New York City - N-400 Timeline - Naturalization Experiences
- Thread starter JohnnyCash
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Dinsdale2011
Registered Users (C)
I worked abroad for my company for 18 months through August 2011 and while I tried to come back every 6 months I was not able to do so for a 9 month period in 2010. One of the requests for documentation is to demonstrate that I have not abandoned my residency and to also show proof of paying taxes for 5 years. Hence my question.
Hi All,
I've been a silent follower of this site for a while now and I just decided to sign up to give an account of my recent experience with the NYC DO.
I just had my Interview today at 26 federal Plaza. I was scheduled for 9.05 am and I got there around 8.25am, went through security, up to the 7th floor, had my letter taken and told to go and sit and wait for my name to be called.
I was sat and waiting and just starting to doze off (been up since 2am getting my papers in order) when I hear my name mangled out on the loudspeaker about 8.50. wow. I had been expecting at least an hour wait as the waiting room was already reasonably crowded but here I am been called before my scheduled time.
The IO called 2 of us at the same time and had the other applicant wait in a separate office while she (middle aged black female) led me through a maze of corridors to her office. Right off the bat she tells me to remain standing, raise my hand and swears me in.
The we sit. For the first 20 mins she doesn't say a word to me, while she types, sets up my profile on her computer and glances through my files (they were surprisingly huge! does the govt really have THAT much info on me???). While i'm sitting there in silence, im thinking, is she being passive aggressive or just slightly rude?
then out of nowhere she hits me with the first question - "who wrote the declaration of independence?" and boop!, brain fart. I blurt out "andrew jackson". she goes on to ask 5 or 6 more questions - "who is the CIC", "what is the presidents party" etc.
By the third question or so I'm beginning to relax and I realize my first answer was wrong. Andrew jackson????? I knew this even outside studying for the interview. oh well. She then tested written and spoken english, had me sign the forms and she started with the N400 form itself.
she asks the questions like 3/4 in a batch and ticks them off the form in red ink. We're moving through it all in very rapid fashion. She asks the full name of my wife and then her birth date and I tell her. She smiles and says she did not have to ask that, she only wanted to see if I knew it I say thankfully its on valentines' day so i'm one of the guys who luckily can never forget. At this point im totally relaxed as it seems to be going very well. She then picks up my passport and looks through my entry dates to correlate what I had on the form.
A few more questions from the form and she asks me to sign and print my name as i would prefer it on the certificate and she announces I'm recommending you for approval, but unfortunately we're not giving out oath letters today. She then prints out the interview results forms, shows me where she selected recommended for approval and thank you have a nice day!! the whole actual interview did not tale more than 15 mins and i was out on the street for 9.30! wow!
Thanks to members of this forum who have posted their experiences , its been very helpful and I'd taken the time to read through the cases of folks like cafeconleche, vorpal, Al southern etc. Thanks a lot guys. In the end it was a little anti climactic as I was very apprehensive going into this as I had a few possible sticky points - for one I had been out of the country a lot at the beginning of my permanent residency (school) in fact in my first year (2003) I was out for 350+ days. But thankfully she didnt even ask about that, guess it was too far in the past.
Now waiting to receive my oath letter in the mail!
I've been a silent follower of this site for a while now and I just decided to sign up to give an account of my recent experience with the NYC DO.
I just had my Interview today at 26 federal Plaza. I was scheduled for 9.05 am and I got there around 8.25am, went through security, up to the 7th floor, had my letter taken and told to go and sit and wait for my name to be called.
I was sat and waiting and just starting to doze off (been up since 2am getting my papers in order) when I hear my name mangled out on the loudspeaker about 8.50. wow. I had been expecting at least an hour wait as the waiting room was already reasonably crowded but here I am been called before my scheduled time.
The IO called 2 of us at the same time and had the other applicant wait in a separate office while she (middle aged black female) led me through a maze of corridors to her office. Right off the bat she tells me to remain standing, raise my hand and swears me in.
The we sit. For the first 20 mins she doesn't say a word to me, while she types, sets up my profile on her computer and glances through my files (they were surprisingly huge! does the govt really have THAT much info on me???). While i'm sitting there in silence, im thinking, is she being passive aggressive or just slightly rude?
then out of nowhere she hits me with the first question - "who wrote the declaration of independence?" and boop!, brain fart. I blurt out "andrew jackson". she goes on to ask 5 or 6 more questions - "who is the CIC", "what is the presidents party" etc. By the third question or so I'm beginning to relax and I realize my first answer was wrong. Andrew jackson????? I knew this even outside studying for the interview. oh well. She then tested written and spoken english, had me sign the forms and she started with the N400 form itself.
she asks the questions like 3/4 in a batch and ticks them off the form in red ink. We're moving through it all in very rapid fashion. She asks the full name of my wife and then her birth date and I tell her. She smiles and says she did not have to ask that, she only wanted to see if I knew it
I say thankfully its on valentines' day so i'm one of the guys who luckily can never forget. At this point im totally relaxed as it seems to be going very well. She then picks up my passport and looks through my entry dates to correlate what I had on the form. A few more questions from the form and she asks me to sign and print my name as i would prefer it on the certificate and she announces I'm recommending you for approval, but unfortunately we're not giving out oath letters today. She then prints out the interview results forms, shows me where she selected recommended for approval and thank you have a nice day!! the whole actual interview did not tale more than 15 mins and i was out on the street for 9.30! wow!
Thanks to members of this forum who have posted their experiences , its been very helpful and I'd taken the time to read through the cases of folks like cafeconleche, vorpal, Al southern etc. Thanks a lot guys. In the end it was a little anti climactic as I was very apprehensive going into this as I had a few possible sticky points - for one I had been out of the country a lot at the beginning of my permanent residency (school) in fact in my first year (2003) I was out for 350+ days. But thankfully she didnt even ask about that, guess it was too far in the past.
Now waiting to receive my oath letter in the mail!
You should have them. I was only out for a total of 75 days in the last 5 years and my IO still asked for them. The question was - "do you pay your taxes?", "do you owe taxes?" "do you have your tax returns with you?". Im sure not having them probably wouldnt have been a big deal in that context, but then there's no reason not to have them since they are free and easy to obtain.
yourisland
Registered Users (C)
Hey oath
hey i was recommended for OATH, since April 16th..no oath letter since, can anyone give me an idea when i will get it..i had a small ticket and he did say he will have to get a approval from his boss or whatever,,but otherwise everything is in good shape
hey i was recommended for OATH, since April 16th..no oath letter since, can anyone give me an idea when i will get it..i had a small ticket and he did say he will have to get a approval from his boss or whatever,,but otherwise everything is in good shape
I will say NO on application.
But when IO asks about it, just be honest. There is no arrest, just tickets. shouldn't be a big deal.
my personal opinion.
it is only a month, but u can call "2nd level" rep. to ask for your current status. Good luck.
debousse28
Registered Users (C)
Congrats, How long was the process for you from filing to interview? You said she asked you "who is the CIC", "what do you mean ?Hi All,
I've been a silent follower of this site for a while now and I just decided to sign up to give an account of my recent experience with the NYC DO.
I just had my Interview today at 26 federal Plaza. I was scheduled for 9.05 am and I got there around 8.25am, went through security, up to the 7th floor, had my letter taken and told to go and sit and wait for my name to be called.
I was sat and waiting and just starting to doze off (been up since 2am getting my papers in order) when I hear my name mangled out on the loudspeaker about 8.50. wow. I had been expecting at least an hour wait as the waiting room was already reasonably crowded but here I am been called before my scheduled time.
The IO called 2 of us at the same time and had the other applicant wait in a separate office while she (middle aged black female) led me through a maze of corridors to her office. Right off the bat she tells me to remain standing, raise my hand and swears me in.
The we sit. For the first 20 mins she doesn't say a word to me, while she types, sets up my profile on her computer and glances through my files (they were surprisingly huge! does the govt really have THAT much info on me???). While i'm sitting there in silence, im thinking, is she being passive aggressive or just slightly rude?
By the third question or so I'm beginning to relax and I realize my first answer was wrong. Andrew jackson????? I knew this even outside studying for the interview. oh well. She then tested written and spoken english, had me sign the forms and she started with the N400 form itself.
she asks the questions like 3/4 in a batch and ticks them off the form in red ink. We're moving through it all in very rapid fashion. She asks the full name of my wife and then her birth date and I tell her. She smiles and says she did not have to ask that, she only wanted to see if I knew it
A few more questions from the form and she asks me to sign and print my name as i would prefer it on the certificate and she announces I'm recommending you for approval, but unfortunately we're not giving out oath letters today. She then prints out the interview results forms, shows me where she selected recommended for approval and thank you have a nice day!! the whole actual interview did not tale more than 15 mins and i was out on the street for 9.30! wow!
Thanks to members of this forum who have posted their experiences , its been very helpful and I'd taken the time to read through the cases of folks like cafeconleche, vorpal, Al southern etc. Thanks a lot guys. In the end it was a little anti climactic as I was very apprehensive going into this as I had a few possible sticky points - for one I had been out of the country a lot at the beginning of my permanent residency (school) in fact in my first year (2003) I was out for 350+ days. But thankfully she didnt even ask about that, guess it was too far in the past.
Now waiting to receive my oath letter in the mail!
It took mine 5 months and it took another friend couple of weeks. It depends but if everything on your file is fine, it will come.
My timeline is below, i've tried adding it to my sig-
01/10/11: N400 mailed (Dallas)
01/13/11: Priority Date
01/26/11: FP scheduled
02/08/11: FP done (as scheduled)
03/09/11: YL received
04/24/11: IL received
05/19/11: Interview
By CIC I mean Commander In Chief. Thinking about it, all the other questions she asked were current affairs -
What is the president's party
What are the two main parties
What are the two sections of congress
Who is the commander in chief
how many senators do we have
debousse28
Registered Users (C)
Oh okay thanks for the clarification, and sharing your experience
I was told that I should get the oath letter in about 3 weeks........soon it will be two months. I have called and spoke to a few different agents but the last agent I spoke with told me to make an Infopass. Now that involves taking another day from work....etc.
I would call back and ask for a Tier 2 rep. No need to miss day of work over this. You can call them up to 8pm EST.
I've made 2 info passes in my case and the 800 line was far more helpful, patient and willing to answer all my questions. The two infopasses I went to (1 at Fed Plaza and 1 at Garden City) were just quick to rush me off the counter to help the next person and kept telling me it was within the processing time and to be patient.
If you are nice to the rep, you can ask them exactly what and when the last action was taken on your case and what to expect. The Tier 2 rep was even nice enough to give me my oath appointment information over the phone since it was already on their system but I had not reached my house.
Good luck and keep us posted.
jdawg9,
Thank you for the info. I have spoken to a few 2nd level reps over the span of 4 weeks. One agent even made an inquiry ticket into my case...........and I received an answer via mail 2 days ago which basically stated that since I'm still under the 90 day window.....I would have to make an infopass.
I think I'm just under a pile of cases waiting to be scheduled for an oath.......but a few here had interview very close to mine and received their letters within 2 to three weeks.
I will try a 2nd Level again today. Any tips on how I should begin the conversation?
Thank you for the info. I have spoken to a few 2nd level reps over the span of 4 weeks. One agent even made an inquiry ticket into my case...........and I received an answer via mail 2 days ago which basically stated that since I'm still under the 90 day window.....I would have to make an infopass.
I think I'm just under a pile of cases waiting to be scheduled for an oath.......but a few here had interview very close to mine and received their letters within 2 to three weeks.
I will try a 2nd Level again today. Any tips on how I should begin the conversation?
Last edited by a moderator:
Business casual is more than sufficient.
u can start with like, hi, i am planning to attend my best friend's wedding this summer, for some reason, i havent recved oath letter, i called a few weeks ago, however, i just need to follow up my current status, so i can make some plans, or something like this.
what you think? I am not encouraging you lying or some, as always be honest, just a sample to start a nice conversation
This is what worked for me:
Right off the bat, I tell the person who picks up the phone (level 1) politely to transfer me to someone in Tier 2 and say that you been working with Tier 2 on a issue with your case. They are usually happy to pass on your call. Have your case and A# ready.
When you get a Tier 2, politely and briefly explain your case, and tell them that your interviewing officer recommended you for approval and went over the next steps but its is not quite happening. In my case my officer told me they would put the oath letter in the mail the next day so I called one week later after not receiving it. Use whatever the interviewing officer told you to your advantage, mention officer name to sound more official, even if it means exagerating a bit.
Then tell him/her that you were wondering if they can tell you more specifics, on your case, last action take and the date it was taken. I told them how I like to be on top of things to avoid having the case fall through the cracks like some horror stories I heard. Always be nice and try to get as much information out of them as possible.
If you do not think you got someone helpful, dial back. Chances are you will get a different person. I call them many times and only one person was a little mean and quick to try to rush me off the phone but she was still helpful with information. Everyone else were surprisingly overly friendly, saying to call back any time I have a question, etc.
Good luck!
Hi cafeconleche,
I read your post about your oath ceremony and passport application process. My oath ceremony is this Friday and I am really eager to get my passport as soon as possible since I am traveling soon (or at least, I am hoping to get the passport in time so I can travel) So in reading your two posts above, I just have a few quick questions:
1) After the oath ceremony, did you go the nearest passport application agency? According to my zip code, mine was at Church St or NY County Clerk. Which one did you go?
2) You mentioned no appointment necessary, so I can just walk to the pp application agency after my oath ceremony?
3) With the expedited service, did you get it in 1 day?
Thank you in advance.
I read your post about your oath ceremony and passport application process. My oath ceremony is this Friday and I am really eager to get my passport as soon as possible since I am traveling soon (or at least, I am hoping to get the passport in time so I can travel) So in reading your two posts above, I just have a few quick questions:
1) After the oath ceremony, did you go the nearest passport application agency? According to my zip code, mine was at Church St or NY County Clerk. Which one did you go?
2) You mentioned no appointment necessary, so I can just walk to the pp application agency after my oath ceremony?
3) With the expedited service, did you get it in 1 day?
Thank you in advance.