N-400 Citizenship Interview at Los Angeles Office August 2023

[WhiteFox 7]

Our experience in Los Angeles for citizenship interview... we have been married 12 years on 10 year green card, no tickets or anything, so it was a pretty simple procedure. 

It only took 3 weeks get the interview date after filing, I was shocked. I put together a lot of paperwork:

Appointment letter

Passport

Green Card 10-year

Selective Service paper

Marriage Certificate
US Citizen Spouse's Birth Certificate
US Citizen Spouse's driver's license

Lease Agreement

6 months of bank statements

6 months of electric bills

Medical Insurance ID cards

2 years of Tax Transcripts
 

They didn't even ask to see any of it... felt like a waste of paper... but wanted to be prepared. 

 

Interview day:

Parked at Aiso Parking lot, 5 minute walk to the building and affordable. The appointment was 7:55 and we got there around 7:20, there was a huge line to the building. A security guard told us to go stand in line and I got confused, walked back and asked him if this was the correct line and he was very condescending and rude to me!! I couldn't believe it. Completely unnecessary. The line was so long I was worried we wouldn't be able to make it there on time if we couldn't even get into the building. However a different security guard start pulling people of the line and walking us to a different entrance, I do not know how they could tell who needed to go where... We had to wait to get checked in with security, and it was very thorough. Similar to TSA for flights, you have to take everything out of your pockets and put them in a bin, which gets scanned, separate bins for each electronic device... my husband had to take off his belt and watch, ect... after that, we were allowed into the building. 

My husband had his biometrics taken at the window, then we had to go into a different room to wait. We waited about 30 minutes until his name was called, then he went in for his interview. 

 

The officer was very unfriendly and humorless, he did not want to chat at all. My husband tried making friendly conversation but he told him he did not want to talk, and after he passed he got sent out quickly. However, he did pass but it would have been a lot more pleasant with just some common courtesy... 

My husband can't remember each question from the civics test that he was asked, but from what he could remember:

Who is the founding father of our country?
How many supreme court justices are there?
Why did the pilgrims come to this country?

Why was the civil war fought?

What is the longest river?

 

The officer did not say whether he passed or failed, continued on with the written test, where he had to write "California has a lot of people" or something similar, my husband can't quite remember because he was so nervous. After the civics and english test he went through the questions on the form again, then said he was done. The officer didn't look at anything that was brought except the Selective service form and green card. My husband had to go take a new photo, which was about a 40 minute wait, longer than the actual interview.

 

After that we were done, now my husband just has to wait for his swearing in because he changed his name and that's a wrap. The whole thing took about 2 hours.

 

Hope this helps someone; wish everyone could have been a little friendlier but water under the bridge now I'm just happy he passed.

[Chancy 6,241]

*** Moved from US Citizenship General Discussion to Progress Reports ***

 

2 hours ago, WhiteFox said:

wish everyone could have been a little friendlier but water under the bridge now I'm just happy he passed.

 

Sorry to hear you had a not-so-pleasant experience.  Anyway, congratulations on passing the interview!

 

[Mike E 11,740]

8 hours ago, WhiteFox said:

now my husband just has to wait for his swearing in because he changed his name

I would asked to take oath right then in my old name.

[Positive_Vibes 63]

On 8/9/2023 at 5:43 PM, WhiteFox said:

After that we were done, now my husband just has to wait for his swearing in because he changed his name and that's a wrap.

 

So just want to confirm... They're allowing name changes now at the LA office? I tried to change mine (also had the interview in LA) but the IO said they weren't allowing it anymore at the DTLA office and had me edit my application during my interview to reflect no name change.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Positive_Vibes
additional comment

[WhiteFox 7]

Sorry for the delay. They approved the name change but his oath/name change is taking place in Anaheim. Hope that answers your question.