Oath experience at Charlotte, NC

[karenros 0]

I am finally a US Citizen with some technical difficulties at the ceremony..

I headed out of the office at 11:00 am and met my husband, Father inlaw and Mom at home at 11:30.. We I pick my paper work and we head out to the USCIS office in charlotte, NC and the Ceremony was at 12:30..

We got there at 12:00pm and shortly thereafter my bosses boss, the HR of the Company i work for and one of my Colleague arrived to attend the ceremony..

We had to wait in line until the we clear security just like an airport... where you got to remove your shoes and walk in thru the metal detector...

Once that was done i had to go a different room were they collected the paper work for the oath and the Green cards (have 2 based on the 3 yrs marriage) and then we were made to stand inline and we went to room 106 where all the other family members and friend of the applicants were seated.. When we were going to the seat they gave us the naturalization certificated and they had a envelope on the seat.. The envelope contained things as to sponsor ppl, a flag, a copy of the declaration of independence and The Citizen's Almanac and some information about the passport, voters registration..

After all the 86 applicants from 44 different countries were situated in their places... they started the ceremony by a small talk, a video and the national anthem...and then they called out each country and we had to stand up and when they had called all the countries the made us take the oath of alegiance and then everyone including the family members had to take the pledge of Alegeiance...

then We saw 2 videos and the speech of the president.. and that was it.. the lady who conducted the ceremony told us that "you need to check your certificate carefully cause if we find anything after we get off the building we would have to pay some fee and it would take 6 months to get the certificate" and she also said she knew that many of us there were glad to be done with the USCIS... and looked like many of them agreed with it...My husband, mom, father in law and I checked the certificate to see that there was nothing wrong

The ppl at the USCIS were thinking that they need a new projector and they said that they were conducting this in a different way... but i thought that their equipment... cause they had a tough time rewinding and forwarding the vidoes and they were freezing... but hey they take so much money in the form of fees so they better have a good equipment... atleast run the thing before so that they know its going to work... looked like there were making a fool of themselves...

The Cermony ended around 2:30pm ish and then we got some lunch and then headed to the doctors office and my first stop was the dmv and I removed the Permanent resident Restriction on my license and also registered to Vote at the DMV... I will go to the SS office tomm in my lunch break..

So that was how my day was.. it was pretty good and i was happy and i think the ceremony (though with some technical difficulties) went well..

I also want to take this opporunity to Thank every one at VJ for being helpful in my journey with the USCIS through all the ups and down(lot of downs) I had with the USCIS..

Thank you every one and good luck with your Visa Journey...

Thanks,

Karen

[antda 13]

Karenros-Congratulations for being a US Citizen!..And thanks for sharing that interview and same day oath experience here on vj!...

Glad that your ceremony went smoothly, despite their equipment not working! (lol..yes, they should have tested that out beforehand too).

And yeah, the security checks...it's pretty much the same for all USCIS offices...(that's the way it was at my local office too)

Glad too, that you and your family checked your certificate and found no problems there! Enjoy the "souvenirs" that you received that day too!

Good luck with the rest of your journey as a citizen, and good luck with your passport application and voter's registration too.

Ant

P.S. How's the weather in Charlotte? Lol...Hope that there is not another snowstorm there...like there was last year...with 2 inches of snow...lol....

I am finally a US Citizen with some technical difficulties at the ceremony..

I headed out of the office at 11:00 am and met my husband, Father inlaw and Mom at home at 11:30.. We I pick my paper work and we head out to the USCIS office in charlotte, NC and the Ceremony was at 12:30..

We got there at 12:00pm and shortly thereafter my bosses boss, the HR of the Company i work for and one of my Colleague arrived to attend the ceremony..

We had to wait in line until the we clear security just like an airport... where you got to remove your shoes and walk in thru the metal detector...

Once that was done i had to go a different room were they collected the paper work for the oath and the Green cards (have 2 based on the 3 yrs marriage) and then we were made to stand inline and we went to room 106 where all the other family members and friend of the applicants were seated.. When we were going to the seat they gave us the naturalization certificated and they had a envelope on the seat.. The envelope contained things as to sponsor ppl, a flag, a copy of the declaration of independence and The Citizen's Almanac and some information about the passport, voters registration..

After all the 86 applicants from 44 different countries were situated in their places... they started the ceremony by a small talk, a video and the national anthem...and then they called out each country and we had to stand up and when they had called all the countries the made us take the oath of alegiance and then everyone including the family members had to take the pledge of Alegeiance...

then We saw 2 videos and the speech of the president.. and that was it.. the lady who conducted the ceremony told us that "you need to check your certificate carefully cause if we find anything after we get off the building we would have to pay some fee and it would take 6 months to get the certificate" and she also said she knew that many of us there were glad to be done with the USCIS... and looked like many of them agreed with it...My husband, mom, father in law and I checked the certificate to see that there was nothing wrong

The ppl at the USCIS were thinking that they need a new projector and they said that they were conducting this in a different way... but i thought that their equipment... cause they had a tough time rewinding and forwarding the vidoes and they were freezing... but hey they take so much money in the form of fees so they better have a good equipment... atleast run the thing before so that they know its going to work... looked like there were making a fool of themselves...

The Cermony ended around 2:30pm ish and then we got some lunch and then headed to the doctors office and my first stop was the dmv and I removed the Permanent resident Restriction on my license and also registered to Vote at the DMV... I will go to the SS office tomm in my lunch break..

So that was how my day was.. it was pretty good and i was happy and i think the ceremony (though with some technical difficulties) went well..

I also want to take this opporunity to Thank every one at VJ for being helpful in my journey with the USCIS through all the ups and down(lot of downs) I had with the USCIS..

Thank you every one and good luck with your Visa Journey...

Thanks,

Karen

[karenros 0]

I heard its suppose to snow and we all want it to snow...

UPDATE..

Thought i was done with the USCIS...Not yet...

They havent updated my status... I am still listed as a Legal permament Resident....

Cause yest i had been to the DMV to remove my LPR Status from my License.. so i took the certificate(forgot to sign it) but later signed it...

Today i got a call from the DMV saying that i need to call the USCIS and update my status as being a citizen until then they wont send me my drivers license ...when they issue the certificate why cant they update their system..

The infamous line is good for nothing they dont know to check for anything i would have to make an infopass appointment to tell them to do their job...why me....

I am going to the SS office to Change my status tomm if that doesnt workout i will contact my congresswoman..

I was so pissed today...