My interview experience
My interview experience today in Seattle can be described in one word – anti-climactic.
The interview was scheduled for 1 PM; I was in the building by 12:15. (For details on the building, parking, security procedures, etc. see
my fingerprinting experience.) After the security check, I went to the counter, and the lady there told me to go through the double doors and upstairs to the second floor.
Once I went upstairs, I was in a waiting room with plenty of comfortable seating. CNN was playing on a TV. Very airporty. There were a few people waiting there, but no counters or tickets or numbering systems. We waited until almost 1 PM, and a steady stream of people trickled in. When it was almost 1, officers began to come out through side doors and call peoples’ names. I was called at 1:10.
The lady who interviewed me wasn’t overly friendly, but she wasn’t rude either; just matter-of-fact and efficient. We went into her office, and she asked me to raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth. Then she asked me for my Green Card and driver’s license (those were the only documents I was asked to produce during the interview.) She then asked me some questions from the beginning of the application – name, address, height… she seemed to just be making sure I was who I said I was.
She then went through many of the questions around being able to take the oath of allegiance, having any arrest record, being a Communist, willingness to bear arms for the United States, etc. I answered appropriately.
We then moved on to the “testing” portion of the interview. I was asked to read and write a simple English sentence. Then six questions from the List of 100, which I got right.
At that point, I was asked to
print my
full name, rather than signing it the normal way, in boxes 13 and 14 of the N-400. This has been mentioned numerous times on this forum; so I was not surprised. Then I was asked to print my full name on my photos – specifically, on the right of the photos, from bottom to top, in the white space above my shoulder in the photos.
Then the officer asked me if I could take the citizenship oath on March 1. I said yes. She handed me a form N-652, indicating that I’d passed the interview and test, and a form N-445 asking me to be at the USCIS office on March 1 at 2 PM to take the oath. The N-445 has some questions at the back, which need to be checked off before the oath. Unless you decide to become a Communist before the oath ceremony, you should have no problems with those.
The officer then asked me if I had any questions, and I had a mundane one: How early should I be for the oath ceremony? She said that people tend to get there in a crowd, that the check-in starts at 2 PM, and that the actual ceremony is at 3. They don’t start the ceremony until everyone is checked in.
She then congratulated me. I was done! The entire interview had taken less than 15 minutes (yes, I timed it.) She walked me out into the waiting room and I was on my way.
Now for the sort of details we sometimes agonize over in this forum.
Documentation
I divided the documents I needed to take to the interview into three parts (note: I’m single, applying on the five-year basis, and was too old for Selective Service registration when I got my Green Card):
Required: Notice letter, Green Card, driver's license, Passport, extra photos
Nice to have: Driver's record, court dispositions for minor traffic tickets (even though I didn't list them on the N-400,) birth certificate, pen, pencil, checkbook, copy of filled-out N-400
JohnnyCash extremism: Social Security card, Selective Service letter, lease copies (last two years,) tax returns (last five years,) N-400 instructions, Guide to Naturalization, etc.
I took the Required and Nice-to-have documents, but not the JohnnyCash-extremist stuff. I was only asked for the notice letter, my Green Card and my driver’s license.
Signing the photos
In its infinite capacity for torture, the USCIS makes hapless immigrants write on and sign photographs. As anyone who’s filled out the N-400 knows, you’re supposed to write your A# “lightly” on the back of your photographs with a pencil. If you’ve tried this, you know that it’s nigh impossible to write anything on the back of a photo with a pencil, let alone write it “lightly.”
At the interview, they make you sign the front of the photographs (well, they make you print your full name) with a pen. I tried this at home, and was unable to print my name successfully. I then tried a variety of pens until I found one that could do the job. I practiced with it on several photographs, and took it and six backup photos to the interview, in case I screwed up the two photos I’d be asked to sign.
I needn’t have bothered. At the beginning of the interview, I was handed a pen which I used throughout. With this pen, I was able to very easily print my name on the two photographs.
Next Steps
3/1/07 - Take the citizenship oath at a ceremony (1 day)
3/2/07 - Register to vote
3/2/07 - Apply for a US Passport (1-2 weeks with expediting fee)
3/16/07 - Update the Social Security Administration’s database with my citizenship status (1 day)
3/16/07 - Send my Indian Passport to the Indian Consulate in San Francisco for cancellation (1 week with overnight return postage)
3/23/07 - Apply for a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card (2-4 weeks with overnight return postage)
My N-400 timeline:
Mailed N-400: 10/27/06
Priority Date: 10/30/06
Check cashed: 11/2/06
Postmark on FP notice and receipt: 11/7/06
FP date: 11/21/06
Postmark on interview letter: 12/19/06
Interview letter received: 12/28/06
Interview date: 2/20/07
Oath date: 3/1/07
