Congratulations OC Worker - My Naturalization ceremony experiences today
Thank you all for your support here. I finally eneded my own journey to become a citizen. Let me first congratulate OCWorker on getting the Oath Letter (before I give my experience details). He was a very good team player here on the board.
I had my Naturalization ceremony today at the LA convention center. The letter I got asked me to come not before 12.30 PM. I was there by 12.00 PM (noon) as I never wanted to drive ( as I was been told by Covention Center phone customer service that it takes one and half hours to park and the same time to exit after the ceremony) and took the Metrolink, Red Line and Blue Line. The Convention Center is walking distance from Pico station on Blue Line. There were lots of people ( at least couple of thousands guess) even before I got there.
All New citizens were heralded in to a big room where the immigration officials checked the interview letter and Green card. Kept the Green card and marked OK on the interview letter and gave it back. All new citizens were seated. I saw the same officlas ( when I went to Elmonte for my Interview) guiding people to sit in an orderly manner. We were all given a packet with a boook let (which had Oath , Start Spangled banner etc)
At about 01.30 the proceedings started. An offical from Immigration gave the agenda and dos and donts. The court was brought in to session by the presiding judge and everything went after that was all formality - Oath, pledge of allegiance, congratulations, speech from the President, God Bless America song, National Anthem. PEverybody was given registration forms to vote to fill up. At the end of the ceremony, people were sent in lines to collect their Naturalization certificate. One of the immigration officials who spoke said that today 9/23/2005 they have naturalized 10,002 new citizens. We ( me and my spouse) collected our certicates ( the lines were set based on the last three digits of your A number(, checked our details to make sure everything was OK ( date of birth, name spelling, country etc).
We headed back home by 03.10 PM by taking Metrolink again. It was an experience that I enjoyed. All in all, it was very organized event and I was totaly impressed with the people/crowd management techniques.
We did not apply passport at the Convention Center ( as I wanted to make a copy ). I have an appointment tomarrow morning at the Post Office. The state department official was telling that passport can be expected back within 2-4 weeks ( for regular $97 fees, not expedited). I was surprised that it takes only 2-4 weeks. May be others can share their experiences.
Thanks again everybody for all the input and help you have provided.
Thank you all for your support here. I finally eneded my own journey to become a citizen. Let me first congratulate OCWorker on getting the Oath Letter (before I give my experience details). He was a very good team player here on the board.
I had my Naturalization ceremony today at the LA convention center. The letter I got asked me to come not before 12.30 PM. I was there by 12.00 PM (noon) as I never wanted to drive ( as I was been told by Covention Center phone customer service that it takes one and half hours to park and the same time to exit after the ceremony) and took the Metrolink, Red Line and Blue Line. The Convention Center is walking distance from Pico station on Blue Line. There were lots of people ( at least couple of thousands guess) even before I got there.
All New citizens were heralded in to a big room where the immigration officials checked the interview letter and Green card. Kept the Green card and marked OK on the interview letter and gave it back. All new citizens were seated. I saw the same officlas ( when I went to Elmonte for my Interview) guiding people to sit in an orderly manner. We were all given a packet with a boook let (which had Oath , Start Spangled banner etc)
At about 01.30 the proceedings started. An offical from Immigration gave the agenda and dos and donts. The court was brought in to session by the presiding judge and everything went after that was all formality - Oath, pledge of allegiance, congratulations, speech from the President, God Bless America song, National Anthem. PEverybody was given registration forms to vote to fill up. At the end of the ceremony, people were sent in lines to collect their Naturalization certificate. One of the immigration officials who spoke said that today 9/23/2005 they have naturalized 10,002 new citizens. We ( me and my spouse) collected our certicates ( the lines were set based on the last three digits of your A number(, checked our details to make sure everything was OK ( date of birth, name spelling, country etc).
We headed back home by 03.10 PM by taking Metrolink again. It was an experience that I enjoyed. All in all, it was very organized event and I was totaly impressed with the people/crowd management techniques.
We did not apply passport at the Convention Center ( as I wanted to make a copy ). I have an appointment tomarrow morning at the Post Office. The state department official was telling that passport can be expected back within 2-4 weeks ( for regular $97 fees, not expedited). I was surprised that it takes only 2-4 weeks. May be others can share their experiences.
Thanks again everybody for all the input and help you have provided.