M+K IL

We changed ours during the N-400 process. Not sure how often judicial oath ceremonies happen, since I suspect the local court's news page is not always updated, but I ended up waiting only 6 weeks from our interviews.

And it's basically free, the ceremony is more memorable (or so I hear), and there are less documents to update afterwards.

21 hours ago, WannabeHuman said:

Hey all, just curious about a few things again.

 

I just recently got my biometrics appointment in the mail for September.  I had my biometrics for my AOS done back in June of 2021. Is this a bad sign? Or am I stressing for nothing. I know I need to go anyways just wanted some input from people who are more knowledgeable than me! 

 

Thank you

It's fine. I had an appointment for my N-400, they just checked two fingers against the old biometrics and then declared themselves satisfied.

2 hours ago, OldUser said:

Employers cannot demand to see a green card. They should be happy with unrestricted SS card and DL. But yes, citizenship status update is very important. It's just @AffableAndy talked about unrestricted SS card. That can be done way before becoming a citizen.

Good to know for next time, thanks. I think I showed mine when I got my GC, but I didn't check to see if I could just show the unrestricted SSN card instead

13 hours ago, OldUser said:

This could have been done as a permanent resident (even conditional, just a note for others).

Updating citizenship status is still useful, right? So that future employers don't ask you to produce a non existent green card. You just don't get a new card after that.

But yes I lifted conditions soon after getting my GC. Will be waiting two weeks before updating SSA.

We're through!

We're through!

We did it! 96 people from 41 countries. Only a minority wear a suit and some actually wear jeans or even... a tracksuit. No tie either. With a sport coat, buttoned shirt and dress pants I was probably in the top 5% for attire. 

No question asked when my wife only had a GC but they took my EAD/AP too. The person in front of me had 10 cards!

Overall a smooth experience. The judge was an immigrant himself (came with his parents and siblings) and took his oath in the same courtroom

1 hour ago, g9g9g9 said:

Just took my oath today in Chicago ceremony around 98 ppl.

 

Went smooth .

 

Best of luck to everyone else going fwd. 

In this heat, whoa! Glad it went well

We're driving down tomorrow morning. Glad AccuWeather seems wrong in predicting a thunderstorm 

3 hours ago, NorthByNorthwest said:

 

"You'll be in front of a judge" - not even close in my case, a regular USCIS employee getting through the last oath ceremony of the day.

That might be because I mentioned I am going to have a judicial ceremony

I could certainly imagine same day a ceremonies are more casual - you won't even know to prepare! 

3 hours ago, NorthByNorthwest said:

Like some folks in this thread I brought old conditional GC and EAD, but they told me to keep those, so I guess YMMV.

Yeah, I'll plan to return them and if they don't want it then I guess I'll keep the old EAD/AP combo

Seems like it does take a while:
 

(yes, you'd think if the SSA can see the USCIS records, there is no need to also show your proof of citizenship ...)

1 hour ago, Verrou said:

im just stating a fact that uscis wont kick you out and refused to naturalize you because of what u wear that day. especially if you wear nice jeans

I mean, I'm pretty sure they won't but I agree with @Mike E that it's not worth the risk of someone in USCIS being in a bad mood that day!

For me the advice of 'wearing the same thing as the interview' won't work as I did wear jeans there
 

43 minutes ago, harry.st said:

 

At said interview I wore this: https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/products/E458183-000/00?colorDisplayCode=03&sizeDisplayCode=004 (bought for the occasion. W/ a darkish - for contrast - gray t-shirt, and black - but spanking new - black jeans).

 

@M+K IL at the biometrics I wore what I wear at the grocery store/DMV. So did everybody else (but I never wear shorts).

Yeah, shorts just seem wrong unless you're in Hawaii

11 hours ago, Verrou said:

All my life I always advised people to wear business casual for work interview, USCIS interview and oath ceremony.
 

But 4 weeks ago I happened to take biometric for my visa application at USCIS field office and turned out it’s an oath ceremony day. Many people wore their best suite, tie all American and all, but then I saw an old white couple about their 60’s wearing shorts, slipper and tank top like they are going to the beach. I thought they come for biometric  as well, well how wrong I am. They actually coming for oath ceremony. And when I said lol u dressed up so casually the lady told me “ I’ve been in US since I was 2 and I’m from Canada. I didn’t know  there’s restriction for apparels ? “ lol 

 

im 💯 % sure they won’t kick this couple out from the ceremony because of their outfit

 

this is just my observation because I happened to be there that day

Interesting ... and they did not get scheduled for same day ceremony (so it's not that they didn't know they were going to have one)?

I definitely would not dress that informally even for biometrics (and our biometrics was at an ASC, not a full field office!). Always a collared shirt at the minimum and long pants (though in the past it has been jeans). But I'm also not from Canada and not white, so... I can't afford to be that casual
 

1 hour ago, Bob in Boston said:

When we had our Oath we brought all our cards and the officer took the current green card and tossed the rest back to us. As far as the Dress this is a once in a lifetime event that millions of people would love to be in your shoes. Dress for sucess as your now a citizen of this country. Make sure to take a photo and stand proud!

Will do! There is a museum on the top floor of the courthouse too that is the recommended place to take pictures afterwards, so we'll do that unless the ceremony runs waay overtime.

Pants acquired - nice local shop that's been around since before WW2, very friendly staff, can't believe I have not been there before. They promise the alteration can be done by EOD today or first thing tomorrow, phew.

About to do an emergency run to get dress pants! Thanks to everyone that respond.

I have proper dress shirts, and a sports coat, but have in the past been wearing them with (nice) jeans - and the pants from my wedding, of course, no longer fit.

One snag is that I normally need to have the legs shortened, but eh, will just have to pay for rush alteration.

(You can tell I work in a field where dressing up is not required)

3 minutes ago, Scandi said:

-Any other documents USCIS issued to you that you may have, such as employment authorization cards, valid or expired.

Ahh, thank you! I just reread it and it does say that. The booklet on the website somehow omitted this last point

3 minutes ago, Scandi said:

 

Yes they want you to hand in EAD, AP, all greencards etc. You can obviously not hand in something you don't have. I didn't have my conditional greencard and was specifically asked why I didn't hand it in and had to explain myself at the oath. 

Got it, thanks. We can sleep easy now, my wife will just have to explain what happened to her EAD

22 minutes ago, Mike E said:

just give it to them with your GC

Right, I'll bring it so I can return it if asked.

22 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Not seeing analogy. Are you?

Not really analogous, but since we can't return both cards anyway - due to never getting my wife's EAD - what's the harm in keeping the card provided they don't ask for it? 

If they need an explanation for not returning a card then of course I would rather return it.

32 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Why would you do that?

Hmm ... good point. I'll bring mine in case it's asked, but if it's not, any downside to keeping it?

(I still have my old library cards from previous states too)

Thanks everyone!

8 minutes ago, Mike E said:

It is expired right?

Yes. I guess I'll keep mine as a souvenir then.

8 minutes ago, Mike E said:

 

Why test it when for $5 you can buy a pair of pants from a thrift store?

 

I wore business formal attire to my oath.

 

Business casual will work too.

 

Sleeveless ok if female.

Fair enough! Just curious on this part really. Also the weather forecast is swinging wildly between heat wave (the heat dome is predicted to peak tomorrow and Thursday at 100F before heat index) and thunderstorm (AccuWeather initially predicted this for Thu/Fri then changed its mind). So we're erring towards business casual, and since we can't wear jeans I guess a good umbrella is in order in case it does actually rains

Hi all,

Our judicial oath ceremonies are finally happening this Friday. Preparing for it and noticed several potential issues:

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/chapter5.pdf says only the green card needs to be returned, but 

https://askellis.com/oath-ceremony-naturalization/ (not official, but reading it since it discusses what happens on the day) say return other USCIS issued documents like EAD and AP as well.

Presumably only the green card is needed? Our concern is somewhere between USCIS and USPS my wife's EAD card was lost. We didn't really file any official report back then since our green card interview was scheduled not long after anyway.

And how strictly is the dress code enforced? Esp the no jeans part

"""

The naturalization ceremony is

a solemn and meaningful event.

Please dress in proper attire to

respect the dignity of this event

(please no jeans, shorts, or flip

flops).

"""

Thanks!

1 hour ago, Marrienne said:

Lol, good to know. Not that I will ever visit that ***hole of a country again. 🤣

Not even on vacation. I can't stand their system and their "who cares?" attitude. 

 

Any why wouldn't the US help you if you get in trouble?

When you take the Oath you pledge to denounce all loyalties to other countries and you should have the same rights as other US citizens, since you are expected to have all the duties and obligations too. Then what's the point of becoming a citizen? (Just philosophical questions)

Apparently you *might* get some assistance, provided your other nationality allows citizens to enter via another passport (e.g. the US passport). Some countries do, some countries don't (not sure if Greece allows it or not)

Per the State Department guidance:https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations/Dual-Nationality-Travelers.html

Quote

Limited U.S. Assistance Abroad: Local authorities may not recognize your U.S. nationality if you are also a national of that country, especially if you did not enter the country using your U.S. passport. The U.S. embassy or consulate’s ability to provide consular assistance may be limited.

1 hour ago, Marrienne said:

Ha... looks like Greece will allow dual citizenship as I knew but also: 
LOSS OF THE GREEK NATIONALITY

The following cases discharge the individual from his Greek nationality:
(A) Obtaining a foreign nationality
Everyone who obtains foreign nationality or accepts public service in a foreign country, if the acceptance entails the obtaining of the nationality of that foreign country."

So... which is it? Make up your mind Grece!!

I'm a fan of this site - as it provides concise information on whether dual citizenship is allowed in many countries (though I'd use that as a springboard to dive into details more to verify): https://www.dualcitizenshipreport.org/dual-citizenship/greece/

Seems like it's allowed per law 4251/2014 -- so it might be recent? Any chance the passage you quote cites the relevant law, maybe it's simply out of date.

The situation you cited is very similar to Indonesia - the process of losing citizenship is, as @OldUser noted, not automatic, but if you ever try to exercise your rights (e.g. using the Indonesian passport, or inheriting lands / companies) and are found out to have a second nationality, they revoke it.

35 minutes ago, EM_Vandaveer said:

Of course the names don't match... That's very common especially with women. My current legal name also doesn't match my birth name because I took my husband's surname. Your birth certificate always shows your birth name. The fact that you were born with that name doesn't change even if your legal name does.

Indeed. Showing birth certificate together with a proof of legal name change (i.e. either marriage license or the court document) should be fine.

We have a related situation - we (the parents) are changing our names, and our old names are on our son's birth certificate. We'll have to see (but it's a low priority) if we can get that reissued, as well as our marriage certificate, but very few places we plan to visit would ever want to see our marriage license (Google 'hotel raid unmarried couples' at your own risk)

 

1 minute ago, Crazy Cat said:

What sort of combination/appearance of the 2 flags are you considering?  

A heart, square, or shield, with either one country's flag on one side and the US flag on the other, or four quadrants with four different flags.

14 hours ago, Mike E said:

I know L-1Bs in software with only bachelor degrees.

 

I agree, absent an L1 visa, a U.S. masters degree is the next best route.

 

But I think going straight for H1-B or EB without an L1 first is an inferior plan.

Agreed. Even with double-dipping from a US masters or higher, who knows what's the chance of securing H-1B during the post-graduation OPT window (36 months for STEM, so you get three tries). Once you're on L-1 you can just renew indefinitely while trying for H-1B -- and also, if you can juggle it, there are online masters programs (the one from Georgia Tech seems highly recommended, and I hear the one from UC Boulder is quite good for those with non-traditional backgrounds) -- so you can even do that concurrently with working under L-1 and then improve your chance of getting H-1B once you graduate.

(I've heard of people who actually pulled off the masters while working -- caution: they have no life on weekends).