After a number of false starts, we received an N400 priority date of Dec 16, 2008. My wife and I filed together. We were originally an EB3 petition for LPR which we received just before 9/11 in 2001.
I was initially discouraged by the official processing times for the N400 in the Washington DC District Office, which showed a time of approximately one year. But I also read on this forum about folks who filed and were sworn in as new citizens within 90 days of their priority date.
Now I can report happily that we too are among that group. We received our fingerprinting appointment within two weeks of the priority date, and completed the fingerprints two weeks after that. By Feb 5th, we had received interview letters for an appointment in mid-March.
Today we reported at the Fairfax, VA office for our 8:00am appointment. The only delay was security checkpoint processing which can be exactly as frustrating as the airport, watching inexperienced folks ahead of you struggle with emptying their pockets.
We went upstairs to the 2nd floor to a well-lit, large waiting room. We checked in with the receptionist and sat down. Within two minutes, I was called to an interview.
My CIS officer was a very courteous, friendly, and professional young woman who walked me to her office. Before I sat down, she swore me to an oath to tell the truth. Then we sat down. She asked me for my green card, passport, and driver's licence - that's it. There is so much information on this forum about all the forms and evidence you have to bring, I did not bring anything other than what the interview appointment letter asked us to bring. I brought as "back up" our marriage certificate and the birth certificates of our children, but they were not needed.
After she reviewed those three documents (GC, PP, and DL), we basically just went through the N400 application, question by question. No big issues on my N400 and everything was checked off. Then she asked me a few of the civics questions. Since my wife and I had prepared for all 100 questions, the answers seemed relatively easy to remember. Then she asked me to write a sentence, "California has the most people", and asked me to read a question, "Which state has the most people?", and when I finished, she said, "Well, and now you know!", and we both laughed.
She told me that I had passed the interview and asked me to review the typed information that would go on my naturalization certificate. Then she pulled out one of my submitted passport photos and asked me to sign it.
I asked her then if she thought I could take the oath the same day. She said yes, there was an oath ceremony at 11:00am. That was so cool! She gave me the oath appointment "letter", which is basically a form telling you to report to the same building at 10:00am for a 11:00 oath ceremony.
Then on my physical A-file that was in front of her, she stamped a great big "APPROVED" stamp on one of the sheets and she included it in the file. It was so amazing to see that. She shook my hand. I was choking up and could barely thank her properly.
I walked back into the waiting room and my wife came out a few minutes later, also approved, and also with a 11:00a oath ceremony. We were pretty thrilled about that.
We reported to the office at 8:00am, and were done with the interview by 8:45am. As such, we had an hour and some to kill before the 10:00am assembly time for the oath ceremony. We went out for a walk and for a bite to eat, and came back at 10:00am.
The oath ceremony process occurs in two steps. The first step is reviewing your naturalization certificate and ensuring that it is accurate and the second step is the actual oath pledging part. When you come back for the oath ceremony, they direct you to a waiting area, which is a big room that has numbered customer service counters just like at a DMV. You wait there until a CIS officer announces to all the people waiting that there are some specific preparations to complete. The oath takers are organized into two lines which form by the last three digits of your A#. Once the line starts moving, you come up to a counter with a CIS Officer and hand in your green card and the oath ceremony appointment "letter"/form, with your responses to eight questions about the time period between your interview and your oath. They show you your naturalization certificate and ask you to review it. They also have you practice your signature on a paper copy of the certificate. You then get a seat number assignment and a big white envelope containing a guide to citizenship and a small book containing the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Then you wait to the side to be taken upstairs to the oath ceremony room.
The oath ceremony room is a long room with numbered chairs, and with a screen on one side that has a "Faces of America" documentary playing that loops every 3 minutes or so. It has nice music and nice imagery, but after seeing it 7 times, it gets a little old...
But the CIS staff were all exceptionally polite and good humored. They seemed genuinely enthusiastic about welcoming all of us gathered in that room as new American citizens.
After about 20 minutes, an Officer came in to prep us for what would happen in the oath ceremony. It was pretty straightforward. Then the Director of the office came in and led us through the oath ceremony and the pledge of allegiance. I write this quickly now, but it was a super special moment and I was mostly choked up the entire time...as was my wife, and just about everyone else in the room.
Then, almost like a graduation ceremony, they called our names and we walked up to receive our naturalization certificates. The Director was really friendly and considerate, and you could tell that she had done this many times. I still couldn't believe how genuine she seemed about congratulating each person, posing for photos with us, and welcoming us all to citizenship. My wife took a picture of me and the Director with my certificate, and I did the same for her. It was truly cool. Then we left.
So from arriving at 7:50am to do the interview, we left as American citizens at 11:30am. It was beautiful and far better and far smoother than my expectations, and I was very impressed with the professionalism and quality of every US CIS person we interacted with in the Fairfax office through the whole process.
We are finally Americans and it feels wonderful!
Good Luck to everyone else out there!
And thank you once again Mr. Rajiv Khanna for this excellent forum - it has been my source of comfort through the long years of LPR and now naturalization.
I was initially discouraged by the official processing times for the N400 in the Washington DC District Office, which showed a time of approximately one year. But I also read on this forum about folks who filed and were sworn in as new citizens within 90 days of their priority date.
Now I can report happily that we too are among that group. We received our fingerprinting appointment within two weeks of the priority date, and completed the fingerprints two weeks after that. By Feb 5th, we had received interview letters for an appointment in mid-March.
Today we reported at the Fairfax, VA office for our 8:00am appointment. The only delay was security checkpoint processing which can be exactly as frustrating as the airport, watching inexperienced folks ahead of you struggle with emptying their pockets.
We went upstairs to the 2nd floor to a well-lit, large waiting room. We checked in with the receptionist and sat down. Within two minutes, I was called to an interview.
My CIS officer was a very courteous, friendly, and professional young woman who walked me to her office. Before I sat down, she swore me to an oath to tell the truth. Then we sat down. She asked me for my green card, passport, and driver's licence - that's it. There is so much information on this forum about all the forms and evidence you have to bring, I did not bring anything other than what the interview appointment letter asked us to bring. I brought as "back up" our marriage certificate and the birth certificates of our children, but they were not needed.
After she reviewed those three documents (GC, PP, and DL), we basically just went through the N400 application, question by question. No big issues on my N400 and everything was checked off. Then she asked me a few of the civics questions. Since my wife and I had prepared for all 100 questions, the answers seemed relatively easy to remember. Then she asked me to write a sentence, "California has the most people", and asked me to read a question, "Which state has the most people?", and when I finished, she said, "Well, and now you know!", and we both laughed.
She told me that I had passed the interview and asked me to review the typed information that would go on my naturalization certificate. Then she pulled out one of my submitted passport photos and asked me to sign it.
I asked her then if she thought I could take the oath the same day. She said yes, there was an oath ceremony at 11:00am. That was so cool! She gave me the oath appointment "letter", which is basically a form telling you to report to the same building at 10:00am for a 11:00 oath ceremony.
Then on my physical A-file that was in front of her, she stamped a great big "APPROVED" stamp on one of the sheets and she included it in the file. It was so amazing to see that. She shook my hand. I was choking up and could barely thank her properly.
I walked back into the waiting room and my wife came out a few minutes later, also approved, and also with a 11:00a oath ceremony. We were pretty thrilled about that.
We reported to the office at 8:00am, and were done with the interview by 8:45am. As such, we had an hour and some to kill before the 10:00am assembly time for the oath ceremony. We went out for a walk and for a bite to eat, and came back at 10:00am.
The oath ceremony process occurs in two steps. The first step is reviewing your naturalization certificate and ensuring that it is accurate and the second step is the actual oath pledging part. When you come back for the oath ceremony, they direct you to a waiting area, which is a big room that has numbered customer service counters just like at a DMV. You wait there until a CIS officer announces to all the people waiting that there are some specific preparations to complete. The oath takers are organized into two lines which form by the last three digits of your A#. Once the line starts moving, you come up to a counter with a CIS Officer and hand in your green card and the oath ceremony appointment "letter"/form, with your responses to eight questions about the time period between your interview and your oath. They show you your naturalization certificate and ask you to review it. They also have you practice your signature on a paper copy of the certificate. You then get a seat number assignment and a big white envelope containing a guide to citizenship and a small book containing the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Then you wait to the side to be taken upstairs to the oath ceremony room.
The oath ceremony room is a long room with numbered chairs, and with a screen on one side that has a "Faces of America" documentary playing that loops every 3 minutes or so. It has nice music and nice imagery, but after seeing it 7 times, it gets a little old...
But the CIS staff were all exceptionally polite and good humored. They seemed genuinely enthusiastic about welcoming all of us gathered in that room as new American citizens.After about 20 minutes, an Officer came in to prep us for what would happen in the oath ceremony. It was pretty straightforward. Then the Director of the office came in and led us through the oath ceremony and the pledge of allegiance. I write this quickly now, but it was a super special moment and I was mostly choked up the entire time...as was my wife, and just about everyone else in the room.
Then, almost like a graduation ceremony, they called our names and we walked up to receive our naturalization certificates. The Director was really friendly and considerate, and you could tell that she had done this many times. I still couldn't believe how genuine she seemed about congratulating each person, posing for photos with us, and welcoming us all to citizenship. My wife took a picture of me and the Director with my certificate, and I did the same for her. It was truly cool. Then we left.
So from arriving at 7:50am to do the interview, we left as American citizens at 11:30am. It was beautiful and far better and far smoother than my expectations, and I was very impressed with the professionalism and quality of every US CIS person we interacted with in the Fairfax office through the whole process.
We are finally Americans and it feels wonderful!
Good Luck to everyone else out there!
And thank you once again Mr. Rajiv Khanna for this excellent forum - it has been my source of comfort through the long years of LPR and now naturalization.
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