skanbroy

Congratulation Murican, this is excellent news!!!

^{Congratulations!!!}

I am not sure about 10 years of being unemployed, but the N-400 form require info about Employment or School history in the last 5 years. Anyway, I was unemployed at my citizenship interview and it was not an issue. Good luck!

I'm not sure about the other questions, but if you can produce your 2009 Tax Return (1040) or the IRS transcript, you should be fine, irrespective of when you filed the tax.

Thank you all for your best wishes.

Indeed I owe the forum lots of deep appreciation. For the past 3 months I had been on ROM mode choosing not to register or make comments. I read lots of shared experiences of folks on their "Visa Journey" here and learnt quite a lot, that saved me a plenty in Lawyers fees (Wish I knew about this at my GC process). I will be so delighted if anybody finds anything in my experience useful.

One quick item that I left out. There was a mistake on my GC, the "Resident Since.." date read 12/07/2002 instead of the actual approval date of 10/23/2009 . At the interview, the I/O collected my GC and reviewed, I'm not sure if she did not notice the error or chose to overlook it, but she did not make any comment.

I filed N-400 on September 8th under the 5 year rule. My interview date finally arrived last Thursday December 11th. I had freaked out about a month ago when I got a letter from USCIS rescheduling my original date from Dec 4th.

Anyway, my time was 8.25am, I pulled into the parking lot at 7.45am and completed all check-In formalities by 8.05am and waited in the reception area. I was called in by this gorgeous I/O at approximately 8.35am, and she led me to her office.

She asked me to raise my right hand and swore to an oath.

She walked me through my N-400 form, and confirmed all the info I completed. The only eventful item was when she asked if I still work for my employer (I was laid off months after filing), I said no and I'm currently not working. She did not skip a beat, and just noted/wrote "Unemployed" on the form (I was relieved, because this is one part that I was worried about) and moved on to other questions.

Next, she asked me to read "WHO IS OUR NATION'S FOUNDING FATHER" from a piece of paper and to write "GEORGE WASHINGTON IS THE FATHER OF OUR NATION".

Next, she asked the following civics questions:

What is one right or freedom from the first Amendment

Who is in charge of the executive branch

How many justices are on the Supreme Court

Describe one amendment to the constitution about who can vote

What is one reason colonists came to America

During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States

I correctly answered all the questions, and after a moment typing on the computer, she told me I passed the test and she is approving my application. She handed me a generic letter about result of the interview, and checked both the civics pass and "Congratulations......" boxes.

I was so happy and told her it was the happiest day of my life (a little exaggeration there), then she dropped the shocker "I will make it even better" she said.

She told me there was a swearing in ceremony later that day at the field office and she can add me to the schedule and be sworn in same day. I was ecstatic, she joked if I wanted to think about it, off course I accepted. The ceremony was scheduled for 2.00pm and she asked me to go home and bring my family for the ceremony.

I returned later and had a most beautiful and solemn ceremony with my family.

The whole Naturalization process was smooth, my I/O was super pleasant. I think this compensates for my Green Card experience, which at best could be described as forgettable!!!

I am so proud to be an American!!!