Became a citizen today - Interview with covid precautions

[Pat&Vince 97]

21 hours ago, Limey said:

My interview was scheduled for today in Raleigh NC (Durham) and I was given details about precautions for covid19 in advance (wear a mask, don't arrive more than 15 minutes in advance, etc).

Upon arrival and having navigated security I was directed to a numbered room where there was an ipad video link to the interviewer in another room. The entire interview was conducted via the ipad so there was no close contact with other people. There was hand sanitizer in the room. For the parts where I had to write things down the interviewer sent things to the printer in my room and I was asked to write and then hold them up to the camera.

 

After being approved I was sent to a larger room next door with around 8 other people - we all sat on chairs that were around 10ft apart. After a wait of around 20 minutes the oath ceremony was conducted, and we became citizens.

 

It was disappointing after such a long visa journey that it had to conclude without a traditional ceremony that friends and family could attend but I have no complaints - I was very impressed at how well USCIS handled things and have adapted to continue operating during the pandemic.

 

Best of luck to everyone else out there and stay safe!

What an interesting process they put together.

 

i get there is very little fanfare and bling to it, but being able to have the whole thing taken care of in one day is also a relief, am I right? I’d rather have it done that way than waiting for months for a hypothetical traditional ceremony to happen.

 

and Congrats btw 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JeanneAdil 6,511]

Congratulations

even before the covid , they limited visitors to one and in our case,  no children were allowed in

Please register and vote

inform SS office of the change from LPR to citizen

[NDB052714 122]

1 hour ago, Limey said:

I got the email notification that there was action on my case on 25 June, I logged in and I could see the interview letter for 29 July, so just over one month's notice.

The instructions said I had to come alone. It said if you need an interpreter you should arrange that in advance and they would only be allowed by phone, not in person. Your representative (attorney) is allowed in person or by phone. If you have a disability and have an individual who assists, they can attend in person. Obviously if you did attend you could remain in the car outside. Cell phones aren't permitted either so you'd have no way to check on your spouse if you did.

Since the oath ceremony is immediately afterwards the same applies there. No guests.

As I said, its a bummer because I had a few friends (US citizens) who really wanted to experience a citizenship ceremony and I was looking forward to marking such a momentous event myself, but have to give credit to USCIS for how they've re-engineered their systems for the pandemic - it was really professional.

Thank you so much for the info! So it'll be at least a month, probably longer. So tired of waiting! 

 

--David

[Tracey&Greg 35]

Just did they do any civics test questions? 

[NYCruiser 423]

22 hours ago, Limey said:

My interview was scheduled for today in Raleigh NC (Durham) and I was given details about precautions for covid19 in advance (wear a mask, don't arrive more than 15 minutes in advance, etc).

Upon arrival and having navigated security I was directed to a numbered room where there was an ipad video link to the interviewer in another room. The entire interview was conducted via the ipad so there was no close contact with other people. There was hand sanitizer in the room. For the parts where I had to write things down the interviewer sent things to the printer in my room and I was asked to write and then hold them up to the camera.

 

After being approved I was sent to a larger room next door with around 8 other people - we all sat on chairs that were around 10ft apart. After a wait of around 20 minutes the oath ceremony was conducted, and we became citizens.

 

It was disappointing after such a long visa journey that it had to conclude without a traditional ceremony that friends and family could attend but I have no complaints - I was very impressed at how well USCIS handled things and have adapted to continue operating during the pandemic.

 

Best of luck to everyone else out there and stay safe!

Thanks for the update. 

PS: Your profile picture of a lime is hilarious..

 

 

[Limey 551]

2 hours ago, Tracey&Greg said:

Just did they do any civics test questions? 

The interview was the same as a normal one.

1) they go over basic info, making sure they have name, DOB, address, phone number correct, was I still married to my wife, etc.

2) 6 Civics questions (if you get any wrong they can go up to 10 until you get 6 right)

3) Language test (the interviewer commented "since you're English and you guys invented the language I don't anticipate problems but we have to do the test anyway").

4) They run through the check list (have you ever claimed to be a US citizen, registered to vote, been in a terrorist organization etc). You have to answer no or yes as appropriate.

It was friendly and we chatted a little too. I got interview waivers for initial green card and ROC so this was my first one but there really isn't anything difficult about it.

Edited July 30, 2020 by Limey

[Tracey&Greg 35]

51 minutes ago, Limey said:

The interview was the same as a normal one.

1) they go over basic info, making sure they have name, DOB, address, phone number correct, was I still married to my wife, etc.

2) 6 Civics questions (if you get any wrong they can go up to 10 until you get 6 right)

3) Language test (the interviewer commented "since you're English and you guys invented the language I don't anticipate problems but we have to do the test anyway").

4) They run through the check list (have you ever claimed to be a US citizen, registered to vote, been in a terrorist organization etc). You have to answer no or yes as appropriate.

It was friendly and we chatted a little too. I got interview waivers for initial green card and ROC so this was my first one but there really isn't anything difficult about it.

That's really helpful! Thank you 😊 By any chance the civics test is multiple choice? 

[Limey 551]

7 minutes ago, Tracey&Greg said:

That's really helpful! Thank you 😊 By any chance the civics test is multiple choice? 

No, its not multiple choice - it explains how it works here.

 

https://my.uscis.gov/prep/test/civics

 

The tests you see online tend to be multiple choice as it avoids giving you incorrect if you phrase it differently or misspell.

 

The test really isn't too difficult if you do a little reading - I'm a history buff and love pub trivia so I did loads of reading of US history in any case but some of the questions are pretty easy stuff you'll know anyway ("what day do we celebrate Independence Day", "Who was the First US President" etc).

 

Out of interest, check out the British citizenship test here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4099770.stm

 

The answer to question 8 is A, unless you're in Scotland where its C.

[BBlueB 35]

Congrats. Pain of waiting for oath ceremony is waived

[Phoenix777 73]

Thank you for sharing and big congratulations!

So you did not have to wear a mask during the video interview, yes? Just during the waiting? 

[~Alessa~ 26]

Congratulations!!! Did you receive your naturalization certificate that day or they will mail it to you?

[Limey 551]

On 8/2/2020 at 6:37 PM, Phoenix777 said:

Thank you for sharing and big congratulations!

So you did not have to wear a mask during the video interview, yes? Just during the waiting? 

Yes, mask on when entering building, going through security. Once the interviewer appeared on the ipad, he checked I had closed the door in the office I was in, then told me to remove my mask. They were very well organized, I was impressed. We put masks back on, and kept them on during the oath ceremony.

On 8/3/2020 at 3:11 AM, ~Alessa~ said:

Congratulations!!! Did you receive your naturalization certificate that day or they will mail it to you?

Yes, they'd already printed our certificates and handed them to us immediately after the oath, and we were asked to check the details as they can correct them that day, but its time consuming (and probably costly) to get a new cert after that date.