Wisconsinbly

I had the same question before my naturalization ceremony. My notice did not mention anything about bringing guests. But I googled "naturalization ceremonies wisconsin" (my state), and the court website stated this: "Limited seating is available for family members and visitors on a first come/first serve basis". So, I brought 5 guests. We got there early. All 5 were able to sit in the courtroom. The seating was limited though, so who ever got there a little late, they were sent to "the overflow room": they were able to watch the ceremony live on a screen. I'm sure it's very different for every location. Maybe state your field office, so that others from the same FO can chime in.

Congrats!!! 👍 I loved your account of the events! It's like I was right there with you. Question. What happened when the giant juicy cockroach fell from the ceiling? Did people scream? 😅

My Oath ceremony was at 10AM in the Milwaukee Federal courthouse. We had 52 applicants from 27 countries! They lined the applicants up and we all had to check in with a couple people and turn in our green cards, then everyone had to enter the courtroom. So, the ceremony itself did not start until about 10:50. They had limited seating for the friends and families, and no one was allowed to stand, so they also had an "overflow room" where the rest of the guests could watch the ceremony live. My coworkers also watched the ceremony at work through the provided youtube link. Everybody was given their certificates by an USCIS representative after the ceremony, but the 15 people who have changed their names (me included) did not get the name change certificate; we were told that those will be mailed out within 2-3 weeks. We were pretty much done by 11:30. We stayed behind for a bit to take pictures in the courtroom and with the big American flag. When I went to work the next day, my coworkers had my desk decorated with silly jokes about being an American and we had an office party with some donuts, an apple pie, a charcuterie board made out to look like an American flag, and some taco dip, obvs 😁 It was so touching! 😍

Good morning! Buenos dias! I submitted my citizenship application on February 5th online and I got scheduled for an interview 4 days later! But I didn't know about it until I got the notice in the regular mail about 2 weeks after applying. I had no idea anything USCIS related could happen this quick, so I wasn't even checking online statuses! My interview was scheduled for March 27th, Milwaukee WI field office. I applied under the 5 year rule with ROC still pending (ROC was submitted in June of 2020). Since I still had ROC case pending, I created a simple document relaying to the USCIS that I had another pending case and asking if the interview for it could be waived or done together with the citizenship interview. I uploaded the document through my USCIS account (wild! nothing had to be mailed in!). They replied by sending me a notice of a combo interview in the regular mail about 2 weeks after my request. Also wild! My interview was held in the Milwaukee field office, as stated above. I will write up and submit a more detailed summary a little later, but I will pin-point some facts. I was dressed business casual: slacks and a nice sweater. I arrived about 20 minutes before my appointment. I had to check in on the 2nd floor: they scanned the barcode on my interview letter, quickly took my picture with what looked like a memory eraser clicker from Men in Black, and they took fingerprints of my index fingers. They called my name about 10 minutes after my appointment time. I had a female officer who took me to her office. She conducted both interviews, first the citizenship part, then the ROC part. Citizenship part went relatively smooth. The officer confirmed my bio info and applying under the 5 year rule. She also went through all of the questions on the form that I already answered online. Then she asked me 6 civics questions and told me that I answered all 6 correctly (they were easy questions!). Then, I had to read a sentence off of the tablet in front of me and then I had to write a sentence on the same tablet. The pen worked great, and she told me I could take several lines in case I needed more space. She told me that I passed my citizenship test. Then, we went over my name change (I'm changing my first name), and she confirmed if I still wanted to proceed, and I signed my confirmation in a couple places (on the tablet). Then, she moved to the ROC part. She confirmed that I got divorced during the ROC process and that I was asking for a divorce waiver. She took my divorce decree and looked it over, then gave it back to me. She asked me what led to the divorce, the last time I saw my ex-spouse, and all the addresses where I lived while in the US. The questions seemed to be just fact-checking off of the information I already provided when filing ROC. The officer saw that I had a bag of evidence with me and asked if I had anything that would help my case and that I haven't submitted yet. I told her that most of what I had was just a repetition of what I submitted, in case they didn't have it on file for any reason. I had very little evidence for ROC: joined bank account statements, being on my ex-wife's health insurance, a print-out of being each other's emergency contact at work, tax transcripts, pictures with family. I did receive an RFIE back in 2021 asking for more initial evidence, so I was able to get and submit affidavits from my ex-wife's family and my friend. I brought the originals with me, and the officer briefly read through them and kept them. At the end of my interview, the officer gave me a piece of paper that said that I passed my citizenship test but that a decision could not be made at the time. The officer explained that she never saw my ROC file until today, so she needed some time to review it and make sure everything looked good. It was hard to hear such news, but I was glad that the citizenship interview went well. Yesterday, I received a notice in the mail that my Oath Ceremony was scheduled for May 9th! It doesn't say anywhere in the notice or in my online account that my case was approved, but it must be approved. My ROC case online status still says "We're ready to schedule your interview". I still can't believe that the citizenship process went so quick and smooth! After waiting for my ROC to be approved for almost 4 years, I was getting ready to wait for over a year to hear anything at all. Good luck to everyone still waiting and hoping! I heard this so many times on here before, and every time, it was hard to believe it would be my turn, but believe me: your turn will come, and it will turn out just fine!

Oh okay. Like I said, I thought sending them a letter and asking for the petition to be switched to a waiver was enough.

No... I replied to the RFE (they wanted more evidence of bona-fide marriage) and subsequently requested them to switch my petition from filed jointly to divorce waiver (I sent them copies of applying for divorce and of serving my wife the papers). Is the only way to request a divorce waiver, to send in a letter along with the divorce decree? I am panicking right now thinking that I missed a big step in the process...

Yes. We filed June 10th of 2020, I moved out at the end of July, and I filed for divorce in January of 2021. It was finally granted in December of 2021.

So, just like many lucky others, I also received a 48-month extension letter a few days ago. It confirmed that my case is at NBC, not at a processing center. Not sure why. Anyways. While reading the extension letter, I found this: "If you have not done so already, provide supporting documents to help USCIS process your petition". Obviously, I provided all of the evidence that I could find and think of with the original petition almost 3 years ago. I also received an RFE later on asking for more documents to prove bona-fide marriage. I provided my own statement and statements from friends and my ex-wife's family members, as well as informed them that the marriage had broken up and a divorce was taken place. I told them I would send them the divorce decree once the divorce was finalized, but I haven't done so yet. Question: should I bother send them the divorce decree, hoping it would bring up my case and someone would take a look at it? Or should I wait until a possible interview to provide more docs?

Oh boy. Thanks for letting me know!

Hi all, A little update from me. I went to a local Social Security office to remove the restriction on my SS card. I had my driver's license with me and a bunch of other documents, but the clerk only looked at my DL and the extension letter (it was still valid for about 20 more days). He had no problem issuing a new SS card for me, and I got it in the mail a week later. If you have your unrestricted SS card and a valid ID, that's all your employer needs for employment. As far as my inquiry to USCIS (I followed an inquiry link on their website back in July, I think, because my case is outside of the processing times), I never heard anything back. Today, I randomly checked my status and I got an update! It says, "As of October 18th 2022, fingerprints were taken". Obviously, I didn't provide new fingerprints, so they must've attached them back from when I got my conditional green card in 2018. I hope it means they're working on my case! Anybody else get a notice about fingerprints recently?