Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

Well it took me 15 years but I finally took the leap and have my interview date on Jan 23rd. Anything I should know? I don't want to forget anything. I got married after I sent the application so I presume I have to take my marriage certificate. I applied last April and got the letter this week. Took longer than I thought.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

Congratulations! Don't worry -- it took me 26 years to get around to it. As to the certificate, take it with you, but it shouldn't affect anything as obviously you're not applying on the basis of marriage to a US citizen. Not sure what part of CT you are in -- I had my interview in Hartford and ceremony in New Haven.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

Congrats. One of the most important things to know is that you are now at the stage where they want you to succeed. The interview (for me, at least but I have seen it from other posters too) was a very quick and painless experience, even with the fact that I missed a train and was 45 minutes late for my allotted time :eek:

Break a leg, and rock on, of course.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

That's good to know. yes, my interview is in Hartford. I don't know where the ceremony will be yet. I was hoping I'd get it on July 4th but I am pretty sure it will come around sooner than that. How far after the interview did you do the ceremony?

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

Cheers m'dears. I just want to be done with it and never have to deal with them again! Do you remember which of the questions you got asked for the citizenship test? I have such a terrible memory I'm afraid I'll forget all the answers. I can study anything medicine but civics is not my strong point.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

I think it was a couple of weeks. The venue wasn't my local one, but the interview was in November, and there wasn't going to be a ceremony local to me until the next year, so I opted to go to New Haven. I'm afraid you are going to be offered a ceremony well before July, and not getting it done with would leave you rather in limbo -- for instance, you'll want to get squared away so you can get your US passport and registered to vote as soon as possible.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

Oh don't worry...it was just a fantasy really. I'll take what I can get!

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

Congratulations on both the marriage and the upcoming interview.

As 'megger said, your marital status only needs to be updated and nothing pertaining to it is needed for your interview. Just your marriage license and whatever tax returns you have filed since you filed the application need to be brought to the interview.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

Thank you. Very helpful. I will definitely get it all together. I'd rather take too much than not enough.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

One of the best parts of naturalization is never having to deal with USCIS again :D.

As far as the questions go, the only one that sticks out in my head was being asked who was the governor of Illinois (that'll be Connecticut for you, obviously). The only other thing I remember was that the questions they did ask were pretty easy. Since you only need 60% to pass the test as well, they'll stop after the 6th question if you get them all right. If you spend a bit of time going over the study material and practice questions it'll sink in. Even though I was late, they were running behind anyway and I was able to have a half hour or so to study in the waiting room as well.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

It's was a nice idea! I was surprised at just how moving the ceremony was. The joy and relief felt by many of the participants was palpable and brought home to me just how important attaining citizenship is to people not born on our comfortable little island.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

I'm sure! I'll imagine I'll cry and be a big girly mess. It's been a long time coming. There's always this anxiety in the back of your mind when you're not a citizen. What would happen if I ran somebody over by accident...would I be deported? All that kind of stuff. Will be nice to just have it over and done with.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

Lucky for you! I'd have a stroke if that happened to me. I hate being late, especially for something important like that. I have a test app that I'm using and I typed all the questions out in a Word document to get familiar with them. I'll be fine. I'm a good test taker. I'm better at multiple choice though. If you actually ask me questions I freeze! Deer in the headlights look!

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

I did kind of shit myself when I got to the station and the train pulled away. I knew I'd have a chance of making it if I drove but then I hit roadworks, so I called some USCIS help line or other and they advised me to just show up and explain and I'd be OK. When I did finally make it to Chicago, they said they were running behind anyway and it didn't make a difference, so many sighs of relief were breathed.

The weird thing about the test is that it technically is multiple choice, but it's an oral test, so it doesn't really feel like one. At least, when I did it the prep material all had four possible answers. Think of it like your driving theory test, you'll end up overpreparing only to find out it was much easier than you expected.

Like I said before, at this stage, they want you to succeed. The hard part is now behind you, relatively speaking.

Re: Finally have my citizenship interview date
 

That's a relief. Don't worry...I'll be well prepared. I've been through harder tests than this. Luckily I have plenty of time to go over the material and school doesn't start until mid January. Pretty good timing actually. I can easily drive into Hartford too as I work there. I never thought this day would come. What a very long process it's all been.