I'm afraid you are stuck with me now. Today I attended my Naturalization Ceremony, and became a US citizen.

Following on from my last blog post on the N400 interview, I thought I would give a quick review of today's proceedings. Today 102 people from 38 countries became US citizens at the Seattle USCIS office. I was the only Irish person. Several times I heard Philippines, China, Korea, Ethiopia, India, etc. A couple of Canadians and a couple of UK folks, one Swedish, and so on. Fairly diverse crowd :-)  Three members of the US military were given special mention and a round of applause. The coolest moment was when 3 members of the same family all became citizens together - can't remember where they were from but definitely one of the Eastern European countries.

The whole thing took about 2.5 hours. In rough order the day went something like this:

• Arrive about 30 mins early (just in case!), clear security
• Stand around with a bunch of other people confused about which line to stand in until a security guy tells us to go wait upstairs
• Sit upstairs waiting for a while, eventually hear some guy shouting about something or other, coming from downstairs. People start to lean over the railing wondering what's going on. After a little while it seems that those people start going downstairs. They hold an Oath Ceremony invitation like mine, so I decide to follow. The shouting is coming from a little Asian man who is trying to divide people up between those who are going to take the Oath of Allegiance, and those who are just here as guests of the Oath-takers. The guests are told to go into some room, and we are told to follow the shouting guy. My first impression of the shouting guy is obnoxious and rude, but considering he's trying to shepherd 102 Oath-takers plus their guests, I guess it's understandable. The USCIS should really spell out this process so that people know what to expect in advance. His job certainly wasn't made any easier since none of us had any idea where we were supposed to be or what we were supposed to do.
• Follow the shouting guy back out into the security area. We all stand in a snaking line in a small, crowded area. The shouting guy starts shouting again, telling us what's going to happen next and reviewing what we are supposed to have filled out on our invitation letters. He also takes questions from various people. After much standing around waiting, we begin to get processed, one by one. This takes some time, although the processing doesn't take much time - hand over the invitation letter, hand over the green card, verify their information about you is correct, and receive several items:
  • a letter from the President
  • a copy of "The Citizen's Almanac"
  • a copy of "Pocket Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States"
  • a little US flag (I had to laugh when I saw the little cheapie US flag. Fortunately there was no requirement to wave it. I guess this "flag-loving" culture is something I'm going to have to get used to).
    
• After being processed, we are sent to the Auditorium, which is where all the guests have been waiting. Oath takers in the front, guests in the back. No sitting together.
• Sitting, waiting as more and more people get processed and file in. This takes a long while. I now realise this is not something where you benefit from being early for your appointment...
  
• After everyone is in, two officials begin to hand out some more papers and pens. It's the US Passport application form. Mass confusion at this point as nobody explained what we were to do, but hey, here's a form and a pen, so gee, maybe we should fill this thing out right now? NO. Apparently the pen was given to us just because it has the US Passport office's URL on it (http://travel.state.gov). They won't actually take the forms from us or anything like that.
• Finally the ceremony starts. A video plays (in Windows Media Player!) - "Faces of America" or something to that effect - basically old photos of immigrants and some inspiring quotes.
• The Director comes in and has us all stand, raise our right hands and recite the Oath of Allegiance.
• We are now US citizens! Everyone applauds.
  
•  OK, now it's time to get the Certificate of Naturalization. One by one the Director calls out a name and a country, and we go up and get it. Applause as each name is called out.
• 102 people later, we're done. Oh wait, we're not done. Time to watch another video. This time it's the President welcoming us as citizens, and then ... a music video. A country music video of particularly patriotic nonsense. I kid you not, friends.
• Still not done. Now it's time to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Stand up, hand over heart, and pretend you're a schoolkid who has to do this every morning.
• OK! NOW we're done. Off out into the dark and rainy Seattle evening, a newly-minted US citizen. Don't forget to sign that certificate in black ink, and don't forget to notify the Social Security Office of your change in status. Oh, and don't forget to register to vote!

Overall impressions/takeaways/criticisms:

• The USCIS make a big deal about the solemnity of the occasion and ask for proper attire to be worn, no jeans, shorts, etc. Apparently this is not enforced too strictly, I did see jeans. No shorts, but it is December...
• The solemnity of the occasion is marred by "el cheapo" little US flag. Am I supposed to squeal "whee" while waving it around like an idiot? Maybe it's just me. The solemnity of the occasion is also hugely marred by the damn country music video.
• They need to do a better job in organization. Just tell people what's going to happen, it would really help. Give us the Passport application forms at the same time as everything else and give us a little bag to carry it all in. 
• The Director did a good job for the ceremony and pronouncing everyone's names. Can't be easy. And she provided clear ancillary information which was very useful.