So i had my interview today.
The interview was scheduled for 9.45am. I arrived at the USCIS office at 9.15am, showed my IL, and was asked to take a seat. My IL was taken from me. I was called at 9.50am and went with the officer down a long corridor into his office. As soon as we were in, he closed the door and asked me to take a seat. He then asked for my GC and ID. I gave both to him, and he said i had to swear to tell the truth during the interview. He asked me to stand and raise my right hand. He asked if i will tell the truth during the interview. I answered yes, and he asked me to take a seat.
He said, "first we will take the tests." He asked me to read the sentence on a piece of paper, "I want to be a United States citizen". I read the sentence, he then checked the box marked "correct". He then gave me a piece of paper and asked me to write "Freedom of speech is a right". He read the sentence off another piece of paper. After writing it, i gve the paper to him and he again checked the "correct" box on the paper.
He then said we would proceed with the civics test. He asked me the following questions
1. What to we pledge allegiance to when we take the oath? (The Flag)
2. Who did the United States fight in World War II? (Italy,Germany and Japan)
3. Who signs bills into Law? (The President)
4. What is the capital of your state? (Denver)
5. What is the Supreme Law of the Land? (The Constitution)
6. What is an Amendment? (A change to the Constitution)
He then said we would stop, since i had 6 correct answers.
We then proceeded to go through my application. He asked every question on the application and crossed the answers off, as i answered. When we got to the arrests and citation, he asked "Have you ever been cited for any offence?". I answered yes. He then asked "where they just traffic tickets?". I answered yes, and he wrote "traffic ticket" against the answer. He was not interested in how the citations were resolved. I had gotten my driving record from the DMV, copies of the checks i had written to pay for the tickets etc. But he was not interested. Didn't even ask. We went through the rest of the questions. When we got to the part about trips out of the US, he asked how many trips i had taken since becoming a Permanent Resident. I answered 34. He then said "for a total of 214 days?", i answered yes. He then asked for my passport. I gave him the current passport as wells as the two expired ones i had. He flipped through the pages and cross checked a couple of the trips. He handed my passport back to me and proceeded through the application.
Since i had written that my wife resided in the UK, he asked me if i planned on bringing her over. I answered yes i was. I told him i was waiting to get my citizenship before filing for her. He smiled and said "yes, its a lot easier that way". We went through the rest of the questions. We then got to the part about how many children i had. I had put down one when i was filling the application. But we had another baby last month. He asked if i had the birth certificate with me. I answered that i didn't. He said "ok". He asked for the name of the baby. I told him and he wrote it on the application. He asked for the date of birth. I told him and he wrote it in the application. He then noticed that my first child and the second had the same birthday. He said "Oh, they have the same birthday?" I said yes and he smiled and asked "How did you do that?". I just smiled..... He went on. He asked all the questions about "have you ever supported a terrorist organization" etc... i answered no to all.
When we were done, he handed me my GC and ID, asked me to sign my passport photographs. He then said "congratulations. I will recommend your application for approval. Are you available this afternoon at 1.30pm for the oath?" I couldn't believe it!! I answered "yes". He said ok. Handed me a piece of paper, asked me to sign my name and answer some questions at the back. He said all the answers would be "NO", since i was coming back for the oath in 3 hours. I was elated. He walked me out and said, see you at 1.30pm.
All in all the interview took 17 mins.
I arrived back at the USCIS office at 1pm. All the applicants who had been interviewed that morning, were asked to come back. We went into a large waiting area and at 1.30pm announcement was made asking us to go up to the 3rd floor. At the third floor, they took the letter and GC, stapled the GC to the letter, and asked us to go into another waiting area. There were about 80 of us. On our seats was a package and a flag. They took us through the contents of the package - A letter from President Obama congratulating US, a copy of the US constitution, an application for US passport, a piece of paper on "what to do next" (register to vote, apply for a passport, update your record at the social security office etc). The ceremony began.. . The the judge gave a short speech on how our journey to becoming a citizen would end today. The then read through the list of countries were everyone was from. Asked us to stand when our country was called. We then sang the anthem, took the oath, and recited the pledge. He then said "congratulations, you are now a citizen." we watched a message from President Obama congratulating us. They then handed each of us our Naturalization Certificates, asked us to verify the information to make sure our names were spelled correctly etc. They then said anyone who wanted to apply for a passport could do so on the second floor. People were encouraged to take pictures all through the ceremony. I left as soon as i made sure my name was spelled correctly.
I am glad the journey is over. From start to finish it took me 2 months and 24 days. I was very lucky to get a same day oath.
Good luck to everyone!!
