N-400 FILERS - MARCH 2012

[Steve D. 22]

First of all congratulations! It must feel great to have oath scheduled the SAME day! Boy wish they can do that in the LA office.

Funny story, I was asked the EXACT same question at my interview! Except I don't see the big @$$ red stamp or able to schedule for oath.

Meh, even though the "recommended for approval" can't settle me down. I guess the oath letter is the only thing that can make me and my wife assure about it.

Anyone in LA office was able to have their oath scheduled the same day?

as promised, here's N-400 interview experience last july 26th..

hubby and i arrived at the chicago USCIS office around 9:30am and there were almost a hundred people sitting at the waiting area. i checked in for the interview and gave me a pager number and asked us to wait near door 2. i was actually worried that we were going to wait a while since my number was 63. my number was called around 9:45am, i approached the IO at the door and he looked at me really weird so i said hi then i showed him my number. he said are you (looked at his list) then said my name.. i said, "yes sir". at that time i was getting confused because he was looking at me really weird like he doesn't believe that it was really me . there was a really awkward pause and the conversation was like..

IO : who's with you?

me : my husband..

IO: where is he?

me : right there (pointing at the back seat of the waiting area)..

IO : which one?

me: the one wearing blue in the very back..

IO : oh.. *pause* can you call him? he can come with you..

so i called my husband and introduced him to the IO. IO told us to enter the door and follow him to his office (long walk!). he pointed us to the seat but asked us to stand and swear before anything else. after that he introduced himself, ask our names, asked for IDs, my passport, etc. then he started asking questions. i felt really weird because he started asking questions to my husband. my husband and i were not expecting an ambush interview , LOL! it kinda felt like he was quizzing us because he even asked my husband to spell my name ! he was testing us to see if we were really married or still married. it din't really bother me because i was totally relaxed when my husband was there but i must say it reminded me of an AOS interview, which i dint have. of course, we aced it! good job to my husband too because he din't study or expect any of that.

after asking us so many questions about our marriage/life, he finally started to ask questions about the info in my N-400 application. when he finished verifying info from the application he explained the civics test and proceeded with that. the questions were :

- what is one promise you make when you become a united states citizen?

- what movement tried to end racial discrimination?

- who is the governor of your state?

- where is the statue of liberty?

- who is the first president?

- name two national US holidays

then i had to read the sentence "who lives in the white house?" out loud and write "the president lives in the white house".

after that he asked us to give him a minute while he entered some info on his computer. he asked me if i had anything else with me that had both our names or address on it. i said "yes", opened my portfolio then started giving him all the documents i had. he was overwhelmed and rejected some of it including our recent pictures. i think i gave him more than 10 , LOL! he did a quick check of the documents and circled our names and addresses on it. the only documents that were left with me that i was expecting he would really ask for were the tax transcripts. i asked him about it and he said i already submitted tax returns so that's enough. he even made a joke that he couldn't put the fastener back on my file because it was so thick. he then made copies of my husband's ID and my IDs, passport, and GC. he saw my SS card while i was getting my IDs and also asked for it. when got back, he handed us everything back and went to my file again. this time i officially knew i was good because i saw him put the big @ss red stamp on the front page of my file that said "APPROVED" . he signed it and did something on his computer and then handed me the N-652 (naturalization interview results) that says "congratulations, your application has been recommended for approval!". he looked at his computer and told me that i was scheduled for august 1, 2012 for my oath ceremony and he asked me if i could make it. of course, my ears we're clapping from excitement so i said yes. he then said that's all for my appointment that day. he walked us to the door and asked us to wait about an hour because they were gonna give us the oath appointment letter. it was around 10:20am or so when we got out of the interview.

while we're waiting, my husband and i realized that the oath appointment is next week and my husband will be in wisconsin for a business trip. (yes, we got too excited and din't look at our schedule! LOL!) we waited for the IO to come out to call someone else and then cornered him , LOL! we explained the situation and told him that i would like to reschedule my oath appointment. he asked for my husband's availability and my hubby said anytime after august 3rd. he told me that it's gonna be a later date (like could take weeks or 2 months even) because the schedule for august is pretty much done. i told him that's fine because i want my husband to be there with me . he smiled and asked us to wait while he took a look at my file. he came out carrying my file and told us he would make a note on my file to schedule us anytime after august 3rd. he said we already waited for almost an hour so if we wanna leave he can just have the oath appointment letter sent to our address. he then verified our address. we agreed to it as the office was really busy and we were starting to get hungry , LOL!

overall, i'm happy with my experience and i'm not even that worried about the oath ceremony schedule right now as finishing the interview totally eased a lot of worries for me. i'm very grateful :yes: :yes: ! it's a feeling that you just got home from a long trip and just want to sleep everything off.

i just wanna say thank you soooooooo much for all your help and useful information! good luck to those getting ready to have their interview and congratulations to everyone who has completed theirs!

[UMUC 3]

Florida012 - I hope your interview went well today, I believe Orlando has oath ceremonys every Friday so I hope you were given your letter at the interview for this week.

Please let us all know how it went, I have my interview next Monday in Orlando.

Good luck to you Eddy

[envy_me 18]

an update for me..

Oath Ceremony

On July 30, 2012, we scheduled you for your oath ceremony and sent a notice providing the date, time, and location. If you move prior to the scheduled ceremony, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address or call our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.

God is good!

[UMUC 3]

an update for me..

Oath Ceremony

On July 30, 2012, we scheduled you for your oath ceremony and sent a notice providing the date, time, and location. If you move prior to the scheduled ceremony, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address or call our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.

God is good!

Yes he is..that's great

[Steve D. 22]

an update for me..

Oath Ceremony

On July 30, 2012, we scheduled you for your oath ceremony and sent a notice providing the date, time, and location. If you move prior to the scheduled ceremony, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address or call our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.

God is good!

Wow that is FAST for schedule the oath! Meh I'm still waiting, been almost 2 weeks now.

But then again it's LA office, they are known for being slow.

[Presley 4]

Wow that is FAST for schedule the oath! Meh I'm still waiting, been almost 2 weeks now.

But then again it's LA office, they are known for being slow.

The LA office always schedule a lot of people for oath ceremony. May be that's why u haven't been schedule yet.

[UMUC 3]

The LA office always schedule a lot of people for oath ceremony. May be that's why u haven't been schedule yet.

Hey Presley have you been scheduled for your oath ceremony?

[Presley 4]

Hey Presley have you been scheduled for your oath ceremony?

No I'm doing a name changed. I'm still on queue. Thanks for asking

[Steve D. 22]

The LA office always schedule a lot of people for oath ceremony. May be that's why u haven't been schedule yet.

Yeah that's what I heard as well. Seems like the average turn-around time for oath scheduling in LA office is a month.

Looks like I got 2 more weeks to wait lol.

Oh the anxiety...

[Chi_Gal01 0]

I don't understand why the IO would ask the spouse to be "interviewed"...it's supposed to be only the non-USC. I'm confused and my hubby is out of town for the week!!!

[Steve D. 22]

I don't understand why the IO would ask the spouse to be "interviewed"...it's supposed to be only the non-USC. I'm confused and my hubby is out of town for the week!!!

The N-400 applicant is the one that gets interviewed, where the USC spouse CAN be present at the interview if the IO if cool with him/her to be present. It's not required unless they say so in writing.

At least my wife wasn't required to be there.

[Chi_Gal01 0]

The N-400 applicant is the one that gets interviewed, where the USC spouse CAN be present at the interview if the IO if cool with him/her to be present. It's not required unless they say so in writing.

At least my wife wasn't required to be there.

Thanks for your reply Steve D. Nothing was mentioned in the IL ...Phewww ;-)

[envy_me 18]

I don't understand why the IO would ask the spouse to be "interviewed"...it's supposed to be only the non-USC. I'm confused and my hubby is out of town for the week!!!

i have read some n-400 interview experience (marriage based) where the IO asked if the spouse is around and then they decide if they want the spouse's presence during the interview or not..

also, i read that if you din't have an AOS interview there's a chance that they'll ask for your spouse's presence if your spouse is with you.. -- happened to me!

i think if you have a valid reason why your spouse is not present then it's perfectly fine..

BUT then again everything really depends on your IO..

you''ll be fine! gluck tomorrow chi_gal01!

[envy_me 18]

PS : even if you do a search here in VJ most of the people that had their spouse present during the n-400 interview (which i call ambush interview, LOL!) are the ones who din't have an AOS interview..

[Chi_Gal01 0]

i have read some n-400 interview experience (marriage based) where the IO asked if the spouse is around and then they decide if they want the spouse's presence during the interview or not..

also, i read that if you din't have an AOS interview there's a chance that they'll ask for your spouse's presence if your spouse is with you.. -- happened to me!

i think if you have a valid reason why your spouse is not present then it's perfectly fine..

BUT then again everything really depends on your IO..

you''ll be fine! gluck tomorrow chi_gal01!

Oh we had that AOS interview alright...I am going by myself anyway he won't be around. I've already freaked out and calmed down a gazillion times. Now I'll just have to see what happens..

I hope you get you oat Ceremony soon (the new one, you wanted to change if I believe) That will be a good sign for Chicago. Still hoping for that late August travel

Edited July 30, 2012 by Chi_Gal01