Citizenship

Hello everyone...

I want to share my N-400 & I-751 combo interview experience here at the Irving, TX USCIS office.

To begin with I received the interview appointment letter for N-400 only, nothing came separately for I-751. I was told earlier by USCIS that since both my petitions are pending, they would be adjudicated the same time, & my attorney confirmed the same possibility as well. Hence we prepared all our supporting accordingly for both the cases, & went to the interview with my U.S. citizen wife & our infant son.

The interview was at 11:15 AM, & I got called in at 11:25AM. When IO came out & called my name, & saw my wife & son were coming with me as well for the interview - he never objected or asked anything, who is who. I am sure he already read my file & knew about the pending I-751 alongside the N-400, & hence the reason why they were here too.
He escorted us to his cabin, where after swearing me in he started by asking few of the N-400 questions like my full name, if I got arrested ever, how many times I was married, do we live at the same address, if my cell phone number is still the same. We had our child after submitting the petition, so he updated our son's details into his system. Before even I can ask to add our son to the records, he himself said "lets add this precious gift" :)

Then he started the civics test. I was asked, in the same order -
1. What does the President's Cabinet do?
2. What is the supreme law of the land?
3. Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?
4. Who is in charge of the executive branch?
5. When do we celebrate Independence Day?
6. What is the capital of your state? - here he joked 'are you sure its Austin & not San Antonio?' lol
Then I was asked to read from the I-pad "George Washington was our first President", & then write in a piece of paper "Washington was our first President" - (dropped George).

That's all. He never asked any on the I-751, as in his own words "seeing this big fat file of well organized supporting docs in front of me, I don't need to open it or ask anything, your wife & son is here anyways" lol.
He didn't ask a single direct question to my U.S. citizen wife as such either.
At the end of the interview he handed me the N-652 with "Congratulations! Your application has been recommended for approval"...ticked, & then he printed the Oath ceremony letter as well for next week :)
In fact, something that I never heard of or read anywhere, USCIS do arrange emergency/special oath ceremony, just the USCIS official & you/few others on special case. In our case we will be travelling internationally the very next day after the Oath ceremony. So when I requested if there is any chance to have my oath before so that may be I can get my US passport done beforehand, he graciously accepted that request, worked in his computer for some time, & offered if I want to have it at 2PM today itself !! We were like wow !! - But it would just be me & the IO, & no ceremony as such, & me & my wife felt let's experience the real oath ceremony, after all once in a lifetime experience, lol. So we said no to that option, & kept the original date itself. I am hopeful the same day passport option will work out in my case.

The IO was really a very nice person with a great attitude, & showed professionalism. The real interview was done in 10 min I would say, but we all talked on offline topics for almost another 15 min. It turned out to be way more than what we had expected, in a good way :).

Based on my experiences for so many years with USCIS/immigration officials, I think this' another example proving "all of them has their own style, & discretion".

Hope this would help those who are still waiting for theirs to be done.
I would highly recommend to prepare yourself the best, & have every supporting with you in case anything is needed. In the end if your case is clean & you know it - there is nothing to worry. I am sure IOs are trained to sense that confidence as well in the petitioner, & that dictates the course of the interview & everything.

Best of luck :)