Elle84

ALL DONE, guys!! It was such an emotional morning and day. Still trying to collect myself, glad I took a whole day off from work. I sobbed almost the entire time while being there. There were about 1200 people scheduled for ceremony today (not all showed up but it was still A LOT of people), from 102 countries. What I learned today is that naturalization ceremonies are basically federal court hearings. There's a judge who swears us in but before that, there's someone (I think from USCIS) who "advocates" for all those present to be naturalized and formally confirms to the judge that we meet all the conditions. Then the judge stands us all up, says the Oath (I could barely hear him even though I was in second row) and we're supposed to say "I Will". Then he says the Pledge of Allegiance and then a lady and a guitar guy play the Anthem. All this while we all stand. Then some city/county officials say speeches. Afterwards I thought it would be a nightmare for all of us hundreds of people to get our naturalization certificates but it was actually very organized, with several tables and they have ushers that direct people etc. That part only took maybe 15-20 minutes from the moment they allowed my section to leave their seats until I had my certificate in hand. Also - guests were allowed!! 
For those of you still on the journey - may your day come soon! ❤️

She only asked me 6 questions because I answered all correctly.
The questions were:
Name 1 branch of the Government (I said Congress)
What does the Constitution do? (I said defines the Government)
What did Martin Luther King Jr do? (fought for civil rights)
During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States? (communism)
What month do we elect the President? (November)
During World War II, who did the United States fight against? (Germany, Italy, and Japan)
 
For the English test, there were two steps. First, she asked me to read a sentence from an iPad screen that was in front of me. I cannot remember the sentence but it was very simple. Then, she told me a sentence and asked me to write it on that iPad using an electronic pen (which was working like sh*t and my hand was trembling so it took forever because it was literally leaving blank spaces within the letters and I had to go back and fill them in): Alaska is the largest state.

ALL DONE, guys!! It was such an emotional morning and day. Still trying to collect myself, glad I took a whole day off from work. I sobbed almost the entire time while being there. There were about 1200 people scheduled for ceremony today (not all showed up but it was still A LOT of people), from 102 countries. What I learned today is that naturalization ceremonies are basically federal court hearings. There's a judge who swears us in but before that, there's someone (I think from USCIS) who "advocates" for all those present to be naturalized and formally confirms to the judge that we meet all the conditions. Then the judge stands us all up, says the Oath (I could barely hear him even though I was in second row) and we're supposed to say "I Will". Then he says the Pledge of Allegiance and then a lady and a guitar guy play the Anthem. All this while we all stand. Then some city/county officials say speeches. Afterwards I thought it would be a nightmare for all of us hundreds of people to get our naturalization certificates but it was actually very organized, with several tables and they have ushers that direct people etc. That part only took maybe 15-20 minutes from the moment they allowed my section to leave their seats until I had my certificate in hand. Also - guests were allowed!! 
For those of you still on the journey - may your day come soon! ❤️

ALL DONE, guys!! It was such an emotional morning and day. Still trying to collect myself, glad I took a whole day off from work. I sobbed almost the entire time while being there. There were about 1200 people scheduled for ceremony today (not all showed up but it was still A LOT of people), from 102 countries. What I learned today is that naturalization ceremonies are basically federal court hearings. There's a judge who swears us in but before that, there's someone (I think from USCIS) who "advocates" for all those present to be naturalized and formally confirms to the judge that we meet all the conditions. Then the judge stands us all up, says the Oath (I could barely hear him even though I was in second row) and we're supposed to say "I Will". Then he says the Pledge of Allegiance and then a lady and a guitar guy play the Anthem. All this while we all stand. Then some city/county officials say speeches. Afterwards I thought it would be a nightmare for all of us hundreds of people to get our naturalization certificates but it was actually very organized, with several tables and they have ushers that direct people etc. That part only took maybe 15-20 minutes from the moment they allowed my section to leave their seats until I had my certificate in hand. Also - guests were allowed!! 
For those of you still on the journey - may your day come soon! ❤️

Update to the update! Oath ceremony notice was mailed! My oath ceremony will be on March 6, at 7 AM at MO Campbell Educational Center. What a day, guys!!

Update to the update! Oath ceremony notice was mailed! My oath ceremony will be on March 6, at 7 AM at MO Campbell Educational Center. What a day, guys!!

oh yes you can bet I have that tab open in my Chrome browser at all times... it was the same for my interview letter, I got the online one on 1/8 and didn't get the physical one until 2.5 weeks later. 
Thanks for the insights for the ceremony! I kinda hope it's going to be at the auditorium so that my husband can come with me and take pictures and a little video. Even if our journey was way shorter than a lot of people's every step of the way, it did take 4 years and 2 months since we first mailed that CR-1 petition packet and we did everything without a lawyer, we can't wait to be FINALLY done with USCIS because all the constant documenting of every little thing in our life took so much energy and time for us.

She only asked me 6 questions because I answered all correctly.
The questions were:
Name 1 branch of the Government (I said Congress)
What does the Constitution do? (I said defines the Government)
What did Martin Luther King Jr do? (fought for civil rights)
During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States? (communism)
What month do we elect the President? (November)
During World War II, who did the United States fight against? (Germany, Italy, and Japan)
 
For the English test, there were two steps. First, she asked me to read a sentence from an iPad screen that was in front of me. I cannot remember the sentence but it was very simple. Then, she told me a sentence and asked me to write it on that iPad using an electronic pen (which was working like sh*t and my hand was trembling so it took forever because it was literally leaving blank spaces within the letters and I had to go back and fill them in): Alaska is the largest state.

oh yes you can bet I have that tab open in my Chrome browser at all times... it was the same for my interview letter, I got the online one on 1/8 and didn't get the physical one until 2.5 weeks later. 
Thanks for the insights for the ceremony! I kinda hope it's going to be at the auditorium so that my husband can come with me and take pictures and a little video. Even if our journey was way shorter than a lot of people's every step of the way, it did take 4 years and 2 months since we first mailed that CR-1 petition packet and we did everything without a lawyer, we can't wait to be FINALLY done with USCIS because all the constant documenting of every little thing in our life took so much energy and time for us.

Excellent news! Watch your MyUSCIS account - I had my oath ceremony instructions from there before they'd even sent the notice in the mail.  
 
Neither ceremony is super formal.  Smart business casual is fine.  Hubs did his at the auditorium and yes, it took like 4 hours.  I did mine at Gears Rd and it only took about 1.5-2 hours.  No one was super formal, but pretty much everyone were smartly dressed and not sloppy.  

Thank you! 
I had the interview this morning at 8:10 AM. In case I didn't mention it earlier in the thread, my application was within the 3-year rule (spouse of US citizen). My I-751 had been approved last summer and I have been having my 10-year green card since July.
I passed the civics and English test with flying colors. The officer then asked me questions from my application and we made some updates. She was very impressed that I knew (in detail) what the Oath of allegiance is about. She then asked me to show our current lease, a 2024 bank account statement, and car insurance, which I had all with me. She then asked if I have a long-form car insurance and I said I only have what I gave her (which was the insurance card with both our names on it). Then she asked to see our son's birth certificate, which I also had. She then asked what other documents I had with me and she didn't want anything of what I listed (2020, 2021, 2022 tax transcripts - since we haven't yet filed 2023, joint car loan from 2021, older leases, older bank account and credit card statements), she did say yes to me showing her our driver license photos showing both of us having the same residence address (our residence address is different than our physical address: residence address is at my FIL's house, physical address is the one we actually live at but both are joint of course.) 
At the end she said that I passed the English and civics test and that the interview all went well, but that she is having some technical difficulties in the system that it's not letting her stamp the approval. (she did do a lot of typing and clicking on her computer before saying that, so I could tell she had been trying to get it through). So she handed me the N-652 form with "A decision cannot be made yet about your application" (no written detail about why, I only have what she said verbally about the technical difficulties). She also said that I will receive my oath scheduling letter within 30 days and she gave me details about how the oath ceremony will go (no guests and about 2 hours total time, if scheduled at the same location as the field office I interviewed at, as it's a small ceremony venue, or, guests allowed and about 4-5 hours total time, if scheduled at the other ceremony location which is a school, dress formally, etc.)
Our case is strong and we have tons of evidence so I'm not worried about that (including I-751 approved in record time with no interview), I'm just disappointed being stuck in this limbo (which I know from a thread here that can last anywhere from a day to over a year). My status in myUSCIS still says  "Interview was scheduled" sooo... I guess now we wait :). 
 

you guyssss!!!
Just logged into my myUSCIS now and guess what... INTERVIEW SCHEDULED!! February 12th at 8:10 AM!!
Now to study the heck out of those civics and history questions... I started casually having hubs make quizzes with them to me but didn't actually study-study sooo... time to get to work lol. 

awesome, it worked perfectly for you! I had actually read a thread about your journey before I posted mine!
and fun fact, my husband's parents are from Argentina!

awesome, it worked perfectly for you! I had actually read a thread about your journey before I posted mine!
and fun fact, my husband's parents are from Argentina!

Nice! 3 days after me! We can be waiting buddies! 

I was in your exact same spot last summer. Only difference being I was in Columbus. I purchased my tickets July 7th to fly on the 16th and I kept my trip short (two weeks). On my 40th birthday, July 12th, I found out I was scheduled for my N400 interview, which was on August 29th. So roughly about 45ish days, give or take. It all worked out perfectly.

We filed 11/15/2023 and in Houston also, Biometrics was re-used also, and just waiting for interview letter and or on line updates

Thanks so so much everyone! Given all the above I would rather wait until I have the passport (or at least the passport application sent) to book the trip, even with flexible dates. I have too much going on to have the added stress of this uncertainty on top of it, and yes I do want to visit home but not as much as to make that stress worth it or risk anything go wrong. 

Thanks so so much everyone! Given all the above I would rather wait until I have the passport (or at least the passport application sent) to book the trip, even with flexible dates. I have too much going on to have the added stress of this uncertainty on top of it, and yes I do want to visit home but not as much as to make that stress worth it or risk anything go wrong. 

Hello beautiful people!
I have the following situation:
N-400 online filing: 11/12/2023
USCIS actively reviewing case: 11/12/2023 (no biometrics, I got a "reuse biometrics" notification, probably from my ROC in 2022)
Currently it says about 5 months wait time until a decision will be made (that's for people applying under 5-year rule in my area; I applied under the 3-year rule so that estimate can be totally irrelevant).
I am in Houston, TX.
So assuming I will get an interview letter in early June this year - how far out will the actual interview date be from the date I receive the letter?
Asking this because of course I am planning on traveling for vacation to my home country for 2 weeks between last week of June and 2nd week of July.
I already know that "vacation" is not exactly a valid reason to try to move your interview date, and I am planning to book tickets in a way that makes the trip date change possible. But the trip still has to happen at some point during summer and I don't want to give it up altogether.
Thanks so much!!

Hello hello!! Closing the loop here for all of you beautiful people who helped me make sure that my packet was perfect. My 10-year green card was delivered in the mail on July 25. No RFE. NO INTERVIEW!!
NOW, why my new green card does not have the fingerprint on it, this is a different question on which I'm suddenly freaking out... is this normal?? Or should I file an I-90 to have it changed?? I did have my fingerprints taken at my biometrics appointment last November...

@OldUser thank you!!! Phew. I had googled this thing in all possible (wrong) ways so I wasn't finding anything. But googled by "green card redesign 2023" now and found this exact image you posted, on the USCIS website. I almost can't believe this whole journey is over lol. Buckling up for N-400 in a bit.