San Jose, CA Field Office

[toravir 3]

My appt was at 2pm. Went to the USCIS office at 1:10pm - after security check, guards said to wait in the waiting room to the right until 1:30 and then checkin at the counter (past the security check).
1:31pm - i checked in at the counter - they check your appt letter and Drivers License and stamp your appt letter and give you a token (with a number - mine was J81). The date on the stamp was incorrect - it read  'Mar 22' - i enquired - they said it is ok they know the problem - but that is not an issue. i left my phone in the car.

 

At the time they were calling J70. Waited till 2:45pm before they called my number. Imm Officer walked me to her office. And asked me to raise my right hand and pledge that i will tell the truth.

She asked me to take a seat and asked for my Green Card, Photo ID and Passports. I gave them to her. I had current passports and 2 expired passports. She took the current and the one immediately prior. She took a photograph with her webcam, finger prints (left index and then right index only).

 

She asked my fullname, date of birth, country of origin, residence address, height, and few other details for confirmation. Then she asked me questions about travel dates, traveled countries, marital status (single and no children) etc - verifying the info on N-400 form. She asked any arrests, citations etc. I told no - except that i had gotten a speeding ticket sometime - she needed a date - any rough date - i guessed a date and she asked if have paid the fees - i said yes. She said all citations need to be reported - even though N400 form says to include ones if it includes arrest or drug related. She asked if i had any taxes due. I said No. She skimmed through the passport pages to double check the travel.  She returned all the green card and passports.

 

Then a series of questions about whether you have committed a crime and escaped, have you hurt any one, etc.. you keep saying NO to all. And then ended by asking - 'do you pledge allegiance to this country?' be a bit slow and answer each question deliberately - so you will know when you have to switch to a yes. She asked will i bear arms - i said i will for this country. Then asked a few more yes questions - obvious ones (don't remember specifics).

 

After that she said i have acknowledge the edits to the n-400 - she added in the speeding ticket. I acked and signed on the ipad.

 

Another acknowledgment we should sign is the pledge of allegiance - on the ipad.

 

Then the test - she asked me to read the sentence on the ipad. The sentence was a question i thought i should answer that question - it was something like "What do we pay to the government ... ?" i read it out loud and was trying to comprehend the answer - she said she does not need the answer. She asked me to write on the pad the answer "We pay taxes." I wrote it on the ipad.

 

Then she asked these history questions - i got all right:

What is the supreme law of the land? 
What is the name of the President of the United States now?
What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?
Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.
During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?
What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?

 

then she printed out my passing letter and gave me a copy and added the copy on my file - my file was really big fat one. She said you are approved for oath ceremony would be in about a month.

She walked me out to the door to the waiting hall - I left the office at 3:10. Interview lasted about 20mins.
 

[nikha 18]

15 minutes ago, toravir said:

My appt was at 2pm. Went to the USCIS office at 1:10pm - after security check, guards said to wait in the waiting room to the right until 1:30 and then checkin at the counter (past the security check).
1:31pm - i checked in at the counter - they check your appt letter and Drivers License and stamp your appt letter and give you a token (with a number - mine was J81). The date on the stamp was incorrect - it read  'Mar 22' - i enquired - they said it is ok they know the problem - but that is not an issue. i left my phone in the car.

 

At the time they were calling J70. Waited till 2:45pm before they called my number. Imm Officer walked me to her office. And asked me to raise my right hand and pledge that i will tell the truth.

She asked me to take a seat and asked for my Green Card, Photo ID and Passports. I gave them to her. I had current passports and 2 expired passports. She took the current and the one immediately prior. She took a photograph with her webcam, finger prints (left index and then right index only).

 

She asked my fullname, date of birth, country of origin, residence address, height, and few other details for confirmation. Then she asked me questions about travel dates, traveled countries, marital status (single and no children) etc - verifying the info on N-400 form. She asked any arrests, citations etc. I told no - except that i had gotten a speeding ticket sometime - she needed a date - any rough date - i guessed a date and she asked if have paid the fees - i said yes. She said all citations need to be reported - even though N400 form says to include ones if it includes arrest or drug related. She asked if i had any taxes due. I said No. She skimmed through the passport pages to double check the travel.  She returned all the green card and passports.

 

Then a series of questions about whether you have committed a crime and escaped, have you hurt any one, etc.. you keep saying NO to all. And then ended by asking - 'do you pledge allegiance to this country?' be a bit slow and answer each question deliberately - so you will know when you have to switch to a yes. She asked will i bear arms - i said i will for this country. Then asked a few more yes questions - obvious ones (don't remember specifics).

 

After that she said i have acknowledge the edits to the n-400 - she added in the speeding ticket. I acked and signed on the ipad.

 

Another acknowledgment we should sign is the pledge of allegiance - on the ipad.

 

Then the test - she asked me to read the sentence on the ipad. The sentence was a question i thought i should answer that question - it was something like "What do we pay to the government ... ?" i read it out loud and was trying to comprehend the answer - she said she does not need the answer. She asked me to write on the pad the answer "We pay taxes." I wrote it on the ipad.

 

Then she asked these history questions - i got all right:

What is the supreme law of the land? 
What is the name of the President of the United States now?
What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?
Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.
During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?
What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?

 

then she printed out my passing letter and gave me a copy and added the copy on my file - my file was really big fat one. She said you are approved for oath ceremony would be in about a month.

She walked me out to the door to the waiting hall - I left the office at 3:10. Interview lasted about 20mins.
 

Excellent and congratz !  Thanks for promptly posting your experience. Please keep us posted on your oath ceremony date

Edited March 12, 2019 by nikha
Update

[nikha 18]

@dealsurfer and @Murthy you folks are next. All the best !

[nikha 18]

I went ahead and partially locked down the excel sheet tracker for info already put in and would not change in the future. This morning I noticed some unusual movement of data from some of the cells in the sheet to a totally misaligned row. In order to prevent such incidences happening in future, I protected a range of cells from being edited.

 

Users still can

1. Add their new entries to the sheet right at the bottom to maintain the chronology.

2. Add dates that haven't been already added like interview letter date/interview date etc

 

Users can't

1. Edit any data already entered in the sheet.

2. Move protected cells from one place to another.

[nikha 18]

@dealsurfer How did it go ? Anything you would like to share with the thread

[nikha 18]

@Murthy How was your interview ?

[mdashali 0]

Done with the Oath ceremony. It was 10:15 for me and I thought it will be be first session. But I was the second and there was two more session after me. Altogether 4 sessions each with approximately 400 people. Not sure this how usually goes but finding a parking was a impossible. I ended up parking on the street. Also if you are applying for passport you can fill the form ahead of time andsubmit it there. The passport guy will day that you have to use the form in the packet they give but you don’t have to. I did as he said and when I submitted he said it is ok to give the pre filled form and that what he said was in the script he has to use.  Go figure. 

 

All in all It was a bit chaotic until you get inside the hall and after that it went well. 

 

Good luck to all. 

[toravir 3]

17 hours ago, mdashali said:

Done with the Oath ceremony. It was 10:15 for me and I thought it will be be first session. But I was the second and there was two more session after me. Altogether 4 sessions each with approximately 400 people. Not sure this how usually goes but finding a parking was a impossible. I ended up parking on the street. Also if you are applying for passport you can fill the form ahead of time andsubmit it there. The passport guy will day that you have to use the form in the packet they give but you don’t have to. I did as he said and when I submitted he said it is ok to give the pre filled form and that what he said was in the script he has to use.  Go figure. 

  

All in all It was a bit chaotic until you get inside the hall and after that it went well. 

 

Good luck to all. 

Thanks for sharing ! Congrats ! How long before the appt do i need to get there and how long does it take to be all done (assuming i want to apply for passport and SSN record update etc).

 

[nikha 18]

17 hours ago, mdashali said:

Done with the Oath ceremony. It was 10:15 for me and I thought it will be be first session. But I was the second and there was two more session after me. Altogether 4 sessions each with approximately 400 people. Not sure this how usually goes but finding a parking was a impossible. I ended up parking on the street. Also if you are applying for passport you can fill the form ahead of time andsubmit it there. The passport guy will day that you have to use the form in the packet they give but you don’t have to. I did as he said and when I submitted he said it is ok to give the pre filled form and that what he said was in the script he has to use.  Go figure. 

 

All in all It was a bit chaotic until you get inside the hall and after that it went well. 

 

Good luck to all. 

Congratz !

[toravir 3]

Does anyone know what docs are needed for applying for US Passport at the oath ceremony in Campbell.. ? I want to apply for expedited processing - are there extra docs needed to be shown (like proof of upcoming travel??). Thx

[desimentor 0]

Hi nikha and team,

 

Good luck on your interviews. This is Murthy. I had my interview last week, and it was an interesting experience. When I was got seated with my token number (the desk receptionist prints this on a paper), the people who came after me were being called but I wasn't. I waited until 4 more numbers after me were called, and then I went to the Receptionist to ask if they missed my number. I was told that an officer had pulled my case and is reviewing, and I'll be called soon.

 

Sure enough, in a couple of mins, I was called and was greeted by a very young/junior officer (probably 23-24 yrs old). The officer took me to the interview room, and asked me many questions (Where did I study in the US, degree, where do I work, designation, Spouse's work address, designation, my home address, date I moved there, all my travels and reasons for the travels etc.) but overall went fine. My profile is probably as straightforward as it can be but had a lot of questions for about 20-25 mins and I assume it's because my officer was still in a training mode. Then my English and Civics test were conducted and I answered the questions. After this I was given the notice which said - decision cannot be made at this time.  But it also had the box checked for passed the civics and English test .   The officer said I'll hear back in the next 120 days through a letter.  I was completely dejected since I was hoping for an approval. Anyways I googled all kinds of forums and found one explanation on Avvo which seem to be the correct answer i.e about USCIS hiring lot of junior folks who are not authorized to make a decision. 

 

I was prepared for a long wait, but after 3-4 days I did get an update saying my case was updated, and when I checked - my case status showed approved for Oath. Finally I got an update on Oath date today so the long wait seems to be coming to an end soon. 

 

Finally a couple of observations for future N-400 Applicants: 

1. If you do not get an approval immediately, it's probably fine if your interview went fine - don't panic, as there's light at the end of a short tunnel

2. The Fingerprint date has no bearing on the date of your interview. The Interview dates follow the dates of you submitting the application, so you don't need to rush to get the Fingerprinting done (I had issues with travel so had to go for early fingerprinting, but also thought it was a boon in disguise

3. Good luck with your interviews and Citizenship process

[nikha 18]

1 hour ago, desimentor said:

Hi nikha and team,

 

Good luck on your interviews. This is Murthy. I had my interview last week, and it was an interesting experience. When I was got seated with my token number (the desk receptionist prints this on a paper), the people who came after me were being called but I wasn't. I waited until 4 more numbers after me were called, and then I went to the Receptionist to ask if they missed my number. I was told that an officer had pulled my case and is reviewing, and I'll be called soon.

 

Sure enough, in a couple of mins, I was called and was greeted by a very young/junior officer (probably 23-24 yrs old). The officer took me to the interview room, and asked me many questions (Where did I study in the US, degree, where do I work, designation, Spouse's work address, designation, my home address, date I moved there, all my travels and reasons for the travels etc.) but overall went fine. My profile is probably as straightforward as it can be but had a lot of questions for about 20-25 mins and I assume it's because my officer was still in a training mode. Then my English and Civics test were conducted and I answered the questions. After this I was given the notice which said - decision cannot be made at this time.  But it also had the box checked for passed the civics and English test .   The officer said I'll hear back in the next 120 days through a letter.  I was completely dejected since I was hoping for an approval. Anyways I googled all kinds of forums and found one explanation on Avvo which seem to be the correct answer i.e about USCIS hiring lot of junior folks who are not authorized to make a decision. 

 

I was prepared for a long wait, but after 3-4 days I did get an update saying my case was updated, and when I checked - my case status showed approved for Oath. Finally I got an update on Oath date today so the long wait seems to be coming to an end soon. 

 

Finally a couple of observations for future N-400 Applicants: 

1. If you do not get an approval immediately, it's probably fine if your interview went fine - don't panic, as there's light at the end of a short tunnel

2. The Fingerprint date has no bearing on the date of your interview. The Interview dates follow the dates of you submitting the application, so you don't need to rush to get the Fingerprinting done (I had issues with travel so had to go for early fingerprinting, but also thought it was a boon in disguise

3. Good luck with your interviews and Citizenship process

Thank you so much @Murthy and @desimentor

[toravir 3]

Good luck @nikha for tomorrow !!

Edited March 26, 2019 by toravir

[nikha 18]

1 minute ago, toravir said:

Good luck @nikha for tomorrow !!

Thank you @toravir will post my experience irrespective of how it goes... 

[nikha 18]

My Interview Experience

 

Time In: 7:45 am

Interview Scheduled At: 7:55 am

Interview Actual Start Time: 8:48 am

Time Out: 9:30 am

 

1. Reached the field office at around 7:45 am. Cleared the security and was asked to get into the line A at the check in counter for N400 Interview. This is a different counter than the security counter at the entrance. Since there was no one in Line A, the lady across the counter immediately checked me in and stamped my letter with something and handed me a token. I was asked to sit in the waiting area. Reminded that I cannot use cell phone in the waiting area.

2. I waited there for almost 45 minutes moving from one chair to another. A bit of anxiety gripping me. Meanwhile my wife who had the interview around the same time arrived and then we had a good time after that.

3. At around 8:45 am, a very pleasant faced, happy looking lady immigration officer called my token number and greet me with a smile. We exchanged pleasant morning wishes and she requested me to hand over the interview letter to her. She further escorted me to her office with required us to make 2 left turns and one right turn.

4. She requested me to take a seat. I showed courtesy  by saying I will oblige after she takes her seat to which she happily agreed. Some common sense gentlemen manners/gestures came to my help.

5. She ran me through a quick agenda of things we will be doing including verifying a few details/ seeking yes/no answers to some questions/ followed by a series of civic test questions and then reading/writing test.

6. She began with verifying my name, address, place of work, start date, marital status, my spouse's name, no of children, child's name, travel history etc. She inquired with me whether I was previously married and then requested to see my court docs if I were and had them with me. She went back to the computer screen and reviewed by spouse's marital history and inquired whether it was her first marriage with me. She inquired whether I had my wife's court docs for her previous marriage.

7. She then went through a series of questions inquiring about my memberships to organizations in general (like IEEE Computer Society etc), terror organizations etc. She asked me whether I ever lived in United Status between 18 to 26 years of age. Then followed the standard yes no type questions about any wrong doings if any and whether I am willing pledge my allegiance to the US if I were granted citizenship.

8. She then asked me to verify some info on the tablet screen which she had just recently updated and asked me to e-sign the form. Likewise she asked me to e-sign the form for Pledge of Allegiance to the United States.

9. This was followed by an abrupt transition into the Civic Questions Test as below

 

a) Who was brought to United States as slaves?

b) What was Unites States worried about post World War II and during Cold War ?

c) Who serves the office if President cannot ?

d) One responsibility of US citizens?

e) Two federal holidays ?

f) Who makes federal laws in the Government ?

 

10. Asked me to read "How many Senators do we have ?

11. Made me write " We have one hundred senators"

12. Asked for some more time while she completed some paper work.

13.Finally printed a sheet of paper and congratulated me on passing the civic test and informed me that she is recommending my case for approval.

 

14. The moment I set my foot outside the facility a slurry of text messages about my case being updated from N400 Naturalization Interview to Oath Ceremony to Post Interview Activity etc etc.

 

That is about it. All in all pretty decent experience, very well streamlined process, not much hiccup-y so far. Hope this is useful and helpful for people who are in line.