Ant’s Citizenship INTERVIEW PASSED.…BUT….(Part 1 of 2)….

[antda 13]

Hi Everyone,

Here’s the long-awaited update to let all you VJers know that....

(Note: there might be some grammar/spelling errors in the story, as I didn’t have time to fully edit it. As long as you can get the gist of it, so be it, I guess….Happy Reading!)

On 11/18/09, I went to the Buffalo, NY, local USCIS office for my citizenship interview, and this is what happened that day:

10:00-10:30-I woke up later this morning, feeling nauseous, anxious, and excited about the interview in the afternoon today. I ate breakfast, fed the baby, and was in the midst of checking my e-mail, when all of a sudden the electricity went out. I then took a quick shower, and luckily had enough water, before that ran out too (our water pump is run by electricity). “Oh this is not a good start to the day, despite it being warm and sunny outside!” I think to myself, as my husband telephones the electric company to get the electric fixed. I then got dressed and got the baby dressed for the day. For the interview, I dressed in a red velvet hoodie jacket, dark blue velvet pants, white shirt with three heart-shaped American flags on them (like my online avator), American/Canadian flags lapel pin on my shirt, dark blue socks, black sneakers. My husband dressed in a red and blue striped shirt, tan/brown pants, white socks, and black dress shoes. My baby son dressed in a Buffalo Bills patriotic red/white/blue onesie shirt, dark blue elastic pants, a diaper, a thank-heavens-for-boys white/blue bib (he drools too much..lol..), and matching thank-heavens-for-boys light blue booties (the ones he got when he was born and came home from the hospital with). “Let’s get out of here, before something else goes wrong!”, I say to everyone, as I gather my documents to bring with me for the interview, and we all decide to leave the house early for our long distance drive to Buffalo, NY…

10:30-1:45-We stopped to the local grocery store to pick up some extra bottled water, in case we needed it later, and bought two sub sandwiches for lunch. We also had to pull over a couple of times, as I had to feed the baby in the car and my husband and I ate our lunch there too. For the next few hours, while we drove to Buffalo, we listened to the “Learn About the United States” CD a couple of times (we went through the entire CD 3-4 times…it was a long drive..), for me to study/refresh last-minute for the test. I admit, the CD made us all sleepy, so we had to stop listening to it for the last hour, and listened to Christmas/Holiday music on the radio for the rest of the way instead. “Lol…Well, now we have a new way of putting our baby to sleep. Just play the immigration CD!”, I joked.

1:45-2:30-We got to the city at 1:45 or so, parked about one block away on the side of the street next to a meter (about $1.25 or so, as we paid for 1hr+ of parking), as that was the closest parking space in front of the building. I fed and changed the baby, for the next few minutes in the car, so that he wouldn’t get fussy when we went inside. We decided to bring the carseat and baby bag in this time, instead of carrying him in as we didn’t know how long that it would take for the interview. When we got inside the USCIS building at 2:10pm, we were the only ones going through the metal detectors/scanners at the entrance. When it was our turn, the same guard as last time at the door asked, “What are you here for?” So I gave the guard my interview letter, and my driver’s license, and my husband gives his driver’s license when asked for. They then ask us to put our keys and wallets in the tray, and I put my black baby bag (which had baby diapers, baby wipes, my original documents, other documents, and the naturalization study booklet in it) on the conveyer belt to go through the x-ray machines. The guard was friendly and then asked the standard “Do you have any cameras, cell phones, guns, weapons, knives, sharp objects, razors, staplers (huh), etc.?”, to which we said “no”, and didn’t question us any further. As well, the guard asked if the baby bag had any baby food, such as baby formula, in it, to which I said “No” and said “My baby doesn’t take formula, and he is too young for baby food”, which confuses the guard even more. Oh well. I then walk through the metal detectors with no problems; my husband then walks through the metal detectors with no problems, while leaving the baby behind as he walks through. “Bring the baby with you,” another guard says. My husband apologizes, and I explain that in our county government building we have to walk through metal detectors too, but was always told to walk through first and then bring the baby after. “Well, make sure you take the baby, as we’re not here for babysitting”, the guard jokes around again. So we take the baby in the carseat, the baby bag, and the rest of our belongings, after going through the detectors. The guard then told us to walk straight ahead to the waiting room area and go up to window 6 to sign in for the interview. When we get to window 6, I gave the Infopass letter to the Immigration Officer behind the glass. He then tells us to have a seat and wait, until my name is called. So we wait for a few minutes, and as we wait, I quickly go over some more questions in the booklet and some other questions that I thought that they would ask me.

2:30-2:45- Interview Time!

A lady immigration officer steps out of the door marked “employees only” and calls my name. My husband says “good luck”, and waits with the baby, while I follow the immigration officer behind the door, bringing my folder of documents and my wallet with me. I was led a couple of doors down to her office, where she introduced herself, on a first and last name basis, and made me raise my right hand and asks me to “Swear to tell the truth, and that anything that you don’t tell the truth to is against the law….”, to which afterwards I said “I do”. She tells me to have a seat behind desk, where she seats on one side behind a computer, I sit on the other side near the door while I put my folder and wallet on her desk, and she tells me to be careful not to accidentally bang my feet on the edge of her desk as the edge of it juts out a bit. She then tells me that “you could leave at any time, and feel free to ask any questions throughout the interview process”. She starts the interview, wanting to see my green card and Canadian passport. I put my green card and expired and current Canadian passports on her desk, and say to her, “Umm..there are no passport stamps in my passport (no stamps are needed for travel between Canada and the USA on a Canadian passport), but if you want, you can have a look at it anyways”, to which she doesn’t even bother looking at the passports. She searches for my file behind a huge locked black metal filing cabinet, marked “locked and secured” in big red letters, and finds my entire immigration file, which is literally 3-4 inches thick, from all of my immigration cases over the past 3 years. On the top of the file, are the papers for my N-400 citizenship case, neatly in order and held together in a big folder with an acco clip. She then takes out the application form, and goes through all of the questions on the form with me, verbally asking me the answer to most of the questions on it, and paraphrasing and summarizing some of the questions on it, while marking it with a red pen as I confirmed the answers with her.

Some key questions that she asked and confirmed, regarding my N-400 application form:

IO: Is this your name? Do you want a name change?

Ant: Yes. And no, I don’t want to change my name.

IO: (looks at my green card, to confirm my name on it). It looks like you just barely reached your 3 year residency mark today. You’re good to go though. (my green card says ‘residence since 11-14-2006, and today was 11-18-2009, 4 days after the 3yr mark)

IO: Is this your address? (reads my addresses)

Ant: The first address is where my house is located, the physical address. The second address is my mailing address. If you want to visit me, use the first address. If you want to send me mail, send it to my mailing address. My mailbox is literally a mile away, and its something to do with small-town/country zoning rules…it’s complicated…

IO: It must be quiet where you are in the rural area. All you hear is the wind.

Ant: Yes, it’s very quiet around where I live. Very peaceful and nothing but wind and animals (lol…and the neighbours with their guns out during hunting season…).

IO: What is your country of birth? What is your country of citizenship?

Ant: Well, I was born in (insert birth country here), but my country of citizenship is Canada, and that’s where I grew up in too. I wrote an attachment explaining about this.

IO: (Searches for the attachment for awhile, as it is lodged in between the 95 pages of evidence that I submitted and uses a silver ‘pokey-stick’ metal pen with a rubber thimble attached to the end of it to thumb through the pages).

Ant: Umm…Do you need my cover letter to locate where it is?

IO: No, that’s ok, I’ll find it. You sure do have a lot of evidence here…

Ant: Well, “better safe than sorry here”, as I don’t want to get an RFE (request for additional evidence) or anything like that.

IO: Yes, good to be overly prepared…(finds the attachment, and reads it….)

IO: (Also finds my 2 passport-sized photos that I submitted for citizenship application, and hands them to me, along with a black felt tip marker, and points out exactly where to sign). Can you sign on the front side of the photos, going upwards from the bottom left corner to the top left corner?

Ant: Like this? (I sign my name). I guess these photos are ok, as I had bought other ones just in case these ones were not acceptable. I’ll just use these other photos that I have for passport purposes later on then.

IO: Yes, those are fine. (I give her the back the signed photos, and she puts them back in a small clear plastic sandwich bag).

IO: (looks at the ‘race’ section of the application form, sort of perplexed that I have checked of multiple boxes, and included my own box that says ‘prefer not to answer’ (they did not have such a box, so I drew one up...lol..), but checkmarks those sections anyways...lol…”I’m multicultural”, I like to say…)

IO: (confirms my previous addresses) (confirms my employment boxes, but only checkmarks the homemaker/stay-at-home sections I had written down...ummm….I guess she didn’t care about the volunteer/unpaid jobs that I had written down too…)

IO: (turns to the next page of the application…looks confused as to why I crossed out five years and wrote three years, for trips acquired since permanent residency as I’m applying under the three year marriage rule instead, but figures it out eventually…)

Ant: There are too many trips to list them all there, as I go back to Canada for visits pretty often. See the additional attachment for more details about those trips.

IO: (uses the ‘pokey stick’ and finds the additional attachment, and then marks off 15-16 days with her red pen on the attachment and on the application).

IO: Are you married? Is your husband D? How many times has he been married?

Ant: Yes, my husband is D, married once. He’s just married to me.

IO: And you?

Ant: Just once, to D. In fact, he and my son are in the waiting room, if ever you want to see them.

IO: And you have one child, from what I see here?

Ant: Yes. Baby Aaron. He was born in July and is only 3-4 months old now, and was born in America, and is an American Citizen already.

IO: Congratulations for the baby.

Ant: Thanks. He sure is quite a handful though.

IO: (goes over the check marked “yes” and “no” portions of the application form, which I have no problems answering and confirming).

IO: Have you ever claimed to be a US Citizen?

Ant: No. that would be against the law. I’ll wait until after I get US Citizenship for such.

IO: Have you ever failed to file a required tax return?

Ant: I wasn’t required to file a tax return, and legally don’t have to do such, as a homemaker with no income. But if I ever have to file taxes, I will legally do such.

IO: And how about your husband? Does he have a tax return?

Ant: No. (and I explain further about my husband’s income situation, which she seemed ok about). There is additional attachment explaining about that too.

IO: (uses the ‘pokey stick’ and finds the additional attachment, and then marks it off with her red pen on the attachment and on the application).

IO: Have you ever harmed someone because they were different from you?

Ant: No, of course not. (as she was referring to the groups against the US part…)

IO: (going over the ‘good moral character’ portion of the form…)

Ant: (explains a bit further about that…and yup, you guessed it…another attachment and other court-related documents…and out with the ‘pokey stick’…). Umm…that happened such a long time ago; I was very young and stupid back then (the case resulted in being settled in court, but with no jail and/or convictions for that, and I’ve had no other problems since then either…)

IO: (check over the attachment and the court documents, making sure too that the court documents were genuine, with the raised seal on them…). Ok, no problem there. I see that you also submitted and disclosed about this for your previous immigration cases too. (then moves on to more “yes” and “no” questions)

IO: Do you support the government of the United States?

Ant: Sure, I support democracy..(and gives her a thumbs up for that…)

IO: Yes, we like democracy here in America.

IO: (reads the oath, and I agree to it)

Ant: (signs the application form on the ‘signature at interview’ portion of the form, and prints and signs my name on the ‘oath of allegiance’ portion of the form)

IO: Congratulations, you passed the speaking portion of the test!

Ant: That was easy.

We then continue on with the reading and writing portion of the test…

IO: (places a piece of paper in front of me). Can you read the first sentence (there were three sentences in all) on the paper?

Ant: Reads: “The White House is in Washington, D.C.”

IO: (places another piece of paper in front of me, and give me a black pen). Can you write the following: “The White House is in Washington, DC.”

Ant: Writes: “The White House is in Washington, D.C.” I hope you can read my writing.

IO: Take your time, no need to rush.

Ant: Ok, I’m done. (gives the papers back to her). One of these days, maybe I should take a trip down there to see the White House. I heard that it is quite nice and historical there.

IO: It’s busy, like Toronto (where I used to be from), but with cherry trees on the street. I just went there on a vacation recently.

Ant: Nah, Toronto, Canada is a lot busier, I’m sure of that.

IO: The population of Toronto is quite big…Guess you’re right there..

We then continue on with the civics/history portion of the test, as these questions are asked verbally to me, and she writes down the answers with her red pen on her paperwork on the desk:

IO: Question 1: 1) What is the supreme law of the land?

Ant: The constitution.

IO: Question 2: 34) Who vetoes bills?

Ant: The president vetoes bills.

IO: Question 3: 44) What is the capital of your state (New York State)?

Ant: Albany, NY. Hmm…maybe I should go there sometime.

IO: Well, actually I went there recently with my family. Next to the governor’s mansion is not a nice area. I wouldn’t like seeing that if I were living there.

Ant: Yeah, you would think they would do something about that to clean up the city. Someone should have protested about that. It doesn’t seem fair there, especially if they have the means to improve such to make the community better.

IO: Question 4: 52) What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?

Ant: The Flag and to the United States of America. (the IO writes down both answers)

IO: Questions 5: 81) Who did the United States fight in World War II?

Ant: Japan. Germany. Italy. (the IO writes down all three answers)

IO: Question 6: 83) During the Cold War, what was the concern of the United States?

Ant: Communism. And yes we love our democracy here in the USA! (lol…thinking that she chose this question especially for me, as I mentioned something about communism in one of my other attachments…)

IO: (she stops at 6 questions, as I got all 6 right, so she didn’t need to ask anymore…)

IO: Congratulations, you passed your citizenship interview!

We then talk about scheduling an oath ceremony….BUT……

IO: Let’s see if we can schedule you for an oath date here (looks on her computer).

IO: The next date in Buffalo is in January…(and then I cut her off mid-sentence)

Ant: Ummm..before you continue, can you read over this letter? (I take a letter out of my folder that I had typed up beforehand, to give after I pass, explaining in detail with some good reasons as to why I would need this accommodation for me and my family…)

IO: (reads the letter, that I hand to her)….We’ll see what we can do to help you with this oath ceremony accommodation. Meanwhile, I have to talk to the district officer upstairs about this. Can you wait outside in the waiting room, while I discuss such?

Ant: (gets up to leave, gathers up my folder and other documents, and waits in the waiting room with my husband and son)…..

2:45-3:00: I wait in the waiting room and tell D, “I passed, but she is going to talk to her supervisor about the accommodations”. Meanwhile, I take out my civics/history test study booklet, and quickly circle/write down the questions that they asked me during the test (so that I don’t forget..lol..and remember what to report to all of you here online). I also see the ‘fingerprint lady’ (the immigration officer that did my biometrics/fingerprints for my immigration cases) while I am waiting, to which she says to me, “Good luck on your interview”. “Umm..thanks…but I already passed, I’m just waiting for her to get back to me about something.” “That was quick. It seems that you were just out here waiting a few minutes ago,” she says. She looks at my baby, and says “Oh my, he’s grown since I last saw him when you did your fingerprints”, and then goes back to doing her job, as more people start streaming into the waiting room to get their fingerprints done. I then ask D if the baby has been cranky while I was in there, and as soon as I say that, the baby starts loudly crying at me. I try to burp him, but that doesn’t help, nor does he have a dirty/wet diaper either. “See, that’s what I was afraid, was going to happen when we came here, and sure enough it did. I guess I have to feed him again now, even though I just fed him before we came in”. So we pick up our belongings, and move to the other side of the big waiting room. I grab my coat to cover up and breastfeed/nurse the baby while we are waiting. I was in the midst of the feeding, when I see the immigration officer from the other side of the room come out the door….

IO: There you are, I was just looking for you.

Ant: I’m here, just on the other side of the room. As you can see, I’m feeding him (points to the baby), so sorry that I can’t get up and greet you now (continues nursing/breastfeeding the baby, while the IO looks on, but hey, the baby has to be fed, can’t do much else about it….awkward moment, indeed….)

IO: That’s ok.. I see that your husband and baby are here too. Also, just to let you know that the accommodation request in on their desk. They are going to have to contact the judge about this, so we’ll contact you further by telephone and mail about your oath date.

Ant: That’s fine. Thanks for taking my request into consideration too.

IO: Which district would you like to have your ceremony in? Buffalo or Rochester? (I live in both districts, oddly enough, as my physical address is in one district, and my mailbox is in another district…). Which one is more convenient for you?

Ant: Whichever one is the fastest oath date, really, as both Buffalo and Rochester are the same distance away for us.

IO: (explains a bit further about what will happen for the oath for me for my accommodations). You’ll get further instructions in writing as to what happens next. And we’ll accommodate you and your family as best as we can.

IO: Here is the form to say that you passed the interview. (hands over the piece of paper to my husband, D, as my hands were full with the baby)… Again, congratulations on passing your interview.

The IO returns back to her office, while I continue feeding the baby for a few more minutes in the waiting room. A few more people walk in and out of the waiting area (including the cleaning crew/janitors..), and then we gather our belongings and head back to the car, with just enough time left on the parking meter.

Ant: D, what does that form say?

D: (gives me the piece of paper)

Ant: (reads the paper): “N-652: Naturalization Interview Results:

(checkmarked box) You passed the tests of English and US history and government

(checkmarked box) A) Congratulations! Your application has been recommended for approval. At this time it appears that you have established your eligibility for naturalization. If final approval is granted, you will be notified when and where to report for the Oath Ceremony.”

Ant: Well, I passed all right. Now I just have to obsessively check the mail and wait for that telephone call, regarding the oath. Let’s just hope that all goes well there….

And so Part 1 of my Citizenship interview ends here, with us driving for the next 2-3 hours into the sunset and darkness on the way home. We come home to the electricity already fixed, and celebrate in the evening, with a homemade pizza and some rocket (red, white and blue) festive popsicles (lol…will save the rest of the patriotic treats for later.)

Overall, I was happy about my interview experience, and am happy with how the USCIS staff in Buffalo, NY was on that day. And yes, it is especially nice too see too, that they are accommodating to applicants and friendly to children too.

I hope you found this story interesting and helpful to read. Thanks for reading about my citizenship interview story!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the rest of my Citizenship Interview story….

Will I get that letter and phone call for the oath? The waiting continues…

Ant (Passed the Interview…But still waiting for oath ceremony details….)

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Fascinating and informative read, Ant!

I'm not sure whether I'll become a U.S. Citizen at some point, but the idea has appealed to me since I learned I don't have to renounce my Canadian Citizenship to do so.

Thanks for writing this!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Congratulations Ant - very thorough!

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Argh...and I forgot to say in my post...CONGRATULATIONS!

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Congrats Ant!! It must feel good to be done with all the fun immigrations has to offer!

[Peachey 10]

Congratulations Ant! Great News

Edited November 20, 2009 by Peachey

[Jo&Si 9]

Congratulations Ant!!!

[canadian_wife 1,822]

Excellent! Congrats!

[Carlawarla 1]

Congratulations Ant! Let us know how the ceremony goes! What type of "accomodations" need to be made for your ceremony? Sorry if it was mentioned...there was A LOT of information in your post, and if I missed it I apologize.

[antda 13]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your replies, well-wishes, and congratulations about my interview.

(and yes, I have read all of it, and will respond accordingly too)

Thanks too for reading the first part of the story....

So without further waiting and suspense, here is part 2 of my interview story….

Ant’s Citizenship Interview Passed...OATH SCHEDULED...(Part 2 of 2), (11/19/09+11/20/09) The Phone Call Oath Surprise…

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...p;#entry3510781

Happy Reading!!!

Ant

[Flames9_RN 358]

cool. I would have given u my USA citizenship if u wanted it,lol

[Persona 0]

cool. I would have given u my USA citizenship if u wanted it,lol

congrats but i don't understand why you didn't go together through that door ?

[Krikit 1,164]

Ant is obviously in the witness protection program.

Congratulations, Ant, and good luck!

[mikey78 6]

Congrats!

[bogartnoir 1]

very interesting! and congratulations

it's interesting that those are the only questions they ask! my fiance was really worried that it would be a really crazy long written test! i'll have to show him your post so he knows it's not so scary

thanks again for the post. this kind of thing is really invaluable!