The Interview and the Oath process:

Jan 22nd 2008 - The citizenship Interview was at 7:30 AM in Garden City. You have to sign in downstairs and then go up to another room to wait your turn. How they choose who goes for the interview seemed a bit of random process as a few folks who entered the room before me went in ahead of me. Finally my turn did come. She started going through a bunch of documents and started asking for documents that were not requested for in the interview letter, like my birth certificate and marriage certificate. Then came the round of 10 questions which were no brainers after one reads through the 100 questions. The silly part was having to read couple of sentences and then write a couple. Obviously they have to do it for some folks but after we conversed for good 15 minutes this part could have been skipped. At the end of it she goes next time bring all the documents and my heart sank. I am like why didn’t they tell me in advance. Then she said that you will get a letter in the mail about the oath date. The waiting game had started. In my opinion governments, no matter of which country, breed inefficiency. I think one reason is there is no motivation for the employees to work. When I asked how long will it take she says it could take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months. In these scenarios I would rather deal with governments like India where you atleast can get things done no matter how.

Feb 13th 2008 - The Oath.
Just when I was deciding to come back to India not knowing how long it will take for the oath I did get the letter. After that atleast I could plan my days ahead. My oath was at 8:30 AM in Brooklyn. I started at 6:30 AM on a rainy morning. Murphy’s law was at its best and by 8:30 AM I was not even half way there. Totally stressed out I got on the phone with Srini who calmed me down and we decided that Subway would be the best way. Thanks to Garmin I got to the nearest Subway just to find out that I would have to change 3 trains to get there. Anyway after all the struggle I got to the court at 9:45 AM thinking that I would be sent back. I was huffing and puffing and all wet and started explaining the delay to the folks overseeing the process. The guy was pretty cool and asked me to take it easy and have a seat. A couple of guys walked in after me. So I was not the only one.
The procedure is: they make everyone sit in a first come first serve order. Then each one is called and first asked to produce the appointment letter and then check the naturalization certificate for details. Once everyone (about 500 folks) is done the judge shows up. Everyone takes the oath and the judge gives a pep talk. Once he is done everyone is again called in the same sequence to collect the certificates. So even if you reach there at 8:00 AM or 10:00 AM you will get out there only around 12:30 PM. My recommendation is – go late.
After that I went to the city where the company “Its Easy Services” does the passport in a day. All relieved got back in the train and reached to the subway where my car was. Murphy was not done yet. In the rush I had left the lights on so the battery had died by the time I got there. Managed to salvage it with help of a Gas Station guy close by and reached work around 4. At the end of the day, all is well that ends well.