This week I went for my oath ceremony and I am now officially a US Citizen.
The process was very smooth overall.
My only beef is that for the interview I had to go to Holtsville and for the oath I had to go to Central Islip. I live in Queens and I don't drive so getting to those places was a major issue.
Here's my N400 timetable:
Queens/NY
5 years rule
Sent N400 to Texas: 12/19/2012
USCIS Received application: 12/24/2012
Check cashed: 12/27/2012
Received receipt: 01/05/2013
Finger Print notice: 1/7/2013
Finger Print walk in: 1/10/2013
Placed in line for interview scheduling: 1/14/2013
Interview notice: 3/12/2013
Interview walk in: 4/16/2013
Application placed in oath scheduling quee: 4/22/2013
Oath scheduled: 4/23/2013
Received oath notification: 4/27/2013
Oath: 5/14/2013
My case was relatively simple. I am 24, single, I came to the US in 2005 as a permanent resident. I have been living in the same place ever since I arrived in the states. Both my parents had already become US citizens before I applied. Never been arrested or so much as stopped by a cop.
My major concern filing out the N400 was that I no longer had a passport (destroyed during hurricane Sandy). I had travelled abroad twice and was not sure about the exact dates of departure and return. I attached an extra sheet to the application explaining that I was estimating the dates.
The interview could not possibly have gone any better. The interview was scheduled to 9AM but there were over 50 people ahead of me so I was only called at around 10:30AM. The IO was a very friendly lady. After the oath she asked me to hand in my GC and passport. I got a bit anxious when she asked for the passport...I explained to her what had happened and she asked me about the dates I thought I had travelled abroad. I told her the dates I had put on the N400. She seemed satisfied and then she emphatically asked if I had travelled to either Mexico or Canada. I said no. She asked the same question twice just to be sure I hadn't forgotten a trip across the boarder. I have never been to Canada and Mexico but I have a feeling many people forget to disclose their trips to these countries (I guess it's easy to forget since you don't need to take a plane to visit either country).
She asked me the usual questions IOs ask and then she gave me the civics test.
1. What is freedom of religion?
2. Name a state that boarders Canada
3. When was the constitution written?
4. What ages men selective service?
5. How many senators are there?
6. What is the ocean on the East Coast?
She asked me to read “What do we pay the government?” and the she dictated “We pay taxes
She then asked me to review if all the info was corrected (I had asked for a name change). I started joking about how I was glad none of the papers asked about my weight which made her laugh.
Then she asked me all the questions involving morality and the questions regarding my willingness to defend the US. When she asked if I had ever hired a prostitute I joked sating “as if I had the money.” She laughed at that joke too.
After that she congratulated me and gave me the paper saying I had passed everything.
The oath ceremony was uneventful. I was scheduled for 8:30AM and the oath was over by 11:30AM. Basically they just asked every person to hand in their green card and sing their certificate. After that the judge came in and we swore the oath and recited the pledge of allegiance. Then the judge gave a speech about how the US is the greatest country on Earth. That was a bit annoying actually. Don’t take me wrong, I love the US, but I think the whole “we are the greatest country in the world” slogan is false patriotism that prevents people from seeing and solving the serious problems plaguing our country right now. After the speech he left and we were all called individually to get our certificates and that was the end of it.
I would like to thank this forum for all the help during this process. Coming on here and reading what you guys went through when you were applying for citizenship made my journey much easier.
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