to get nervous about. You will do just fine. My interview was scheduled at 7:50 in the morning. I got there at 7:20 and found a bunch of people waiting outside the main door. We were all asked to line up in a small area between the main door and the inside door and then let in at around 7:30. I showed them my interview letter, went through security and was asked to wait in one of the waiting rooms. Within 5 minutes after I was in, my name was called out and was taken inside for the interview. The lady officer was very friendly. She swore me in first, offered me a seat and asked for my driver's license, passport and green card. While she was looking at those documents she also printed out the test sheet and started asking the civics questions. I got 1. First president, 2. Three branches of the Govt., 3. Who makes the laws?, 4. Current V.P., 5. When do we celebrate Independence Day? and that was it. She then went through my entire application line-by-line and confirmed all my entries. She also wanted to know if I had traveled since I had applied, which I had, and she went ahead and made the necessary corrections in my application. After she was done with that she congratulated me saying that she was approving me and that a supervisor would have to sign off on it. I was asked to wait in the same waiting room to hear from the supervisor. I was out of her office in about 15 minutes. However, it took an hour and 15 minutes to hear from the supervisor that I was approved and get the oath letter for 1:30 in the afternoon.

There were about 65 people taking the oath that afternoon. It seemed like they were from a bunch of different countries. They never did announce how many. There is about an hour long pre-oath session where they instruct you on what's going to happen. You are asked to line up, present your oath letter, give up your GC and then get seated in a specific order. The director of the Charlotte sub-office then came in and gave a pretty funny speech about the rights and responsibilities of citizens. We then took the oath and were shown a short welcome video from Dubya and a patriotic music video. He then handed out the natz. certs. and that was it. The oath ceremony took a little longer than I had planned for. It was about 3:15 when we were all done.

I hope that allays your concerns. Again, there's nothing to be worried about. I found the whole experience to be a little anti-climactic.

NCTarheel

[QUOTE=Taterbug] I applied in August 05, fingerprinted in October 05, and interviewed in March 06. I was pleasantly surprised about the fingerprinting because I had bought tickets to travel outside the US in November and was concerned I was going to miss it.

Taterbug

Thanks for sharing your experience. Well I won't worry about it now. When I went to get my fingerprints done, the Charlotte office seemed to be very quick and efficient, so the sooner I get this done, the better. Thanks again and congrats on your citizenship.

NCTarheel

You are probably aware of this but your interview will not be at the same place where you got fingerprinted. Just thought I would let you know.