Detroit Oath Ceremony

[skrapttocs 1]

Just finished the oath ceremony at Detroit, and there were some site specific information I wish I had known going in.  

 

Parking:  We paid $15 for the street lot across the street from the US District Courthouse on Lafeyette.  There is an entrance to the courthouse on Lafeyette and also on Fort.  Parking near the Fort entrance might be a better choice if you plan to apply for a passport after the ceremony, but I am not sure of the rate of the lots on that side.

 

Arrival Time:  Our notice said the oath ceremony would be at 9:30am.  We arrived just before 9.  The judge came into the room at about 10:40am to start the actual ceremony.  It seems that the staff reserved the 9:30-10:30am time for check-in.  We used that time to fill in voter registration and passport application forms.  However, I probably would not have rushed to arrive by 9 had I known how much dead time was baked-in.

 

Ceremony Notes:  The judge gave an opening speech of about 20-25min and then administered the oath.  He asked the new citizens to repeat the oath out loud.  Each new citizen was then called up to shake hands with the judge and receive his/her certificate.  After the ceremony, the judge stayed around to pose for pictures.  The ceremony lasted about an hour.

 

Passports:  It is possible to apply for a passport immediately after the ceremony at an office at 211 Fort St, right across the street from the courthouse.  The passport office here will only process passports in an expedited fashion, which add $60 to the price.  I would recommend bringing photos with you to the ceremony to cut costs if you plan to go this route, but you can get photos at a shop in the lobby of this building for $17.    The selling point for doing it at this office is that you get to keep your naturalization certificate, and you get the new passport in about a week. We paid $205 for the passport application + $17 for the photos. We spent about an hour total handling the passport photos + waiting in the queue at the office.  If I had to do it again, I would have gone to lunch first and let the line of new citizens die down, and brought photos with me.

[Dashinka 25,934]

First of all congratulations on becoming a US Citizen!  Yes, this was pretty much the same thing my wife experienced at her oath other than it was in the afternoon, so applying for a passport the same day was not possible.  One item I would add, in a month or so check with your local clerk to make sure your voter registration form was actually processed.  In my wife’s case it was not.

[mereal 13]

2 hours ago, skrapttocs said:

Just finished the oath ceremony at Detroit, and there were some site specific information I wish I had known going in.  

 

Parking:  We paid $15 for the street lot across the street from the US District Courthouse on Lafeyette.  There is an entrance to the courthouse on Lafeyette and also on Fort.  Parking near the Fort entrance might be a better choice if you plan to apply for a passport after the ceremony, but I am not sure of the rate of the lots on that side.

 

Arrival Time:  Our notice said the oath ceremony would be at 9:30am.  We arrived just before 9.  The judge came into the room at about 10:40am to start the actual ceremony.  It seems that the staff reserved the 9:30-10:30am time for check-in.  We used that time to fill in voter registration and passport application forms.  However, I probably would not have rushed to arrive by 9 had I known how much dead time was baked-in.

 

Ceremony Notes:  The judge gave an opening speech of about 20-25min and then administered the oath.  He asked the new citizens to repeat the oath out loud.  Each new citizen was then called up to shake hands with the judge and receive his/her certificate.  After the ceremony, the judge stayed around to pose for pictures.  The ceremony lasted about an hour.

 

Passports:  It is possible to apply for a passport immediately after the ceremony at an office at 211 Fort St, right across the street from the courthouse.  The passport office here will only process passports in an expedited fashion, which add $60 to the price.  I would recommend bringing photos with you to the ceremony to cut costs if you plan to go this route, but you can get photos at a shop in the lobby of this building for $17.    The selling point for doing it at this office is that you get to keep your naturalization certificate, and you get the new passport in about a week. We paid $205 for the passport application + $17 for the photos. We spent about an hour total handling the passport photos + waiting in the queue at the office.  If I had to do it again, I would have gone to lunch first and let the line of new citizens die down, and brought photos with me.

Congrats!! When did you receive your oath notice?