My interview experience

[mikkopel 0]

So my interview was earlier today. Of course I had a late-afternoon time, so I had to be anxious all day for it...

Today was a frigid day in NYC, I had arrived about an hour early in the city, so I was taking a walk through Chinatown and Little Italy. They're very interesting areas, if you have the chance stop by and see what they have. If only it had been warmer...

I went to the building exactly half an hour before my appointment. Went through the security, and up to the 7th floor. The security guard was very nice and told me "You'll do great." Then I realized I could have come in earlier. Since it was freezing outside, it might have been nicer. Oh well.

In the waiting room, I see someone from my work place. He has his appointment 30 minutes after mine!

I sat down to wait to be called. About 15 minutes past my appointment time I got called to the window. They checked my Green Card, and took a photo and fingerprints. The computer was giving problems, so it took a while...

About 10 more minutes of waiting, and I got called to Door #1, along with another gentleman. The officer asked us to follow her around the corner. There was a smaller waiting room there. She told me to wait here, since the other gentleman was first.

I sat down. There was only one other person there. I asked if she was there for an interview too, and she said she was. A few minutes later, another officer comes in, asks her to check her name on a paper, and sign off some papers. Next, yet another officer comes in, gives her an American flag, and asks her to raise her right hand. I realize I'm witnessing an Oath Ceremony. I don't know why she was being sworn in there and then, but I ended up being a witness to it.

I had to wait a good 15 minutes or so, before my officer came back.The man before me looked happy. I guess he passed.

We go in to the officer's desk. I'm asked to raise my right hand and if I'm going to tell the truth and so on. There's a pretty big file in front of her. Everything is there that I've filed with my current A number. However, not things from my past when I was a student. Probably because I had a different A number then.

She starts off with the civics test. It's on a preprinted form, so she doesn't pick the questions. What is one thing you promise you make when you become a US Citizen? What are two holidays we celebrate? Who is the governor of New York? What did Martin Luther King, Jr do? What movement tried to end racial discrimination? Who was the first president? She writes down each of my answers, and then checks the "Correct" checkbox on the form.

Then she has me read a sentence out loud about Abraham Lincoln. And then write down "Abraham Lincoln was president during the civil war." I jokingly suggested that there should be a "the" before president, but then I end up missing the the before "civil war" myself. Duh! But she lets me correct it.

Then we go through the application, step by step. I fumbled with a few dates, but she asked "March 6th? Not 8th?" She checks both my passports, current and expired for any stamps for travel.

Also, when we get to the arrested/cited part, I had marked "No", but I mention that I had gotten a speeding ticket. The day before I had called up the court, and asked them to fax me a receipt for the payment. Even though this was about $150, and over 5 years back. I offered the receipt to the officer, and she adds it to the file. She also writes the ticket on the application, and has me initial the change. But she says that it doesn't however count against me. Good thing I had asked for the receipt!

Once all the questions are over, she asks me to sign the paper, congratulates me, and tells me that she is going to recommend an approval, but that someone else will be making the final approval. Also that I will be getting a letter later on for the oath.

I leave relieved, make my way back to the train station and have myself a celebratory gin. I don't usually drink during the week, at daytime, but I thought it would be OK now.

[TBoneTX 45,304]

Thanks for your story, and congratulations!

[alix 20]

Thanks for sharing! All the best to you!

[QueenComley 295]

^{Congratulations!!!!!}

[Birdo 16]

Onnittelut!!! Congratulations and thanks for sharing your experience.

[Ben10 2]

Congrats...

[youngwanderer 2]

Congratulations! The hardest part is over. I raise my wine glass to your gin.

[rtm 0]

Congratulations! Can you share your timeline?

I applied in early January 2014 and am in-line at the moment. The wait is making me anxious....

Thanks!

[mikkopel 0]

Thanks everybody! Birdo, onnea haastatteluun - itsekin olen Kaliforniassa asunut, ja kaipaan kyllä kovasti, ehkä joskus vielä uudestaan!

Rtm, I had applied mid-December. All the steps went through pretty fast. The only glitch was that USCIS had scheduled my biometrics on Martin Luther King Jr Day, a federal holiday! What a mess that was... But I just walked in the next day and they took me in. I think my full timeline is posted in the December filers thread.

[Darnell 8,478]

mikko - please make the time to create an official VJ timeline over at

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=174590

as it

helps the folk coming up after you.

Thanks So Much, and Thanks in Advance !

[rtm 0]

Wow, that's the fastest process I've seen for NYC so far! Hope it bodes well for the rest of us. Thanks for sharing.

[mikkopel 0]

Wow, that's the fastest process I've seen for NYC so far! Hope it bodes well for the rest of us. Thanks for sharing.

I wanted to think I was special, but my coworker who had his interview the same day as mine, had also filed in mid-December...