November 2008 Filers

[lomeshp 0]

Looks like this thread is about to die off. Just want to say thanks for the help and support! For those of you who have interviews & Oath Coming up, Good Luck!!!

[doodle 0]

Update:

My husband took his oath last Friday - June 12th at the Durham, NC Field Office. Everything was smooth. They naturalized about 75 people and the room was packed. I thought the ceremony was quite touching and it brought several tears to my eyes. All that was needed from us was the letter they sent to come to the oath and his greencard. It was easy and truly not a hassle.

Now I just have to figure out how to deal with passports and social security card...! Yuck!

[doodle 0]

At last, the final steps are completed.

On Saturday I got my updated Soc. Sec. Card with restrictions removed.

Today my passport card arrived.

Now I look forward to traveling somewhere I can use my passport.

P

Question: Did you have to give them your naturalization certificate (the original) to send off with your passport application?! That scares me! Also, can you tell me how you went about changing the restricions on your SS card?! That would be so appreciated.

[phl_nov08 0]

At last, the final steps are completed.

On Saturday I got my updated Soc. Sec. Card with restrictions removed.

Today my passport card arrived.

Now I look forward to traveling somewhere I can use my passport.

P

Question: Did you have to give them your naturalization certificate (the original) to send off with your passport application?! That scares me! Also, can you tell me how you went about changing the restricions on your SS card?! That would be so appreciated.

I was able to get my passport at the Philadelphia Passport Agency, which involved me handing them the Certificate with my application, then coming back the next day to pick up the passport and Certificate. If done via other passport accepting facilities (e.g. Post Office) the Certificate will be sent off and later returned via USPS - I was glad to avoid that. However, I haven't heard of anybody having problems with this so it's probably not a high risk.

The SS card was easy. Go to www.ssa.gov and find your nearest SS office. Then fill out the form (SS-5 I think it is - can be downloaded) and take it with you to the SS office. They will take a copy of the Certificate and give it back to you.

P

[rwj 0]

P

Question: Did you have to give them your naturalization certificate (the original) to send off with your passport application?! That scares me! Also, can you tell me how you went about changing the restricions on your SS card?! That would be so appreciated.

Hello,

At our oath ceremony one of the USCIS officers gave us a little talk on all that:

FIRST make a couple of copies of the certificate for yourself and keep them somewhere safe.

SECOND go to social security with the *original* naturalization certificate. You have to fill out a form as if you're applying for a replacement card (which you can print from their website) except you just tell them you're now a citizen. That whole process was really easy (and the lady was really happy to have a chat about the whole immigration thing instead of arguing with people about their welfare check!

THIRD apply for the passport at the post office, and you have to give them the original to send off... also made me nervous, but there's no other way.

I also registered to vote, but you don't have to prove anything to do that, you can just do it but mail. It's weird that i no longer have to carry anything proving i'm here legally, I used to get so nervous about losing my greencard!

Hope this helps, all the best!

Rosemary

ooh.. we replied at the same time - I didn't know that the passport office gave same day service! Unfortunately I live in Nevada so that wasn't an option for me.

[manty 0]

And I'm done! My US passport arrived today, so I now feel like the process is complete.

Good luck to everyone still waiting, and congrats again to those who have completed the process. It's odd, but when I started out, thinking about waiting for four, five, six months seemed almsot hopeless. Now that it's all finished, it seems to have flown by rather quickly.

I'm planning on staying around on this site - it gave me lots of helpful information and support, and the least I can do is offer some of the same to those also going through the process.

[haiti 0]

Congratulations to all of you!

What a journey but moreover what a feeling! May God bless America!

On top of my regular blog below mentionned, I do have a new blog the USA through my eyes: www.samhaiti1.blogspot.com hope you can go on it and share your experience!

God bless!