CitySimon

Well, after being a resident of the USA for coming up on nine years and sitting on my hands for about four years now regarding citizenship, I've decided to take the plunge.

I had my biometrics interview in Syracuse last week.

The funny thing is how many of my friends are really surprised that I'm NOT an American citizen... Interestingly, the accent doesn't really seem to phase them and they act all like "Wow, you're not a citizen!?!?"

As I spend much of my time participating in a hobby mostly occupied by right wing, anti-immigration, conservative types, several seem to assume that I got that whole thing done ages ago.

Odd really, but there you go.

So, despite having been on this forum for several years, I find myself in unknown territory... What comes next? Civics test?

Married2abrit

Yes, I believe the civics portion is next. My husband had his biometrics on Oct. 19. He's been eligible for ages, but due to me being out of work and now only having a part-time job (partly due to health problems and partly the economy in SC) our money had to go to other things. His parents gave him a large portion of the fees as a present for his 40th birthday. Best of luck in the rest of your journey!

sir_eccles

I have encountered similar attitudes. It mostly stems from a complete misunderstanding of how immigration works (surprise).

No, I didn't become a citizen as soon as I married my USC wife. No, being British made no difference. No really, it took almost 5 years. No really, I did spend almost 8k. No, those Mexicans can't just do what I did. etc etc etc...

As to your question, when you did the biometrics they should have given you the big red book of question to study. They aren't difficult, just memorize the official answers. Wait until you get an appointment letter for your interview/test.

fatbrit

You'll get a notice for interview soon. Print out the test questions from USCIS and learn them parrot fashion (about an hour's work), and take this new found knowledge together with all your paperwork to the interview.

Search on this site to find out whether your USCIS office generally does judicial naturalisation (you'll get a date after the interview) or does it administratively by USCIS officers -- in which case you may be sworn in as a Merry Can on the day of your interview or you may end up in a stadium with thousands of others at a later date.

Echoing the other thoughts on immigration matter, there's a widespread belief that our undocumented friends simply couldn't be bothered to fill out the application form.

tonrob

I had my biometrics done on the 25th October, and today received notice of interview on 5th December - much quicker than I had imagined.

sir_eccles

It really depends how busy your local field office is. I'm now waiting for my oath appointment.

my timeline so far

CitySimon

That seems very quick... Good luck.

This is actually an interesting point. I've got a good friend who is a New York State elected judge... I'd hoped that he'd be able to do the oath ceremony, I think I should be looking into how I'd get that done.

fatbrit

It's got to be a federal judge.

http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/part1_crim.php

ian-mstm

I believe the Oath requires someone with Federal jurisdiction... so either a Federal judge or a USCIS officer.

Ian

Moonshadow_Girl

Hmm... Does it have to be a Federal Judge? Can it be a Federal Officer of the Court (ie. a USAA-Federal Prosecutor)? I have one of those whose office is not 5 feet from me (Literally. Her office is the closest to my desk.)

ian-mstm

http://law.justia.com/cfr/title08/8-...0.1.3.85.0.1.7

Quite interesting reading!

Ian

Englishmum

As a matter of interest, what happens at a 'biometrics interview'?

When I applied for my green card I had to go to a Fed building in Newark, NJ (what a dump - ancient tattered curtains falling off the rails, water stains down the walls etc) and as far as I recall, they basically took a photo and fingerprints.

Is it different for the citizenship biometrics?

ian-mstm

Nope... same/same.

Ian

ljaw2002uk

I believe it is the same again.

CitySimon

Update...

I had my naturalization interview on January 3rd and have my oath ceremony next Thursday. That was relatively straight-forward.