Sunya and Tim

FYI my oath is on Friday!

Hey November Filers
 
So happy to share news that my interview happened yesterday here in Portland OR and I cleared it successfully! I was even more stoked when my interviewing officer asked if I was available to return in the afternoon to be sworn in (Duh! of course I was!). Oath ceremony was short and totally without fanfare, which was understandable in covid times. As of 2pm, I walked out of the USCIS office with my nat certificate and an American flag in hand. Also applied for my passport today!
 
Interview was fairly smooth and lasted about 30 mts total. 
 
One thing that I found absolutely bizarre...I asked about getting a certified copy of the nat certificate, just for my own records. They could easily print that but they wouldn't do it unless I needed it for a specific purpose (in which case I needed to make an appointment and return). But there is no cost for a certified copy. And I was already there in person! Nor was I holding the line (there was no one else in the waiting room). So I don't understand why they couldn't just make another copy when clearly it was not difficult to do so. Oh well!
 
I wish everyone the very best for your upcoming interviews and hope every single one of you has reason to celebrate soon. I couldn't have seen this day without the VJ forums......

Congratulations @SN & PZ ! Great to hear you had a positive experience as you finish your USCIS journey!

Cleared my interview yesterday in Portland! Also had the oath ceremony on the same day so I am officially a USC now! Soooo happy to put this process behind me now !

You are brillinat. Thank you. 

APPROVED!!!! DONE WITH USCIS!!!
 
Oh my oh my what a relief this is. I took the interview yesterday and was approved. I have had quite an interesting immigration history so it's the end of about 20 years of underlying uncertainty and stress. 
 
I arrived at the West Palm Beach USCIS building about 15mn and went in 5mn before my interview time. After passing security (empty pockets, remove belts) I was directed to take a sit in the waiting room. After about 15mn of waiting my name was called. I was expecting to be in a closed office but the interview took place at a counter with glass separating the officer and me.
She was very professional, not really friendly but just serious lol and we started right away with the civics test: Where is the statue of liberty? Why did colonists fight the british? she didn't want to hear the other 2 reasons and cut me off, that was funny, who live in america before colonists arrived? .... can't remember what the other questions were but they were easy. Then we went thru the yes/no questions, of course my past immigration issues were brought up but quickly reviewed.
Then after long minutes of typing on her computer fixing some minor issues she announced me that because of covid they do not hold naturalization ceremonies anymore so she'll administer the oath right away. At that I had to ask if she meant I was approved to which she said "yes, congratulations you're approved!". I was i shock (again considering all I've been thru with uscis) and needed a few seconds to get myself together. She was already standing up ready to go with the oath and for the fist time I saw a big smile on her face.
Oath was then taken, I thanked her again and after about 30mn wait I had my naturalization certificate in my hands. I headed out and hugged my family who was waiting in the car.
 
I still can't believe this is over and that I am now a proud US citizen ready to embrace American life to its fullest.
 
By the way, I applied under the 5yr rule but went to the interview with 5 yr of tax transcripts, bank statements, originals of the documents i submitted with the n-400, none of those were asked for.
 
Hope this was helpful, good luck to all still waiting for their interview.
 
 
 

I had my N400 interview on a Friday at 1 pm. We arrived 15 minutes prior and was let in. My interview notice didn’t state that my husband should come along or that my interview was a combo interview. I brought him anyways, along with updated evidence of our marriage (birth certificate for our son, 2020 tax return, updated credit card bills, and original documents of submitted copies, etc. I did not bring a copy of the entire submitted package).
 
My husband was allowed in, there was no one else in the waiting area at the field office. We waited until my appointment, I was called in and my husband stood up with me to come along. The officer stopped him and told him he couldn’t come in. At that point I thought there wouldn’t be a combo interview.
 
I was sworn in and asked to sit down. He said he was going to go over both my cases, but he hadn’t had a chance to completely look over the ROC yet. He did complain that there was a lot of bank statements in there “that didn’t tell him very much”. I had also redacted some information from our deed, which he didn’t like (fair enough, don’t know why I did that to begin with..). I said I had the original deed with me if he wanted to look at it.
 
He started by going over the N400 application and asked me the civics questions (can’t remember all of them)
 
·         Who makes laws?
·         Who was the father of our country?
·         How many justices of the supreme court?
·         Name one writer of the federalist papers?
 
I got the first 6 questions right and we moved on to the reading and writing. I had to repeat the sentence “Who was the first president?” and write: “Washington was the first president”.
 
He then moved on to the I-751. He asked when we got married, how and when we met, where we had our wedding, how many people were at our wedding, if my family was present at the wedding.
He asked who the father of my son was and asked to see his birth certificate. The birth certificate was the only additional document that he asked for. 
 
To be honest, some of the personal questions might have been a part of the N400 interview and some for the I-751, I can’t remember exactly what was asked and when. 
 
He said he was approving the N400 but was going to approve the I-751 on the following Monday when he had looked it over more.
 
I had my oath ceremony Wednesday. My husband and son weren’t allowed in and it was just me and the officer in his office when I took the oath!

Overstay is no joke and it makes the process a lot more complicated. My husband had a 4 hour overstay due to a flight delay. It is 8 years later and he still gets pulled to secondary by customs agents some times when we fly. Every immigration form and interview he has to explain it again.  Ours was only 4 hours and it has still made this process painful.  A 2 year overstay really does need a good immigration lawyer. If this really is your person then do the right thing going forward and be honest with your lawyer so they can have all the details to give you the best advice. Best of luck to you both. 

Overstay is no joke and it makes the process a lot more complicated. My husband had a 4 hour overstay due to a flight delay. It is 8 years later and he still gets pulled to secondary by customs agents some times when we fly. Every immigration form and interview he has to explain it again.  Ours was only 4 hours and it has still made this process painful.  A 2 year overstay really does need a good immigration lawyer. If this really is your person then do the right thing going forward and be honest with your lawyer so they can have all the details to give you the best advice. Best of luck to you both. 

Overstay is no joke and it makes the process a lot more complicated. My husband had a 4 hour overstay due to a flight delay. It is 8 years later and he still gets pulled to secondary by customs agents some times when we fly. Every immigration form and interview he has to explain it again.  Ours was only 4 hours and it has still made this process painful.  A 2 year overstay really does need a good immigration lawyer. If this really is your person then do the right thing going forward and be honest with your lawyer so they can have all the details to give you the best advice. Best of luck to you both. 

Overstay is no joke and it makes the process a lot more complicated. My husband had a 4 hour overstay due to a flight delay. It is 8 years later and he still gets pulled to secondary by customs agents some times when we fly. Every immigration form and interview he has to explain it again.  Ours was only 4 hours and it has still made this process painful.  A 2 year overstay really does need a good immigration lawyer. If this really is your person then do the right thing going forward and be honest with your lawyer so they can have all the details to give you the best advice. Best of luck to you both. 

Overstay is no joke and it makes the process a lot more complicated. My husband had a 4 hour overstay due to a flight delay. It is 8 years later and he still gets pulled to secondary by customs agents some times when we fly. Every immigration form and interview he has to explain it again.  Ours was only 4 hours and it has still made this process painful.  A 2 year overstay really does need a good immigration lawyer. If this really is your person then do the right thing going forward and be honest with your lawyer so they can have all the details to give you the best advice. Best of luck to you both. 

Passed my interview today! Also received an update online that oath ceremony will be scheduled.

From Florida. 
 
Good luck to you all! 

My interview was this morning, got approval letter right after interview and oath ceremony is on Wednesday. 
 
November 18, 2020 - submitted for N-400
December 11, 2020 - notice of biometric reuse
March 19, 2021 - interview was scheduled
April 26, 2021 - interview
April 28, 2021- oath ceremony 

Happy to say that I am now a US Citizen!

Interview was at 10:15, security was slow due to the Covid social distancing, once checked in I waited for about 10 minutes and was called in for my interview. They started out with the history questions, I got the first six correct so she moved on to the reading and writing portion. Then the interviewing officer verified my address, phone number, date of birth and social security number. Then we went through the Yes/No questions from the interview. She then told me that I was approved, administered the oath ceremony there and then and handed me a small US flag and my certificate of naturalization.

After applying for a passport and updating all the other fun stuff (driving license, registering to vote etc) the journey with USCIS is over! Very happy!

My timeline for those interested:

2020/11/19 - Filed online (local office is Denver, CO).
2020/11/28 - NOA received in the mail.
2021/01/20 - Biometric reuse letter received in the mail.
2021/04/01 - Interview, Approved, Oath Ceremony and Certificate of Naturalization in hand.

Hey! I had my I-751 yesterday and asked before as well. End result, they let me do the N-400 and same-day oath, I am now a US Citizen!
And believe it or not, I am 99,9% sure we had the same Immigration Officer conducting our interviews, haha! I-751 got approved on the spot, and after I had to wait a little, I got called in for my N-400 interview. 
 
Thanks for your help @Lazybones18!

I had my Oath ceremony this morning. It was very quick but still quite pleasant and exciting. Good luck to all of you who are still waiting for the interview. The journey is almost over! 

Thank you guys! The interview went very well. The officer was super nice and everything felt more like a chat with an acquaintance rather than an official interview. Although I had to wait to be called for 30 minutes, the interview itself only took 15 mins or so. The Oath ceremony is scheduled for 8:45 am on this Thursday. I am very excited and can't wait to officially become a US citizen 😊

I got a notification that the interview has been scheduled. The docs tab shows that this is on the books for next month (4/20).

My Interview scheduled on 5th April. 

Hey guys I am outside the immigration office right now 
 
my wife had a 751 interview today . I asked the officer if he can also do the n-400 interview before he declined but after finishing 751 interview he said let’s do the n-400 also 
 
my wife passed both interviews 
 
then the immigration officer said wait 1 hour I will also do you oath ceremony and get done with everything  
 
now waiting to get the oath ceremony done 
 
my wife came to USA on feb 28th 2018 . Gained USA citizenship in exactly 3 years 
 
journey finished

Just finished my interview this morning.  Here is a summary:
Got inside the federal building 15 mins ahead of the scheduled time.  Passed security and made it to the 5th floor where is Immigration is.
I placed interview notice in the mail and they asked me to take my temperature and answer yes/no questions regarding COVID19 stuff.
I waited for a good 15 mins before the interview officer called me in.  We started the conversation talking about how cold it is outside (Cleveland is frozen right now).
He asked to see my passports, green card and ID and nothing else (not even the marriage certificate or selective service stuff).  Glanced at them for like 10 seconds and gave them back to me.  He asked to raise my hand to only say the truth.
Asked my full name last name and where I work and study.  Asked me to read "who must pay taxes?" and then asked me to write "everyone must pay taxes".
He then started the civics questions:
What war fought by the US in the 1900s 
What war fought by the US in the 1800s
What territory was purchased from the French.
Who is the vice president now
And then the federalist paper question (James Madison).
I don't remember the 6th one.
He said congratulations you passed.  Then, he went through yes/no questions.  Asked me to sign for the oath of allegiance acknowledgment and then sign that everything I said is correct and told me that to expect the oath to be scheduled sometime soon and that I am recommended for approval.
I was outside of the building within 15 mins.  The whole interview took like 13 mins or so!
My online status just changed to recommended for approval and then changed to scheduled for oath.
I love Cleveland Field Office - So fast.

So, all done and dusted. Had the oath ceremony yesterday, 2/2/2021. Due to Covid, it was very stripped back, lasting barely 15 minutes. Went in to the room, handed over my Green Card and appointment letter/ form. Said the oath with around 10 other people and that was it. Collected my certificate and passport / voter registration application. They were handing out voter registration applications for both Oregon and Washington depending on where you live.
 
Funny thinking back on the process, but in total I was probably in the USCIS building for around 40 minutes total from beginning to end. I'm lucky mine was so straightforward. I wish the same for everyone else. Good luck.
 
And this morning, what was in my mailbox? A jury summons for March. No more ticking "not a US citizen" box.

Congratulations! The part of your reply about the jury duty made me smile
 
I woke up to an update from USCIS today. My interviews was finally scheduled for March 16th at 7:30 am (I guess they are early birds there lol). Hopefully, everyhting will go smooth and by the end of March I'll be an American citizen.

My Interview is scheduled to take place on Monday February 8th.