L1 & L2

Thank you! I’m going to write up a summary later tonight for the benefit of those yet to have the interview. For now I’m just relieved to be done. 
 
 

So, here was my experience today. 
 
My appointment was at 1.50 pm and the letter states you must not arrive more than 15 minutes before this time due to COVID and capacity levels in the building. They are strict on this rule. I arrived 40 minutes early but sat in my car and double-checked my paperwork and so on. I got to the front door 17 minutes before my appointment time and he made me stand there for 2 minutes before letting me in. 
 
Inside it was the usual airport-style security check. Shoes off. Belongings in a plastic tray. Empty your pockets. Remove watches and belts. You then join a line to check in and be health-screened. Your temperature is checked. You are finger-printed. You show your ID and appointment letter and the clerk scans these and checks you in. You are given a numbered ticket and told to go upstairs and take a seat. At the top of the stairs there are chairs to the left and right. You could be called from either side. I had just enough time to use the restroom before my number was called.
 
I was taken to a room of cubicles with desks. There was an iPad on a stand on the desk and I could see the officer on a video call on the iPad. The whole thing was done via video call. You have to put all your belongings except your passport, drivers license and green card into a desk drawer. Leave your passport, green card and drivers license on the desk. There are headphones on the desk with a microphone, like you might see in a call center. The officer had me stand and swear on oath that I was about to tell the truth. 

I sat down. She made some small talk about my hand which is currently in a splint following an accident last week. She asked if I would still be able to sign my name and writer a sentence. I told her I can just about hold a pen. 
 
She started with the civics questions, then the English language test. As you finish with each page you have to hold it up to the camera for the officer to see and then put it into a tray in front of you. 
 
She then went through the N-400 and asked questions from it. I had brought a list of my travel dates outside the USA since filing the N-400 but she already knew where I was and when. I have no idea how she knew that. On a recent trip to Europe we had to change planes in Paris. We didn’t even leave the airport - we just changed planes and were there no more than 2 hours. I didn’t include France in the list of countries and she said “didn’t you go to Paris too?” And I was taken aback that she knew all of this. 
 
I took my marriage certificate, paperwork from my previous divorce, my husband’s California birth certificate, our joint tax returns and a stack of bills, documents etc to show the “ongoing marital union” because I filed under the 3-year rule. But I was not asked to show anything. All of the papers I brought stayed in the desk drawer. There is a printer on the desk and the officer sends things to the printer for you to read. This is where I also received the document that said “recommended for approval”. 
 
We then had a technical problem and she couldn’t set up the oath. After twenty minutes of trying to get the computer to work she decided to do it manually. I had to write on a piece of paper how I wanted my name to appear on my certificate and also my A-number from my GC. 
 
I then had to put my green card in the tray and that is the last time I touched my green card. Someone came to get me and escorted me back to the waiting room. 
 
I checked my status of my application on my phone. The website showed “in line for oath ceremony”. A few minutes later I was called. It didn’t feel like I was about to become a US citizen. It was like sitting in the waiting room of the doctors office. I was taken into an office with a desk with a huge plexiglass screen. I was asked to take a seat and wait. Another officer came in and asked how to pronounce my last name. She verified my birth date. Then asked me to stand, raise my right hand and repeat the oath of allegiance after her. The text was also posted on the plexiglass. At the end she congratulated me and said “you are now officially a US citizen” and presented me with my certificate, explained I have to sign it, and an envelope containing a small flag, a pamphlet on voting and a passport application form. I was then free to go. It was very surreal. 
 
I have an appointment tomorrow morning at the local post office for my passport. We are supposed to be going on a cruise in September (which may or may not happen because of COVID) so it should be back in time for that. I am not requesting a faster service. 

Yes, they do same day oath of allegiance. I did my naturalization interview today. I waited in the lobby for about one hour before I was called inside. The IO conducted civics test first, followed by reading and writing. Then he went through my N-400, including every question of Part 12, nothing picky, all normal questions found on N-400. Then I took the oath. The whole process took about 30 minutes. I waited another 30 minutes to get my certificate of naturalization. The IO was very nice. The whole interview process was very smooth. I saw 5-6 candidates in the lobby today, and they all passed. The problem of Seattle is that you have to wait a long time before your interview is scheduled. But the interview part is very smooth and nice for most people that I read of. So you just need a little more patience to be scheduled. This forum has been a very positive spiritual support for me. I am very grateful to this forum. Good luck to everyone. 

You don't need to send Indian PP. Send copies for first three and last three. And you should have got a surrender certificate when you cancelled your Indian PP so send that as well.

I don't have the saved application with me but I believe I entered the marriage date. 

Yes they allow that. My daughter accompanied my wife during her interview

It took 3.5 weeks for me to get passport in hand from the date of application. I had also applied for expedited service . I applied on 01/04 and got it in fourth week of Jan

Cool - BIG congratulations ! Long wait is finally coming to an end

Update: Being a Sep 10 2019 filer, i had been checking my status everyday online. Yesterday (Feb 2), my status online changed to 'Interview was scheduled'. Like others, i hope to receive the interview date in a day or two. Funny thing is that the online status also shows 6 months wait time (meaning it has no relevance at all). 
Based on our tracker, the USCIS has got quite predictable, so much that i had anticipated my status change to be on Feb 2, and that's when it happened. Now, i expect my interview to fall on march 1st or 2nd. let's see
 

They are surely taking place on the same day. As mentioned earlier in one of my posts, same interview officer after finishing interview will administer the oath and then you will be asked to wait outside to pick up the certificate. Not sure how the process works with name change request etc. Not familiar with that

I entered latest Indian passport details at both because US passport anyway does not print your Father's name and that is one of the questions in that form. I do not think putting Indian passport in both places will harm anything. This VFS form is mainly to clear payment process. Nothing else.

Completion date on USCIS account has absolutely no meaning (at least right now). They do not update that to project accurately. Keep following trend from other applicants. That is more relevant and useful for getting some sense on timelines. Once you cross-over completion timeline it will keep saying that there is nothing pending for you but we are taking longer time than usual for processing. That's about it

Congrats and all the best. In my case, I and my wife had applied N400 on same day (literally 5-10 min apart) and we got interview scheduled exactly in the same time slot. But I know few cases in my friend's circle where husband and wife had their interviews on different days. That should not be a big concern.

Better date judgement can be estimated using this forum rather than actual USCIS estimation. Their estimate does not hold good and they do not change it either. It is just one initial number. 

They calculate start of year from October and not Jan hence their Q3 means Q2 in normal definition of calendar year 🙂  To be fair with USCIS and just like many other impacted businesses with COVID pandemic, the reporting activity will be surely lower priority for them right now. So I do not think that they are not bothering about reports but it is about relative priority.  Yes it is a painful wait game for applicants like us and I hope there are some broad measures taken by USCIS to improve speed of N400 processing in Seattle area and USA overall.