Mrs. JHH

Sorry for the delay, I am still recovering from celebrating last night . Yes, I got approved. Here is what happened:
 
My husband and I got at 972 Broad St, Newark Rodino Federal building at around 12:15 for a 1 pm interview appointment. We pass through security that is a tsa like security (removed shoes and put all the belongings in a bin). Got the elevator and went straight to the 15th floor. There was another guard at the door, she said I couldn't go in until 12:30, we went to the cafeteria on the 2nd floor for about 10 minutes. When it was 12:30, we went back to the 15th floor and the guard let me through and I went to window 1. At window one, the lady asked to see my appt letter and GC. She found my name on a list and sent me to the 14th Floor. There, I checked in on a n400 window and the lady said "have a seat and we will call your name". At this point it was 12:45. After a loooooong wait, I was called in at 2:15pm by a very sweet lady (Ms. Sudha Yeragudi). My husband remained in the wait room. I went to her office and she told me to put my belongings in a chair, remain standing and raise my right had. She said "Do you swear to tell the truth...so help you God?" "I Do", Have a Seat.
She then took a picture of me, and took finger prints digitally (like in biometrics) only of index fingers and thumbs. First question: What is you maiden last name? (I have changed my name during my GC interview to my married name). I told her, she was very confused looking at her screen. She asked me: "Can I please see your passport?" I pulled out all of my expired and current passport, she wanted to see the most current one (which has my married name) then she said "Why doesn't your passport have your maiden name?" She was so confused and I deep inside was frustrated with her concussion but then I said "After I got married and got my green card, I also got married in my home country and therefore updated my last name in my passport as well, here is my old passport with my maiden name". She moved on. Next she said "I don't understand why your application has a lot of blank answers..." I said "I applied online and I noticed that the system prompted me to skipped a few questions as they don't apply to me". She said "We can't leave it blank, so I'll ask you anyway". I said "Ok, I understand". So she asked:
"What is your address" -- I told her
She casually asked: "Where my town was located, I never heard of it" -- So I explained to her ( I believe she was just accessing ability to speak English)
"Are your parents US Citizens?" - -No
"What's the name of your husband?" -- I said his name
"How many times have you been married?"  -- once, to my current husband and never been married before and the same applies to my husband.
"Do you have any children?" -- No
 "How tall are you?" -- 5' 4"
"From 1933 to 1945 have you been a member of the Nazi group?" No (in my head: uuuhhh I wasn't even in this world!)
"Have you been arrested before?" --No
"Have you assisted anyone in committing any crime or offense?" - -No
"Have you assisted in anyway anyone to immigrate to the United States illegally?  --No
 
She asked a few more of those silly "have you ever" questions which the answer were all NO
 
Then she asked the "yes" questions:
Do you support the constitution, Would you be willing to bear arms on behalf of the United States, do important work for the nation if needed, etc...
All Yes answers.
 
She said lets move on to your test, the questions were:
Name one of the senators of your state -- Cory Booker
What is the capital of your state? -- Trenton
Why does the flag have 13 stripes? -- Because the stripes represent the original colonies
Who was the president during WWI - Woodrow Wilson
Who the United States fight during WW2? -- Japan, Germany and Italy 
What's the name of the Vice President now? -- Mike Pence
 
Reading portion:
a sentence popped up in an iPad in front of me and I had to read to her:
 
"Who elects congress"
Then the next screen on the Ipad showed lines where I needed to write the answer that she gave me, so I wrote:
"The people elect Congress" 
 
Then she was silent for a long two minutes (this was so awkward)
Then she asked me: "Why did it take so long for you to apply for citizenship?" I said it was a hectic year for me with moving states and school when I became eligible.
She said: "At least you're here today, I was just wondering if at any point you had any doubts on becoming a citizen of the US" 
I said "Not at all, I just wanted to devote my time into applying with no distractions, I wanted to make sure I did it right"
She said "Congratulations, I'm sending you to approval, go back to the 15th floor, give this letter and the GC and You will be sworn today!"
Then I got my husband and we went back to the 15th floor, waited for a good 45 minutes and we went to another room with about 50 people plus their relatives. Applicants we interacted to sit in the front of the room and relatives in the back, but they could watch the whole ceremony. We did the whole thing - Watch a video, swear the Oath of allegiance, Nat anthem, pledge of allegiance, watched a video of our clown of a president read pathetically from a teleprompter words that he didn't mean... The nice IO explained the contents of our packages: Passport forms, voting and SS info. Finally they called each one of us to give us our certificate. They stress the importance to check our info in the certificate because in case it was incorrect they could fix it right then for free, but if you leave the building and realized something were wrong it would cost us $500 + to fix it and it could take months. So we did a double, triple check and were sent on our marry way! We left the building at 3:55pm. 
 
 
Overall, all the people working at that office that I interacted with were really really nice and respectful, all of them said congratulations! 
My husband and I celebrated at our local pub and I had a big burger and several beers!
 
What a Journey, you guys!
 
Here is my timeline: 
Applied online on July 15 2018,
Scheduled biometrics: July 21, 2018
Biometrics received: August 9, 2018
Interview scheduled on January 16, 2019 
Interview March 7, 2019
Hangover March 8, 2019  
 
Good luck everyone!!!
  
 
 
 
 

Sorry for the delay, I am still recovering from celebrating last night . Yes, I got approved. Here is what happened:
 
My husband and I got at 972 Broad St, Newark Rodino Federal building at around 12:15 for a 1 pm interview appointment. We pass through security that is a tsa like security (removed shoes and put all the belongings in a bin). Got the elevator and went straight to the 15th floor. There was another guard at the door, she said I couldn't go in until 12:30, we went to the cafeteria on the 2nd floor for about 10 minutes. When it was 12:30, we went back to the 15th floor and the guard let me through and I went to window 1. At window one, the lady asked to see my appt letter and GC. She found my name on a list and sent me to the 14th Floor. There, I checked in on a n400 window and the lady said "have a seat and we will call your name". At this point it was 12:45. After a loooooong wait, I was called in at 2:15pm by a very sweet lady (Ms. Sudha Yeragudi). My husband remained in the wait room. I went to her office and she told me to put my belongings in a chair, remain standing and raise my right had. She said "Do you swear to tell the truth...so help you God?" "I Do", Have a Seat.
She then took a picture of me, and took finger prints digitally (like in biometrics) only of index fingers and thumbs. First question: What is you maiden last name? (I have changed my name during my GC interview to my married name). I told her, she was very confused looking at her screen. She asked me: "Can I please see your passport?" I pulled out all of my expired and current passport, she wanted to see the most current one (which has my married name) then she said "Why doesn't your passport have your maiden name?" She was so confused and I deep inside was frustrated with her concussion but then I said "After I got married and got my green card, I also got married in my home country and therefore updated my last name in my passport as well, here is my old passport with my maiden name". She moved on. Next she said "I don't understand why your application has a lot of blank answers..." I said "I applied online and I noticed that the system prompted me to skipped a few questions as they don't apply to me". She said "We can't leave it blank, so I'll ask you anyway". I said "Ok, I understand". So she asked:
"What is your address" -- I told her
She casually asked: "Where my town was located, I never heard of it" -- So I explained to her ( I believe she was just accessing ability to speak English)
"Are your parents US Citizens?" - -No
"What's the name of your husband?" -- I said his name
"How many times have you been married?"  -- once, to my current husband and never been married before and the same applies to my husband.
"Do you have any children?" -- No
 "How tall are you?" -- 5' 4"
"From 1933 to 1945 have you been a member of the Nazi group?" No (in my head: uuuhhh I wasn't even in this world!)
"Have you been arrested before?" --No
"Have you assisted anyone in committing any crime or offense?" - -No
"Have you assisted in anyway anyone to immigrate to the United States illegally?  --No
 
She asked a few more of those silly "have you ever" questions which the answer were all NO
 
Then she asked the "yes" questions:
Do you support the constitution, Would you be willing to bear arms on behalf of the United States, do important work for the nation if needed, etc...
All Yes answers.
 
She said lets move on to your test, the questions were:
Name one of the senators of your state -- Cory Booker
What is the capital of your state? -- Trenton
Why does the flag have 13 stripes? -- Because the stripes represent the original colonies
Who was the president during WWI - Woodrow Wilson
Who the United States fight during WW2? -- Japan, Germany and Italy 
What's the name of the Vice President now? -- Mike Pence
 
Reading portion:
a sentence popped up in an iPad in front of me and I had to read to her:
 
"Who elects congress"
Then the next screen on the Ipad showed lines where I needed to write the answer that she gave me, so I wrote:
"The people elect Congress" 
 
Then she was silent for a long two minutes (this was so awkward)
Then she asked me: "Why did it take so long for you to apply for citizenship?" I said it was a hectic year for me with moving states and school when I became eligible.
She said: "At least you're here today, I was just wondering if at any point you had any doubts on becoming a citizen of the US" 
I said "Not at all, I just wanted to devote my time into applying with no distractions, I wanted to make sure I did it right"
She said "Congratulations, I'm sending you to approval, go back to the 15th floor, give this letter and the GC and You will be sworn today!"
Then I got my husband and we went back to the 15th floor, waited for a good 45 minutes and we went to another room with about 50 people plus their relatives. Applicants we interacted to sit in the front of the room and relatives in the back, but they could watch the whole ceremony. We did the whole thing - Watch a video, swear the Oath of allegiance, Nat anthem, pledge of allegiance, watched a video of our clown of a president read pathetically from a teleprompter words that he didn't mean... The nice IO explained the contents of our packages: Passport forms, voting and SS info. Finally they called each one of us to give us our certificate. They stress the importance to check our info in the certificate because in case it was incorrect they could fix it right then for free, but if you leave the building and realized something were wrong it would cost us $500 + to fix it and it could take months. So we did a double, triple check and were sent on our marry way! We left the building at 3:55pm. 
 
 
Overall, all the people working at that office that I interacted with were really really nice and respectful, all of them said congratulations! 
My husband and I celebrated at our local pub and I had a big burger and several beers!
 
What a Journey, you guys!
 
Here is my timeline: 
Applied online on July 15 2018,
Scheduled biometrics: July 21, 2018
Biometrics received: August 9, 2018
Interview scheduled on January 16, 2019 
Interview March 7, 2019
Hangover March 8, 2019  
 
Good luck everyone!!!
  
 
 
 
 

To me this looks like your NOA1, did you receive this? biometrics appointment letter?
Also, it's a good idea not to reveal full case numbers on this forum
Also based on your home state, you would have filed to VSC, so no, I wouldn't be worried unless you didn't receive your NOA1 or Biometrics appointment letter.

I know I am late to the post, but the process in general is stressful not to say direct interviews. The chances to make a mistake while interview [and I mean forget] is greater than most people expect. Typically and almost 80% of the cases called for interview do not get the answer on the spot, for some reason, even if everything is in order, the officers do not give you the answer on the spot..
In any event, good to hear you have your GC approved.. best of luck,

haha. yea. It's just my poor wording. I just wanted to say that the concept of respecting others' identity based on race itself was a completely new thing to me. I didn't even identify" myself with "Asians" but apparently in America everybody identify me as Asian. Isn't it funny?

I think you might want to put yourself into his position and re-think why your husband acts that way.
First, you must know that to him the US in which many different races live together is SUPER unique. Coming from a highly homogenous place myself, it was very difficult to comprehend that at first.
The first semester in US college, I took an Asian American Study class upon the school counselor's suggestion. He thought it would be easier for me because I'm Asian. Guess what? It was the hardest class ever. The professor often asked me what do you think about this and that "as an Asian." I couldn't answer because I never considered myself as Asian. I know it sounds funny, but in Japan most of people there are Japanese so there is absolutely no need to label oneself with one race to protect and respect its culture and/or heritage that way. When I was in Japan, I was always just "ME." I didn't need to form my opinion as Asian at least daily basis anyway.
So in US I felt restricted. Felt like I was forced into this small category of "Asians." It was a very strange experience to go through. Beyond my wildest expectation.
Also I was taught many times that I'm being a "race ignorant." When I first came to US, I had 3 doom roommates. 3 black girls. So all I hang out with were black people. I thought it was completely normal because I learned in school in Japan that in US many different races live together peacefully. I was soon "forced" to realize though that my definition of "normal" is not so normal after all.... One time I went to an outlet mall with 1 of the black roommates and her family. They joked "people's gonna think we kidnapped you because we are big black people and you're tiny Asian girl!" Another time, I asked girls if they want to go to kayaking with me. They said they can't go because kayaking is a "white people's sport." I learned this categorizing or border-building based on one's race has a significant meaning to many Americans whether it is a good thing or a bad thing.
I felt I was slowly pushed into this mysterious thing called "racism" and learned how to survive with in. It eventually happened. It took long time though. So be patient with your husband's adjustment. I still feel "offended" whenever ppl ask me an opinion as Asian. I still feel like I'm not Asian!!!! Laugh at me because I know it doesn't make sense!!

No opinion here, just fact. The SSN you were given when you had the J1 is for life; write it down on any form that asks for it.

i include you in my prayer and let us know how it went ok..
Mine is Sept 10 yaaayyyyy

Thanks for the reassurance!! This process can be so nerve wracking!

If I were you I'll put then together it is recommended i think

that sounds promising for me!!!

Exactly! I've been at the same situation. Before applying for AOS, I had EAD through Opt. My Maryland DL had expired and I need one for Virginia (Where we live now after getting married). Guess what? Virginia does not accept the EAD as a sufficient document to prove legal permanence. I went to the Department of Motorvehicles TWICE with my EAD (at the time it was a valid one through opt. I have applied under family category now) and I could not have my drivers license.
So it does depend on each state.
And, I totally understand Ateneaalexander. I live in the suburbs where there's no train and no buses. I have nothing to do but wait for the Green Card before getting a Driver's license and being able to work again...
Hang in there sistah!
J