San Jose, CA Field Office

[Amador 1]

1 hour ago, nikha said:

My Interview Experience

 

Time In: 7:45 am

Interview Scheduled At: 7:55 am

Interview Actual Start Time: 8:48 am

Time Out: 9:30 am

 

1. Reached the field office at around 7:45 am. Cleared the security and was asked to get into the line A at the check in counter for N400 Interview. This is a different counter than the security counter at the entrance. Since there was no one in Line A, the lady across the counter immediately checked me in and stamped my letter with something and handed me a token. I was asked to sit in the waiting area. Reminded that I cannot use cell phone in the waiting area.

2. I waited there for almost 45 minutes moving from one chair to another. A bit of anxiety gripping me. Meanwhile my wife who had the interview around the same time arrived and then we had a good time after that.

3. At around 8:45 am, a very pleasant faced, happy looking lady immigration officer called my token number and greet me with a smile. We exchanged pleasant morning wishes and she requested me to hand over the interview letter to her. She further escorted me to her office with required us to make 2 left turns and one right turn.

4. She requested me to take a seat. I showed courtesy  by saying I will oblige after she takes her seat to which she happily agreed. Some common sense gentlemen manners/gestures came to my help.

5. She ran me through a quick agenda of things we will be doing including verifying a few details/ seeking yes/no answers to some questions/ followed by a series of civic test questions and then reading/writing test.

6. She began with verifying my name, address, place of work, start date, marital status, my spouse's name, no of children, child's name, travel history etc. She inquired with me whether I was previously married and then requested to see my court docs if I were and had them with me. She went back to the computer screen and reviewed by spouse's marital history and inquired whether it was her first marriage with me. She inquired whether I had my wife's court docs for her previous marriage.

7. She then went through a series of questions inquiring about my memberships to organizations in general (like IEEE Computer Society etc), terror organizations etc. She asked me whether I ever lived in United Status between 18 to 26 years of age. Then followed the standard yes no type questions about any wrong doings if any and whether I am willing pledge my allegiance to the US if I were granted citizenship.

8. She then asked me to verify some info on the tablet screen which she had just recently updated and asked me to e-sign the form. Likewise she asked me to e-sign the form for Pledge of Allegiance to the United States.

9. This was followed by an abrupt transition into the Civic Questions Test as below

 

a) Who was brought to United States as slaves?

b) What was Unites States worried about post World War II and during Cold War ?

c) Who serves the office if President cannot ?

d) One responsibility of US citizens?

e) Two federal holidays ?

f) Who makes federal laws in the Government ?

 

10. Asked me to read "How many Senators do we have ?

11. Made me write " We have one hundred senators"

12. Asked for some more time while she completed some paper work.

13.Finally printed a sheet of paper and congratulated me on passing the civic test and informed me that she is recommending my case for approval.

 

14. The moment I set my foot outside the facility a slurry of text messages about my case being updated from N400 Naturalization Interview to Oath Ceremony to Post Interview Activity etc etc.

 

That is about it. All in all pretty decent experience, very well streamlined process, not much hiccup-y so far. Hope this is useful and helpful for people who are in line.

Thank you for sharing and congradulations my husband has his interview next week I feel so nervous for him.

[xmen4 0]

Hi @nikha, Congratulations and THANK YOU for the detailed info.

 

One question:

>>>She inquired with me whether I was previously married and then requested to see my court docs if I were and had them with me.

 

I am not applying for naturalization based on marriage.

Do I still need to carry a court document about my marriage ?

I was not married in US and I was going to carry birth certificate issued from my home country.

 

 

 

[nikha 18]

7 minutes ago, xmen4 said:

Hi @nikha, Congratulations and THANK YOU for the detailed info.

 

One question:

>>>She inquired with me whether I was previously married and then requested to see my court docs if I were and had them with me.

 

I am not applying for naturalization based on marriage.

Do I still need to carry a court document about my marriage ?

I was not married in US and I was going to carry birth certificate issued from my home country.

 

 

 

I am not an immigration attorney. My response here by no means constitutes legal advice.

 

Having said that, my N400 application is based on Employment category, and yet the very fact that she noticed previous marital history in my N400 application must have possibly instigated the officer to probe further. I had already uploaded the copies of court docs when applying for N400 and the officer could very well see those with my application form and yet she asked for the same docs one more time. Not just that she actually scanned court docs and my marriage certificate during my interview.

 

So to answer your question in short, it does not hurt to carry relevant docs if you have prior history of whatever it may be, may it be marriage, criminal, tax related etc etc just to be safe and to prove that you intend to dawn upon this new citizenship with utmost sincerity,  honesty and allegiance. Just my 2 cents

[toravir 3]

3 hours ago, nikha said:

My Interview Experience..

Congrats @nikha most likely you will have oath ceremony apr 18 - like i do. Very detailed summary of events (including two left turns and a right 😉 likely you will get the date of the oath letter sometime next week. I had my interview on a tuesday and a week later got the oath date letter.

[nikha 18]

13 minutes ago, toravir said:

Congrats @nikha most likely you will have oath ceremony apr 18 - like i do. Very detailed summary of events (including two left turns and a right 😉 likely you will get the date of the oath letter sometime next week. I had my interview on a tuesday and a week later got the oath date letter.

Thank you @xmen4 @toravir Hopefully things move quickly and I get to see the oath letter soon.

[Frdk 1]

@nikha congrats on interview.  Curious about where you said "She asked me whether I ever lived in United Status between 18 to 26 years" 

What's the significance or background to that question? Is that a question that is unique to your situation? I'm up for April 1st.

[nikha 18]

1 hour ago, Frdk said:

@nikha congrats on interview.  Curious about where you said "She asked me whether I ever lived in United Status between 18 to 26 years" 

What's the significance or background to that question? Is that a question that is unique to your situation? I'm up for April 1st.

 

It was one of the questions in N400 application form which I probably missed or misunderstood and did not answer correctly in spite of the fact that I entered and stayed in the United States within the range of age.

 

Initial when she asked me this question, I kind of hastily answered it as no, to which the officer's facial response was that I was certainly missing something there. I then actually called out my birth year and the year in which I first entered the United States and it then strike me that yes she had a point.I indeed had stayed in the US within that age range. Follow up to that question was she immediately inquired what was my visa status during that time. And I told her I was on F1 student's visa

 

Later on during the time when asked me go over the info on the tablet, I noticed she had answered yes to this question on updated N400 forms and in the explanation field had mentioned that " I was on F1 visa as a student".

 

Hope this helps !

[Lemon23 400]

10 hours ago, Frdk said:

@nikha congrats on interview.  Curious about where you said "She asked me whether I ever lived in United Status between 18 to 26 years" 

What's the significance or background to that question? Is that a question that is unique to your situation? I'm up for April 1st.

 

8 hours ago, nikha said:

 

It was one of the questions in N400 application form which I probably missed or misunderstood and did not answer correctly in spite of the fact that I entered and stayed in the United States within the range of age.

 

Initial when she asked me this question, I kind of hastily answered it as no, to which the officer's facial response was that I was certainly missing something there. I then actually called out my birth year and the year in which I first entered the United States and it then strike me that yes she had a point.I indeed had stayed in the US within that age range. Follow up to that question was she immediately inquired what was my visa status during that time. And I told her I was on F1 student's visa

 

Later on during the time when asked me go over the info on the tablet, I noticed she had answered yes to this question on updated N400 forms and in the explanation field had mentioned that " I was on F1 visa as a student".

 

Hope this helps !

In general, men are not required to register to any selective service if you're not LPR or US citizen.

[toravir 3]

9 hours ago, nikha said:

Later on during the time when asked me go over the info on the tablet, I noticed she had answered yes to this question on updated N400 forms and in the explanation field had mentioned that " I was on F1 visa as a student".

 

Hope this helps !

Strange - the N400 Q.44 (page 16) clearly states:

"Are you a male who lived in the US at any time between your 18th and 26th birthdays ? Y or N

(This does not include living in the US as a lawful nonimmigrant)".

 

So your answer is N (since F1 is a lawful non-immigrant visa)...

 

It happened to me on another thing - i was picked on similar thing - traffic citation - even though n-400 says don't include if it doesn't involve arrest or drugs or the fines greater than $500.. my immigration officer asked and modified n400 form to reflect my speeding ticket from 3 or 4 yrs ago.. which didn't meet the criteria..

 

 

[Frdk 1]

@Lemon23 @nikha

 Thanks for the reoly

Ok, so the question seems specific to males and comes out of the section asking if you ever signed up for selective service?

 

Reason I was curious was I've poured over my application and didn't find anywhere where I had to answer about when I arrived or what I did btwn 18-26. I'm guessing it's because I'm female and got to skip the selective service requirement. 

[Frdk 1]

3 minutes ago, toravir said:

Strange - the N400 Q.44 (page 16) clearly states:

"Are you a male who lived in the US at any time between your 18th and 26th birthdays ? Y or N

(This does not include living in the US as a lawful nonimmigrant)".

 

So your answer is N (since F1 is a lawful non-immigrant visa)...

 

It happened to me on another thing - i was picked on similar thing - traffic citation - even though n-400 says don't include if it doesn't involve arrest or drugs or the fines greater than $500.. my immigration officer asked and modified n400 form to reflect my speeding ticket from 3 or 4 yrs ago.. which didn't meet the criteria..

 

 

@toravir good point too. Its a little confusing

[Lemon23 400]

2 minutes ago, Frdk said:

@Lemon23 @nikha

 Thanks for the reoly

Ok, so the question seems specific to males and comes out of the section asking if you ever signed up for selective service?

 

Reason I was curious was I've poured over my application and didn't find anywhere where I had to answer about when I arrived or what I did btwn 18-26. I'm guessing it's because I'm female and got to skip the selective service requirement. 

Selective service for female is voluntarily, meaning not required, Selective service is only required for male LPR and USC between 18-26 years old.

Unless you registered to selective service then you have to mentioned that on your application and show them the document that you registered.

[toravir 3]

18 hours ago, Amador said:

Thank you for sharing and congradulations my husband has his interview next week I feel so nervous for him.

Relax amador. It is going to be ok. just go over n400 and be clear and honest about everything u have on n400 - u have already passed many checks like fbi checks etc - so relax.

[nikha 18]

There you go experienced and expert forum members have chipped with their knowledge. Makes me feel much better that at least I wasn't negligent when I filled the N400 forms the first time. At the same time, I don't know what would be the reason behind the officer reasserting this info from me especially when it clearly states legal non immigrant visa holders exempted

 

Thanks so much everyone and @Lemon23

[nikha 18]

Got Oath Ceremony scheduled for 18th April, 2019