N-400 December 2015 Filers

[moemac59 192]

Congrats to everyone on their new citizenship. I just got my letter in the mail and my oath ceremony is in Rochester and not in Buffalo. Oh well cie last vie. Good look to everyone who hasaid interviews this week.

[marsbar1 0]

Congrats to everyone on their new citizenship. I just got my letter in the mail and my oath ceremony is in Rochester and not in Buffalo. Oh well cie last vie. Good look to everyone who hasaid interviews this week.

Congrats on passing your interview and getting your oath letter, Moemac59!

My DH filed his N-400 at Buffalo too (Oct 2015). We just got his interview letter today - his interview is on 4/20. I'm trying to figure out what the timing is like from here on out. ETA: I asked some questions about timing but I saw the dates in your signature which helped!

I was surprised to hear that they scheduled you for a ceremony in Rochester though. Do you live between the two districts or something like that?

Wishing you a lovely ceremony,

Sarah

Edited March 19, 2016 by sarahusuk

[KASH2011 382]

Congrats to everyone on their new citizenship. I just got my letter in the mail and my oath ceremony is in Rochester and not in Buffalo. Oh well cie last vie. Good look to everyone who hasaid interviews this week.

Congrats Moe!

[Ms Hogan 295]

OK... I'm officially sick to my stomach with nerves and cannot get a darn thing done today. I'm shaking! I know I'm prepared but I'm still freakin nervous!!

[Spmaria 11]

OK... I'm officially sick to my stomach with nerves and cannot get a darn thing done today. I'm shaking! I know I'm prepared but I'm still freakin nervous!!

You'll be fine!! Make a deal to treat yourself with something good after the interview. Buy some clothes, new book or eat 1kg of ice cream or cake or something else. That way you'll be waiting for the treat with excitement not the interview with horror ))) and good luck to you this Tuesday!!!

[squareleg 69]

November2015 filer here.

I am scheduled to appear for interview at Newark, NJ and would like to complete both interview + oath the same day. I am not certain, on how the process works. Any info. will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[another1 2]

November2015 filer here.

I am scheduled to appear for interview at Newark, NJ and would like to complete both interview + oath the same day. I am not certain, on how the process works. Any info. will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

It all depends on whether Newark NJ office offers same day oath ceremonies or not. After the interview you will be informed about taking the oath. Don't hesitate to ask IO any questions you may have about it. If your interview is early in the morning, you may be offered same day oath. If not, most likely you'll receive your oath letter with a ceremony date and location, right after the interview,(in about an hour or so). If for whatever reason you can't wait for your oath letter on the day of your interview, it will be mailed to you, although I would strongly suggest you wait for it, just in case the oath is scheduled sooner than the mail can get to you. Good luck Edited March 21, 2016 by another1

[Spmaria 11]

November2015 filer here.

I am scheduled to appear for interview at Newark, NJ and would like to complete both interview + oath the same day. I am not certain, on how the process works. Any info. will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Usually people do the same day oath ceremony unless applicant's interview was scheduled like after 3pm or he's got a "decision cannot be made" notice. As far as I know Newark has 3 oath ceremonies a day, you'll probably be ok.

Can I ask you when did you apply and when are you scheduled to go to the interview?

Edited March 21, 2016 by Spmaria

[Ms Hogan 295]

Congratulations!

Our ceremony was apparently far more informal. We filed into the jury assembly room at a Cleveland federal courthouse (there was a podium at the front for the judge and USCIS personnel), and at around 10:35 (five minutes after the time scheduled on the notice) they started calling people up 10 at a time to check in. We gave the USCIS staff our notice and they confirmed everything looked good, signed the naturalization certificate in front of them (which they took back as we hadn't done the oath yet), and they gave us the main naturalization packet. We then lined up in front of the main judge's podium and she took our notice, green cards, USCIS documents, asked if we had been arrested or traveled since our last interview, and gave us a citizen's almanac and a federal voter's guide. After everyone had been called and processed, a federal judge for northern Ohio came in to do the actual oath ceremony. He said a few words about citizenship and asked if applicants had anything they wanted to say (a few did as I mentioned above), and then he asked the applicants to stand and raise their right hands while he said the Oath of Allegiance. He then individually called everyone up to get their certificate (we clapped for everyone as they got them), and at that point people were free to leave (they were processing voter registrations and had cookies and coffee in the lobby). All in all, very nice. I had my parents, my in-laws, and my wife with me.

Are there any rules about how many people can attend with you? I have somewhat of an entourage forming which is kind of nice lol.

[Ms Hogan 295]

You'll be fine!! Make a deal to treat yourself with something good after the interview. Buy some clothes, new book or eat 1kg of ice cream or cake or something else. That way you'll be waiting for the treat with excitement not the interview with horror ))) and good luck to you this Tuesday!!!

You're sweet. Thank you

Unfortunately I'll be hustling my butt back to work right after so no time for shopping BUT you have me a great idea... I hosted a pampered chef party this weekend and I haven't placed my own order yet. I'll make that my gift to myself tomorrow when I'm done at back at my computer!

[JimmyHou 611]

Coming up this week for Dec2015ers...

We have the following interviews scheduled:

Tuesday: osune22, Ms Hogan

Thursday: Raymon

We have the following naturalization ceremonies scheduled:

None

Good luck!

[squareleg 69]

Spmaria - thanks for your response. I applied in mid-Nov-2016 and here is the info. that you requested.

Fprints: 1/11/2016 (at a different location as I was traveling on business)

In Line: 2/15/2016

Int Ltr: 3/19/2016

Interview: 4/25/2016

[stavroula58 8]

UserName......... |GC-Date.|Sent.|Cashd |NOA.. |Fprints.|In Line..|Int ltr.. |Intview..|Oath.... .|Field Office

JimmyHou.........|03/15/11|12/17|12/23|12/22|01/13/16|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|Houston, TX
Spmaria..........|04/26/12|12/19|12/29|01/02|01/20/16|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|Newark, NJ
Groovyaardvark...|02/15/11|12/08|12/15|12/14|01/07/16|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|Denver, CO
Stavroula58......|01/31/09|12/10|12/18|12/17|01/11/16|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|Chicago, IL

Hi co-applicants. I just wonder if you have a lawyer. I don't have one and I am thinking if it is better for the N-400 process to hire one, even now.

[Ms Hogan 295]

Unless you have a situation that requires a lawyer I certainly would not waste the money!

[JimmyHou 611]

UserName......... |GC-Date.|Sent.|Cashd |NOA.. |Fprints.|In Line..|Int ltr.. |Intview..|Oath.... .|Field Office

JimmyHou.........|03/15/11|12/17|12/23|12/22|01/13/16|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|Houston, TX

Spmaria..........|04/26/12|12/19|12/29|01/02|01/20/16|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|Newark, NJ

Groovyaardvark...|02/15/11|12/08|12/15|12/14|01/07/16|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|Denver, CO

Stavroula58......|01/31/09|12/10|12/18|12/17|01/11/16|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|--/--/--.|Chicago, IL

Hi co-applicants. I just wonder if you have a lawyer. I don't have one and I am thinking if it is better for the N-400 process to hire one, even now.

I think that the overwhelming majority of N400 applicants don't use lawyers.

We have a lawyer at work who can help if needed, but I don't plan on having a lawyer with me at the interview.

If you hire a lawyer now, all he'll do is call USCIS, tell you that your application is within normal processing times, and then charge you $300.

If you look at today's updates for the June 2015 thread, you'll see that two applicants (one in Chicago and one in St. Louis) were just placed inline... and they applied 6 months before us. Those are unusually long cases, but it just goes to show that this does happen sometimes and if we are not placed inline until August, our cases will still have moved faster than theirs. That doesn't mean that that is what's going to happen, or that you shouldn't follow up on your case, but it does mean that it's way too early to worry.

I see nothing wrong in calling USCIS when it's been 90 days since biometrics, or 120 days, or whatever you feel is reasonable. I'll probably do that myself if I haven't heard anything by then, because I do think that in some cases, it makes a difference.

But I would only use a lawyer in two situations: if there's a complication in my case (like criminal history or immigration violations) or if USCIS has failed to act well beyond the normal processing time (over a year). If there's something odd about your case, then you should consider hiring a lawyer.