Naturalization for my wife-sworn in today!

[shanghaigale]

Hi,

I went to my wifes naturalization swearing in ceramony today, and they told us some interesting things that I wasn't sure of before, but now know that are true. I thought it would be good information for the group to know also. First of all I would like to let everybody know that my wife had her swearing in ceramony today at the courtroom building in the Post office courtroom in downtown Spokane Washington. So she is now a full fledged USA citizen! Wahoo, it is finally over! It was a really pleasant time. The people including the presiding judge were all extremely kind and helpful.

 

Here are a couple of things they told us:

 

1. First of all, you are allowed to take pictures at the ceramony, They don't allow this in any other courtroom occurances. I wish I would have know this, the smile on my wifes face when I saw her get the certificate was priceless. I didn't bring the camera because I assumed it wasn't allowed.

 

2. The oath of allegiance is one sentence at a time as a group. The judge reads one sentence then the group repeats it. It was made very clear that the minute the oath is completed, you are considered an american citizen.

 

3.Some of the people that were sworn in, (I think maybe all of them were older) were allowed to have translators with them to help them out with the ceramony instructions, etc. inside the ceramony area. This was probably allowed because if you have been a permanent resident for a long period of time and are a certain age, the language requirements are relaxed for citizenship.

 

4. Now one main thing I found out was the fact that if your wife had a minor child under age 18 in the USA that was a permanent resident at the time she became a citizen, then the minor child automatically becomes a permanent resident at the same time. as your wife does. They also said that you can go ahead and apply for the paperwork and a certificate for the minor child but you will have to pay the fee for it, which with the biometrics fee included is going to be over $250 additional dollars. If you don't think the certificate is needed or wanted, you can instead get a passport and this will serve the same purpose anyway.

 

5. They also recommended that even though the certificate of naturalization says that it can't be photocopied, that this is no longer true. They recommended that you make at least one extra copy for a couple of different reasons. The first reason given was that when your wife applies for a USA passport that the passport office will take the original certificate for the passport application. They say that the certificate will be returned, but occasionally they get lost, so you definitely want to have a copy to facilitate getting a replacement for it. The second reason, they said is that if you travel overseas and lose your passport, you should never take your original certificate with you but should take a photocopy along and make sure it is in a safe place wherever you travel to. That way if the passport should get lost or stolen, you can go to a consulate and prove you are who you are with the naturalization copy and this will allow them to look up your record in the USCIS and get a travel letter allowing you to return to the USA and get a replacement passport issued.

 

Gale

[SirLancelot]

Congrats! and thanks for the info.

[jim_julian]

Congratulations and thanks for taking the time to write. We so look forward to the same ceremony some day.

[Urkidding]

Great information and thanks.

 

I have one question though - When and where did she take the test. Also have they changed the questions at that time.

[shanghaigale]

Hi,

She took the test at Spokane, Washington. The test was still the same as before but really it was extremely easy for her. It actually seemed like the VO wanted her to pass before she even went in for the test. He was very talkative and friendly with her. There was no written test except that she had to write a one word sentence that he quoted to her. She orally answered a couple questions from the 97 question list. Then he went through the application and asked her questions from it. He then said she had passed. It didn't take more than 15 minutes from the time she went in until the time she came out. It really appeared to both of us and also another couple friends of ours that succeeded in the last year at the test, that the most important part of passing was being able to communicate verbally with the VO. If you could do that it very easy. The few we know of that failed, didn't speak good English even though they tested 100% on the questions and the reading and writing.

Gale

 

Great information and thanks.

 

I have one question though - When and where did she take the test. Also have they changed the questions at that time.

[shanghaigale]

I forgot to tell you that she took the test on January 23rd so the swearing in was less than a month later. She did a name change to or it probably would have been sooner because they said it has to be a Judicial swearing in if a name change is requested, otherwise it could be done in the USCIS courtroom and they have swear ins more often.

Gale

 

Great information and thanks.

 

I have one question though - When and where did she take the test. Also have they changed the questions at that time.

[Tine & Ella]

Gale

 

Congratulations to you and your wife on her citizenship. Hope to be posting soon on Ella's interview in a couple of weeks.

 

Tine

[tonado]

Congrats.

[amerchin]

Congratulations and thanks for all your info.

[Urkidding]

I forgot to tell you that she took the test on January 23rd so the swearing in was less than a month later. She did a name change to or it probably would have been sooner because they said it has to be a Judicial swearing in if a name change is requested, otherwise it could be done in the USCIS courtroom and they have swear ins more often.

Gale

 

Great information and thanks.

 

I have one question though - When and where did she take the test. Also have they changed the questions at that time.

 

Thanks,

 

I know my wife is excited to get this process over and done with.

 

The only disadvantage this I see is that she will have to apply for a visa next time she goes to CHina!

[shanghaigale]

Yah, on having th get the visa, but the way we looked at it, since my wifes passport had long ago expired she would have had to make a special trip to San Francisco to get it renewed or get a new one and this would have cost a batch of money just for plane tickets, hotels, food, etc. In fact probably overall close to $1000 after paying for the passport renewal to. We figured it would be much easier to have her get a USA passport which would be much cheaper for us ( I think its around $150 dollars but haven't checked yet!) and then we can have it sent to the consulate for a visa whenever we want to go back to China for a visit. We have been in the states now for almost 5 years and probably won't go back until 2009 anyway. So travel to china just won't be that often now anyway. Our daughter starts school next year and that makes it harder anyway. Another nice thing about having the US passport is that it allows much easier travel to many more destinations without hassles than the chinese passport allows.

Gale

 

I forgot to tell you that she took the test on January 23rd so the swearing in was less than a month later. She did a name change to or it probably would have been sooner because they said it has to be a Judicial swearing in if a name change is requested, otherwise it could be done in the USCIS courtroom and they have swear ins more often.

Gale

 

Great information and thanks.

 

I have one question though - When and where did she take the test. Also have they changed the questions at that time.

 

Thanks,

 

I know my wife is excited to get this process over and done with.

 

The only disadvantage this I see is that she will have to apply for a visa next time she goes to CHina!

[mercator]

Congratulations to your wife! It was nice to meet you both at the Spokane New Year's Gala!

 

passportvisaexpress.com is who I used, at a recommendation from a member who was a long time member here. I used them twice and the service was excellent.

 

A 1 time tourist with a 5 day turnaround is $89 and the multiple visit one year (most expensive) visa is $189. So basically for a 5 day turnaround you are talking $39. Much cheaper than flying down to SF, unless you are heading there for a vacation.