May 2017 Chicago N-400 Citizenship Interview Experience

[kpeck 22]

Hi VJ'ers, 

 

Just wanted to share my husband's recent experience of his N-400 Citizenship Interview in Chicago for anyone who is interested. I know reading about others' experiences helped calm both of our nerves! 

 

This is reflected in my timelines, but just as background my husband came to the US on a K1 Visa and received his green card in February 2014, so we filed the N-400 based on 3-year rule (permanent resident based on marriage to US citizen). 

 

Interview Date & Time: Wednesday, May 31st, 8am

Where: Chicago Local Field Office, 101 West Congress Parkway 

Decision: Passed the Civics and English portions - waiting on Oath Ceremony letter! 

N-400 Submission Date: December 2016

 

He brought with him: 

• Photocopies of the entire N-400 that we submitted (just in case!) 
• His Spanish passport
• My US passport (as proof my US citizenship)
• Green Card
• Certified copy of marriage certificate
• IL Driver's License
• Copies of 2016 Tax Returns (as these weren't submitted with original packet since we submitted N-400 in December 2016 and hadn't filed 2016 taxes yet)
• Original car Title showing joint ownership of the vehicle (they say they want to see originals of anything submitted)

 

My husband and I live in the city, so we took the 'L' to get there. We arrived at 7:30am (I decided to go with my husband to the interview as I work close by in downtown Chicago and I'm flexible with my arrival time at work) and went through the security line - we were the only ones there at the time, so it was obviously very fast. It was similar to an airport: We put our stuff in trays and walked through a metal detector -  you have to take off jackets, things in your pockets, belts, watches/other big jewelry, take out any laptops and put them in the trays, etc. We did not have to take off our shoes. The security guards were very nice and pleasant, very helpful. 

 

We went up to the third floor. There was clear signage that directed us to where we needed to be. (InfoPass appointments / Citizenship Interviews / Adjudication / Passport Services, etc. - all marked very clearly). The security guards on each floor were very helpful in directing us (I'm sure they answer the same questions 200 times a day!!) 

 

There was no one waiting at the booth when we got to the third floor. We were told by the security guard that someone would be out shortly and to have a seat. There were a handful of people there already, some in suits/professional dress who were waiting for their Oath Ceremony which was to be held (I assume) in the auditorium on the other side of the floor. The waiting area was very large with a lot of seats - plenty of room for me to sit with my husband. He got out his notes and reviewed the Civics test questions while we waited. More people filtered in who clearly either were there for the Oath Ceremony or had interviews at the same time. 

 

A few minutes before 8am, we were told by the security guard that those of us who had 8am appointments were to line up at the booth (now occupied by an employee) and she checked everyone in. They were asked to show their appointment letters and then asked if you had a lawyer or interpreter with them (my husband's answer was a 'no'). Interviewees were given a number and told wait by "Door 2" on the other side of the room, so we all shuffled over there. We had just sat down by Door 2, at this time about 8:10 / 8:15 am or so,  (my husband grumbling that this was going to take forever as he'd been near the back of the line to check in, etc.), when an Officer opened Door 2 and called out my husband's number first! So he went straight back (was not asked to leave his backpack or anything outside - he took in all his papers and packet of evidence).  

 

He came back out around 8:40 or 8:45am, so it took about 25-30 minutes total. 

 

During that time while waiting, they called people back frequently - it seemed to go fairly quickly. There were probably 5-6 different officers working at that specific "door" and calling people back for interviews, etc. 

 

It was actually pretty neat to see people as they came out after their interviews - most were there with family members and you would see them break out in a smile as they came out of the door. 

 

My husband's comments: 

• The woman officer was very nice. 
• She asked him if his wife was here and he said yes. 
• They basically went over his N-400 application and he verified the answers. She asked him ALL of the "yes/no" questions (like, "Are you a Nazi?" and "Are you a habitual drunkard", etc.). 
• She asked if he'd traveled outside of the US since submitting the application (yes - we traveled to Spain a few weeks after submitting application, so he gave her the dates of our trip which she recorded) 
• She asked him if he had any other evidence to submit with the application. He gave her our 2016 tax return copies, a copy of my IL driver's license showing same address (we hadn't submitted in original application), and photocopy of our car title (different from the one we submitted with application - he also brought the original with him, but she didn't ask to see it). 
• Asked to see his IL Driver's License, green card (possibly his Spanish passport and my US passport, but I need to verify with him - I will update this post). She did NOT ask to see the certified marriage certificate. 
• Answered all civics questions correctly (he remembers writing out the sentence: Independence Day is July 4th" (or something like that and he was worried because he wrote just "4" instead of "4th", but obviously it was totally fine... 
• She gave him a letter saying he'd passed the English and Civics portions and she was recommending his application be approved. If completely approved he would be getting an Oath Ceremony letter in the mail. 

 

That was it! As my husband packed up his backpack after, the people sitting behind us congratulated him (they were waiting for a family member to finish her interview) and we thanked them. We left after that (by then the people in the waiting area were being lined up by USCIS employees for their Oath Ceremony.) 

 

His USCIS online case status just changed today to: 

We scheduled your oath ceremony for Receipt Number ******. We sent a notice with the date, time, and location of your oath ceremony to the address you gave us. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you do not receive your notice by July 5, 2017, please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request a copy of the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

 

 

All in all, a pretty painless process. People/Officers were very friendly. 

 

We're looking forward to going to the Oath Ceremony, applying for and receiving his US passport and leaving USCIS behind us... 

 

 

 

[Joe&LuMa 77]

Congratulations !!!! 

[Faith38 37]

Congratulations!!

[lovelyalex 99]

Congratulations!

 

[juliava 80]

Congratulations! 

[nitrous_guy 23]

Did you submit any photos with your application? BTW.. congratulations

[kpeck 22]

Thanks everyone!

[kpeck 22]

1 hour ago, nitrous_guy said:

Did you submit any photos with your application? BTW.. congratulations

Yes we did actually - forgot to mention that in my original post. (I'd read that some people had issues if they didn't submit the photos, so we did just in case). 

 

He said the officer didn't mention anything either way about the passport photos. 

[d&C 7]

Thank you kpeck for this detailed post.  Very informative and much appreciated.  Congratulations.....

[TBoneTX 43,059]

*** Thread is moved from the US Citizenship main forum to the Case Progress subforum. ***

[Lullaby123 4]

Congrats! Did your husband submit/bring any pictures of you and him to the interview? I only included 4 years tax, lease, joint car, joint checking account statements, scanned credit cards showing our names with the same card number and utilities. I don't know what else I should bring. We don't have benefits from our employers at the moment. 

[La Isla Bonita 22]

Congratulations

 

Can you ask your husband what are the civic questions asked as far as he could remember? Thanks.

[JimmyTheKnife 15]

Thank you for the excellent post. The information will be quite helpful if we ever get past the Removal of Conditions process. 

 

Jim

[kpeck 22]

6 hours ago, Lullaby123 said:

Congrats! Did your husband submit/bring any pictures of you and him to the interview? I only included 4 years tax, lease, joint car, joint checking account statements, scanned credit cards showing our names with the same card number and utilities. I don't know what else I should bring. We don't have benefits from our employers at the moment. 

Thank you! 

 

No, he did not submit any photos with the application nor did he bring any to the interview. (We actually haven't included any pictures of us since the initial I-129F)

 

What you have listed is perfectly fine - that's what we included (and he brought with him) to the interview (except we didn't include the credit card statements, but we did in the Removing Conditions application). We also included 2 passports photos in the application, but some have said they're not needed, some have said they are needed, so included just to be safe. 

 

Good luck!

[kpeck 22]

4 hours ago, La Isla Bonita said:

Congratulations

 

Can you ask your husband what are the civic questions asked as far as he could remember? Thanks.

Yes, will do! 

 

I actually asked him prior to posting this, but he couldn't remember off the top of his head. We've both been extremely busy, but I'm hoping to sit down with him this weekend and go over the questions and see if he remembers which ones were asked so I can post here.