Hello Folks,
I thought I would describe my oath ceremony experience.
My oath ceremony was held on November 16, 2005 at historic Fanueil Hall in Boston. Though the letter said we had to be there at 12 noon, most people were there well before that and the officials ushered us into the hall at 11:30 AM. We finished by 2:30 PM. Though it took 3 hours, most of the time was spent waiting. The actual time spent on doing things (returning the Green Card, taking the oath etc.) took no more than 15 to 20 minutes.
The first thing that happens when most people were seated was that immigration officers would go from person to person, examining the oath letter and the Green Card. After this, we had to queue up, row by row, to "check-in". This comprised of returning our Green Cards. Then we waited a while before two senior officials for the USCIS came in and delivered brief speeches. Then a judge from the US District Court of Massachusetts, with a court clerk, opened the offical proceedings. The clerk asked us to stand up, raise our right hands and recite the oath. After this, the judge declared us US citizens and congratulated us. Finally, we queued up to receive our certificates of naturalization and left.
Switch off your cellphones when you go for the ceremony. They warned us in the beginning that if they saw anyone (i.e. oath-takers) talking on a cellphone or even hearing a cellphone ring, they would ask that person to leave and delay the proceedings for a while. They caught 4 or 5 people talking on their cellphones and warned them, but did not ask them to leave. Instead, they made us wait an extra 15 minutes. The reason they don't want cellphone usage is because once the judge enters and start the proceedings, the venue becomes a US District Court and court rules prohibit cellphone usage.
I thought I would describe my oath ceremony experience.
My oath ceremony was held on November 16, 2005 at historic Fanueil Hall in Boston. Though the letter said we had to be there at 12 noon, most people were there well before that and the officials ushered us into the hall at 11:30 AM. We finished by 2:30 PM. Though it took 3 hours, most of the time was spent waiting. The actual time spent on doing things (returning the Green Card, taking the oath etc.) took no more than 15 to 20 minutes.
The first thing that happens when most people were seated was that immigration officers would go from person to person, examining the oath letter and the Green Card. After this, we had to queue up, row by row, to "check-in". This comprised of returning our Green Cards. Then we waited a while before two senior officials for the USCIS came in and delivered brief speeches. Then a judge from the US District Court of Massachusetts, with a court clerk, opened the offical proceedings. The clerk asked us to stand up, raise our right hands and recite the oath. After this, the judge declared us US citizens and congratulated us. Finally, we queued up to receive our certificates of naturalization and left.
Switch off your cellphones when you go for the ceremony. They warned us in the beginning that if they saw anyone (i.e. oath-takers) talking on a cellphone or even hearing a cellphone ring, they would ask that person to leave and delay the proceedings for a while. They caught 4 or 5 people talking on their cellphones and warned them, but did not ask them to leave. Instead, they made us wait an extra 15 minutes. The reason they don't want cellphone usage is because once the judge enters and start the proceedings, the venue becomes a US District Court and court rules prohibit cellphone usage.