dan.and.audrey

Thank you very much!

I'd like to share now my interview and oath taking experience last 03/07:

I was scheduled for a 10:35am appointment at the ASC in Portland. Me, my husband & our son arrived there at 10:05am and went through security. We were then asked to go to the Second Floor Waiting Area and wait for my name to be called. The IO called my name at 10:45am and he saw me kiss my husband and our son goodbye and I followed him to the interview room. Once we got inside the room, he asked me to put my things down but to remain standing as I take an oath to tell the truth during the entire interview. Then, he asked me to sit down and started asking me questions on my N-400 form.

He asked me the basic questions first: my full name, marital status, maiden name, husband's name & son's name. Then, he proceeded with the YES/NO questions, just checking if everything I had there was correct. During the entire time, he never asked me to bring out any document even if I brought with me a thick binder of stuff. He then asked me if I fully agree to the Constitution of the United States and the Oath of Allegiance and I said yes. He asked me to sign the end page of the N-400 form and he stamped and checked some more stuff.

When he was done with my N-400 form, he then told me that we're now proceeding to the civics exam part. These were the questions (not in this order):

1) What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?
2) Who is in charge of the executive branch?
3) If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
4) There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.
5) What is one reason colonists came to America?
6) During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?

I got all of those right so he said we'll proceed to the reading and writing tests. He asked me to read "Which state has the most people?" and he asked me to write "California has the most people."

After that, he said I was approved for Naturalization. He told me that there's a 2:00pm Oath Taking Ceremony happening that day and asked me if I would be available to attend that one. I said yes, so he gave me both the white paper (interview results) and the green paper (oath taking schedule) and gave me instructions on what to do next. He congratulated me, showed me out of the room and that was it. The whole interview took about 10 minutes.

My family and I went out for lunch in Downtown Portland and we went back for the ceremony at 1:30pm. There was a lot of us oath-takers so it took some time to sit everybody down. They took our green forms, green cards and asked us to sign our certificates, and they gave us our Welcome US Citizen packets. The ceremony itself was very quick (about 30 minutes) and they gave us our naturalization certificates at the end. After the ceremony, they told us that we can already register to vote outside the ceremony room, so that's what we did. And of course, there were picture takings involved as well. ;-)

So that's it.

I'm so thankful to VJ forum for helping me with this whole process. I don't know what I would've done without you.
To those who are still waiting, be patient and I hope that everything goes smoothly with your own journey. You'll get there soon.
***UPDATE***
I applied for my passport today.

Sorry for the late reply. Just would like to let you know that I had my interview this morning (03/07) AND I PASSED!!! Then I went to my oath taking ceremony this afternoon (03/07). I'm so thankful that it's finally over. (Well, except for getting the passport, etc...) Will tell you more about my experience later. I still can't believe it really happened.
GC date - 10/12/10