Disappointing Oath Ceremony

[Diane and Chris 651]

4 hours ago, CookieCat said:

Congratulations!!! It sucks you had to go through a handful of uncaring people at oath. But look at the bright side. This day will be just a day past in your life but your US citizenship remains with you for life with all its benefits you wanted. There are many, many other people who would wish they were at their oath, especially those who have been forever waiting to hear something, anything from USCIS.

 

I would suggest you complain about the two people who were really rude to you all. The one person was really wrong to force the lady to sign her naturalization certificate without the name change because now that lady might end up having to pay for the name change.

 

Lastly, the comment about not expecting Trump to provide a video for new immigrants... I've seen a few similar comments floating around here. It's kind of bewildering that people expect a new president to already have a naturalization video ready. He has a lot of other priorities right now as a new incoming president before making a video for us, new immigrants.  

How was your ceremony, Cookie Cat?

[Pennycat 880]

5 hours ago, CookieCat said:

 

Lastly, the comment about not expecting Trump to provide a video for new immigrants... I've seen a few similar comments floating around here. It's kind of bewildering that people expect a new president to already have a naturalization video ready. He has a lot of other priorities right now as a new incoming president before making a video for us, new immigrants.  

 

She said letter not video and he's been in office for ten full months, today. There is plenty of time to write a letter, or really have a member of staff write the letter and e-sign it-- doesn't even need to cross his desk. There's also plenty of time for a video, in my opinion but videos aren't standard. The letters are.

[Pennycat 880]

I'm sorry, that's really disappointing (but not surprising), especially because I know (and perhaps you do too) that there ARE oath ceremonies where they're much more interested/invested in the process and meaning of the day. If I were in your shoes, I'd reach out to the field director of the office and consider shooting the Public Engagement folks an email. If you really want to be a bee in their bonnet, sic the Congressman's office on them. I will fully acknowledge that that's definitely overreacting (except for the name-change woman, poor thing!) but sometimes just being a pain in the butt just for the sake of being a pain in the butt is the best you can do AND may make them think twice about being so horrible to people in the future.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/outreach/contact-us

 

Congratulations and WELCOME!!! 

[Pennycat 880]

Just now, CookieCat said:

I’ll presume you didn't read my later post where I corrected from video to letter. However I have seen the same comment interchanged between Trump not providing a video and letter. Ten months is nothing when you hold the job in the highest office of the Land. 

90% of the federal government works for the executive branch. Someone can write a letter for approval. It's clearly not important in the big picture generally (it's nice to do and important in the warm and fuzzy sense) but it's also not something that should take more than 5 minutes of the President's time, or an hour if he wants to write it himself. 

[Going through 5,668]

I really don't want this to turn into a debate about Trump's responsibilities or not (which may result in the thread being closed)---like I said, it wasn't something I'd expected to receive (since I had heard no one yet has received one from the new President given others experiences) so it wasn't something I was overly surprised about when I didn't.  Like I said later on when questioned further about it in this thread, it just would have been a nice keepsake to have received given the overall climate of the day itself in my opinion.

36 minutes ago, CatherineA said:

If I were in your shoes, I'd reach out to the field director of the office and consider shooting the Public Engagement folks an email.

That's a good suggestion, thanks!

[Dutchster 1,106]

Thank you for sharing your story. I, too, would be under the impression of a joyful day where you get to be excited, get to take pictures and mostly, have friendly court staff that are happy to naturalize you. I'm so sorry you felt blah afterwards, that really sucks!  

Luckily, we all celebrate with you here --if that helps! Congratulations! 

I presume you went home and did VERY American things.. right?! Drinking a Bud Light, cooking a huge steak on the grill. Riding around in Walmart in one of those scooters.  Get a picture of yourself with the American flag, a rifle on one arm, bible in the other hand, eagle on your shoulder. 'Merica!

[Going through 5,668]

Just now, Dutchster said:

Thank you for sharing your story. I, too, would be under the impression of a joyful day where you get to be excited, get to take pictures and mostly, have friendly court staff that are happy to naturalize you. I'm so sorry you felt blah afterwards, that really sucks!  

Luckily, we all celebrate with you here --if that helps! Congratulations! 

I presume you went home and did VERY American things.. right?! Drinking a Bud Light, cooking a huge steak on the grill. Riding around in Walmart in one of those scooters.  Get a picture of yourself with the American flag, a rifle on one arm, bible in the other hand, eagle on your shoulder. 'Merica!

Thanks for your well wishes  

 

I kind of drilled the point of me now being a USC to my husband every chance I got..."This is my first time eating dinner as a USC!" I proudly announced at the dinner table later on.  "This is my first time watching TV as a USC!" about an hour later.....his amusement began to wane as I told him this morning "This is my first time waking up as a USC!"  LOL

 

It was a brief strange moment this morning when prior to walking my daughter to school I checked my wallet to make sure my GC was in there----and remembered "oh yeah,  don't have to carry one of those anymore".

 

I then proudly proclaimed to my  daughter as we left the house "This is my first time walking you to school as a USC and without a green card!!!"

[mindthegap 2,521]

1 hour ago, Going through said:

Yep knew about the passport thing---just finished making a couple of photocopies of my certificate a few moments ago incase I need them in the event it gets lost in the mail.  Am waiting for a day off work next week before going in to apply at one of the central post offices in Manhattan that specifically has a separate passport "office" set up there.

Go to the passport agency office on hudson st, preferably with an appointment.

 

Have proof of imminent travel - ahem - and you will have a passport in around four hours, even for a first one.

 Far easier than stressing over the original going walkies in the mail.

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2017 by mindthegap

[mcs 686]

@Going through Thanks so much for sharing your experience, awful as it was... and Congratulations on becoming a US citizen!!!  Know that the rest of us (those not on the administrative side of this process) welcome you and are overjoyed to have you here with us.  You definitely deserved better and it makes me sad to read what your experience entailed... best wishes going forward; it can only get better from here!!!  

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

I wish your experience was more happy and more memorable, it saddens me that it wasn't delivered as one would hope, with joy and welcoming. At least it is behind you now, congratulations and God bless you for your perseverance. Welcome to the community of American citizens.

[Going through 5,668]

Just now, Randyandyuni said:

I wish your experience was more happy and more memorable, it saddens me that it wasn't delivered as one would hope, with joy and welcoming. At least it is behind you now, congratulations and God bless you for your perseverance. Welcome to the community of American citizens.

Thanks---I'm going to feel better once I'm off work on Saturday and out celebrating with my family  

Took me 12 years to get to this point, so I think I should have at least 12 drinks  

[cdneh 3,112]

It seems dependent, like the rest of our dealings with USCIS, how things go depends on where you live. The ceremony in Memphis was not like yours, in fact, I thought at the time it went on too long. The staff certainly were involved with us in the process, our guests were seated just across the aisle and were allowed to take photos.  The names of all the countries represented were printed in the program, and we all had to stand up one at a time and introduce ourselves by name and country. We did also get given a small flag, and during one of the music videos they played people were waving them like mad. Plenty of clapping and cheering at the end. Just seemed to me it went on and on a bit.

 

I'm sorry your experience was so awful, and well cold, really. No recognition of the long trek to get to the big day. That's very disappointing.

[Going through 5,668]

1 minute ago, cdneh said:

It seems dependent, like the rest of our dealings with USCIS, how things go depends on where you live. The ceremony in Memphis was not like yours, in fact, I thought at the time it went on too long. The staff certainly were involved with us in the process, our guests were seated just across the aisle and were allowed to take photos.  The names of all the countries represented were printed in the program, and we all had to stand up one at a time and introduce ourselves by name and country. We did also get given a small flag, and during one of the music videos they played people were waving them like mad. Plenty of clapping and cheering at the end. Just seemed to me it went on and on a bit.

 

I'm sorry your experience was so awful, and well cold, really. No recognition of the long trek to get to the big day. That's very disappointing.

Wow yours sounds wonderful!!!  And you actually had a program printed? Hope you got to keep that as well!

[cdneh 3,112]

Just now, Going through said:

Wow yours sounds wonderful!!!  And you actually had a program printed? Hope you got to keep that as well!

We did get to keep it, it was in the white envelope were given with the other information.  I'm sorry yours didn't go anything like I'd have thought it would.

[Going through 5,668]

2 minutes ago, cdneh said:

We did get to keep it, it was in the white envelope were given with the other information.  I'm sorry yours didn't go anything like I'd have thought it would.

Makes me wish my oath was held where my interview was, like the NYC field office filers.  Because I live in Queens,  my office was the Queens office so they bumped me to Brooklyn for the ceremony....even though Queens filers are interviewed in the same building at the NYC filers.

 

I remember going to Federal Plaza in NY for my N400 interview and seeing tons of people streaming out of the building with little flags and flowers, laughing and happy and all that.  I hear the NYC field office oath ceremonies are really done-up nicely.