You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

Curious -

For those of you who've gone thru an N400 interview - if you went with your spouse to the appointment - were you allowed to take your husband/wife into the actual interview with you?

Thanks.

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

I was not allowed to accompany Mark into the interview room at Norfolk. However, I'm glad I went to the appointment with him, because they approved him and then told him to come back later that afternoon for the oath ceremony. If I hadn't gone, I would've missed "the moment" so in the end it was worth the wait! :)

~ Jenney

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

I went with my husband to his N-400 interview, but was not called in to the interview room. To my knowledge, the USC spouse is not required to be at the N-400 interview. It is an interview only for the applicant, not the USC spouse, and if you are there, you won't be allowed into the interview room unless the ConOff specifically asks you to come in - and I imagine that wouldn't be a good sign.

Rene

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

I went with DH but no, your spouse will not be allowed into the interview room. It is solely their petition and the interview does not include the other half of the married couple in anyway.

The AO might, if it is made known to them that the spouse is in the waiting room, come out to meet with you briefly. They did in our instance.

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

No, the spouse is not allowed into the interview room.

Ian

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

I'll be going with hubby for sure - no way I am missing an 'immigration field trip'. :D I'm gutted that I won't be able to actually attend the interview, though. :( Brits get all the fun.

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

No.

Regards, JEff

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

Just wanted to add that there ARE cases where a relative can accompany the applicant into the N400 interview. There was a woman interviewing the same day as Mark, and her 20-something adult son was allowed to accompany her. I asked him about it, and he told me that her English wasn't all that great and he was allowed to assist with translation -- but not for the English exam part. That she had to do on her own. The mother and son were from Vietnam.

~ Jenney

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

I accompanied Mr. Pink to the interview but was not called in with him at all, so waited in the waiting room. The officer did come out to meet me though, but only because I had the official family calendar; they both wanted to make sure he would be able to attend the oath ceremony she was assigning him to. :o

~SecretGarden

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

Thanks everyone.

Indeed, I'm for sure going with him on the day - never any question there. Just curious about the actual interview.

Nothing brings my linebacker of a husband to his knees faster and harder than a test - ANY kind of test. Like most people, he's nervous about the test. But his nerves are of a sort that I can't even begin to explain. As the date approaches, his anxiety seems to increase ever more.

I should add that part of this is because has a learning disability, and has always had, a complex about this.

And yes, we've looked into all of the exemptions surrounding this matter but, he's still having a tough time. (and it hasn't been as straightforward as we'd have hoped)

I know that my being in the room wont actually do anything - after all, it's not like I can hold up flash cards showing him the answer. Just was hoping to sit next to him for a bit more support.

Thanks much everyone.

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

My advice: Bring a good book! :)

It might help to remind him that this is one of the few tests he'll probably take in his life where he's given all of the exam questions BEFORE the test -- AND their answers! And of the 100 questions, he will only be asked 10, and of those 10, he only needs to correctly answer 7 of them. Considering that English is his first language, the odds are greatly in his favor of passing. :thumbup:

Just for reference, here were the questions that Mark had to answer -- notice that several of them were easy-peasy:

1) How many stripes are there on our flag?
2) How many states are there in the Union?
3) What makes up Congress?
4) For how long do we elect each Senator?
5) What are the duties of the Supreme Court?
6) Who is the current Governor of the state you live in?
7) What were the 13 original states called before they were states?
8) What is the introduction to the Constitution called?
9) Name one right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.
10) Where does freedom of speech come from?

I can almost guarantee that after it's all over, your husband will wonder what he was all worked up about!! :thumbsup:

~ Jenney

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

Actually, he only needs to correctly answer six out of ten. :)

Rene

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

If he's good, he will only be asked 6 questions.

Regards, JEff

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

Even better!! :)

~ Jenney

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

I went on my own - wife was at work. Only reason I can think for going together is it would alleviate the waiting boredom; although I thought it was quite interesting watching the different people in the office - some had their whole families waiting outside, some had lawyers hovering around, others were just there like me on their own. Good people watching spot, the immigration office!

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

Hi Jenny -

I'm with ya - believe me - I totally agree. The questions are VERY easy.

He's been studying like mad over many, many months now.

But he's dyslexic and he's petrified of any reading and writing he'll be asked to do.

Right now, we're practicing relaxation techniques.

Thanks for the good wishes everyone.

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

You can tell him the phrase my DH had to write is "You cook very well." :)

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

The questions will be administered verbally, and his responses will be given verbally. As far as the sentence writing in English, it will be one sentence, and I can almost guarantee you that they won't be checking for spelling but more for basic sentence structure. He's a native English speaker so even with the dyslexia he has an advantage over some of the people taking the exam.

I know he will worry no matter what anyone says, but the reading and writing mode is not going to be the one tapped primarily----if he feels comfortable conversing in English (which I'm assuming he does) that will be half the battle. And he shouldn't feel embarassed to tell the examiner that he had a learning disability----in fact, once he becomes a US citizen he is covered under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and would be able to get accomodations for future tasks involving reading and writing.

Jan, when my husband naturalized in Sept. 08, he took the "old" test which had a study guide available on a CD (so as a result, no reading necessary in order to memorize the answers) that he listened to in the car everyday while driving to work. I don't know if a CD is available for the "new" test, but if so, that would have been really helpful for you! I'm sad you didn't come to us sooner to share your concerns :( .......but if you have time, you could make a CD of yourself reading the study questions and responding with the answers. As I'm sure you know, many people with dyslexia are much better auditory learners than visual.

Anyway, good luck...and if you have other questions or concerns we are here to listen and (hopefully) help. :)

~SecretGarden

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

ooh, yes, I just saw it there yesterday.. mp3 fancystuff even!

Study Materials for the Naturalization Test

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

I believe the ADA covers anyone who is eligible to work, so he should already be covered and, by extension, he should *expect* that reasonable accommodations be made.

Ian

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

Not sure that a non US citizen would be covered under an act with "Americans" in the name............. ????? I would doubt that. :confused:

~SG
PS. In an ideal world one should be able to "expect" accomodations to be made. but in reality, they often have to be asked for...

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

Thanks for the thoughts.

He's taking the new test and yes, it came with a cd - he's been using it intently.

Unfortunately, memory for you and I can be a whole different ball game for someone with dyslexia.

(sigh)

Re: You Alone or W/Your Spouse?
 

SG - you're right - looked into this (amongst other things) and it wont work for him.