My N400 Interview experience at Norfolk, VA.

[leonidas_alexan 45]

Interview done earlier in the day on 6th January at the Norfolk USCIS office.

 

Arrived at 11.30 am for an interview at 11.45 am.

 

Showed my interview letter and driver's id to be let in.

 

Asked to wait in the 2nd floor. At around 11.55 am I was welcomed in by a lady officer.  While she called out my name I noticed she was struggling to pronounce my last name and I said "It's okay officer, even after 7 years of marriage my wife struggles with it till today" and she burst out laughing and I thought that immediately broke the ice. She led me into a room and a screen separated the officer from me.

 

The officer first asked  to see my passport, green card and driver's id.

 

The officer made me stand up, raise my hand and essentially made me  say that whatever I am about  to say in the interview is all going to be true.

 

Then she said she is now going to administer the English test. She asked me to write down "How many senators do we have? on the electronic pad which I did and then she made me write something to the effect that we have 100 senators. She announced that I passed my English test.

 

She then proceeded to ask questions for my civics test - she exactly asked me 6 questions which I got them all correct.

 

1) What did the Emancipation Declaration do?

 

2) What are the two main political parties in the US?

 

3) Who signs the Bills so that they become laws? ( I am paraphrasing her question here)

 

4) What ocean lies to the east of the US East Coast?

 

5) Name one of the two longest rivers in the USA?

 

I cannot remember the 6th question.

 

She proceeded to announce that I passed the civics test.

 

She then told me that she would go through my application. All she did was basically repeat what I filled out in my application and all I had to do was to say yes or no to them.

 

When the question about any Federal taxes owed was asked -  I replied "Owed at the time of filing application - fully paid as of today". She asked to see the relevant documents and I produced the IRS installment agreement, the 4 installments that I paid - and the final full amount that I chose to pay in advance to fully settle the amount. The officer made copies of the documents I gave her and returned the originals.

 

Then came the question of my speeding ticket and she did not ask to see any documents as she said "I saw the speeding ticket you uploaded online".

 

Before she proceeded to the next question - I politely interjected and said that I have something to tell you as I was not quite sure how to fill this out at the time of original filing of the application.

 

I mentioned to the officer that I was involved in a single vehicle incident - where my vehicle slipped on the ramp in heavy rain conditions and rammed into the guard rail. The cop gave me summons to appear in the court - I went to the court - paid the court fees and nothing ever appeared in my driving record and that was the end of that.

 

The officer actually commended me that I revealed this information to her- because she told me that she never did find anything in my driver's record but it was good that I told her about this incident. She asked for and made copies of the relevant documents that I brought.

 

She also made some minor corrections for some errors I made in the application.

 

She made me go through the corrections she made on my behalf and sign them all on the electronic pad.

 

At the end she gave me a paper which said  to the effect "Congratulations, Your application is recommended for approval".  "If final approval is granted you will be notified when and where to report for the Oath Ceremony".

 

Does anyone know what "If Final Approval is granted" means -  what else could they be checking at this point?

 

Overall it was such an incredibly painless experience - given my initial worries about some issues I had with my application.

 

I wish everyone all the very best in their N400 journey.

 

[Mike E 11,740]

17 minutes ago, leonidas_alexan said:

 

 

At the end she gave me a paper which said  to the effect "Congratulations, Your application is recommended for approval".  "If final approval is granted you will be notified when and where to report for the Oath Ceremony".

Congrats. It's more than what I got when I had my N-400 interview, though the officer gave me verbal cues that I would be approved. And ultimately was.

 

17 minutes ago, leonidas_alexan said:

 

Does anyone know what "If Final Approval is granted" means -  what else could they be checking at this point?

 

Someone else ate your field office has to do a quality control review on your case. I forget where it was ... reddit or here, but a week or two ago there was a horrific post my someone who entered on a K-3, divorced, remarried, adjusted status, divorced, and was holding off marrying again due to the N-400.

 

She had her N-400 interview, got the same indication you and ended up with a letter that said she violated the terms of her K-3, and should never have received her green card.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

59 minutes ago, leonidas_alexan said:

Does anyone know what "If Final Approval is granted" means -  what else could they be checking at this point?

All n400 decisions go through quality review. Even my husband who had a same day oath was told they had to do it. If they aren’t scheduling same day they may take a few days to do it and place you in line for oath. Congrats on a successful interview! 

[leonidas_alexan 45]

1 minute ago, SusieQQQ said:

All n400 decisions go through quality review. Even my husband who had a same day oath was told they had to do it. If they aren’t scheduling same day they may take a few days to do it and place you in line for oath. Congrats on a successful interview! 

Thank you - that allayed my concerns.

[Jay&Jo 4]

On 1/6/2021 at 11:32 PM, leonidas_alexan said:

Interview done earlier in the day on 6th January at the Norfolk USCIS office.

 

Arrived at 11.30 am for an interview at 11.45 am.

 

Showed my interview letter and driver's id to be let in.

 

Asked to wait in the 2nd floor. At around 11.55 am I was welcomed in by a lady officer.  While she called out my name I noticed she was struggling to pronounce my last name and I said "It's okay officer, even after 7 years of marriage my wife struggles with it till today" and she burst out laughing and I thought that immediately broke the ice. She led me into a room and a screen separated the officer from me.

 

The officer first asked  to see my passport, green card and driver's id.

 

The officer made me stand up, raise my hand and essentially made me  say that whatever I am about  to say in the interview is all going to be true.

 

Then she said she is now going to administer the English test. She asked me to write down "How many senators do we have? on the electronic pad which I did and then she made me write something to the effect that we have 100 senators. She announced that I passed my English test.

 

She then proceeded to ask questions for my civics test - she exactly asked me 6 questions which I got them all correct.

 

1) What did the Emancipation Declaration do?

 

2) What are the two main political parties in the US?

 

3) Who signs the Bills so that they become laws? ( I am paraphrasing her question here)

 

4) What ocean lies to the east of the US East Coast?

 

5) Name one of the two longest rivers in the USA?

 

I cannot remember the 6th question.

 

She proceeded to announce that I passed the civics test.

 

She then told me that she would go through my application. All she did was basically repeat what I filled out in my application and all I had to do was to say yes or no to them.

 

When the question about any Federal taxes owed was asked -  I replied "Owed at the time of filing application - fully paid as of today". She asked to see the relevant documents and I produced the IRS installment agreement, the 4 installments that I paid - and the final full amount that I chose to pay in advance to fully settle the amount. The officer made copies of the documents I gave her and returned the originals.

 

Then came the question of my speeding ticket and she did not ask to see any documents as she said "I saw the speeding ticket you uploaded online".

 

Before she proceeded to the next question - I politely interjected and said that I have something to tell you as I was not quite sure how to fill this out at the time of original filing of the application.

 

I mentioned to the officer that I was involved in a single vehicle incident - where my vehicle slipped on the ramp in heavy rain conditions and rammed into the guard rail. The cop gave me summons to appear in the court - I went to the court - paid the court fees and nothing ever appeared in my driving record and that was the end of that.

 

The officer actually commended me that I revealed this information to her- because she told me that she never did find anything in my driver's record but it was good that I told her about this incident. She asked for and made copies of the relevant documents that I brought.

 

She also made some minor corrections for some errors I made in the application.

 

She made me go through the corrections she made on my behalf and sign them all on the electronic pad.

 

At the end she gave me a paper which said  to the effect "Congratulations, Your application is recommended for approval".  "If final approval is granted you will be notified when and where to report for the Oath Ceremony".

 

Does anyone know what "If Final Approval is granted" means -  what else could they be checking at this point?

 

Overall it was such an incredibly painless experience - given my initial worries about some issues I had with my application.

 

I wish everyone all the very best in their N400 journey.

 

I have my interview in Norfolk on Friday! I was grateful to read your experience 

[leonidas_alexan 45]

1 hour ago, Jay&Jo said:

I have my interview in Norfolk on Friday! I was grateful to read your experience 

I wish you all the very best.  You're going to do well.  

 

Please do provide us with an update here after the interview.