Naturalization Success-the US has a few more citizens today

[LaL 418]

i couldnt be happier for you Mo!!!!! Just tomorrow my DH leaves for Toronto to become a citizen of Canada. we are just as excited!!!!

It must feel lovely to be REALLY free!!!!!

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Wow!! congratulations!!! Tell your husband "Welcome to the club". We'll have to teach him the secret USC handshake now.

[Captain Ewok 1,871]

HUGE CONGRATS!!!!

Much posing for pictures ensued and I presented the DAH with a US flag that had been flown over the US Capitol in his honor (certificate to prove it!) which touched even The Big Stoic himself & was a big hit (17 bucks well spent).

Would be neat to have seen this ceremony -- great writeup .

My Darling Alien Husband has recently been upgraded to Darling American Husband!

After a whirlwind day last week, he has now experienced his interview (15-20 minutes) & passed all questions 100% (an obsessive goal of his), was recommended for approval, had everything completed by the noon deadline and enjoyed his same-day oath ceremony to finish it all off by going to bed as a US citizen with a gutload of the Midwest's finest beef.

After an hour and a half break, we returned to the USCIS building with family in tow and filed along upstairs to the auditorium with the other 35 citizen candidates from 17 countries and assembled for the boilerplate videos and a very nice talk from our District Director. Leaving politics (almost) aside, he emphasized the balance and beauty of the Constitution and urged everyone to work to protect it. It was interesting to hear a man with 30+ (IIRC) years' experience in the Department condense 'patriotism' down to the most important document.

As corny as all of we meauxna-family cynics expected it to be, we were all surprised to be genuinely moved through the ceremony. The DD had all the candidates stand and give their country of origin as an introduction. Eventually, all were called forward one by one and presented with their Certificates, a US flag and a message from the President. Much posing for pictures ensued and I presented the DAH with a US flag that had been flown over the US Capitol in his honor (certificate to prove it!) which touched even The Big Stoic himself & was a big hit (17 bucks well spent).

The Portland office maintains its commitment to a 6 month turnaround for naturalization, and as usual, the staff there were human, friendly and helpful as well as genuinely excited for us all. We partied with a festive dinner and are still buzzing about it all days later. The DAH has mentioned the happy surprise of how enthusiastic other Americans are at hearing his news--everyone has made a real fuss over him & the barkeep bought him a drink at dinner.

The next step is a quick trip to Seattle to the Passport Agency--we're traveling in less than a week. I'd asked the group about this earlier and did some searches--for the curious, he *could* travel in the Western hemisphere and return without a passport (http://www.customs.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/kbyg/documents_needed.xml). However, the cost and time invloved in replacing a Certificate of Naturalization makes it worth burning up some gas and time to go to Seattle.

I imagine there are a thousand details I could add to this report, but there is nothing magic for you to know by this point--take your paperwork, answer the questions & follow the instructions. You'll walk out as a USC.

I'm surprised at how proud I am of the DAH, and how much it meant to him, finally. It was not so much an achievement for him as the conclusion to our interim plans but it really did signal a conclusion of sorts, and cemented what he already felt: that the US is his home, and he's one of Us.

I-130 filed Aug02.

USC July06.

/

[Canuck Carrie 1]

What a fabulous day for the meauxna family! Congratulations to all of you

[meauxna 15]

i couldnt be happier for you Mo!!!!! Just tomorrow my DH leaves for Toronto to become a citizen of Canada. we are just as excited!!!!

It must feel lovely to be REALLY free!!!!!

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Oh that's terrific news too!!!! Send him our best wishes & tell him we expect him to play for our team one day, too.

Thank you all!

[Sweetgirl 0]

My Darling Alien Husband has recently been upgraded to Darling American Husband!

After a whirlwind day last week, he has now experienced his interview (15-20 minutes) & passed all questions 100% (an obsessive goal of his), was recommended for approval, had everything completed by the noon deadline and enjoyed his same-day oath ceremony to finish it all off by going to bed as a US citizen with a gutload of the Midwest's finest beef.

After an hour and a half break, we returned to the USCIS building with family in tow and filed along upstairs to the auditorium with the other 35 citizen candidates from 17 countries and assembled for the boilerplate videos and a very nice talk from our District Director. Leaving politics (almost) aside, he emphasized the balance and beauty of the Constitution and urged everyone to work to protect it. It was interesting to hear a man with 30+ (IIRC) years' experience in the Department condense 'patriotism' down to the most important document.

As corny as all of we meauxna-family cynics expected it to be, we were all surprised to be genuinely moved through the ceremony. The DD had all the candidates stand and give their country of origin as an introduction. Eventually, all were called forward one by one and presented with their Certificates, a US flag and a message from the President. Much posing for pictures ensued and I presented the DAH with a US flag that had been flown over the US Capitol in his honor (certificate to prove it!) which touched even The Big Stoic himself & was a big hit (17 bucks well spent).

The Portland office maintains its commitment to a 6 month turnaround for naturalization, and as usual, the staff there were human, friendly and helpful as well as genuinely excited for us all. We partied with a festive dinner and are still buzzing about it all days later. The DAH has mentioned the happy surprise of how enthusiastic other Americans are at hearing his news--everyone has made a real fuss over him & the barkeep bought him a drink at dinner.

The next step is a quick trip to Seattle to the Passport Agency--we're traveling in less than a week. I'd asked the group about this earlier and did some searches--for the curious, he *could* travel in the Western hemisphere and return without a passport (http://www.customs.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/kbyg/documents_needed.xml). However, the cost and time invloved in replacing a Certificate of Naturalization makes it worth burning up some gas and time to go to Seattle.

I imagine there are a thousand details I could add to this report, but there is nothing magic for you to know by this point--take your paperwork, answer the questions & follow the instructions. You'll walk out as a USC.

I'm surprised at how proud I am of the DAH, and how much it meant to him, finally. It was not so much an achievement for him as the conclusion to our interim plans but it really did signal a conclusion of sorts, and cemented what he already felt: that the US is his home, and he's one of Us.

I-130 filed Aug02.

USC July06.

/

Condratulations MEAUXNA!

I am very happy for you!

My very Best Wishes!

Sincerely.

[aussiewench 9]

WOOHOOOOOOOOOO Mo.....YEEHAAAAAAAAAA

Drinks all around

Awesome news.......CONGRATULATIONS

[Aussielad 37]

congratulations

[Angel7422 0]

All I can say is YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

[meauxna 15]

Ta, all. We made the one day dash for the passport and were successful--I will write that up later.

I keep remembering funny things about all this. Like, somehow someway I did not have a copy for my records of the DS-230 so I sent a note into the interview with the DAH and asked him to ask the officer nicely if I could have one. Since the whole file from the beginning of time was there, she was happy to accomodate us. Well, she laughed a little.

I mention it to remind all of you who feel like a cog in the machine that there are real people working there, and when you get a chance to interact with one individually, they really can be quite nice!

[Betsy 0]

Congratulations!!!

Does this mean your Visa Journey is over?

I'm hoping (for entirely selfish reasons) you will still visit us. You are a and I would probably still be figuring out the DCF or how to fix a BIG mistake if you hadn't created the guide/FAQ and helped along the way

[maya62 7]

To Meauxna and her DAH,

Heartfelt congratulations! What a great story and well told. The flag was a stroke of genius.

It's wonderful that you've reached the light at the end of the tunnel (and to hear that it is possible).

Very best wishes,

Maya, Chyangba, and our little monkey (our son)

[MaryandMian 1]

Congrats to your DH for his naturalization.

[wolsen3129 0]

Hi All,

I take the Oath tomorrow on the 21st.

I took the exam and interview back on June 28th.

My sentence to read and write was, "They all work well".

The exam was pretty easy. I had a short verbal exam where I was asked 4 questions.

The problem I had was that the interviewers English was worse than mine that I had a difficult time understanding them.

Phase 1 will be over tomorrow, but the fun is not over yet. Just two weeks ago I filed a K1 for my fiancee.

I must love punishment.

Willy

[jodee 30]

OMG, how did I miss this,..

My warmest congratulations to Meauxna, and her darling hubby...

Jodee