Houston Oath Ceremony - Are Guests Allowed at M. O. Campbell Educational Center

[Colombo01 4]

Hello,

 

I haven't seen any recent posts and wanted to see if anyone has any updated information.  My wife is taking the oath ceremony on March 6, 2024.  The location is at the M. O. Campbell Center, 1865 Aldine Bender Rd FM 525, Houston, TX 77032.

 

I'm trying to find out if any guests would be allowed in the ceremony or not.  I've seen past posts where guests were not allowed at the ceremony at the Gears rd location, but nothing about the Aldine Bender location.

 

Thanks in advance!

Josh

[jaysaldi 213]

I don't know, but can I ask, what date was her interview? My wife is interviewing in Houston next week and I am curious about timeline from interview to oath ceremony. Thanks.

[Colombo01 4]

2 minutes ago, jaysaldi said:

I don't know, but can I ask, what date was her interview? My wife is interviewing in Houston next week and I am curious about timeline from interview to oath ceremony. Thanks.

Her interview was February 1st, 2024.

[Bethie 102]

On 2/16/2024 at 10:07 AM, Colombo01 said:

Hello,

 

I haven't seen any recent posts and wanted to see if anyone has any updated information.  My wife is taking the oath ceremony on March 6, 2024.  The location is at the M. O. Campbell Center, 1865 Aldine Bender Rd FM 525, Houston, TX 77032.

 

I'm trying to find out if any guests would be allowed in the ceremony or not.  I've seen past posts where guests were not allowed at the ceremony at the Gears rd location, but nothing about the Aldine Bender location.

 

Thanks in advance!

Josh

If you find out, please let me know.    Just want to prepare , still awaiting husbands interview.   

And congrats to your wife, must be such a relief to be done with the whole process.

 

[Colombo01 4]

Some feedback on my original question, guest are allowed at the M. O. Campbell Education Center. The oath ceremony was yesterday, 1,259 people took the oath and there was a good turn out of friends and family.

We were there around 7, the line moved relatively quickly. Please note there are two sides of the building (east & west) to enter so take note of that on the application so you stand in the correct line. They wrapped up the ceremony around 9:30, visitors were asked to exit, and then around 10 my wife finished the check out process.

The overall process was well organized.

[Bethie 102]

1 hour ago, Colombo01 said:

Some feedback on my original question, guest are allowed at the M. O. Campbell Education Center. The oath ceremony was yesterday, 1,259 people took the oath and there was a good turn out of friends and family.

We were there around 7, the line moved relatively quickly. Please note there are two sides of the building (east & west) to enter so take note of that on the application so you stand in the correct line. They wrapped up the ceremony around 9:30, visitors were asked to exit, and then around 10 my wife finished the check out process.

The overall process was well organized.

Congrats to her  ♥

[jaysaldi 213]

My wife had her oath ceremony at the M.O. Campbell educational center yesterday March 27. 1300 new citizens. Friends and family allowed. It's a small basketball arena. Friends and family sit in the upper deck, new citizens sit in the lower section.

 

Her letter said to arrive at 8. We got there at 7:20. Plenty of parking. At 7:30 or so they started letting people in. Friends and family through one line to the upper seats, new citizens to the check in lines and lower seats. Then they would have the new citizens get out of the seats row by row and do more checking in and whatnot.

 

The actual ceremony started at 10 am when the judge showed up. 45 minutes of judge talking and then a lady giving a speech. Lots of emphasis on voter registration.

 

Ceremony ends and then new citizens have to line up again to get their certificates.

 

My wife got out at 11:30 a.m.

 

Call me jaded but I think this ceremony is best avoided. It was a 45 minute drive there and then 2.5 hours of waiting for the ceremony to start and then the ceremony itself is pretty boring and it's not like your family member is getting singled out for an award.

 

The M.C. said a few times "We do this every month on Wednesdays." I don't know if that means the last Wednesday of every month, or the fourth Wednesday of every month.  Someone posted back in the thread about a ceremony on March 6 I think, which would suggest they are more often than once a month.  My wife's interview was Feb. 28, so I'm sure it was too late for the March 6 cutoff.  

 

But anyway, if someone is naturalizing through the Houston office, and you want to guess when your oath ceremony will be, I think 3-5 weeks after your interview and on a Wednesday is a pretty good guess.