Rescheduling an Oath

S

sargodhian

Registered Users (C)
Fellows,

I have been scheduled for an Oath Ceremony on Jan 27 but would like to reschedule it for next month (around last week of Feb or first week of March). I would like to know:

1. Is it advisable to reschedule?
2. Is there any way I can request for desired dates like end of Feb or First week of March?
3. If I let USCIS decide the date for next ceremony, how far could it be?
4. Will the current inclement weather conditions effect on existing and future ceremonies?

Thank you
 
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1) No unless you have a travel emergency and you can't get a US passport in time before your flight
2) No, but you can ask. They'll most likely ignore your specific request.
3) As far as they feel like. They are probably already scheduling people for future Oath Ceremonies, so you will go back to the end of the list. You could get assigned to a ceremony in a month, or 6 months, or more, there is no way of knowing.
4) Sure, I have heard of ceremonies being canceled due to adverse weather.
 
Thank you cfiler,

Actually, I am on a foreign assignment and will be back in Atlanta in the first week of March. Normally it takes around 7 to 10 days for an urgent passport which means I will have to stay there until I get the passport as they will take my green card away and I do not think my company can afford me staying out of station for that long period.
 
sargodhian said:
Thank you cfiler,

Actually, I am on a foreign assignment and will be back in Atlanta in the first week of March. Normally it takes around 7 to 10 days for an urgent passport which means I will have to stay there until I get the passport as they will take my green card away and I do not think my company can afford me staying out of station for that long period.
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I agree with cfiler's answers. It is in general a bad idea to reschedule the oath. If you do reschedule the oath, you have no control over when the new oath date will be. Your name simply goes back to the end of the queue and it could be a few weeks or a few months until your next oath is scheduled.

Regarding an urgent passport, there is another option. You can get a same-day passport at a passport agency, see
http://travel.state.gov/passport/npic/agencies/agencies_913.html

You'll need to schedule an appointment there in advance and it looks like there is no agency in Atlanta - but there is one in New Orleans.
 
Jackolantern said:
Same-day passport is unrealistic, given that the oath will take up a portion of the day, plus the time to get from the oath to the passport agency. But next-day passport should be possible.
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By "same-day" I meant getting the passport on the same day as applying for a passport; of course, getting the passport on the same day as the oath is unrealistic.
 
Thank you Fellows,

Can I apply passport from any Passport agency like New York or the only one that is serving my jurisdiction which is New Orleans. If I decided to come for my oath ceremony, most probably I will be flying in and out of JFK.

Regards
 
sargodhian said:
Thank you Fellows,

Can I apply passport from any Passport agency like New York or the only one that is serving my jurisdiction which is New Orleans. If I decided to come for my oath ceremony, most probably I will be flying in and out of JFK.

Regards
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You can apply for passport at any Passport Agency, provided you arrive there early in the morning should you desire it on the same day. USCIS is "Unlike Burger King, you can't have your oath ceremony "your way"...lol!!!!
 
Al Southner said:
You can apply for passport at any Passport Agency, provided you arrive there early in the morning should you desire it on the same day. USCIS is "Unlike Burger King, you can't have your oath ceremony "your way"...lol!!!!
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I think you are wrong. PP agency is also not like Burger King, you cannot walk in to any of them. You need appointment. When you input your Zip code it will assign to agency which serves the region you reside Please refer http://www.scribd.com/mobile/documents/16306624. Kindly share the information where it says " you can apply for passport at any agency".

However one can get passport same day if you are traveling within 2 weeks and have airline ticket to prove same and have all docs required by them.
 
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madh4 said:
I think you are wrong. PP agency is also not like Burger King, you cannot walk in to any of them. You need appointment. When you input your Zip code it will assign to agency which serves the region you reside Please refer http://www.scribd.com/mobile/documents/16306624. Kindly share the information where it says " you can apply for passport at any agency".
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Basically you are correct that one needs to schedule an appointment at a passport agency before coming there - and it is not hard to schedule such an appointment using their toll-free automated system.

In practice, if someone has a particularly urgent travel situation and did not have time to schedule an appointment, sometimes passport agencies do allow walk-ins. However, that really depends on the agency, on one's luck and on the good graces of the people working at that agency on a given day. When I was getting my passport at the Chicago passport agency, there were several people without appointments who attempted to come as walk-ins. They were all sent away, even though at least one woman among them was crying and saying that she had an urgent travel situation and had to travel that weekend (it was Friday).
 
Thank you everyone for your inputs. After a considering all the options, I have decided to postponed my oath and will take my chances. Hopefully I will be able to get next date within a time frame when I will be there otherwise I will visit the office and humbly request them to expedite the process.
 
madh4 said:
I think you are wrong. PP agency is also not like Burger King, you cannot walk in to any of them. You need appointment. When you input your Zip code it will assign to agency which serves the region you reside Please refer http://www.scribd.com/mobile/documents/16306624. Kindly share the information where it says " you can apply for passport at any agency".

However one can get passport same day if you are traveling within 2 weeks and have airline ticket to prove same and have all docs required by them.
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Mad,

I have been to my passport agency here in DC on two occasions without any appointment, and didn't have any problems. You need an appointment so that they can manage a pool of applicants, but if you wake to an email asking you to be in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning, and it is a Friday, arriving at the Passport Agency on that same Friday at 11am, and coming back to collect your US Passport at 2:30pm is practical. I just did it about 2 weeks ago, and no one heckled me about not having an appointment, I brought my itinerary and completed passport application.

You can apply for your US passport at any passport agency or US Postal Service in the continental USA. Let me also help you further, you can post your mail at any US postal facility in the continental US, there is no law which restrict your postal needs to your zip code...:) All passport applications done through US Postal Service are processed by the State Dept here in DC, I know someone who was hired to work at State during the high demand for US passport after implmentation of new travel requirements for Western Hemisphere...

You can't have it your way on this board too....:)
 
Good for you. Seeing what your situation is I think you can safely postpone and ask for some timeframe. Worst that can happen is that they won't honor your request. Take into consideration that your time out of the country between your interview and your oath has to be reported in the oath letter questionnaire and if this absence makes you break your continuous residence you'd be in trouble. I don't know when you left for your assignment, but it seems you had your interview in September, just keep this in mind. Other than that, most people don't have trouble rescheduling the oath.

Good luck.
 
Huracan said:
Take into consideration that your time out of the country between your interview and your oath has to be reported in the oath letter questionnaire and if this absence makes you break your continuous residence you'd be in trouble.
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The OP has an approved N-470, so I don't think continuous residence will be a problem.
 
sargodhian said:
Thank you everyone for your inputs. After a considering all the options, I have decided to postponed my oath and will take my chances. Hopefully I will be able to get next date within a time frame when I will be there otherwise I will visit the office and humbly request them to expedite the process.
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Hi to you
I just wanted to know I long did it take you to reschedule the oath. I would like to do the same thing as I need to travel overseas
also if you can say which field office
is taking care of it
thanks
 
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