For immigration junkies - CIS Ombudsman's recommendations for oath ceremonies

[NewRunner]

Found this interesting report about the policies and legal frameworks around the administration of oath ceremonies. Some of the footnotes have interesting information about what percentage of applicants get same-day interview and oath ceremonies at which DOs. Cut and paste below is footnote 13 from the report.

13 In a USCIS study of oath ceremonies nationwide, USCIS found that currently the Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago,
Charlotte, Mount Laurel, NJ, Dallas, Fresno, Montreal, Newark, Norfolk, Omaha, Orlando, Portland, Raleigh,
Fairfax, VA, and Wichita district and field offices hold 10 percent to 86 percent of their oath ceremonies on the
same day the naturalization application is approved. Such same-day ceremonies are estimated to serve 11.5 percent
of all oath-takers nationwide. Eight percent wait 8-14 days after decision, 25 percent wait 15-30 days and 49
percent wait more than 30 days. There was no comment on the status of the remaining 6.5 percent. All USCIS
offices other than those noted above hold less than 10 percent of their ceremonies on the same day. (Data provided
by USCIS to the Ombudsman (July 29, 2008)).

This report helped clarify for me why in some jurisdictions USCIS staff are permitted to conduct oath ceremonies whereas in others the oath ceremony has to be conducted by a judge.

The report was produced in mid-December 2008, and it is on the AILA site. The link to the report is here.

 

[hoping in 2009]

Thanks for sharing, I am interested in what percent I will fall into for my Oath as I am anxiously waiting for my Oath letter LOL...

Oh how I wish that everyone could have the Oath right after the interview if it is approved it would make things a lot easier on those of us who have been dealing with USCIS for so long.

 

[Bobsmyth]

13 In a USCIS study of oath ceremonies nationwide, USCIS found that currently the Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago,
Charlotte, Mount Laurel, NJ, Dallas, Fresno, Montreal, Newark, Norfolk, Omaha, Orlando, Portland, Raleigh,
Fairfax, VA, and Wichita district and field offices hold 10 percent to 86 percent of their oath ceremonies on the
same day the naturalization application is approved.

So this implies that most field offices do not conduct oaths on the day application is approved.

I wonder what DO scored at 86% of oaths on day of application approval? And do they mean recommended for approval or actual approval since actual approvals require senior IO , and some DOs may have limited senior IOs on hand.

 

[NewRunner]

So this implies that most field offices do not conduct oaths on the day application is approved.

This information would certainly lead one to that conclusion, especially because the rest of the footnote suggests that only 11.5% of all oath takers were processed on the same day as their approvals.

I wonder what DO scored at 86% of oaths on day of application approval?

Yes, looking at the list of DOs and discovering that it was in alphabetical order was frustrating! I was hoping the list would be in ascending order from 10% to 86%, but it obviously isn't.

And do they mean recommended for approval or actual approval since actual approvals require senior IO , and some DOs may have limited senior IOs on hand.

I am not sure if actual approvals require a senior IO per se. My wife was interviewed by a relatively junior IO, who never left his office during the entire process and he approved her application. The reason we know he was relatively junior was because later during the oath ceremony, he was introduced to us formally and a more senior IO explained that she had asked him to conduct part of the oath ceremony so he could actually see the results of his work earlier that morning. My IO seemed relatively junior as well, mid-twenties at most, and she put the big approved stamp on my file without any apparent outside supervision.

To me this suggests that the report is talking about actual approvals. But you're right, there is a possibility that they were operating under the authority of a senior on-site IO, or that the policy may differ slightly from DO to DO.

 

[NewRunner]

Oh how I wish that everyone could have the Oath right after the interview if it is approved it would make things a lot easier on those of us who have been dealing with USCIS for so long.

You're right hoping in 2009. But one of the things I have started to realize is that some DOs have absolutely huge numbers of naturalization applicants compared to others. I think it is the logistical challenge of running daily oath ceremonies for those volumes that may prevent a "same-day" overall policy. I was impressed with the example of the ceremony in Miami where 3,000 people took the oath and all had their certificates in hand within 14 minutes - that's impressive but I am sure it takes a lot of staff and planning to pull it off.

The other thing I realized was that some US Court jurisdictions are quite strict about enforcing their sole authority to conduct oath ceremonies within 45 days of interview approval. According to information in the report about the applicable agreements and laws, CIS can only conduct "administrative" oath ceremonies if, in that jurisdiction, the courts are not doing so within 45 days of interview approvals. There is an example cited in the report of a judge threatening to have the CIS District Director fired for supposedly superceding the authority of the judge by conducting administrative oath ceremonies inside the 45-day period (CIS says it was for approved applicants outside the 45-day window).

But there appears to be some leeway for CIS to do administrative oath ceremonies based on whether it has come to an agreement with the judicial jurisdiction in the area. According to the report, 33 of 74 CIS districts operate in jurisdictions where the courts only conduct oath ceremonies for applicants with name changes. I know this is most likely the case in the Washington DC DO.

In any case, from the tone of the report, it suggests that CIS is taking a lot of steps to ensure that people can do the oath ceremony quickly after approvals, but that there is still a long way to go.