Citizenship

Hello!
I have my interview next week and the letter only says to bring green card, passport and the letter but I have read somewhere else about people bringing passport photos, do I have to take them with me or they don't ask for it anymore? Also, do you know if cellphones are allowed inside the uscis building or leave it in the car?

Thank you!

I applied for citizenship on the Second 1/2 of January 2018

Biometrics scheduled less than a month later after I applied, interview was scheduled 4 months after online application.

Weirdly I had applied for greencard renew (expired) a week before I applied for citizenship, the biometric was scheduled only 3 months later, still no actual greencard more than 4 months later.

By the way, do not ask me questions, I just felt compelled to share my experience, I am not in any position to answer anyone’s question, my experience does not qualify me as an expert.

I went to 26 Plaza Federal BuildingNYC, my appointment was 10:00 a.m, I got in the building at 09:20 am.

Security took less than 10 minutes, security staff have attitude similar to TSA workers, not very polite, but not the worst.

Up to 9th floor, then sent to 7th floor checks the appoint letter and redirects to the 4th floor, these are the steps, not a mistake from my end.

4th floor a blond lady with beautiful eyes, the only actual person that does not seem desensitized by the job, she actually addressed me with a polite demeanor, made eyes contact and was pleasant. The other people weren’t rude, only robotic and clearly too desensitized, security guard at the 4th floor makes some effort to be helpful, hate to say this, but I found hard to understand his foreign accent.

I got my number around 09:40, took a seat, there were a total of 60 people in the waiting are all seated, so I took my book out and prepared myself for at least one hour wait.

Less than 5 minutes later my name was called, it took me a good 10 seconds to process, my brain was set to be called an hour later. I was called in 15 minutes before my appointment time..

The minute the IO lady set eyes on me I thought It was going to be a rough ride.
She was very firm with her instructions, not rude but not friendly either , a bit intimidating, usually I am not intimidated in a controlled situation like this one, which I knew the possible outcomes, I was not at all nervous but seconds she started asking me the civil test questions, my brain went awol, It blanked, first question, but a few seconds later I was back to normal, it would be silly getting nervous over this.

- I did not understand her second question, and I asked her to repeat twice the third time she showed impatience and said he was only going to repeat once any other question, it would be my lack of grasping of the language if I was not understanding as the questions were being asked in a clear and understandable format.

The question I did not understand was simple “who veto the Bills”, of course I Knew the answer.

I did not get nervous, only concerned if I was going to understand the following questions, there 4 questions to go. I would not tell her this, but I did not understand the questions because she had a foreign accent and took me a little time to warm up to the way she pronounced certain words, it was not bad or too hard to understand, somehow I failed to understand the easiest question. My impression is that she felt offended that I could not understand her, as I do not have have any difficulty understanding and speaking the language.

for the next questions she made an effort to pronounce the words more carefully, I understood them all and answered correctly.

The reading and writing is as simple as it comes as most people may know, with all due respect, if you are nervous about the tests, you should consider postponing applying as these rest can’t be more basic, so try to learn the language as it will only be beneficial to you.

What was I asked? passport, greencard and copy, social security card and driver’s license ad nothing else.

The other questions were all from the N400 form, don’t elaborate, answerYEs or NO, I noticed the IO got annoyed when I deviate from the Yes or No format, and she called my attention to answer Yes or No.

What I could notice,:
they have a lot people to interview and they work methodically to avoid mistakes and do things by the book, I am sure they have to answer for their mistakes, this IO showed concerns to the possibility of delays regarding my case, e en though I filled online, she said I had to print out, sign and upload the filled N400 form online, which I didn’t, luckily I had a print out with me and she added to my files, otherwise according to her, it would probably had caused delays.

She went over twice to make sure she did all by the book, she expressed concerns of delays if my case filed correctly.

What seemed to be an unfriendly person at first, soon after she got my files uploaded to the system, her demeanor changed, she showed to have a friendly face and even made small talks, than I understood her expression at first was of someone who was focused to do her job right that’s how she operated, it had nothing to do with me or the world.

I am changing my name, thus no idea if will take longer for the oath ceremony, I was told 45 days.

Overall experience, it was way easier than expected, in general we get more of a rough ride by immigration officials at the airports when you return from an international trip.

My advice is:

Have your things together and organized, don’t make your IO wait until you find something, don’t volunteer anything or ask questions, you are there to answer questions. Do not try to change anything or challenge it

Don’t be nervous, unless you are not eligible, but if you have what is asked no need to worry. They are not there to fail you, the IO also have rules and regulations they have to follow, they do not make things up as it goes.
If anything goes wrong, the likelihood it is on you, if you get nervous as unfortunate as it may be, it is not anyone’s fault, they are not their to babysit anyone, it is 10 minutes thing and you are set for life.

Respect the system, some may criticize it, but it works better than it fails. I found pretty fair, other countries have way more disorganized, hard immigration system, also remember naturalizing is optional, if you are doing it ought be because you value what the USAhas to offer you as is, why would you be doing it if you hate it?

 

Has anyone who has had their interview done so far changed their last names? How long did it take to get to the Oath judge?

Hello,
 citizenship PD june 2017, in the application i am divorced as i got my green card through marriage,
 one year after i got my PR i got divorced and filed as single, after filing, i got marred to someone who's here on a visitor visa, i know in the interview they will ask if anything has changed in the application, and i will tell that i got married, but would they ask for further questions about my wife, immigration statues for example, or would that affect my application in anyway ?
thanks in advance
statues: inline for an interview since augest 2017

Pd Nov 10
FP NOV 23

Still No update

Any update for Seattle filer

Thanks

Hello everyone,

I'm so confused right now and I need help so bad. I was already scheduled for an interview on June 5th, 2018 and today I went to see my lawyer and once I arrived, he told me that USCIS called him 10 minutes ago and told him that my schedule was cancelled and they did not tell him any reason why it was cancelled. But when I checked my case status, it still said that my interview is scheduled for June 5th and plus I did not get any email or phone call from USCIS stating that my interview was cancelled. Everything is still the same but I have no idea why my lawyer said that my interview was cancelled. Please help me find out what to do. Should I call USCIS or not? If so, what number do I need to call? or How would I get in touch? In addition, my case was filed in Cincinnati. Thank you very much!

PD 2/14/2017
Biometrics 3/13/2017
Interview 5/30/2017
Waiting for Oath

Application Sent: 01/26/2017
Priority Date: 03/06/2017
FP: 02/29/2017
In line for Interview: 03/06/2017
Interview Scheduled Online Status: 4/18/2018 408 days!
Interview letter: 2 business days later.
Interview Date: 05/22/2018

Interview Experience: Really nice.
You go upstairs and hand in your interview letter to the front desk. Your IO is already assigned. Your letter is kept in IO's folder. IO comes out pulls the letter and calls you by name. IO was very nice and professional. All of them are.You can chit chat to break the ice. You walk to IO office and sit down. I had to do the civics and history first. I was asked the follwoing quesiotns.

What is the “rule of law”?
Why do we have 13 stripes on the flag?
What Ocean is on the West Coast?
What is the name of the National Anthem?
How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?
We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?

I was then asked If I am with the same employer. Then he asked me about 50% of the Yes No Question.

I then signed about three papers. He stamped couple of places on the form.

Then notified me that I passed the test and handed me standard pass letter.

I very polietly asked when the Oath is? And he said he still has to look some things over and if everything goes well I should receive something in two weeks.

I also asked if I can have the Oath with my wife the following day and he said NO.

Documents I brought:
Passport
Drivers License
Green Card
SSN Card
Children Original Brith Cert.
Marriage Cert.
1040 for last 5 Years
IRS account transcript last 5 years
Certified County Court letter that my speeding ticket was paid off.

Officer only asked for Drivers License, Green Card and Passport

Oath Experience: Oath Ceremony takes at least 3 hours.You can bring as many guest as you want. They seat you in the waiting room. Calls the candidates first, then lines them up to give them envelope with printed Oath in them.
Then they let the guests in and seat them separately. All candidates stand up and read the oath loud as group. Once done they hand you the Citizenship certificate.

Dallas seems to schedule very quickly after interview. My wife got it the next day, some even got it the very same day.

BTW you can bring in your cell phone into the building but no food or drinks.

Oath Letter Mailed 1 day After interview. Oath taken a week later.

Total Time it took ~15 months.

My PD is Oct 2nd 2017.
My Biometrics was done on - Oct 27 2017

Status online changed to in line for interview Feb 5 2018. Its been 8 months sicne I applied and I havent heard anything. Nothing. It is so frustrating.

Any NYC(Manhattan) Filers? Please advice and share your timeline. I am losing my mind

They received my application on April 13 2018 and a week later I got my appointment for my biometrics, I got them taken on May 09 2018, Now I'm just waiting for them to schedule my interview, my online portal is showing a waiting period of 22 Months!!! to be completed by April 2020!