Tampa Timeline?

Interview date

When I requested my new interview date via mail, I also set up an Infopass appointment for April 13 so that I could check that my interview had been descheduled and rescheduled in the event I heard nothing by that time.

I went into the USCIS on the appointed date, asked about whether my request for a new interview had been received. The very helpful officer told me that there was nothing online about that. I told him that it was "better the devil you know than the devil you don't" so after revising my plans I would rather keep the original date.

He then into the back office and spoke to the supervisor. The letter was in the file but no one had looked at it yet.

This seems inefficient, maybe they could have taken my appointment and given it to someone else, but I guess it worked out for me.

He said I should just show up on the originally scheduled date and time.

I reorganized my flights and I should just scrape in with that interview. The next thing is getting a friendly date for the Oath ceremony. I believe the next one after my interview is on May 22 and I may be out of the state then as well.
 
z350 Any Updates on your case after Fingerprinting

Have not heard about your case for a while........ :)
 
Here I am.

maryvams said:
Have not heard about your case for a while........ :)
Click to expand...

Hello. We'd got our invitation for interview a few weeks ago.
It scheduled for June 26th. :cool:
 
Thanks Z350.....

Looks like you might just scrape thru to the June Oath it's on the 28th. I dont expect my interview to be in June......Hopefully I get the July date which I believe they send only the 2nd week of May......
 
Congrats HWPD! Looks like you, z350, and I might end up at the same oath ceremony then. :cool:
Z350, I was hoping for a July 4th ceremony, too, but wasn't able to find out any information.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks Guys.

They have a sworn-in ceremony on
5/22/2006
6/29/2006
7/24/2006
8/31/2006
 
Service Center: TSC
DO : TAMPA
Submitted : 9 Jan 06
Received : 13 Jan 06
FP Date: 23 Mar 06
Interview Notice Received: 24 Apr 06
Interview Date: 22 Jun 06 (21 Jun for my wife!)
Oath Notice Received: not yet, at 4 May 06
Oath Date: not yet
 
Has anyone been interviewed in Tampa?

I'm interested to know what questions are asked and to whom. For example, is there a racial bias? Are the questions easier or harder if you have an accent or more pigmentation? Or is it all just 3 to 8 questions from the list?

Most of the time, that's what I've heard: 3 to 8 easy questions. But there's one story of a guy being asked 80 questions. Apparently he passed anyway, and another officer got mad at the questioner. This may be apocryphal... I heard it third-hand. Or maybe the applicant was an insufferable smart-ass. :rolleyes:

My current N-400 timeline:
-------------------------
Service Center: TSC
DO : TAMPA
Submitted : 9 Jan 06
Received : 13 Jan 06
FP Date: 23 Mar 06
Interview Notice Received: 24 Apr 06
Interview Date: 22 Jun 06 (21 Jun for my wife!)
Oath Notice Received: not yet
Oath Date: not yet
 
Approved

I went to my scheduled interview today, arriving at 7.30 for an 8.10 appointment. The security guard at the door told me to go down and wait in a trailer building which is set up next to the District Office.

I was getting pretty nervous about 9.20 when I had seen many, many other souls come into the trailer waiting room, and then leave as their name was called. I spoke to another candidate there who had a 9.10 appointment and we quizzed each other on the civics questions for a while, and then her name was called.

It was frustrating but finally my name was called out.

The Immigration Officer apologized for the wait but said my file had been on a clerk's desk and that it had been difficult to locate it. With all my correspondence about not being able to make that appointment, being able to make it etc, I can only blame myself for that delay.

She swore me in (notable is that there is no "so help me God" in that oath). She confirmed my ID from green card, D/L and passport, got me to confirm what I wanted on my citizenship certificate, and also to write "I came to Tampa today for my interview", and to read a sentence from a list. She didn't ask for any of the other documents I brought in.

She went throught the application form, but didn't ask for a repeat answer to all the questions, only some of them.

Then she moved on to the Civics and History test. She told me that I had to get 6 out of 10 questions right. I breezed through them, only stumbling when she asked me what Congress did. I said "pass laws", she gave me a "try again" gesture, and I said "make laws".

The unexpected wrinkle was she asked for my wife's phone # as I was using three years of marriage as the basis of my application. She called my wife's cell, and it sounded like my wife was very uncertain about what this was all about, as she had a right to be. I didn't tell her I was going today and was going to surprise her by inviting her to the oath ceremony :) She loves surprises!

Anyway, she confirmed it was a bona fide marriage, and also asked my wife if the marriage had any problems. Well, there is a can of worms as every marriage has some problems!

Anyway the application was stamped "Approved".

The officer told me that I would go to either the 5/22 or 6/28 ceremonies and that a letter would be sent.

Elated? No, I feel drained that it is all over, almost.

Best of wishes to all my readers and hope to see you at the ceremony, desirably the May 22 one.
 
thank you HWPD

for your kind words.

If anyone has any questions about the procedure please ask. I know how daunting it can appear to be while waiting for the interview. Ask me now while it is fresh in my mind.

The whole interview took about 15 minutes. The average waiting time in that trailer was about 25 to 30 minutes. It was only unlucky me who was there for about 100 minutes.

And for anyone applying on the basis of marriage, make sure your spouse is available somewhere with a phone, or maybe even in proximity to the interview site.
 
Congrats paulg99....

Thanks for updating this thread and I am sure this will be helpful for all here.....

Congratulations once again...... :)
 
Civics test

And for the person who was concerned that the questions in the Civics / History test might be skewed if one's skin color or accent is not a certain accepted version, the questions are read off a computer screen, and may be randomly generated.

Also, there are many immigration officers who appeared to be naturalized citizens so I don't think they would tolerate that sort of nonsense. The one who interviewed me had a slight "non American" accent.
 
Congratulations, Paulg! And thanks for the detailed description of your interview. I am a couple of behind you, so I'm beginning to get a little nervous. Reading your account of how it all works definitely helps. At least I have an idea of what to expect. Best of luck with receiving your oath letter for the May ceremony!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks

paulg99 said:
And for the person who was concerned that the questions in the Civics / History test might be skewed if one's skin color or accent is not a certain accepted version, the questions are read off a computer screen, and may be randomly generated.

Also, there are many immigration officers who appeared to be naturalized citizens so I don't think they would tolerate that sort of nonsense. The one who interviewed me had a slight "non American" accent.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information. Good luck and congratulations!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top