First of all I would like to thank all of you guys for sharing your experiences on this site. I have been a silence reader for a few months now. Since I am almost done with my journey I decided to share my experience with you.
I applied for Naturalization based on marriage in New Orleans. Overall the entire experience was surprisingly fast. I received my finger print notice in a few weeks and started to wait for the interview date. I got my interview date on 11-18-08, after waiting for less than 30 min I was called by a Caucasian lady. I had bunch of evidence for my marriage ready with me. She put me on oath and went over the N400 form with me. She asked my wife's birthday and I couldn't remember
I guess I was nervous. She said " you don't know your wife's b-day!!" I said of course I do... Than i even got more nervous thinking she is going to give me hard-time.
Right after that she started to ask me my civic questions. I guess I was stubborn and didn't really study in return I couldn't answer 2 of the questions. Than she asked me to write a sentence "I have a big dog" that's when I started to have some small talk with her about dogs. She told me she rescued a Rottweiler after Katrina and I started to tell how much I love my bulldog. I thought she was going to give me a break but she didn't and told me I passed everything but the civic test and will be scheduled for a second interview. She told me to bring evidence for my marriage I showed my briefcase and said it's all in here and left. I was very disappointed on my self. I am a well educated guy but yet stubborn and lazy enough to not study for one of the most important exams in my life.
Well, shortly I received my re-interview letter and started to study to my exam this time. I still can answer all 96 question without thinking twice. I was ready and I knew I was gonna nail the interview but god knows I didn't want her to interview me again. I arrived to the immigration office about 30 min before my time. I had some small talk with other people and started to watch the immigration officers as they called names. When I saw the same lady present that day I started to get nervous. Luckily this cute young Caucasian lady (20-25 yrs) called my name. I was relived. She put me on oath, right after that I started have a small talk with her, stating I was ready this time. She went over the N400 form and said since I was so confident she wanted to as me the civic questions. I answered all 5 of them correctly and she told me I passed. She handed me the oath notice for next week, I tried to get on the same day (I heard there was one on the same day while I was in the waiting room) She told me it was full. Than she told me since my application was based on marriage she needed my 2007 tax returns. I told her that on my re-interview notice it asked me to bring only my green card, passport, and my dl. I brought all the evidence with me in case and it helped. She saw my lease and asked for a copy of it too. Than I took the oath notice and went home. Since I took the day off I decided chill at home until my phone rang. There she was my interview officer on the phone. I was extremely surprised that she was calling me. She told me she forgot to make me sign the application and needed 2 passport pictures signed. I said I was on my way. I went back to the office and completed the interview finally.
Now I am looking forward to Feb 5th 09 which is less than a week to join my ceremony.
I hope this will help you guys. Best of luck to all you all.
Peace from New Orleans.
I applied for Naturalization based on marriage in New Orleans. Overall the entire experience was surprisingly fast. I received my finger print notice in a few weeks and started to wait for the interview date. I got my interview date on 11-18-08, after waiting for less than 30 min I was called by a Caucasian lady. I had bunch of evidence for my marriage ready with me. She put me on oath and went over the N400 form with me. She asked my wife's birthday and I couldn't remember
I guess I was nervous. She said " you don't know your wife's b-day!!" I said of course I do... Than i even got more nervous thinking she is going to give me hard-time. Right after that she started to ask me my civic questions. I guess I was stubborn and didn't really study in return I couldn't answer 2 of the questions. Than she asked me to write a sentence "I have a big dog" that's when I started to have some small talk with her about dogs. She told me she rescued a Rottweiler after Katrina and I started to tell how much I love my bulldog. I thought she was going to give me a break but she didn't and told me I passed everything but the civic test and will be scheduled for a second interview. She told me to bring evidence for my marriage
I showed my briefcase and said it's all in here and left. I was very disappointed on my self. I am a well educated guy but yet stubborn and lazy enough to not study for one of the most important exams in my life.Well, shortly I received my re-interview letter and started to study to my exam this time. I still can answer all 96 question without thinking twice. I was ready and I knew I was gonna nail the interview but god knows I didn't want her to interview me again. I arrived to the immigration office about 30 min before my time. I had some small talk with other people and started to watch the immigration officers as they called names. When I saw the same lady present that day I started to get nervous. Luckily this cute young Caucasian lady (20-25 yrs) called my name. I was relived. She put me on oath, right after that I started have a small talk with her, stating I was ready this time. She went over the N400 form and said since I was so confident she wanted to as me the civic questions. I answered all 5 of them correctly and she told me I passed. She handed me the oath notice for next week, I tried to get on the same day (I heard there was one on the same day while I was in the waiting room) She told me it was full. Than she told me since my application was based on marriage she needed my 2007 tax returns. I told her that on my re-interview notice it asked me to bring only my green card, passport, and my dl. I brought all the evidence with me in case and it helped. She saw my lease and asked for a copy of it too. Than I took the oath notice and went home. Since I took the day off I decided chill at home until my phone rang. There she was my interview officer on the phone. I was extremely surprised that she was calling me. She told me she forgot to make me sign the application and needed 2 passport pictures signed. I said I was on my way. I went back to the office and completed the interview finally.
Now I am looking forward to Feb 5th 09 which is less than a week to join my ceremony.
I hope this will help you guys. Best of luck to all you all.
Peace from New Orleans.