Questions about Oath Ceremony in Los Angeles CC

[chan0512 0]

Hi,

 

I have been a lurker of this forum for awhile. Really appreciate all the help from this community.

 

So I filed N-400 with I-751 pending (around mid December 2017 -- Santa Ana Field Office), recently have my combo interview approved along with my I-751 (August 28). I'll be going for oath ceremony in LA this next month. I have 2 kids (5 and 2 years old). I'm planning to bring them, but I have no one else coming to the oath. Is this even possible or should I schedule a daycare for them? My husband will travel out of state unfortunately.

 

For anyone that have attend the oath in LACC, can you bring kids with you?

 

Thanks,

chan0512

[jskibo 588]

There were whole extending families of 10 or more at my wife's oath.  Bring them its a great expereince

[chan0512 0]

Can the kids stay with the person who will have the oath? I know there will is a separate room for family members.

[Sunnyland 639]

 

Children of course are allowed but keep in mind that bringing a child to a ceremony like this is a recipe for disaster.  My recommendation is only bring kids if they are old enough to sit still and quiet for a few hours. Otherwise you will need an additional adult supervising them so you can feel stress-free and can focus on your oath. The ceremony can be long and they may find it boring. The whole things may be like 2 hours or so including the waiting period.

 

Another thing, usually the auditoriums where the ceremonies take place are divided in 2 sections. One for the "oath citizens" in the front and the guests (families, friends) in the back of the room or on the sides. You are gonna be seated with the oath crowd. One seat per person. 

 

While it would be a nice experience for them to see, I'm not sure at their age they will understand the importance of the ceremony or how to stay quiet and believe me, everybody start getting nervous when there is a crying baby/child in the room and the guest (who brought the baby) does not even care to leave the room. Until she was told to do so. That happened during my ceremony and it did annoy everybody when you can not even hear the USCIS director to give his speech for the Oath.

 

Maybe you can re-schedule so your husband can be part of it with your kids. If one of your kids gets too loud/irritable you may be requested to leave the room and that may cause that you re-schedule your ceremony. This is an important event in your life. At least it was for me and I would have been very sad if my hubby was not there. He re-scheduled all this work week just to be there with me. He understood the importance of this and how this closed my immigration journey. He even got emotional at the oath when they show you a video with stories of immigrants.

 

[gnakr 43]

36 minutes ago, Sunnyland said:

 

Children of course are allowed but keep in mind that bringing a child to a ceremony like this is a recipe for disaster.  My recommendation is only bring kids if they are old enough to sit still and quiet for a few hours. Otherwise you will need an additional adult supervising them so you can feel stress-free and can focus on your oath. The ceremony can be long and they may find it boring. The whole things may be like 2 hours or so including the waiting period. 

  

Another thing, usually the auditoriums where the ceremonies take place are divided in 2 sections. One for the "oath citizens" in the front and the guests (families, friends) in the back of the room or on the sides. You are gonna be seated with the oath crowd. One seat per person. 

 

While it would be a nice experience for them to see, I'm not sure at their age they will understand the importance of the ceremony or how to stay quiet and believe me, everybody start getting nervous when there is a crying baby/child in the room and the guest (who brought the baby) does not even care to leave the room. Until she was told to do so. That happened during my ceremony and it did annoy everybody when you can not even hear the USCIS director to give his speech for the Oath.

 

Maybe you can re-schedule so your husband can be part of it with your kids. If one of your kids gets too loud/irritable you may be requested to leave the room and that may cause that you re-schedule your ceremony. This is an important event in your life. At least it was for me and I would have been very sad if my hubby was not there. He re-scheduled all this work week just to be there with me. He understood the importance of this and how this closed my immigration journey. He even got emotional at the oath when they show you a video with stories of immigrants. 

 

+1 I agree with this for the most part. But I've always heard of oath rescheduling to be a big no-no. Whenever questions of oath rescheduling comes up on AVVO, the lawyers' consensuses seem to be "unless it's a life or deth situation, never reschedule an oath". Of course it's not that serious, but still.. 

OP, I don't know about LA specifically, but right before the oath part of my oath ceremony in Ohio they asked that kids be taken out of the room before judge started the formal proceedings (this lasted for 20 minutes). For the first 1.5 hours it was fine for kids to be in the room. Are you able to find anyone who can hold them for a couple of hours? It may be a better idea to schedule daycare for them, and then take pictures with them after. The oath takers tend to also have designated sitting so it may be hard to carry the kids, as there'll likely be a person to your left and right.

Edited August 30, 2018 by gnakr

[Sunnyland 639]

Some people do re-schedule their oath. I would not do that and thanks God I did not have to. But even if re-scheduling is possible, it may take a long time until they can accomodate you again. I just feel that you will need to find someone to watch your kids when you are in the middle of the event. Because if they take you out of the room, then you will have to re-schedule. 

Believe me, it's an emotional moment and you will not want to have to spend those 2+ hours worried or checking on your kids (wherever they are seated). 

 

[ohman 5]

I do not know if they make special circumstances for kids to stay with their parents? We went to LA though, I would never, ever, bring kids who are going to have to be on their own. There are going to be 20k people there is what i think our count was. 

[rolemodel29 17]

On 8/30/2018 at 10:56 AM, chan0512 said:

Hi,

 

I have been a lurker of this forum for awhile. Really appreciate all the help from this community.

 

So I filed N-400 with I-751 pending (around mid December 2017 -- Santa Ana Field Office), recently have my combo interview approved along with my I-751 (August 28). I'll be going for oath ceremony in LA this next month. I have 2 kids (5 and 2 years old). I'm planning to bring them, but I have no one else coming to the oath. Is this even possible or should I schedule a daycare for them? My husband will travel out of state unfortunately.

 

For anyone that have attend the oath in LACC, can you bring kids with you?

 

Thanks,

chan0512

It is not worth the hassle with the kids. Please get (pay) someone to take care of them while you take your oath on that day. You need not reschedule for the sake of a babysitter.

[chan0512 0]

Just for reference. My wife did bring one of children, a toddler 2 year old. She was just fine. USCIS officer never complain about kids. Actually she mentioned there is a couple who brought 4 kids into the ceremony (both parents are in the ceremony), there is no issue. All their kids are with their parents through out and none of them are part of the oath.

 

Note: This might be only applied for Los Angeles Oath Naturalization Ceremony. Other places might be YMMV.

Edited September 21, 2018 by chan0512