My N400 Interview Experience

[Going through 5,671]

Interview took place at NY Federal Plaza Building (Queens Office).  Going through the area, you have to enter the building from Lafayette Street.  There is another entrance but it is clearly marked for "Non-USCIS Visitors".  Have you interview letter and ID ready, and then after showing them to one guard, you walk down a long corridor and end up in a section where it looks like you're passing through airport security.  They give you big plastic bins to place everything in, including belts/watches and change), and then you pass through the security scanner while your items are x-rayed.  Once you leave that area, it then looks like the lobby of any other office building (there is even a cafe on the other side of the elevator bank).  For Queens office filers, you then head up to the 8th Floor where another officer will ask to see your appointment letter again and point you in the right direction.  NOTE:  There are bathrooms available before reaching the main waiting area on the 8th floor, use them so that you don't have to leave the waiting area afterwards and risk missing your name being called.

 

Ok, so my interview was at 10:40am, about 15 minutes to go through screening (they made me take my shoes off which was only because in my case the metal buckle on my sandals set off their alarm twice.)  

 

There were plenty people there when my husband and I arrived in the main waiting area (we were 20 minutes early), and there were two doors in which they were calling applicants from.  Some where there for AOS interviews, some were there for N400 interviews.  There are two television screens showing the local news but they are pretty much muted, cell phones and laptops, etc. are allowed in the waiting area.  There are signs posted that food and beverages are not, however I saw several people eating and drinking water with no one saying anything against it.   You walk in the room, approach the guy at the window, hand over your interview letter and sit down and wait.  After about an hour and a half of waiting, I was starting to get anxious thinking they'd forgotten about me since people who came in for later appointments were getting called first.  Sitting there I did happen to notice that a few people left looking either confused or sad, so again my anxiety started to rise a bit but I kept trying to calm myself down (I'm a doom-and-gloom kind of person to begin with so this is normal for me).

 

When my name was finally called, my husband and I both approached the IO and she asked my husband to not come in (I figured this would happen, but thought it would at least show he was there and in support of me---which the IO addressed later in my interview that she was glad to see he had taken the day off work to accompany me).

 

On to the interview---she asked to see my GC and passport, said "oh you're a Canadian", and then confirmed my birthdate and then asked to see my birth certificate (I had brought this with me in case she asked for it, and she took my photocopy to keep on file).  She then asked me to raise my right hand, swear to tell the truth, etc.

 

Upon sitting back down she immediately said "So you've been arrested before.  Let me see the documents about that."  I handed them to her and reiterated that I had submitted them years ago with my AOS application, again with the ROC application, yadda yadda yadda.  I gave her the court document (which showed her only that the records had been destroyed since the charge was 23 years ago), and a letter from the police department (which showed her only that their records had been destroyed as well).  The original documents I submitted in 2005 stated that they were already destroyed years ago.  I also offered her the RCMP clearance letter which covers the country of Canada as something "extra" which she said she didn't really need, but she'd take it---added that to my file.

 

Moved on to the YES/NO questions, only asking me a few of them and then confirmed my place of work, my husband's place of work, and asked how we met (at this point I realized she was just validating that the GC was received appropriately).  I told her, and she seemed impressed that we had carried out a long distance relationship for 3 years before getting married.  She then casually said "so then you decided to move here when you came last"  I then said "No.  I came here on a visit and he proposed, we got married and then we had figure out what to do now in terms of legalities since I wasn't an American."  She didn't question my estimated travel dates at all, and just confirmed that I visited only Canada over the past 5 years---she then questioned my nationality (I was born in Canada), and asked if my parents were Canadian citizens and if they were married at the time I was born (not sure where she was going with this line of questioning about my parents since it was irrelevant...).  I explained my parents became Naturalized Canadian citizens back in 1964, before I was born, but originally they were from ____.  She then asked again if my parents were citizens of the US, I answered no...I'm the only one in the US, my parents and siblings, aunts and uncles, etc. are all in Canada.  She spoke about how she'd like to visit Canada again herself.  We had some small talk about differences in the two countries and things like that.

 

She moved back to the questioning about my arrest and said "so what happened???"  I explained and confirmed that there was no jail time, no probation, nothing of that sort.  She had me electronically sign a few documents and then said "ok we go by the name on the birth certificate, but since you've already had a legal name change on your marriage certificate your naturalization certificate will read your married legal name (this is what I wanted, anyhow, since I hadn't asked for a name change, and I LOVED how she was speaking as though she was going to approve me already).  She then said it was time to move on to the tests.

 

Asked me the first question three times.  Yes, three times because three times I just blurted out the wrong answer---each time she kept saying "relax" and would ask the question slowly.  After the third incorrect answer, I told her the same incorrect answer just keeps popping up in my head and she said ok we're going to move on and asked me 6 more questions, all of which I answered correctly (once I relaxed, as she said).  English test was no problem---read a sentence, wrote a sentence.  She clarified I needed to print the answer (not write in cursive) in case someone else needs to read it later on so it's clear.

 

At the end of the interview she said she is recommending me for approval but because of the prior charge she needed to get her supervisor to review it---in my shock I blurted out "from 23 years ago??"  and "but you guys knew about it with my AOS" and "I sent it in with my ROC and even now today too!!"  She nodded sympathetically and said it still needs to go under supervisor approval...to which I softly responded "I guess he couldn't do that now, huh?".  She then, to my surprise, took my entire file and got up and left the office with me sitting there.  She came back in a few moments later and started typing stuff on her computer, picked up my file again and left the office once more.  About 5 minutes after that she came back in and said she'd spoken to her supervisor and they said it was fine and that I was approved!  I asked her if she's SURE...and she said "yes I looked at his computer and he was already entering you in for your oath ceremony."   

 

When I got home, there was an email that showed that I was inline for my Oath, and then five minutes later another email that stated my Oath had been scheduled and the letter mailed out earlier that afternoon (almost immediately after I'd left the office, going by their time stamp).  So now I'm waiting for that letter to arrive in the mail.

 

Btw--- I filed my N400 online.   (you can see my entire timeline below of how long the process has taken me so far in my signature)

 

[Crazy Cat 41,982]

Congratulation, my Friend!!!   and thank you for sharing your experience.......

[little immigrant 801]

Congratulations! I wish I filed online

[Going through 5,671]

27 minutes ago, missileman said:

Congratulation, my Friend!!!   and thank you for sharing your experience.......

I am humbled and honored that you called me "friend"  

[Going through 5,671]

17 minutes ago, Andrina said:

Congratulations! I wish I filed online

Thank you!  Out of curiosity what was your time line like?  I see that you have already been approved  

[Starkilla09 366]

Congrats! That’s nice to know.

[little immigrant 801]

8 minutes ago, Going through said:

Thank you!  Out of curiosity what was your time line like?  I see that you have already been approved  

You should be able to see it under my timeline. I applied August 2016, had my interview on May 4th 2017 and was naturalized on July 5th. I filed via mail. 

[mindthegap 2,590]

2 hours ago, Going through said:

"ok we go by the name on the birth certificate, but since you've already had a legal name change on your marriage certificate your naturalization certificate will read your married legal name"

What?

That can't be right...Surely they go by the name on your permanent resident card - regardless of whether that is your birth name, married name, or via a legal change? Or was that a 'make it up as I go along' moment? on her part?

 

Congratulations too 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2017 by mindthegap

[xyz12345 260]

congrats!  so what was the first question? 😁

[Going through 5,671]

50 minutes ago, mindthegap said:

What?

That can't be right...Surely they go by the name on your permanent resident card - regardless of whether that is your birth name, married name, or via a legal change? Or was that a 'make it up as I go along' moment? on her part?

 

Congratulations too 

 

 

I asked her about that----and then asked "wait, so are you saying you have to put in for a legal name change from my birth name even though I'm assuming the same name I've had since my marriage?"  

 

She said that since I applied for the AOS under my  married name, which matches my name on my marriage certificate, to USCIS I've "already done a legal name change in their eyes when I got my green card"...(well, yes, that makes sense in a way but still left me slightly confused as to how that applied to the N400 now) 

 

When electronically signing, I was able to confirm the name that would be appearing on my certificate (the name I used on my application and my GC---my already legal name.) 

[Going through 5,671]

13 minutes ago, xyz12345 said:

congrats!  so what was the first question? 😁

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence.  I kept saying James Madison....

[hanwidz 1]

Happy for you!! Congrats to you

[mounir412 101]

Congratulation !

[Meg&Andrew 297]

Congratulations!! 

[abum 324]

Congratulations! Your timeline looks to be very quick, is that normal from the day of filing to the interview date? and the longest time is waiting for the oath ceremony is it?