My Interview Experience -Chicago DO

R

r00724

Registered Users (C)
Here I am back again with my interview experience today at Chicago DO. I was scheduled to appear at 8:05 AM this morning. I got there around 7:45AM, checked in and luckily was first one to be called in for interview. Officer was really nice and friendly, she took me in her office and welcomed me and had me take a verbal oath.

We sat down there, she already had my file open and here we start the process. First she asked me to read a basic english sentence and then had me write another basic sentence on the back of the same paper. Then she asked me 6 history questions, I answered them all correctly. After that, she asked me to show her the passport and ID and then she went over the YES/NO questions from the N-400 form. Verified if my contact information was still valid and if I need to change my name. I have different names on my GC and birth certificate. She said we will go by the name on the birth certificate therefore I do not need to change anything on my form. Section where I indicated the name to be changed, she circled it with red and wrote 'NO CHANGE' on it. Then she had me sign the last page of the application, my photographs and finally gave me the N-652 with 'Congratulations your petition has been recommended for approval' checkbox marked. She congratulated me and told me to expect the oath date notice to be sent in mail within 2-3 weeks.

Overall the process took hardly 10 minutes and I was done within no time. I am really looking forward for my oath notice in the mail and will be checking my mailbox everyday. I will keep you guys posted with new information as soon as I have one.
 
Congrats r00724. Did you drive or take the train ? If you drove- where did u park ? Sorry to go off tangent folks.
 
chigc2002 said:
Congrats r00724. Did you drive or take the train ? If you drove- where did u park ? Sorry to go off tangent folks.
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I had the option to take the train but I drove since it was 8:00 AM in the morning and I didnt want to take any chances. Good thing with Chicago DO is that parking is available for USCIS office at the back side of the building. You can see the sign board there which says 'parking for USCIS'. They charge $10 for the first hour but very convenient.
 
Great. I'll keep that in mind for sure. Thanks for sharing.

r00724 said:
I had the option to take the train but I drove since it was 8:00 AM in the morning and I didnt want to take any chances. Good thing with Chicago DO is that parking is available for USCIS office at the back side of the building. You can see the sign board there which says 'parking for USCIS'. They charge $10 for the first hour but very convenient.
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BTW, r00724: Not sure about the nature of your application- marriage based, 3yr, 5 yr etc. but I'm curious if you limited yourself to the list of documents listed on your Interview Notice OR did you carry everything under the sun- Birth certificates, Marriage certificate, Utility bills, DMV records, tax transcripts, SS letter (if listed), etc. etc. just in case it comes up.

Do share your thoughts.

r00724 said:
I had the option to take the train but I drove since it was 8:00 AM in the morning and I didnt want to take any chances. Good thing with Chicago DO is that parking is available for USCIS office at the back side of the building. You can see the sign board there which says 'parking for USCIS'. They charge $10 for the first hour but very convenient.
Click to expand...
 
chigc2002 said:
BTW, r00724: Not sure about the nature of your application- marriage based, 3yr, 5 yr etc. but I'm curious if you limited yourself to the list of documents listed on your Interview Notice OR did you carry everything under the sun- Birth certificates, Marriage certificate, Utility bills, DMV records, tax transcripts, SS letter (if listed), etc. etc. just in case it comes up.

Do share your thoughts.
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My application was 5 yr based. Things I carried with me to the interview were

ID
Driver's license
GC
Passport
SS Card
DMV Record
Tax returns
All communication letters (I-797) from USCIS
2 extra photographs

You should have everything except DMV record and tax returns. You can get both of them in matter of hours. I called IRS and had them fax my returns and went to local DMV to get my record. I would say just take everything with you just in case if they want to see anything.
 
r00724 said:
Verified if my contact information was still valid and if I need to change my name. I have different names on my GC and birth certificate. She said we will go by the name on the birth certificate therefore I do not need to change anything on my form. Section where I indicated the name to be changed, she circled it with red and wrote 'NO CHANGE' on it.
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r00724: Are you saying that the officer talked you out of changing your name? It sounds like you wanted to change it but she did not let you? OR is the name on your GC incorrect, and you wanted to go by birth certificate which is what ended up happening per your desire?
 
TheRealist said:
r00724: Are you saying that the officer talked you out of changing your name? It sounds like you wanted to change it but she did not let you? OR is the name on your GC incorrect, and you wanted to go by birth certificate which is what ended up happening per your desire?
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Basically, my name on my GC was first, middle and last. Since in indian/ pakistani culture the first name is called family/sir name and middle name is your actual name. So what I did was to remove my first name(sir name) and just go by my middle, last name. Officer told me that she will go by my name on birth certificate and that is what my name should be.
 
r00724 said:
Basically, my name on my GC was first, middle and last. Since in indian/ pakistani culture the first name is called family/sir name and middle name is your actual name. So what I did was to remove my first name(sir name) and just go by my middle, last name. Officer told me that she will go by my name on birth certificate and that is what my name should be.
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Ok, thanks. But to clarify to others on this board, the underlined naming convention given above is followed by South Indians only and not by others. For most all Indians and Pakistanis, the first name does appear first on paper.
 
TheRealist said:
Ok, thanks. But to clarify to others on this board, the underlined naming convention given above is followed by South Indians only and not by others. For most all Indians and Pakistanis, the first name does appear first on paper.
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Not neccassarily
 
I dont agree

r00724 said:
Basically, my name on my GC was first, middle and last. Since in indian/ pakistani culture the first name is called family/sir name and middle name is your actual name. So what I did was to remove my first name(sir name) and just go by my middle, last name. Officer told me that she will go by my name on birth certificate and that is what my name should be.
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R00724,

I dont agree with your statement. IN any part of india,

An example say 1): Nellore Mahesh Kumar . his father's name is Nellore siva
2) : narayanan bhaskar Iyer . his father's name is sreedhar narayanan Iyer.

First name is Given name to an individual ( 1) Mahesh or Maheshkumar or 2) Bhaskar)
Middle name is any other extra names (1) kumar or blank or 2) Iyer)
last name is the family name or surname ( 1) Nellore or 2) Narayanan

Hope its clear. your situation is different than ordinary.
 
r00724 said:
Not neccassarily
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There could always be exceptions to any rule. What I meant was that names such as 'V. Ramesh' or 'Coimbatore Bhaskar' can be seen in the south of India. But as you move up north, you'll never never see anyone write their name as 'Kapoor Anil' or 'Ganguly Sourav' or 'Patna Yadav Lalu Prasad' or 'Siddhu Singh Navjot'.

You know what I mean. It's a cultural thing. No argument with that. I just wanted to put it in the proper perspective, since your post says that in Indian/Pakistani culture the first name is called the last name, which is not true. FYI in Pakistan, the naming style is virtually the same as in north India - remember roughly 60% of Pakistan is Punjabi, 30% Sindhi and the rest Urdu speaking or other minorities. Though I have seen many Karachiites (Urdu speakers) use a different convention.
 
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TheRealist said:
There could always be exceptions to any rule. What I meant was that names such as 'V. Ramesh' or 'Coimbatore Bhaskar' can be seen in the south of India. But as you move up north, you'll never never see anyone write their name as 'Kapoor Anil' or 'Ganguly Sourav' or 'Patna Yadav Lalu Prasad' or 'Siddhu Singh Navjot'.

You know what I mean. It's a cultural thing. No argument with that. I just wanted to put it in the proper perspective, since your post says that in Indian/Pakistani culture the first name is called the last name, which is not true. FYI in Pakistan, the naming style is virtually the same as in north India - remember roughly 60% of Pakistan is Punjabi, 30% Sindhi and the rest Urdu speaking or other minorities. Though I have seen many Karachiites (Urdu speakers) use a different convention.
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Ok, first of all I was referring to surname not the last name. I myself is a Karachite and the naming convention we use is Surname, First Name and Last name. A briliiant example would be someone using syed or muhammed before their names. If you read their names, muhammed will be considered the first name here in america. Hope you get my point
 
sweetgurl12 said:
isn't surname and last name .. samething?
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True, generally speaking. Surname is a family name, which usually happens to be located last in sequence when written on paper, hence it is called LAST name. The surname is shared by other members of the person's family as well. Obviously, different cultures write their names in their own different ways, though much/most of the world considers last name as the surname.

The confusion results when the need arises to force-fit certain names to a western naming style.
 
TheRealist said:
True, generally speaking. Surname is a family name, which usually happens to be located last in sequence when written on paper, hence it is called LAST name. The surname is shared by other members of the person's family as well. Obviously, different cultures write their names in their own different ways, though much/most of the world considers last name as the surname.

The confusion results when the need arises to force-fit certain names to a western naming style.
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Totally agree with you! Lot of people do not understand the meaning of First, Middle and Last (surname, family) Name and that causes a lot of problems in other parts of the world!
 
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