Naturalization Certificate Errors

[Autumnal 25]

Despite having checked everything over thoroughly at my immigration interview for correctness, such as height, name, city of residence and former nationality, I received a welcome surprise when I showed up at the certificate table at my oath ceremony... a hideous photo from biometrics and the wrong signed name on the side. Delightful. Right?

Me to lady at table: Does my signature had to match the photo signature, since I applied under my maiden name on my N-400?

Lady at table: Sign with your maiden name, and you'll always have to present your divorce decree with the name change article whenever showing the naturalization certificate.

During the oath ceremony presentation, a senior member of the Detroit USCIS staff advised anyone with certificate errors to see them immediately after the ceremony. Making changes after the fact will cost a new certificate (going rate: $600). I explained I applied for naturalization under my maiden name and the Detroit biometrics tech told me to sign with my old name. The USCIS IO at the ceremony said the biometrics tech was wrong, the interviewing officer was supposed to check the biometrics signature, and immediately issued a call back pass to come straight down to the Detroit USCIS office.

USCIS Detroit is closed on Mondays except for some personnel. I waited a pretty long time for the USCIS agent to pull out the passport photos I brought to my interview, manually load them onto a new certificate, and issue one. But I figure 90 minutes is better than major headaches. The lady was very kind, apologized for the inconvenience, and congratulated me on naturalizing.

Rule of thumb: take the extra time, be persistent if it's not your fault, and prepare to sit.