Experience Oath Ceremony in Los Angeles

[amnonbabs 0]

I'm a citizen!!!!!, it feels so awesome. But anyway, here's the story:

The ceremony was held in the Convention Center in Los Angeles. I strongly recommend to park anywhere except on Figueroa because the traffic is horrendous, don't even try, it is impossible I'd even recommend taking the train if you can, it is easier and faster. The wonderful people in this forum recommended this and I am so glad I listened to them!!!

As soon as I got there there were 30 or 40 people trying to sell certificate holders , don't buy the ones they offer you at the street, they sell them for 5 bucks but the quality is not great, inside they will sell the nice ones but I recommend you to wait until AFTER the ceremony to buy one since the prices does drop from 10 dolars to 5, make sure you get the higher quality one, shop around. This is another valuable tip from the people in this forum.

Guests and new citizens are separated at the entrance, there will be a gigantic line of people to the left, that's citizens and another gigantic line of people to the right, those are the guests. I recommend to bring a video camera so you can capture the nice words they will say during the ceremony, pictures are not always worth a thousand words, lol. Bring a pen and answer all the questions in the back of your oath ceremony letter as soon as you are told to do it.

They take your green card, that made me sad because that green card cost me a lot of money and a lot of tears and sleepless nights, so if you want a souvenir take a picture of you holding the green card!!!, they ask you the questions in the back of your oath ceremony letter and if they find nothing objectionable they stamp it , you can sit down after this, the nice people in this forum recommended to be one of the last people in because then you receive your certificate first, but that wasnt the case with me. The first people to get their certificate were the people who got there first. So I guess all you can do is enjoy the ride.

The ceremony was beautiful, the judge said beautiful words and other people gave some speeches, it was marvelous, when we sang the national anthem I'm ashamed to say I cried a little bit, who would have thought I'd be where I am now.

After the ceremony you pick up your certicate and then you have the option to apply for a passport, I didn't do it because the lines were HUGE and I am traveling in less than 14 days I need to go to a passport agency.

I recommend for your guest and you to bring at least 2 cell phones to find each other, the crowd is huge. The traffic in LA is horrible, I recommend that if you have to get on the 5 you don't do at the nearest entrance, I recommend you to get as far away from the convention center as you can and then get on the 5, we were stuck in traffic for 2 hours because we tried to get on the 5 at the nearest exit, HUGE mistake.

My advice is , it is overwhelming but it is the best experience of my life, after getting married of course. It feels great to be an American!!!. Thank you to everybody in this forum, thank you , thank you. God Bless all of you, your support was incredible and I will always be in your debt.

I'll keep trying to help out, so if you guys have any questions send me a message, I'll answer. I'll be posting my experience at the passport agency soon.

[tabbydrax 0]

if you know downtown L.A. I suggest you take the blue line and you do not have to pay the $20 parking. It's very convenient.

[NigerLA 1]

Congratulations, great story.

[virginian 0]

Thanks for sharing