agniecha78

I had my oath ceremony last week in Lowell, MA.

There were 623 people from 90 countries. The letter said to show up at 10 am but this is not when the actual ceremony started. The doors opened at 10 and then all the people had to be checked in which took almost 2 hrs , then we waited another half an hour for the judge. Seats where assigned, they had all the certificates organized beforehand based on where everyone was sitting . Once the judge showed up it took maybe 40 minutes.

Today I got the letter. - oath ceremony on June 11 in Lowell

Congrats!!!!!

my interview was almost 3 weeks ago in Lawrence as well. Very similar experience. My appointment was at 7:45 am, but due to some computer issues I wasn't called in till around 8:15 am. I was on my way out by 8:30 am!!

Yesterday I received an alert on my phone that they scheduled my oath ceremony and sent me a letter with the date and location. So I should receive it some time this week. :)

My friend wants to apply but her passport from her country expired. Does she need to renew it before she files N-400 or it doesn't matter ?

Mine was still valid so I never gave it a second thought .

Today I had my interview !! I took maybe 10 minutes. IO asked for my passport and green card, asked me to confirm some info like address etc. She asked me to write " Citizens can vote" , and read the sentence " Who can vote". Then she told me she would start with the civics test, I got the first 6 questions right, so she stopped there. Then she went through the entire application, and asked about everything I wrote down ( my husband's Bday, trips outside the US, previous addresses ) and all the YES/NO questions.

At the end she gave me a piece of paper with the date of the interview and checked that I passed and I'm approved, and told me to wait for the letter with my oath ceremony date. On the way out she handed me a bunch of brochures about being a citizen, a letter from Obama, passport application and that was it. So so happy !!

I have my N-400 Interview in a couple of weeks and I'm starting to put together a folder of all the stuff I need to bring. I applied based on a 3 year rule ( being married to a citizen). When I sent my N-400 application I had to include my husband's birth certificate, our joint taxes and a bunch of other documents proving we are married . The list of documents they sent me what to bring to my interview includes again : our marriage license, my husband's Birth Certificate, taxes etc. Do I bring the originals with me or should I make copies again ?!

Same thing happened to me. I waited for months waiting for my biometrics appointment letter , only to find out that I did in fact had an appointement but I never received the letter. I called 1-800 number multiple times, only to hear to keep waiting, nobody informed me that I missed my appointment. Finally in February I called again and was transferred to somebody else who told me that my biometrics were scheduled for Agust and I missed it so they put my case on hold. He told me to write a letter to Application Support Center explaining my situation and to request rescheduling my biometrics. I did not do it, instead I made an Infopass appointment ( God know how long I would wait for them to respond to my request). After hearing my story, they filled out a request fo walk in biometrics for me, and I walked around the corner to ASC and they took my fingerprints there. Exactly 2 weeks later I received a letter with my interview date for April 24.

My advice - make an Infopass, dont waste time calling and waiting like I did!!!!

Yesterday I received the letter with my interview date April 24.

I know exactly how you are feeling !! It's so frustrating. I got to the point, while I was waiting, that I just couldn't hear another person tell me to wait another 30 days and call back. Based on my experience , my advice would be to make another info pass. My first one was useless. After driving for an hour each way, I heard that I'm still within a normal time frame for my case. But after calling a couple more times and basically 2 months of waiting I made another info pass because the whole situation was getting a little ridiculous. On the second info pass they took my fingerprints right there ( they have a ASC in the building ). Although our situation is a little different ( your biometrics are not scheduled yet, and mine were scheduled but I never received the letter therefore I missed it ) , I would not bother calling as they are useless. So are the service requests .

I took your advice and I scheduled an info pass vs writing a letter to request a new date for my fingerprints. I told them my story, and a really nice girl who helped me, filled out a walk in biometrics request form. They have an Application Support Center in the building so they took my fingerprints 2 min later. Hopefully something starts happening now! Thanks everyone for the advice and I will say the same thing : don't bother calling 1-800 number , they are useless and it's a waste of time.

Thanks !! I just made an info pass for March 7. I am so tired of this, this whole process has been a nightmare!!!! It's unbelievable that the check is cashed within 5 minutes of receiving, but getting an answer from anybody is impossible!!!

My last info pass was at the end of October, which was 2 months after my biometrics date ( which I missed because I didn't get the letter) . So when I sat there and asked why I haven't received my biometrics yet and she opened up the computer she couldn't tell me " well you did have an appointment on August 13 " ?!?!?! Seriously ?! All I heard after driving 40 miles each way was to keep waiting.

I have applied for citizenship back in July 2013. Other than the receipt, I haven't received anything. After multiple calls to the Service Center and Infopass appointements I finally spoke to a 2nd level officer today and found out that I had an appointment for fingerprints on August 13, but I missed it so my case is on hold. The problem is I never received the letter. I need to request a new date by mail, so my first thought is that I will probably have to wait another few months for that! So frustrating. I'm thinking about trying to do a walk-in in Boston. I heard very often they will let you do a walk in after you missed the appointment, depending on how busy they are that day . I live relatively close so I can give it a shot without wasting the day. The problem is I don't even have the letter with the missed date, because I never received it in mail, so I have nothing to show them that I missed it. I only have a receipt. So not sure if they even want to talk to me and let me explain what happened. Anyone had any similar experience ?

A little update to this thread. So until today I still haven't heard anything , even after calling them a few more times. Finally I called today and asked to be tranferred to somebody else that can tell me something more than just to wait another 30 days. Clearly, I've waited long enough. So after being on hold for 2.5 hours to speak to a 2nd level representative I found out that my case is on hold, because I had a biometrics appointement on August 13 that I missed!! I never received the letter!!! What makes me furious the most is that after so many phonecalls , and most of all my Infopass appointement back in October , nobody told me oh yeah, we had an appointemnt scheduled for you but you didn't show up !! So now I have to write a letter to VA requesting rescheduling my biometrics. I'll probably be waiting another 6 months for that!! So frustrating!

So in a couple of days it will be a month since I had my info pass appointement that basically didn't help at all. They told me I would be receiving something within those 30 days , if not I should come back again. I don't think so. I have no time or desire to drive 40 miles each way and kill 3 hours of my day for somebody to tell me nothing. This is some sort of joke !!! I think it's outrageous that after paying $700 for the application, the whole process is moving this slowly for some of us, and what's even worse nobody has any answers. All they tell you is what I see on the computer screen myself!

It happened to me once, I called the courthouse, told them I didn't understand why they sent me one since I'm not an American citizen, they told me to ignore the summons and discard it, which I did and never heard anything again. You may want to return them their paperwork with a note saying you're not an American citizen, just so there's a paper trail.

That was one of my friend's advice " just throw it in the trash "- not a very good one. It doesn't really take that much time out of your day to reply why you can't do it. Also, probably not the best idea for me to ignore it, if I'm planning on being interviewed for citizenship in the near future. Not sure they can see it if I ignored the note or not, but if they do somehow have access to it , then it doesn't really look good that I blew them off

I got one a few months ago when I didn't even apply for citizenship yet. I went online and it took me a couple of minutes to fill something out that said I can't do it. Reason : not a citizen, green card holder and I put in my card's #. I got an email the next day saying they received it and I'm all set

I am in a similar situation.

I have a trip planned at the end of January. I applied for citizenship the first week of July. Having witnessed the process a few times as my friends where going through it, I assumed I would probably be done with the whole thing and with an American passport in my hand by the end of the year. I know there is no guarantee and every case can be different , but if your friends' process took 4 months from beginning to end you kind of believe this will be the same for you.

We are at the end of October now and I haven't even gotten my biometrics appointment. I called in twice , went for an INFOPASS once and all they told me was that I'm still withing normal time range.

Having said that - maybe it will be moving very slow and I won't have to reschedule anything. But if things finally pick up and I will have my oath scheduled too close to my trip , so I can't get a passport in time ( even going the expedited way ), I will be rescheduling my oath ceremony .

INFOPASS didn't really help me much. I drove 40 miles each way to find out that I'm still within a normal time range. What's taking so long to get a biometrics appointement ? Hard to say, every case is different I heard, there is a request for biometrics and I should be getting a letter within 30 days. I'm not holding my breath

Thanks everyone!

Still haven't heard anything and won't even bother calling them again. I made an INFOPASS appointment for Monday Oct 21.

I live in Boston, and sent my N-400 application based on a 3-year rule in July. I received only one letter, confirming they got my papers on July 11th. I haven't heard from them since. On September 13th I called the 1-800- # and put in a service request. They said I would receive a letter within 15 days, if not I should call back. I haven't received anything and did call back after 15 days, and they put in the 2nd service reequest and told me to wait till Oct 13th. I am getting really frustrated , as it's almost 3 months since USCiS received my application. A friend of mine filed a month ago and already had her fingerprints taken!! I did not get a biometrics appointment letter, I didn't get a letter I might not need biometrics ( some say they are valid for 15 months and I had mine last November ), nothing ! Is that normal ????