GingerCat

Hi guys!
So I am finally done))) Had my interview on Thursday and then the ceremony was on Friday. I went to Oakland Park field office. Everything was really well organized and fast. The officer that I had was very nice! People from here know that I have tried everything as anyone here- endless calls to tier 1 and 2 agents, multiple service requests, my congresswoman, ombudsman, and the last thing was the FOIA request. I don't know what exactly helped, but something definitely did. So do keep on trying and you will get there very soon!

Folks- my immigration journey came to an end today after 629 days here at Newark NJ. 
My appointment was at 7am. I reached the office building at 6:45 am (after parking at the nearby garage). The building was open to applicants at sharp 7am. After the TSA style security checks, I had to go to the 14th floor. Right out of the elevator was a security officer who inspected the appointment letter and directed me to head to Window 2 which was specifically for N400 applicants (Window 1 was for AOS folks).
 
The lady at window 2 took my appointment letter (last I saw of it) and asked me to have a seat until an IO calls me. It was 7:20 at this point.
At 8:50 am, a lady IO greeted me and took me to the office for the interview. She apologized for the delay (which was due to system issues) and got right to the oath. Following this I was asked for my green card, ID and passport. The next section was the civics , reading and writing portion. I kid you not when I say this, it was done in under 4 minutes! We moved on to reviewing the actual application. The only things I was asked to confirm were:
·       Legal Name, and whether I want to change it
·       Birth date
·       Were parents married before I was born and whether they are US citizens
·       Date of my last trip
 
Note: No documents were asked for.
 
Following this were the Yes/ No questions. The officer was selective in the YES/NO questions she asked. Hence this too was short – probably 3 minutes at most
 
 Another 3-4 minutes was spent in signing/confirming data and that was it – I was done. She did ask if I intended to travel in the next few months as coming back into the US without a green card was not an option.
 
At 9:08 am I was escorted back to the common area and asked to proceed to the 15th floor for the oath ceremony.
 
About an hour and 10 minutes later, 30 of us had a beautiful oath ceremony and we were pronounced US Citizens. Picture time!
Overall, I must say the Newark Field Office experience far exceeded my expectation. All personnel as far as I am concerned were courteous, professional- no horror stories to report here.
 
After exiting, I headed to the post office and submitted my passport application
There are so many people to thank on this forum for lending a helping hand or warm wish. The latest among them @sam713 has been a messiah of sorts for a large number of folks on this forum for cracking open the FOIA option – without which many of us Spring filers would be stuck in this rut forever.
 
Everyone who has been waiting for long and hasn't filed it- just do it. You have nothing to lose. Good luck and God bless!!

Hi everyone,
 
I had my interview in San Diego this morning and they did the Oath ceremony right afterwards. I am so glad this is finally over.
The interview was very quick and painless. The questions they asked me were:
 
1.      Where is the statute of liberty?
2.      What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
3.      What is one power of the federal government?
4.      Who is our founding father?
5.      Who was the first president?
6.      Name one state that borders Canada
 
Then we went through my application. The interview took about 20 minutes. Afterwards I went up one floor and took the oath with about 10 other people in the room. That took less than 5 minutes. Overall, I was in the building for a little over an hour. Now on to getting a passport.
 
For those of you still waiting, I would definitely recommend filing a FOIA request. There is no guarantee that it will get you an interview quicker, but it helped so many of us now and it does not hurt your case.
 
Anyway, here is my timeline:
04/20/2020: N400 submitted
03/24/2021: Biometrics done
12/10/2021: Filed FOIA
01/03/2022: FOIA reached step 3
01/06/2022: Interview notice
02/09/2022: Interview and Oath
 
Good Luck everyone!!

No, I had my Oath Ceremony a couple of hours before this notice )
 
Thank you!

UPDATE:
 
February 7, 2022 Certificate Of Naturalization Was Issued
On February 7, 2022, we issued your Certificate of Naturalization for your Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, Receipt Number IOE**********. 
 
THANKS EVERYONE AND GOOD LUCK!
 

Happy to help
The naturalization journey has been a painful one for us spring 2020 filers but I'm glad to see FOIA is helping folks in that category.
I had my naturalization ceremony this past Saturday so, I'm glad this journey is over for me

Congratulations 🙂 I am expecting to see lot more updates like this in coming days; Keeping fingers cross. Both I and my wife have interview on 2/12 (yes Saturday) - So nervous lol

Happy to inform my spouse completed her naturalization process today at the Newark field office..she had a kind officer  who went straight to business ..Standard civics questions, reading writing and the yes / no  questions..interview was done in 15- 20 minutes- most of the time really went into updating on the system. No vocabulary, no definitions.
 
She waited for about an hour and half  to be called for  the oath ceremony.  Time from entry to exit was approximately 2.5 hours.
 
Good luck to all of us .
 
Timeline: 
N400: May 26,2020
Biometric: Jan 26, 2021
FOIA applied: Dec 10, 2021
FOIA Step 3: Jan 5, 2022
Interview NOA: Jan 13,2022
Interview and Oath: Feb 7, 2022
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yep, my interview also got scheduled after FOIA as well. I think you were among the people who doubted if FOIA would do anything haha anyway congrats.

I finally got my interview scheduled! March 4 is the date.
Filed n400 in April 2020. Washington DC field office. 
FOIA on 1/6/2022 and currently in step 3.
 
I know it's not the end of the journey, some people get interviews canceled last minute or decisions can't be made but I'm glad to finally see progress. 
 
Thanks to all the group members for support and FOIA advice!
Not sure it's FOIA that moved my case or it's just a coincident, but looks like it helped a lot of people. 

It happened! I can’t believe it, 626 days from filing. I got my interview on March 5. Filed: May 5,2020 based on 5 yr Bio reuse: Jan 20,2021 FOIA: in step 3 on Jan 29. Two requests to congresswoman with response.

Prayers you get approval very fast!

Congrats!!!

Hey!
I had my interview in Memphis yesterday. Officer asked me the history and civics questions, stopped after the 6th question since I got them all right. Did the routine what others have described, did the reading and writing, went through the questions, etc.
Officer was very nice, and I was approved! Now I'm in line for the oath ceremony

Thank you so much for your kind words!!! I wanted to share my good news as well, both I and my wife got the interview just few mins back for the same date and time. Thank you to everyone in the forum

Congrats!!! 

Great news for me too)))) 
I am finally scheduled for an interview in February)))) I don't know what really helped- I have done everything like everyone in this chat and the last step was the FOIA ( I am still in step 2). The only thing I can say is that please don't loose hope and keep on doing everything that is in your hands!!!

The way our cases are dragged this email notification  is nothing my friend! Happy for everyone who have got interview! May everyone else waiting  too get it soon! hang in folks. 

Great news for me too)))) 
I am finally scheduled for an interview in February)))) I don't know what really helped- I have done everything like everyone in this chat and the last step was the FOIA ( I am still in step 2). The only thing I can say is that please don't loose hope and keep on doing everything that is in your hands!!!

Thank You!! Happy for you!! I wish I hear something sooner. Its long wait 😞

You are very close!! You will get it very soon. It looks that they are working on a lot of April 2020 filers. I filed on Dec 15. 

WOW - You made my day 🙂 I was wondering I thought I got stuck in in Step 2 🙂 Hope fully I will get interview soon. Between When did you apply for FOIA? I applied on 12/14. 

Great news!!! I just logged into USCIS portal this morning and see both mine and wife's interview were scheduled for Feb. 
We filed FOIA on Dec 12th. Mine went to step 3 on Dec 30. My wife's is still in Step 2 as of this morning. 
It looks like FOIA has triggered the interview. 
We have international trip next day after the interview and wondering if we can ask USCIS to have next Oath ceremony date instead of the same day oath. Any one has any experience in this ?

Ours started in late 2015 - so likely electronic. 
Appears normal - it changed from 5 months to 16 months for my wife as well when the interview was scheduled.

That is fantastic news. Looks like the FOIA thing is really starting to move things. I am so thankful to user Sam713 for sharing his experience. I would have never thought of doing a FOIA request otherwise. Really hoping everyone else on here still waiting will get their interview soon.