Finally, on March 25th 2008, I have become a US Citizen.
As may others have already mentioned, the moment was very touching... when so many people (they swear in about 500-600 people in each of the oath cermonies, and Newark has three a day) taking oath at the same time, it was a moment I would not forget...
My experience with the USCIS was very good in all of my time/interaction with them. As you see my signature below, the processing times have been pretty reasonable...
The interveiws were pretty OK. My wife was called in at 7:50AM when we got in side the room at 7:45AM. However, her interview lasted for 45 minutes (way too long in my view)... the officer was slow and very detailed. He went through the whole application in detailed, asked any changes (I will mention about them later - below), had her make those changes, asked even about the name of the teacher for our 9 year old daughter
(too detailed), let alone asking about her school etc... My wife said over all he was a OK officer, asked 10 questions (you need to get at least 6 right to pass), routine English test etc... It was just too long... Perhaps a strict FBI officer...
I was called in at 8:30AM (remember we came in at 7:45AM together, dropped off our Appointment Letters at the same time), and my officer was too cool about this process... and I was out in 5 minutes, yes, 5 minutes... As soon as he saw a pile of documents in my hand, he said to keep that pile on the side, and relax... I did mention that I have some changes in my file, he said it is OK and did not bother to make any changes to the file... Quick review of basic points in the application, 10 Questions and English test and I was out.
Here is what the list my suggestions/observations:
1. Do read and go through your application that you have submitted - they do ask questions right from it at the beginning of the interview
2. make sure you relax and not get upset if the interview is getting longer with an officer than usual and/or you are not being called even though you have been there for a long time etc... Remember that you are a few minutes away from becoming a US citizen, a very proud moment in your life...
3. As you will see, most officers are nice and smiling, joking even, and they do process quite many people a day (as I mentioned earlier, they do process about 1200-1600 people a day at Newark alone) - so give them appreciation where you can...
4. We have not see any rejections (We got out of there around 11:45AM)
5. You can take your kids and/or family members with you (even if they are not attending any interview)... as appropriate...
6. The cafeteria on the 2nd floor is very good (I am saying this as a Vegetarian) and has decent seleciton of foods... They dont have good coffee though if you are a coffee lover...
All other things have been discussed in this forum a few times, such as where to park, what to do... So I am not going to go through those topics in my posting...
Changes - We had our home address changed AFTER we applied for our N400 and hence the contact phone numbers... We did stay in the same Newark District Office area though... I filed the appropriate forms to inform USCIS about the change when the change took place. The interview letter did come to our new address and everyting was OK. Also, my wife had made a few more trips since we applied our N400...
For those, who are waiting for their interviews - good luck to all of you... be patient and you will get there too...
Thanks to this forum and all others who have contributed in the past...