Timeline:
California Service Center, San Diego:
N400 submitted: December 18, 2002
FP: February 1, 2003
Online Status disappeared: August 21, 2003
Interview letter received: August 23, 2003
Interview date: October 30, 2003.
now waiting for oath -----
Hi guys,
I had my interview in San Diego today. So here's my report:
First of all until this morning I didn't even know if the BCIS office would be open today. It had been closed on Tuesday because of the big fire in San Diego county. Wednesdays the office is closed anyway. So I checked the BCIS website Thursday morning to find out if the office was open and it was open.
I arrived in San Diego about an hour early. I thought better too early than too late. I parked on one of those little parking lots close to the office and later paid $16 for parking. I spent some time at Horton Plaza (that's a shopping mall) and then entered the BCIS building about 30 minutes early. The building was very empty. Usually there are a lot of people, but I think, many people just stayed home because of the fire or maybe they didn't know that the office was open. Well, good for me. Security checked my I.D. and my purse. When I got to the waiting room for the interviews there were maybe 25 people there and half of them just accompanied their relatives. I gave my interview letter to a lady and she gave me a form to fill out. The form was requesting information about name change and I had to keep it for my interview. I waited about 30 minutes. Then a lady called my name and I followed her into her office. She made me raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth. I had to show my green card, drivers license and passport and give her the form I had filled out earlier. She didn't ask for any other documents. Then she asked me questions about my application. She checked if my answers corresponded with the information I gave in the application. She was very nice and the questions were all very straigthforward. Then I had to sign the bottom part of my application. I was not supposed to sign with my usual signature, the signature had to be legible. I thought it was a little bit difficult because I'm not used to sign that way.
Then she asked me to read the sentence: "I came to San Diego for my interview". I had to write the sentence: "You cook very well." She asked me 10 questions about US history and government and all questions were out of the 100 questions posted on the BCIS website. It was really very easy and I passed with a score of 100%. I guess it's enough just to study the 100 questions. I had studied a little bit more, but I don't regret it. It's still interesting to have all the background information. I had to sign all the test results. Finally she put a red stamp on my application and said: "Congratulations, I just approved your application." I was so happy, but also stunned that it had been so easy. She gave me a letter saying that I had
passed the exam and that I was recommended for approval. She explained that even though she had approved the application it would still be reviewed by somebody else. I should expect my invitation letter for the oath ceremony in about 1 - 3 months. The whole interview took about 20 minutes and really was a piece of cake. I want to mention though that I don't have any special circumstances, no traffic tickets, never left the country since I arrived here, no name change.
I hope this information will help you a little bit.
Tina.
California Service Center, San Diego:
N400 submitted: December 18, 2002
FP: February 1, 2003
Online Status disappeared: August 21, 2003
Interview letter received: August 23, 2003
Interview date: October 30, 2003.
now waiting for oath -----
Hi guys,
I had my interview in San Diego today. So here's my report:
First of all until this morning I didn't even know if the BCIS office would be open today. It had been closed on Tuesday because of the big fire in San Diego county. Wednesdays the office is closed anyway. So I checked the BCIS website Thursday morning to find out if the office was open and it was open.
I arrived in San Diego about an hour early. I thought better too early than too late. I parked on one of those little parking lots close to the office and later paid $16 for parking. I spent some time at Horton Plaza (that's a shopping mall) and then entered the BCIS building about 30 minutes early. The building was very empty. Usually there are a lot of people, but I think, many people just stayed home because of the fire or maybe they didn't know that the office was open. Well, good for me. Security checked my I.D. and my purse. When I got to the waiting room for the interviews there were maybe 25 people there and half of them just accompanied their relatives. I gave my interview letter to a lady and she gave me a form to fill out. The form was requesting information about name change and I had to keep it for my interview. I waited about 30 minutes. Then a lady called my name and I followed her into her office. She made me raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth. I had to show my green card, drivers license and passport and give her the form I had filled out earlier. She didn't ask for any other documents. Then she asked me questions about my application. She checked if my answers corresponded with the information I gave in the application. She was very nice and the questions were all very straigthforward. Then I had to sign the bottom part of my application. I was not supposed to sign with my usual signature, the signature had to be legible. I thought it was a little bit difficult because I'm not used to sign that way.
Then she asked me to read the sentence: "I came to San Diego for my interview". I had to write the sentence: "You cook very well." She asked me 10 questions about US history and government and all questions were out of the 100 questions posted on the BCIS website. It was really very easy and I passed with a score of 100%. I guess it's enough just to study the 100 questions. I had studied a little bit more, but I don't regret it. It's still interesting to have all the background information. I had to sign all the test results. Finally she put a red stamp on my application and said: "Congratulations, I just approved your application." I was so happy, but also stunned that it had been so easy. She gave me a letter saying that I had
passed the exam and that I was recommended for approval. She explained that even though she had approved the application it would still be reviewed by somebody else. I should expect my invitation letter for the oath ceremony in about 1 - 3 months. The whole interview took about 20 minutes and really was a piece of cake. I want to mention though that I don't have any special circumstances, no traffic tickets, never left the country since I arrived here, no name change.
I hope this information will help you a little bit.
Tina.