Interview experience in Houston, TX - District Office
My wife and I had our interviews today. The following is our experience.
• Appointment time 9:30 AM for both of us.
• Arrived at the USCIS parking lot at 8:45 AM. Came from the west side of town (~38 miles). Took advantage of the HOV lane during the morning traffic and arrived in 50 minutes.
• Arrived at 8:50 AM at the front door of the building. Went through the security check. One of them was courteous and the other one was more like a jail warden. No offense taken. Did not ask why we were at the building or asked us to show any paperwork.
• Went inside and turned left which is more Immigration and InfoPass services, I believe. One of the staff asked us why we were there and directed us to the opposite side of the open floor where it clearly says "Naturalization Waiting". She (professional demeanor) also adviced us to drop the "Interview Letter" in the bin outside the Customer Service Window on the opposite side. Realized the chairs face the opposite direction towards Naturalization Customer Service window. The glass window had blinds closed and had a "In" box on the window sill instructing to place the interview letter. Professional demeanor.
• Placed the "Interview Letter" in the "in" box and took a seat. There were about 6-8 rows of seating with about 50% occupancy. The occupancy remained roughly same throughout the time we were there.
• I was called 20 minutes past my stated interview time in the letter. The IO was courteous and made small chitchat about weather and traffic.
• He took me to his office and asked me to stand and take the oath to tell the truth.
• After the "I do" statement he asked me to take a seat. I sat down and he said that I will take the tests and then he will go through the application. My application along with all the paperwork I had ever submitted to USCIS (in all its denominations and names) since I came to this country 20+ years ago and gone through 3 or 4 different legal statuses was in a huge file in front of him. Now I know how they can loose someone's file...
He asked me for my drivers license, PR card, and passports (old and new). Verified it and made some notes in the application including the numbers. Asked me to sign the application in couple of places and print my name.
• The first test was history conducted orally and the first question was "who wrote the "Declaration of Independence"?" I got stumped and said "Founding Fathers". He did not comment but wrote down my answer and marked incorrect in his paperwork. Following that question he asked me 6 other questions in history and civics. I aced the rest.
• Next was Reading followed by Writing Test. One sentence to read and one sentence to write.
• He seemed satisfied and he signed off on all those test papers and he moved on to the application portion as he indicated he will do. Meanwhile, he kept looking at his monitor, typing something and it kept dinging every 5 seconds or so indicating an alert or message. I was getting a little uneasy (reason: I received a yellow letter with my appt. letter stating to bring records of my arrests, etc. The problem was that I was never arrested or have committed a crime. I had mentioned in my N-400 that I got traffic tickets (six or so in 20 years) for speeding (least 11 miles above speed limit and highest 16 miles above speed limit; most of them in freeways and one in major road within the city; no construction or school zone violations) or moving violation (one). So I did not have any paperwork and my traffic violations were more than 4 years old. Got most of them dismissed by taking traffic safety courses. No certified paperwork stating that the tickets were dismissed. So, I did not carry any paperwork for this request.
• The IO after staring at the monitor started talking to me and I could not figure out what he was saying as whatever he said was not relevant to my application. My preconceived notion of those dings being messages or alerts did not help. Anyway, after a few seconds I figured those dings were email messages and that someone within USCIS had sent an email blast across the organization (20,000 employees??) and everybody replying not to send them. Anyway, he said he had already deleted 300 of them and there were 180 more in the few minutes he was conducting the tests for me. oof! now I get it...it is not me and he was not even looking up my application. He was completely distracted by this email fiasco and meanwhile here I am fretting about the tickets I had mentioned in the application and no paperwork to prove I did not commit a crime or been arrested.
• He basically went through most of the questions in the application confirming my answer in it and asking questions (date of birth, marital status, # of children, address, place of employment, etc.) in between to establish that the person in the application is the person across from him. Still distracted with the dings in his computer and making comments how people wouldn't stop sending emails. Now that I know the reason behind his distraction I was relieved and put a diplomatic smile and nodding my head and fake sharing in his frustration. I thought to myself, "sorry you have to go through this email issue, but can we go through this paperwork so I can leave you alone to chat with your colleagues and have a cup of coffee?" Saw a Keuring m/c in the office.
• As he was verifying the answers to the questions he made stops at couple of places: taxes and traffic violations and made comments. He said, "do you owe any state or federal taxes and have you paid all of them?" I said, yes I did and he asked me in serious tone, "will you pay mine?" I paused and said, "No. Why?". He said "Wrong answer" and quickly followed it up with a big smile and said, " I am joking". Again it took me a second or so to figure out what transpired and had to put up a fake smile. I am sure he thought, "hey man! relax. It was a joke...don't you have a sense of humor?" He did a similar thing when he stopped at the question about traffic violations and I confirmed to him I have absolutely no sense of humor. I was relieved as he did not even mention about the yellow letter and he went to the next question after confirming that it was all minor traffic infractions and I did not get arrested.
• Anyway, thereafter the questions went quick. He signed and stamped with couple of different stamps in many places in the application and other paperwork. Typed few things in the computer, printed couple of sheets, made some marks, initialed them and handed it to me. He said I was done and told me to expect the oath ceremony letter in the mail. He commented the date will be sometime in April.
• Thanked him and he escorted me to the waiting area. Total time spent in his office: less than 20 minutes, more like 17 minutes.
• My wife was still not called in. Waited for 5 more minutes and they called her in. She was out in less than 15 minutes. Her experience was straightforward; courteous, but professional; focussed on the process and no hiccups. Verify, question, make notes, initial, stamp, and sign.
• Back at the parking lot by 10:40 AM and at home by 11:20 AM. Less than 4 hours total.
That was my experience. Looking forward to getting my Oath ceremony done and getting my passport.
Good luck for those waiting and hope it goes as smoothly as it did for me.
