Interview experience in Seattle Add to Watch List Options

[LoveLove]

I had an interview in Seattle on 9/14 Monday. I applied based on 3 year marriage to USC. My husband is deployed right now so he couldn't go with me.

My appointment was at 7:40am and I live about 2 hours away from the office so I had to leave home around 5am. Monday's traffic jam was horrible... anyways..

When I got there, there were already about 40 people waiting and it seems like a lot of people are applying for citizenship there because I saw at least 15 different IO's.. and I think there are more..
or is it like that all other offices as well?

When my name was called I followed my IO to the room and I had to swear to say only truth and we sat down. She asked to see my passport which was still on my maiden name.

When I got married, I signed my maiden name as my middle name(I never had middle name before) on my marriage certificate and that is the name I have been using for 3 years but apparently to use that name for citizenship application I have to have a court doc says my legal name has been changed. So she had to cross out my middle name on my N400 and there won't be any middle name on my naturalization certificate. Even though my greencard says the "wrong" name and she told me for the green card, they don't really care what name we use.. they only care what the legal name is when you apply for the citizenship.

And then we went over the questions and infos on my N400.
I answered yes for the citation question and she asked me the question and I told her I had two traffic tickets which I just had to pay fine for both and I showed her certified court copies and she looked at it and put something into her computer(saying cases are closed and never arrested or something).. so some IO's DO care about traffic citation..

And then she had me read one sentence and have me write one.. I don't remember what I read but I wrote, Lincoln was president during the Civil War..

and 6 questions... I answered it all correct and she said good job.
She gave me the paper saying I passed the interview and gave me the oath letter with date for 9/21/09.

I was out by 8:00am so it was really quick and easy.
She didn't ask me for any docs not even tax transcript..

and I will change my legal name at the court tomorrow so when I apply for the passport I can have the name I'm using right now. It will cost almost $160.. our county is broke.

Seattle seems to be slower than other offices for the most part but they gave me the oath letter right at the interview so it makes up the time I was behind I guess..

Yeah! I'm finally done. Good luck to you all.

[~krakatoa~]

Congratulations!

[satyam]

Congratulations On Your Successful Interview

[Live By Faith]

congrats....

[cookiee]

congrats

[PrinceandPrinces...]

Congratulations!

[Ant+D+A]

Hi Lovelove,

Congratulations on passing your citizenship interview and thanks for sharing about your experience here on VJ.

Good luck with the rest of your immigration journey too, especially with the oath coming up for you.

Ant

I had an interview in Seattle on 9/14 Monday. I applied based on 3 year marriage to USC. My husband is deployed right now so he couldn't go with me.

My appointment was at 7:40am and I live about 2 hours away from the office so I had to leave home around 5am. Monday's traffic jam was horrible... anyways..

When I got there, there were already about 40 people waiting and it seems like a lot of people are applying for citizenship there because I saw at least 15 different IO's.. and I think there are more..
or is it like that all other offices as well?

When my name was called I followed my IO to the room and I had to swear to say only truth and we sat down. She asked to see my passport which was still on my maiden name.

When I got married, I signed my maiden name as my middle name(I never had middle name before) on my marriage certificate and that is the name I have been using for 3 years but apparently to use that name for citizenship application I have to have a court doc says my legal name has been changed. So she had to cross out my middle name on my N400 and there won't be any middle name on my naturalization certificate. Even though my greencard says the "wrong" name and she told me for the green card, they don't really care what name we use.. they only care what the legal name is when you apply for the citizenship.

And then we went over the questions and infos on my N400.
I answered yes for the citation question and she asked me the question and I told her I had two traffic tickets which I just had to pay fine for both and I showed her certified court copies and she looked at it and put something into her computer(saying cases are closed and never arrested or something).. so some IO's DO care about traffic citation..

And then she had me read one sentence and have me write one.. I don't remember what I read but I wrote, Lincoln was president during the Civil War..

and 6 questions... I answered it all correct and she said good job.
She gave me the paper saying I passed the interview and gave me the oath letter with date for 9/21/09.

I was out by 8:00am so it was really quick and easy.
She didn't ask me for any docs not even tax transcript..

and I will change my legal name at the court tomorrow so when I apply for the passport I can have the name I'm using right now. It will cost almost $160.. our county is broke.

Seattle seems to be slower than other offices for the most part but they gave me the oath letter right at the interview so it makes up the time I was behind I guess..

Yeah! I'm finally done. Good luck to you all.

[waiting2008]

congratss!

[abyss]

Thank you for sharing! Congratulations on passing the test and receiving the oath date right after the test. This is exciting.

I hope very much I will have a similar experience in Seattle.

[Sand]

Congratulations!

[NickD]

Venezuela insisted that my wife use her maiden name as well in her passport as her Venezuelan ID and her records had that name, we had to register our marriage in Venezuela. But they stamped the second page showing her married name that she showed to her IO. How do you explain the customs of different countries or their procedures?

Many American women like to stick their maiden name in front of their married name using the Smith-Jones format, wife's custom was to use the Smith de Jones format, but my last name is a de name so do we put Smith de de Jones down? We left off the second de.

We discussed this with the N-400 and finally dropped off her maiden name, for one thing, causes a lot of confusion with the computer system and even in the phone directory. That was accepted with no problems, after that, dropped her maiden name from her SS card and from her driver's license, that was already dropped with other legal documents, credit cards, and bank accounts. She even likes her married name far better than her maiden name, even just used her married name on our tax returns, not enough space to type all that in.

Believe adding your maiden name is strictly optional, we had no problems in dropping it and no court orders were required. Also no problems with a step daughter using my wife's previous married name for her, guess everyone is use to divorce and remarriages, but something I had to get use to.

[abyss]

Hi everybody!
I just wanted to share my interview experience in Seattle. I had it on Tuesday, 10/27 at 9:30 am. My husband came with me for moral support. We arrived at about 9:15 am. (Parking near the USCIS building in Seattle is $6 and is cash only!)

There were about 30 people waiting in the room. Most applicants had their family (spouses, kids) with them. A few had their lawyers with them. I didn't get called in until about 10:15 am. The first question my IO asked me on the way to his desk, is whether I had my laywer with me. I said, "no, just my husband" (thinking in my head, why does it matter if I have a lawyer or not? Will they treat me differently because of that?) .

My IO asked me to raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth. Then we went over my N400 application. The first hassle was with my legal name. In Russian we have 1st name, Patronymic (Father's first name + female or male suffix) and last name. When I came to the U.S., I didn't use my Patronymic name, however my IO insisted that it should be my Middle name now based on how my name was transliterated from Russian into English in my marriage certificate. I didn't expect that there will be any issues like that and was upset about it at first. I even wanted to go to the local court to have my name changed prior to the Oath ceremony, but then decided that it didn't worth it. I also realized that if I were to change my legal name here, I would have to change it in my Russian passports, which will be a huge and costly pain in the neck.
I did argue (not very wise on my part) with the IO about whether Patronymic is a Middle name. Poor guy didn't know what to say, except that this is how it should be.

By the way, he also told me that USCIS does not have the authority to change legal names at the Oath ceremony. He said that the Ceremony is an administrative procedure. However, sometimes they have special ceremonies with a Judge (for example, on 4th of July), and only during those ceremonies the applicants may legally change their names.

Then we went over the application. He asked me about my other last names. Then he asked for my birth certificate.Fortunately, I had a copy of it translated into English with me. He kept asking whether I submitted it to them before. I told him that I couldn't remember, but I believe so. He said he couldn't find it in my file. I said that my documents were lost by the USCIS when I first came to the US and maybe that's why he doesn't have it in his file. He kept insisting on me telling him when exactly I sent my birth certificate to them. It was getting really bizarre. I had to tell him that I followed their instructions and submitted all the paperwork they required me to submit and that he could make a copy of my birth certificate or keep my copy if needed. He eventually made his copy for the file. After this weird questioning, he once again asked me about my other last names. I was lost for a minute thinking he was asking for something else, but eventually just repeated my last names all over again.

A piece of advice, when you answer your Application questions don't pause and think about your answers, every pause I made cost me an extra "Are you sure you are telling this correctly?" or something to that effect.

After the application, he asked me to read one sentence and write one sentence. Then there were 6 questions. (Who wrote the Constitution? What are the two political parties? The President's party? Which state borders Mexico? don't remember the other two).

He asked about kids - we don't have any. Then he asked if we plan to have any? - Yes, we may. (I thought this was one of the most intrusive and irrelevant questions). Then he asked me if I brought any documents to show that we live together with my husband. I said that yes I did. He asked to see them. I brought bills, bank statements, tax forms, car and life insurance, and a contract for buying a new home (a letter from the bank saying we applies for a mortgage together and a letter from a title insurance company in both out names). He wanted to see the contract for buying a house. Inadvertently, I had a copy of the contract that wasn't signed by the seller, only by us. He did catch it. I said that we do have a signed agreement and addenda. He asked why I didn't bring the addenda with me today. I told him that I didn't expect he would ask for it. He suddenly stopped interrogating me and said that everything was good and I passed the interview. He told me that he could schedule my Oath ceremony for November 4th and if it was okay with me.

My husband told me that my interview lasted almost 30 minutes.

[abyss]

Just to add, the IO who interviewed me had a mug and a certification saying that he was a part of the Fugitive Operations Unit. I was curious about it, so found the following info on-line after the interview. No wonder I felt I was interrogated during the interview! http://www.ice.gov/pi/dro/nfop.htm:

National Fugitive Operations Program
With the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the significance of the fugitive alien population was brought to the forefront. Congress passed the landmark PATRIOT ACT on October 25, 2001. This legislation and the Deputy Attorney General’s Absconder Apprehension Initiative (AAI) made the arrest of absconders, or fugitives, a priority. On March 1, 2003, with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the National Fugitive Operations Program was established.

The primary mission of the National Fugitive Operations Program, a unit within ICE, Office of Detention and Removal Operations, Compliance Enforcement Division, is to identify, locate, arrest, or otherwise reduce the fugitive alien population in the United States. An ICE fugitive is defined as an alien who has failed to depart the United States pursuant to a final order of removal, deportation, or exclusion; or who has failed to report to a Detention and Removal Officer after receiving notice to do so.

ICE Fugitive Operations Teams are a crucial part of the agency’s interior immigration enforcement mission. A critical element of this strategy is to identify, locate, arrest and remove criminal aliens, fugitives, and other immigration violators from the United States. These teams use intelligence-based information and leads to find and arrest aliens who have been ordered to leave the country by an immigration judge, but have failed to comply - thus making them fugitive aliens.

In June of 2006, DRO created the Fugitive Operation Support Center (FOSC) to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP). The FOSC, through the use of technology and partnerships with law enforcement agencies, serves as a force multiplier for the National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP). The FOSC reviews and updates fugitive cases, develops leads for and provides assistance to Fugitive Operations Teams, assists in developing national fugitive Field Operations, and supports national ICE initiatives.

[Ant+D+A]

Hi Abyss,

Congratulations on passing your citizenship interview and thanks for sharing about your experience here on VJ.

Good luck with the rest of your immigration journey too, especially with the oath coming up for you.

Ant

P.S. What's the deal with the mug and the extra questioning about your birth certificate there (do they even require applicants to bring a birth certificate..don't seem to find that mentioned anywhere...good that you brought that anyways)....seems a bit paranoid there though the IO was.... oh well, at least you passed, despite the 'fugitive' questioning.....

Hi everybody!
I just wanted to share my interview experience in Seattle. I had it on Tuesday, 10/27 at 9:30 am. My husband came with me for moral support. We arrived at about 9:15 am. (Parking near the USCIS building in Seattle is $6 and is cash only!)

There were about 30 people waiting in the room. Most applicants had their family (spouses, kids) with them. A few had their lawyers with them. I didn't get called in until about 10:15 am. The first question my IO asked me on the way to his desk, is whether I had my laywer with me. I said, "no, just my husband" (thinking in my head, why does it matter if I have a lawyer or not? Will they treat me differently because of that?) .

My IO asked me to raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth. Then we went over my N400 application. The first hassle was with my legal name. In Russian we have 1st name, Patronymic (Father's first name + female or male suffix) and last name. When I came to the U.S., I didn't use my Patronymic name, however my IO insisted that it should be my Middle name now based on how my name was transliterated from Russian into English in my marriage certificate. I didn't expect that there will be any issues like that and was upset about it at first. I even wanted to go to the local court to have my name changed prior to the Oath ceremony, but then decided that it didn't worth it. I also realized that if I were to change my legal name here, I would have to change it in my Russian passports, which will be a huge and costly pain in the neck.
I did argue (not very wise on my part) with the IO about whether Patronymic is a Middle name. Poor guy didn't know what to say, except that this is how it should be.

By the way, he also told me that USCIS does not have the authority to change legal names at the Oath ceremony. He said that the Ceremony is an administrative procedure. However, sometimes they have special ceremonies with a Judge (for example, on 4th of July), and only during those ceremonies the applicants may legally change their names.

Then we went over the application. He asked me about my other last names. Then he asked for my birth certificate.Fortunately, I had a copy of it translated into English with me. He kept asking whether I submitted it to them before. I told him that I couldn't remember, but I believe so. He said he couldn't find it in my file. I said that my documents were lost by the USCIS when I first came to the US and maybe that's why he doesn't have it in his file. He kept insisting on me telling him when exactly I sent my birth certificate to them. It was getting really bizarre. I had to tell him that I followed their instructions and submitted all the paperwork they required me to submit and that he could make a copy of my birth certificate or keep my copy if needed. He eventually made his copy for the file. After this weird questioning, he once again asked me about my other last names. I was lost for a minute thinking he was asking for something else, but eventually just repeated my last names all over again.

A piece of advice, when you answer your Application questions don't pause and think about your answers, every pause I made cost me an extra "Are you sure you are telling this correctly?" or something to that effect.

After the application, he asked me to read one sentence and write one sentence. Then there were 6 questions. (Who wrote the Constitution? What are the two political parties? The President's party? Which state borders Mexico? don't remember the other two).

He asked about kids - we don't have any. Then he asked if we plan to have any? - Yes, we may. (I thought this was one of the most intrusive and irrelevant questions). Then he asked me if I brought any documents to show that we live together with my husband. I said that yes I did. He asked to see them. I brought bills, bank statements, tax forms, car and life insurance, and a contract for buying a new home (a letter from the bank saying we applies for a mortgage together and a letter from a title insurance company in both out names). He wanted to see the contract for buying a house. Inadvertently, I had a copy of the contract that wasn't signed by the seller, only by us. He did catch it. I said that we do have a signed agreement and addenda. He asked why I didn't bring the addenda with me today. I told him that I didn't expect he would ask for it. He suddenly stopped interrogating me and said that everything was good and I passed the interview. He told me that he could schedule my Oath ceremony for November 4th and if it was okay with me.

My husband told me that my interview lasted almost 30 minutes.

[abyss]

Hi Abyss,

Congratulations on passing your citizenship interview and thanks for sharing about your experience here on VJ.

Good luck with the rest of your immigration journey too, especially with the oath coming up for you.

Ant

P.S. What's the deal with the mug and the extra questioning about your birth certificate there (do they even require applicants to bring a birth certificate..don't seem to find that mentioned anywhere...good that you brought that anyways)....seems a bit paranoid there though the IO was.... oh well, at least you passed, despite the 'fugitive' questioning.....

Thank you Ant+D+A! My Oath Ceremony was on 11/4 and it went well. There were 118 of us from 37 countries. They called everyone by name and gave us our certificates. Only one lady didn't receive her certificate right away - they didn't have it ready for her. I didn't see if she got it later, but she was smiling in the end, so I assumed it was resolved.
I am very happy to become a U.S. citizen and be done with the immigration paperwork after all those years.