Philadelphia PA - N-400 Timeline

no multiple choice

We had the interview yesterday, jan 4th at philly. There were just 4 people in the waiting room and though we had the interview at 1.40 p.m, my hubby was called at 1.20 pm and i was called at 1.40pm . The interview was very easy. But I was surprised to see that there were no multiple choice questions. At the end of the interview, the officer handed me a paper with 10 questions for which I had to fill in the answers. They were the same questions from the civic lesson flash cards, but there were no multiple choices. This is just FYI.

I also asked about the oath and he said that its there almost every week and I should have it next month.

HTH
 
Interview experience

Hi there

I am responding via my husband who asked me to write his experience with his Citizenship interview on Jan 4th in Philadelphia.

We went in around 2 pm for a 2:20 interview time. There was no line and went thru security smoothly and then made our way upstairs to the 2nd floor. After a quick bathroom break we approached the front desk and gave the woman our appointment letter and then sat down. Around us there were plentiful chairs and people doing some last minute US history reading from the packet. My husband being a chill guy had already studied and didnt get nervous by all this last minute studying by others, but I was getting nervous that he wasnt prepared enough and he assured me he was. :)

After sometime they called him inside and the officer assigned to his case was very nice and cordial. Asked him some questions and he took the 10 question test. He also didnt have a multiple choice. He passed all 10, along with other aspects of the test and was approved. The officer welcomed him to the US and my husband was very excited and happy that he was finally a US citizen. Finally the IO asked him to sign using his new name (husband shortened his name) and told my husband because it was a name change too, the Oath Ceremony would be done in a court instead of maybe the convention center. He told my husband a tentative week of middle of Feb. He asked if we planned on traveling outside the US, and husband told him we had vacation plans but could buy the ticket in Feb. All in all the process and people were cordial, efficient, fairly easy(especially for a English speaker) and quick. He came outside and I could tell from his smile that he was approved. He was given a sheet congratulating him and advising him that an Oath ceremony letter would come in the mail. We were done by 3:30 pm and went home.

Hope all of your procedures go smooth too. Thanks and best wishes
 
Last edited by a moderator:
desidoc73 said:
Hi there

I am responding via my husband who asked me to write his experience with his Citizenship interview on Jan 4th in Philadelphia.

We went in around 2 pm for a 2:20 interview time. There was no line and went thru security smoothly and then made our way upstairs to the 2nd floor. After a quick bathroom break we approached the front desk and gave the woman our appointment letter and then sat down. Around us there were plentiful chairs and people doing some last minute US history reading from the packet. My husband being a chill guy had already studied and didnt get nervous by all this last minute studying by others, but I was getting nervous that he wasnt prepared enough and he assured me he was. :)

After sometime they called him inside and the officer assigned to his case was very nice and cordial. Asked him some questions and he took the 10 question test. He also didnt have a multiple choice. He passed all 10, along with other aspects of the test and was approved. The officer welcomed him to the US and my husband was very excited and happy that he was finally a US citizen. Finally the IO asked him to sign using his new name (husband shortened his name) and told my husband because it was a name change too, the Oath Ceremony would be done in a court instead of maybe the convention center. He told my husband a tentative week of middle of Feb. He asked if we planned on traveling outside the US, and husband told him we had vacation plans but could buy the ticket in Feb. All in all the process and people were cordial, efficient, fairly easy(especially for a English speaker) and quick. He came outside and I could tell from his smile that he was approved. He was given a sheet congratulating him and advising him that an Oath ceremony letter would come in the mail. We were done by 3:30 pm and went home.

Hope all of your procedures go smooth too. Thanks and best wishes
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Congratulations! I hope my Interview goes smoothly too.
 
robotina said:
Zuleron- please don't forget to ask when they will be scheduling the oaths for the philly area. I finally received my interview notice today (YAY!) and I'm really excited that i'm getting closer to wrapping this up, i'm just curious as to if they are doing the 4 oaths/year thing, or they are doing more. Thanks!


Also, what questions should one study? the new pilot test, or what? I'm confussed for that.
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If I pass the interview I will be sure to find out about the oath scheduling.
 
1. how long it takes between Citizen Interview date & Oath date for Delaware residents? I think it takes between 2 to 3 months. In Philadelphia, it takes 1 month. & NJ same day as Citizen Interview!

2. After how long will be next citizenship interview date, If I reschedule?

Thanks a lot.
 
aasheetk said:
1. how long it takes between Citizen Interview date & Oath date for Delaware residents? I think it takes between 2 to 3 months. In Philadelphia, it takes 1 month. & NJ same day as Citizen Interview!

2. After how long will be next citizenship interview date, If I reschedule?

Thanks a lot.
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I just passed my interview today and the IO told me that in Philadelphia they are scheduling a big one in April so most likely you will have to wait till April.
 
zuleron said:
I just passed my interview today and the IO told me that in Philadelphia they are scheduling a big one in April so most likely you will have to wait till April.
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Zuleron, first of all a very BIG Congratulations to you on this day! :)
We both had similar timelines as we discussed a few months ago and it seems we are both blessed to have gotten through this hurdle!

Hope it all went smoothly for you.

You might remember, on my interview date last week, I was told there is one Oath Ceremony in Feb..didnt your IO mention anything in Feb? Just curious...
 
My Philadelphia Interview Experience Jan 12, 2007

Interview was for 10:20 at 1600 Callowhill. The cab driver nearly got fined for stopping in front of a federal building. Anyway, I got there at 10:00 and it was all very smooth going through security. Was told to go to the 2nd floor even though the letter said I should go to the 3rd floor. There were about 20 people waiting but I figured some were family members so I thought there were really only about 5 people ahead of me. I went to the window gave the lady my IL and she stamped it, kept it and told me to sit and wait. I waited for about 25 mins and finally was called in.

The Interview
My IO was a young woman who was initially very business-like but I made a few jokes at the appropriate time and she loosened up -- and so did I. She made me stand and raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth. I said I would. She invited me to sit down and asked for my Driver's License, my Green Card and my Passport(s). I gave them to her. She did some paperwork and then began the interview. Basically she went through my application: my name; the spelling of my name and whether I wanted to change the spelling; my address; my job; whether I'd ever claimed to be an American or ever tried to vote; whether I had ever been arrested; whether I had ever sold drugs; whether I had ever helped someone break the immigration laws; whether I had ever lied to an United States officer; whether I was a terrorist etc. I said yes or no accordingly. She asked me about the organizations I belonged to and I explained to her what they were; I had a website of each organization and she looked at the websites to confirm. All that went really smoothly.

Selective Service
I did have one potential issue that I was worried about: Selective Service. I did not register and I got my green card when I was 25. She asked how old I was when I got my green card and I told her. She then asked me how old I was now and I said 32 and she said you don't have to worry about it. When she didn't ask for the status information letter from the SSS I offered to give it to her but she didn't even want to look at it which surprised me. She explained that had I been under 31 then I would have had more explaining to do. So the rule is that if you fail to register for SS when you are supposed to and you are under 31 when you apply then they will investigate it thoroughly; though she didn't say it, the reason is they only look very seriously at your conduct in the 5 years preceding the date you applied to naturalize and 26 + 5 = 31. However, I had handed in a personal statement with my N400 explaining why I did not register for SS and she did ask me to sign that for the record. And that was it. If you failed to register for SS wait till after your 31st birthday to apply. Of course, if you have other negative issues in your application then being over 31 might not be enough to save you from thorough scrutiny on this issue.

Tax
I had no tax issues so I didn't need the tax transcripts but I had them with me plus the actual tax returns I filed. A little something extra about tax transcripts. I read on this forum that you can walk in to an IRS field office and get your tax transcripts that same day but this is not true. At a minimum they need 10 business days. The way to get your tax transcripts immediately is to call the IRS and have them fax your transcripts to you. They will require that you be next to the fax machine so you can confirm that you received the transcripts. So if you don’t have a fax at home go to a Fedex-Kinkos and have them send it there. That’s what I did but it turns out the IO did not even ask for that info.

She then made me sign the application again and made me confirm that my info was accurate for the Certificate of Naturalization. I did both. Then she handed me the test. They questions ranged in difficulty from the easiest ones (how many stars are there on the flag?) to the mid-level ones (what ship did the pilgrims came on?). I got all 10 correct and she said you have passed and I am going to recommend that your application for naturalization be approved. Congratulations etc.

Then came the bad news!

Oath

She said a letter scheduling the oath ceremony would arrive in a few months. I was like I you mean a few weeks? And she said it was a few months because they are planning a huge ceremony in Philadelphia in April and they want thousands of people to be naturalized at that ceremony so I would have to wait for that. BUMMER!!! I even dared to ask if it was possible to get it done sooner and whether I was pushing my luck to even ask and she said yes I was pushing my luck. I dropped the matter and said as long as I get naturalized then it's fine. She congratulated me and showed me to the door and that was the end of that!

I am approved but have to wait 3 months for a mega-naturalization ceremony. I think if I had wanted to change my name then I might have gotten naturalized sooner coz then you’d get it done in court.

I am a little bummed out about the wait coz you never know what happens in three months... documents get lost invitations to the naturalization ceremony get mailed to the wrong address etc. but I still count myself lucky to have had no problem with the Selective Service issue.

Could others who have had their interviews recently please let us know when your oath dates are?

I will start a Philadelphia April 2007 Oath Ceremony thread to find out where everybody is and to guard against invitations getting lost.

Good LUCK everyone!
 
My Philly Interview experience

My interview time is 1:30 pm but I was early as 12:30 pm. After security checks went to 3rd floor and then I was asked to go to second floor. I gave my appointment letter and was called in 20 min for interview.

I was asked to take the oath and the Immigration Officer went through my application. I have mentioned that I have one traffic voilation in the past and she is ok with it. She went through standard quesitons which juleron mentioned in his post.

I have got all correct in civics test and she recommended my citizenship. Since I have name change she said it will done in court and the timeline she mentioned is that court ceremonies done once in a month and they will schedule when they enough people for ceremony. I am out by 1:30pm.

Again my time schedule is almost identical to zuleron.

Thanks
 
zuleron said:
I just passed my interview today and the IO told me that in Philadelphia they are scheduling a big one in April so most likely you will have to wait till April.
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It is very variable at the Philadelphia office. had my interview on 11/28 and still waiting for oath letter. One of my friends had interview just two weeks before me and his oath was completed within 3-1/2 weeks after interview. However, I am counting on Zuleron's experience and hoping that most of us hopefully will go through in April oath ceremony.
 
Oath dates for name changes

Just FYI about oaths for name changes... I had my interview in Philadelphia in June 2006 and my husband in July 2006. Both of us have name changes and have been scheduled for an oath tomorrow (Jan 18th). So it has been quite a bit of a wait for the oath ceremony.
 
anu_phila could u post the location for your oath ceremony. I am trying to find out when will be the next oath ceremony.

Thanks
pss
 
For the veterans of this board who have been following the Philly DO timelines for a while - a newbie would appreciate some input. What is a reasonable time frame for expecting the IL (assuming of course that I won't get stuck in name check) after FP ? Based on the individual cases posted here it seems less consistent than a few other DOs I checked.

My ND is 11/14 and I completed my FP on 12/06 and so I realize that I am jumping the gun, but in my case I will potentially also need to file a K-visa petition and that is predicated upon me getting my citizenship first. Of course all bets are off if I get stuck in name check and I will have to go for plan B but how long should I wait before assuming the worst has happened ?

Based on Zuleron's case and a few others I think that if things go well I should get my IL by the end of February. Does that sound reasonable ?

Thanks to all.

KM
 
kagemusha said:
For the veterans of this board who have been following the Philly DO timelines for a while - a newbie would appreciate some input. What is a reasonable time frame for expecting the IL (assuming of course that I won't get stuck in name check) after FP ? Based on the individual cases posted here it seems less consistent than a few other DOs I checked.

My ND is 11/14 and I completed my FP on 12/06 and so I realize that I am jumping the gun, but in my case I will potentially also need to file a K-visa petition and that is predicated upon me getting my citizenship first. Of course all bets are off if I get stuck in name check and I will have to go for plan B but how long should I wait before assuming the worst has happened ?

Based on Zuleron's case and a few others I think that if things go well I should get my IL by the end of February. Does that sound reasonable ?

Thanks to all.

KM
Click to expand...

Yes it does.
 
pss said:
My interview time is 1:30 pm but I was early as 12:30 pm. After security checks went to 3rd floor and then I was asked to go to second floor. I gave my appointment letter and was called in 20 min for interview.

I was asked to take the oath and the Immigration Officer went through my application. I have mentioned that I have one traffic voilation in the past and she is ok with it. She went through standard quesitons which juleron mentioned in his post.

I have got all correct in civics test and she recommended my citizenship. Since I have name change she said it will done in court and the timeline she mentioned is that court ceremonies done once in a month and they will schedule when they enough people for ceremony. I am out by 1:30pm.

Again my time schedule is almost identical to zuleron.


Thanks
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Let us know when you get your oath letter.
 
Our priority date is 9/24 and we had FP in early October, but we have not received the interview letter so far. 4 months since the application.
 
The process seems to be blazing fast at some other DOs. Anyone get their IL for the Philly DO in the last month or so ? I am coming up on 2 months since FP and so I may still have a bit of a wait ahead of me (maybe quite a long wait if I get stuck in name check).

Thanks,
KM
 
kagemusha said:
The process seems to be blazing fast at some other DOs. Anyone get their IL for the Philly DO in the last month or so ? I am coming up on 2 months since FP and so I may still have a bit of a wait ahead of me (maybe quite a long wait if I get stuck in name check).

Thanks,
KM
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Two months after FP is not that long. I waited about 2.5 months. The thing is that once you do get the IL, a 2 month wait doesn't seem that long. Patience, my friend.
 
7 months

7 months from FP, still waiting for interview letter. Is it time to worry yet?

My application has name change request on it.
 
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