Hi All,
My interview experience is posted here: http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=307406
and my Oath dilemma/situation is posted here: http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=307478
I had my Oath ceremony yesterday at the Chicago Field office at 101 Congress Pkwy, Chicago IL. The Oath letter asked me to report to the office at 8am sharp. My wife and I got there 10 minutes before 7am. Unfortunately the Field Office does not open until 7am and we had to stand outside in the freezing cold for about 15 minutes before the doors opened. A little after 7am, we prompty went through security and up to the third floor. There, a security guard seated me in one side of the room (Oath candidates) and my wife on the other side (family and guests). People started slowly trickling in and it took a good hour before an Officer came out and started barking intructions at us. The officer asked us to ensure the following things:
1. Have an Oath letter dated for that day (December 28th 2009)
2. Valid Legal Permanent resident card
3. Valid state issued Driver's license or State ID
4. Make sure we used the restroom if necessary in the next 10 minutes because once we were inside the auditorium, we will be allowed to leave but not come back in. What the means is that we will be not be able to finish the Oath and hence not become citizens.
A little after 8:15, we were all marched into the auditorium. Once everyone was in, they played the National Anthem and everyone was asked to stand up for it. A senior officer then said a few words about what it means to be a United States citizen and how we need to serve the community, blah blah blah. Once that was done, a short video was played with a message from President Obama where he basically told us that being a citizen was a privelage and with it comes great resonsibilities and how we need to contribute to our communities to continue to keep the beacon of America alive.
Once the videos were out of the way, another officer spoke to the gathering and informed us that there were 117 candidates from 34 different countries. He said that all 117 candidates had gone through a long and rigorous process of being deemed eligible for citizenship and are of sound moral character. He then proceeded to say that he was recommending all 117 candidate for a US citizenship.
After that note, he started announcing each of the 34 countries and as he announced each country, we had to stand up if we belonged to that country. Once all 34 were announced and all 117 candidates stood up, we had to take our Pledge of Allegiance with our right hand held up.
And that was it! We were all US citizens. It was a great feeling.
USCIS clerks then walked down each row and handed us our Naturalization certificate and it was celebration and pictures all around. All in all, it was a great experience and a fantastic journey.
Thanks to everyone on this forum for all the advice and guidance. I will be sticking around here to hopefully help others who are embarking on or in a journey similar to mine.
My interview experience is posted here: http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=307406
and my Oath dilemma/situation is posted here: http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=307478
I had my Oath ceremony yesterday at the Chicago Field office at 101 Congress Pkwy, Chicago IL. The Oath letter asked me to report to the office at 8am sharp. My wife and I got there 10 minutes before 7am. Unfortunately the Field Office does not open until 7am and we had to stand outside in the freezing cold for about 15 minutes before the doors opened. A little after 7am, we prompty went through security and up to the third floor. There, a security guard seated me in one side of the room (Oath candidates) and my wife on the other side (family and guests). People started slowly trickling in and it took a good hour before an Officer came out and started barking intructions at us. The officer asked us to ensure the following things:
1. Have an Oath letter dated for that day (December 28th 2009)
2. Valid Legal Permanent resident card
3. Valid state issued Driver's license or State ID
4. Make sure we used the restroom if necessary in the next 10 minutes because once we were inside the auditorium, we will be allowed to leave but not come back in. What the means is that we will be not be able to finish the Oath and hence not become citizens.
A little after 8:15, we were all marched into the auditorium. Once everyone was in, they played the National Anthem and everyone was asked to stand up for it. A senior officer then said a few words about what it means to be a United States citizen and how we need to serve the community, blah blah blah. Once that was done, a short video was played with a message from President Obama where he basically told us that being a citizen was a privelage and with it comes great resonsibilities and how we need to contribute to our communities to continue to keep the beacon of America alive.
Once the videos were out of the way, another officer spoke to the gathering and informed us that there were 117 candidates from 34 different countries. He said that all 117 candidates had gone through a long and rigorous process of being deemed eligible for citizenship and are of sound moral character. He then proceeded to say that he was recommending all 117 candidate for a US citizenship.
After that note, he started announcing each of the 34 countries and as he announced each country, we had to stand up if we belonged to that country. Once all 34 were announced and all 117 candidates stood up, we had to take our Pledge of Allegiance with our right hand held up.
And that was it! We were all US citizens. It was a great feeling.
USCIS clerks then walked down each row and handed us our Naturalization certificate and it was celebration and pictures all around. All in all, it was a great experience and a fantastic journey.
Thanks to everyone on this forum for all the advice and guidance. I will be sticking around here to hopefully help others who are embarking on or in a journey similar to mine.
Last edited by a moderator: