I am now a US Citizen, pleadged and ready to bear arms for the red white and the blue (however by the time i was done i was so hungry and tired, I coudn't even bear to carry myself let alone arms....). I am joking but it was a very pleasent experience.
My appointment was as 08:00 a.m. I took public transport (NJ Transit) and a cab to the 870 Broadstreet (Robreudo building). Its approx 5US$ from the train station. You can walk it will take you 15 minutes.
I did not go early arrived exactly 5 minutes before 08:00 a.m. and they asked you to stand in line and switch of cell phone (Also i saw a note.. no food/drink so quickly gulped my cofee and dumed the coffee cup, noticed that there are no trash cans near the door so you have to walk to the curb (bummer as sometimes you loose your spot on the line).
Then we had to go thru metal detectors once you are in the building just head to elevators to the 15th floor. Note that there are people standing in line for various purposes and will keep asking you , is this the like for X...., For Y.... etc. When I entered insided I noted that the building has 3 points of entry and they were letting in people thru all of them.
Once I got to 15th floor, i had to show and ID (Drivers license) & appointment letter and was directed to window #1. I noticed that there were already 100+ people there (I though OH man its going to be a long day).
Anyway i dropped the letter and waited, finally I was called at 09:30 (1.5 hrs) by a officer who for once did not butcher my first and last name. Also she was very very pleasent and older lady in her 50's.
First thing she said was Mr.X.... did I pronounce your name right. I said much better than many people who have buchered me in the past, she smiled and said tha is good (some browny points..)
We walked to her office and she asked hat I stand so that she can administer the oath... ThenI had to raise my right hand and repeat after her.. Then I took my seat and she went over the entire application. Name, Address, Ph#, place of work.
Then she corrected that I was still employed and asked me to initial... after that she said Wow you have travelled to so many countries, I said yes I love to travel and its one of my hobbies to go places. Then she said but so short, i said "I wish we had more vacation" and she laugther and said "I wish that too".
She said you came here years ago..were you young enough for selective service" I said no I was much older"....
Then I told her that I had travelled out for 3 weeks after the application and she asked me to enter than in the form. She corrected the number of days. Then she asked me to sign my name, I just signed she said oops, "I don't know why but they like you to write your name". So I wrote my name next to the signature.
Then she said "I have to ask you some History questions" I said sure. She was pulling up a computer screen to start and I mentioned to her that in India in school we study quite a bit of world history / American history, I said there was only about 10 question that I had to read and already knew the others. She said its sad that I cannot say the same for the american school system as we teach very little world history and almost 0% indian history.
She said these questions will be very easy for you.... and started.
Q1. What is the Legeslative branch of the Govt
A. I said the house of representatives & senate... she said AND it is called......"I can Congress"- she said correct.
Q2. Who are the 2 senators from NJ
Q3. Who said "Gve me fredom or give me death"
Q4. What are changes to the constitution called
Q5 Who was the first president.
Q6 What for of Govt do we have... I said "Republic"
She said write the sentence "She is at here place of work", I wrote it and said "I hope she is working......" to which she laughed. She looked at it and said arn't you missing something. I said yes what we call period and the british call full stop.. so I maked the period and we were done.
She said you have passed and now you are a US Citizen. I will try to get you in for the 11:00 a.m. oath.
She gave me the forms and I filed in the form right there as I did not carry a pen. I told here that it was a pleasent experinec and thank you and she said we are happy tyot have you as a new citizen and have a nice day and let me back to the room.
Then I waited and waited and waited till 11:30 when I was called. I had to return my Green card and she showed me the naturalization certificate and asked me to sign my name ( Actually write my name). In the original and photocopy. Check all the information and and it looked right.
Was given a small booklet and we sat back again. Finally at 12:00 we were all called into a large room by an annoying black lady who was so damn pissed from the very go. she ept shouding you sit there, no gaps, occupy all seats. She started the video that explained the privileges & duties of a citizen.. etc,etc.
Then we were administer the oath and pledge out solidarity to US of A. Followed by a message by the rresident welcoming us as new citizens.
There was another officer who gave a 15 minute talk of benefits of being a citizen, how to get a passport, how important it is to vote etc.
Then she called us one my one shook our hands and we were done. There was a lot of cheer all around and some people's family too some pictures.
Overall it was a pleasent experience and memorable experience.
Note: i did meet some other people while coming back in the train who recognized m and said that they did not get their certificates due to a duplicate A file... so they have to go later..
So thank's to one and here at immigration.com (over the years), it has been almost 10 years this journey to become a citizen.
All said and done it does give you pride to be a US Citizen specially "When you earn it". So best of luck to one and all..
My appointment was as 08:00 a.m. I took public transport (NJ Transit) and a cab to the 870 Broadstreet (Robreudo building). Its approx 5US$ from the train station. You can walk it will take you 15 minutes.
I did not go early arrived exactly 5 minutes before 08:00 a.m. and they asked you to stand in line and switch of cell phone (Also i saw a note.. no food/drink so quickly gulped my cofee and dumed the coffee cup, noticed that there are no trash cans near the door so you have to walk to the curb (bummer as sometimes you loose your spot on the line).
Then we had to go thru metal detectors once you are in the building just head to elevators to the 15th floor. Note that there are people standing in line for various purposes and will keep asking you , is this the like for X...., For Y.... etc. When I entered insided I noted that the building has 3 points of entry and they were letting in people thru all of them.
Once I got to 15th floor, i had to show and ID (Drivers license) & appointment letter and was directed to window #1. I noticed that there were already 100+ people there (I though OH man its going to be a long day).
Anyway i dropped the letter and waited, finally I was called at 09:30 (1.5 hrs) by a officer who for once did not butcher my first and last name. Also she was very very pleasent and older lady in her 50's.
First thing she said was Mr.X.... did I pronounce your name right. I said much better than many people who have buchered me in the past, she smiled and said tha is good (some browny points..)
We walked to her office and she asked hat I stand so that she can administer the oath... ThenI had to raise my right hand and repeat after her.. Then I took my seat and she went over the entire application. Name, Address, Ph#, place of work.
Then she corrected that I was still employed and asked me to initial... after that she said Wow you have travelled to so many countries, I said yes I love to travel and its one of my hobbies to go places. Then she said but so short, i said "I wish we had more vacation" and she laugther and said "I wish that too".
She said you came here years ago..were you young enough for selective service" I said no I was much older"....
Then I told her that I had travelled out for 3 weeks after the application and she asked me to enter than in the form. She corrected the number of days. Then she asked me to sign my name, I just signed she said oops, "I don't know why but they like you to write your name". So I wrote my name next to the signature.
Then she said "I have to ask you some History questions" I said sure. She was pulling up a computer screen to start and I mentioned to her that in India in school we study quite a bit of world history / American history, I said there was only about 10 question that I had to read and already knew the others. She said its sad that I cannot say the same for the american school system as we teach very little world history and almost 0% indian history.
She said these questions will be very easy for you.... and started.
Q1. What is the Legeslative branch of the Govt
A. I said the house of representatives & senate... she said AND it is called......"I can Congress"- she said correct.
Q2. Who are the 2 senators from NJ
Q3. Who said "Gve me fredom or give me death"
Q4. What are changes to the constitution called
Q5 Who was the first president.
Q6 What for of Govt do we have... I said "Republic"
She said write the sentence "She is at here place of work", I wrote it and said "I hope she is working......" to which she laughed. She looked at it and said arn't you missing something. I said yes what we call period and the british call full stop.. so I maked the period and we were done.
She said you have passed and now you are a US Citizen. I will try to get you in for the 11:00 a.m. oath.
She gave me the forms and I filed in the form right there as I did not carry a pen. I told here that it was a pleasent experinec and thank you and she said we are happy tyot have you as a new citizen and have a nice day and let me back to the room.
Then I waited and waited and waited till 11:30 when I was called. I had to return my Green card and she showed me the naturalization certificate and asked me to sign my name ( Actually write my name). In the original and photocopy. Check all the information and and it looked right.
Was given a small booklet and we sat back again. Finally at 12:00 we were all called into a large room by an annoying black lady who was so damn pissed from the very go. she ept shouding you sit there, no gaps, occupy all seats. She started the video that explained the privileges & duties of a citizen.. etc,etc.
Then we were administer the oath and pledge out solidarity to US of A. Followed by a message by the rresident welcoming us as new citizens.
There was another officer who gave a 15 minute talk of benefits of being a citizen, how to get a passport, how important it is to vote etc.
Then she called us one my one shook our hands and we were done. There was a lot of cheer all around and some people's family too some pictures.
Overall it was a pleasent experience and memorable experience.
Note: i did meet some other people while coming back in the train who recognized m and said that they did not get their certificates due to a duplicate A file... so they have to go later..
So thank's to one and here at immigration.com (over the years), it has been almost 10 years this journey to become a citizen.
All said and done it does give you pride to be a US Citizen specially "When you earn it". So best of luck to one and all..
