Oath Ceremony Experience (Los Angeles, 2/15/17)

[eggplant 8]

Just got back from my oath ceremony! I’m finally a citizen! Here’s everything I can recall and know about being part of the huge ceremony in Los Angeles.

 

Firstly, did you know you can look up the date and times for all the oath ceremonies coming up in the LA Convention Center? Just Google it, I did a few days before the ceremony! I realized after doing so that the actual ceremony began at 1:30PM. My assigned arrival time was 1:00PM, and I realized (through reading other experience posts) that they stagger the arrival times for people so that the hall can slowly get filled with the 3000+ people showing up that day. So I assume there were people who were assigned to arrive at 12:00PM, 12:30PM, etc.

 

I took a Lyft to the Convention Center, got there at around 1:05PM, found my way into the massive room with hundreds and hundreds of people in line to get through security. This took a LONG time. There were a lot of kind staff members around to answer questions and keep everything moving. I was really one of the last one hundred people to arrive. I brought water in a mason jar (too hipster for the security), which was my mistake, because they dumped out the water and threw away my jar. I should have used my collegiate water bottle! But, my banana and dried mangoes got through just fine.

 

After security, you are corralled into the actual ceremony room with a huge American flag and two huge screens on either side of it, as well as a stage and podium in front of the flag. There is a row of tables on the left side of the room with a bunch of citizenship and immigration services workers sitting there, doing your final question/interview. I went to one, showed them my green card and my notice (for the ceremony), and they looked at the back where you have to answer No to everything as well as fill in your personal info. He asked me three questions verbatim to which I answered No, and then one question backwards “Are you still willing to…” and that was a Yes! Then, he stapled my green card to the oath notification, wrote a number on the notification, and gave it back to me. The number corresponds to the table I return to after the ceremony to get my naturalization certificate. I went to the bathroom (weirdly, there are stairs to get up to the bathroom, and I felt bad for the older folks who seemed to struggle to get up the stairs) and then went to the main ceremony seating area for the applicants. Like I said before, there were many staff members, and they swiftly guided us to our seats. At this point we are also given a welcome packet and a tiny American flag! We are seated pretty much in the order we arrive/finish the final interview/walk in towards the seating area.

 

The ceremony itself was short and sweet, you will enjoy it! There’s a speech by the judge, and then he immediately administered the oath of allegiance, and we became citizens! There was lots of cheering and flag-waving. Then there was another speech by someone from USCIS, then we did the Pledge of Allegiance (good times in Elementary School), and finally we sang the Star Spangled Banner along with a very talented guest singer. Then, they played a music video (prepared by USCIS) of America the Beautiful, which was really sweet and showed naturalization ceremonies from cool places all over the U.S., like Mt. Rushmore. I knew from reading past oath ceremony experience posts that a video of the President congratulating us was supposed to play, but they didn’t show any sort of video by the President...this was the first oath ceremony (well, the 9AM one was technically the first) in Los Angeles after Trump’s inaguration. It was funny, they misspoke when presenting the video, they said something along the lines of “we will now show two...excuse me, one video, please enjoy”.

 

After that it was pretty much over. We sat around for a good 15 minutes before we were allowed to get up and go to our assigned table (table number written on our notice!) to pick up our Naturalization Certificate. I got a random lady to take a picture of me holding the certificate and the flag. Then, I went to the bathroom, walked out through all the families and friends waiting for their loved ones (felt kinda sad to do it alone), hopped on a Lyft and went home, barely beating the return traffic. I called the Lyft at 3:38PM.

 

I definitely got teary-eyed a couple times during the ceremony, and I thought it was amazing how they honored people who served in the military who were being naturalized, by having them sit in the front row, reading their names aloud, showing them on the big screens, and allowing them to be dismissed first!

 

Personally, I thought it was great that I was able to get there right before the ceremony began. I was probably one of the last hundred people to get through security, do the questions and take a seat. Because, it takes less time to dismiss everyone by their arrival/seating order, than the time it takes to be in the massive crowd, get through security, do the questions, and get into a seat before the ceremony. So personally I’m glad I didn’t have to sit around in the ceremony hall waiting for everyone to trickle in. It was also really hot today and I got sweaty armpits, so go for something flowy if you’re doing this in LA on a hot day. The dress code is really whatever you think is proper - I saw girls wearing graduation style/borderline inappropriate dresses as well as older folks just wearing comfy everyday “out of the house” clothes, and everything in between.

 

I’m so happy that this process is over and I’m finally a citizen of the United States! I’ve lived here for a total of 16 years (I’m currently 24) and I am so excited to contribute and give back to this country I call home!

 

(I had my interview in late January, and I want to make a post about that too. For some reason, they processed my approval after the interview SUPER quickly! I think it was just because I was a really simple (?) applicant in the fact that I have no children, am not married, am a student, am perfectly fluent in English, lived here forever, etc. I received my oath ceremony notification in the mail literally one week after my interview.)

Edited February 16, 2017 by eggplant

[bearmirus 45]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us! Very helpful!

[cali3978 0]

Excellent post.  What is the security procedure like?  Do they make you take off your shoes and/or pat you down?  Thanks.

[Texaco5 32]

22 hours ago, cali3978 said:

Excellent post.  What is the security procedure like?  Do they make you take off your shoes and/or pat you down?  Thanks.

The security is similar to airport security however I don't recall that they made us take out shoes off. They split the new citizens and their families into two different security lines. They want your oath invitation letter out and visible and you put keys, cameras, phones etc. on the x-ray conveyor and walk through a metal detector. it is pretty quick and painless.

[TBoneTX 45,293]

*** Thread is moved from the US Citizenship main forum to the Case Progress subforum. ***

[KleoLove 10]

Hello, 

 

thank you for sharing this! very useful for my oath ceremony at the LA convention center today 10-17-17. 

 

A quick summary of my experience: 

 

I took the metro train and walked two blocks to the convention center for 12:30 pm check in. We were in West Hall A which was way in the back (felt bad for the ladies in heels). As mentioned long lines to get through security. Then you check in with your letter and green card. Officer will review it and then assign you a table number to pick up your certificate later.  They will ask the same questions as the ones on the back of your oath ceremony notice, all were NO. Trickiest one was "when was your interview?" Umm like a month ago, I blanked on the date, but officer was nice. Also, they reversed the last one: will you bear arms for the US, the answer is YES.

 

You are then seated and wait for the judge to come and do the oath portion. Then came an official from USCIS who gave more info about what it means to be citizens, recognized the active military members, and congratulated all of us. They played two videos (one with the current President ). The families were dismissed and we all went to preassigned tables to pick up our certificates. Entire ceremony took about 2 hours. I went by myself and had no problems. Best of luck to all!

Edited October 18, 2017 by KleoLove
added date of oath ceremony

[Calikitkat 16]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Very helpful info. From your posts, I gather the only immigration document you need is the Green Card, right? I saw on that form you have to fill in for the oath ceremony that they want you to bring any immigration documents you may have. Would that mean also NOA's? Such as the one year extension letter for while you are waiting for the removal of conditions on your GC? How about the Employment Authorization I have received before my Green Card? It is currently expired. But do I need to turn it in? What else is considered an immigration document? Thank you kindly.

[ohman 5]

Does anyone know how much parking is on oath ceremony days? Thanks.