ben2

Hi Everyone,

I received the letter for oath ceremony. It'll be held on Oct 9th which happens to be my birthday too

One question, do I need to take my wife with me? It's all the way in Los Angeles at 8:00am.

How long is the ceremony generally?

Thanks
Ben

Rete

Congratulations on the scheduled ceremony. No you don't have to bring anyone with you, unless they wish to share the experience with you.

The ceremony will not be at 8 but that is the time that you need to be there so that the brief interviews can be conducted of all the celebrants as to their traveling during the wait between interview and ceremony, checking of the certificate for correctness, etc.

The oath, itself, is brief what might be time consuming is the pomp and circumstances of the ceremony .

Folinskyinla

Hi:

Los Angeles is one of the few [maybe the only] jurisdictions that does judicial swearing in.

You imply that you are coming in from a long distance [some people consider coming in from Diamond Bar to be a long distance which will make people coming down from San Luis Obispo laugh, but I digress]. You might want to consider coming down the night before and stay in a motel/hotel due to morning commuting traffic. [Despite that recent MetroLink crash, you might want to consider train travel].

I forget if that ceremony is at the Sports Arena or at the Convention Center. But the former is adjacent to the Coliseum & USC, the later adjacent to Staples Center.

Your wife need not come, but it would be fun.

Make sure to take the opportunity to register to vote [I don't know if the registration is limited to L.A. County at the ceremony]. You can also apply for a passport there -- but you have to surrender your brand new naturalization certificate to accompany the application [it will come back later]. I recommend to my clients to make their passport applications the next day after having made a photocopy of the certificate for their records.

Good luck.

ben2

Thanks, it's the Convention Center.
1. what's the proper attire for this ceremony?
2. I should take just green card, this letter.
3. I didnt go out of the country since my interview so I dont have any Reentry permit/Refugee Travel document
4. Immigration document, is that my passport?

-Ben

ian-mstm

I wore a suit... others were in business casual. I don't remember anyone in jeans.


... and your passport.

Ian

Folinskyinla

Hi:

For the convention center -- see http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/16/local/me-22868 for methods of getting there.

On attire, I usually say what is not appropriate -- shorts, sandals and a tank top. Wear at least closed shoes and for males, long pants and a shirt with a collar.

If the only immigration document you have is your green card, then bring just that. Your foreign passport is not what they mean. I know the thing is a tad confusing.

Make sure to fill out the back of the notice BEFORE you get there. You will see two videos -- Lee Greenwood & George W. Bush.

ben2

Thanks everyone, I have been a member of this forum since early 2003 when I applied for my green card. Now the long journey is about to end next month.
I found the members of this forum very kind and helpful. You have saved me a lot of money and time, as I have done all applications/ paperwork myself with your help.
Keep up the good work!

Good luck to everyone.

-Ben

meauxna

Congrats, ben, and Happy Birthday!

Floridared

Ben, I just went through mine last Friday in Tampa. I went with my wife, and we had a great time, in fact they made it into a big party,which I never expected and I would not have wanted my wife to miss it . Tampa is very casual, and people were wearing shorts and T. Shirts, which I normally do, but decided it was a big day, and wore a Tie. 8am is the time we had to be there, but thats to make sure everyone else gets there on time. The ceremony started at 9am, and took approximately 1.5 hours. They swore in 532 people from 90 different countries. I'm not sure if it's the same in LA, but they set up a passport centre for you if you need to get one in a hurry, but there was far too many people in the line for me to wait! Oh and by the way, you have to surrender you Green Card, it's a Federal Offence to be a citizen with a Green Card, it even tells you in the letter that you have to take your GC (I'm sure you must have the same letter I had) You would do well to make sure you have your own black pen with you, the amount of people trying to borrow pens! They told us that last week in LA, they swore in 18,000 people in one day alone!!

Have a great time and many happy returns of the day!

n1na

When did you have your interview?
My one was in Santa Ana on 25 July. Since that day I am desperately waiting for the letter with the invitation for citizenship ceremeny.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

My September 23d interview in Los Angeles will be sworn in on October 9th. My two interviews in early August in Los Angeles were sworn in on September 26th. That said, I have a section 329 interview from the end of July that is still waiting. However, CIS blows hot and cold on military naturalizations.

ben2

My interview was on Sept 12th in santa ana.

n1na

Folinskyinla, Ben2,

it looks like that the major celebration will take part on Oct 9.
Do you have the phone number of this place? If yes, it would help me to call them and check if my name ist among the participants.

g1ant

Why does he need to take his passport?

Floridared

Yep, they are not interested in your passport now!!