I am now an American citizen!

[bggirl 0]

I had my oath ceremony today at the Lloyd D. George Federal District Courthouse in Las Vegas :dance: My notice said to appear at 9.45 am, the ceremony started at 11 (that was the second ceremony for today). It was short but a wonderful experience! The brochure said there were 101 people being naturalized today (just at this ceremony). The court room was full, there were even people standing because there were not enough seats to accommodate all the guests. Before the judge came in, a lady from the SSA spoke about the importance of updating our information with them; also representatives of the two senators congratulated us and said a few words. Then each one of us had to stand up and say our name and country of birth. After we were sworn in and handed our certificates, we were welcome to take a picture with the judge, and I did of course . We could also update our information with SSA, register to vote and apply for a passport right after the ceremony. All in all, it was simple, ordered, and short, but great! The representative of USCIS spent quite some time before the judge arrived to explain to us how to sign the certificates so they are not invalid. It seemed like it is VERY important to sign with our full name just as it appears on the certificate, and sign the side of the picture in the same way. He said if we sign it any other way, the certificate will not be good to get a passport, and we'll have to get a replacement (which is costly ). In the packet each of us received there was a sample of a correctly signed certificate. The immigration officer even said we should go home, relax, so we make sure we do it the right way Too bad the SSA's people have to make a copy of it if you want to fill in the application this right after you exit the room. So most of us signed it there and then, without having the chance to relax first . I did too, but left signing the picture for later since the pen would not write on the glossy paper, and used a sharpie at home. We were also told that passports take quite some time these days, and if anyone intends to travel within a couple of weeks, they might be better off rescheduling the oath. Of course, I was not surprised that nobody wanted to reschedule So, that's it! I am a very proud Bulgarian-American and one of the newest citizens of the USA!! I just love the feeling!!!

Good luck to those still waiting, and a very BIG THANK YOU to all the great helpful people in this and immigration.com forums! You guys are to a large extent to "blame" for my successful and free of trouble immigration journey ! Thanks again!

[Nagishkaw 510]

:dance: Awesome! Congratulations! :dance:

[wannabe_texan 0]

How wonderful! Congratulations :dance:

[Stella08 0]

Congratulations!!!

I wish they had agencies at hand at my oath ceremony to apply for passport, update SSA and register to vote. Unfortunately we had to travel all over town to the different agencies to take care of this. So far I've only applied for a passport (expedited) and it has been processed within only a week. This is great because I plan on travelling soon. As soon as I have my naturalization certificate back, I can go to SSA and DMV.

One more question: Didn't you have to sign your picture at the interview and your certificate at the oath ceremony?

[MsAnn 0]

Many congrats bg-usagirl!!!!

Oh, and thank you for sharing your experience!

Edited May 1, 2009 by MsAnn

[raymaga 25]

Congrats!!!

We had no representatives at my oath ceremony, so I had to go to the SSA office, the passport office, and to the local library to get a voter registration card.

Oh well, it was all worth it!!!

Best wishes to you.

[bggirl 0]

Thank you, guys! I am really glad to share my happiness with you !

Stella, I was not asked to sign my picture at the interview. From reading others' posts, I was a little worried afterward because it seemed like I was the only one on the board to not sign it . Then I asked a couple of friends who became citizens recently, and none of them remembered signing their pictures. One of them even showed me his certificate- the picture is still not signed and he's had a passport for over a year! I asked the lady from the SSA whether the picture needs to be signed in order for them to accept it, and she said "no", so I just signed it at home.

As far as the passport is concerned, I have an appointment at the nearest passport agency next week because we intend to travel soon too! Hopefully, they'll be able to make it happen !

[Otto 83]

[cookiee 0]

Congrats bggirl.. your done !!

Edited May 1, 2009 by cookiee

[It's me 1]

[moonhunt 1]

Congratulations!

For signing the photo, sometimes they leave it for oath ceremony such as "name change" or their convenience reason.

[ThaiStyleUSA 1]

Congrats.

[Angel7422 0]

Congratulations on becoming a US citizen.

Edited May 2, 2009 by Angel7422

[kleobg 0]

Chestito!!!!

Congratulations.

I am scheduled for my interview on June 3rd.

[sara..... 371]

congratulations :dance: :dance: :dance:

sara