Been meaning to write this for a couple of days. Sep 27th 2005 was the much anticipated naturalization ceremony at the US District Court in downtown harrisburg for which my wife had been invited. The interview has already happened back on April 3rd. But because only three more oath ceremonies were scheduled, one in early may, one in sept and one in nov she got scheduled for this one.
Interestingly she had originally not been scheduled for this one but instead the one in November. But being that we are expecting a new arrival in the family and that november would have put her too far out for attending that oath ceremony, and also concerns about my expiring visa in october end, she decided to talk to the people in the district court and at uscis philly and request them to reschedule her for the one on sep 27th. The ladies we spoke to over the phone were most accomodating and agreed!
Hence the much anticipated day dawned. My wife was asked to report at 11.15 am. We reached at 10:45 having picked up both our mothers from home. Found some good coin parking slots nearby and walked in. Cleared the security and .. horror of horrors .. my wife had forgotten the original oath letter in the office when deciding to make a copy of it! She did have the copy though. So I asked her and the mothers to go in while I would run to the office and get the original. Luckily (as harrisburg-ers here would testify), our town is very small and it took me all of 15 minutes to rush to the office, get the original oath letter lying near the copier, another 20 to rush right back, find parking and run in. So having left at around 11, I returned at 11:40. The check-ins were still happening and luckily my wife's name was further down the list. There was a district adjudications officer(the one who interviewed my wife) and also the lady my wife spoke to over the phone to help with rescheduling and a couple of staff from the courts helping out. They asked the usual questions, the officer was very pleasant, checked the name, signed etc. They took the green card away.
The judge walked in around 12:00, the ceremonies happened smoothly as did the oath of allegiance. They had actually invited a very old couple to the ceremony as guests - the lady was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and her husband was a WWII veteran. All the new citizens were gifted a flag and a copy of the constitution from them, which was a very sweet gesture. There was even a new citizen who spoke a couple of minutes about his joy on this day.
Finally after a photo session after the ceremonies and having the naturalization certificates in hand, we walked out happy. It was a very pleasant experience and everyone was very friendly and welcoming, right from the judge to the chief guests to the immigration staff.
So finally one story is over. From the time we applied in July 2004 to officially becoming a citizen in Sep 2005, it was a long journey, but with a happy ending. The unanticipated wait period between the interview in Apr 05 to the oath in Sep 05 was the surprise but should be expected in a small city where there arent as many people that get naturalized.
Now I frantically scrambled and filled out my 485 application with medical tests, affidavit of support and all the motley little forms and documentation and sent my packets out to the Chicago lockbox.
I want to thank everyone for their effort and time in helping others out voluntarily. I have trolled other immigration forums out there but have yet to see the amount of knowledge and eagerness to help out that I found here. Thanks all.
As for me, I will now be frequenting the Family Based Green Cards forum while I wait for my green cards to be processed.
Interestingly she had originally not been scheduled for this one but instead the one in November. But being that we are expecting a new arrival in the family and that november would have put her too far out for attending that oath ceremony, and also concerns about my expiring visa in october end, she decided to talk to the people in the district court and at uscis philly and request them to reschedule her for the one on sep 27th. The ladies we spoke to over the phone were most accomodating and agreed!
Hence the much anticipated day dawned. My wife was asked to report at 11.15 am. We reached at 10:45 having picked up both our mothers from home. Found some good coin parking slots nearby and walked in. Cleared the security and .. horror of horrors .. my wife had forgotten the original oath letter in the office when deciding to make a copy of it! She did have the copy though. So I asked her and the mothers to go in while I would run to the office and get the original. Luckily (as harrisburg-ers here would testify), our town is very small and it took me all of 15 minutes to rush to the office, get the original oath letter lying near the copier, another 20 to rush right back, find parking and run in. So having left at around 11, I returned at 11:40. The check-ins were still happening and luckily my wife's name was further down the list. There was a district adjudications officer(the one who interviewed my wife) and also the lady my wife spoke to over the phone to help with rescheduling and a couple of staff from the courts helping out. They asked the usual questions, the officer was very pleasant, checked the name, signed etc. They took the green card away.
The judge walked in around 12:00, the ceremonies happened smoothly as did the oath of allegiance. They had actually invited a very old couple to the ceremony as guests - the lady was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and her husband was a WWII veteran. All the new citizens were gifted a flag and a copy of the constitution from them, which was a very sweet gesture. There was even a new citizen who spoke a couple of minutes about his joy on this day.
Finally after a photo session after the ceremonies and having the naturalization certificates in hand, we walked out happy. It was a very pleasant experience and everyone was very friendly and welcoming, right from the judge to the chief guests to the immigration staff.
So finally one story is over. From the time we applied in July 2004 to officially becoming a citizen in Sep 2005, it was a long journey, but with a happy ending. The unanticipated wait period between the interview in Apr 05 to the oath in Sep 05 was the surprise but should be expected in a small city where there arent as many people that get naturalized.
Now I frantically scrambled and filled out my 485 application with medical tests, affidavit of support and all the motley little forms and documentation and sent my packets out to the Chicago lockbox.
I want to thank everyone for their effort and time in helping others out voluntarily. I have trolled other immigration forums out there but have yet to see the amount of knowledge and eagerness to help out that I found here. Thanks all.
As for me, I will now be frequenting the Family Based Green Cards forum while I wait for my green cards to be processed.