Was your citizenship interview like this?

[robhostein 57]

I remember my interview, about two years ago. And it wasn't quite like I was expecting. The man who interviewed me looked like an ex-marine who is working as a police detective, but has a side gig as a USCIS employee. At no point during my interview did he smile or seem welcoming. Just very cold, with zero emotion.

 

I remember we began with the civics and english test. That part was easy for me. Then he asked me basic questions about my application, like where I lived, what jobs I worked. And all the questions one would expect from the interview. That was all good and normal, I guess. Even asked about my criminal history, which I explained.

 

But the rest of the interview, was spent on this one question. That I was changing my full name. The whole tone of the interview went from emotionless and mundane, to being an interrogation. I felt like I was in a police station being questioned by a detective and I was the prime suspect in a murder.

 

I was asked so many questions about my name. Why I was changing it. What each of the names meant. Why did I choose those names. Why, why, why why why. Why did I choose now to change it. Does my changing of my name have anything to do with my criminal history. I found myself having to convince him that changing my name was not related to my criminal history.

 

To this day, I still wonder, whether the questions about my name change were really about the name, or if it was one of those body language tests. Psychological assessment type of thing. Like he knew I would be expecting to be grilled about my criminal history, and I was. So when he didn't, I was lulled into a false sense of security. Which he was expecting, and then to later catch me off guard by instead grilling me about my name change.

 

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to realize it in the moment, that this bizarre interest in my name change was him testing my reactions. He was expecting me to get defensive, probably to get offended, and perhaps call him a derogatory term or two. I dunno. Not like I would even react like that to begin with. I really believe that was his way of assessing my good moral character. How I reacted to his questioning.

 

Well, I reacted as calmly as I could. I looked him in the eye. For some reason, I dunno, I was still very confident in my answers, and I wasn't scared at all. I knew this citizenship was destined to be mine. I just had to maintain my calm. 

 

At the end, I was expecting him to put my application into further review or something, or at worst deny me straight out, but no... he stamped the seal of approval, right there on the spot. Zero emotion, of course, as he escorted me out of his office. No, welcome to America, or anything. Just a cold bureaucratic stamp of approval. I will never forget this interview, though. I'll always remember it as my right of passage into America.

 

I still believe this guy was an ex FBI agent and was using his interrogating skills to assess me. This definitely wasn't like those mock citizenship interviews you see on YouTube 😄

[Fahad86 113]

1 hour ago, robhostein said:

I remember my interview, about two years ago. And it wasn't quite like I was expecting. The man who interviewed me looked like an ex-marine who is working as a police detective, but has a side gig as a USCIS employee. At no point during my interview did he smile or seem welcoming. Just very cold, with zero emotion.

 

I remember we began with the civics and english test. That part was easy for me. Then he asked me basic questions about my application, like where I lived, what jobs I worked. And all the questions one would expect from the interview. That was all good and normal, I guess. Even asked about my criminal history, which I explained.

 

But the rest of the interview, was spent on this one question. That I was changing my full name. The whole tone of the interview went from emotionless and mundane, to being an interrogation. I felt like I was in a police station being questioned by a detective and I was the prime suspect in a murder.

 

I was asked so many questions about my name. Why I was changing it. What each of the names meant. Why did I choose those names. Why, why, why why why. Why did I choose now to change it. Does my changing of my name have anything to do with my criminal history. I found myself having to convince him that changing my name was not related to my criminal history.

 

To this day, I still wonder, whether the questions about my name change were really about the name, or if it was one of those body language tests. Psychological assessment type of thing. Like he knew I would be expecting to be grilled about my criminal history, and I was. So when he didn't, I was lulled into a false sense of security. Which he was expecting, and then to later catch me off guard by instead grilling me about my name change.

 

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to realize it in the moment, that this bizarre interest in my name change was him testing my reactions. He was expecting me to get defensive, probably to get offended, and perhaps call him a derogatory term or two. I dunno. Not like I would even react like that to begin with. I really believe that was his way of assessing my good moral character. How I reacted to his questioning.

 

Well, I reacted as calmly as I could. I looked him in the eye. For some reason, I dunno, I was still very confident in my answers, and I wasn't scared at all. I knew this citizenship was destined to be mine. I just had to maintain my calm. 

 

At the end, I was expecting him to put my application into further review or something, or at worst deny me straight out, but no... he stamped the seal of approval, right there on the spot. Zero emotion, of course, as he escorted me out of his office. No, welcome to America, or anything. Just a cold bureaucratic stamp of approval. I will never forget this interview, though. I'll always remember it as my right of passage into America.

 

I still believe this guy was an ex FBI agent and was using his interrogating skills to assess me. This definitely wasn't like those mock citizenship interviews you see on YouTube 😄

I am glad you shared your experience it give hopes to people have commited a crime and are scared to even apply for citizenship. So did you waited 5 years from the judgement of your case to apply for citizenship or just applied for it? There is always an issue of good moral character within the statutory period so i am guessing it was after you have accumulated years to prove good moral character. Your experience give hopes to alot of people Thanks for sharing.

[BBlueB 35]

He was enjoying the thrill of being in power as if he was a detective in a movie

Kidding. I think he did a good job.

 

For me, I also was like you. The interviewer looked very young, and asked all kinds of questions and I felt like interrogated as well.

 

 

 

[robhostein 57]

4 hours ago, Fahad86 said:

So did you waited 5 years from the judgement of your case to apply for citizenship or just applied for it?

Yes, I did. Waited 9 years, actually. Wasn't really in that much of a rush. I followed the advice of my immigration lawyers. They told me my conviction was nothing to worry about.

 

54 minutes ago, BBlueB said:

He was enjoying the thrill of being in power as if he was a detective in a movie

Kidding. I think he did a good job.

 

For me, I also was like you. The interviewer looked very young, and asked all kinds of questions and I felt like interrogated as well.

Ahhahaha, well I'm glad to know I wasn't the only person who had a similar type of interview!

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

6 hours ago, robhostein said:

found myself having to convince him that changing my name was not related to my criminal history.

 

To this day, I still wonder, whether the questions about my name change were really about the name, or if it was one of those body language tests. 

At face value I would take it that it was. I believe it is fairly unusual to completely change all names, so that combined with having a criminal history of some sort makes it not totally surprising that they would pursue that line of enquiry to ensure they hadn’t missed anything. I didn’t have an interview anything like yours, my interviewer was very thorough but at no point did I feel like I was being interrogated. 

[millefleur 5,047]

6 hours ago, robhostein said:

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to realize it in the moment, that this bizarre interest in my name change was him testing my reactions. He was expecting me to get defensive, probably to get offended, and perhaps call him a derogatory term or two. I dunno. Not like I would even react like that to begin with. I really believe that was his way of assessing my good moral character. How I reacted to his questioning.

It's widely believed in criminal psychology that the innocent will protest/react very strongly when proclaiming their innocence. It is expected that an innocent person will be deeply offended if accused of a crime or wrongdoing. People who just sit there calmly and deny with little emotion are actually viewed as being more likely to be guilty or involved in the crime and it probably makes the detective push harder if you remain calm. Obviously it's not a hard science though. Everyone responds differently so they might just need to "process" your reaction by putting you through the ringer a bit.

 

Changing names + criminal history is probably why they brought in the FBI detective for you. It seems like anyone who has the slightest red flag gets the interrogation treatment, though. I've never heard of any immigration officers smiling or being nice. In my experience the range was noticeably grumpy/skeptical to neutral (no smiling, no asking "how are you?", none of the stuff you'd otherwise expect when talking to Americans.)

[robhostein 57]

1 hour ago, SusieQQQ said:

I believe it is fairly unusual to completely change all names, so that combined with having a criminal history of some sort makes it not totally surprising that they would pursue that line of enquiry to ensure they hadn’t missed anything.

Well, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. I realized that during the questioning, that it must have been really suspicious.

 

55 minutes ago, millefleur said:

It is expected that an innocent person will be deeply offended if accused of a crime or wrongdoing. People who just sit there calmly and deny with little emotion are actually viewed as being more likely to be guilty or involved in the crime and it probably makes the detective push harder if you remain calm.

But it was the truth. My name change had nothing to do with my crime. I told him repeatedly that I was always planning to change my name, long before the crime took place. He didn't say that he thought my name change was because I was trying to erase my crime. He just asked if my changing of my name had anything to do with my crime. That was his last question, I believe.

 

But I dunno, I just didn't think standing up and getting loud and angry, and calling the interviewer a ####### and dropping a few F-bombs would have been the smartest thing to do. In fact, I thought it would lead to me being escorted out of the building by security. But I did, firmly deny the questions that I was changing my name because of my crime. I just didn't yell at him or threaten his safety. I just thought that would have been the absolute dumbest thing to do. That's what I meant by being calm. 

 

I mean, I didn't lash out and ask him why he was asking me that, or say that he has no right to ask me that. I mean, I knew, and I wasn't surprised, that they have a right to ask me these questions. That's why I didn't get offended to such a question, because, it was logical that I would get asked about it. I just was shocked, and completely caught off guard, that I was literally being interrogated about it to such an extent. 

 

I just didn't think changing one's name, with the courts, was a crime. I mean, legally, it doesn't erase my crime. The government still knows who I am, so I mean, lol, what exactly is there to hide?

 

Hmm... Now, that I think of it, I guess it makes sense, with that in mind, that he asked me all of those questions of what meaning my new name had for me. I didn't have a problem answering those. Hmm... I guess if I didn't have a story to tell about how I chose my name, it would have been a big reason to deny my application, huh?

 

But wow, thanks for that info. I did not know how much of a huge red flag my name change was going to be that I wasn't going to get a normal interview. I wonder why my immigration lawyers didn't tell me that.

[millefleur 5,047]

3 minutes ago, robhostein said:

I just didn't think changing one's name, with the courts, was a crime. I mean, legally, it doesn't erase my crime. The government still knows who I am, so I mean, lol, what exactly is there to hide?

Even if you go to the courts to change your name, they immediately start probing about a criminal record. It's basically the first thing they ask: what is the reason you want to change your name and do you have a criminal record? I think they just view it as super suspicious and are trying to check every nook and cranny to make sure the name change and crime are not interrelated....it also might vary from state to state, with some states being harder on people than others about it.

 

8 minutes ago, robhostein said:

But wow, thanks for that info. I did not know how much of a huge red flag my name change was going to be that I wasn't going to get a normal interview. I wonder why my immigration lawyers didn't tell me that.

We've seen on VJ that many lawyers can give bad advice or make mistakes. I'm not sure they can predict every time whether you get the "mr. nice guy" officer or the interrogator type, we've seen people here who had very straightforward cases also end up with interrogators or being downright rude, such as being accused of lying, etc. I would just say in general to anyone here on VJ who has any type of criminal record and plans to do a name change via naturalization to expect a harsher interview.

 

15 minutes ago, robhostein said:

But I dunno, I just didn't think standing up and getting loud and angry, and calling the interviewer a ####### and dropping a few F-bombs would have been the smartest thing to do. In fact, I thought it would lead to me being escorted out of the building by security. But I did, firmly deny the questions that I was changing my name because of my crime. I just didn't yell at him or threaten his safety. I just thought that would have been the absolute dumbest thing to do. That's what I meant by being calm. 

And obviously you did great! That's why they approved you. I'm just saying he may have drilled you harder because you were so calm, so he had to "probe" you a bit more.

[JeanneAdil 6,540]

He had to ask the reason as "you can not make a name change to escape a criminal past / it doesn't help "  but as an officer  he has to ask why

 

but you can never change SS# or DOB so any past is still there for anyone doing a background check

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

3 hours ago, millefleur said:

I've never heard of any immigration officers smiling or being nice. In my experience the range was noticeably grumpy/skeptical to neutral (no smiling, no asking "how are you?", none of the stuff you'd otherwise expect when talking to Americans.)

Hm, I wouldn’t go so far as to say mine was friendly but she was nice enough, at least she definitely smiled a few times! At the same time she seemed to be more thorough than some others here - she went through every single question on the form, some people have said they didn’t get it that thoroughly done.

 

Back to the name change. I come from a background of people who emigrated to all sorts of places and names were often changed during the process, but it’s normally just an anglicization and/or shortening etc of names to make it easier for people in the new country to pronounce and/or to assimilate more easily. Pyotr Mikhailowitz becomes Peter Michaelson or Peter Michael or even just Pyotr Mikhail, for example. But he normally doesn’t become Albert O’Connor. So some changes are easier to understand than others.
 

55 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

but you can never change SS# or DOB so any past is still there for anyone doing a background check

 

 

Sure but if someone is looking for you hiding from a crime in your old country, they’re not going to have your SSN, and how many millions of people in the US must share each date of birth? And how many people from other countries could run a background check to find you in the US? Seems to me a complete name change is a pretty good way of hiding from the past in that kind of case. Again, no aspersions on OP, just an understanding of why it might have been examined in detail.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by SusieQQQ

[ORCoast 13]

I guess I was lucky. Mine was very informal and more like a chat. No language tests, just 6 civics questions. I was done in around 15 minutes.

[Boiler 45,657]

No doubt depends on the nature of the criminal history and the reason for the name change

[little immigrant 801]

1 hour ago, JeanneAdil said:

but you can never change SS# or DOB so any past is still there for anyone doing a background check

 

 

Actually, you can change your SSN. If yours is, for example, 126-66-3456 and you don't like it because there is three 6's in a row, you can change it. However, the new one will forever be linked to the old one and they will always come up together in your public record. 

[millefleur 5,047]

56 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Hm, I wouldn’t go so far as to say mine was friendly but she was nice enough, at least she definitely smiled a few times!

That's good to know! Of course I assume there are nice ones out there, I just haven't been lucky enough to meet them yet, haha. I don't blame them for being neutral either, it seems fair. Imagine getting a smiley person who then rejects your case! That would be very confusing.

Edited January 26, 2021 by millefleur

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

19 minutes ago, little immigrant said:

Actually, you can change your SSN. If yours is, for example, 126-66-3456 and you don't like it because there is three 6's in a row, you can change it. However, the new one will forever be linked to the old one and they will always come up together in your public record. 

!!! That’s so interesting!