N-400 Seattle (Part 2)

[Hamilton 511]

4 hours ago, LoveAndLight2045 said:

Hey folks. 
 

quick question about documents to bring: “Your spouse's birth or naturalization certificate or certificate of citizenship.”

My partner can’t enter in possession of her birth certificate prior to the interview. Will her passport be okay instead? Not sure how we missed it in the interview invite letter

I think her passport will be fine, I wouldn't worry about it. I also think it's likely they won't ask for it at all, like with me. It seems like they typically just want to see the applicant's green card, ID, and passport (aside from any additional evidence stuff if it comes up). 

 

[Hamilton 511]

16 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

Congratulations! Also, that is amazing news that your spouse could attend. I was not allowed to attend when my wife had her ceremony, so that changed recently!

Thanks!! It seems like everyone was unsure what the policy actually is. Someone inside told me that spouses can come in and wait in the waiting room with you (before the interview). I'm not sure the security guard outside would've allowed that, and the interview letter certainly says only the applicant is allowed. 🤷‍♂️ 

 

I think only one other person in the ceremony brought a family member in. Did your wife ask them specifically at the ceremony? Seems the answer varies. 

[Truth_Seeker 14]

3 minutes ago, Hamilton said:

Thanks!! It seems like everyone was unsure what the policy actually is. Someone inside told me that spouses can come in and wait in the waiting room with you (before the interview). I'm not sure the security guard outside would've allowed that, and the interview letter certainly says only the applicant is allowed. 🤷‍♂️ 

 

I think only one other person in the ceremony brought a family member in. Did your wife ask them specifically at the ceremony? Seems the answer varies. 

So with this said, is there a good place nearby  for  the spouse to wait?  We will be coming from Germany for the interview and will more that likely take the train/bus to USCIS.

[Hamilton 511]

11 minutes ago, Truth_Seeker said:

So with this said, is there a good place nearby  for  the spouse to wait?  We will be coming from Germany for the interview and will more that likely take the train/bus to USCIS.

Not really. Some people wait in their cars in the parking lot. There's also some benches outside the USCIS building where you can sit. It's not a particularly walkable area/nothing much around, but if the spouse goes away somewhere they probably won't make it back in time to enter for the ceremony (if the ceremony officer allows people to come in). I would just plan to sit outside and enjoy an hour or two of introspection, hah.

[arnab221 29]

My and my wife had our interview today and we were both approved. We also took our younger kid ( baby)  to the interview. Below is my experience . 

We arrived at 8:15 AM and found that parking meter was broken and no attendant was present . We parked and entered the building at 8:16 AM and went through security and customer service. Customer service gave us tags with P numbers. We went to the second floor seating area and waited for over 40 minutes .We were called by separate officers into two different interview rooms one after another for face to face interviews . Interview experience was nothing special . My officer started with civics questions following by reading/writing and finished with the N400 questions . In the citation question, I  did mention that I had two pretty old traffic citations which I wanted to mention. She said I did the right thing by non mentioning them in N400 application , given that they were older than 5 years. I finished and came out to the waiting area in about 20 minutes and found my wife ( she had the baby as well) had already finished her interview. My wife stated that her officer was very accommodative with our baby ( who was sleeping most of the time btw). We came back to the first floor for a quick  oath ceremony and the were handed our certificates. When we came out we saw that the parking attendant had just arrived and was collecting the tickets . We paid $8 on the way out. 

I felt that the process was very efficiently managed and I am grateful that they were very accommodative with our baby. 
 

[LoveAndLight2045 18]

Fam—

 

I. Am. A. US. Citizen!

 

What a journey it has been. 
 

First things first, thanks for everyone for have shared your stories. They help me not only prepare for what to expect, but also stress a lot less. Thanks for the DMs as well, you know who you are
 

Second, on the stressful part, I can’t stress how trivial the whole process is really. It might differ for some, but the whole thing was done in less than 5 min for me. No documents asked whatsoever, no clarifying questions on my N400, nothing.  The bulk of the remaining “interview” time was chatting and laughing with the officer. I spent a lot of time studying my N400 application (what if I forget the exact history of my addresses, etc.) just in case. When I applied I forgot to mention a couple of trips outside the country and a speeding ticket, absolutely no big deal, the officer didn’t sweat it. I bought coffee on my way to the interview, couldn’t bring it in the building, and by the time I was out the coffee was still very warm for me to drink. Out of the ~50 min in the building (including oath), ~40 min was just waiting. 
 

I knew I would feel good at the end of all this long journey, but man o man is this relaxing. I’ll still hang in there from time to time until life gets my focus away, but it has been a pleasure fam. 
 

Best of luck to those still waiting. Work on your civics questions and review your application, but don’t loose sleep over it. All in all the interview is the easiest part. 
 

🤗

[LoveAndLight2045 18]

24 minutes ago, arnab221 said:

My and my wife had our interview today and we were both approved. We also took our younger kid ( baby)  to the interview. Below is my experience . 

We arrived at 8:15 AM and found that parking meter was broken and no attendant was present . We parked and entered the building at 8:16 AM and went through security and customer service. Customer service gave us tags with P numbers. We went to the second floor seating area and waited for over 40 minutes .We were called by separate officers into two different interview rooms one after another for face to face interviews . Interview experience was nothing special . My officer started with civics questions following by reading/writing and finished with the N400 questions . In the citation question, I  did mention that I had two pretty old traffic citations which I wanted to mention. She said I did the right thing by non mentioning them in N400 application , given that they were older than 5 years. I finished and came out to the waiting area in about 20 minutes and found my wife ( she had the baby as well) had already finished her interview. My wife stated that her officer was very accommodative with our baby ( who was sleeping most of the time btw). We came back to the first floor for a quick  oath ceremony and the were handed our certificates. When we came out we saw that the parking attendant had just arrived and was collecting the tickets . We paid $8 on the way out. 

I felt that the process was very efficiently managed and I am grateful that they were very accommodative with our baby. 
 

Congrats to you both !!!

[Hamilton 511]

1 hour ago, arnab221 said:

My and my wife had our interview today and we were both approved. We also took our younger kid ( baby)  to the interview. Below is my experience . 

We arrived at 8:15 AM and found that parking meter was broken and no attendant was present . We parked and entered the building at 8:16 AM and went through security and customer service. Customer service gave us tags with P numbers. We went to the second floor seating area and waited for over 40 minutes .We were called by separate officers into two different interview rooms one after another for face to face interviews . Interview experience was nothing special . My officer started with civics questions following by reading/writing and finished with the N400 questions . In the citation question, I  did mention that I had two pretty old traffic citations which I wanted to mention. She said I did the right thing by non mentioning them in N400 application , given that they were older than 5 years. I finished and came out to the waiting area in about 20 minutes and found my wife ( she had the baby as well) had already finished her interview. My wife stated that her officer was very accommodative with our baby ( who was sleeping most of the time btw). We came back to the first floor for a quick  oath ceremony and the were handed our certificates. When we came out we saw that the parking attendant had just arrived and was collecting the tickets . We paid $8 on the way out. 

I felt that the process was very efficiently managed and I am grateful that they were very accommodative with our baby. 
 

Congrats bud!! I'm surprised they made you wait so long but I'm glad it was so smooth, especially with the baby. Now you get to sit back and relax!

[Hamilton 511]

1 hour ago, LoveAndLight2045 said:

Fam—

 

I. Am. A. US. Citizen!

 

What a journey it has been. 
 

First things first, thanks for everyone for have shared your stories. They help me not only prepare for what to expect, but also stress a lot less. Thanks for the DMs as well, you know who you are
 

Second, on the stressful part, I can’t stress how trivial the whole process is really. It might differ for some, but the whole thing was done in less than 5 min for me. No documents asked whatsoever, no clarifying questions on my N400, nothing.  The bulk of the remaining “interview” time was chatting and laughing with the officer. I spent a lot of time studying my N400 application (what if I forget the exact history of my addresses, etc.) just in case. When I applied I forgot to mention a couple of trips outside the country and a speeding ticket, absolutely no big deal, the officer didn’t sweat it. I bought coffee on my way to the interview, couldn’t bring it in the building, and by the time I was out the coffee was still very warm for me to drink. Out of the ~50 min in the building (including oath), ~40 min was just waiting. 
 

I knew I would feel good at the end of all this long journey, but man o man is this relaxing. I’ll still hang in there from time to time until life gets my focus away, but it has been a pleasure fam. 
 

Best of luck to those still waiting. Work on your civics questions and review your application, but don’t loose sleep over it. All in all the interview is the easiest part. 
 

🤗

Ahhh congrats!! Yeah I wish I had known just how chill the interview process would be. I was so nervous about it for a solid two weeks before my interview! I'm happy for you

 

What's everyone doing to celebrate?

[LoveAndLight2045 18]

5 hours ago, Hamilton said:

Ahhh congrats!! Yeah I wish I had known just how chill the interview process would be. I was so nervous about it for a solid two weeks before my interview! I'm happy for you

 

What's everyone doing to celebrate?

With my passport in hand, I just took some hours of introspection and started wondering about the possibilities now offered to me, as well as pausing a bit to think and reflect about the ride. Then I got a huge piece of carrot cake lol. 
 

how are you celebrating?

[Trent & Alexa 19]

Hi everyone! 

 

I filed the N-400 only 3 months ago, and my interview just got scheduled for October 31st! Anybody else going on that same date?

[OldUser 6,590]

@Trent & Alexa on Halloween? That's spooky 😃😃😃

[Hamilton 511]

23 hours ago, LoveAndLight2045 said:

With my passport in hand, I just took some hours of introspection and started wondering about the possibilities now offered to me, as well as pausing a bit to think and reflect about the ride. Then I got a huge piece of carrot cake lol. 
 

how are you celebrating?

Fun!! We celebrated by going out to dinner. I've been doing some introspecting off and on as well. It'll feel more real when I get my passport, I think. Did you apply yet?

[Seattle2021 10]

3 hours ago, Trent & Alexa said:

Hi everyone! 

 

I filed the N-400 only 3 months ago, and my interview just got scheduled for October 31st! Anybody else going on that same date?

that is great.. seems like things really speed-ed up

[LoveAndLight2045 18]

6 hours ago, Hamilton said:

Fun!! We celebrated by going out to dinner. I've been doing some introspecting off and on as well. It'll feel more real when I get my passport, I think. Did you apply yet?

Nice!

 

Yeah, about the introspection, I had to let folks now what it means. Unless you’ve lived for a while in a country that’s not your native one, you can’t really understand what it means

 

I got it yep, travel coming very soon. It’s actually faster than I was expecting.