Tampa FL - N-400 Timeline

Congratulations

SO1994,
Congratulations on your successful interview.
Hope you will get the earlier oath date.:)
 
Updated Timeline Below:

Tampa District Office (DO)
05/28/09 : N-400 Sent via USPS Express Mail® to TSC (Texas Service Center).
05/29/09 : N-400 Received.
05/29/09 : Priority Date.
06/01/09 : Check Cashed ($675).
06/01/09 : I-797C, Notice of Action (NOA) Date.
06/05/09 : NOA Received.
06/13/09 : Fingerprints Notice Received.
06/25/09 : Fingerprints Appointment - Done per schedule!
07/16/09 : Interview Letter (IL) Date.
07/19/09 : Interview Letter (IL) Received - Yeah
08/26/09 : Interview Date (ID).
**/**/09 : Oath Letter (OL).
**/**/09 : Oath Date (OD).
 
It finally came... my passport.

I was worried. When you apply for your passport you must send your original Certificate of Naturalization. And when I received my passport, my original Certificate of Naturalization was not with my passport.

However, it did come the next day.

It took exactly one month to the day to receive your passport.

I'm done. No more Immigration. I'm a U.S. citizen.

Applying for Naturalization is very easy. I didn't use a lawyer. Just $675, did some paperwork, and time. Altogether, it took 168 days from the day I mailed my application from the Tampa area.

When you apply, make sure you have your paperwork completed properly, the paperwork involved when applying for immigration can be complicated and/or confusing. However, I came from Canada, I had no criminal history, no debts, no children, never been married before, I can read and write English, and I barely traveled outside the U.S.

However, a lawyer is necessary if you think your application will NOT go smoothly. Each person's case is going to be different. If you have been convicted of a crime or been arrested, you better get a lawyer.

Good luck Applying for Naturalization
This is site has been excellent in answering my questions. Thank you so much for anyone who helped me.

TSC - Tampa DO (TSC - Texas Service Center)

03/25/1996 : L-1A Intracompany Transfer Work Visa (no Green Card required)
04/18/1997 : My Wedding Day!
08/09/1999 : Received Permanent Residency (Green Card - GC)
Ground Zero
Day 0 - 01/30/2009 : N-400 Certified Mail to Texas Lockbox.
Day 3 - 02/02/2009 : Priority Date.
Day 6 - 02/05/2009 : Notice Date.
Day 7 - 02/06/2009 : Check Cashed ($675).
Day 11- 02/10/2009 : NOA Received ( I-797C) Notice Of Action
Day 18 - 02/17/2009 : FingerPrint Notice Received ( I-797C).
Day 32 - 03/03/2009 : FingerPrint Appointment & Done.
Day 42 - 03/13/2009 : Interview Letter (IL).
Day 90 - 04/30/2009 : Interview Date (ID) APPROVED!!!
Day 115 - 05/25/2009 : Oath Letter (OL).
Day 138 - 06/17/2009 : Oath Date (OD).
Day 138 - 06/17/2009 : Passport (Applied)
Day 168 - 07/17/2009 : Passport (Received)
 
Successful interview at Tampa DO.

I had a successful interview experience at the Tampa DO yesterday. Here's how it went:

Got there at 8:50 am, there were people outside waiting, someone knocked the glass door and a security officer opened up, I don't know if they leave the door closed all the time or what, but I showed him my IL for 9:30 am and he let me in. Another security officer asked for my IL and pointed me to a spot down the hallway and told me my name will be called.

I waited for 20 minutes, there were just about 5 or 6 other people there waiting with me and I was the 3rd one called in. A nice lady escorted me into an office, immediately took my oath, asked me to sit down and went through the application with me. After that she proceeded to ask me the 6 civics questions, these are the ones that I can remember:

What month do we vote for president?
How many member on the House of Representatives?
Who is the father of our country?
For how many years do we elect our Representatives?
Who is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?

After that she asked me to read a sentence and write "Washington is the father of our country" and asked me to sign the appropiate forms.

She told me my application has been recommended for an approval but that it would have to go through a supervisor sometime during the next few days. She also said it would be a couple of weeks until I get my oath letter on the mail.

She was really thorough and unbelievably fast. I was out of there in 10 minutes. I would like to point out that this was my 2nd N-400 application, since I applied in 2007 and was suggested by the interviewing IO at the time to withdraw my application since I didn't meet the Continous Residence requirements. I had 700 days outside the country from 2002 to 2007, only 16 days from 2004 to 2009, it was worth the wait. We never even spoke about the previous application on this interview. As they say, the previous application has no bearing on their decision at all.

Good luck to all those that are waiting through the Tampa DO, they are going really fast.
 
It feels good to pass that interview.

No matter what you think, you always have failure on your mind. Are they gonna ask something I don't know, something about my past, something that I completely forgot about.

I'm from Canada, and many times in the past, I'd sneak stuff through customs, especially alcohol, because it was cheap. But, when I got caught, they made me pay the duties.

One time, my friends and I were denied entry into the U.S. because one of them decided to get mouthy. But all this was in the 80's, young and stupid I know. But, nothing criminal.

However, you'd think thought this would come up in the interview. But it never did.

So the big scary interview, which as it turns out, is not that big and scary if you haven't done anything wrong!

But the stress, the money, the time, and paperwork was worth it.

Well anyways, congrats.
 
It feels good to pass that interview.

So the big scary interview, which as it turns out, is not that big and scary if you haven't done anything wrong!

But the stress, the money, the time, and paperwork was worth it.

Well anyways, congrats.

Thank you joopdog. I had a pretty straight-forward case, the IO was never suspicious of anything nor was I nervous at any time.

There's an oath for 8/14 and another one for 9/21, hopefully they can squeeze me in the August oath and get this done. Do you know how long does the Tampa DO usually takes to send out an oath letter?

Thank you again, have a great day!
 
My last update

I’m all done!
Got my NP and certificate back, no more sweating over this immigration staff :D
Good luck to all still waiting for interviews and oaths!

~Jane
 
Thank you joopdog. I had a pretty straight-forward case, the IO was never suspicious of anything nor was I nervous at any time.

There's an oath for 8/14 and another one for 9/21, hopefully they can squeeze me in the August oath and get this done. Do you know how long does the Tampa DO usually takes to send out an oath letter?

Thank you again, have a great day!

For me, it took a little less than 4 weeks between my Interview date and receiving my Oath letter.

It's good thing I did all this, because my Green Card was expiring in Aug 2009.;)

I just booked a flight to Canada for a visit and no worries of immigration. I'll be able to use my new U.S. Passport:D

http://www.tampagov.net/appl_calendars/default.asp?type_setting=CON&Display_Type=month_data
Tampa Convention Center

TSC - Tampa DO (TSC - Texas Service Center)
03/25/1996 : L-1A Intracompany Transfer Work Visa (no Green Card required)
04/18/1997 : My Wedding Day!
08/09/1999 : Recieved Permanent Residency (Green Card - GC)
Ground Zero
Day 0 - 01/30/2009 : N-400 Certified Mail to Texas Lockbox.
Day 3 - 02/02/2009 : Priority Date.
Day 6 - 02/05/2009 : Notice Date.
Day 7 - 02/06/2009 : Check Cashed ($675).
Day 11- 02/10/2009 : NOA Received ( I-797C) Notice Of Action
Day 18 - 02/17/2009 : FingerPrint Notice Received ( I-797C).
Day 32 - 03/03/2009 : FingerPrint Appointment & Done.
Day 42 - 03/13/2009 : Interview Letter (IL).
Day 90 - 04/30/2009 : Interview Date (ID) APPROVED!!!
Day 115 - 05/25/2009 : Oath Letter (OL).
Day 138 - 06/17/2009 : Oath Date (OD).
Day 138 - 06/17/2009 : Passport (Applied)
Day 168 - 07/17/2009 : Passport (Received)
 
Received my Oath Letter. Just 5 or 6 days after my interview. Pretty fast!, I'm so happy this process is almost over. Ceremony will be held at the Tampa Convention Center on 08/14.

Check my timeline below. :D an almost even 4 months!
 
my interview with name change was on 7/8/09 approuved , and i'm waiting for my oath letter .
 
Congratulations to everyone who has passed the interview and received their oath date. I hope Tampa keeps this pace of processing N400 applications as I will be applying in late October. :)
 
My interview with name change was on 7/8/09 approved, and I’m waiting for my oath letter. Help? I need to know if my oath ceremony going to be on august 14th in the Tampa CC?
 
Please any one know where the oath ceremony is going to be held on august 09 Tampa DO , if name change Durant n400?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tampa Convention Center, Name change normally delay oath for sometime so your oath date will depend on how fast USCIS could process the name change
 
Finally, thanks to all!

Thanks to all the organizers and members of this board, finally, I got my U.S. Passport and Certificate of Naturalization in the mail this morning. I'm so happy and I'll forever be grateful to this board.

Good luck to those who are still on their Citizenship journey. May you have a smooth and quick process as I did.

My timeline:

D/O Tampa
03/02/2009 Mailed N-400 to TX Lockbox
03/04/2009 Delivery Received
03/10/2009 Check Cashed
03/10/2009 Notice Date
03/14/2009 NOA Received
03/04/2009 Priority Date
03/20/2009 Fringerprint Notice Date
04/07/2009 Fingerprint Appointment Done
04/21/2009 Interview Letter Mailed
04/25/2009 Interview Letter Received
06/04/2009 Date of Interview - PASSED!
06/08/2008 Date Oath Letter Sent
06/10/2009 Date Oath Letter Received
07/03/2009 Oath - Proud and Happy U.S. Citizen
07/07/2009 Applied for Passport - Regular Service
08/01/2009 Passport and Certificate of Citizenship Arrived:D
 
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