Citizenship

I am writing this on behalf of my family. I am only 14 so I don't have to do this. The fingerprint was on April 6th at 1:00pm in Oakland,CA. It went smoothly!
Now the interview is at May 11th for my elder sister and my mother. My mother will be interviewed at 7:30am in San Francisco. My sister at 7:55am same location. I need some help to teach them more and some experiances of people who took interview in SFO so they won't feel so nervous. They are thinking of stating at a hotel the night before as it is too early in the morning and we have ride issues. My mother cannot take the BART and by car, it's too difficult.
Please let me know some of your experiances of your interview. The address of the office where they will get interviewed is:
630 Samsome St.
San Francisco

Please any help would be highly appreciated!
Thanks!

I just discovered this website and think it is very helpful. Is anybody here that just attended a ceremony, or know a friend that just attended a ceremony. I tried to send an email to Immidragon but his email does not work. I am attending the ceremony on May 22 at 9:00am at masonic center. I would like to ask a question about how much time it actually takes for the whole ceremony (starting at 9:00am). The reason is that I will have to catch a plane departure at 1:15pm that same day after the ceremony. Immidragon did mention that it took about 1 hr and 15 mins, is that the time for the ceremony or the time between 9:00am and when the ceremony finished. I wonder if it started at sharp 9:00am, or whatever time the all the people scheduled for the oath arrived.
I will try not to reschedule for the oath, as there is possibility of turning certainty to uncertainty. It is also painful to change my travel schedule which was set before I got the oath notice. I would really appreciate it if anybody could let me know.

I applied for my OCI card in early Dec,2006.After completing part-A of the OCI application on-line,I mailed(certified) the part-B of the OCI appl with all the requisite documents.
I have not heard anything yet from the Consular Division of the The Embassy of India in D.C., where i had submitted the application to.Repeated phone calls have been unanswered.
Last week,i sent a letter by land mail.I have yet to hear from the Indian Embassy.
Do any of you have an OCI card? How long is the processing time?
Did you atleast get an acknowledgment of receipt of your OCI appl., or an e-mail about the status of your appl?
Any timely response and help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Dr.Vidyasagar Bollampalli

I applied for the citizenship in Connecticut , my priority date is 5 december 2006 ,I did my fingerprints already and I don't have the interview yet ? How long take get the interview ?

Hi,

Does 75+ year old applying for citizenship need to fingure print taken. They mention that 75+ do not have to pay Biometric fee of $70, but do they have to go to the same procedure?

Hello Friends,

Just wanted to post my experience about the Oath Ceremony in San Francisco.

It was at the Masonic Center in SF - 1111 California St - be very careful here, because there is also a 111 California St. and that location is very close to the BART station. THE ACTUAL Masonic Center is at least 11 blocks (30-45 mins of walking) from the BART station on Embarcadero.

The letter asked me to be present at 9 am and I managed to get there by 9.15 am. I saw stragglers roll in at 10 am too. It does not seem to be a big deal.

The whole ceremony was about 1 hour 15 minutes and was conducted quite well. Its a festive atmosphere as most people seem to be really excited by this big event in their lives.

The parking garage in the Masonic Center is the cheapest (I think its $4 for 2 hours or something like that) - but it was full when I arrived so I chose the one right after the Masonic Center and it cost me $8.50 for 2 hrs. Not a big deal.

Hope this helps and best of luck with your processing.

Cheers,

Immi Dragon

I had a smooth interview. Immigration officer was friendly. Got all the civics questions right (6, I think). Oath taking at Newark was done in the same afternoon.

As the last step in my application for US citizenship, I received a letter from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services requesting my presence for an interview at 1pm at their offices in the Rodino Federal Building located in downtown Newark (NJ).

I showed up promptly at 1pm, went up the elevators to the 15th floor, and was ushered into a huge waiting room filled with other applicants and their family members who had come along for moral support. As instructed, I deposited the interview notice at the box by Window 1 and waited for my name to be called. Every few minutes or so, one of the Immigration Officers would appear behind the glass windows and call out a name on the microphone, instructing that person to go to either one of the three doors where the officer would meet them and lead them inside for the naturalization interview.

After thirty minutes or so of sitting around and watching financial news, I was finally called and walked behind the officer (A. Cruz) down the hallway into his cubicle. I was sworn to tell the whole truth, and then was asked questions about my background and other basic information that was already in the application form. A basic civics and history exam was included in the interview, I had started reviewing the sample questionnaire that is available for download from the US CIS website, and while the answers seemed straightforward, I was still a bit anxious. Officer Cruz proceeded to ask me the following questions:

1. Who becomes President of the United States if the President dies?
Answer: The Vice-President

2. How many changes or Amendments are there to the Constitution?
Answer: 27

3. Who is the current governor of New Jersey?
Answer: Jon Corzine

4. What were the 13 original states of the United States called before they became states?
Answer: colonies

5. What are the two major political parties in the United States?
Answer: Democratic and Republican

6. What is the national anthem of the United States?
Answer: Star Spangled Banner

Fortunately, my time spent reviewing proved sufficient and I was able to answer all six questions correctly. The next part was the written English exam. He dictated a sentence in English slowly and clearly, and indicated the spot on the examination sheet where I was supposed to write it down. "Today, I am going to the store", Officer Cruz intoned. My hand shook a little bit as put that in writing, although I tried to make it as legible as possible - he reviewed my handwriting and declared that I had passed the exam.

Officer Cruz congratulated me on my naturalization, and ushered me out into the waiting room again, where I was to wait for the oath taking ceremony. Given the number of people still waiting to be called, that would be at least a couple of hours away (current time was 2pm). Good thing we had CNBC for entertainment, I thought, at the same time cursing myself for not bringing along a book. Too exhilarated to eat and too nervous to leave and miss my name being called, I contented myself with watching the daily gyrations of Wall Street and the latest developing stories around the world.

Finally, at around 5pm, with all the would-be citizens interviewed, all of us were asked to walk to the oath taking ceremony site down the hall. Another officer gave a brief talk on the benefits of citizenship, how to go about getting a passport and the benefits thereof, and other matters in the same vein. She then recited the oath of allegiance, which we all duly repeated, and once that was concluded loud cheering and applause ensued. And just like that, I was now officially an American.

To this day, that exhilarating moment is deeply imprinted in my mind, and I am still at a loss to fully put into words the incredible sentiments I felt. It had been an interminable wait (8 1/2 years), and the moment had suddenly come. I swear that never shall I forget that line, "Today, I am going to the store."

Priority Date - 10/31/06
Finger Printed - 11/17/06
Interviewed - 02/07/07

It was smooth. The officer went through all my paper work. The interview was pretty easy.

Good Luck to all.

Total Process Time from Application to Interview was 15 weeks. Applied in October 2006, interviewed in January 2007. Very good experience. Few points to mention:

1. Seattle Office does not perform name change.
2. Oath ceremony happens approximtely 1 week after interview.

This website www.immihelp.com was helpful in planning before the interview.

My husband & myself are going to apply for citizenship in Feb. So we file two forms (N-400) for each of us separately, correct ? And we list our daughter in both the forms, right ? How can we make sure we both are applying together and will get the same interview date ?