Oath Ceremony Federal Plaza

kcoyclay1 · October 28, 2014

My Oath Ceremony Experience:

I arrived at 26 Federal Plaza at 10:50am with my family and a friend - I was told to be there for 11:00am. I had already checked off the form earlier in the morning and signed it when I got there. My guests were seated at the back and I was told to hand in my permanent resident card and my expired employment authorization card at a window; the immigration worker took my form, drew a line across it and wrote something in red - I didn't read what it stated. Anyway, I was seated at the front row and on each seat was a package for each new citizen. Just before the ceremony started, the supervisor came to me and told me that my husband was so proud that I was becoming a citizen that he had to delay the ceremony just to request permission to take pictures of me. She said she couldn't help but allow him to do so. LOL.

The ceremony began about 15-20 minutes later and before the speaker began her address she called my husband to sit at the side of the podium in the front so that he could take pictures. During her speech, she personally congratulated me and mentioned again how my husband held up the ceremony just for me . There were 151 prospective new citizens but only 150 became citizens as one male was called to the window. It appeared as if something happened and he did not participate in the oath. He left right after we said our oath so he did not become a citizen today.

During the ceremony, we sang the anthem, said our oath, watched a short welcome speech from the president, and also the "God Bless the USA" video. We were congratulated on becoming citizens and were given our naturalization certificates. New citizens were allowed to take pictures; there was a special area with a six-foot tall Statue of Liberty and a sign that read "# New US Citizen" where we could take pictures. We also took pictures beside a large US flag and with the immigration officers and the superivisor. It was an awesome experience. Below is a 40 second portion of the address as the speaker welcomed me as a new citizen of the USA. I will be applying for my passport, registering to vote, and updating my status at Social Security next week.