n400 N-400: Bearmirus's Interview experience in Buffalo

[bearmirus 45]

Summary:  At first, the officer was very happy with how organized I was with my documents and evidence I brought to the interview. A decision cannot yet be made about my application because I did not bring one important "item" to the interview, received an N-14 form - Request for Additional Documents. However I was able to rectify "the missing item" within a couple of hours (with the awesome help of the IO), and revisited the USCIS field office on the same day and met with the same IO, I was recommended for approval. As a bonus, I got my N-445 Notice of Naturalization Oath Ceremony letter!

 

Wow, what a long day......

 

To all VJers,  I cannot emphasize how important it is to be overly prepared than necessary for the interview. Even my wife thought I was bonkers, ha! Since the interview is one of the most important milestones in life (at least in my opinion) and I did not want to repeat the experience of given a CR1 visa refusal 221(g) due to TN overstay (more than 180 days but less than a year) [it WAS my fault] during my interview in Montreal back in 2008. So it is better to be prepared for something that may never happen, than not be prepared for if it does.

 

I had my interview at the Buffalo field office on Thursday morning at 10:45 am (a day after Winter Storm Stella dumped 29 inches in Buffalo), but they all took it like a champ. Similar to what I did during my biometric appointment couple months back, I arrived an hour early after an hour and a half drive, parked my car in the parking garage, ate breakfast at Jake's Cafe, waited a bit in The Westin Buffalo hotel lobby until 10:30 am then walked to the Buffalo field office.

 

Handed in my Interview appointment letter and green card to the security guard, asked me the standard security questions (weapon, liquid, food, knife, or guns) which I didn't have any, and walked through the metal detector portal. Once I was cleared, both letter and GC was given back to me and was told to go to Window 4 (information window) to check myself in. Then sat in the main lobby area. There were about nine families in the room, and I can tell that most of them were going for their citizenship interview since they were reviewing the civics questions from the “Learn about the United States: Quick Civics Lessons for the New Naturalization Test” booklet that we get after the biometric appointment.

 

One by one, an officer would open the door and call out a name, and either the person or a couple would follow the officer through the door near window 1 (opposite side of the lobby of where I had my biometric taken). Then few people came into the main lobby AFTER I came in was starting to meet with the officers and I'm still waiting for my turn. It was 11:20 am by now - 35 minutes past my scheduled appointment. Truth to be told, I was half-expecting this to happen, so I'm just taking all of this in stride.

 

Before I go on, many of you don't know that I am deaf  I can read lip and speak pretty well) and I already mentioned in N-400 Part 3 - Accommodations for Individuals With Disabilities and/or Impairments and marked the checkbox of 1A. "I am deaf or hard of hearing and request the following accommodation:" and entered "American Sign Language interpreter". I had very little expectation of getting one for the interview since I did not call ahead as I was supposed to after receiving my Interview I-797C NOA letter (it says so on the back of the letter of how to request service even if I already indicated in the N400).

 

Back to the story, what comes next was rather interesting.... a tall, elegant blonde lady in a business two-piece yellow dress walked out of the same door the officer was calling names from, carrying a couple of brown manila file folders, found me, promptly sat right next to me and asked me for my name. At that moment, I was thinking "What...am I being interview out here in the main lobby?". I told her my name via signing and verbal at the same time. She wanted to apologize for the delay as she just found out that I was deaf from my application and is in the process of looking for an ASL interpreter for me. I explained that I was pleasantly surprised and appreciated that you were making the effort of retaining an ASL interpreter. If the process is taking too long, I don't want to hold up everybody's schedule today and I'm more than comfortable with going ahead with the citizenship interview without having an interpreter (honestly - in the back of my mind, I just want the whole process to be over done with then and now, ha!). She said great, let's give it a few more minutes, and we'll have one of the officers come out and get you for the interview, with or without an interpreter. And she went back into the interview door. It wasn't until then I realized that everybody in the main lobby was looking at me, wondering what just happened. Oy vey.

 

Few more people came and went. Then by around 12:00 pm, a very friendly IO, looking like Cecily Strong from SNL but with lighter brown hair, came out from an entirely different door, next to the security area walked out to the main lobby,  and gave me an index finger "come here" gesture in a nice way. I followed her through the door, into a hallway and then into her office. Her office is like any other regular office, four drawers file cabinet on one side of the room with U shaped desk, a couple of family pictures on the wall with a cute baby, a printer and scanner on one corner of her desk with a computer on the other corner. She asked me to remain standing, raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth.

 

The IO introduced herself as V.S. (I don't want to divulge her full name on this form for the sake of her privacy) and apologized for the wait and was unable to get an interpreter. Side note - VS maintained a high level of politeness and professionalism throughout, while still being very clear and firm about what she expected me to do during the interview. She asked me if I want to continue with the interview without the interpreter which I responded wholeheartedly yes.

 

Once we got the introduction out of the way, I can see that VS has my N400 in front of her along with all the paperwork related to my green card in one big fat brown manila file. I gave her a copy of my table of content of all the paperwork and evidence I brought so that she knows what I have for the sake of keeping the whole interview simple as possible. She was very happy and noticed that I have an updated travel information (N400 page 7) since I traveled out of USA for more than 24 hours after I submitted the N400 back in December. I already prepared and printed out the revised p7, but she used her red pen and made the changes on the original N400 application and gave my revised p7 back to me. VS reviewed my N400 application page-by-page. Starting at page 1, I noticed she changed my Part 1-1b (LPR with spouse/3 years) to Part 1-1a (LPR 5 years) since I suspected my green card was dated back in 2009 and it would be less work on her part and less paperwork.

 

She asked me questions along the way just to verify everything is in order. She asked me facts like where I worked, the names of my children.  We then moved to Part 12 of the N-400 (i.e., with all the questions about crime, terrorism, and communism). I don't remember every single question she asked, but among other things, she covered communism, failing to file taxes, the Nazi party, hurting/killing others, using a weapon against someone, being a member of a militia, working at a prison or similar place, and crime. Just basically saying repetitive no except for one question.

 

I answered "yes" on the N400 form for:

23. Have you EVER been arrested, cited, or detained by any law enforcement officer (including any immigration official or any official of the U.S. armed forces) for any reason? Yes, I tried to re-enter USA on an expired TN visa which I overstayed for more than 180 days but less than a year.  VS wanted to know why I answered yes, I was able to show her the original I-275 Withdrawal of Application for Admission and gave a bit of a backstory. She was satisfied with the answer and moved on. The the last step was to sign my signature in Part 16 - Signature at Interview and Part 18 - Oath of Allegiance.

 

Then we moved onto the civics test. VS took her time with all the questions, making sure that I understood what she was asking. There were only a couple of times I asked VS to repeat a word.

 

The English test was:

   READ: Which state has the most people?

   WRITE: California has the most people ( I opted to print the answer, not cursive)

 

Then answered the following questions for the Civic test:

1. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?
2. Who is in charge of the executive branch?
3. If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
4. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.
5. What is one reason colonists came to America?
6. During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?

   

I answered all of them correctly. And just when I thought we were done, VS asked me for the missing item: Two. Identical. Passport-Style. Color. Photographs. Arrrghhh….I was in utter disbelief for a second and said that I did not realized that it was necessary to bring the photograph to the interview. Luckily, she said that I was not the only one and is aware the current checklist made no mention of it (other than residing out of USA). Then she pointed out that “There is a Walgreen just up the road that can do passport photos.  If you were to go up now and get the photos, I would be happy to see me again as soon I come back. I will let the security guard know. So for now, I have to mark your application a decision cannot be made, further evidence is needed only until I get the photos.” She gave me Form N-652 - Noticed of Examination Result stated that I passed both English and Civic test however, a decision cannot be made” along with Form N-14- Request for Additional Evidence with the details of passport photo requirements.

 

VS also said “the good news is that once I get the photos, I will be able to give you your oath letter. Is there a specific location you would like to have your oath ceremony?” I already did my research beforehand and picked a local University in Rochester, NY since I know the University would be happy to provide an ASL interpreter for the Oath Ceremony and gave my choice to VS. “No problem! And there’s one coming up in May”.

 

And that was the end of the interview. She escorted me out to the main lobby and I quickly walked to Walgreen (on the same street as the field office but to the north). Took my photos, waited for 20 minutes, paid for it, and quickly walked back to the field office. Went through the whole nine yards with the security for the second time. Then I went up to the Information desk (Window 4), received a Take-a-Number ticket,  sat down in the main lobby, waited for 5 minutes before my number was called up to go up to Window 3 (Window 2 was also manned but Window 1 was unmanned). I gave the Window officer the N-652, N-14, and my passport photos. He told me to sit tight in the main lobby and went out to drop off the paperwork to VS.

 

I waited for 10 minutes but man, that was 10 minutes of FEEL. Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours. Talk about up and downs, gee whiz…

 

Suddenly, VS appears in Window 1, giving me the same index finger "come here" gesture as she did the first time. I went over and all I had to do was to sign my name along the FRONT edge of the passport photo with a felt black pen. I did not have to write down my Alien number on the back of the photo. She handed me back the Form N-652, marking “recommended for approval” with her infamous red pen, gave back the N-14 as well. Then all of sudden, I got the Form N-445 Notice of Naturalization Oath Ceremony letter, scheduled for May 8, 2017 at the local University I requested.

 

I thanked her profusely for taking the extra time out of her schedule to meet me for the second time and wished her all the best.  

 

And that was it.

 

All together from the time I drove to the field office and arrived back home, it was an 9 hours journey.  And the main point of the story is bring two passport photos no matter what to your interview!! Thank you all for sharing your experience with me and for reading about my detailed interview experience for the N-400. Hopefully this detailed information will help you.

 

Good luck with your immigration journey!

 

[Hypnos 6,576]

Thank you for your detailed post. 

 

Interesting with regards to the photos since, as you say, there is no mention of them being required other than when filing from outside the US. 

[antoncardan 29]

Weird, I didn't include any photos either. It clearly says that photos are only needed for overseas fillers.

[bearmirus 45]

1 minute ago, antoncardan said:

Weird, I didn't include any photos either. It clearly says that photos are only needed for overseas fillers.

I thought the same thing which is why I was thrown off by the whole thing at first.  So to be on the safe side, perhaps all December filers should get the photos and report back on whether they handed in their photos or not. In my opinion, that's $15.00 well spent compare to having to send in via mail which may or may not delay the decision of making recommendation for approval.

 

[elisar 17]

i think some passed their interviews without a photos? is this correct? 

Edited March 18, 2017 by elisar

[mustang-sally 8]

I had my interview last Thursday (March 16th). I was not asked for any photographs but I did include them in my original application. 

All your questions were exactly the same as mine, including the reading, writing and civics. I thought they were chosen at random, looks like they have sets of questions. 

Congratulations on passing 

[CareBear 18]

Question for OP - did you include 2 color photographs with your original application? I have my interview coming up in two weeks but at a different field office and there is no mention of the need for passport photographs on the list of things I need to bring with me. Thank you.

[bearmirus 45]

1 minute ago, CareBear said:

Question for OP - did you include 2 color photographs with your original application? I have my interview coming up in two weeks but at a different field office and there is no mention of the need for passport photographs on the list of things I need to bring with me. Thank you.

 

No, I did not include any passport photos in my original application nor was instructed to do so by any of the NOAs.

[CareBear 18]

2 minutes ago, bearmirus said:

No, I did not include any passport photos in my original application nor was instructed to do so by any of the NOAs.

Thank you - I just realised when I reread the N400 checklist I didn't have to either since I wasnt outside the USA. Whoops! lol

[bearmirus 45]

9 minutes ago, mustang-sally said:

I had my interview last Thursday (March 16th). I was not asked for any photographs but I did include them in my original application. 

All your questions were exactly the same as mine, including the reading, writing and civics. I thought they were chosen at random, looks like they have sets of questions. 

Congratulations on passing 

1

The paper that the IO had seems to be a copy of a copy since the text quality has degraded substantially a bit when I was doing the English test. So you could be right about the sets of questions. This may change though since I have seen some advertisement inside the field office main lobby about doing the interview on an iPad. There was one in the IO's office but it was set aside and use the old-fashioned method.

 

Thanks! 

[bearmirus 45]

8 minutes ago, CareBear said:

Thank you - I just realised when I reread the N400 checklist I didn't have to either since I wasnt outside the USA. Whoops! lol

No worries, it's all good! Just to be on the safe side, bring a set of photos to your interview.

[Zach&Lara 25]

I am a December filer and I included 2 passport pictures with my application. I just felt weird not sending any passport pictures, idk, I'm a little paranoid about such things, haha. 

 

Congrats on getting approved!

[bearmirus 45]

18 minutes ago, Zach&Lara said:

I am a December filer and I included 2 passport pictures with my application. I just felt weird not sending any passport pictures, idk, I'm a little paranoid about such things, haha. 

2

At least you do not have to worry about it now. I'm curious to see if you will use a felt pen to sign your name on the passport photo you sent with your application. 

 

18 minutes ago, Zach&Lara said:

Congrats on getting approved!

Thanks! 

[Zach&Lara 25]

22 minutes ago, bearmirus said:

At least you do not have to worry about it now. I'm curious to see if you will use a felt pen to sign your name on the passport photo you sent with your application. 

 

Thanks! 

You know, actually the instructions said to print your name and your A-number lightly on the back of the passport photographs, with a pencil or a felt tip pen. I used a pencil.

[Dita 0]

4 hours ago, mustang-sally said:

I had my interview last Thursday (March 16th). I was not asked for any photographs but I did include them in my original application. 

All your questions were exactly the same as mine, including the reading, writing and civics. I thought they were chosen at random, looks like they have sets of questions. 

Congratulations on passing 

What did u write at the question requesting for online account number.....do I leave it blank or write N/A