Citizenship Interview Experience 2018 Atlanta

Outcome
As of 2:08 PM myself and wife became US Citizens by naturalization

Eligibility
We applied based on 5 year residency rule. We obtained green cards through employment, I was the primary applicant and wife was a derivative.

Initial Check-in
Our interview was scheduled for 10:25 AM (both of us had the same interview time). We arrived at the building at about 10:05 AM, passed through a metal detector and were directed to the second floor. After a brief wait we were processed at a single window in the waiting room in the second floor. The arrival time was noted as 10:11 AM by the clerk. We were told to go to the third floor, take a seat and wait. My wife was called in at about 10:20 AM and I was called in at about 10:30 AM (different officers).

Interview
I was asked for my current passport and a permanent resident card. The IO did not ask me for my driver's license (despite yellow letter saying so). I have not volunteered my DL and IO never asked for it.

I was sworn in to tell the truth and only truth.

First, the IO went quickly through my N-400 application. I was asked if I was ever a member of a communist party, if I engaged in illegal human trafficking and if I procured anyone or engaged in prostitution (??). I was also asked if I have any citations, arrests etc. My answer was a no, because I did not have any violations (including moving violations) during my 11 years here in the US despite driving more than 200,000 miles in all those years.

We arrived at the section of application where it says about the oath of allegiance. I requested to remove "so help me god" from my oath because I consider myself an atheist. The IO said there is no problem with that and that during the oath I should skip the words when everyone is saying it. IO made a note on my application about skipping "so help me god" and followed with questions if I am willing to bear arms, perform non combatant duties etc. when law requires it and I said I was willing to. IO mentioned that there is a special procedure they must follow if someone refuses to bear arms or perform non-combatant duties but removal of "so help me god" from the oath does not trigger it.

IO briefly stopped at my page listing all my foreign trips. When I applied in May I had 17 trips totaling about 250 days away. IO asked me if I traveled outside the US since I filed the application and the answer was yes, at that time I handed over the amended sheet with 19 trips and about 290 days out. IO attached it to my file and asked if I had any trips over 60 days (yes, sixty), to which my answer was a no. For the record, I had not filled in the trip fields on my N-400 at all, opting to include all my trips on a separate piece of paper and providing "see attached list of trips" in the first field of the trip list in N-400 form.

IO now moved to administer a test. First I was asked the following civics questions:

• We elect a President for how many years?
• What is the highest court in the United States?
• What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?
• Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?
• When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
• Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.

I was asked to read: Who was Abraham Lincoln?
I was asked to write: Lincoln was president during Civil War.

At that moment the interview was over (lasted about 8 minutes start to finish). I was given "recommended for approval" letter. The IO said there is an oath ceremony today at 1 PM and asked me if I wanted to attend that one, to which I gladly agreed IO told me to go to the second floor and wait for my name to be called to get an oath letter. I received my oath letter about 10 minutes later.

For the record the oath cutoff was 12 noon today. I saw someone getting an oath letter for tomorrow shortly after 12 noon. It seems that Atlanta DO has ceremonies at either 1 PM or 2 PM.

The Wait for Wife's Oath Letter
I moved to the second floor where I met my wife (approved also). We intended to go out to Northlake Mall for lunch before the ceremony but she has not received her oath letter yet, so we waited. At about 12:45 PM a clerk started to arrange people in rows for the oath ceremony but my wife's letter still wasn't ready yet. She's got her oath letter 1 PM sharp just as they started letting people in to the ceremony room. Therefore we had to skip lunch and were hungry

Oath Ceremony
Shortly before 1 PM an officer came and started asking people to see their oath letters. Whoever was not interviewed today was asked the standard questions from the oath letter - if they married or divorced etc. One Korean-looking young woman had trouble understanding the officer. When he asked her "Since your interview yesterday have you been married, divorced or separated", she said "yes". Hilarity ensued Someone explained to her what she is asked about and she quickly corrected "no, no, no"

At 1 PM a clerk started moving people to the ceremony room. We were asked to stand in a line. At a window we were shown our certificates of naturalization (actually wife's certificate wasn't ready yet but they said it would be ready by the end of the oath ceremony) and check for errors. We were then given a seat number token and asked to take a seat. At our seats each applicant received a naturalization packet containing a small American flag (cheaply made, unfortunately), new citizen's almanach and the Constitution and Declaration of Independence booklet.

Seating people took one full hour. At about 13:45 friends and family were allowed into the room and took remaining seats.

At 2 PM acting USCIS Atlanta DO director (forgot the name) entered. She gave an underwhelming speech (she read it from a sheet of paper and stuttered several times) welcoming us as new citizens. USCIS director announced that today USCIS naturalizes 116 people from 50 countries. She read all the country names and asked citizens of this country to stand up when mentioned and remain standing. She then administered the oath of allegiance followed by reciting pledge of allegiance (it's your first act as an American citizen).

We were then shown Faces of America video, President's address and some song that I forgot the title of.

We were done at 2:25 PM.

USCIS director mentioned that we need to examine our certificates of naturalization closely for errors because our files will only remain in the DO for the next 30 days and then they will be moved to the archive. She said it will be a very long process to correct a certificate of naturalization if your file needs to be retrieved from the archive so she urged to do it in the next 30 days if necessary.

We exited the room in the order of the chair numbers (lowest numbers first). When exiting the room two clerks were handing out our certificates of naturalization and saying congratulations. My wife's certificate was there and there were no errors on either of our certificates.

That's it! US Citizens at last

Citizenship Interview Experience 2018 Atlanta

Source: https://britishexpats.com/forum/us-immigration-citizenship-visas-34/citizenship-interview-experience-atlanta-do-633416/

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