Jesse

My wifes naturalization experience culminated yesterday with her ceremony. I thought
I would detail the whole process we went through here in case anyone ever has
questions about timelines and specifics.

We completed her for N-400 and mailed it to the Texas Service Center on Sep 6, 2001.
It took about 2 months before we got a notification of receipt from the service
center. In fact, I was getting worried that it had gotten lost in the mail, as my
check hadn't even cleared the bank. Don't know if the events of 9/11 played into the
delay or not.

Next we received the notification that she had to go get finger printed. I don't
remember exactly when this was, but she got finger printed about 6 months before her
interview. Which would have put it at about two months after we submitted the form,
or shortly after receiving the notification of receipt.

The next step was the interview at the local INS office. Originally, this was
schedule for March 2002. However, approximatley 2 weeks before the scheduled
interview we received notification that her appointment was cancelled because the
local office had not received her documents from the Service Center. I don't know if
it is standard practice for them to schedule the interview before they receive all
documentation, or if someone just made a mistake and scheduled hers too early. We
actually received 2 notifications (exact copies) that it was canceled; one form the
local office and one from the service center. A few weeks later, we received
notification that a new interview was scheduled for May 1st.

Her interview went very smoothly. Although she has been going to school part time for
a couple of years to learn English, she is no where near fluent. She can understand
more then she can speak. But as I say, this didn't present a problem at the
interview. I don't know if she was just lucky, or if that is normal. Most of the
interview centered around her grandson who lives with us. The INS officer questioned
her a lot about that. In fact, he took so long doing that, that he said he was almost
out of time to ask any of the standard (history and civics) questions. He did ask her
3 or 4 very basic questions; color of the flag, what's the supreme law of the land,
etc. She also had to fill out some forms to demonstrate she could read, understand
and write English. Again very basic things like her name, address and telephone
number. The INS officer informed her that she passed, and then spoke with her a
little more in Spanish. He then came with her to the waiting area and told me she had
passed, and we would receive notification in the mail in about 3 months telling us
when he Oath Ceremony would be. Much to our surprise, the notification arrived only 9
days later on May 10th. She was scheduled for her oath ceremony on June 20th.

With the notifcation of the Oath Ceremony, we received a form that was colored green
(sorry didn't write down the form number). It said when and where the ceremony would
be, and what time. On the back are some questions that you have to answer. Things
like since your interview have you; gotten married or divorced, traveled outside the
U.S., been arrested, etc. The notifcation instructed her to arrive promptly at
12:30 PM, and the ceremony itself would start at 2:00 PM.

So yesterday we went to the cermony. It was conducted at the Laurie Auditorium at
Trinity University. The adutiorium probably holds between 3 - 5 thousand people. And
while not standing room only, it was fairly full. I don't know why they wanted her to
arrive 1 1/2 hours early. I guess to account for those who did not follow the rules,
or are late for other valid reasons. Have to play to the lowest common denominator.

When we arrived there were INS people inside the front door who looked at the green
form. They made sure all the questions on the back had been answered, and it was
fully completed (signed, etc.). They then directed people towards different doors
into the auditorium depending on what section they were assigned to. There are 5
different sections to the auditorium with seperate entrances.

Once we got to the entrance area for our section, there was a table set up with two
INS employees who reviewed the form again. But before you got there, there was
another INS employee who took a quick look at the form to make sure it was completed.
He also took the Green Card and stapled it to the form. That's the last you will see
of your Green Card. At the table the employee looked at the form, if there were any
yes answers to the questions on the back, they questioned people about the details.
The employee who looked at my wifes form, asked her if her husband was there. I was
standing behind her and said, "yes". He then asked me if we were still happily
married, not going throug a divorce? I said, "yes, still happily married". He then
wrote something on the front of the form, gave her a large white envelope, and
instructed her to get in line by the door to enter the auditorium. What they were
doing is lining up the applicants until they had enough to fill up a row of seats.
They would then lead them in and tell them where to sit. Guests had to sit in the
upper rows of seats. You can't sit with the applicants.

On a side note, the instructions she received with her notification stated that male
adults (whether guests or applicants) who attended the cermony must wear coats and
ties. I noticed this wasn't enforced at all. While many of us did comply with that
rule, I also saw a lot of people there who didn't. Some were even wearing shorts and
t-shirts. I'm sepaking of the guests here, and not the applicants.

After my wife was seated another INS employee passed out a form to all applicants. My
wife looked at the form, then looked back where I was sitting as if she didn't
understand what to do with it. She then spoke with another person who was working
there, and got up and came towards where I was sitting. I walked down to meet her.
Turns out the form was an application for a Social Security Number. I told her to
take her Social Security Card out of her purse and show it to them, and tell them she
already had a number and didn't need to apply for one. I couldn't figure out why they
would be passing these applications out and asking that they be completed and
returned there on the spot. By the time someone gets to the naturalization point,
they have been in the U.S. long enough that they should have a Social Secuiity Number
by then. So she went back down to where she was seated, and showed the guy her card.
He then pointed out something on the application, and she came back up towards me. So
I went to meet her again. She said that he said she needed to fill out the
application, and indicate that she was previously issued a card, and include her
number. I still don't understand what this was about, as it appeared that part of the
form was for someone who had lost their card and was applying for a replacement.
Again, up until now I don't know why they had to fill out these applications.

All of the above took very little time. All applicants appeared to be seated by
1:00PM. So again, I don't know why they wanted everyone there by 12:30. Although,
there were maybe a handful of applicants who were seated as late as 1:30PM. They must
have gotten there late.

From then on, it was just dead waiting time. At about 1:30, someone came to the
microphone that set up on stage and explained how the whole process would go. He
explained it was a court process, and people should be quiet, turn off cell phones,
not be getting up out of their seats, not be coming down to the stage to take
pictures, etc. He then said that they would announce all countries represented by the
applicants, and when an individuals country was announced they were to stand up and
remain standing until instructed to sit. After the countries were announced, the
judge would read the oath, and when finished all the applicants would say, "I do".

The ceremony itself went as he explained. Applicants didn't even have to repeat the
oath, only say, "I do". This was a relief for my wife, as she was worried about
pronouncing some of the words. Overall, the ceremony lasted about 45 minutes. Besdies
announcing the countires, and adminerstering the oath, the judge led the audience in
saying the Pledge of Allegance. The Chief of Police was the guest speaker, and gave a
speech. They then showed a movie of President Bush welcoming the new citizens. Then
another patirotic type movie presentation. After that, the applicants filed out of
their rows, and their Naturalization Certificates were handed to them as they were
coming out. That's why they lined the applicants up when they were first seated, so
it was an orderly process. There were also INS people available should the applicants
notice any errors on their certificates. I don't know what the process would be to
correct errors though. Don't know if they could issue a new certificate on the spot,
or it would be mailed at a later date.

During the ceremony, they anounced there were over 800 applicants being naturalized.
Over 100 were also having their name changed at the same time. And over 100 more
didn't show up. I also overheard an applicant speaking with an INS employee before
the ceremony. They said they hold the ceremony once a quarter, and have about 1000
applicants each time. So that means about 4000 people per year are naturalized in
San Antonio.

As you can see from the above, the entire process took us about 10 months, which is
quicker then I thought. If the original interview date had not been reschedule, it's
possible my wife could have attended the previous ceremony in March, meaning the
entire process would have only taken 7 months.

Oh, and one final thing, someone said before that the Naturalization Certificate says
you can't copy it. That is basically true. Here is exactly what it reads on it, "It
is punishable by U.S. law to copy, print or photograph this certificate without
lawful authority." My tanslation, don't copy it unless the Government tells you to. I
did have to copy my wifes to send to the National Visa Center. We also applied for
her passport this morning, and they required the original certificate. It was mailed
with the passport application, and will be returned with the passport.