Me and my spouse completed interview and oath today.
These forums were very helpful, several times I asked questions and got prompt replies and read lot of experiences and many different threads which made me feel better about the process.
Thanks to all of you and special thanks to all of you who contribute here very regularly.
I may not be able to contribute that regularly as others but want to share my experience with everyone. Denver, CO and nearby cities don’t have much immigration activity on these forums so I want to start a new thread so that people from these areas can benefit.
Current DO is at:
12484 E Weaver Pl, Centennial, CO 80111
It may also show up as following in some map software /website / GPS:
12484 E Weaver Pl, Greenwood Village, CO 80111
This is relatively new building and doesn’t have live video in any map website.
Interview experience:
Appointment was at 7:15 AM, reached there at 7:00 AM – doors were still locked and were opened 5 minutes later. Office was not very big but not small also. Nice office and staff. Went through Airport like security after showing interview letter and DL. Was asked to go to second floor, at second floor there was another counter which collected the interview letter and placed it inside a window. Behind window IO’s were picking them and then grabbing immigration files of applicant and returning to their offices. After a while they were coming out and calling the applicant.
At 7:15 AM my spouse was called before me, we had interview at same time same day. After 20 minutes I was called, my spouse was still inside which was kind of making me nervous.
Followed the lady, she was professional and little serious, she took me to her office and asked me to take swear to tell truth, I do.
Then she asked me my DL and GC, which I gave and she made copy of them and started going over the questions, first section like name, spouse name, kids address etc-etc. asked me where did I live before current address, how many trip I took and address and current employment etc-etc. just was double checking that information has not changed since I filed the application, nothing serious.
Meanwhile she was typing something on her computer as well and printed out three sheets. After review of first part she told me she is starting the interview and will ask me questions about civic and history.
Questions:
What did the Declaration of Independence do?
Name one branch or part of the government.
How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?
If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
What does the President’s Cabinet do?
(They may be out of order).
Whatever answer I gave she wrote it below each question on that sheet and didn’t ask me question after first 6 correct answers.
Now she gave me sheet which had three sentence and asked me to read one.
When is Columbus Day?
(I don’t remember the other questions because I never read them and gave paper back to her).
She marked a check in front of it and made some notes.
She then gave me another sheet where she asked me to write:
Columbus Day is in October.
After I gave the sheet back she marked a check in front of it and made some notes.
She then said I have passed and went over second part of the N-400 application where she asked me all those question which are suppose to be “No”
In between there were two things which deserve mention:
She asked me at what age I became permanent resident and I started calculating she said never mind and she wrote over 26 (this was related to selective service question).
Another thing she asked me was I ever arrested I said “No”, she said in your application you have said yes. I told her I was never arrested but I was cited – speeding ticket. She said OK and wrote traffic violation next to it and never asked me anything about ticket and I didn’t volunteer to show anything though I had few things with me for this purpose.
Then she asked me am I willing to take oath today, they have something scheduled at 1:30 PM, I said yes.
After that she asked me to sign N-400 application and two places, print my name at one place and sign my photographs already with her and went out briefly to check that oath ceremony is scheduled for that day.
She asked me to sign another form which had info which eventually went into naturalization certificate. Please check this very carefully because if there is mistake it will need correction, especially if you are changing name. This form has your name, date of birth and current (former) citizenship.
After that she gave me form which said I passed interview (with type of interview (English + Civic)) and it all said recommended for approval.
She also gave me another form which said I have to come back at 1:30 at same address for oath and had my name on it (oath letter).
She was quiet but professional and not at rude. Spoke only to the point. Then she brought me back to waiting room, where I saw my spouse and she was happy too. For me total interview time 15 minutes for my spouse may be 30 minutes.
My spouse too got oath letter for 1:30 PM same day but my spouse didn’t gave 100% affirmative answer to IO about whether she will come for oath or not because she wanted to talk to me. So when I met her IO on my way out he asked me whether we are coming back for 1:30 oath or not. I told the guy yes we will be back for oath, he said bring your family, kids and take some good picture. This guy was kind of funny and very nice.
My spouse interview experience:
So as I told my spouse went before me and her IO was kind of funny and very open. This guy was either new or could make immediate judgment or there was something. He asked her only 3 questions, asked her to write one sentence and read one sentence. My spouse was very excited or nervous so she over spoke about one answer and then said I want to change my answer this guy smiled and said OK. He was talking about weather traffic and lot of other non-related stuff. Went over application, actually read out application and my spouse only said yes and no to everything he said.
My spouse too signed similar forms / photos as me and also got same interview passed, recommended for approval letter and oath letter for 1:30 PM same day.
One thing which needs mention here: My spouse wanted to change her last name to same as my last name. In N-400 we didn’t mention this and thought we will tell at interview time but this IO while going over the application never asked her so she herself asked if she can change. He said he doesn’t know and went out to ask someone and came back and said OK you can change show me marriage certificate after that he changed her name everywhere (N-400, oath letter) except the form which is used for printing the naturalization certificate and by this time my wife had already signed that form and was not able to double check. We had minor issue with this later at oath ceremony (see below). So I will say if you want to change name mention it as soon as possible to IO and also double check all the papers you are signing and all should contain changed name.
Other thing which was surprising my spouse was asked to show our kids’ birth certificate, she only had copy because originals were with me but IO accepted those. She was also asked to provide copy of her current passport.
Again point is every IO is different and will ask for different things and different questions but nothing to worry about. Easier said than done because me and my spouse were really very nervous and blanked out but information we are asked was in out head or in file folder and we kept on providing true answers.
Kids at interview: We didn’t take our kids but looks like you can bring but you have to supervise them at all time (as per note in DO). If you and your spouse have interview at same time it will not be possible. In some cases I have read security or receptionist at DO took care of kids while parent attended interview. I will say it is big risk and depends on staff.
Oath ceremony experience:
Denver doesn’t generally do same day oath but as I said above we were asked we can do same day oath for which we agreed, we live in Colorado Springs which is one and half drive from Denver, DO so for interview we started at 5:30 PM in morning and after interview we came back home by 9 AM but again had to rush back at 12 Noon for 1:30 PM oath ceremony. Picked up kids from school and went there.
Now as I mentioned Denver generally doesn’t do same day oath ceremony but because of Veterans Day tomorrow and also because of pilot program they are running to make process faster we got an opportunity to have same day oath. May be in future this will become norm.
We asked our IO if we can bring kids and we were told yes and in case of my spouse IO suggested we should bring kids. But it was not good experience because they didn’t let kid sit with us and my younger one was not happy and we can hear them talking continuously at the back during whole oath ceremony.
We were really tense because kids were sitting alone in big crowd somewhere, though place was enclosed and we were near exit door.
There were about 70 people for oath and lots of guests (family, friends, kids).
Chairs we are asked to sit had welcome packet (passport form, ssn change and lot of other info) and a flag. People were taking pictures from all directions.
Supervisor said welcome and congrats and then he asked us to stand up for National Anthem, then he asked us to sit down and gave way to one of his officer who made us take oath. He read one sentence then we read and then he again followed by us again and so on.
After oath he gave us one big lecture (reminded me of our school principal), nobody wanted to listen and then they showed us another audio/visual were President welcomed us. Supervisor said congrats and reminded us to register for vote and other thing and said we will get certificate now.
We were still seated in same place and they handed over our certificates and as I expected my spouse name was not changed so we asked supervisor to correct it. We had to wait and then some lady asked us why we are there and we told her the reason and she took certificate and correct last name and said she will be back and we should wait.
We had to wait extra 20-30 minutes and we were handed corrected certificate after that, everyone meanwhile had left after taking pictures with officers, flag, staff, family etc-etc.
Document I took for interview:
1. Interview letter
2. Yellow letter
3. Passport
4. GC
5. DL
6. Copy of interview letter
7. Copy of yellow letter
8. Marriage Certificate (myself copy, spouse original for name change)
9. Spouse Birth certificate Self (spouse – original , me – copy)
10. Self Birth certificate ( we could not take copy or original because I was not able to locate)
11. Kids birth certificate (me – original , spouse – copy)
12. Copy of passport (me – 2 copies of my passport, spouse – 2 copies of her passport)
13. Lease document (me – copies of last 2 years, spouse – copies of last two year)
14. Bank statement (me – last 10 months, spouse – last 10 months)
15. Utility bills ( me – original last two months, spouse – copy last two months)
16. Address change USPS notice (me – my address change, spouse – her address change)
17. Address change AR-11 online (me – my address change, spouse – her address change)
18. Photos ( me – 4 extra photos, spouse – 4 extra photos)
19. Tax transcripts ( me – original last 4 years – federal only, spouse – copies of same)
20. Tax returns (me – last 2 years – federal & state, spouse – copies of same)
21. Certified copy of DMV record (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
22. Copy of certified copy of DMV record (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
23. Copy of ticket I got (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
24. Copy of check I sent for ticket (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
25. Employment letter (me – copy , spouse – copy)
Document I wanted to take but couldn’t:
1. Self Birth certificate ( we could not take copy or original because I was not able to locate)
2. State return transcript (didn't new how to get)
3. Court disposition for speeding ticket. (my ticket never went in court because I paid immediately)
4. W2 (I was bit lazy)
5. Cancelled check for speeding ticket. (Did ask bank in time, so it didn't arrive)
Document I was asked for interview:
1. Interview letter
2. GC
3. DL
Document my spouse was asked for interview:
1. Interview letter
2. GC
3. DL
4. Marriage Certificate
5. Spouse Birth certificate Self
6. Kids birth certificate
7. Copy of passport
Traffic ticket story:
I had one ticket ($160 + 2 points) and I mentioned it on N-400.
I got psyched up when I got yellow letter and it said bring proper records for arrest I have mentioned in N-400.
With help these forums I understood I need something. I made copy of ticket and check I posted to have with me minimum.
Then I wrote an email for “Court disposition” for this ticket to Colorado DMV. I got a reply call our office and phone number was provided. I called that number it was DMV office.
I gave my DL number and they confirmed I had one ticket and I paid and lady confirmed that is true. I asked I need “Court disposition” for this ticket for immigration purpose, now it was turn of this lady to get psyched, she said what that is? And she transferred me to revenue depart and lady there too said yes this case if closed but she doesn’t understand what I need. She offered me that I can get DMV record which will have some info about this ticket. I said OK, she said go to your local DMV and she gave me address.
I did some more research online and found out that I can get certified copy only through postal mail. I mailed a check of $2.70 (fee for certified copy) and a letter to address mentioned and I got certified copy in postal mail after couple of days.
It did mention ticket but it was still not clear from DMV record that I had paid ticket and case is closed.
So I called the court mentioned on DMV record. It was tough to find this court number because it was somewhere in Colorado which I don’t know. Lady I spoke to new what I am asking but searched the database with my name and said I never had any case in that court.
I told her whole story then she realized and said since I paid my fine this case will never show up in court and will not have any record. If I wouldn’t have paid it would have showed up in court and then based on whatever would have been outcome of court proceeding they could have given me what I am asking for.
Lady was nice, she said if required ask immigration officer to call me and gave me her extension.
I also called my bank and asked for copy of check through which I paid this fine. Check didn’t arrive before interview so I was not able to take it with me.
So only thing which I had with me for speeding ticket:
1. Certified copy of DMV record (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
2. Copy of certified copy of DMV record (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
3. Copy of ticket I got (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
4. Copy of check I sent for ticket (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
But as I mentioned in my interview experience, I was never asked for anything related to speeding ticket:
“Another thing she asked me was I ever arrested I said “No”, she said in your application you have said yes. I told her I was never arrested but I was cited – speeding ticket. She said OK and wrote traffic violation next to it and never asked me anything about ticket and I didn’t volunteer to show anything though I had few things with me for this purpose.”
Read this if you have small kids:
I had filled me and my spouse application on same day, sent them in same envelope. If you read these forums it is kind of recommended to keep thing close to each other.
Here is my experience with this process, this definitely has advantages both application go hand in hand and you have to make one trip only for finger printing, interview, oath etc-etc.
Letters and update for both happens mostly at same time and things go hand in hand.
But if you have young kids, like I do, and you live in relatively small place where you don’t have many friends or family member it becomes tough.
For us finger printing was in day time and we could leave our kids with one of our close friend but for interview and oath we had tough time. Our interview was at 7:15 AM and we had one and half hour drive so we had to start at 5:30 AM.
It is not possible to wake kids up at that time and leave them at someone place. We were lucky to have some good friends and we made kids sleep at their place in night but trust me without their help we would have tough time at interview.
We took kids to oath ceremony based on IO’s feedback (though our family friends were ready to keep them) and we had some tough time (read our oath experience).
I wish we had interview and oath at different times, one parent would have taken care of kids while another is going through process and I wish office should have realized parents condition and would have given interview time such that parent don’t have to find some to look after kids at 5 AM.
Anyway it is choice you have to make based on your circumstances.
Interview preparation:
Went through book we got at finger printing several time.
Listened to audio cd several time
Printed flash cards from government website and they were very useful.
Got several books from library which gave us idea about what questions (beside civic, English test) to expect. They are useful.
Reviewed application several times
Prepared a file with all document and marked every document with yellow stick it note so that they are easy to find.
Discussed what document to provide for supporting certain things which may be asked in interview
It is not a bad idea to visit office, where you have to go from interview, before actual interview date, to get feeling of traffic, parking, and entrance etc-etc.
After so much of preparation I was very nervous, I was not afraid of failure but wait was killing and I was almost blank during interview or I should say on interview day until I was declared passed.
If you feel the same, it is normal and I am pretty sure if you do good preparation you will definitely succeed without any hick ups.
All the best
------------------
D/O: Denver, CO
08/05/2009 -- N-400 Mailed
08/07-- N-400 Received
09/02 -- FP Appointment
10/07 -- Online status "case sent4interview"
10/08 -- Yellow letter Received
10/08 -- IL Received
11/10 -- Interview Date (Passed)
11/10 -- Oath Letter
11/10 -- Oath Date (same day)
11/12 -- passport applied
12/04 -- email rcvd passport in mail
12/07/2009 -- passport received
These forums were very helpful, several times I asked questions and got prompt replies and read lot of experiences and many different threads which made me feel better about the process.
Thanks to all of you and special thanks to all of you who contribute here very regularly.
I may not be able to contribute that regularly as others but want to share my experience with everyone. Denver, CO and nearby cities don’t have much immigration activity on these forums so I want to start a new thread so that people from these areas can benefit.
Current DO is at:
12484 E Weaver Pl, Centennial, CO 80111
It may also show up as following in some map software /website / GPS:
12484 E Weaver Pl, Greenwood Village, CO 80111
This is relatively new building and doesn’t have live video in any map website.
Interview experience:
Appointment was at 7:15 AM, reached there at 7:00 AM – doors were still locked and were opened 5 minutes later. Office was not very big but not small also. Nice office and staff. Went through Airport like security after showing interview letter and DL. Was asked to go to second floor, at second floor there was another counter which collected the interview letter and placed it inside a window. Behind window IO’s were picking them and then grabbing immigration files of applicant and returning to their offices. After a while they were coming out and calling the applicant.
At 7:15 AM my spouse was called before me, we had interview at same time same day. After 20 minutes I was called, my spouse was still inside which was kind of making me nervous.
Followed the lady, she was professional and little serious, she took me to her office and asked me to take swear to tell truth, I do.
Then she asked me my DL and GC, which I gave and she made copy of them and started going over the questions, first section like name, spouse name, kids address etc-etc. asked me where did I live before current address, how many trip I took and address and current employment etc-etc. just was double checking that information has not changed since I filed the application, nothing serious.
Meanwhile she was typing something on her computer as well and printed out three sheets. After review of first part she told me she is starting the interview and will ask me questions about civic and history.
Questions:
What did the Declaration of Independence do?
Name one branch or part of the government.
How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?
If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
What does the President’s Cabinet do?
(They may be out of order).
Whatever answer I gave she wrote it below each question on that sheet and didn’t ask me question after first 6 correct answers.
Now she gave me sheet which had three sentence and asked me to read one.
When is Columbus Day?
(I don’t remember the other questions because I never read them and gave paper back to her).
She marked a check in front of it and made some notes.
She then gave me another sheet where she asked me to write:
Columbus Day is in October.
After I gave the sheet back she marked a check in front of it and made some notes.
She then said I have passed and went over second part of the N-400 application where she asked me all those question which are suppose to be “No”
In between there were two things which deserve mention:
She asked me at what age I became permanent resident and I started calculating she said never mind and she wrote over 26 (this was related to selective service question).
Another thing she asked me was I ever arrested I said “No”, she said in your application you have said yes. I told her I was never arrested but I was cited – speeding ticket. She said OK and wrote traffic violation next to it and never asked me anything about ticket and I didn’t volunteer to show anything though I had few things with me for this purpose.
Then she asked me am I willing to take oath today, they have something scheduled at 1:30 PM, I said yes.
After that she asked me to sign N-400 application and two places, print my name at one place and sign my photographs already with her and went out briefly to check that oath ceremony is scheduled for that day.
She asked me to sign another form which had info which eventually went into naturalization certificate. Please check this very carefully because if there is mistake it will need correction, especially if you are changing name. This form has your name, date of birth and current (former) citizenship.
After that she gave me form which said I passed interview (with type of interview (English + Civic)) and it all said recommended for approval.
She also gave me another form which said I have to come back at 1:30 at same address for oath and had my name on it (oath letter).
She was quiet but professional and not at rude. Spoke only to the point. Then she brought me back to waiting room, where I saw my spouse and she was happy too. For me total interview time 15 minutes for my spouse may be 30 minutes.
My spouse too got oath letter for 1:30 PM same day but my spouse didn’t gave 100% affirmative answer to IO about whether she will come for oath or not because she wanted to talk to me. So when I met her IO on my way out he asked me whether we are coming back for 1:30 oath or not. I told the guy yes we will be back for oath, he said bring your family, kids and take some good picture. This guy was kind of funny and very nice.
My spouse interview experience:
So as I told my spouse went before me and her IO was kind of funny and very open. This guy was either new or could make immediate judgment or there was something. He asked her only 3 questions, asked her to write one sentence and read one sentence. My spouse was very excited or nervous so she over spoke about one answer and then said I want to change my answer this guy smiled and said OK. He was talking about weather traffic and lot of other non-related stuff. Went over application, actually read out application and my spouse only said yes and no to everything he said.
My spouse too signed similar forms / photos as me and also got same interview passed, recommended for approval letter and oath letter for 1:30 PM same day.
One thing which needs mention here: My spouse wanted to change her last name to same as my last name. In N-400 we didn’t mention this and thought we will tell at interview time but this IO while going over the application never asked her so she herself asked if she can change. He said he doesn’t know and went out to ask someone and came back and said OK you can change show me marriage certificate after that he changed her name everywhere (N-400, oath letter) except the form which is used for printing the naturalization certificate and by this time my wife had already signed that form and was not able to double check. We had minor issue with this later at oath ceremony (see below). So I will say if you want to change name mention it as soon as possible to IO and also double check all the papers you are signing and all should contain changed name.
Other thing which was surprising my spouse was asked to show our kids’ birth certificate, she only had copy because originals were with me but IO accepted those. She was also asked to provide copy of her current passport.
Again point is every IO is different and will ask for different things and different questions but nothing to worry about. Easier said than done because me and my spouse were really very nervous and blanked out but information we are asked was in out head or in file folder and we kept on providing true answers.
Kids at interview: We didn’t take our kids but looks like you can bring but you have to supervise them at all time (as per note in DO). If you and your spouse have interview at same time it will not be possible. In some cases I have read security or receptionist at DO took care of kids while parent attended interview. I will say it is big risk and depends on staff.
Oath ceremony experience:
Denver doesn’t generally do same day oath but as I said above we were asked we can do same day oath for which we agreed, we live in Colorado Springs which is one and half drive from Denver, DO so for interview we started at 5:30 PM in morning and after interview we came back home by 9 AM but again had to rush back at 12 Noon for 1:30 PM oath ceremony. Picked up kids from school and went there.
Now as I mentioned Denver generally doesn’t do same day oath ceremony but because of Veterans Day tomorrow and also because of pilot program they are running to make process faster we got an opportunity to have same day oath. May be in future this will become norm.
We asked our IO if we can bring kids and we were told yes and in case of my spouse IO suggested we should bring kids. But it was not good experience because they didn’t let kid sit with us and my younger one was not happy and we can hear them talking continuously at the back during whole oath ceremony.
We were really tense because kids were sitting alone in big crowd somewhere, though place was enclosed and we were near exit door.
There were about 70 people for oath and lots of guests (family, friends, kids).
Chairs we are asked to sit had welcome packet (passport form, ssn change and lot of other info) and a flag. People were taking pictures from all directions.
Supervisor said welcome and congrats and then he asked us to stand up for National Anthem, then he asked us to sit down and gave way to one of his officer who made us take oath. He read one sentence then we read and then he again followed by us again and so on.
After oath he gave us one big lecture (reminded me of our school principal), nobody wanted to listen and then they showed us another audio/visual were President welcomed us. Supervisor said congrats and reminded us to register for vote and other thing and said we will get certificate now.
We were still seated in same place and they handed over our certificates and as I expected my spouse name was not changed so we asked supervisor to correct it. We had to wait and then some lady asked us why we are there and we told her the reason and she took certificate and correct last name and said she will be back and we should wait.
We had to wait extra 20-30 minutes and we were handed corrected certificate after that, everyone meanwhile had left after taking pictures with officers, flag, staff, family etc-etc.
Document I took for interview:
1. Interview letter
2. Yellow letter
3. Passport
4. GC
5. DL
6. Copy of interview letter
7. Copy of yellow letter
8. Marriage Certificate (myself copy, spouse original for name change)
9. Spouse Birth certificate Self (spouse – original , me – copy)
10. Self Birth certificate ( we could not take copy or original because I was not able to locate)
11. Kids birth certificate (me – original , spouse – copy)
12. Copy of passport (me – 2 copies of my passport, spouse – 2 copies of her passport)
13. Lease document (me – copies of last 2 years, spouse – copies of last two year)
14. Bank statement (me – last 10 months, spouse – last 10 months)
15. Utility bills ( me – original last two months, spouse – copy last two months)
16. Address change USPS notice (me – my address change, spouse – her address change)
17. Address change AR-11 online (me – my address change, spouse – her address change)
18. Photos ( me – 4 extra photos, spouse – 4 extra photos)
19. Tax transcripts ( me – original last 4 years – federal only, spouse – copies of same)
20. Tax returns (me – last 2 years – federal & state, spouse – copies of same)
21. Certified copy of DMV record (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
22. Copy of certified copy of DMV record (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
23. Copy of ticket I got (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
24. Copy of check I sent for ticket (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
25. Employment letter (me – copy , spouse – copy)
Document I wanted to take but couldn’t:
1. Self Birth certificate ( we could not take copy or original because I was not able to locate)
2. State return transcript (didn't new how to get)
3. Court disposition for speeding ticket. (my ticket never went in court because I paid immediately)
4. W2 (I was bit lazy)
5. Cancelled check for speeding ticket. (Did ask bank in time, so it didn't arrive)
Document I was asked for interview:
1. Interview letter
2. GC
3. DL
Document my spouse was asked for interview:
1. Interview letter
2. GC
3. DL
4. Marriage Certificate
5. Spouse Birth certificate Self
6. Kids birth certificate
7. Copy of passport
Traffic ticket story:
I had one ticket ($160 + 2 points) and I mentioned it on N-400.
I got psyched up when I got yellow letter and it said bring proper records for arrest I have mentioned in N-400.
With help these forums I understood I need something. I made copy of ticket and check I posted to have with me minimum.
Then I wrote an email for “Court disposition” for this ticket to Colorado DMV. I got a reply call our office and phone number was provided. I called that number it was DMV office.
I gave my DL number and they confirmed I had one ticket and I paid and lady confirmed that is true. I asked I need “Court disposition” for this ticket for immigration purpose, now it was turn of this lady to get psyched, she said what that is? And she transferred me to revenue depart and lady there too said yes this case if closed but she doesn’t understand what I need. She offered me that I can get DMV record which will have some info about this ticket. I said OK, she said go to your local DMV and she gave me address.
I did some more research online and found out that I can get certified copy only through postal mail. I mailed a check of $2.70 (fee for certified copy) and a letter to address mentioned and I got certified copy in postal mail after couple of days.
It did mention ticket but it was still not clear from DMV record that I had paid ticket and case is closed.
So I called the court mentioned on DMV record. It was tough to find this court number because it was somewhere in Colorado which I don’t know. Lady I spoke to new what I am asking but searched the database with my name and said I never had any case in that court.
I told her whole story then she realized and said since I paid my fine this case will never show up in court and will not have any record. If I wouldn’t have paid it would have showed up in court and then based on whatever would have been outcome of court proceeding they could have given me what I am asking for.
Lady was nice, she said if required ask immigration officer to call me and gave me her extension.
I also called my bank and asked for copy of check through which I paid this fine. Check didn’t arrive before interview so I was not able to take it with me.
So only thing which I had with me for speeding ticket:
1. Certified copy of DMV record (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
2. Copy of certified copy of DMV record (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
3. Copy of ticket I got (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
4. Copy of check I sent for ticket (me – because I had ticket, spouse – none)
But as I mentioned in my interview experience, I was never asked for anything related to speeding ticket:
“Another thing she asked me was I ever arrested I said “No”, she said in your application you have said yes. I told her I was never arrested but I was cited – speeding ticket. She said OK and wrote traffic violation next to it and never asked me anything about ticket and I didn’t volunteer to show anything though I had few things with me for this purpose.”
Read this if you have small kids:
I had filled me and my spouse application on same day, sent them in same envelope. If you read these forums it is kind of recommended to keep thing close to each other.
Here is my experience with this process, this definitely has advantages both application go hand in hand and you have to make one trip only for finger printing, interview, oath etc-etc.
Letters and update for both happens mostly at same time and things go hand in hand.
But if you have young kids, like I do, and you live in relatively small place where you don’t have many friends or family member it becomes tough.
For us finger printing was in day time and we could leave our kids with one of our close friend but for interview and oath we had tough time. Our interview was at 7:15 AM and we had one and half hour drive so we had to start at 5:30 AM.
It is not possible to wake kids up at that time and leave them at someone place. We were lucky to have some good friends and we made kids sleep at their place in night but trust me without their help we would have tough time at interview.
We took kids to oath ceremony based on IO’s feedback (though our family friends were ready to keep them) and we had some tough time (read our oath experience).
I wish we had interview and oath at different times, one parent would have taken care of kids while another is going through process and I wish office should have realized parents condition and would have given interview time such that parent don’t have to find some to look after kids at 5 AM.
Anyway it is choice you have to make based on your circumstances.
Interview preparation:
Went through book we got at finger printing several time.
Listened to audio cd several time
Printed flash cards from government website and they were very useful.
Got several books from library which gave us idea about what questions (beside civic, English test) to expect. They are useful.
Reviewed application several times
Prepared a file with all document and marked every document with yellow stick it note so that they are easy to find.
Discussed what document to provide for supporting certain things which may be asked in interview
It is not a bad idea to visit office, where you have to go from interview, before actual interview date, to get feeling of traffic, parking, and entrance etc-etc.
After so much of preparation I was very nervous, I was not afraid of failure but wait was killing and I was almost blank during interview or I should say on interview day until I was declared passed.
If you feel the same, it is normal and I am pretty sure if you do good preparation you will definitely succeed without any hick ups.
All the best
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D/O: Denver, CO
08/05/2009 -- N-400 Mailed
08/07-- N-400 Received
09/02 -- FP Appointment
10/07 -- Online status "case sent4interview"
10/08 -- Yellow letter Received
10/08 -- IL Received
11/10 -- Interview Date (Passed)
11/10 -- Oath Letter
11/10 -- Oath Date (same day)
11/12 -- passport applied
12/04 -- email rcvd passport in mail
12/07/2009 -- passport received
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