New Orleans (Metairie) Office

[DanTes 21]

Still a couple of months away from filing my N-400, but would like some info on New Orleans. Are same day oath ceremonies done, and, if not, normally how long is the wait time between interview and oath ceremony? Also, would like some general comments about New Orleans experience from those who have already had dealings with that office. New topic: Any info as to when the new N-400 form will be in effect in 2014?

[Ronn63 41]

Unsure about New Orleans, but my Cleveland experience was that there was a wait between approval and the ceremony. I actually had to reschedule my ceremonly to fly out of the country and back when it was originally scheduled. It wasn't that long a wait though...perhaps about a month?

[DanTes 21]

Tks for the response Ronn63. The closer I get, the more anxious I become. Will be glad for this journey to end.

[beadedbiker 0]

I have just gone through the process at New Orleans. My wait time for the oath ceremony after my interview was about a month. Overall I've been very impressed with the New Orleans office. My biometrics appointment took all of about 5 minutes. I got there about 30 mins early, was second in line, only to find out the gentleman in front of me had an appointment 2 hours later. So I was basically first. In and out in 5 mins.

For my interview, same thing. Got there about 30 mins early. Was about 3rd in line to get processed via a window clerk for my interview appointment. Basically just making sure who you are and that you are there for an interview. Then I went across the room and dropped my appointment letter in a mail slot and sat down to wait. After about 5 minutes I was the first person called. My interviewer was very cordial and efficient. She ran through my form in the style of questions, basically checking my information, and kind of dove straight in to the civics questions. Sort of name, age, last trip outside the US, whats the definition of freedom of religion...

I think I did a quick double take it was so sudden. Halfway through the questions, she had me read the sentence in English (which is my first language anyway), then after a few more civics questions she had me write a sentence. At the end of the interview she had me initial a couple of changes on my form as I'd made a couple of mistakes. Obviously just clerical errors, but I was still panicked about them, and had brought supporting evidence with me, but none of it was needed and the interviewer was very human about it, and they ended up being no big deal at all.

At the end of the interview she told me I was being recommended for approval and that I would get a letter giving me an appointment for an oath ceremony. I did ask how long that would be, and she told be it would be in about 2 weeks. I also asked where, and she said they try and send you to the closest available ceremony, but my oath ceremony is going to be back at the Metarie Office. Well it ended up taking about 2 weeks to update my case status and send out the letter. All in all from sending in my form to the lockbox to my oath ceremony date, the whole process will end up coming in at just a hair over 4 months, which considering the posted wait times is pretty awesome. I don't know if it makes a difference but I'm guessing I'm a pretty uncomplicated case, although my green card was marriage based, and we're still married, I'm so lazy I didn't apply for citizenship until my green card was almost expired, so I ended up applying just based on being here over 5 years.

I was back on the road to home 20 mins after my appointment time from the interview, which was great considering I thought I'd be there for hours.

[DanTes 21]

Thank you so much for the review. I will be mailing my N-400 package Monday morning. Hopefully my journey goes as smoothly as yours.

[JimmyHou 611]

Still a couple of months away from filing my N-400, but would like some info on New Orleans. Are same day oath ceremonies done, and, if not, normally how long is the wait time between interview and oath ceremony? Also, would like some general comments about New Orleans experience from those who have already had dealings with that office. New topic: Any info as to when the new N-400 form will be in effect in 2014?

Check out this link:

http://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/field-offices/louisiana-new-orleans-field-office#Naturalization Ceremonies

"The New Orleans Field Office has Judicial Ceremonies approximately once per month and Administrative Ceremonies on a weekly basis. The New Orleans Field Office has same-day ceremonies only for military and individuals naturalizing under Section 319(b)."