Amadeus

My timeline:

NYC DO 26 Federal Plaza (VSC)

N400 mailed 03/03/08
Received 03/04/08
Checks cashed 03/06/08
NOA 03/15/08
FP 03/24/08
Interview 06/03/2008
Oath XX/XX/XX

Had my interview this Tuesday. 90 days since I filed. All went well. Nothing major to report. Now the oath ceremony and I am SO DONE!!!!

Ozzidoc

Fantastic! Yay

Amadeus

NYC DO 26 Federal Plaza (VSC)

N400 mailed 03/03/08
Received 03/04/08
Checks cashed 03/06/08
NOA 03/15/08
FP 03/24/08
Interview 06/03/2008
Oath 06/27/08


I got my oath ceremony invitation today, it's for June 27th. Less than 4 months. YES!!!

Octang Frye

About 9 months for me.
Congrats!

jokeworm

Hey Aycee .. how did you get on ?

Aycee

Hi jokeworm - here's it is - at last!!!

I'm at last one step nearer to the end of the citizenship road.

My interview at 5.30pm on Thursday went smoothly, but more by good luck than good management. The previous afternoon, chatting with my husband's daughter-in-law, we touched on the subject of my upcoming interview, and the matter of how long it'd be before an Oath Ceremony to complete the matter. She mentioned that she knew someone who might be able to find out for me when I'd be likely to be called to the swearing-in ceremony, and promised to call them. Later that evening she called me back with some (what I thought was) devastating news. Her contact had been able to speak to the person who would be interviewing me and was told that my second lot of fingerprints (taken back in February) had been rejected by FBI (again). Nobody told me!!!!

I've waited 10 weeks from my original interview date when I was sent away due to "staff sickness" . They have had 3 months to tell me there was a problem and that I'd have to obtain statements from city, county and state police departments as to my criminal background (or lack of it) before my case can go forward.

I was given this information purely through a lucky chance, by phone, on Wednesday evening. As my interview was 5.30p, we had all day Thursday to try to obtain the necessary documents. I did it, visited sheriff's office, then local police department in our town, then the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in OKC, and was able to produce the three signed/sealed statemements at the interview, otherwise I suppose my file would have gone back to the bottom of the pile AGAIN!

I also had to make a personal statement on the criminal background topic and sign it with a witness present.

The rest of the interview was much as I've read in reports of other applicants. Swear an oath to tell the truth. Hand over green card and passport for checking. Go through questions on N400 checking all my replies. Sign form.Write name on 2 of my photos,

then

Civics questions - I got the first 6 right so didn't go further.
Questions were, as near as I can recall --
What is the USA's national anthem?
Who is the Vice President?
What is the head of a city government called?
What is The Constitution?
Who makes laws in the USA?
How many terms can a president serve?

The interviewer told me that it could be 2 or three months to Oath Ceremony. Because the court house doesn't have capacity for za large enough number of new citizens they are arranging extra sessions at the USCIS building. they ahve three extras coming up next week (150 people), and might do the same next month. I might or might not be included. It'll be August or September if not, I guess.

Didn't ask to see any of the other documents detailed in the interview letter.

Start to finish 25 minutes.

I was so relieved to have had the prior information about my fingerprints - just in the nick of time to do something about it, so I'm not going to sweat it about the Oath Ceremony. I'll wait (im)patiently

N400 to TSC - 26 July 2007
PO confirmed signed for - 30 July 2007
Cheque cashed - 19 November 2007
NOA -Rec'd 26 Nov 2007 (Notice date 20 Nov)
PD - 27July 2007
FP -Notice received 6 December
FP Appt. 17 Dec. 2007
FP re-do appointment 22 January 2008
IL received 25 February 2008
Interview date 11 April 2008 1.05PM OKC
Interview postponed on day of attendance
New interview date 19 June 2008

jokeworm

wow - someone really does not want you to be a US citizen ...

Glad you finally got there .... lets hope the oath ceremony date is not too far behind .....

Mine is this Weds back in OKC ..... hopefully it'll be the final time i have to make that drive.

I went and got myself a new shirt and tie just for the occasion .. who knows - i may even trim my beard and get a haircut too ... !!

Will report back here with details when i get back.

Aycee

Hope it's an enjoyable day, jokeworm! I'll look forward to your report.

My interviewer mentioned "the judge does not like people at the ceremonies to wear jeans". Shucks! I'll have to drag out a skirt and I've not worn one since I arrived in the USA !

jokeworm

Well - i got my bit of paper and am now all official and everything

Got there nice and early (my wife has some kind of phobia about getting anywhere at least 2 hours before we need to be there) .. appointment was @ 1pm ... and they did not let anybody into the building until exactly 1pm - so if you get there early - stay in your car with the air running until just before the appointment time ... !!

At 1pm - they allowed only those people who were being naturalized into the building (there were 47 of us for this ceremony.. so it took a while)

At about 1.25 the rest of the "spectators" were allowed in ...

About 40 mins after letting us in they called our names and we had to go to a desk and turn in our perm resident cards and show our appointment letter and answer any questions they may have still had .... then we went to another table and checked over our certificate and printed our name on it ... then to a third table to visit social security and get a form to complete so that they could adjust our status and issue replacement cards if needed ... then back to our seats ...

At approx 2.15 they started the ceremony ... played a message from the president ... gave a short speech .. took the oath .. then they called us up one by one to get our certificate .. took around 30 mins total for the actual ceremony ...

Then we lined up again to hand in our (now completed) social security forms ...

We was out of there by about 3-20 - 3.30pm.

All in all - its great to finally be done .... I'm not sure how exactly - but i do indeed feel slightly different now that I'm a US citizen ... maybe a little more confident .. i can't quite put my finger on it ...

.... it would have been nice if it had not seemed like it was just ... "hi guys just a few more hoops to jump through and a little more paperwork to process then you become a citizen"

Not sure why or how - but the constant "go here - sign this - answer this question - go here - fill that out - hand that in" process just seemed to take away a little from the real reason we were all there ....

but once the ceremony started - it was great to be able to look around at the 46 other people representing 20 other countries all of them coming together for one thing. To become a US citizen. I do have to say .. I AM now proud to be an American. It was a long emotional, expensive, sometimes complicated journey - but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.



Good luck to those still "in the process" and congratulations to those who have already completed the journey.

Aycee

Congratulations on your new status jokeworm !!-

And thanks muchly for such a detailed account of the ceremony - that's the first I've seen, and it's useful information to keep for when my time comes.

It does sound a bit regimented, and not a bit like an on-line friend (South African-born) described her UK oath ceremony in Scotland - that one sounded very friendly, with buffet, live speeches of welcome and all kinds of goodies.

Ah weel, beggars can't be choosers and as long as we get what we came for, best not to criticise! I suppose all states have different customs too.

It's interesting to hear you feel a little different, and proud. Good! I hope I'll feel much the same - I'll update as and when.

Thanks again for the report, and all the best for your future years in the good old US of A!!

ian-mstm

Congratulations!

Ian

meauxna

Congratulations, jokeworm!!!

How nice that they had SSA on hand & saved you a trip.

Aycee

Jokeworm - if you're still around....or anyone still interested

I got my Oath Ceremony letter yesterday - quicker than expected.

25 July at 9.30am OkC Courthouse.

It'll be a day short of the one year anniversary of posting my N400!

jokeworm

Excellent - nice to see that they got you in a courthouse for the ceremony ... i'll bet that morning traffic isn't going to be fun for a 9.30am start though ...

Still one last hurdle ..... please let us know how it goes

Aycee

Hmmm - we hadn't considered traffic - thanks for the reminder, Jokeworm!

I shall report back!