Milwaukee, WI Oath Ceremony

[John9981 9]

I did not see any Milwaukee,WI Oath ceremony experience so I figure I'll post mine. (I’m using Autumnal’s post as template)

Oath date and time: 6/20/13 8:00AM
Address: 517 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI

Parking: Most garages average about $6-10. I paid $6 at the 770 Garage on Mason St. It was early bird special. Plenty of parking spots. I wouldn’t recommend street parking since ceremony takes about 3 hours.

Admission: There were about 30 people by the time I got there around 7:45. (Final number was 67) Door opens at 8:00am and you’ll be let in one by one through the main gate on Wisconsin Ave.

Security: Security was friendly and prompt. You’ll have to take your shoes off and put them on the xray machine. You CAN bring your phone and camera!

USCIS Screening: Ceremony was in room 320 which is on the 3rd floor. From there, you’ll line up and get your ID, GC and the notice ready. Family and Friends will be let in early through the back door first. A lady reviewed the questions on the back of the oath notice and another lady took my CG and gave me a package that has: Letter from the President, American Flag, Passport application, a folder for your new certificate, voter’s guide, info for new US citizens and a cheat sheet for Oath of allegiance/Pledge of allegiance and the national anthem.

Ceremony: The ceremony started around 9:00AM. Went through the usual stuff. House keeping rules and etc. Judge entered around 9:15, we were sworn the oath of allegiance by repeating after him then he gave an inspirational speech for about 30 minutes.

Certificate: Your certificate will be given at the end of the ceremony, you’ll be let out by rows. it took only about 15 minutes after the Judge left the room. You can check your certificate for errors but you don’t have to sign the certificate there, you can sign it at home.

I remember someone asking me for Milwaukee oath review. I can’t remember her/his name but please feel free to ask me any questions!

My journey ends here (I applied my US passport today). Good luck everyone! Thank you so much VJ community and special thanks to NickD, VanessaTony, mozplay and Brother Hesekiel.

[happilycontent 16]

Congratulations!

[Autumnal 25]

Congratulations!

[suzeegb 0]

congratulations Chox99 - and thank you for the review for Milwaukee I will hopefully be getting mine there later this year!!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Congratulations!! And thank you for such a thorough review. Love reading them. So excited for when my time comes

[MaddyCruise 2]

Congrats Chox! My naturalization interview is on Monday, July 22nd at Milwaukee! . And I'm nervous. I hope it goes well. I'm wondering if they having oath ceremony every month.

Edited July 20, 2013 by MaddyCruise

[John9981 9]

good luck. not sure about frequency but they had 2 ceremonies on the same day.

[NickD 202]

For whatever reason while we were assigned to the St; Paul office, really in Bloomington, people living there don't like to be associated with St. Paul. We were always sent to the Milwaukee office for biometrics.

They were always very friendly to us, much nicer dealing with a field office in your home state. St. Paul treated us like we were enemies from a foreign country and not a very good idea to wear a Packers jacket.

Was wondering where your oath ceremonies were held, ha, in downtown no-parking in Milwaukee. Not nearly as bad as huge no parking downtown Chicago. We met people from Fond du Lac only 80 miles from Milwaukee that also had to go to the St, Paul office. Not a one day trip, have to stay in a motel, wonder if their field office is getting a kick back. St. Paul is nice in the respect their field office is way out in the sticks, a couple of blocks off the interstate and has a huge parking lot.

But we are still stuck in huge no parking zone downtown Chicago, as my wife still has to keep her foreign passport renewed, can only do that in person. Consulate is hardly a small two room office space jammed way up high in an office building. And our DOS service center is the same way. Would be wonderful if they could move this out to O'Hare. Parking is not cheap there either, but at least you can find a spot.

[cicitsang 0]

Good luck!

[MaddyCruise 2]

good luck. not sure about frequency but they had 2 ceremonies on the same day.

Thank you for answering my question. I hope it goes well on Monday! Do you have a review on how it goes on your interview?

Edited July 21, 2013 by MaddyCruise

[John9981 9]

Thank you for answering my question. I hope it goes well on Monday! Do you have a review on how it goes on your interview?

It was a pretty much standard affair. Milwaukee traffic isn't that great but not too terrible. There are some street parkings available around the building. When you go in, you'll have to go through security. You can bring your phone but you can't use it while waiting. Once you go upstairs there's a door to your right (I think it's door B') and you'll need to put your interview letter through the slot. You sit down on one of them blue chairs, then someone will call you name. He/she will have you swear and start with civic and English test first - depends on your IO. After the IO goes through your questions on your form, he/she will give you a paper that says you passed the test and you are recommended for Oath. My IO told me it'll take about a month to get the letter and another month for the ceremony. Hope it makes sense, feel free to ask me any other questions.

I also posted my interview exp on March 2013 filer thread somewhere but I'm too lazy to find it. ha. look for my post on 5/29.

Edited July 21, 2013 by chox99

[suzeegb 0]

Congrats Chox! My naturalization interview is on Monday, July 22nd at Milwaukee! . And I'm nervous. I hope it goes well. I'm wondering if they having oath ceremony every month.

I had wondered the same thing about how often they have them there this is from the USCIS site. Good luck with your interview !!

Naturalization Ceremonies

The Milwaukee Field Office conducts approximately 6-8 Judicial Ceremonies per month and conducts Administrative Ceremonies every other month for the Western District counties that are served. This office does not conduct same-day Naturalization Ceremonies except for military personnel.

[MaddyCruise 2]

Thanks guys for the information.

[Ruinthere 0]

My wife had the ceremony this morning May 3, 8:00 am at Milwaukee Court house, everything pretty much same as the original poster had stated except they speed up the ceremony process. We spent more time going thru security and checking in than the ceremony itself!

 

Judge entered the court room at 9:05, by 9:29 we're done. Those attending at a stadium might have to watch a video clip from POTUS , but a small court room like the one we were in, they just want to speed things up. Certificates will be handed out inside the court room, name change court order will be mailed to you at a later date.  you then exit the room and go to the hallway to have a photo ops with the judge....cool. We had 67 in the group, the next group had already arrived. So if you are scheduled for the 8 a.m.  ceremony, you can definitely go back to work in the afternoon.

 

We parked right across the street...out door parking for $10 (early bird special) or you have to walk a block to get covered parking for $9 (ABM Parking).

 

This concludes her journey, will apply for passport soon.

 

Good luck you all.

[TBoneTX 45,264]

Thread is moved from the US Citizenship main forum to the Case Progress subforum.