San Jose, CA - N-400 Timeline

Ok, let me consult my crystal ball :) It's hard to say beyond the interview. I think interview sometime end of December, early January. Letter usually arrives a month or two months earlier, so take about 6 weeks before the interview date approximately. I am still curious to see what the evolution of processing is going to be with the new fees. Things could speed up or be affected by the extra applications in July. It's hard to say.
 
Huracan said:
Ok, let me consult my crystal ball :) It's hard to say beyond the interview. I think interview sometime end of December, early January. Letter usually arrives a month or two months earlier, so take about 6 weeks before the interview date approximately. I am still curious to see what the evolution of processing is going to be with the new fees. Things could speed up or be affected by the extra applications in July. It's hard to say.
Click to expand...

Thanks Huracan. It sounds like I can expect the interview letter ~ mid to end November.
 
Expedited Passport at SF Passport agency

Thanks to all in the forum who were a great help during the long citizenship process. Good luck to all those waiting.
Wanted to share my experience on passport application with SF passport agency.
The office requires an appt and its very hard to get through the 1-800#. You can make an appt if you are travelling within 14 days.
I couldn't call until my oath letter came so things were very rushed. We have our trip planned in Sep first week and it couldnt be postponed. So I took an infopass and requested the officer if I could get into the same oath ceremony as my husband , fortunately the officer obliged and I got Aug 22 oath date.
I called the Passort agency that very day and the earliest appt I could get was for 8/24 11 AM. We were there at 10:45, the guard checked our confirmation# and let us in.
There were about 30 people in the waiting room. We were called within 30 min of our appointment time( I was very relieved, I had read in the forum that it takes hours sometimes), the officer told us we could pick up the Passport at 4 PM. We were there at 3:30 but there was already a huge line standing outside. Everyone was let in at 4 PM but we were made to wait for 1hour 15 min before they opened up the counters. But once they did that the lines moved really fast. Anyway we got our passports and were out of the office by 5:30 PM.
Although we paid more - $157 per person, it was a relief that we could get it in a day since we have our travel planned for Sep 6. In all I would say it was a pretty good experience.
Good luck to all of you waiting for your IV, oath, passports.


N400 Time line
SJ D.O
Husband
Priority Date 11/9/06
FP Date 12/12/06 same as appt
Interview 6/26/07
Oath 8/22/07
Passport 8/24/07

Mine
Priority Date 12/15/06
FP Date 01/16/07 same as appt
Interview 8/8/07 - Mailed on 6/18/07
Oath 8/22/07
Passport 8/24/07
 
Got Oath letter :)

We had our interview on Aug 15th and have the Oath appt. for Sep 7th (letter was sent Aug 22nd)

Glad that finally after some intial hicccups and 2nd FP for my wife, we have it!!

Question to Huracan:) and others...
How long does it take to get the passport in hand if we do an expedited request

Thanks
 
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Are photos needed for interview?

I have my interview tomorow, I just logged into read everybody's experience. I see in some posts that you have take photos? Is that true? My letter doesn't say anything about photos.
 
I think my letter mentioned about the two pictures. They are not always needed. I guess if the first pictures were lost or didn't meet standards then it's when you need the extra pictures. I took mine to the interview and offered them up to the IO, but they weren't needed. Don't worry. If you don't have time to get the pictures before your interview tomorrow, don't sweat they are probably not going to be needed.
 
uspass said:
We had our interview on Aug 15th and have the Oath appt. for Sep 7th (letter was sent Aug 22nd)

Glad that finally after some intial hicccups and 2nd FP for my wife, we have it!!

Question to Huracan:) and others...
How long does it take to get the passport in hand if we do an expedited request

Thanks
Click to expand...

Applied on Thursday. Package was delivered in Los Angeles on Friday morning. I don't know how long is going to take. I seem to have read that for the West Coast it is a bit faster, perhaps ten days for expedited. My status hasn't appeared online, which I think is expected. I'll update the board when I find more.

I'm surprised about the oath on Sept. 7th. Is this in Campbell or the USCIS office? Perhaps we're starting to see the benefit of the extra fees? ;)
 
My details. FP appt on Friday

06/10/2007 : Mailed N-400 to CSC
06/11/2007 : CSC received N-400
06/11/2007 : Priority Date (as per the receipt)
06/25/2007 : Check Cashed
06/27/2007 : Notice Date (received 06/29/07)


08/14/2007 : FP Notice received
08/31/2007 : FP Appointment

??/??/???? : Interview Date
??/??/???? : Oath
 
Timeline

PD: 4/4/07
Notice Date: 4/16/07
FP Notification Date: 5/7/07
FP appt: 6/8/07
IL: ????
Oath: ????

Spouse:
PD: 4/9/07
Notice Date: 5/1/07
FP appt: 6/9/07
IL: ????
Oath: ????
 
mahba said:
PD: 4/4/07
Notice Date: 4/16/07
FP Notification Date: 5/7/07
FP appt: 6/8/07
IL: ????
Oath: ????

Spouse:
PD: 4/9/07
Notice Date: 5/1/07
FP appt: 6/9/07
IL: ????
Oath: ????
Click to expand...
WOW!!! did i see you in application support center in San Jose on 8th?
Anyway keep me updated in case you recieve your interview letter.
 
Changes to SSA after citizenship

Huracan and others who have got their citizenship,

I have couple of questions:

1. Did you report the change in citizenship status to Social Security (SSA)? If yes, how do you do that and is the office on S. First street the only one and how long does it take?

2. Do you need to sign naturalization certificate at oath time or anytime after that?

3. Any dress code for oath ceremony? Would jeans and snickers do or something semi formal like you wore for interview?

Appreciate your responses.
 
omorpheus said:
1. Did you report the change in citizenship status to Social Security (SSA)? If yes, how do you do that and is the office on S. First street the only one and how long does it take?
Click to expand...
I wondered about the same for my wife just after we got married - we went to her home town just to visit the SSA, and she got hurt on tha parking lot :(

The Social Security Administration is a Federal institution, so you should be able to notify them at any SSA office. I believe you would need to show them the original Naturalization Certificate (the same way they wanted to see the original Marriage Certificate for my wife's change of Name), and they can make a photocopy and give you back the original.
 
omorpheus said:
Huracan and others who have got their citizenship,

I have couple of questions:

1. Did you report the change in citizenship status to Social Security (SSA)? If yes, how do you do that and is the office on S. First street the only one and how long does it take?
Click to expand...
Not yet. I am planning to. I'll wait until I get the passports. I'll probably take the passport to the office, not the certificate. I am also planning to notify my employer. I'll also probably wait until I get the passport to do that. I think changes to I-9 mean that the naturalization certificate is no longer an A list document (i.e. proof of identity and employability, but the passport is). Not a big deal anyway, as the nat. cert. plus soc. sec. card would also do. For the office I will probably go to the one in Sunnyvale if it is still open. I like that office better.
[Edit] Oh, no! It seems that Sunnyvale office might not be open. Well it used to be somewhere close to El Camino Real and Mathilda. I can't seem to find it by zip code, and the office locator of ssa is not very good. It just shows me one result per zip code. There is one in Mountain View. I might try that one:


I think I set the priorities appropriately, passports and N-600 have more priority than SSA and I-9. The latter don't have any immediate impact in my life, but the former have more impact.
By the way, I sent an e-mail inquiry to SSA a few days ago to ask them to update the FAQ with what to do when one naturalizes. I haven't heard anything back. It's been almost a week ;)
omorpheus said:
2. Do you need to sign naturalization certificate at oath time or anytime after that?
Click to expand...
No, I signed with all the time of the world at home. I practiced the signature a few times before putting down my John Hancock on the certificate, as it is not the usual way of signing for me. Of course the certificate has to be signed before you send it to get your passport, so try to schedule a few minutes of quiet time to sign it before you send it for the passport.
omorpheus said:
3. Any dress code for oath ceremony? Would jeans and snickers do or something semi formal like you wore for interview?

Appreciate your responses.
Click to expand...

I don't think Jeans and snickers will qualify as appropriate attire ;) They'll probably won't kick you out, but it won't look good. I chose to go with Bostonian leather shoes, black suit pants and a shirt (not a suit shirt, and no tie). I would describe that as semi formal. I would think of it as go with leather shoes and build the rest of your attire as what could look good with that, but no jeans :)

My 2 cents.
 
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Huracan said:
Not yet. I am planning to. I'll wait until I get the passports. I'll probably take the passport to the office, not the certificate. I am also planning to notify my employer. I'll also probably wait until I get the passport to do that. I think changes to I-9 mean that the naturalization certificate is no longer an A list document (i.e. proof of identity and employability, but the passport is). Not a big deal anyway, as the nat. cert. plus soc. sec. card would also do. For the office I will probably go to the one in Sunnyvale if it is still open. I like that office better.
[Edit] Oh, no! It seems that Sunnyvale office might not be open. Well it used to be somewhere close to El Camino Real and Mathilda. I can't seem to find it by zip code, and the office locator of ssa is not very good. It just shows me one result per zip code. There is one in Mountain View. I might try that one:


I think I set the priorities appropriately, passports and N-600 have more priority than SSA and I-9. The latter don't have any immediate impact in my life, but the former have more impact.
By the way, I sent an e-mail inquiry to SSA a few days ago to ask them to update the FAQ with what to do when one naturalizes. I haven't heard anything back. It's been almost a week ;)

No, I signed with all the time of the world at home. I practiced the signature a few times before putting down my John Hancock on the certificate, as it is not the usual way of signing for me. Of course the certificate has to be signed before you send it to get your passport, so try to schedule a few minutes of quiet time to sign it before you send it for the passport.


I don't think Jeans and snickers will qualify as appropriate attire ;) They'll probably won't kick you out, but it won't look good. I chose to go with Bostonian leather shoes, black suit pants and a shirt (not a suit shirt, and no tie). I would describe that as semi formal. I would think of it as go with leather shoes and build the rest of your attire as what could look good with that, but no jeans :)

My 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the detailed information Huracan and McMahon.
 
No problem. A couple of interesting links:

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showpost.php?p=1669000&postcount=7

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showpost.php?p=1669331&postcount=9

http://www.newcitizen.us/after.html

My plan is to go there with passports, old cards (don't need replacement as I already got replacement when I got the GC) and driver license just in case. I am not planning to fill out the SS-5 form. I am going to do as Flydog. Just take a number and show up at the window with the documents. Hopefully it will be all that's needed.
 
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