I became a US citizen in December 2010. My trip to the US was pretty quick.
I came to the US in April 2006 as a US citizen bride. Because of my marital status, my journey to US citizenship was shortened from the normal five-year wait to just three years. I actually waited until my fourth year of living in the US to show that I was a naturalized citizen. Any trips outside the State during your period of stay can be counted against the application if you spend more than six months outside the US. So my first tip is to not spend any time outside the US in at least two years before you apply for citizenship.
I would like to make an application. As my case was very straightforward I did not feel the need for a lawyer.
Immigration and Naturalization Service website in early August 2010. I went in and submitted all the necessary documents to apply for US citizenship.
Then I submitted all the required documents such as the marriage license and also two (2) sized photographs. I recommend that you take about six or eight photos, your local store or drugstore like Walgreens will take a photo your photo and more prints they do If you start making more copies, you will have spares later if you lose the originals.
My originals were damaged during processing and at my final interview I was asked for another pair. Luckily I put extra codes just in case.
Send the required forms and payment to your local regional office. A list of regional immigration centers is provided in the letter, which you can use to help you fill in your forms. I received the package of documents on August 30, 2010 and used the USA email tracking system to find out where the package was in the system.
About two weeks later I received a receipt for my payment and a case number. You will have all the documents from the immigration service, you will need them to attend the interviews and fingerprinting sessions.
I also received an appointment to attend the local immigration center for my fingerprints at the end of September 2010. When I happened to visit the neighborhood “My office scheduled the day before this fingerprinting. I took the opportunity to enter the office and ask if I could do it in the afternoon.
At the municipal immigration office the security guards can be of great help. The supervisor of the watch asked the officer and I was seen twenty-four hours in the morning, it was a quiet day and I wanted to wait thirty minutes or so.
While there I received a package containing question and answer booklets and an audio CD for the Citizen test. book read if you can or at least work through the Audio CD. There are 100 possible questions, driver from you. You only have to answer six out of ten correctly. I guarantee no effort if you work through the book and CD. You can find a short course available at Community College that can help you prepare for the Citizen Test.
A long delay followed for several Octobers, but I received them on October 30th in an interview scheduled for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2010. I attended the district office at the right time. The interviewer was professional, not friendly. He was asked to swear that I was going to tell him the truth, and the questioning began with him, asking whether I spoke and understood English; I said yes. Then he asked me to write a sentence “Columbus Day is celebrated in October.” That was the English writing test. Afterwards I explained the events and the civil experiment as briefly as possible.
Finally, I was asked to sign my passport photos in his presence. This was when we found the originals damaged and he asked me if I had any additional photos.
Following the interview, he handed me a paper, asking me to participate in the ceremony in December.
The oath consisted in the ceremony. We gathered several hundred people in the local civic center. Everyone does that some time. We had to give ourselves a “Green Card” and sign various forms. There was then a portion where the population and national origins were reported. I was one of two Englishmen, the great number of Mexicans being above four hundred; together with over 100 Indians. The entire swearing-in ceremony was over in about one hour, although I and the guests were in the building for three hours.
So to the tips;
1. Application after July 4. If you really want to become a citizen, July allows more time to apply. It is a busy day for the Immigration Service and applications are processed much faster in the months of August to September.
2. Make photographs of all important documents. We need more models for different levels of application.
3. Multiple copies of your photos. Take it with you to the interview.
4. You can and should, if you can, ask for your own state. Lawyers can make things expensive.
