Question about international travel planned after oath ceremony

[Amunah 61]

12 minutes ago, klems10024 said:

I'm in NYC! Did you go to the main office ?.

Yes. Second time I went to Stamford, also 24 hours. 

[Amunah 61]

I was updating my last name the second time. Both times I just brought my itinerary. $170 in 2019. 

[klems10024 19]

Great, thank you so much!! Looks like as long as I'm able to secure an appt I should be able to pull this out. 

[top_secret 2,063]

My last passport was done in 2019 too, but at the time I got it done at the San Diego passport office in 72 hours based on nothing more than the fact I was only back in the US for a week before my next required travel and had tickets to prove it.  Backlogs may be worse now but in 2019 it just took persistence on the phone to get the appointment and a long day dealing with bureaucracy to accomplish the task.  Once I got through the appointment, my passport was ready in 24 hours.

[Amunah 61]

22 minutes ago, klems10024 said:

Great, thank you so much!! Looks like as long as I'm able to secure an appt I should be able to pull this out. 

Best of luck and congratulations! 

[Scandi 3,970]

Everyone I know that had travels scheduled after the interview, let the IO know at the time of the interview, so they wouldn't be called for an oath until they were back in the US again. 

[Thunderbolt 162]

I did it in the main passport office in Washington DC in two days. I had intl travel coming up and my passport was running out of pages. I think I had only 1 side of the page blank and that can also create a lot of problems at some countries. I've made the appointment within 7 days of travel, went to the passport office in DC to drop off my old passport and to pay the fees. Picked it up the next day. I'm pretty sure you have the same options in NYC. Good luck. 

[B C 18]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:47 AM, klems10024 said:

I'm also considering checking for a 3rd party service that guarantees they can expedite the passport in a couple of days..

Passport Website (state.gov) specifically warns that none of the websites can guarantee a passport faster than a direct application without using them.

[klems10024 19]

Well I got online just after midnight today as I figured that's when passport office appointments would open for the day of my ceremony, and had no issues getting one! My ceremony is at 9am, I read somewhere it can last up to 3 hours, so I booked an appointment at 2:30pm on the same day. At least one part is secured  !

[Ricky+Vanessa 41]

Why not delay the oath ceremony until you get back? 

 

At my ceremony, in Saturday hust gone, the officiant even said you plan to travel rebook your oath ceremony and travel with your green card. 

 

Alternatively check how often your local office does the oath ceremony a d try and get in sooner. Mine seemed to do multiple ceremonies that day (I did same day ceremony). And then try getting an appointment for quick turnaround passport. 

 

Delaying the oath makes the most sense though. I'm just not seeing the point of travelling with the certificate on chance. 

[klems10024 19]

3 hours ago, Ricky+Vanessa said:

Why not delay the oath ceremony until you get back? 

 

At my ceremony, in Saturday hust gone, the officiant even said you plan to travel rebook your oath ceremony and travel with your green card. 

 

Alternatively check how often your local office does the oath ceremony a d try and get in sooner. Mine seemed to do multiple ceremonies that day (I did same day ceremony). And then try getting an appointment for quick turnaround passport. 

 

Delaying the oath makes the most sense though. I'm just not seeing the point of travelling with the certificate on chance. 

Well I did secure the passport appointment just after my ceremony and I will have proof of international travel for a few days later so it should work just fine. Traveling with the naturalization certificate is the worst case scenario if for whatever reason they refuse, or cannot print my passport within the few days I have. But absolutely everyone I know or talked to who needed a passport immediately because of international travel, managed to have it done same day (or the day after). 

 

And the reason I prefer trying to do that is because I have to travel often. I have more international travel planned a few weeks after, so if I delay the oath ceremony the likelihood of finding myself in a similar situation again is high. It seems like normal processing times for a new passport can be well over a month, if not 2, and given my job this is impossible for me to wait this long. 

[Crazy Cat 39,282]

3 hours ago, Ricky+Vanessa said:

I'm just not seeing the point of travelling with the certificate on chance. 

A Certificate of Naturalization is not a valid travel document.  

Don’t travel without your U.S. Passport - U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic (usembassy.gov)

 

"While dual citizens may be able to travel abroad with alternative documentation, all U.S. citizens are required to present a U.S. passport in order to re-enter the United States. We have increasingly seen a number of individuals who recently obtained U.S. citizenship travel outside the country with only their naturalization certificate and/or passport of another nationality and be turned away when attempting to reenter the U.S."

Edited January 22 by Crazy Cat

[klems10024 19]

1 hour ago, Crazy Cat said:

A Certificate of Naturalization is not a valid travel document.  

Don’t travel without your U.S. Passport - U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic (usembassy.gov)

 

"While dual citizens may be able to travel abroad with alternative documentation, all U.S. citizens are required to present a U.S. passport in order to re-enter the United States. We have increasingly seen a number of individuals who recently obtained U.S. citizenship travel outside the country with only their naturalization certificate and/or passport of another nationality and be turned away when attempting to reenter the U.S."

 

But the thing is that the US cannot refuse entry to their own citizens. Although it is really not recommended to do so (and technically illegal, although it doesn't seem like a lot of fines are issued for that), it is still possible to enter via a land border with a certificate of naturalization - but you will be sent to secondary inspection and it can take hours. It's completely impossible by air travel though, since the airline won't even let you board the plane. 

[OldUser 4,827]

8 hours ago, Ricky+Vanessa said:

Why not delay the oath ceremony until you get back? 

 

At my ceremony, in Saturday hust gone, the officiant even said you plan to travel rebook your oath ceremony and travel with your green card. 

I vote for rescheduling travel plans unless it's urgent. There's not that many things more important than becoming a US citizen. The problem with rescheduling oath, it can take months to get another invitation and USCIS can forget about the future citizen altogether 😃

[Crazy Cat 39,282]

8 hours ago, klems10024 said:

It's completely impossible by air travel though, since the airline won't even let you board the plane. 

That was my point.