Bloomington, MN Ceremony October 13, 2010

[MrsAmera 41]

Any other VJ members/spouses having their oath ceremony this Wednesday? My husband is finally having his - would love to say hello to anyone else that might be there!!

[yesyes 0]

I wish i were there.... took my exam last week in august - i still haven't heard anything re: ceremony date. Did you take your test back in May??

[yesyes 0]

Sorry, I meant your husband, not you... I shouldn't read that fast, uh?

[hala_amira 1]

Congrats for your husband! It will be an exciting day!

A little advice for the big day...just for FUN, when they say the names of all the the countries of those becoming a citizen the judge lets everyone stand up and cheer for their country when mentioned. This was probably one of the best parts of the ceremony with everyone cheering/whistling for their country very LOUDLY. Of course some of the loudest cheers/groups were Somalia and Mexico. So I planned ahead when my husband had his oath in St.Paul back in August. I heard about the routine of mentioning the countries. I had myself, his friend and our daughter surprise my husband when they mentioned Morocco with "new years" noise makers. It was the best ever!!!! The whole crowd laughed and the speaker had to pause from laughing. No other country/group did something like it. I think my husband and only one other person where from Morocco out of 700, so the cheers for Morocco NEEDED to stand out! My husband liked the extra attention. So bring a whistle or a Moroccan flag or something when they mention Morocco. I had people sitting next to us who mentioned that they wished they had the idea.

Make it SPECIAL!!!

BEST WISHES TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!

[NickD 203]

Not much going on with federal employees yesterday, it was Columbus day, they got a nice three day weekend. Even the kids went to school yesterday, law says 180 school days per school year. Teachers voted to take that day off as part of their summer vacation. Still hoping to hear something from the USCIS on our petition, but no mail. UPS and Fedex trucks came by. Checked my calendar, yesterday was Columbus day.

[New Beginnings 32]

My husband isn't at that stage yet but I am excited to see this post! We live in Eden Prairie, do you live around Bloomington?

[MrsAmera 41]

My husband took his test in May but was made to come back in 60 days and re-take the writing portion. (The new interview lady told him she would not have made him do that but the officer who interviewed him the first time was a real witch and I could tell she just did not like him at all). So he redid the test in July and passed. He got his first interview letter to come for the ceremony around August 1st, however he was in Morocco from July 21 - Sept 15th soo we got 3 oath ceremony letters that I had to continue to send back saying "he's out of the country please reschedule after 9/15..)So finally the letter came for him to come tomorrow!

@hala_amira what a fantastic idea - I'm going to do that! My mom and our oldest son (he's 7) are coming, as are my aunt and grandma - I might have to get some noise makers for that part! Where do they actually do the ceremony? In that downstairs, lobby security area?? I can't imagine 700 ppl fitting there!

@NickD I hope that you hear something soon! It seemed liek parts of ours went super fast and other parts went very very slow.

@New Beginnings - We live in Eau Claire, WI so it's a little ride from the TC

[NickD 203]

My husband took his test in May but was made to come back in 60 days and re-take the writing portion. (The new interview lady told him she would not have made him do that but the officer who interviewed him the first time was a real witch and I could tell she just did not like him at all).

By any chance was that "witch" of African American descent, rather heavy set, with very little command of the English language herself? If she was, your husband is not the only one she hated.

We have another hundred miles to make it to Eau Claire, but some came as far away as Fond du Lac. Most stayed in a motel overnight for the oath ceremony, my wife had to work until 2:00AM, picked her up, she took a short shower and changed, then we took off for Bloomington. Was concerned about a traffic backup on I-694, still working on that darn thing, been for the last 40 years and still not done. But we made it, got our piece of paper and came back home. Too tired to hit the Mall of America.

[MrsAmera 41]

Yes - that was her. I filed a formal complaint because I directly asked her afterwards which part he didn't do well on as he had been studying/practicing for a several months. She said that he failed the writing portion and although I know he has some spelling confusion (in Arabic most vowels aren't written so he's had a hard time learning where and when to add vowels in English)I was pretty sure it was intelligible as he wrote probably close to 500 practice sentences. I specifically asked what it was, grammar, spelling? She said he has to be able to write English. I said that I completely understood that but can she be more specific as to why he was denied so that he can practice that area more. I said was it grammar? Spelling? legible handwriting? She said spelling. I asked "does he have to spell everything exactly correct?" She said Yes. Looking back I should have pushed it because that's a lie. The woman at the 2nd interview said there was no way he should have been denied and that she understood just fine. The first lady also "lost" all his interview answers and said she had none of the documents I had mailed in with the application....

So when we questioned her about failing the writing section she said "oh well you need to come back with all the other documents anyway..." uuuuughhh!!!

[NickD 203]

Yes - that was her. I filed a formal complaint because I directly asked her afterwards which part he didn't do well on as he had been studying/practicing for a several months. She said that he failed the writing portion and although I know he has some spelling confusion (in Arabic most vowels aren't written so he's had a hard time learning where and when to add vowels in English)I was pretty sure it was intelligible as he wrote probably close to 500 practice sentences. I specifically asked what it was, grammar, spelling? She said he has to be able to write English. I said that I completely understood that but can she be more specific as to why he was denied so that he can practice that area more. I said was it grammar? Spelling? legible handwriting? She said spelling. I asked "does he have to spell everything exactly correct?" She said Yes. Looking back I should have pushed it because that's a lie. The woman at the 2nd interview said there was no way he should have been denied and that she understood just fine. The first lady also "lost" all his interview answers and said she had none of the documents I had mailed in with the application....

So when we questioned her about failing the writing section she said "oh well you need to come back with all the other documents anyway..." uuuuughhh!!!

She certainly takes her time, kept us waiting a hour before my wife was called in. Stood up with my wife, smiled and said hello when my wife introduced me as her husband. She wouldn't even turn her head to nod or even look at me. Was a long interview lasting 45 minutes, wife said she wanted to see all of are original evidence and wanted to keep most of it. Fortunately my wife had enough sense to say, no, but she did let her kept my original tax returns, that pissed me off after we got in the car, was ready to go back in, but said the hell with it. Wife said she almost lost her composure when asked if she was a prostitute three times, each louder.

She also said she had a great difficulty in understanding her, and my wife is a professional medical translator. Fortunately, my wife has a great short term memory for both the test questions and the answers so she could make out the questions with a few key words.

Instructed my wife, if she passed she did, to request a same day oath ceremony, she said they can't as her application has to be sent somewhere far away for final approval, that was a lie. But did promise her she would get an oath letter within two weeks. After waiting seven weeks, contacted my senator office, where I was asked the name of her interviewing officer. Talk about not being able to write, could only say, I think the first letter she wrote on that interview form is a "W", but just a bunch of hen scratching after that.

This is when I learned my wife's application was misplaced, wonder if this witch ever turned it in. But it was quickly found, got a letter of apology from the office manager and a notice to hold her oath ceremony three days later, at the St. Pauls' office located in Bloomington. Have to say, we were a little bit apprehensive in attending, not afraid, but just concerned about having an incident due to having our senator getting involved. But they were extremely nice, and so were we. Got her piece of paper, shook hands with the office manager, and left.

Wondered about my wife's IO, knew she wouldn't be fired, feds don't do that if a person is incompetent, thought for sure they would make a supervisor out of her, but guess she is still an IO giving people a difficult time. Would like to give her an English test.

[MrsAmera 41]

She took our original copy of our apartment lease too!! My husband tried to argue with her about it but she shut him up and asked him if he'd like to continue this process or re-file. This woman is terrible!

On a happier note - it's done. The ceremony was nice and small (about 24 people being sworn in). Our oldest son (6) went with and the officer doing the ceremony asked him if he would like to lead everyone in the Pledge. He was so proud and excited to get to be a part of it (even got to be called up by his name!)

[NickD 203]

She took our original copy of our apartment lease too!! My husband tried to argue with her about it but she shut him up and asked him if he'd like to continue this process or re-file. This woman is terrible!

On a happier note - it's done. The ceremony was nice and small (about 24 people being sworn in). Our oldest son (6) went with and the officer doing the ceremony asked him if he would like to lead everyone in the Pledge. He was so proud and excited to get to be a part of it (even got to be called up by his name!)

It did bother me since my name was also on every piece of evidence, why I couldn't go in with my wife, could have left for that test. We had our AOS at St. Paul, the IO we had back then was extremely nice. But for my wife and stepdaughter, all those armed guards scared the heck out of them when we first went in, but they got use to that. And as you said, the oath ceremony is nice, let me bring in my digital camera for the first time, but the cell phone had to stay in the car.

Looking at my cell phone now, is pretty scary with all those buttons on it.