My wife did her interview at ICE in San Francisco on 5/1/2014. The agent was pretty nice and nothing tricky happened, like asking extra questions and so on. My wife's English is okay, as her third language, and she studied for months on/off for the test. She found the interview test easier than she has anticipated, so the studying paid off. She used the ICE citizenship study package and found a great online site, where you can practice the civics, reading comprehension, and writing portion of the test. She did say that the agent asked her many of the disqualification questions; like were you ever a member of the Communist Party, didn't pay taxes, etc. After my wife was told she passed the interview and tests, we waited about three weeks for our notice of the ceremony. It was scheduled for 6/11/14 in Oakland, CA at the large theatre on Broadway (Paramount). The report time was 0915, people were still filing in after that, and the actual thing started at 1000. Parking in the area is hard to find right around the theatre. I parked on 19th Ave., just south of Broadway and walked in about two blocks. So, don't try to park right around the theatre, go out a couple of blocks.
The theatre has about 1111 folks taking the citizenship oath, with many more family members in the upstair balcones. So, there were a lot of people there and the theatre was pretty full. It started at 0915, with intros from the ICE master of ceremony and presentations from other government officials about voting, passports, and social security. This was pretty informative and important later on. The actual ceremony started at about 1000; with the national anthem, intro of all the countries represented in the group (over 100), the oath, a key note speaker, some songs, and conclusion. Now, I should have said that at the beginning the people getting their citizenship are separated from family and stay downstairs in the main seating area, all the family and friends go upstairs. I didn't see my wife from when we separated just inside the front doors until the end of the ceremony!! So getting pictures and that kind of stuff from inside the ground floor area didn't happen. Also everyone is separated into groups for their oath, so they don't have to get up and move, the ICE representatives brings they Citizenship Certificate to each person at the end of the ceremony. After that, everyone can leave, which they do in a big crush.
I said before about passports, a representative from the State Dept is there to talk about passports and my wife received a passport application when she did her citizenship interview back in May. Luckily I remembered the passport application form and we filled in out the night before the ceremony, because the State Dept sets up tables to take the passport applications in the lobby of the theatre. The applications have to be filled out, with a check for the fee, a passport photo, and your citizenship certificate that you just received. The lines were a bit crazy at the beginning, so my wife and I went to get coffee and came back later ( about 20 minutes) and the lines were gone. The only problem with leaving the theatre for me was that I couldn't go back in. There was a lot of security and they wouldn't let me back in, only the people taking the oath to drop their passport applications off. Not a real big deal, but it would have been nice to look around the theatre a bit more. It is great and very grand!! Plus it would have been a good time to get a few photos.
I hope this helps others, overall the oath ceremony was very good and shorter than I expected from 0915 to 1100 for over a 1000 people. ICE has it down pretty good and we didn't have any problems.
San Francisco - Interview and Oath Ceremony questions
in US Citizenship General Discussion
Posted
My wife did her interview at ICE in San Francisco on 5/1/2014. The agent was pretty nice and nothing tricky happened, like asking extra questions and so on. My wife's English is okay, as her third language, and she studied for months on/off for the test. She found the interview test easier than she has anticipated, so the studying paid off. She used the ICE citizenship study package and found a great online site, where you can practice the civics, reading comprehension, and writing portion of the test. She did say that the agent asked her many of the disqualification questions; like were you ever a member of the Communist Party, didn't pay taxes, etc. After my wife was told she passed the interview and tests, we waited about three weeks for our notice of the ceremony. It was scheduled for 6/11/14 in Oakland, CA at the large theatre on Broadway (Paramount). The report time was 0915, people were still filing in after that, and the actual thing started at 1000. Parking in the area is hard to find right around the theatre. I parked on 19th Ave., just south of Broadway and walked in about two blocks. So, don't try to park right around the theatre, go out a couple of blocks.
The theatre has about 1111 folks taking the citizenship oath, with many more family members in the upstair balcones. So, there were a lot of people there and the theatre was pretty full. It started at 0915, with intros from the ICE master of ceremony and presentations from other government officials about voting, passports, and social security. This was pretty informative and important later on. The actual ceremony started at about 1000; with the national anthem, intro of all the countries represented in the group (over 100), the oath, a key note speaker, some songs, and conclusion. Now, I should have said that at the beginning the people getting their citizenship are separated from family and stay downstairs in the main seating area, all the family and friends go upstairs. I didn't see my wife from when we separated just inside the front doors until the end of the ceremony!! So getting pictures and that kind of stuff from inside the ground floor area didn't happen. Also everyone is separated into groups for their oath, so they don't have to get up and move, the ICE representatives brings they Citizenship Certificate to each person at the end of the ceremony. After that, everyone can leave, which they do in a big crush.
I said before about passports, a representative from the State Dept is there to talk about passports and my wife received a passport application when she did her citizenship interview back in May. Luckily I remembered the passport application form and we filled in out the night before the ceremony, because the State Dept sets up tables to take the passport applications in the lobby of the theatre. The applications have to be filled out, with a check for the fee, a passport photo, and your citizenship certificate that you just received. The lines were a bit crazy at the beginning, so my wife and I went to get coffee and came back later ( about 20 minutes) and the lines were gone. The only problem with leaving the theatre for me was that I couldn't go back in. There was a lot of security and they wouldn't let me back in, only the people taking the oath to drop their passport applications off. Not a real big deal, but it would have been nice to look around the theatre a bit more. It is great and very grand!! Plus it would have been a good time to get a few photos.
I hope this helps others, overall the oath ceremony was very good and shorter than I expected from 0915 to 1100 for over a 1000 people. ICE has it down pretty good and we didn't have any problems.