Baltimore N-400 Timeline

I am done

I finally finished my journey last friday 12th.
I took my oath with other 52 aplicants that same day, everything went smooth.

Good luck guys...
Take care..
 
I had my interview in Baltimore and I have passed the test. I have noticed APPROVED stamp on my file and adj officer told me that I will be called for Oath in few day's-week's.

Can anyone tell me within how many day's/weeks I will be called for Oath? So far I did not received my spouse's interview letter yet.

Regards!
I have received oath letter yesterday and it is scheduled on 24th sep.
Does anyone know if I register for vote after my oath, will I be eligible to cast my vote
in this year's election ?
However I have not yet received interview letter of my spouse yet.
Does any one know after how many day's/wks/mnts/yrs , INS will process spouse's application..though I have submitted N-400 applicaitons together.

Kind Regards.
 
Approved

All,
I had my interview on 09/11/2008 and it was similar to the ones people have mentioned. I reached the baltimore DO at 2 PM, but was the last person to be called for the interview at 3:45 PM as my IO was slow and he apologized for the delay. The total interview was for 15 min's and he told me my case was approved will get a letter regarding the oath. I was a little worried that it might take a month for the oath, luckily I got the oath letter today and my oath is on Sep 26th.

Thank you everyone for answering all my silly questions! you all have been really helpful and wish you all the best.

N-400 mailed to VSC on 05/03/2008
RD 05/05/2008
ND 05/17/2008
FP Notice 05/22/2008
FP 05/29/2008 (Test not offered)
IL 08/08/2008
ID Date : 09/11/2008 2:40 PM
Oath Date:9/26/2008
 
Visit http://www.elections.state.md.us/ for more info.

I just got my voter registation card from Howard County Board of Elections.
I think if you act quickly, you are still able to vote in November.

nws




I have received oath letter yesterday and it is scheduled on 24th sep.
Does anyone know if I register for vote after my oath, will I be eligible to cast my vote
in this year's election ?
However I have not yet received interview letter of my spouse yet.
Does any one know after how many day's/wks/mnts/yrs , INS will process spouse's application..though I have submitted N-400 applicaitons together.

Kind Regards.
 
Today I received my IL, scheduled for 10/22/08. I am so excited and quite surprised as I just had FP done for only a week ago. My online status has not been changed yet..not sure whether it will be updated or not.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
06/01/08 : N-400 Mailed.
06/04/08 : N-400 Received.
06/04/08 : Priority Date.
06/09/08 : Check Cashed.
06/10/08 : Notice Date.
06/13/08 : NOA Received (I-797C) - Expect 180 days for notification .
06/16/08 : FP Notice Received.
06/26/08 : FP Appointment.
06/26/08 : FP Done.
08/18/08 : NDR (Naturalization Document Request) FBI background checked asked more information about arrest. They asked to bring additional paper.
08/19/08 : Interview Notice Received.
09/25/08 : Interview Appointment - Approved
09/25/08 : Oath Letter Given by IO. Requested that Oath Letter to be expedited.
09/30/08 : Oath Date.
09/30/08 : US Citizen..I'm sure it will be okay.
 
Time to report our cases

thanks for your guys' great information, now it's our turn to report something.

application sent: 06/08/2008
FP: around 07/10/2008
IL: around 08/30/2008
ID: 09/24/2008 (wed.), 1:40PM.

our 5-year GC anniversary (employment based) was 8/29, so we sent in the applications about <90 days before that.

didn't expect everything went so quickly... we have overseas travel plans in october (haha, and found here we're not the only "crazy" ones).

read about the same day oath thing, so arrived at 12:45pm to try our luck to see if we can get in earlier...

room 103, about 20 people waiting, submitted interview letter to reception, was told to wait.

not until 1:15PM was someone called (lunch break?).

some took lawyers, but most cases were approved in 20 mins.

1:55PM, my wife was called first (i thought we would be called at the same time), kind of awkward since we brought our documents in the same folder... so she went in and i was worried what if i got called right after by another officer (she took everything!!).

NO, after 20 mins (2:15), she was out with a smile. she was told her case was too straightforward, and after a few simple questions, and wrote down "i drive a blue car to work", her case was approved!! :) she also got that lucky notice to have the oath on the same day.

now i was getting nervous, time was ticking ticking ticking away (i knew 3:00PM was the last ceromony and my wife was told to wait there at 2:30PM)......

no, no, no, i figured my case was somehow misplaced or with a really slow officer or ...

the nice reception lady noticed this and checked for me, yes, it was still in a pile of other cases in some officer's mailbox-like queue...

2:45PM, i was called while wife went to room 101 waiting for the ceromony group got called...

officer appologized to me for the delay and everything went well ... "the white house has a big tree" and 6 civic questions (who becomes president when president dies, how many senators, how long when we re-elect house of representives...), then he went over my N400 application line by line but very quickly. he only asked for GC, passport, and DL (all my tax, employment letter, marriage cert.... were of no use)

in the end, he stamped here and there, asked me to write my name on the pictures (on one side of the front) in N400, one of which would be used on the naturlization certificate.

he told me my case was approved BUT it's too late for the same day oath, he went to find the earliest one for me, and it's next tue morning. i had to take it (which means another few hours loss of hourly wage, sigh...)

when i got out, it's 3:15PM, and saw my wife still waiting in 101 (outside area) with a bunch of other people. i thought i might still get a chance to jump in... so i rushed back to the reception and asked if i could join... she kindly said no and "the cutoff time is 3PM". also, another officer told me there might be no more room for me.

so, lucky and unlucky...

around 3:45PM, she came out with a U.S. flag, new paper, some booklets and a happy face, among with other people, some were indeed in tears and taking pictures.

WHAT a journey! GOOD LUCK everyone!
 
thanks for your guys' great information, now it's our turn to report something.

application sent: 06/08/2008
FP: around 07/10/2008
IL: around 08/30/2008
ID: 09/24/2008 (wed.), 1:40PM.

our 5-year GC anniversary (employment based) was 8/29, so we sent in the applications about <90 days before that.

didn't expect everything went so quickly... we have overseas travel plans in october (haha, and found here we're not the only "crazy" ones).

read about the same day oath thing, so arrived at 12:45pm to try our luck to see if we can get in earlier...

room 103, about 20 people waiting, submitted interview letter to reception, was told to wait.

not until 1:15PM was someone called (lunch break?).

some took lawyers, but most cases were approved in 20 mins.

1:55PM, my wife was called first (i thought we would be called at the same time), kind of awkward since we brought our documents in the same folder... so she went in and i was worried what if i got called right after by another officer (she took everything!!).

NO, after 20 mins (2:15), she was out with a smile. she was told her case was too straightforward, and after a few simple questions, and wrote down "i drive a blue car to work", her case was approved!! :) she also got that lucky notice to have the oath on the same day.

now i was getting nervous, time was ticking ticking ticking away (i knew 3:00PM was the last ceromony and my wife was told to wait there at 2:30PM)......

no, no, no, i figured my case was somehow misplaced or with a really slow officer or ...

the nice reception lady noticed this and checked for me, yes, it was still in a pile of other cases in some officer's mailbox-like queue...

2:45PM, i was called while wife went to room 101 waiting for the ceromony group got called...

officer appologized to me for the delay and everything went well ... "the white house has a big tree" and 6 civic questions (who becomes president when president dies, how many senators, how long when we re-elect house of representives...), then he went over my N400 application line by line but very quickly. he only asked for GC, passport, and DL (all my tax, employment letter, marriage cert.... were of no use)

in the end, he stamped here and there, asked me to write my name on the pictures (on one side of the front) in N400, one of which would be used on the naturlization certificate.

he told me my case was approved BUT it's too late for the same day oath, he went to find the earliest one for me, and it's next tue morning. i had to take it (which means another few hours loss of hourly wage, sigh...)

when i got out, it's 3:15PM, and saw my wife still waiting in 101 (outside area) with a bunch of other people. i thought i might still get a chance to jump in... so i rushed back to the reception and asked if i could join... she kindly said no and "the cutoff time is 3PM". also, another officer told me there might be no more room for me.

so, lucky and unlucky...

around 3:45PM, she came out with a U.S. flag, new paper, some booklets and a happy face, among with other people, some were indeed in tears and taking pictures.

WHAT a journey! GOOD LUCK everyone!

Congratulations! to both you and your wife and thank you for sharing the interview experience and details.

I have an interview on Wednesday at 11.00 am, after reading many posts here, I might have a chance for a same day Oat ceremony. If it happens, would be so wonderful :) But again every case is different, my case tooks a long path for getting FP schedule and finally I have it done.

Right now I am preparing for the interview, documents and the test. I wonder if I need to get all document updated...? Any comments would be highly appreciated.
 
thanks everyone.

mdwaiting, i don't know if you need to update anything. for our cases, we don't have anything new (not even traveled between PD and now). i could actually send in my application a few days earlier, but i changed job on 6/2/08, so didn't want to complicate things/explanations, that's why i sent in my case on 6/8... actually now i think it doesn't even matter at all.

again, GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
 
I finally finished my journey this Sat.

I will be back next year this time for my wife’s N400.

Good luck guys
 
You guys are so lucky, is this because recently the process is speeding up?

I took my FP in January, and haven't heard anything ever since. I finally called today and was told
1. no info in system yet for my case
2. currently my case is still within "normal" processing time range. - If my PD is 12/27/2007, it would be out of the "normal" range

Just FYI - and congratulations to those who only need 3,4 months to get it done.
 
I am now a new proud US Citizen!

Just wanna share a news that I am now finally a USC. :) I had the interview yesterday and I was also lucky enough to have the same day Oath ceremony. It was a long day for me but I was very happy and felt relief that it was really over!

I arrived at the Baltimore Office and checked in at the room 103 about 1.5 hour earlier. I thought it would be a long boring wait. Then I was surprised when I was called in after the only 20 min wait!

My interview did not start off smoothly though. IO notified me as soon as I sat down in her office that my application might be submitted too early. She recounted my days and double checked with her supervior. I was in the meanwhile really nervous! IO came back in 5 mins and told me that my application was ok to process. I asked her what would happen if it was not ok..she replied quickly that I would be declined.
I would recommend everyone to make sure your days of eligible submission, otherwise it could create unfortunate results.

IO then got right started the interview process, I swore in then she asked for my passport, Greencard and DL. IO did not ask for any originals or addtional documents from me. We went through the test very quickly I answered correctly 6 questions, she moved on to the reading and writing test. Then she congratulated me that I passed all the test, I signed the photos and a paper. She reviewed information and asked questions on the appliaction. She especially reviewed my tax income that filed in my case, just to confirm my marriage status. Then she congratulated me and handed me the N-652 interview result with an announcement that my appliaction was recommended for approval. She also offerred me an appointment for an OATH Ceremony that was held later on the same day. I was so excited and very happy to attend the Ceremony afterward. The interview process took about 20 mins, even finished before my actual appointment time. IO was very professional and helpful. She gave me some advises about the OATH Ceremony and apply for a passport as well.

At the Oath Ceremony, there were 35 new USCs. It was a lifetime experience. I was very happy and could not believe that I became a new proud USC. I returned my greencard and every new USC received a welcome kit and letter. We swore in and sung a National Anthem. I received a Naturalization Certificate and ended the Ceremony with pictures taken. The process lasted about 45 mins.

This has been a long frustrate process for me, although it actually ended within a timeline process (a total of 177 days).
I did have a rough path about getting my FP. I contacted USCIS many times until I got my FP appoinment. I never gave up hopes and I always trust my instinct. I really want to thank every post member here who shares experiences and information. You all have been very helpful.
I would not complete my journal without your helps.:)
 
Oath ceremony question

I was finally given a date for my Oath ceremony as Oct 24 but had to be out of the country for a family funeral. I sent them a letter asking for a new date. Form your experience can others tell me how long will it take before I am given a new date?
Thanks
 
from few of the post here about Baltimore field office it seems thay allow you enter the fallon building approximately 1 to 1.5 hours earlier than the n400 interview time.

Is my observation correct.

If some one has expericne in this regard I would appreciate some posts.

vik_b
 
I wrote previously that I had to request they reschedule my oath ceremony. I got a phone call telling me to appear for it this week.

However I have yet to receive a written notice with the new date.

I only have a COPY of the orginal notice (I returned the original with a letter explaining why I could not appear) and I have a notice they sent me of my failed appearance stating someone would contact me with a new date. ...I did get just a phone call of the new date.

So when I arrive there (Baltimore) I will take what I have but will they have my name listed to allow me in? I have nothing with this week's appointment date on it? I hope this does not create a problem when I arrive there.
Thanks
 
Completed

wento today and had my oath with 60 others. Now I just need to apply for my passport. Good luck to everyone still waiting and thanks to everyone who offered guidance.
 
Baltimore Interview and Oath experience.

I finally finished my journey.

First thing timeline for other hopefulls:

PD 7/29/08
FP 8/23/08
IL 10/15/08
ID 11/20/08
OD 11/20/08

Here are the details for the intrested.
Interview time was 11:20am at baltimore hopkins plaza. I reached at 9:30am hoping I might get in early. As luck would have it my was called early but I was in restroom :)).

Any ways I was called in at 11:30am. The IO was polite, efficient and experienced.
He went over each question in the N400 form. I had one minor traffic incident which was thrown out by the judge, but I had not reported it. The IO said I should have but was happy to see that I had the documentation proof. I asked about selective service registration and I said I was more than 26 years when I got my GC so I did not need to register and he accepted it.

The civic , written and spoken english test were easy. Actaully I opted for the new test but it seemed that IO was not prepared for the new tests so I offered to take the old one and he was happy.

He said he was recommending me for the naturalization and would I prefer same day oath or come back later. I opted to take the oath same day. The oath was quick and efficient.

I was done in an hour.


vik_b

proud citizen since today 4:00pm.
 
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