I just went through the Interview process in Orlando and I wanted to take a couple of minutes to post my experience.
The USCIS offices are in a fairly new building in an area near the airport. I used my GPS to navigate to the address and it ended up taking me to a Dead End road, so please make sure that you have alternative directions to get there or that your GPS has a DETOUR option, that's what saved my day.
I arrived to the address on the Interview letter. There's plenty of free parking so don't worry about this. I showed my interview letter and then I went through a security checkpoint similar to that of airports.
I was asked to leave my letter at a window and to wait for my name to be called. I left the letter and before I even sat down, an older gentleman came out of a door and called my name. He said "I didn't see your interview letter" so I explained that I had just left it at the window. He went to get it and he asked me to follow him to his office.
He asked me to remain standing and he made me swear that I would tell the truth. I did.
We sat down and he started talking to me about my country of origin, sports, etc. We probably spent about 5 minutes on idle chit chat. This was probably both to calm me down and to check my level of English.
After a few minutes of talking about all sorts of things, he started by verifying my identity, and then he used his computer to check when I applied (3/22) vs when I'd be eligible for Naturalization (6/15) and he said "85 days early, so that's OK" This means that they are indeed picky about when you send in your application, so please wait a few extra days once you reach the 90 day mark. They do check!
We started with the test. These are the questions I was asked:
- What is freedom of religion?
- How many Senators are there?
- When do men have to register for selective service?
- Name one state that borders Canada
- What ocean is on the East coast?
- When was the Constitution written?
Then we moved on to the English test. I had to read "what do we have to pay to the Government?" And I had to write "We pay taxes."
He then went through the entire application at record-breaking speed. When he finished he flipped through some of my old paperwork. I saw some of the forms and supporting documentation we had sent for the I-140 years ago.
He signed my application, then he showed me how I had signed the N400 and he asked me to use the same signature to sign the bottom of the N400 application and to also use the same signature on the front of each of the 2 photographs I had mailed in.
He never asked for any other documentation even though I brought everything you could think of. Better safe than sorry.
At this point he grabbed a stamp with the words APPROVED on it and stamped my application. He asked me if I could attend an Oath Ceremony this Friday, I said I could. He asked me to wait outside and that someone would give me the Oath Letter in about an hour. He also gave me a form saying that I had passed the English and History exams and that I was recommended for Approval.
An hour later a lady came out and called out 4 names and she gave all of us the Oath Letter.
Everything moved fast and smoothly. There were no surprises. Now I'm just a few days away from becoming a US citizen.
)