My interview experience at Cincinnati field office (June 2014)

[itchy_ritchie 0]

First, thank you to everyone here for all the great information on these boards. I have learnt a lot from reading these pages.

I filed at the beginning of April, had my fingerprints at the end of April, and my interview was scheduled for mid-June. I am an atheist and I did some research on oath modification (saying "I solemnly affirm" rather than "so help me god"), and my reading indicated that it was really not a big deal. Still, considering Cincinnati's reputation, I was a bit concerned about the interview and what the IO's reaction would be to my request.

My interview was at the downtown federal building (550 Main), which is also where one gets fingerprinted. I parked in the parking garage that is right opposite the federal building.

I arrived about 15 minutes before the scheduled time, dropped off the interview notice at the window, and had to wait about 40 minutes before being called. My IO was young, very professional and somewhat quiet. He explained that the interview would last 20 minutes or so, and asked to see my PR card. (I had received a letter from USCIS to bring in my state ID, but he didn't look at it.) He stood up, asked me to stand, and raise my right hand so I could be sworn in. At this point, I requested that I be asked to solemnly affirm to tell the truth, and he had no problem with it. After swearing me in, he went over my application and asked me several questions about things like place and date of birth, date of first entry, what I do, etc. This was quite detailed and I saw him checking off on the application after each question was answered. He then asked me to read a question off a sheet, and had me write the answer - this presumably was the English test. This was followed by the civics/history test, which was rather straightforward.

Finally, he asked me to sign the oath of allegiance on the application, at which point I once again asked that the oath be modified to omit the "so help me god" phrase. He was again obliging, struck the line and asked me to initial it. I did. He gave me a sheet confirming that I had passed the test and shook my hand. Apparently, I will be hearing from them soon about the ceremony date. All in all, it went very smoothly and I was very pleased with the overall process (from filing the application to the interview), save the size of the application fee.

I wish all of you the very best in your visa journey.

[Messybrownhair 251]

Congrats, and thanks for sharing!

[dioxide45 25]

Congratulations. Thanks for posting your experience in Cincinnati. We just filed last week and our field office is also Cincinnati. I have one question; how much is parking in the garage opposite the Federal Building? I remember parking in a ground level lot a couple blocks north of the building many years ago when I went through removal of conditions. That lot may not even be there now for all I know.

[itchy_ritchie 0]

Congratulations. Thanks for posting your experience in Cincinnati. We just filed last week and our field office is also Cincinnati. I have one question; how much is parking in the garage opposite the Federal Building? I remember parking in a ground level lot a couple blocks north of the building many years ago when I went through removal of conditions. That lot may not even be there now for all I know.

Best of luck, dioxide. I was in the garage for less than 2 hours and it was $8. Expensive, but I didn't have enough time to look for other parking.