Citizenship Interview Waiting Times Portland, Or.

[Crazely 19]

Guys @mixxin @Vikingoutwest Oath just got done 40 people attended the naturalizations from different countries.  It took only 1 hour. Good luck on Friday. I wish we can all get together and celebrate our finally done journey with the immigration.. 😊😊☺️

[mixxin 26]

2 hours ago, Crazely said:

Guys @mixxin @Vikingoutwest Oath just got done 40 people attended the naturalizations from different countries.  It took only 1 hour. Good luck on Friday. I wish we can all get together and celebrate our finally done journey with the immigration.. 😊😊☺️

Congrats on the final phase! Was it only 1 hour long from the appointment time?

[Crazely 19]

32 minutes ago, mixxin said:

Congrats on the final phase! Was it only 1 hour long from the appointment time?

Yes. 😊

[malico89 19]

@Crazely was yours also at the 911 Federal building? Or at USCIS?

[Crazely 19]

3 minutes ago, malico89 said:

@Crazely was yours also at the 911 Federal building? Or at USCIS?

No. Mine was in the main office next to the biometric room. 

[malico89 19]

Ah ok, maybe ours on Thursday will be longer since I assume it's a bigger venue.

[Vikingoutwest 193]

On 1/31/2020 at 11:06 AM, Emma Huang said:

Hi @mixxin @Vikingoutwest @malico89 can you guys share your experiences after the ceremony? There are some questions I have and would like to get an idea what to expect on my oath ceremony day.

 

1- How long is the ceremony? Should I arrive early?

2-Do you have to sign your N-445 in front of the officer?

 

Thanks!

I will definitely post an update after the ceremony - maybe thursday night, but definitely sometime friday, and I will make sure to include answers to these questions:-)

[Vikingoutwest 193]

On 1/31/2020 at 1:03 PM, Crazely said:

Guys @mixxin @Vikingoutwest Oath just got done 40 people attended the naturalizations from different countries.  It took only 1 hour. Good luck on Friday. I wish we can all get together and celebrate our finally done journey with the immigration.. 😊😊☺️

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Soon Mixxin, Malico and I will join you as citizens! I hope the ceremony is as short as yours but I think it will be longer since it is in the big auditorium - will let you know! 

[Vikingoutwest 193]

Hi All!

So, yesterday, 2-6-2020, was the big day! I am now an American citizen:-) It was a loooong day! My letter said to be at the venue at 8.30 am and we were there 15 minutes early. The line to get into the venue stretched through a plaza and around the corner of the building. It took us until 11am to get inside the building. After we got inside, it still took another hour and a half for everybody else to get checked in. The ceremony itself was not that long - I think we were out of there by 1.15pm. Crazy day! Checking in for the ceremony was easy - they had us sign our letter in front of the officer, and she verified my name against the green card. Then, I got an envelope with a tiny flag, a letter from the President,  some info about rights and responsibilities, a blank passport application, a hard folder for the certificate to be placed in after the ceremony, and a piece of paper with the words of the oath, the pledge of allegiance, and the Star-spangled banner on it. The ceremony started with a guy singing the national anthem, then the showing of 3 videos - one called "Faces of America" with quotes and pictures of immigrants, one showing some national parks and monuments set to America the beautiful, and one of President Trump welcoming us as new citizens - and then the Oath of Allegiance, and Pledge of Allegiance (I don't remember the exact order of the events). Afterwards, we went to pick up our certificates, and that is when you hand in your green card(s), work authorization, travel docs and whatever else you had issued by USCIS before. You receive the certificate and can sign it whenever you want, but then it is official:-D 

The wait was crazy, and very uncoordinated imo. The excuse the officers gave was that they underestimated the number of loved ones that the candidates would bring....lame!  Of course people will bring loved ones to witness their special day!!! The cool thing was that we were 220 people from 61 different countries and it was a great thing to see everyone become citizens of this country. @mixxin and @malico89 what did you think? I was the one that yelled whoop-whoop when they mentioned Denmark btw haha. Congratulations everyone, and I hope that was the last of the insane lines we ever have to wait in:-) 

[malico89 19]

@Vikingoutwest that is a pretty accurate account! I remember the whoop whoop  It feels so good to be done!

 

The whole thing was a logistical mess getting in -- how can they not expect 220 people + 1+ guests each, and ONE metal detector NOT to be a massive bottleneck?! 

 

I arrived about the same time as you and had to wait 3 hours to get in the building. The only other thing I noticed is that as I was getting in, some people were already leaving with their naturalization certificates, so it looked like they maybe had an earlier ceremony (so 2 batches of oath people). I think that helped everyone fit into the auditorium by the time we got in (our ceremony ended up being at around 12:15pm).

[malico89 19]

Oh, one more thing, we DIDN'T need to sign the N445 in front of the officer (I did just to be safe). It just needed to be filled/signed that same morning.

 

And arriving early might help, but they don't start the ceremony until everyone is inside the building.

[Vikingoutwest 193]

14 minutes ago, malico89 said:

@Vikingoutwest that is a pretty accurate account! I remember the whoop whoop  It feels so good to be done!

 

The whole thing was a logistical mess getting in -- how can they not expect 220 people + 1+ guests each, and ONE metal detector NOT to be a massive bottleneck?! 

 

I arrived about the same time as you and had to wait 3 hours to get in the building. The only other thing I noticed is that as I was getting in, some people were already leaving with their naturalization certificates, so it looked like they maybe had an earlier ceremony (so 2 batches of oath people). I think that helped everyone fit into the auditorium by the time we got in (our ceremony ended up being at around 12:15pm).

Yeah that was crazy! And they kept saying "we are so sorry for the wait, and thank you for your patience" - uhm yeah what else are we supposed to do but wait...it's not like we can just leave... it was frustrating, especially because we missed our bus to return home (non-refundable tickets too) and had to scramble to find another way, and spend about 65 more dollars and 6 more hours to get home. Don't get me wrong, it was worth it, just turned into a long day. Also, did you guys notice the handwritten sign on the door? "screeing enterance" haha! Both words misspelled, for an event where everyone has had to be tested on reading and writing...it was some good comedy:-)

[malico89 19]

@Vikingoutwest oh wow, sorry to hear about your travel woes! That sounds brutal  

And yes, we laughed about the sign for a while, I joked that everyone in that line could probably spell those words in their sleep!

[mixxin 26]

I got there early thankfully and was the first group to have the ceremony. The officer stated that they will have to do two ceremonies based on the number of people. On my way out, there was still a line wrapped around the building. Apparently the last time they had it in that venue was many years ago. Hence, the logistical mess. Glad we all got through the process. Next stop, Passport office!

 

I also saw the misspellings on the signs. Whoever wrote it actually wrote 'enterance' wrong on both signs! LOL

[Emma Huang 9]

On 2/7/2020 at 3:05 PM, mixxin said:

I got there early thankfully and was the first group to have the ceremony. The officer stated that they will have to do two ceremonies based on the number of people. On my way out, there was still a line wrapped around the building. Apparently the last time they had it in that venue was many years ago. Hence, the logistical mess. Glad we all got through the process. Next stop, Passport office!

 

I also saw the misspellings on the signs. Whoever wrote it actually wrote 'enterance' wrong on both signs! LOL

@mixxin when did you arrive? I'm planning on arriving by 8am on 2/14  (ceremony @830)