Seattle DO - N-400 timeline

hey all. here to share my oath experience, ill cut all the shit before the reaching the building since i drove there with my family, anyways, got there around 1:15pm. Was told to check in by 2pm. When i got there, there was a huge lineup for all the people taking oath that day, they lined us all up inside, as many as they could, this all after the security check, told us to get out our oath letter and green cards and then they started checking people in, took like 15 min to get to me, i got to the counter, she took my form and green card and was like "Sir, question number 4 you answered yes" i told her yea, after i left my interview i got a speeding ticket. now let me take you back a little bit sorry, before i got to DO i went to the court where i needed to pay my $93 ticket and paid it and got a copy and receipt saying it was paid, back to oath, i showed her my ticket copy and that it was paid for, she took it, wrote on my letter, asked if alcohol was involded i told her no, she took my letter and info and told me to go to this side room where some guy was sitting talkin to someone else i guess who had a problem, she told me to wait for the guy, i started getting nervous as everyone else was just going to the ceremony hall, after about 10 min, the lady comes to get me and says come to my window, i went there, she says verify your name, dob and says congrats, hands me flag, and booklet, YAY!!!!.....go into hall, watch stupid video, take oath, get cert, go home. done and done!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!
 
the video, faces of america or whatever is what i meant. sorry, it was boring.....anyways, a little info, might be good or bad, they said at Seattle DO they do 4 oath ceremonies a week with on average about 70 people each time. so for those of you that are waiting for IL or oath, i gues thats both good and bad news.
 
sent my letter to Laura Bush , asking for help for my name check last week.. Black hole of name check is getting deeper and deeper.. :(
 
i will still be active among the board but prob not in this thread anymore, just want to wish everyone good luck and wish everyone gets there citizenship very soon. i thank everyone for all there comments and support. i now have another journey ahead of me. thanks all and good luck again.
 
Well, as many of you may already know that my interview was yesterday (Thursday 17th), so here is my story which is kind of wierd experience.

My interview was scheduled for 10 am. I got there around 9am by bus. I wasn't called in until 10.18am. A lady officer called me into a long hall that is divided into small rooms for each officer. During the long walk we got to have some common conversations. She also asked if my husband is with me. I said no, he is working. She stated that she was behind her schedule and she will get me out of there real quick. When we got into her room, she immediatly asked me to raise up my right hand and sworn that everything I was about to tell her was true. I said yes, I do, of course.

First she told me to hand her my greencard then give back to me and she said that they are not going to let me use my maiden name as my middle name any longer. That it's not going to show on my certificate and US passport. She said it's not what they do around here. I was pretty puzzled.

Then she started going through my application. She seemed to really want to get rid of me real quick but I didn't let her to because I had some changed every now and then. I had my new mailing address, I had just come back from my trip overseas (she asked if my husband was with me on the trip too), I had a new job and had also quitted all jobs, I filled the amount of they outside the US for the past five years wrong (I included all my days outside the country even before I came to the US and got the greencard by marrying an American). She seemed to annoyed by my changed and updated information.

Then she asked me rapidly over yes or no questions. But also stopped and asked me whether or not I understand some words whe was asking: do you know what...(terrorists, nazis, and prostitute)... means? I answered "yes, I do" to every word but she didn't ask me to give out meaning. Last question on this part was if my application is approved, am I willing to take the oath of allegation? I said yes.

After that she told me to print/write my name not sign on my form on part 13 and 14, and also on my two photos that I sent in with the form.

Now come the testing part;
She first told me to read a sentence "He knows how to ride a bike". And told me to write "He went to the post office". I got that done.
Then she asked me six question;
1. Where is the White House located?
2. When is the new president inaugurated? (I got it right and she said "hmm. you have bee studying huh"; I smiled.
3. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
4. Who are Senators from our state?
5. Who wrote the Star-Spangled Banner?
6. What are the two major political parties in the United Stated?
When she filed my answer sheet, I saw that she checked (correct, I assumed) boxes after each question. The were about 10 questions in that sheet.

After that she asked me if I have any proof of my marriage. I said "plenty" and pull out my document. I handed her my marriage certificate which she refused to take it. She said "everyone has it. I want to see the finacial stuff". I showed her my copies of last three years tax. She wanted to have it. I said "no, you should have ones on file". She checked my file and nod. I showed her my husband's power of attorney that was written before he went to Afghanistan. She asked if my husband is still Afghanistan. I said "no, he is now in Saudi Arabia. She asked if there is a copy in my file that she has. I said yes. I showed her my husband's life insurances. She checked if there is a copy in file. I spreaded out all of document I had on her table, acted like.. com'on lady, just tell me what you want, I can give you all. I have this and that.... She followed my gesture. Then I said "Oh hey, my husband even wrote you a letter, do you want to read? She said yes, took it, skim through, and asked if she can put that in my file. I said "of course. And that was it.

She asked me if I can take oath on Thursday 24th at 2pm. I took that. Put everything away. She reminded me to take my coat. I thanked her and walked out. She followed me to the door. It took nearly 20 minutes

This is my impression for the interview. The interviewer spoked so rapidly the whole time and didn't seem to pay attention on things she asked or I answered. Probably she has heard it all and done it all the time. The whole time she really acted that she had already approved my case, but at the last minute she asked me if I have proof of my marriage.

I got the impression that she hadn't really look at my case at all. Because all the document she asked for were already in my file. So, that makes me worried. Will she go back and read my file again after that last minute question? Will she cancel my oath ceremony or decide to pull me aside for additional interview on the day that I go to the ceremony? It went by like a flash and took me a day to really recall although I'm still not sure that I remember all of what had happenned.

Good luck for all who are still waiting, especially FlyingTurk. And thanks all who shared and answered my every question.
 
This is my timeline;
Mailed N-400: 04/20/07
Priority Date: 04/23/07
Check cashed: 04/27/07
NOA1 date: 04/30/07
Recieved NOA1: 05/07/07
FP notice received: 05/14/07 (Notice Date 05/10/07)
FP date: 06/04/07
Interview letter mailed: 11/19/2007
Interview letter received: It was a long story. I finally got the letter in my hand about a month later. It was supposed to arrived at my apartment on November 24th (The day I left Seattle for a so called long vacation). I changed my mailing address to a PO Box which started all hassle. I finally e-mailed Seattle DO and they sent me a copy. Few days after that I was able to locate my original interview letter.
Interview date: 01/17/08
Oath date: 01/24/08
Applied for Passport: As soon as I get my naturization certificate.
Passport Pickup:

Some more info about the interview. I met a Chinese-looking lady before and after the interview. She didn't make it due to her sufficient in English. She went in for her interview and didn't come out after around 40 minutes had gone by. I finally found out later when I met her outside the building after my interview that she has problems with her reading and writing, that later on effect her listening too. She got only two questions right, then two questions wrong. And that was it, the interviewer asked her to come back a week later. She is worried that she will not have enough time to strenghten her language skills.
 
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Jirapan said:
I changed my mailing address to a PO Box which started all hassle.
Click to expand...

Can you elaborate a little how you changed mailing address to a PO Box and why that got you into trouble? I was thinking to try to have USCIS send the all the correspondence mails to a PO Box by filling the "Care of" area below the address field in N-400 form.
 
Well, it became a hassle because I changed my address at the same time that the IL letter was already sent out to me. Plus I was also out of the country when the mail arrived at my apartment. I had the post office held my mail for a week before it got forwarded to my mailbox (PO box) with an online mailing company.

In short, any kind of address change should happen long before you apply for any compettition or way before your letter from USCIS is supposed to arrive.

It's also happened that when I called the USCIS hot line to change my address, one officer said that the IL letter was already out from NSC to me, but when I called the second time another officer said that it was never sent out. So I contacted Seattle DO and they sent me a copy. Three weeks later after all the hassle, the original IL arrived at my account with an online mailing company. Then I had them forwarded the letter to me in Thailand.

Thanks Crosshairs and js360.
 
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Jirapan said:
I had the post office held my mail for a week before it got forwarded to my mailbox (PO box) with an online mailing company.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explantion. It is very informative.

I remember the N-400 form doesn't let the applicant use a PO Box as home address. So I guess you may have the mails delivered to a physical street address where you live at, then the postoffice (instructed by you)forwards the mails to a online mailing company. Does this sound right?

What I am really trying to do is to have USCIS send the mails to a PO Box from the very beginning. I wonder if there is any way this could work?
 
chuang2830 said:
Thanks for the explantion. It is very informative.

I remember the N-400 form doesn't let the applicant use a PO Box as home address. So I guess you may have the mails delivered to a physical street address where you live at, then the postoffice (instructed by you)forwards the mails to a online mailing company. Does this sound right?

What I am really trying to do is to have USCIS send the mails to a PO Box from the very beginning. I wonder if there is any way this could work?
Click to expand...

Well I think it could work out that you put your physical address as your home address at Part 4A and then put your PO Box on part 4B. What do you guys in this forum think about this? The form does states on Part4A that DO NOT write a PO Box in this space, but doesn't say the same thing on Part 4B

I think you could try that and see where they are going to mail the first NOA to you. If they send it directly to your home address, then we will know that the PO Box doesn't work. Just make sure though that the letter can get to you in either address.

My IL was sent to my home address before I told my post office to forward my mail to my PO Box.
 
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