Hi All,
First of all, ALL praise to Allah (AlHamdo Lillah) that I completed oath for US citizenship today.
Many thanks to this board and all members helping others. Just wanted to share my oath experience and hope others will benefit from it.
Oath was scheduled today for 11:30 AM @
299 E Broward Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
The metered parking on nearby streets is 2 hours max (at least when you pay using coins). So you either park in some parking garage or be prepared to put more coin via guest. We arrived at 11:00 AM and there was a very slow line for security check. Cell phones were not allowed as it was court so my wife had to go to car to put the phone back once and also a trip again to add more coins around 12:30. We seated in assembly room 201 where we had to correct form 445 by crossing out Fort Lauderdale as place of oath (as instructions mentioned we should write) per USCIS officers and wrote Oakland Park. People kept coming until about 12:00 PM.
There were no video viewing of any kind. Officer guided what we should do once we get naturalized (check naturalization certificate contents, sign, don't laminate, apply for passport, change DL within 10 day if name change, notify SSA, register for vote, rights as citizen, etc.).
At 12:45, we were directed to a court room where we found citizenship packets at each seat. Judge arrived at 1:05 and ceremony started and we were done in about 15 minutes (national anthem, oath, motion for name change, pledge, short address president bar council, short address by judge). We then went back to room 201 where we were handed naturalization certificate along with name change certificate. There were some snacks provided after all this which was nice. We left building around 1:35.
Later same day, after picking up kids from school and made copies of naturalization certificate and name change letter. I was able to go to Driver License office, renewed/updated driver license (mine was expiring in May 2012 and wife's expired already in Jan 2012). We also filled out forms to register for vote. After that we went to Coral Springs City in the Mall (in Coral Square mall) and submitted passport application.
One note is that my wife did oath at Oakland Park office on 1/31 and there were SSA staff at location to collect changes to SSN, which was helpful. But there was no such service extended at court oath today. So will have to take care of this later.
Finally; and again, many thanks to this forum and others like this. Let's this community of sharing going.
Updated timeline is below....
Employment based GC: Took 4+ years for I-484 due to lengthy background check;
SPOUSE'S & MINE (Oakland Park/Ft. Lauderdale), Florida
- 09/27/2011: N-400 APPLICATION SENT
- 09/29/2011: N-400 APPLICATION RECEIVED / PD
- 10/03/2011: NOA DATE
- 10/07/2011: CHECK CASHED
- 10/07/2011: NOA RECEIVED
- 10/25/2011: FINGERPRINT NOTICE MAILED
- 10/28/2011: FP NOTICE RECEIVED (11/21 APPT)
- 11/01/2011: FP Done (Walk In)
- 11/03/2011: Online Status Changed to In Line for Interview
- 11/22/2011: YL RECEIVED (DL and Citation Record)
- 12/06/2011: INTERVIEW LETTER RECEIVED
- 01/10/2012: INTERVIEW APPOINTMENT DATE (APPROVED FOR BOTH SPOUSE AND MYSELF)
- 01/16/2012: Email notification of Appl in que for Oath Ceremony (for self and spouse)
- 01/31/2012: OATH APPOINTMENT DATE (for Spouse only)
- 02/17/2012: OATH WITH NAME CHANGE COMPLETE
- 02/17/2012: RENEWED DRIVER'S LICENSE WITH NEW NAME FOR SELF AND SPOUSE, REGISTERED FOR VOTE AND APPLIED FOR PASSPORT (SSA UPDATE IS PENDING)
First of all, ALL praise to Allah (AlHamdo Lillah) that I completed oath for US citizenship today.
Many thanks to this board and all members helping others. Just wanted to share my oath experience and hope others will benefit from it.
Oath was scheduled today for 11:30 AM @
299 E Broward Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
The metered parking on nearby streets is 2 hours max (at least when you pay using coins). So you either park in some parking garage or be prepared to put more coin via guest. We arrived at 11:00 AM and there was a very slow line for security check. Cell phones were not allowed as it was court so my wife had to go to car to put the phone back once and also a trip again to add more coins around 12:30. We seated in assembly room 201 where we had to correct form 445 by crossing out Fort Lauderdale as place of oath (as instructions mentioned we should write) per USCIS officers and wrote Oakland Park. People kept coming until about 12:00 PM.
There were no video viewing of any kind. Officer guided what we should do once we get naturalized (check naturalization certificate contents, sign, don't laminate, apply for passport, change DL within 10 day if name change, notify SSA, register for vote, rights as citizen, etc.).
At 12:45, we were directed to a court room where we found citizenship packets at each seat. Judge arrived at 1:05 and ceremony started and we were done in about 15 minutes (national anthem, oath, motion for name change, pledge, short address president bar council, short address by judge). We then went back to room 201 where we were handed naturalization certificate along with name change certificate. There were some snacks provided after all this which was nice. We left building around 1:35.
Later same day, after picking up kids from school and made copies of naturalization certificate and name change letter. I was able to go to Driver License office, renewed/updated driver license (mine was expiring in May 2012 and wife's expired already in Jan 2012). We also filled out forms to register for vote. After that we went to Coral Springs City in the Mall (in Coral Square mall) and submitted passport application.
One note is that my wife did oath at Oakland Park office on 1/31 and there were SSA staff at location to collect changes to SSN, which was helpful. But there was no such service extended at court oath today. So will have to take care of this later.
Finally; and again, many thanks to this forum and others like this. Let's this community of sharing going.
Updated timeline is below....
Employment based GC: Took 4+ years for I-484 due to lengthy background check;
SPOUSE'S & MINE (Oakland Park/Ft. Lauderdale), Florida
- 09/27/2011: N-400 APPLICATION SENT
- 09/29/2011: N-400 APPLICATION RECEIVED / PD
- 10/03/2011: NOA DATE
- 10/07/2011: CHECK CASHED
- 10/07/2011: NOA RECEIVED
- 10/25/2011: FINGERPRINT NOTICE MAILED
- 10/28/2011: FP NOTICE RECEIVED (11/21 APPT)
- 11/01/2011: FP Done (Walk In)
- 11/03/2011: Online Status Changed to In Line for Interview
- 11/22/2011: YL RECEIVED (DL and Citation Record)
- 12/06/2011: INTERVIEW LETTER RECEIVED
- 01/10/2012: INTERVIEW APPOINTMENT DATE (APPROVED FOR BOTH SPOUSE AND MYSELF)
- 01/16/2012: Email notification of Appl in que for Oath Ceremony (for self and spouse)
- 01/31/2012: OATH APPOINTMENT DATE (for Spouse only)
- 02/17/2012: OATH WITH NAME CHANGE COMPLETE
- 02/17/2012: RENEWED DRIVER'S LICENSE WITH NEW NAME FOR SELF AND SPOUSE, REGISTERED FOR VOTE AND APPLIED FOR PASSPORT (SSA UPDATE IS PENDING)