My Oath Experience at Brooklyn New York

R

ratrat

Registered Users (C)

Hi All,

I did it! I am a US Citizen! I came home tonight after work and there was a suprise party waiting for me! Today has been awesome!!!

OK, anyway, back to the important stuff - my Oath experience...

1) Walked in at about 7:45 A.M. for the 8:00 A.M. Ceremony (as listed on the letter)... perfect timing because at about 7:50 A.M. the officer came in and asked us to move from the 1st floor waiting room to the ceremonial courtroom on the second floor...

2) Once we got to the second floor, we were asked to present our Oath letter and CURRENT green card (more about this later) at the door...the officer checked the dates and then let us go inside and sit down...

3) BRING SOMETHING TO READ...they process upwards of 200-300 people per ceremony so you will be waiting around a LOT...

4) First thing the officer did was to crack some jokes - it really made all of us feel at ease...

5) He reviewed the questions on the back of the Oath letter - even though it says to fill it out before the Oath, you should wait until you get there because they review each question, and tell you how exactly to answer and sign the document...TAKE A BLACK BALLPOINT PEN - you are not allowed to sign your naturalization certificate in BLUE...

6) Once we completed our questions (on the back of the Oath letter), one row of people were called at a time...when you are called up, you need to do four things:

A. Have your Oath letter checked by the officer - it is given back to you...

B. Turn in ALL greencards (EVEN EXPIRED ONES), Re-Entry permits, I-94's, EADs, Homeland Security Travel Documents (the green ones), etc. Don't forget to take your OLD green cards/I-94s/EADs...if you don't, they expect you to GO BACK to Garden City office within 2 weeks to hand it in - which is a hassle...

C. Pick up your Oath of Allegiance, USCIS Hotline Information Sheet, and Letter from George W. Bush

D. MOST IMPORTANT: Verify and sign your Naturalization Certificate...Check the spelling of your name, Gender, Height, Date of Birth, and Country of Origin very carefully...You then get to sign your certificate in BLACK PEN only...

7) They will ask you sit back down and bring in your family members to see you get sworn in...

8) After the Judge comes in, the court officer will ask you to repeat the Oath of Allegiance and the Pledge of Allegiance...

9) Judge will say a few nice words and go away...

10) Your name is called and you hand in your Oath letter and receive your Naturalization Certificate...

11) You also fill out a Voter Registration Card if you want...

All in all, the procedure took about 4 hours from start to finish...you can bring food and drink with you and eat outside the court room...however you cannot bring cellphones and cameras...so unless it is absolutely necessary to have your cellphone, leave it at home...if you bring it with you - security will take it away and return it to you when you leave...

Next step: US Passport!

Ratrat
 
WaitingVSC1, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that by that time, there will be improvements in processing time and you will get it in a few months!!

Thanks everybody for the wishes!

Ratrat
 
Question:

"B. Turn in ALL greencards (EVEN EXPIRED ONES), Re-Entry permits, I-94's, EADs, Homeland Security Travel Documents (the green ones), etc. Don't forget to take your OLD green cards/I-94s/EADs...if you don't, they expect you to GO BACK to Garden City office within 2 weeks to hand it in - which is a hassle..."

Ok, suppose that, I did not bring the old green card. I am not sure I understood correctly, but, even if that's the case, the INS still will allow you to taken an oath and make you turn the card later??? or, they don't even allow you to taken oath?


I appreciate your post!
Thank you!
 
Congrats

Hey Congrats,

Your oath seemed unusually long, 4 hrs?....mine was no where that long.

How did they handle the mistakes on the form? (using a blue pen or filling it out before that day, I'm sure they didn't send people home for bad behavior :D Just curious, the N-445 form is available online for the oath ceremony, http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/n-445.htm I'm assuming it's acceptable like every other USCIS form, as long as you have the original oath letter.

Again congrats, and remember to vote.
 
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As I always say to new Americans.. Congrats on reaching the life's milestone, and please be a responsible citizen.


------------------------
Spirit of USA Personal Responsibility, Opportunity, Equality.
 
Answer to questions...

Ok, suppose that, I did not bring the old green card. I am not sure I understood correctly, but, even if that's the case, the INS still will allow you to taken an oath and make you turn the card later??? or, they don't even allow you to taken oath?
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As I mentioned, they allowed us to do this in the Brooklyn New York cermony we were in. I am not sure if this is the standard for Oath ceremonies everywhere. Yes everyone was allowed to take their Oath and then given two weeks to bring missing documents to the officer (he told us his contact information) - no one's Oath was delayed or cancelled.


Your oath seemed unusually long, 4 hrs?....mine was no where that long.
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Umm, I don't know if the length of the cermony was due to the number of people processed that day (over 300 I believe).


How did they handle the mistakes on the form? (using a blue pen or filling it out before that day, I'm sure they didn't send people home for bad behavior
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I made the mistake of filling out my oath letter questions the day before. I had entered the wrong thing for "Signed at" and they let me cross it out and correct it. If there was a mistake on the naturalization certificate, I don't know what they would do - it didn't happen to me. The N-445 clearly states that you should use a black pen to answer the questions. So when you go up to sign your certificate, if you don't have a black pen, the officer might give you one - when I went up - she asked me "is that a black pen?" - that's why I said take black.


Just curious, the N-445 form is available online for the oath ceremony, ttp://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/n-445.htm I'm assuming it's acceptable like every other USCIS form, as long as you have the original oath letter.
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Sorry, I'm a bit confused. For me, this was my original Oath letter. Visapro describes this form as something sent to applicant - http://www.visapro.com/US-INS-Forms/Form-N-445.asp. When I went for my interview, the officer filled out the N-445 with the details of my Oath date and gave it to me. I apologize if I missed the point of your question?


Thanks,

Ratrat
 
ratrat said:
Sorry, I'm a bit confused. For me, this was my original Oath letter. Visapro describes this form as something sent to applicant - http://www.visapro.com/US-INS-Forms/Form-N-445.asp. When I went for my interview, the officer filled out the N-445 with the details of my Oath date and gave it to me. I apologize if I missed the point of your question?


Thanks,

Ratrat
Click to expand...

The original oath invitation letter comes with N-445. Your letter is of no significance because it is the N-445 that gives you entry into the Oath cermony and all other good stuff that goes with it.


------------------------
Spirit of USA Personal Responsibility, Opportunity, Equality.
 
dsfgh100 is 100% correct. dsfgh100 (not dsfgh101) is the best immigration expert on this board.

Thx dsfgh100 !!
 
dsfgh100 said:
The original oath invitation letter comes with N-445. Your letter is of no significance because it is the N-445 that gives you entry into the Oath cermony and all other good stuff that goes with it.


------------------------
Spirit of USA Personal Responsibility, Opportunity, Equality.
Click to expand...

dsfgh100 is 100% correct. That is why his user name has "100" in it.
 
dsfgh100 said:
The original oath invitation letter comes with N-445. Your letter is of no significance because it is the N-445 that gives you entry into the Oath cermony and all other good stuff that goes with it.
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I'll take everyone else's word for it...

To clarify to everyone, I did not have two separate letters...

Since I was given my N-445 at my interview, the N-445 is the only Oath-related document I ever received.

This is why I apologized for misundestanding the question because I do not have a personal experience or knowledge of receiving two separate letters...

Cheers! :)
 
ratrat said:
I'll take everyone else's word for it...

To clarify to everyone, I did not have two separate letters...

Since I was given my N-445 at my interview, the N-445 is the only Oath-related document I ever received.

This is why I apologized for misundestanding the question because I do not have a personal experience or knowledge of receiving two separate letters...

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks ratrat. As I mentioned in the last post, 445 is the critical part of oath invitation. Oath letter (which some people get) is of no legal significance.

I was the first to use "445" in this thread. I assumed everyone knew that comes with the oath invitation or is the oath invitation. Maybe I should have clarified earlier.


----------------------------
Vote Bush '04
 
ratrat said:
I'll take everyone else's word for it...
Click to expand...

You see? I warned about JoeF and his quack team that disrrupts this board. JoeF, Rahul, Hapless, johnEdwards and their other gang members dont like serious discussions about immigration. They want chaos and disturbances.

----------------------------
Vote Bush '04
 
Re: N-445

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. The point I was making was that the form is available online, so that if you do make a mistake, such as, using a blue pen or other mistakes, you can print one online and fill it out, with your original invitation letter, and bring it to the oath ceremony.

Also, the invitation letter does not state you should fill it out infront of the officer, just that you fill it out on the day of the oath, incase your situation chaged prior to that day. I guess the officers do that so as to minimize the amount of error people make. the N-445 is avaliable, just as the N-400 is available online for the same reason that people can download it and fill it out.
 
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