Philadelphia PA - N-400 Timeline

Parking place at interview

I have my interview schedule towards the end of May. I was wondering what would be the best place to park the car near Philadelphia field office

1600 Callowhill Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130

Thanks
 
5 months and 3 days!! Still waiting for oath letter!
When I inquired at the 3 months mark I was told my application has been granted.

What's the longest anyone has waited for the oath letter?
Is there anything I can do to push this along? :(

UPDATE: I called the 800# and kept escalating it until I got a "Service Request" filled.
I was given a confirmation number so I can check on it if I don't hear anything.
 
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I finally got my US passport this week. So here's my updated dates.

April 2008 - Applied US Citizen
May 2008 - Finger Prints Scan
Oct 2008 - Interview Passed
March 2009 - Oath
April 2009 - Passport Received

Good Luck everybody!


I am coming here less and less since I became US Citizen. So I will post my dates and experience. I count the whole process in unit of month

April 2008 - Applied US Citizen
May 2008 - Finger Prints Scan
Oct 2008 - Interview Passed
March 2009 - Oath

So it took little less than a year. Everybody told me that it will take a year and it seems to me that they were right. I came on this board looking for way to make expedite my process but found absolutely nothing. As far as I know, except for infopass, there's nothing you can do but waiting. It felt like it was the one of the longest 4 months in my life between Interview and Oath.

Infopass wasn't too useful to me because only thing the clerk told me was, "just wait for the oath letter". it was little frustrating because no matter what I asked her, she would keep repeating herself, "just wait for the oath letter." They don't know when you will get the letter either.

Now, I'm waiting for my passport. I was told it will take me 4 weeks at least. I didn't do the express service since i'm not in hurry to travel outside US.

Good Luck everybody. Hope this helps. Anybody waiting for oath, just wait. You will get your turn.
 
Hello

I am also a DE resident with interview date of Feb 12th. Still waiting for Oath letter.

Hello preenu69: Did you try to find out why this is being delayed so much? For ex.: via infopass or calling them?
 
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Did you try to find out why this is being delayed so much? For ex.: via infopass or calling them?

I've been waiting for almost 6 months.
I scheduled 2 Infopasses and called them several times (2 over the phone info requests)

All they can tell you is: your application has been approved/granted on X date. wait for your oath letter.
If you escalate further they file a service request with the office handling your app and they send you an email/letter saying they are investigating...

No help what so ever. The last resort is to sue them based on the last line of your interview receipt. It states that they have to make a decision within 2 months...

I'm giving them 1 more month before I contact an attorney. What a headache :(
 
I've been waiting for almost 6 months.
I scheduled 2 Infopasses and called them several times (2 over the phone info requests)

All they can tell you is: your application has been approved/granted on X date. wait for your oath letter.
If you escalate further they file a service request with the office handling your app and they send you an email/letter saying they are investigating...

No help what so ever. The last resort is to sue them based on the last line of your interview receipt. It states that they have to make a decision within 2 months...

I'm giving them 1 more month before I contact an attorney. What a headache :(


Philadelphia DO strikes again! I was shaking my head when I read your post. It all sounds familiar. Don't know how long it has been since your N400 filing. In my case it took 19 months from beginning to end. After I was out of the infamous name-check (it took less than 4 months, not that bad really), it took the DO 9 months to schedule the interview, and when they did I was given only 5 days of notice. The oath letter didn't come until 4.5 months later. I had numerous InfoPass appointments, only one - the last one - was actually helpful, often the USCIS employee couldn't do anything due to the dysfunctional system, and on more than one occassion it looked as if USCIS had just took some random person off the street and put her behind the counter.

Do not despair! You will overcome this.
 
I am also a DE resident with interview date of Feb 12th. Still waiting for Oath letter.

Unless you chose to take oath in Philadelphia - I was never given that option a year ago, even though it was offered to some others - most likely your oath date will be June 4. In Delaware oath ceromonies are held at the federal court for the District of Delaware in downtown Wilmington, on the first Thursday of the month in spring and fall only. The April and May ceremonies are usually just clearing out backlogs from last fall/winter. In the last two years the June ceremony was held at Clayton Hall on UD campus and included just about everyone whose passed his/her interview by the end of April.
 
Dear stb9

Thanks for your post and information. This provides some hope! I was under the impression that only those who request name change have to go for oath at the DE district court and the rest have to do it at the PA downtown office.
 
Thanks for your post and information. This provides some hope! I was under the impression that only those who request name change have to go for oath at the DE district court and the rest have to do it at the PA downtown office.

You are welcome...I certainly hope the information is still accurate :) The District Court can confirm the ceremony dates, but they have no information whatsoever on who are on the list.

You may have done this, but just as a reminder, you should make sure the following while waiting : 1) Is there anything pending on your application except the oath? An InfoPass appointment *should* confirm this, although I often knew more about what was going on than the "Information Officer"; 2) Are your fingerprints current? This is probably moot now, from what I understand USCIS keeps prints collected after mid-2007 on file, rather than asking the applicant to show up whenever they need to re-run the screening with the FBI. Besides, most likely you case didn't run as long as mine did for the fingerprints to "expire".
 
Done!! :D Now a citizen.

I would like to add that the last 4 to 6 weeks of the process were a very good experience for me (except for the waiting :)). The Philadelphia DO was helpful and efficient and was able to accommodate my multiple requests for re-schedules on the oath date.

So, to everybody who is working through the process, it's not always all problems and fighting the system, my experience is that good things do happen.

And, if anybody from the Philadelphia office reads this board, and thread.... well done, one happy customer here.

H
 
Done!! :D Now a citizen.

I would like to add that the last 4 to 6 weeks of the process were a very good experience for me (except for the waiting :)). The Philadelphia DO was helpful and efficient and was able to accommodate my multiple requests for re-schedules on the oath date.

So, to everybody who is working through the process, it's not always all problems and fighting the system, my experience is that good things do happen.

And, if anybody from the Philadelphia office reads this board, and thread.... well done, one happy customer here.

H

Congratulations on your citizenship!

Consider yourself lucky, however, because your case never fell off the track so no effort was needed to correct the situation...it probably never occurred to you that for every case to go through quickly like yours did, it is at the expense of another case that got bumped. Most cases flow through the system, albeit slowly, following a somewhat similary timeline. USCIS is always dealing with a mountain of backlogs, and processing takes time. That's all right. Because every case is different, it is impossible to demand first-in-first-out, that's all right, too. Some cases fall behind, due to factors unrelated to the applicants in any way, even that is all right to an extent. What is unacceptable is that when something goes wrong the unfortunately applicants can do nothing except banging their heads against the wall, because there is no mechanism to ensure anything fallen off the track will get back on track in a timely manner, and during all that time you find USCIS stonewalling you. The only way to get any response is through the staff of your congressman/senator, if they are as good as Senator Biden's. Some at the agency are obviously overworked, my sympathy goes to them, many of whom have a sincere desire to help but often can't because the system is broken.

Instead of doing an good job 20% of the time, a mediocre job 75% of the time, a bad job 4% of the time, and having a major screw-up 1% of the time, it is much better to do a mediocre job 99% of the time, a bad job 1% of the time AND not let a bad job become a major screw-up.
 
Oath Schedule for May/June 2009

Hi Folks,

I have my interview scheduled on 19th-May-2009. How do I know the Oath schedule in advance?

By the way, what are the documents to carry other than the Standard, GC Card, Passport and Driving license?

Here are my dates Aprox:

01/26/2009 N-400 Mailing Date
02/20/2009 FP (Allowed to complete earlier than the scheduled date)
03/30/2009 Interview Letter
05/19/2009 Interview Appointment

Thank you all for your contribution.

\
 
Unless you chose to take oath in Philadelphia - I was never given that option a year ago, even though it was offered to some others - most likely your oath date will be June 4. In Delaware oath ceromonies are held at the federal court for the District of Delaware in downtown Wilmington, on the first Thursday of the month in spring and fall only. The April and May ceremonies are usually just clearing out backlogs from last fall/winter. In the last two years the June ceremony was held at Clayton Hall on UD campus and included just about everyone whose passed his/her interview by the end of April.

You are right about Oath Ceremonies in Delaware.

My wife's and mine interview was on March 6,2009.We got our Oath letters yesterday scheduled for June 4 at Clayton Hall.My wife is going to India on May31st,so we are planning to send a letter to reschedule.She will come back only in august.When do you think the next oath will be?

Another intresting thing is our friend's family's interview(they had name change too) was on March 9th.They are also Delaware residents and they had their Oath on May7th at Wilmington Court.We came to know some other people who had their interview 1 month after ours also had Oath on May7th

Thanks
 
Thanks

You are welcome...I certainly hope the information is still accurate :) The District Court can confirm the ceremony dates, but they have no information whatsoever on who are on the list.

You may have done this, but just as a reminder, you should make sure the following while waiting : 1) Is there anything pending on your application except the oath? An InfoPass appointment *should* confirm this, although I often knew more about what was going on than the "Information Officer"; 2) Are your fingerprints current? This is probably moot now, from what I understand USCIS keeps prints collected after mid-2007 on file, rather than asking the applicant to show up whenever they need to re-run the screening with the FBI. Besides, most likely you case didn't run as long as mine did for the fingerprints to "expire".

As you had mentioned, things have turned out in the exact same way. We received the Oath Ceremony letter for June 4th, 2009. Thanks again for the accurate info.
 
DE - Oath scheduled for June 4th

We just received the oath letter few days back. Ours are scheduled in Clayton hall UD campus on June 4th.
It was a long wait after interview (Feb 12th) but finally received the letter.
 
You are right about Oath Ceremonies in Delaware.

My wife's and mine interview was on March 6,2009.We got our Oath letters yesterday scheduled for June 4 at Clayton Hall.My wife is going to India on May31st,so we are planning to send a letter to reschedule.She will come back only in august.When do you think the next oath will be?

Another intresting thing is our friend's family's interview(they had name change too) was on March 9th.They are also Delaware residents and they had their Oath on May7th at Wilmington Court.We came to know some other people who had their interview 1 month after ours also had Oath on May7th

Thanks

The next one in Delaware will be in early September, if the schedule follows the same pattern from the last two years. So that will actually work out well for you.
 
Waiting for Oath letter

I had the interview on May 19th 2009 at Philly Office and lasted about 15 minutes. I saw him stamping approved SEAL on my application file and told me to take oath on July 4th. I requested for an earlier date, he said NO and mentioned that Oath letter will arrive on time.

My status on case online can't be acccessed as it says information incomplete in their system. Does it mean that they are updating my information?

If I receive the letter before June 4th, is it possible to do the Oath on June 4th. How does this thing works?
 
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I had the interview on May 19th 2009 at Philly Office and lasted about 15 minutes. I saw him stamping approved SEAL on my application file and told me to take oath on July 4th. I requested for an earlier date, he said NO and mentioned that Oath letter will arrive on time.

My status on case online can't be acccessed as it says information incomplete in their system. Does it mean that they are updating my information?

If I receive the letter before June 4th, is it possible to do the Oath on June 4th. How does this thing works?

Do not bother with the online status. For some it disappears right after the interview is out, and for some it remains "received and pending" forever - even after they have been naturalized. Obviously the database behind it is not the same one used by the field office when you make an inquiry in person at InfoPass.

You probably have heard the date wrong. Although the DO held small ceremonies at the National Constitution Center to commemorate Independence Day in the past, on July 2, 2007 for example, I doubt it was ever actually on July 4. If it is indeed on July 4, I am pretty sure some big-wig will be giving a speech.

More likely the IO meant July 1 and you will be naturalized with maybe 2,000 other people. If you visit the website of the Pennsylvania Convention Center and look for bookings in July, you'll know what I mean...small ceremonies are held quite often at 1600 Callowhill, but I think the DO stop them for the weeks prior to such "mega" ceremonies in order to queue up enough people for the latter.
 
Oath Letter

PA Convention center has July 1st booked for USICS. Does anybody else waiting for the same date Oath? How long it takes to get the Oath letter?

Thanks
 
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