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Oath ceremony - friends
- Thread starter chivik
- Start date
CalGreenCard
Registered Users (C)
I have a dumb question, haha. My oath letter says that I should come at 12.30, however, it also says that the ceremony starts at 2 pm. Do you think my friends and family can come at 2 instead of coming with me at 12.30?
Thanks!
I don't think there was any need for friends or family to arrive more than a few minutes earlier than the official start time at my naturalization ceremony. The early arrival time was for the soon to be citizens to register, to turn in their green cards one last time, to file Form N-445 (the relatively short form asserting that there are no last minute changes that would derail eligibility), and most importantly for USCIS to lead a "rehearsal" ceremony so people knew what to expect, where to walk to get the certificate, etc, once the real ceremony began. Since none of those things required the friends and family to be there, I doubt there is any real purpose for the friends and family to arrive 90 minutes early.
Then again my ceremony was a televised ceremony held at a location other than USCIS offices in honor of a specific event (Constitution Week). It is possible that the procedures are different when the ceremony happens at USCIS offices or a courthouse (as is still the procedure in some areas of the country). I'm not familiar with the details of those types of ceremonies.
They did, however, start the real ceremony exactly on time so guests would want to arrive at least a few minutes early to make sure they can find seats, etc, and aren't still straggling in when the ceremony begins. The punctuality may have had something to do with it being televised live and having to keep to the TV station's programming schedule.
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