I passed my N400 interview yesterday (April 22nd 2024) at Federal Plaza (New York City)
My interview was at 11:10am, although I was waiting to be called for almost 2 hours.
Once I was in, the officer was very serious, straightforward and formal, he asked me 6 civics questions (already forgot which one he asked about, was easy) and asked me to read "When is Flag Day" and to write the answer.
Once I passed that, he moved onto my application, only asked to see my green card, passport and ID, he asked me when did I get divorce and when did I get married again. My current spouse is undocumented, I was worried the officer would question that, be he only asked if my spouse is citizen or permanent resident, I only replied "no". Moved onto the yes/no questions.
Initially I didn't want to change my last name, but while waiting for my interview date, I changed my mind. So at the interview, I told officer that I would like to change my last name, he updated the forms and made me electronically sign the change (I went back to my maiden last name).
When I asked him about the name change and the paper/letter stating the legal proof name, he responded "You are not changing your last name, your maiden last name was always your name so therefore this is not a name change". This left me a bit confused, because I thought judge needs to approve the name change and give me the document which will serve as a proof of name change. If anyone can advise me on this, I would be grateful.
At the end, he said I will be receiving oath ceremony date and time soon in the mailbox, congratulated me and I left the building. As I was leaving, my app updated to "Oath will be scheduled". I was happy, excited and nervous, it was such a surreal moment!
This morning when I woke up, my app updated once again and it said "Oath notice was mailed". I check my USCIS account under "Documents" page and it said my ceremony would be on May 16th, at Federal Plaza, not the court. Since it will not be taking place at court, I assume there will be no judge to sign the paper of my name change, so my question is - how can I change all of my documents (ID, bank account, SSN etc) into my maiden name, if I don't have this paper which states proof of the change? Or I don't need this document? I get confused, but hopefully someone can advise!
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to put my experience out there so people can compare this to their own journeys !