Changing Oath Date. Good Idea?

J

JCO

New Member
OK i am new to the forum. I just got my Oath appointment date but here is my issue. It is July 12th. I was told that they take your Green card away and you old passport. I have had a vacation planned for about a yr for which i have to leave the country so my issue is that if they take those docs away i won't be able to travel until i get my US passport and my vacation is literally 3 weeks after my app.

I am thinking about asking for a later date. Any ideas? With the passport back log; i know i will not get my passport in time at all and it even takes 3 weeks to be able to be tracked in the system.
 
You can setup an appointment with the Passport Agency serving your area. Once you have the appointment, provided that you have documentation of the upcoming trip (travel plan, airline tickets etc.) the Passport Agency can deliver a passport in an accelerated way.

You can browse through the State Department site to know more about expediting your passport http://travel.state.gov/passport/about/npic/npic_898.html
 
Just to clarify.

1) Yes they do take away your green card.
2) They do not take away your old passport BUT
3) After your oath ceremony you can only leave and enter the US on your new US passport.
4) If you already have travel plans and travel documentation, the fastest way to get a passport is to either (a) go to your nearest official passport office or (b) use a third party agency.
5) Putting your application into the system via post office etc can take 4-8 weeks even for an expedited passport.
 
I would highly suggest going to the oath ceremony. Don't postpone it.

Make an appointment at one of the regional passport office that is closest to you and bring along your ticket or receipt that shows your planned trip and they can make your passport within a couple of hours or a day or so. I would suggest making the appointment as early as possible for either the day of the oath or a day after the oath as these appointments tend to get filled up pretty quickly.

Here is the URL: http://travel.state.gov/passport/about/agencies/agencies_913.html

BTW, they do take your green card at the oath ceremony but they do not take your passport from you.
 
JCO is travelling 3 weeks after the day of application. The passport web site says if you are travelling less than 2 weeks from the date of application then please apply on expedited. My question is if some one is travelling say 8 weeks from ceremony but wishes to apply expedited method, is it possible to do that? Particularly if one will need to apply for a visa?
thanks.

happigal said:
I would highly suggest going to the oath ceremony. Don't postpone it.

Make an appointment at one of the regional passport office that is closest to you and bring along your ticket or receipt that shows your planned trip and they can make your passport within a couple of hours or a day or so. I would suggest making the appointment as early as possible for either the day of the oath or a day after the oath as these appointments tend to get filled up pretty quickly.

Here is the URL: http://travel.state.gov/passport/about/agencies/agencies_913.html

BTW, they do take your green card at the oath ceremony but they do not take your passport from you.
Click to expand...
 
Delaying the oath is like delaying a funeral or a wedding. You can do it, but it's really not advised as it could possibly be a long time till you get requeued back into the system (if you don't get lost in the change). Some people have gotten successful changes, and others have been waiting over a year since requesting a change and still no oath (just put on the back, lost etc).

So up to you how much you value US Citizenship over a trip. If the trip is worth more to you then becomming a USC, then go on the trip, if becomming a USC is more important, cancel or rebook or change the trip...
 
You can delay a wedding, but delaying a funeral is more difficult.

I remember when I got the explanation of "advance parole" during my green card processing. It said something like "If you are planning any major events out of the country in the next N months (e.g. weddings, funerals, ...) you will need to notify us X weeks in advance". The concept of planning funerals weeks in advance struck me as odd.

Oh well....
 
Thanks guys...I think you are right and I will not postpone the OATH...I will take my chances with the expedite of the Passport and hope it gets in the system before my trip.

As per BRB2's Q; FYI my daughter is a natural citizen and we applied for her passport and we expedited as a close friend said that with out expedite she has been waiting for over 12 weeks and still no passport. With the expedite we were told it will take any where from 5 to 7 weeks.

Thanks again to all for your feedback.
 
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