Tommy2000

Stupid question: why do you guys change your names? I get it if someone gets married, but why else?

I brought everything and only got asked my GC, Passport, and DL and invitation letter at the entrance. That was it. They had everything else on file.

Hvala!

Hi all, my process is now complete. Total wait time 2.5 months. Went to the oath ceremony this morning in Philly. It took about 1.5 hours total as there were about 50 people and everyone showed up, which according to the officers was unusual. There was a wide variety of people (30 countries total) and some even either didn’t have or forgot to bring their green cards, etc. However, everyone still got naturalized but they had to promise to bring the GC the next day, etc. This is how it went: - Security was busy as many people brought their families, so 30 minute early arrival is recommended - everyone was waiting in the waiting area downstairs until invited row by row to the oath room in the back, which is nicely decorated and full of flags - There were at least 3 oath ceremonies today, 9am, 11 am, 1 pm - Some people must have missed the 9 am and ended up participating in the 11 am ceremony and one person was too early, ao they made an exception and gave her the oath as well - in the room you first present your paper with filled out back. Remember to write the place of your FO in the place line (many people had to correct it) - with the paper, the officer took our GCs, checked us off, and pointed us to the table next to hers - this is where the naturalizations certificates were shown to everyone to make sure that the information on it is correct and put them in the right order, e.g. everyone had his assigned seating (first in - first out) this took a while (yes, we all got the little flags, but no copy of the constitution, or anything else) - then the officer brought the families in, put a welcome video on and read a few nice words / welcoming everyone - everyone had to stand and hold hand on heart as they played the national anthem -then there was a short recorded welcome message from President Biden played on the screen - the director of the FO came down and took the oath. He spoke it and everyone repeated after him (there was also a Print-out with the text) - at the end of the Oath we became citizens - after that a few more words of welcome - then everyone had to stand again and pledge allegiance to the flag while looking at a flag in the room - then in the order we sat got registered in, we received our certificates -ceremony ended when the last person received his certificate - there was plenty of opportunity to ask questions and take pictures thereafter. All in all a fun an joyful experience and in my case very fast. Best of luck to all of you!

They probably just opened and reviewed you file in preparation for the interview. I received like 4 or 5 of these prior to and right after interview.