How long does oath ceremony last?

**marballe** · 21st January 2011, 11:51 PM

I have another stupid question...

So, I was at the interview yesterday. I was recommended for approval, though haven't gotten the oath letter yet (well, it has only been one day. Lol).

But, they gave me a sheet with some info about the oath ceremony (at Oakland Paramount Theatre) along with the passport application. The info sheet said that the participants should report at 9:15 am. The ceremony will start at 10:00 am and end around 10:40 am with as many as 1300 applicants.

My question is: is that time frame realistic? I have Googled around and people keep saying around 2-3 hours. Does anyone have recent experience in Oakland (or just in general)? I am just trying to see how many classes do I have to skip. (I know Oath Ceremony is a big deal; but so does not failing all my classes...) Thanks all.

**BigJoe5** · 22nd January 2011, 12:28 AM

Tell your instructors about it in advance, probably at least one of them is a naturalized citizen him/herself. I hope you are not a PoliSci major.

Seriously, it really depends on the actual size of the Ceremony and on when the Judge shows up. All the applicants for naturalization first have to present their Notice. You need to complete the questions on the back and sign it before you get in line. An Officer will check the answers with you and at some point somneone will take your greencard and any re-entry permits that you have. You will be seated, it may be assigned seating in groups according to a particular digit in your A# or it might be first in-first-seated. It depends on the seating arrangement and other logistics, staffing etc.

You'll sit and wait until everyone is seated. There may be preliminary speakers, the judge usually says something they hope is inspiring, then the Oath, the Pledge, the Anthem, they should play a video message from the President, and finally, they hand out the Certificates. Examine your cert carefully and immediately report any error (they usually have table set up for "problems"). Some ceremonies have Passport agents there to collect passport applications (not all that many). Some ceremonies have folks there from non-partisan voter registration, either the Board of Elections employees or a group such as the Laegue of Women Voters to supply voter registration forms, help you fill it out and hand it in. If you do not live in the county where the Ceremony takes place they might not have the right form for everyone.

Oath: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/usc...00b92ca60aRCRD
Pledge: http://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm
Anthem: http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/sta...ledbanner.html

**marballe** · 22nd January 2011, 03:22 AM

Originally Posted by BigJoe5

Tell your instructors about it in advance, probably at least one of them is a naturalized citizen him/herself. I hope you are not a PoliSci major.

Seriously, it really depends on the actual size of the Ceremony and on when the Judge shows up. All the applicants for naturalization first have to present their Notice. You need to complete the questions on the back and sign it before you get in line. An Officer will check the answers with you and at some point somneone will take your greencard and any re-entry permits that you have. You will be seated, it may be assigned seating in groups according to a particular digit in your A# or it might be first in-first-seated. It depends on the seating arrangement and other logistics, staffing etc.

You'll sit and wait until everyone is seated. There may be preliminary speakers, the judge usually says something they hope is inspiring, then the Oath, the Pledge, the Anthem, they should play a video message from the President, and finally, they hand out the Certificates. Examine your cert carefully and immediately report any error (they usually have table set up for "problems"). Some ceremonies have Passport agents there to collect passport applications (not all that many). Some ceremonies have folks there from non-partisan voter registration, either the Board of Elections employees or a group such as the Laegue of Women Voters to supply voter registration forms, help you fill it out and hand it in. If you do not live in the county where the Ceremony takes place they might not have the right form for everyone.

Oath: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/usc...00b92ca60aRCRD
Pledge: http://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm
Anthem: http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/sta...ledbanner.html

Thanks for giving me an idea how the oath ceremony proceeds. I can only hope it will go "on time"...

**baikal3** · 22nd January 2011, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by marballe

But, they gave me a sheet with some info about the oath ceremony (at Oakland Paramount Theatre) along with the passport application. The info sheet said that the participants should report at 9:15 am. The ceremony will start at 10:00 am and end around 10:40 am with as many as 1300 applicants.

My question is: is that time frame realistic?

To be honest, this schedule looks rather unrealistic. You should really expect something like 2.5-3 hours. Before the ceremony even starts, there will be a check-in process, and with 1300 people it is hard to imagine that it could be done in 45 minutes. Once the check-in is completed, and everybody is seated in their proper places, there will be various speeches, probably a video or two, followed by the naturualization oath and the pledge of allegiance. Then the people will be called one by one to the stage to receive their naturalization certificates. With 1300 people just this last step is going to take quite a while. I can't imagine the ceremony being over by 10:40.

**sanjoseaug20** · 22nd January 2011, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by baikal3

Then the people will be called one by one to the stage to receive their naturalization certificates. With 1300 people just this last step is going to take quite a while. I can't imagine the ceremony being over by 10:40.

I do not know about Oakland, but CIS organized NC distribution in Campbell (San Jose) much much better than this. When you sit, they take your oath paper based on the row. For a set of 3-4 rows, there is a separate IO. When the ceremony is done, the same IO comes and hands off the NCs in the same order the oath letters were collected. Takes about 5-10 minutes for the distribution with each IO taking care of 20-30 people I guess. They call about 5 people on stage as a token gesture. Yes, I have heard about Chicago etc., needing 4 hours, so you should really check the data for Oakland. However, in Campbell you can be in and out in 90 minutes ... arrive 20 minutes before the ceremony and leave about 1 hour or so after the start time.
[EDIT/ADD] - BTW, campbell typical capacity is 450 people taking oath.

**Bobsmyth** · 22nd January 2011, 11:08 AM

It really depends on the number of applicants and how organized the DO is. Mine took 25 min, but we were only about 70 people. With 1300 people,you should expect at least 1 to 1 1/2 hrs for the entire ceremony.

**smeagol12** · 31st January 2011, 07:55 PM

Hi there,

I just attend Oath ceremony in Oakland with 1220 people. The time line was as follow:
Time on Oath letter 09.15 AM
Starting of Ceremony 09.30 AM
Ceremony end 10.30 AM (Sweet....I am a US citizen!)
After ceremony, USCIS distributed your certificates.
Finally managed to come out from the building due to the crowd 11:00 AM
I think people was in very good mood, so they took their time to leave the building. If you apply your passport on the spot, it may take you longer time.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!