Remote oath ceremonies?

[Ontarkie 14,712]

It  says judicial oath ceremony is impracticable.

 

Most ceremonies are not judicial. 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Ontarkie

[angelbrown 195]

15 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

Where you gonna get it notarized? I don’t think that’s an essential business, or is it?

 

Me, I’d rather wait than send my green card away in the mail and wait for my n400 to arrive by same, personally, unless there was some pressingly urgent need to become a citizen ASAP.

Not necessarily a need to become a citizen ASAP but wondering how the process will affect all those postponements with the current schedules once USCIS opens back up. My husband’s March ceremony was postponed the week of. Unfortunately, his drivers license expires next month with the extension letter and he needs his license for work. I was wondering if they could have automatically sent out extension letters for at least 6 months at a time or come up with some other resolution for those waiting in the balance.🤷🏽‍♀️

[angelbrown 195]

But I agree, wouldn’t want to send the green card through the mail and wait for N400 the same either. 

[millefleur 5,050]

Are the in person oath ceremonies really just a formality for tradition's sake? If one already had the interview individually, what exactly is the point of the oath other than legally agreeing and accepting the certificate?

 

I guess logistically it is also easier to just oath in a bunch of people all at once?

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

1 hour ago, millefleur said:

Are the in person oath ceremonies really just a formality for tradition's sake? If one already had the interview individually, what exactly is the point of the oath other than legally agreeing and accepting the certificate?

 

I guess logistically it is also easier to just oath in a bunch of people all at once?

Updating to ensure no GMC or residence/presence violations since interview, and handing in green card. 

 

While I realize some people just want their certificate, for many the oath ceremony is also a big emotional occasion.  Liken it to a senior who just gets their diploma, and one who attends a graduation ceremony to do so. It’s not just handing out pieces of paper, and goodbye.

Edited April 16, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[millefleur 5,050]

2 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Updating to ensure no GMC or residence/presence violations since interview, and handing in green card. 

 

While I realize some people just want their certificate, for many the oath ceremony is also a big emotional occasion.  Liken it to a senior who just gets their diploma, and one who attends a graduation ceremony to do so. It’s not just handing out pieces of paper, and goodbye.

I agree with the emotional aspect of it totally. I was just wondering if legally there was a reason why it had to be in person.

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

11 minutes ago, millefleur said:

I agree with the emotional aspect of it totally. I was just wondering if legally there was a reason why it had to be in person.

No idea, not sure if there is anything to do with identity verification. 

[millefleur 5,050]

8 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

No idea, not sure if there is anything to do with identity verification. 

Yeah, this is what I was also wondering about. Also anything "remote" presents huge security risks. I assume court call and other services have some sort of security in place but still. In person is the most secure in terms of physically handing over any sensitive materials.

[Mounat02 63]

16 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Yeah, this is what I was also wondering about. Also anything "remote" presents huge security risks. I assume court call and other services have some sort of security in place but still. In person is the most secure in terms of physically handing over any sensitive materials.

There maybe a historical/congressional reasons why oath ceremonies are conducted. They may also just be the sentimental events that they are, as mentioned above. Or, the cynic in me says, they're glorified expenditures to justify the exorbitant N-400 application fee. Who knows. I, for one,  enjoyed mine though it went a little too long for my taste (was in a hurry to get to USPS to apply for passport 😁)

 

After this pandemic, I suspect a lot of in-person events, especially large ones like naturalization oath ceremonies, will go the way of the Dodo bird. Unlikely everything goes back to the way it was. Not with USCIS or life in general.

[millefleur 5,050]

12 minutes ago, Mounat02 said:

There maybe a historical/congressional reasons why oath ceremonies are conducted. They may also just be the sentimental events that they are, as mentioned above. Or, the cynic in me says, they're glorified expenditures to justify the exorbitant N-400 application fee. Who knows. I, for one,  enjoyed mine though it went a little too long for my taste (was in a hurry to get to USPS to apply for passport 😁)

 

After this pandemic, I suspect a lot of in-person events, especially large ones like naturalization oath ceremonies, will go the way of the Dodo bird. Unlikely everything goes back to the way it was. Not with USCIS or life in general.

I like the traditional element with the little American flags, it kind of feels like a big party after all the work people have done to get this far to the final step! It would be sad to see it go away.

 

I would prefer USCIS streamline other aspects of the services but find a way to keep the ceremony. But if having smaller ones more often means more costs, that is an issue. Not sure people would want to pay more than it costs already with fees going up. I agree we're not likely to see a "back to norm" scenario anytime soon.

[py6 43]

not happening, just to be honest on this. 

[Mounat02 63]

3 hours ago, millefleur said:

I like the traditional element with the little American flags, it kind of feels like a big party after all the work people have done to get this far to the final step! It would be sad to see it go away.

Agreed. During my ceremony in this large arena in north Houston, I sat so far up in the stands, the action down below seemed so far away to us in the bleachers that I spent most of the time chatting with those around me. When the speeches and ceremony went a little too long (every local politician likes to make an appearance), I overheard a gentleman sitting in front me whisper to his wife that he "would die for America but didn't want to die of boredom right there at the oath ceremony!"

 

LoL

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

49 minutes ago, Mounat02 said:

Agreed. During my ceremony in this large arena in north Houston, I sat so far up in the stands, the action down below seemed so far away to us in the bleachers that I spent most of the time chatting with those around me. When the speeches and ceremony went a little too long (every local politician likes to make an appearance), I overheard a gentleman sitting in front me whisper to his wife that he "would die for America but didn't want to die of boredom right there at the oath ceremony!"

 

LoL

Wow, ours was long but never boring, we didn’t seem to have the “every local politician” problem (our keynote speech was an excellent one by an immigrant rights lawyer/academic).
In fact, when my husband mentioned at work he was taking the morning off to attend my ceremony, one of his co-workers said something like he loves how happy and uplifting the ceremonies are and recommends everyone should try attend one at some stage even if they don’t know anyone naturalizing!

 

Ours was also large but in a beautiful theater, all the celebrants downstairs and family and other spectators upstairs. I loved that part of the introduction was listing the countries everyone came from originally (there were 1500 or so of us so ..it was most of them) and showed flags of all the countries as they were named. I thought that was a nice touch. 

[N400NYC 380]

On 4/15/2020 at 3:56 PM, Mounat02 said:

 

Seriously though, only urgency I see is for those wanting to vote this year. (Bernie! 😢)

 

 

 

 

Voting + sponsorship of a spouse/relative. The latter is extremely important/critical for some folks. 

[N400NYC 380]

My oath ceremony was the last one held in NYC - Friday March 13th - before everything shutdown.

 

It was intentionally brief and "stripped down" - guests could not participate, there were no extra speeches, and no photos in the auditorium afterwards. 

 

But we are definitely not 6 feet away from each other and I can't imagine a similar oath ceremony (with 100 people in it) being conducted in the near future.