Anon_Citizen
New Member
Hello All,
I completed my naturalization process yesterday and thought I would post my experience and timeline in case someone is interested.
Timeline and Dates
Mailed Application On: May 27, 2005
Application Received: May 31, 2005
Notice Date: June 7, 2005
Fingerprinting Notice Date: December 6, 2005
Fingerprinting Appointment Date: January 10, 2006
Interview Notice Date: February 1, 2006
Interview Date: March 14, 2006
Naturalization Oath Ceremony Notice Date: April 10, 2006
Naturalization Oath Date: May 9, 2006
Some additional details:
Mailing the Application
I mailed the application to the Texas Service Center. District office was Jacksonville, FL. Used USPS Express Mail to send the application (delivered next day). Used a personal check to pay the application fee ($390 at that time).
Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting was in Jackson, MS (not Jacksonville, FL). Not sure why this happened, but I believe this was because the fingerprinting was moved from New Orleans, LA to Jackson, MS. I am closer to New Orleans, LA than to Jacksonville, FL, and was told that some cases were being handled in New Orleans instead of Jacksonville.
Interview
My online case status did disappear about 10 days before I got my interview letter. It never reappeared. Interview was quite straightforward. The officer was very nice. The only problem was with my photographs, which had a shadow. The officer asked me to go to a nearby center and retake the photographs. He started the interview after I came back with the new photographs.
I had traveled between the time I filed the application and the interview date, so I had a replacement page 4 for my application with the additional trips (I had many trips outside the US, so I also had an additional sheet with the list of trips that had to be updated).
After reading some messages in this forum, I also had an updated sheet with membership information in professional societies, university honor societies, etc. The interviewing officer said they were unimportant and did not take my updated sheet.
The history and civics questions were simple - picked from the set of questions available on the USCIS web site.
The reading and writing test was trivial.
I asked whether they could do the oath the same day as the interview, as in some district offices. The officer said that the Jacksonville office was too small to do that, so I would have to wait for the notice for the oath ceremony.
I had entered the US when I was 17 and did not register with the Selective Service after I turned 18 because I was a student. I became a permanent resident when I was 28, so I did not have to register. I did obtain the Status Information Letter from Selective Service stating that I did not need to register. The the officer never asked about it.
I noticed that the officer looked at a sheet which had a big "Approved" stamp on it - probably the name check. In any case, I did not get stuck in the name check process (because my case seemed to track pretty well with the dates being reported on the USCIS web site). After the interview, the officer congratulated me and handed me a sheet (well, form N-652) saying that my application has been recommeded for approval.
Ceremony
The ceremony was quite fast. I was supposed to appear by 8:00 AM at the ceremony location: The Wilson Center for the Performing Arts at the Florida Community College in Jacksonville. There were probably about 200 people
in total. We were asked to make sure we filled in the questions on the back of the form N-445 (the notice of naturalization oath ceremony), date, and sign the form (I had already done this at the hotel in the morning).
I had traveled abroad between the interview and the oath ceremony, so I had to check yes for one of the boxes. The officer (curiously enough, the same one who interviewed me) asked how many days I was out of the country, made a note, and said it was fine. He even said he remembered me from the Interview.
We picked up our certificates and turned in the green cards. Then, we were asked to go into the auditorium. There were a couple of speeches, followed by the reciting of the oath. Then, the officer called up some kids to the stage and enlisted their help in reciting the pledge of allegiance. After that, a few more instructions on how to sign the certificate, apply for a passport, etc. The officer said to sign the certificate the same way as the photograph. In my case, I had signed it using my full name, without any initials. The officer did say that we could make a copy of the certificate to keep before we mail in the original for the passport. The whole thing finished by 9:30 AM with a round of congratulations all around and we left.
----
That completes my process. It was painless, except for the long wait (almost 1 year). I applied for my passport today.
Hope this information helps others. I have found this forum quite useful - except for the occasional personal fights that seem to erupt.
I will monitor this thread for a little while to see if anyone has questions that I can answer.
I completed my naturalization process yesterday and thought I would post my experience and timeline in case someone is interested.
Timeline and Dates
Mailed Application On: May 27, 2005
Application Received: May 31, 2005
Notice Date: June 7, 2005
Fingerprinting Notice Date: December 6, 2005
Fingerprinting Appointment Date: January 10, 2006
Interview Notice Date: February 1, 2006
Interview Date: March 14, 2006
Naturalization Oath Ceremony Notice Date: April 10, 2006
Naturalization Oath Date: May 9, 2006
Some additional details:
Mailing the Application
I mailed the application to the Texas Service Center. District office was Jacksonville, FL. Used USPS Express Mail to send the application (delivered next day). Used a personal check to pay the application fee ($390 at that time).
Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting was in Jackson, MS (not Jacksonville, FL). Not sure why this happened, but I believe this was because the fingerprinting was moved from New Orleans, LA to Jackson, MS. I am closer to New Orleans, LA than to Jacksonville, FL, and was told that some cases were being handled in New Orleans instead of Jacksonville.
Interview
My online case status did disappear about 10 days before I got my interview letter. It never reappeared. Interview was quite straightforward. The officer was very nice. The only problem was with my photographs, which had a shadow. The officer asked me to go to a nearby center and retake the photographs. He started the interview after I came back with the new photographs.
I had traveled between the time I filed the application and the interview date, so I had a replacement page 4 for my application with the additional trips (I had many trips outside the US, so I also had an additional sheet with the list of trips that had to be updated).
After reading some messages in this forum, I also had an updated sheet with membership information in professional societies, university honor societies, etc. The interviewing officer said they were unimportant and did not take my updated sheet.
The history and civics questions were simple - picked from the set of questions available on the USCIS web site.
The reading and writing test was trivial.
I asked whether they could do the oath the same day as the interview, as in some district offices. The officer said that the Jacksonville office was too small to do that, so I would have to wait for the notice for the oath ceremony.
I had entered the US when I was 17 and did not register with the Selective Service after I turned 18 because I was a student. I became a permanent resident when I was 28, so I did not have to register. I did obtain the Status Information Letter from Selective Service stating that I did not need to register. The the officer never asked about it.
I noticed that the officer looked at a sheet which had a big "Approved" stamp on it - probably the name check. In any case, I did not get stuck in the name check process (because my case seemed to track pretty well with the dates being reported on the USCIS web site). After the interview, the officer congratulated me and handed me a sheet (well, form N-652) saying that my application has been recommeded for approval.
Ceremony
The ceremony was quite fast. I was supposed to appear by 8:00 AM at the ceremony location: The Wilson Center for the Performing Arts at the Florida Community College in Jacksonville. There were probably about 200 people
in total. We were asked to make sure we filled in the questions on the back of the form N-445 (the notice of naturalization oath ceremony), date, and sign the form (I had already done this at the hotel in the morning).
I had traveled abroad between the interview and the oath ceremony, so I had to check yes for one of the boxes. The officer (curiously enough, the same one who interviewed me) asked how many days I was out of the country, made a note, and said it was fine. He even said he remembered me from the Interview.
We picked up our certificates and turned in the green cards. Then, we were asked to go into the auditorium. There were a couple of speeches, followed by the reciting of the oath. Then, the officer called up some kids to the stage and enlisted their help in reciting the pledge of allegiance. After that, a few more instructions on how to sign the certificate, apply for a passport, etc. The officer said to sign the certificate the same way as the photograph. In my case, I had signed it using my full name, without any initials. The officer did say that we could make a copy of the certificate to keep before we mail in the original for the passport. The whole thing finished by 9:30 AM with a round of congratulations all around and we left.
----
That completes my process. It was painless, except for the long wait (almost 1 year). I applied for my passport today.
Hope this information helps others. I have found this forum quite useful - except for the occasional personal fights that seem to erupt.
I will monitor this thread for a little while to see if anyone has questions that I can answer.