N-400 Filers in San Antonio, TX

[el_greco 20]

1 minute ago, SB5130 said:

congrats! which city? Im under Corpus Christi and nothing. I called the hotline and they could not put me in line somewhere else

I live in Austin, but when I asked the IO after my interview, she said that my oath ceremony would have to take place in San Antonio because they don't do oaths in Austin during COVID (something about it being too complicated for USCIS staff to come over here and set up the ceremony in a safe way) - I will know the exact details when the oath ceremony notice shows up on my.uscis.gov (how long does it usually take after the e-mail notification?), but I would be very surprised if the oath ceremony were not in SA.

[fellaamazing 72]

Filed June 22. Still no luck..

 

I am in Pflugerville, Austin area

[Snorkel378 38]

So my wife filed on 26 December, and got a biometrics reuse notice on 13 January. And a friend of her’s filed in mid September, and had her interview the 7th, so our office seems to be chugging along. And we all live in Bexar County.

[el_greco 20]

My Oath Ceremony got scheduled for next Friday, January 29th, in San Antonio  -- within the 30 day time frame mentioned to me by the IO during my 12/31 interview

[fellaamazing 72]

On 1/16/2021 at 11:28 AM, Snorkel378 said:

So my wife filed on 26 December, and got a biometrics reuse notice on 13 January. And a friend of her’s filed in mid September, and had her interview the 7th, so our office seems to be chugging along. And we all live in Bexar County.

They are absolutely not chugging along. I filed on June 22nd. No luck so far.

[ioxtremod 23]

No news as well. Got my interview approved a couple of days earlier than the 31. San Antonio also but live in Austin, TX.

 

Do you guys have the same kind of wordings about quality review under "Case History"? I have this:

 

December 29, 2020 Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled
December 29, 2020 We recommended that your Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, be approved. Your case was submitted for quality review.

[HSong 0]

3 minutes ago, ioxtremod said:

No news as well. Got my interview approved a couple of days earlier than the 31. San Antonio also but live in Austin, TX.

 

Do you guys have the same kind of wordings about quality review under "Case History"? I have this:

 

December 29, 2020 Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled
December 29, 2020 We recommended that your Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, be approved. Your case was submitted for quality review.

I have the same message as yours. I had my interview on December 15th. Nothing has been updated since then.... 

[ioxtremod 23]

11 hours ago, HSong said:

I have the same message as yours. I had my interview on December 15th. Nothing has been updated since then.... 

Got you, thanks! It does take a while randomly I suppose.

[Rachel90 5]

Hi, I just received an update on my case and it says they sent the oath ceremony letter on the 21st. I checked myuscis account and the ceremony was scheduled for February 5th at 8am 😊

[m105ucg3 7]

Looking at previous comments it seems that San Antonio field office does not conduct same day Oath ceremonies. Is this correct?

[el_greco 20]

23 hours ago, cryo28 said:

Looking at previous comments it seems that San Antonio field office does not conduct same day Oath ceremonies. Is this correct?

I had my interview on New Year's Eve and they told me that they don't conduct same day ceremonies due to the Holidays, not sure if anyone who had their interview after the holiday season got a same day ceremony. For what it's worth, my IO told me that I should be expecting my ceremony to be scheduled on a Friday, and from what I see in the comments above, my ceremony is on 1/29, and another such ceremony on 2/5, so maybe they reserve Fridays for these post-dated ceremonies? Purely speculative.

[fellaamazing 72]

Absolutely no luck so far.

 

Does anyone have any luck getting out of automated responses from call center? I tried to ask for level 2 supervisor, and still system won't connect me and ends the call.

[ioxtremod 23]

Try to send them an online message. 

[fellaamazing 72]

Filed June 22... Still nothing about finger prints or anything.. Now I am skeptic of this nonsense.

 

Estimated case completion time

April 2021 (2 months)

[el_greco 20]

I had my Oath Ceremony in San Antonio last Friday (01/29). It seems that Fridays are reserved for Oath Ceremonies because the building was eerily empty save for Oath takers. I was scheduled for 12 pm, and I put myself in line outside the building precisely at 11:30. USCIS staff checked the Oath notice and verified answers to questions on page 4. Although I had filled in the form in Austin the morning of the ceremony, the officer changed the "city" to "San Antonio, TX" (city where the form was filled/signed). I surrendered my permanent and conditional green cards (was not asked about EAD) and entered the building.

 

After going through the metal detector and a temperature check, I was instructed into the Oath Ceremony room where other applicants were also waiting, seated very sparsely (only one half of the room, about 10 people in it, seated ~3 in each row, so ~5 seats apart. On each seat there was a small American flag and a USCIS envelope with a pamphlet and a passport application. No letter from the President, or the Citizen's Almanac or anything like that  At around 11:35 am two USCIS officers entered the room to start the ceremony. We were told that no photography/video whatsoever would be allowed, and were given a very short pep talk about how although things are scaled down due to COVID, the ceremony is still of great importance as we are being welcome into the United States as new citizens. We were reminded to register to vote on vote.org ("although an important election just took place, there will be other elections in the future") and change our status with the Social Security Administration. We were asked to practice saying "I do" in unison for after the Oath was recited.

 

Then we were asked to stand up and raise our right hand, and an officer recited the Oath. We said "I do" after the "So help me God" part, and then were asked to depart the room/building immediately one by one, starting from the front row and moving back. The naturalization certificates were on a table by the entrance, and we were asked to make sure there are no issues with the certificates, and notify someone immediately if any discrepancies were found. My certificate was ok, so I picked it up and exited the building. Since I was traveling alone to San Antonio, I asked someone to take a photo of me holding the mini flag and the naturalization certificate in front of the building, as most newly minted citizens did the same thing. The whole ceremony etc lasted less than 10', as I was outside the building taking my "new citizen photo" at 11:44...

 

Although it was very disappointing having such a long, drawn out process to be culminating to an administrative check no more graceful than going through a TSA checkpoint at an airport, missing all required pomp and circumstance of pre-COVID days, I am relieved that this whole process is over, and that everything was relatively straightforward. I acknowledge that I am very lucky that the San Antonio field office processed my case in a relatively rapid pace, and I can now move on with my life as a US citizen.

I dropped off a paper voter registration application, on my way back to Austin...