Los Angeles/L.A. County filers

[Hadassah123 523]

Hi all!

 

Found this thread and want to say I have my interview next Tuesday! (Feb 16th).

 

I filed for expedited citizenship based on my husband being military and him getting orders for overseas. My timeline therefore not standard. 

 

Had already started studying for the civics portion after I applied, so now just to memorize the last 20 or so. 

[Albator 17]

Good Evening LA filers,

 

I had my Oath Ceremony yesterday in DTLA. It is held outside in the courtyard behind the building. It is quick and I guess other people can come with you because it is open to the public. There are 2 desks:

- one to check you in, punch a hole in the green card, staple it with your appointment letter and give you an envelop (with inside: the little flag, what to do next and a passport application), you are then directed to stand in front of an officer who will read the pledge of allegiance in front of a small group, and once done, you go into another line to go to the second desk.

- the second desk is where you give your punched green card and you are remitted the certificate of naturalization.
 

there are flags in the courtyard where you can take pictures with your love ones if you want.

 

Good luck to all the applicants still waiting for this moment. I wish you all the best 🇺🇸

[Hadassah123 523]

Had my interview today and passed! 🥳

Most annoying part of the whole process was the long wait! My appointment was for 2pm, but I didn't get called in till just after 4pm - by then there was almost no one left. Heard from a guard around 2.30pm that I got lucky, because they were so backed up that everyone after 2pm was being re-scheduled.  Either way, am glad to have this over with! 

Was told I would be asked 10 questions, and that I had to have 6 correct. So then once I answered the first 6 correctly, she stopped. 

Had to read 1 sentence off the tablet in front of me and then had to write down one sentence on that same tablet (with a stylus pen thing, so it didn't turn out very pretty 😂).

 

Oath Ceremony scheduled for Thursday! 

Since they are so backed up, they try to schedule Oath Ceremony's asap after interview approval and will give you your Oath Ceremony notice right after the interview. In my case the system wasn't working, so the officer was going to try schedule it for later (which could be next month), but then called me while in the car on the way home (luckily husband was driving ) that she managed to schedule me for Thursday. However, now no interview notice and not enough time to receive it in the mail (I do see in myuscis account that it's been sent out 😅), so she told me to just show up with only my GC on Thursday. Guess we'll see how that goes! 

[AngelaP 13]

here’s mine if anyone is interested 

[Scandi 4,166]

6 hours ago, AngelaP said:

here’s mine if anyone is interested 

Thank you for that post. Did you and the officer sit in different rooms and communicated via the tablet, or was he just behind a glass window in the same room as you? 

[AngelaP 13]

7 minutes ago, Scandi said:

Thank you for that post. Did you and the officer sit in different rooms and communicated via the tablet, or was he just behind a glass window in the same room as you? 

The rooms are limited to 2 persons due to covid. So we were in the same room, my chair was against the door wall and the officer was at his desk behind a glass window. I recommend bringing your own pen and some hand sanitizer. I can bet that the tablet pen is not cleaned after each use.

[Hadassah123 523]

14 minutes ago, Scandi said:

Thank you for that post. Did you and the officer sit in different rooms and communicated via the tablet, or was he just behind a glass window in the same room as you? 

Same room! The officer behind his/her desk with a plexiglas screen in between you and them. The tablet is on your side of the screen, so that you can read, write, and check your info (that they will show you).

[Hadassah123 523]

This happened today! 🥳

Thank you @Albator for sharing your experience, very helpful! And I can attest that it was the exact same. 

1) I checked in, handed over my GC and expired EAD/AP, answered the questions from the notice, GC&EAD got stapled to a sheet and was then told to proceed to yellow caution tape.

 

2) At yellow caution tape another officer told me to pick a spot with blue tape on the ground.

 

3) Had to wait till other 8/9 people were there. We started 5 min before ceremony time because everyone was already there. Officer had told us grab our oath pamphlet thing from the envelop given at check in.

 

4) Officer told us to raise our right hand and to repeat the Oath after him. After that was done, he said "congratulations, you are now officially a citizen of the United States" 

 

5) All done! Then had to form a line and someone took the sheet with my GC&EAD/AP stapled to it. Then got handed my naturalization certificate.

 

When I arrived the previous group was just finishing up and when I left, the next group was already gathering. Seems to be a constant flow of ceremonies! 

 

Husband  (and baby) came along and he took this pic. I wouldn't take a whole group of people along, but 1 or 2 should be fine. 

 

Very very happy to be done with USCIS! 

 

 

[iPod 89]

Yesterday morning I randomly checked my USCIS account and there was nothing new. About an hour later I get an email that my interview was scheduled! I looked in my account and there was my interview notice. It's for June 4, so the original estimate of May was pretty close. 

[Moradesk 10]

Hello team LA filers,

I am So So So happy to find you guys here. I am a March 2020 filer, and already done my interview in  DTLA on May 5, 2021. I got recommended approval but the officer could not print oath information on the interview date. Therefore, now I am waiting for the oath information. Thanks for great people sharing oath experiences and pictures with us. I love DTLA outside oath ceremony, and I want to be there just like your guys. Lol…Hope my oath letter will come soon.

[Colbert Report 5]

Does anyone know if they are still doing the same day oath ceremonies, or is that over now?  A friend of mine was sworn in a couple of days after his interview back in March, but he would have been sworn in the same day had he not had his interview scheduled at the end of the day.  I'm hoping my interview, earlier in the afternoon, will allow time for an oath ceremony right there immediately afterwards so I won't have to go back.

[Scandi 4,166]

11 minutes ago, Colbert Report said:

Does anyone know if they are still doing the same day oath ceremonies, or is that over now?  A friend of mine was sworn in a couple of days after his interview back in March, but he would have been sworn in the same day had he not had his interview scheduled at the end of the day.  I'm hoping my interview, earlier in the afternoon, will allow time for an oath ceremony right there immediately afterwards so I won't have to go back.

L.A stopped doing same-day oaths in mid January. Possibly a few could have a same-day oath if it happens so that they have their interview on the same day they're holding the oath ceremony in the back of the building, but I haven't yet heard of a case like that.

[Colbert Report 5]

Thanks so much for the reply!  Do you have any idea what the typical wait time is for an oath ceremony?  Are we talking a couple of days or a few months?

[Scandi 4,166]

32 minutes ago, Colbert Report said:

Thanks so much for the reply!  Do you have any idea what the typical wait time is for an oath ceremony?  Are we talking a couple of days or a few months?

Just a few days. They used to hold oath ceremonies on Tuesdays and Thursdays (it can change of course). Very often in other words, you won't have to wait for more than just a few days. It's like "drop-in" when you get there, you just stand in line and wait to give your oath letter to the lady at the table, doesn't matter when you show up. 

 

I even had a name change and only had two business days between interview and oath. They're very fast. 

[Colbert Report 5]

That's good to know.  I let my boss know today that I'll need the afternoon of the interview off and then another bit of time off a few days later.  You're very helpful, thanks for chiming in.