Just got back from the Oath Ceremony at the LA convention center. The letter said I had to be there at 8AM, but today there was just horrible traffic and it was raining and you know how well LA drivers drive in the raining. Needless to say despite leaving the valley by 6:30 I only got there at 8:15. Fortunately, they allow folks in till about 9 at which point the Oath is administered by the Judge and you and anyone else who might be late has to wait for the Judge to administer the Oath later. But I noticed they were quite accomodating to those that arrived after 9 (there about 2 dozen). Bottom line..
try to get there by 7AM. Because if you dont, expect to sit WAAAAAYYYY behind and you wont see anything. The hall is huge. There were 4800+ applicants plus as many guests, all in one hall. So you can imagine the size of the hall.
The procedure is straightforward:
1. You enter the main hall through the door marked "Applicants" (guests enter through a different door so yo uare already separated even before you enter the main hall).
2. You go to any one of 50 booths, where any office will verbally ask you to confirm the 7 questions on that back of your form. You surrended your Green Card. This was amusing, as there were many there who just DID NOT want to turn it in. I guess they weren't prepared to turn it in so I can see how they were taken aback. The officials had to convince them and pacify them, that "its ok, you are going to get something far more valuable".
3. You get an "OK" mark on your form with a table number. This is the table number you must go to after the ceremony to collect your Naturalization Certificate.
The Ceremony is fairly scripted. The hall is called to order, Judge enters, USCIS Director Petitions the Judge to grant citizenship to the applicants present, Jude accepts, Jude administers the Oath, then judge does a monologue on the meaning of the oath. Congratulatory speech by the USCIS, Star Spangled Banner, some other song I dont remember, reminder by the US Deparment of State representative to apply for a passport. Thats it..
I think the most painful part was waiting for your turn to collect the naturalization certificate. They call 3 rows at a time (there are a few hundred rows!). That can take upto 2 hrs depending on how late you got there. Those who got there the earliest, got their certs first and son on. It took abour an hour for me. A lot of disobedient citizens
jump the line, pretending to go to the bathrooms, and hop on over to the booths to collect their certs out of turn. So that compounded the problem as well, despite the MC's desperate pleas to stay seated. Then I applied for a passport. The line was long, probably a few hundred people ahead of me. That took, another hour and a half.
They have a photo-copying machine available ($2 a copy) so you make a copy of the certificate before surrendering it with the passport application. I order the passport card as well, both at expedited service with express mail, for a grand total of $169.96 + $25 for USPS convenience fee. Am glad I got it done with, now I just have to wait 17 days for both to arrive and you can be sure I will be checking the mailbox every day
If you are traveling with guests, note that your guests will be ways away from you, so far that they might barely be able to make you out. I only met my guests at the very end, 4.5 hours after I got to the venue. Because between the separate seating for applications and guests and them asking all guests to vacate the hall at the end of the ceremony, followed by the document collection and passport application, you are on your own. So keep that in mind and ask yourself if it is really worth having guests tag along.
Parking is attached to the convention center ofcourse. It is covered parking and is $12. I hear there is cheaper parking in the the vicinity but I couldn't be bothered.
Over all if it weren't for the huge crowds and endless waiting, it would have been a more enjoyable experience. But it was still worth every minute.
Interesting comment from the Judge that administered the Oath. He said (and I will paraphrase) "Some might tell you that because you weren't born here you aren't really a true American, to which my response would be that everyone here is an immigrant except the Native Americans". I thought it was interesting he decided to mention that.
Good luck to all in the queue, let me know if you haven't any specific questions about the Oath ceremony.
