Interview & Oath Ceremony Portland Oregon

[Lansbury 19]

This is a report of my naturalization interview and oath ceremony at Portland, Oregon. I have included parking information which I couldn't find out beforehand and which would have been useful to know.

The interview was at 1.30pm on December 1st and as just about everyone else in Oregon the only practical way to get to the office was to drive. However the office is situated an easy walk 2 or 3 blocks from the Portland Greyhound bus station, the Amtrack station and light rail if you choose public transport. As I was driving I looked before hand for parking information and all I could find was there are parking meters and parking lots nearby. There are indeed meters all around the office and surrounding streets but I couldn't find an empty parking space, so I used the parking lot one block from the USCIS office on NW Glisan. If you decide to park there it is cheaper after 1pm but still more expensive than meter parking. The address of the USCIS office is 511 NW Broadway but the entrance on The Broadway isn't used so you go in at the other side of the building on NW 8th. You go through the large entrance doors and immediately are in front of the security scanners. The hardest part of the interview day was getting past the metal detector, after 4 attempts I finally remembered everything I had which was metal including my pants belt. There didn't seem to be any problem with taking a cell phone into the building. In front of you is a corridor stretching the whole length of the building and room 106 is about half way down on the right. As has been said many times before place your interview letter in the box to the left of the door, amazing how many people I watched have a problem with that, and take a seat in the waiting room. The time past watching a woman who every time someone put their interview letter in the box casually walked out the waiting room and moved her letter back to the front of the pile. of course it made no difference the interviewing officers all had a list of their own to determine the order people were called in.

At various time officers would come into the room and call out a name and at 1.45pm my name was called. As we left the room the officer apologized for keeping me waiting which I thought was very nice and anyway I had expected to wait longer than I did. We walked to her office and when we got inside she said something with her back to me which I didn't hear apart from "Before you sit down" the rest apparently was raise your right hand. It became apparent that part of the reason I didn't hear was because she was chewing gum which made her mumble at times when she spoke. I was able to understand her but for someone who had problems with English it would have been hard for them to do so. After I sat down she asked for my Green Card so I had to stand up again to get it out my wallet. She did the test first. Name 3 of the original Colonies, a State which borders Mexico, Who is the Commander-in-Chief, What party does the president belong to, Name 2 US political parties and who wrote the Constitution. She had the questions printed on a sheet of paper and wrote my answer by each question. Only she started to write the answers before I said them so if I hadn't of known the answers I could quite easy of read what she put down. I then had to write The people elect Congress and read Who elects Congress. She then went through the N-400 very briefly and got to my occupation and was surprised to see what I done in the UK. Her tone gave me the impression this was the first time she had read the N-400. She said no point in asking if you have ever been arrested or joined a terrorist organization is there picked up a stamp and stamped a large red "Approved" on the form. At no time did she ask to see any of the documents that USCIS had instructed me to take in fact the copies sent with the N-400 were all she looked at. All done in about 10 minutes. She said "Would you like to attend tomorrows oath ceremony" as if I would say no and gave me the letter to came back at 1.45pm the next day.

The oath ceremony. Again no space on the parking meters was back into the small parking lot I used yesterday which again had ample space. Through security, easier this time I left my belt at home and turn left into room 117 which is the officer where the infopass and other enquiries are done. There is a waiting area for people attending the ceremony in that room. Being English I completely overdressed for the occasion wearing a sport jacket, shirt and my Zimbabwe tie with elephants and giraffes all over it. Some were in jeans and tee shirt. One guy wore a suit, he turned out to be the only other Brit there most were quite casually dressed, which is the norm in Oregon even for weddings and funerals. At 1.50 we were taken upstairs to where the oath ceremony is held. The guests, of which there quite a few, were taken into the room while those taking the oath remained outside to have our interview letters checked that we had signed the back to say we hadn't got divorced, joined the communist party or changed our minds since the interview. The GC were taken and we sent into the room in order and there matched against the photograph on our certificates and ask to sit. The ceremony was conducted by the USCIS Director at the Portland office and started with a speech of welcome, what it means to be a US citizen, how we should strive to defend our rights and the constitution and the opportunities open to us as soon to become citizens. A short video of still photographs was then played showing immigrants arriving in the US from the late 1800 and early 1900 hundreds which written comments from some about their hopes and achievements in their new life. She then said there were 34 people being sworn in from 20 different counties and asked us to stand as she read the list of countries out. She then lead the oath swearing us in as US citizens and at the end said "You are now all US citizens" which was greeted with applause and handshakes. She then invited everyone in the room to take the Pledge of Allegiance after which the certificates were presented along with of course a flag. We were told to check the certificates were correct, because any errors would be corrected before we left without a fee but once we had left it was a form and fee and wait for it to be done, and to then sign the certificate with the same signature we had signed the photograph attached to it with. The ceremony concluded with a video of President Obama welcoming us as new citizens and that was it. I celebrated by taking my 5 year old grandson who had come to see "Poppy" become an American for a Slurpee.

[antda 13]

Lansbury-Congratulations on you passing the interview and having the next day oath (that was quick!)

Thanks for sharing in detail about that experience here on VJ.

Good luck with the rest of your journey US Citizen and good luck in getting a US passport soon too.

Ant

P.S. Cool about the animal print tie and about celebrating afterwards with your grandson!

This is a report of my naturalization interview and oath ceremony at Portland, Oregon. I have included parking information which I couldn't find out beforehand and which would have been useful to know.

The interview was at 1.30pm on December 1st and as just about everyone else in Oregon the only practical way to get to the office was to drive. However the office is situated an easy walk 2 or 3 blocks from the Portland Greyhound bus station, the Amtrack station and light rail if you choose public transport. As I was driving I looked before hand for parking information and all I could find was there are parking meters and parking lots nearby. There are indeed meters all around the office and surrounding streets but I couldn't find an empty parking space, so I used the parking lot one block from the USCIS office on NW Glisan. If you decide to park there it is cheaper after 1pm but still more expensive than meter parking. The address of the USCIS office is 511 NW Broadway but the entrance on The Broadway isn't used so you go in at the other side of the building on NW 8th. You go through the large entrance doors and immediately are in front of the security scanners. The hardest part of the interview day was getting past the metal detector, after 4 attempts I finally remembered everything I had which was metal including my pants belt. There didn't seem to be any problem with taking a cell phone into the building. In front of you is a corridor stretching the whole length of the building and room 106 is about half way down on the right. As has been said many times before place your interview letter in the box to the left of the door, amazing how many people I watched have a problem with that, and take a seat in the waiting room. The time past watching a woman who every time someone put their interview letter in the box casually walked out the waiting room and moved her letter back to the front of the pile. of course it made no difference the interviewing officers all had a list of their own to determine the order people were called in.

At various time officers would come into the room and call out a name and at 1.45pm my name was called. As we left the room the officer apologized for keeping me waiting which I thought was very nice and anyway I had expected to wait longer than I did. We walked to her office and when we got inside she said something with her back to me which I didn't hear apart from "Before you sit down" the rest apparently was raise your right hand. It became apparent that part of the reason I didn't hear was because she was chewing gum which made her mumble at times when she spoke. I was able to understand her but for someone who had problems with English it would have been hard for them to do so. After I sat down she asked for my Green Card so I had to stand up again to get it out my wallet. She did the test first. Name 3 of the original Colonies, a State which borders Mexico, Who is the Commander-in-Chief, What party does the president belong to, Name 2 US political parties and who wrote the Constitution. She had the questions printed on a sheet of paper and wrote my answer by each question. Only she started to write the answers before I said them so if I hadn't of known the answers I could quite easy of read what she put down. I then had to write The people elect Congress and read Who elects Congress. She then went through the N-400 very briefly and got to my occupation and was surprised to see what I done in the UK. Her tone gave me the impression this was the first time she had read the N-400. She said no point in asking if you have ever been arrested or joined a terrorist organization is there picked up a stamp and stamped a large red "Approved" on the form. At no time did she ask to see any of the documents that USCIS had instructed me to take in fact the copies sent with the N-400 were all she looked at. All done in about 10 minutes. She said "Would you like to attend tomorrows oath ceremony" as if I would say no and gave me the letter to came back at 1.45pm the next day.

The oath ceremony. Again no space on the parking meters was back into the small parking lot I used yesterday which again had ample space. Through security, easier this time I left my belt at home and turn left into room 117 which is the officer where the infopass and other enquiries are done. There is a waiting area for people attending the ceremony in that room. Being English I completely overdressed for the occasion wearing a sport jacket, shirt and my Zimbabwe tie with elephants and giraffes all over it. Some were in jeans and tee shirt. One guy wore a suit, he turned out to be the only other Brit there most were quite casually dressed, which is the norm in Oregon even for weddings and funerals. At 1.50 we were taken upstairs to where the oath ceremony is held. The guests, of which there quite a few, were taken into the room while those taking the oath remained outside to have our interview letters checked that we had signed the back to say we hadn't got divorced, joined the communist party or changed our minds since the interview. The GC were taken and we sent into the room in order and there matched against the photograph on our certificates and ask to sit. The ceremony was conducted by the USCIS Director at the Portland office and started with a speech of welcome, what it means to be a US citizen, how we should strive to defend our rights and the constitution and the opportunities open to us as soon to become citizens. A short video of still photographs was then played showing immigrants arriving in the US from the late 1800 and early 1900 hundreds which written comments from some about their hopes and achievements in their new life. She then said there were 34 people being sworn in from 20 different counties and asked us to stand as she read the list of countries out. She then lead the oath swearing us in as US citizens and at the end said "You are now all US citizens" which was greeted with applause and handshakes. She then invited everyone in the room to take the Pledge of Allegiance after which the certificates were presented along with of course a flag. We were told to check the certificates were correct, because any errors would be corrected before we left without a fee but once we had left it was a form and fee and wait for it to be done, and to then sign the certificate with the same signature we had signed the photograph attached to it with. The ceremony concluded with a video of President Obama welcoming us as new citizens and that was it. I celebrated by taking my 5 year old grandson who had come to see "Poppy" become an American for a Slurpee.

[*julez* 124]

Congratulations Lansbury!

[~krakatoa~ 27]

Congratulations on your US citizenship, Poppy!

Details! Gotta love 'em details (specially the part about the tie).

[pnrmbr975 1]

Congrats!

[lissa04 3]

:dance: Congrats!!! :dance:

[Lansbury 19]

Details! Gotta love 'em details (specially the part about the tie).

You have to do something original, can't just blended into the crowd.

[karenros 0]

congrats

[antda 13]

Details! Gotta love 'em details (specially the part about the tie).

You have to do something original, can't just blended into the crowd.

Lol...I think I may have recently started a "detailed" trend on vj.... .....

ANT IS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN! OATH CEREMONY DETAILED STORY….,(11/23/09)

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=230817

I like writing in details, and reading about others' detailed stories too.....

So yeah, the more details that all you vjers write/post about immigration experiences, the better for everyone on vj!

Congrats again, Lansbury, on being a USC! Thanks for sharing your detailed experiences too.

Ant

Edited December 5, 2009 by Ant+D+A

[elishav 0]

Thank you for sharing your story and congrats! Slurpees are a great way to start off a new chapter in your life.

By the way, I love your motto. I too, seek to annoy the world(our poor romantic partners). My husband and I are planning a move up there to Oregon after he graduates and gets his degree. Maybe we should start an annoying support group.

[Lansbury 19]

Maybe we should start an annoying support group.

Yes help is always most welcome. There are still quite a few people I haven't pissed off yet who really are deserving of the attention.

Where abouts in Oregon are you thinking of moving to.

[elishav 0]

Well, all over the place really. He has applied for jobs in Astoria, Lincoln City, Salem and Portland, but competition is tough. Hopefully with his citizenship, there will be a few more options(Army Corp of Engineers or Forest Service). The constant warmth and sunshine into November is beginning to wear on us

[MsAnn 0]

Congrats!!!

Your experience sounds similar to my own. I'm not comfortable driving downtown Portland, so I took the Max.

My boyfriend's belt set off the metal detector, too.

[Lansbury 19]

The constant warmth and sunshine into November is beginning to wear on us

You'll like it here then it's 26 degrees at the moment

[MoroccanInTexas 24]

Congrats