anonee

44 minutes ago, kasd said:

Oh yea, got it. It has to be less than two weeks from your flight schedule.

 

This passport thing is also stressing me out. I want to travel the soonest I can after getting the citizenship so I'm wondering if I could make an appointment a week before the oath taking and aim for the oath taking date so I could just go to the passport center right after.

Yeah, this was my intent as well. As long as you have your flights booked before you reserve your appointment (they ask for that information when you reserve your appointment) and allow for ample time to get from Oakland to SF, you could very well do this. 

52 minutes ago, kasd said:

It says on https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/apply-renew-passport/hurry.html that if you need a passport in less than 2-3 weeks, "You can only go to the actual appointment within 2 weeks of international travel (or 4 weeks if you need a visa)." 

 

So I'm assuming that any time within the two weeks should be okay? But were you told there that the earliest appointment should be 13 days before the trip?

The dates for appointments fill up very fast. I was hoping to go immediately after my oath because it wasn't clear to me how long it would take them to actually get the passport in my hands. However, the earliest date I was allowed to go is at most 13 days from my flight. 

So if your flight is say on the 15th of August, you can go any day that is available starting from August 2. You cannot get an appointment date earlier than that.

1 hour ago, Solid_Possibility said:

@thedarkelf - did you need an appointment? if so , how did you get one? I have a trip I can't move the week after and I'm stressing out about it. I leave the Wednesday after. 

I booked mine online ( https://passportappointment.travel.state.gov/ ). If you are leaving the Wednesday after, you can get an appointment there (or by calling) and get the passport ASAP (even within a day). Assuming you fill up all documents, it takes ~ 30 minutes to get done at the office. The only bit to carefully manage is that the earliest appointment you can get is thirteen days before your trip. So you gotta make sure that you time that right.

@kasd I quit my job a short time before the interview. I was asked reg. current employment, I awkwardly responded saying I was unemployed. It didn't seem to bother him. He just asked me for my last date at work and we moved on to other questions. 

On 6/21/2019 at 2:17 AM, SFWolf said:

@thedarkelf how long does it take for you to get the passport? Did you apply for expedited?

@SFWolf I applied at the passport office for an expedited passport (with evidence of impending flight plans in < two weeks). I got in ~ 2 days. The great thing was that I could go pick up my passport and my naturalization certificate from them in person. I preferred that as opposed to trusting USPS to deliver the certificate without folding it. 

On 6/19/2019 at 1:33 PM, DandelionSF said:

@littleitaly That name change piece I am still wondering about. I changed my name to my husband's last name (did not do it at marriage), maybe that's easier than any other name change, but it still should be done in court if it hasn't been changed during marriage/on the marriage certificate (at least that's what I thought)? It started that they called me by this new name already in, then she right away said I could have used this name already a long time ago and that I wasted my money with this court ruling. She still made a copy of it, but said she would have approved it anyways. Now I have a middle name that I don't have on the court decree, let's see how this goes. 😉 I hope that won't be a problem for the oath. Then I had to sign something and signed with my old name, and said 'oh, is that a problem?' Where she replied 'it doesn't matter'.

 

She basically didn't want to see anything regarding the name change. She would have gone with the name change request I filled in the application. But I gave the court decree anyways.

 

So bottom-line: Am still puzzled about this. And not sure if everyone would approve it this way.

Reg. name change: I believe for people who are doing a name change as part of a marriage, it is supposedly easier in that USCIS is willing to update your name to the new name without requesting a court order. Unclear to me why it would be the case. Mine wasn't just a last name change and when I mentioned I'd be changing my name, the officer was hesitant till I brought up the court order. Oddly enough, I was asked to submit a copy of it even during my passport application which was a bit confusing because my naturalization certificate was in my new name. 

Congrats to both of you for getting into the July oath. I just got my passport so I am all done! 

Updating this thread: I attended my naturalization ceremony here in the bay area. Looks like at least here, the rules for updating your SSA record still involve waiting "minimum two weeks" and then going to the SSA office or mailing them the details. They had a booth to apply for a passport but didn't have one for SSA updates. 

Got naturalized today! I was a bit surprised by how relaxed the ceremony was. The USCIS officer in charge was telling people to close their eyes, relax and take deep breaths (felt like a yoga class lol) and was cracking jokes as she talked. There were 805 people from around ~ 80 countries! Interestingly, I saw the officer who did my interview there as well examining N445 documents so it looks like the . 

A few notes:

- If you submitted name change documents during your interview, make sure you bring a copy of those (court order) documents with you alongside your N445. The officer was happy that I had those with me and said that avoided a delay (especially because my Green Card and N445 had differing names)

- I saw someone next to me inform the officer of travel in between the interview and the ceremony. They brought a photo copy of their passport with exit and entry stamps. So again not super particular there. 

- If you are applying for a passport, make sure you do so using the DS-11 that you get when you go to the interview. Apparently, it has special writing on it that says that it is valid for use during the oath ceremony. You have to pay only by money order or check if you are applying there.  

- Looks like SSNs can be updated only two weeks after the oath. Some folks were saying you could update your SSN at the oath ceremony in other offices. Looks like that is not the case here in Oakland. 

Good luck to everyone else! This has been a looooong journey!

5 minutes ago, realizment said:

Thank you, my interview date came its July 22nd. After that how long until Oath interview?

Depends on what your local service center is and whether they follow some cadence at which oath ceremonies are scheduled. E.g in the SF service center, oath ceremonies are scheduled every month roughly half way through the month, this means that if you were say doing your interview in SF on the 22nd of July, you could see yourself getting sworn in the middle of August. 

Note that there are places (e.g. NJ) where people get their oath done on day of interview. So you need to look into specifics for your service center.

1 minute ago, HRQX said:

 "It depends on both the total volume of applications submitted and your date of travel." https://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/san-francisco-passport-agency.html

Yeah, I am not surprised if this is not the best time to be applying for a passport what with it being summer.

44 minutes ago, Loren Y said:

I would visit the SS office first as you might need the original certificate. I don't believe you have to wait 10 days, as they had people doing it at a table at the oath ceremony. Along with registration for vote, and passport application. When you send in for your passport it will tie up your original certificate for about 3 weeks. They mail it back to you a few days after the passport is mailed, so I would do the Social security office first, then passport.

Ah cool. I am guessing that if it is available at the oath ceremony, the 10 day restriction no longer exists? I have a day before I need to visit the passport office to submit my passport for an expedited application, so I might as well try going to the SSA office the next day (if I can't get it done during the oath ceremony). 

Just to close the loop on this, I finally booked a date for a visit to the passport office online. Unfortunately, the earliest I could do this was 13 days before travel date. Even calling them didn't help (they refused to move it earlier).

I have read elsewhere on this forum that one needs to wait ~ 10 days post oath before contacting the SSA with new details. Does this still apply in 2019?  Also, do I need to have my original naturalization certificate when I go in? (I was planning on submitting a passport application and going in a few days later to the SSA with a copy of the naturalization certificate). 

@semonowe The paramount theatre website has the dates for the upcoming months (http://www.paramounttheatre.com/) . The August ceremony is on the 14th. 

6 hours ago, Solid_Possibility said:

@thedarkelf - I knew it! I missed the June train. I got July 17. ugggghhhhh another month and a half of waiting around. 

Ahh, that is unfortunate! :-( At least, you can start planning on a summer trip/vacation without worrying about passports and such for a bit. 

Just realized that the end to end process is now 14-15 months. Damn..

Got the N445 form in the mail today. 

25 minutes ago, Loren Y said:

Depends on the office or I guess where it is held. Here in Vegas I volunteer at oath ceremonies whenever I can, and they do it pretty nice here at the federal courthouse. You can get a photo with the Judge that does the swearing in, and they have tables/ booths set-up to do everything you need to. They have a passport table set-up where if you bring the form and 2 photos they will help you apply for the passport( They have forms there, but easier if you already have them filled out. They have reps from the SS office to help you change your status to US citizen in the system, etc. A pretty good set-up where you get everything done in one day, and in one place so you don't have to run around and do everything. Hopefully one day soon I get to stand in the crowd of people with my wife when she gets sworn in.

  

 If you need your passport that fast, your going to have to go to a actual local passport office to get it done. go here to find your local agency... https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/apply-renew-passport/hurry.html

From looking online, it appears that the oath ceremony in SF can have around a thousand people, I think I am going to try to call up on Monday and get an appointment at the local passport office the day after my oath. 

1 minute ago, Fraqe said:

I was thinking to go to USCIS office on oath day explain them this issue and see what they say because now I can’t return the oath letter as it is only 2days away. Also if I talk about this at oath ceremony will that create any issue? 

Like if i tell them the issue do they update their record if I have all the evidence to correct my middle name and then send me the oath letter? 

I am not sure I understand what going to the "USCIS office on oath day" means. Is your oath ceremony at the USCIS office or do you mean that you want to go talk to whoever is in charge on the day of the oath ceremony regarding this? If latter, yeah, I think that is fine, especially if you only have two days to go before your oath. 

10 minutes ago, Fraqe said:

Hi 

I am really worried that if

1. my naturalization certificate has middle initial instead of my middle name will that cause me issues in future 

 2. If my naturalization certificate has middle initial does my passport also has to match the middle initial instead of middle name? 

  

 I am am worried about this and eventually my oath ceremony is scheduled so that also an issue 

There are two parts to this:

1. How serious is this problem?

Truth be told, I am not sure. I have had problems with my name being mangled in multiple ways in different official documents. I have ultimately gotten court orders before USCIS interviews to tell people I am the same person. Having said that, I have never been asked probed about this. 

2. How do you handle this?

So you have a few ways to fix this. 

- One possibility is that you can reschedule your oath ceremony, request that USCIS update their records and then go to an oath ceremony.

- Another possibility is that you may very well get a passport now with your shortened (or full) middle name and then use that to update all your documents to have the same formatting. E.g. go to the SSA office with the naturalization certificate (with shortened/full) and then update it to be the exact same thing. This is what a person who has done a name change through any system would do. 

- Another option is to go through the naturalization process, get a court order saying that both of these are your legal names, keep that around in case of any "future issues".

I am sure someone else will have better ideas. These are a few I can think of off the top of my head. 

2 minutes ago, HRQX said:

"Can't find an appointment that meets your needs? Contact Us" They are still receiving calls today for 30 more minutes. "Customer service representatives are available: Monday - Friday 8:00 am to 10:00 pm Eastern Time..."

Oh awesome. I didn't know I could do that. Thanks @HRQX

1 minute ago, HRQX said:

On which date? The passport agency currently has openings available for same-day passport for Fri. June 7 onward: https://passportappointment.travel.state.gov/

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/requirements/where-to-apply/passport-agencies/san-francisco.html

My oath is 12th of June, my travel is exactly 15 days from June 12, (June 27) so the online system won't let me book a date yet. 

21 minutes ago, Going through said:

I agree---that's why I mentioned doing same-day instead, and mentioned going through a passport agency/center in my above post...OP seems to want to do expedited processing on the day of oath ceremony (if option is even available at their oath ceremony), or post office though, which may take a bit longer depending on backlog.

Yes, this is exactly what I wanted to do. I believe SF allows me to apply for a passport at the oath ceremony. You bring up a good point: would I even be able to do expedited processing on the day of the oath ceremony?

To @Bill & Katya's point, my oath is scheduled to be the afternoon ~ 1 PM (which I am guessing will have delays and such?). So I also wonder now whether I'd even be able to apply for a passport after the ceremony (even if they have someone collecting passport applications, I am presuming they'd stop doing it sometime in the afternoon?)

12 minutes ago, Going through said:

Do you mean if you need to bring a copy of the previous name-change court order to your oath ceremony?  No, not required.  You will be given the opportunity to confirm the correct info/name on your naturalization certificate during the proceedings.

SF is one of those places where you don't get a judicial ceremony. This means that I had to go do a name change in the courts right before my N400 interview, and make sure that my naturalization certificate will be in my new name. So I am not worried about whether my naturalization certificate will be in my new name (because it will be per the officer at my interview). What I am asking about is the future passport that I plan to get - My understanding is that I will need a photo ID to verify that I am who I am (in addition to the naturalization certificate). The problem is that my photo ID will be in my old name. I wasn't sure whether that in itself would create issues when I apply for a passport. 

Hey folks,

 I'd love to hear from people who have managed to apply for a passport during the oath ceremony. I saw a few people claiming they skipped the line and applied at a post office. I am curious, is the line just that massive? Is there a way I can minimize the hassle during the application by doing some advanced prep work?

Also, a few additional questions on that front:

- I applied for a name change in the court, my naturalization certificate will be in my new name but my driver's license will be in my old name. Do I need to bring a copy of the court order for name change? 

- Do I need a copy of my driver's license or is this something they can do assuming I bring my original driver's license.

- I plan to fill out the DS 11, bring it to the oath ceremony (along with a passport size photo), plus confirmation of travel in two weeks from date of passport. Is this sufficient for me to expedite my passport?

Thanks!

On 5/7/2019 at 4:29 PM, Tee1000 said:

So, what did you end up doing?! Did you have your interview already?

I went in with a print out of the confirmation, the AR-11 and we updated the details manually in the system during the interview.