Naturalization Interview & Oath
Hi everyone:
I am happy to inform you that I passed the interview, took the oath and am now a US citizen. My profound gratitude to the kind advice, tips and suggestions I received from the citizens of this forum. Without your help, support and encouragement, it would have been much tougher to get to this point. While it is impossible to mention all names, certain ones stick out such as Joef, Rahul, Phillydude, wouldbe citen, bulbuldude etc. Thanks to all again-appreciate your assistance.
INTERVIEW PROCESS:
A. Interview Location
Interview was at 9:00am on 4/15/04 at Fallon FOB located at 31 Hopkins Plaza in downtown Baltimore.
Word to the wise: Since parking is a nightmare, be at the location about 2 hours before the apointment time.
Street parking is almost always full. So if it is not available, it is better to park in the parking garages close by or if they are full, park at the one on Charles Street and walk 3-5 blocks (15 min walk). Hence reach the location early.
B. Fallon FOB:
If you have a morning interview, the security line outside the bldg is quite long, and it takes 30-60minutes just to get in the building.
This includes the long line, metal detector and security checks.
Once you have cleared security, and receive a vistors badge, proceed to Room 103 (located on the same floor towards your right).
Again, word to the wise: If you need to, use the rest room located in Room 100 before you go to 103. Once you are in Room 103 and are in a queue, you may miss your interview, if you step out. No restrooms in Room 103.
C. Room 103:
Soon after entering Room 103, proceed to the counter, and give them the Notice of Action letter. They will stamp it with the current date, and will hold on to it. This is when your waiting time begins. So the faster you had this Notice of Action letter, the greater priority you will have in the queue, and thus will be called
sooner than later. I observed people who had handed this Notice of Action Letter, even earlier than their scheduled apointment, got called in before I did.
There is a door linking Room 103 to a large interviewing area consisting of several independent rooms/offices down a corridor. This interviewing area can't be seen from Room 103 except when the door is periodically opened to admit interviewees. As I was waiting I observed at least 10 different interviewers (of differing ethnic types).
In my case I had to wait for 1.5 hours since Room 103 must have had at least 100 people.
A central intercom calls out the name of the people to be interviewed. Then the door opens, and the interviewer admits the interviewee into the interview area-and closes the door.
D. Interview Process:
In my case, a Caucasian male admitted me in, once my name was called out. He led me to an interviewing room/office (in the area previously described). Before I sat down, he made me raise my right hand, and said "Do you swear to tell the truth under penality of perjury", and I responded yes.
He was friendly, but quite strict and professional. He began by going through the N-400 form line by line. He asked if I needed a name change to which I responded no. But I pointed out to him that my name was misspelled on the notice of action. He corrected it.
To the controversial traffic tickets questions (have you been cited etc etc) I had put NO on my form. I brought this up with him, and showed him a waiver for a speeding ticket I had received in 2002 in Alabama. He studied the ticket, explanation letter and asked detailed questions about whether i had paid the ticket, what was I doing in Alabama etc. Interestingly, he did NOT modify the answer on the N-400 to yes (for the have you been cited... question). Nor did he request any copies of the ticket. He seemed satisfied and i also showed him my drivers record which I got from the MVA.
After asking each question line by line from the N-400 such as have you gambled etc, he proceeded to test me in english.
On a black piece of paper, he asked me to write: I take my dog to school. He also asked me to read the following sentence: I want to be a US citizen.
For the History and Civics test, all the questions asked were from the sample set. In fact, the easier questions of that set were asked such as where is the white house located, what is the term for the senate, term for house of representative, can the constitution be amended, no of amendments to constitution, why do you want to be US citizen.
After that he warmly congratulated me an gave me a piece of paper which indicated I had passed the interview.
The total interview time took no more than 30 min. I completed the interview at around 11:00am. He asked me if I wanted to take the oath that afternoon to which I responded yes.
E. OATH:
After the interview, the interviewer gave me additional two sheets of paper. The first paper indicated I had passed the interview and that the oath date and time (in my case that afternoon at 15:00). The second sheet of paper was a questionnnairewith 7 questions which began with: After the naturalization interview: have you been outside the US, gambled, committed prostitution etc (similar to the N-400 questions).
At 15:00 we were taken to the 7th floor in a large room. We submitted the completed forms and green card to a lady. After the naturalization oath and pledge of allegiance we became US citizens. Then each of us was handed a Naturalization Certificate.
F. BALTIMORE CENTER:
The staff at this center is really superb (can't praise them enough). Their professionalism, efficiency, friendliness and fairness are outstanding. In fact, in many ways, they exceed the level of service you would find even in the private sector, let alone the Federal government. Don't know what makes this center so good...but I am really glad that I live here.
God Bless America!
