Los Angeles N400 Interview Experience

[Mrs O. 29]

I posted my experience in the May filers' thread but thought it might help someone in the future to have it separately, in case someone goes searching for it. I definitely read all the LA interview experiences even those dating back as far as 5 years!

S, here goes, with a few more details:

I had my interview at the Los Angeles field office this morning. The appointment was for 8:00am. I arrived in front ofthe building at 7:00am, there was already a long queue and I joined in. Made it to security at 7:17 but was delayed a few minutes here because everything I had on set off the security alarm (jewellery, belt, shoes) Anyway I made it through and headed up to the 6th floor where my appointment was set for. I arrived at the waiting area at exactly 7:30. I handed my appointment notice to the lady at Window 1 and was asked to be seated until an office calls my name. There were roughly about 30 applicants waiting. Some waiting with relatives, some with lawyers. I got called in at 8:10 by a female IO.

She asked for my drivers license and green card and made copies of them in the hallway on our way to her office. In the office, I took an oath to tell the truth and then sat.

She asked how long I have been a permanent resident and with my answer being 3 years she asked for evidence that my husband and I are still together. I brought out my pile of documents and offered them one by one. She took the ones that I didn't include in the original application packet (Our 401K information showing each other as the beneficiary, work benefits elections showing each other as dependants, vacation details after originial application), then she took the most recent of the documents I had already sent(household bills, bank account statements, mortgage statements), everything else she asked me to keep including the tax returns from the last 3 years, she said she has those already.

She asked whether we have children together and I said no. Then, basically we went through the application page by page. We lingered a little on the trips taken. I listed just the one trip that I had taken in the past 3 years since I became a permanent resident. She asked how many trips and I said 1. She asked whether I was sure about this and I was panicking already. I answered firmly yes. Then she said she has many entries that came back in my report. Turns out the background check returns all trips in the last 5 years so all the trips I took between 2009 and 2011(which were many, although each lasted 2 weeks or less) when I was jetting in from Dublin to visit my husband here in the US came up too. So I explained calmly that I thought I was supposed to list just the trips I took since I started living here, not the ones I took to visit the US as a tourist. We moved on.

We completed the application review and I signed in a couple of places that she pointed out to me.

The English test was next:

• READ: What is the largest state
• WRITE: Alaska is the largest state

Civics Test next:

• What is the name of the national anthem?
• What is the rule of law?(*Note that she required me to say all 4 statements: *Everyone must follow the law *Leaders must obey the law *Government must obey the law *No one is above the law. I paused after the first one, unsure whether one was enough and she said "go on..." )
• What happened on September 11 2001?
• How old must a citizen be to vote in the presidential election?
• Why do we have 13 stripes on the flag?
• What ocean is on the west coast..?

She typed for a minute and then said Congratulations, I'm recommending you for approval. She handed me the sheet of paper that showed I passed the tests and I'm recommended for approval. Told me the next oath date for LA in December, that I might be scheduled for that one or if its filled up, I might be scheduled for the next one in January.

That was it. I was out by 8:42am.

Almost there...hoping for the December oath date, want to be over with this immigration journey by the end of the year.

Good luck to everyone!

[MissSarah 22]

Congratulations!

[aimar10 7]

Congratulations. Believe it or not, I had same set of 6 "random" questions!

[Mrs O. 29]

Congratulations!

Thanks!

Congratulations. Believe it or not, I had same set of 6 "random" questions!

That's very interesting, thanks!

[JimmyHou 611]

Congratulations. Believe it or not, I had same set of 6 "random" questions!

This happens quite often. A lot of people post their questions on here and for people interviewed on the same day or within a few days of each other, I've seen them post the exact same six questions regardless of where they are. However, I've also seen different questions for people tested on the same day and in the same office.

I think maybe USCIS generates 3 or 4 versions of questions to be asked that week (so there are 3 or 4 versions of the 10-question test) and the interviewer prints out one of them. This increases the chances that you'll get the same questions as someone else tested that week or day or month or however they do it. That's the only thing I can think of to explain how this can happen so frequently.

Otherwise, there would be 1,192,052,400 six-question combinations that could be generated (and if the order of the question matters, then there would be a lot more).