I had my naturalization interview at Fort Smith, AR on November 14, 2019! 💃🏻 It took all of 15 minutes and I was such a nervous wreck that I could barely show my happiness when the officer said that I was successful.
We started with him making me swear an oath to tell the truth, then we sat down. An iPad was propped up to my left. A big, fat brown folder sat on his desk with my alien number written in large letters. I’m a huge genealogy buff so it excited me to see how many records my future descendants will get to access when my file becomes public.
The interview started out a little rocky after we reviewed my personal details. For some reason a digit in my SSN was wrong but we moved on quickly. He reviewed my application first. I had overdue taxes from 2016 that I paid between applying for N-400 and my interview so he photocopied proof of my payment.
I also traveled to China after submitting my application so he asked me for the dates and quizzed me a little on why I went there. I was prepared for this so no big deal. 💁🏻♀️
More application reviewing. This was the easy part although it did feel a little like an interrogation because he was rapidly firing questions and I (overthinking) thought he might think I was lying if I hesitated. Boy, my brain was fried. 🥴
At some point in the interview (I can’t remember the exact moment) he asked, “What’s wrong with Australia”? Lol that threw me off a bit. “Nothing”, I replied with a smile, “My husband lives here.” He nodded.
Then he asked me to do the reading and writing test: (Sorry, I cant remember the exact phrasing)
How many senators are there in Congress?
There are 100 senators in Congress. (I wrote this on the ipad)
Finally, we got to the civics test.
1) We elect a U.S. representative for how many years?
2) Where is the statue of liberty
3) What was the main concern for the United States in the Cold War?
4) We elect a President for how many years?
5) What does the judicial branch do?
6) What is the highest court in the United States?
My interviewer enjoyed making me nervous because he said, “Unfortunately… I can’t give you anymore questions because you have correctly answered all 6 questions.” I burst into nervous laughter. Thanks, dude! 😄
I had to scroll and review some information on the ipad to verify that it was all accurate. It was really difficult to sign my name on the ipad, the lines would sometimes just stop and frustratingly wouldn’t work when I’d apply my finger to the screen again. It is what it is I guess.
USCIS system sent me an approval notice later that day. But I did not receive my oath ceremony notification until Nov 21, 2019. My oath ceremony is scheduled for Dec 13, 2019 at the same office in Fort Smith.
