Oath taken today (4/6/06) and received the Naturalization Certificate
My Experience:
The appointment letter said that I had to be at the US District Court (231 W Lafayette) at 8.30AM. Thanks to maps from Google, the wrong directions left me stranded on the opposite side of the downtown. By the time I reached the court it was already 8.45.
The court is on W Lafayette and Shelby. It is pretty close to M10 and 75 intersection. Forget the online maps, look into the downtown map and you cannot go wrong. There are 2 parkings, one exactly opposite to the court (not sure of the price) and another one right next to it (covered parking - expensive, I paid $12 for 1 hour and 45 mintues).
Anyway, the security guy told me not to worry as they would start only after 9AM. The courthouse was packed with about 125 people (75 of us were becoming citizens). The Judge arrived at 9.15AM and gave a 15 minute speech. She read out the different countries from which people would be taking US citizenship.
Around 9.30AM, only the US citizen applicants stood up and took the oath. I request that you use a babysitter to take care of the kids. Judge called 4 names (along with country names) at a time and we picked up our certificate.
I stayed back after the ceremony (cameras are allowed in the courthouse) and took picture with the judge. I also got the Judge's autograph.
If you want to get something to eat, there is a Starbucks (Grisworld & Congress) nearby (walking distance).
Within 3 hours after receiving the Naturalization Certificate, I applied for my passport. The passport application given by the PO was a mess (poor illegible copy), so I went to
http://travel.state.gov/passport and filled the form online. You can then save the form as a PDF onto your hard drive. I printed it, took it to the PO and took a oath in front of the clerk (second one today) and sent out the application form. You will have to send in your original Naturalization Certificate and Name change court approval (if applicable). Total fees is $97 ($67 - check for the passport) and $30 to the PO.
As soon as I was home, I called 800-375-5283 (a series of prompts and finally chose a prompt that my application was very overdue - it was not, there was no other way to get to talk to a live person) and upgraded my spouse's 130 (applied PR as a spouse of GC) to reflect that I have become a citizen. The PR is a lot quicker for spouse of USC. In about 4 weeks (after I get my confirmation/approval), I should be able to send in the AOS (Adjustment of status) package.
Good Luck to All !! I will keep posting about the passport and spouse PR status.
STATUS UPDATE: 9/13/06 - My wife got her GC in less than 5 months. She has posted her timeline as "miamilover".
