Re-scheduling oath ceremony?

G

GKER

Registered Users (C)
Today I received the oath ceremony letter, and I am scheduled for the oath on May 24th in LA. Unfortunately I will NOT be able to attend the ceremony as I will be out of the country that week.

So what do I do know? What is the process for re-scheduling the oath? Will this cause any problems for me? How long does it take to get a new date for the oath?


I am really saddened that I will not be able to attend the oath on the 24th of May, as I was looking forward to it.
 
GKER said:
Today I received the oath ceremony letter, and I am scheduled for the oath on May 24th in LA. Unfortunately I will NOT be able to attend the ceremony as I will be out of the country that week.
So what do I do know? What is the process for re-scheduling the oath? Will this cause any problems for me? How long does it take to get a new date for the oath?
I am really saddened that I will not be able to attend the oath on the 24th of May, as I was looking forward to it.
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Read carefully; isn't there a number to call or address to send the letter to if you have to reschedule? i'm looking at my fingerprint notice letter and it has both.
 
Rescheduling oath taking ceremony

A letter of explanation and US immigration Form N445 form should be submitted in case you cannot make it for the oath taking ceremony. The requisition for rescheduling may or may not be accepted and if accepted can be rescheduled for a early date or might take years together.So its always important to be there for the final step before you receive your naturalization certificate as proof for your US citizenship!
 
Nancy Mervin said:
A letter of explanation and US immigration Form N445 form should be submitted in case you cannot make it for the oath taking ceremony. The requisition for rescheduling may or may not be accepted and if accepted can be rescheduled for a early date or might take years together.So its always important to be there for the final step before you receive your naturalization certificate as proof for your US citizenship!
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Really, could it take years?

Also what happens at USCIS when one reschedules the oath ceremony? Will they pull out my file and go through it again? Can they call me for another interview?


When I mail them, will I get back a confirmation telling me whether they accept the rescheduling? I have read that some send their request for rescheduling but did not received anything back before their original oath ceremony, therefore they had to attend that one.
 
GKER said:
Really, could it take years?

Also what happens at USCIS when one reschedules the oath ceremony? Will they pull out my file and go through it again? Can they call me for another interview?


When I mail them, will I get back a confirmation telling me whether they accept the rescheduling? I have read that some send their request for rescheduling but did not received anything back before their original oath ceremony, therefore they had to attend that one.
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As noted above, if you want to re-schedule the oath, you should send the oath letter (form N-445) back to the local USCIS district office and attach a letter explaining that you can't attend the scheduled oath and are requesting that it be rescheduled. There should be a paragraph about this procedure at the bottom of the first page of the oath letter. Plus here is a quote from "A Guide to Naturalization", p. 38:
"If you cannot attend the ceremony on the day you are scheduled, you should return the USCIS notice (Form N-445) to your local office. You should include a letter explaining why you cannot be at the ceremony and asking USCIS to reschedule you."
http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/chapter5.pdf

If you do that, I'd suggest that you also call the USCIS 800 number after a little while and try to confirm that they did receive your request for rescheduling (if they don't receive it and you do not show up for the oath, your N-400 will be denied).

No, it will not take years to have the oath rescheduled. Usually it takes from a few weeks to a few months (I'd say 3-3.5 months on the outside) to the new oath date.

No, they won't call you for another interview. If you request a rescheduled oath, they'll simply put your file at the back of the line of files waiting for oath scheduling.

They will not send you any special confirmation that your request has been received - the next piece of mail you'll get from the USCIS will be a new oath letter after the new oath has been scheduled.


You should also remember that the continuous residency requirement must be satisfied all the way up to the moment of the naturalization oath. If you travel abroad between the interview and the oath, you'll need to list this travel at the back of N-445 when you attend the oath ceremony. Before the start of the oath, a USCIS officer will look at your N-445 and will question you about the travel abroad that occurred between the interview and the oath. If such travel was sufficiently extensive to call into question your continuous residency requirement, the IO will not allow you to take the oath and your file will be sent back to the USCIS district office for another look.
 
baikal3 said:
As noted above, if you want to re-schedule the oath, you should send the oath letter (form N-445) back to the local USCIS district office and attach a letter explaining that you can't attend the scheduled oath and are requesting that it be rescheduled. There should be a paragraph about this procedure at the bottom of the first page of the oath letter. Plus here is a quote from "A Guide to Naturalization", p. 38:
"If you cannot attend the ceremony on the day you are scheduled, you should return the USCIS notice (Form N-445) to your local office. You should include a letter explaining why you cannot be at the ceremony and asking USCIS to reschedule you."
http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/chapter5.pdf

If you do that, I'd suggest that you also call the USCIS 800 number after a little while and try to confirm that they did receive your request for rescheduling (if they don't receive it and you do not show up for the oath, your N-400 will be denied).

No, it will not take years to have the oath rescheduled. Usually it takes from a few weeks to a few months (I'd say 3-3.5 months on the outside) to the new oath date.

No, they won't call you for another interview. If you request a rescheduled oath, they'll simply put your file at the back of the line of files waiting for oath scheduling.

They will not send you any special confirmation that your request has been received - the next piece of mail you'll get from the USCIS will be a new oath letter after the new oath has been scheduled.


You should also remember that the continuous residency requirement must be satisfied all the way up to the moment of the naturalization oath. If you travel abroad between the interview and the oath, you'll need to list this travel at the back of N-445 when you attend the oath ceremony. Before the start of the oath, a USCIS officer will look at your N-445 and will question you about the travel abroad that occurred between the interview and the oath. If such travel was sufficiently extensive to call into question your continuous residency requirement, the IO will not allow you to take the oath and your file will be sent back to the USCIS district office for another look.
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So will I just send it back to here: https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?a...tor.office_type=LO&OfficeLocator.statecode=CA ?
Then I will call them back after a couple of days to confirm that they received the letter.

The queue for the oath in Los Angeles is quite long (it took me 2 months 21MAR-24MAY) so it will probably take a couple of months as you say. Hopefully it wont come the last week of July as I will be in NY/DC that week.
 
Can you change your plans?

I had a trip planned for when my interview was and came home early. If you can make it work, I'd suggest keeping your oath as you don't want to fall into a black hole. After you get your oath and your passport, you're a free man
 
GKER said:
Today I received the oath ceremony letter, and I am scheduled for the oath on May 24th in LA. Unfortunately I will NOT be able to attend the ceremony as I will be out of the country that week.

So what do I do know? What is the process for re-scheduling the oath? Will this cause any problems for me? How long does it take to get a new date for the oath?


I am really saddened that I will not be able to attend the oath on the 24th of May, as I was looking forward to it.
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Unless you have a medical or family emergency, keep your current schedule and attend your oath. I would not risk it to re-schedule.
 
nwctzn said:
Unless you have a medical or family emergency, keep your current schedule and attend your oath. I would not risk it to re-schedule.
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+1 to what he said. It's a once in a lifetime honor and re-scheduling in not in the question whatever else you got planed can wait unless it an emergency..
 
nwctzn said:
Unless you have a medical or family emergency, keep your current schedule and attend your oath. I would not risk it to re-schedule.
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What am I risking? I still meet the requirements for becoming a citizen.
 
GKER said:
What am I risking? I still meet the requirements for becoming a citizen.
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You are risking to be put on a very long queue for the oath. Also, USCIS can be prone to errors and misplacing documents. Want examples: They sent my greencard to a wrong address during my PR process and they forgot to put a copy of my oath letter into my folder at the end of my naturalization interview. They called me the following day and asked me the date when I am scheduled for the oath :)

So there is quite a risk that your oath re-scheduling will take some considerable time.

What else is the risk? You might get a hefty traffic ticket before your oath or some other legal problem may arise that you need to report at the back of the oath notice and then you would enter again a "review" process which would further delay your naturalization.

Those are some of the reasons and risks why many people recommend to you to attend your oath at your scheduled date and become a US citizen and US passport holder ASAP. Of course, the call is yours and you have to decide on your own.
 
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GKER said:
What am I risking? I still meet the requirements for becoming a citizen.
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Don't be afraid of fear mongering posts. There is nothing wrong in rescheduling your oath ceremony. They will reschedule in matter of weeks. If you don't receive revised date, little extra trouble of Infopass. My friends had rescheduled as they had booked their Cruise and were not sure they will get USA passport in time. They got rescheduled within 4 weeks.

The risk is, you are an immigrant for longer period with associated problems. You have to be cautious and be on the right side of law, like you have been for the last more than 5 years.
 
madh4 said:
Don't be afraid of fear mongering posts. There is nothing wrong in rescheduling your oath ceremony. They will reschedule in matter of weeks. If you don't receive revised date, little extra trouble of Infopass. My friends had rescheduled as they had booked their Cruise and were not sure they will get USA passport in time. They got rescheduled within 4 weeks.

The risk is, you are an immigrant for longer period with associated problems. You have to be cautious and be on the right side of law, like you have been for the last more than 5 years.
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We do not make fear mongering posts. We are just commenting what we would do if we were in the OP's shoes based on our own immigration process experience.

You make your point and we make ours and then the OP is free to choose.
 
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madh4 said:
... There is nothing wrong in rescheduling your oath ceremony. They will reschedule in matter of weeks. ...
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Sure, there is nothing wrong with re-scheduling. However, you cannot guarantee that it will be just a matter of weeks. Depending on the local USCIS office load, the re-scheduling can be in fact a matter of months and can cause significant delays and possible further dealing with the USCIS via infopass appointments etc. So the OP could be in for quite a bit of hassle.
 
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