Naturalization Certificate Questions

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bobfrmEnzyte

Registered Users (C)
Can someone help me with this question. My oath is scheduled for 09/23/09 in the Chicago DO. Someone told me that sometimes USCIS does not give Naturalization Certificates to some people at the oath ceremony if the certificate is not ready. Is this true? I hope not because it would be horrible because they take your green card at the beginning of the ceremony. If they don't give the cert. then a person will be like a nomad not able to travel or apply for passport. I have read one post from back in 2007 that this happend to a person.

The questions is what should a person do in this situation. Should we insist that the GC be given back till the certificate is produced. Any feedback on this will be helpful.

Thanks.
 
Never heard of this. Maybe, those were cases in which the USCIS made some errors on the certificates and then had to fix them?
 
That's what I think too. In case this happens I would ask that they give back the GC till they produce the certificate and wait to see what they say.
 
I've worried about the same thing (let's be honest, we always need something to worry about). If that did happen, I would think that the DO would make you one the same day. I say that because 1- DOs appear to do the printing because they can do same day oaths, and 2) it's not exactly hitech- a printed piece of paper with a photo glued on then squeezed in the stamping machine.

When I saw the print out of what is supposed to be on my certificate I rushed looking over it. So naturally I worry that I missed a mistake. However, it's likely the info is copied from your greencard record so I hope it's ok.

The only issue I've seen recently on these boards re certificates is that one persons wasn't stamped. I think he got it fixed at the DO the next day.
 
bobfrmEnzyte said:
Can someone help me with this question. My oath is scheduled for 09/23/09 in the Chicago DO. Someone told me that sometimes USCIS does not give Naturalization Certificates to some people at the oath ceremony if the certificate is not ready. Is this true? I hope not because it would be horrible because they take your green card at the beginning of the ceremony. If they don't give the cert. then a person will be like a nomad not able to travel or apply for passport. I have read one post from back in 2007 that this happend to a person.

The questions is what should a person do in this situation. Should we insist that the GC be given back till the certificate is produced. Any feedback on this will be helpful.

Thanks.
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Before they take away your GC, they actually physically check of the naturalization certificate is ready.
 
Huracan said:
Never heard of it. Ask that someone to backup the claim with some facts.
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OK, at least in the case of my naturalization ceremony (which was in the Chicago DO area), they did check that the certificate was ready before taking away the GC. The IO who was doing the initial check-in at the oath ceremony went through the list, found my name in it, then went through the pile of certificates, found mine (I saw it myself) and then directed me to the next IO who took my green card. I assume that something like that is the standards operating procedure, at least in the Chicago DO jurisdiction.
 
bobfrmEnzyte said:
Can someone help me with this question. My oath is scheduled for 09/23/09 in the Chicago DO. Someone told me that sometimes USCIS does not give Naturalization Certificates to some people at the oath ceremony if the certificate is not ready. Is this true? I hope not because it would be horrible because they take your green card at the beginning of the ceremony. If they don't give the cert. then a person will be like a nomad not able to travel or apply for passport. I have read one post from back in 2007 that this happend to a person.

The questions is what should a person do in this situation. Should we insist that the GC be given back till the certificate is produced. Any feedback on this will be helpful.

Thanks.
Click to expand...


Dude,

However told you that had too much shrimp for one day....:eek: Unless there is a mistake on the certificate, you are most likely to leave the ceremony with your certificate. You can be sure about that as sure as you can't speed a week without pooping...:) USCIS plans and have you wait for years only NOT to be ready with your final paperwork? :confused: Absolutely not, they schedule you for the oath ceremony knowing that their work is done and you are now free to do anything, except be a President...:rolleyes:
 
baikal3 said:
OK, at least in the case of my naturalization ceremony (which was in the Chicago DO area), they did check that the certificate was ready before taking away the GC. The IO who was doing the initial check-in at the oath ceremony went through the list, found my name in it, then went through the pile of certificates, found mine (I saw it myself) and then directed me to the next IO who took my green card. I assume that something like that is the standards operating procedure, at least in the Chicago DO jurisdiction.
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Hi baikal3, I meant for the OP to backup the claim of sometimes people not getting the certificate at the ceremony.
 
Thanks for all the responses people and thanks to guy with the pooping analogy. I will post back what happens tomorrow after the oath ceremony.
 
baikal3 said:
Before they take away your GC, they actually physically check of the naturalization certificate is ready.
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Er, nope. At my Oath two people at the door took everyone's OL and then another in the aisle for the seating took everyone's GC. That way they know where you are seated and that's why they say if you have to go out, make sure you come back to the exact same seat.

As we filed out they handed us the Certificate in the reverse order they collected the GCs.
 
WhichWay2Go said:
Er, nope. At my Oath two people at the door took everyone's OL and then another in the aisle for the seating took everyone's GC. That way they know where you are seated and that's why they say if you have to go out, make sure you come back to the exact same seat.

As we filed out they handed us the Certificate in the reverse order they collected the GCs.
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Like I wrote above, at my oath ceremony (Chicago DO) they physically checked that the certificate was ready and that my name was on their own list of people taking the oath that day before taking away my green card. I saw the certificate at that point, but it was not given to me just yet. Of course, the certificates were actually handed in to us only after the oath was administered. Perhaps there are some slight variations between how oaths are administered in different DOs, but I think something close to that must be their standard practice. I am also pretty sure that they don't just rely on the oath letter and double-check their own list before collecting a person's green card.
 
probability

My estimate is that Chicago district office issues more than 10000
naturalization certificates per year, and maybe they are forgetting
to prepare one in time, so the probability that you will be that one is less than
0.01% (one in ten thausand). This is so small that better to worry/think
about something else which has higher probability, say to lost the job,
or to be killed in car accident, or positive, say to get Nobel prize,
or to find lottery ticket which won Illinois lottery.
 
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Preferably black ink pen. You might want to use a uniball signo 207, but I guess you can use any black ink pen.
 
bobfrmEnzyte said:
Can someone help me with this question. My oath is scheduled for 09/23/09 in the Chicago DO. Someone told me that sometimes USCIS does not give Naturalization Certificates to some people at the oath ceremony if the certificate is not ready. Is this true? I hope not because it would be horrible because they take your green card at the beginning of the ceremony. If they don't give the cert. then a person will be like a nomad not able to travel or apply for passport. I have read one post from back in 2007 that this happend to a person.

The questions is what should a person do in this situation. Should we insist that the GC be given back till the certificate is produced. Any feedback on this will be helpful.

Thanks.
Click to expand...


No need to worry, just relax. If they seat you and let you take oath then you will get the certificate. However, if you were to find a mistake in the certificate then that’s a different story, obviously you won't be going home with the certificate.
 
Thanks everyone. Since I posted the question I should finish the thread. I took the oath on 9/23. It was like people posted. About 3 IOs are sitting before you enter the room and they do take your GC but they also check if you are on the list and one of them has the certificates. That IO even showed me my certificate before I went in the oath ceremony hall. So no worries. They do have the certificate ready when you go in for the oath. :D
 
copper1 said:
However, if you were to find a mistake in the certificate then that’s a different story, obviously you won't be going home with the certificate.
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If we find a mistake on the certificate, should we wait until oath to tell the USCIS or before oath? If we tell USCIS before the oath, we may be rescheduled another day. So I think the best thing to do is to keep silent about mistake and only tall USCIS after oath. Even in such a case
you may not get your certificate on that day, but you are a citizen and how to obtain a certificate is merely a technical but never a legal issue.
But If you are rescheduled because you tell USCIS teh mistake before the oath, god know what will happens
 
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WBH said:
If we find a mistake on the certificate, should we wait until oath to tell the USCIS or before oath?
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You do not get the Certificate until you are leaving the Oath Ceremony Court room.

If there is a problem, I would hope they give you back the GC.
 
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