relocation to the Oath Ceremony

[ritivan]

I live in Queens, part of New York City, 10 minutes to Manhattan by public transportation. I was called to do the test and interview in Garden City, NY.
It was already inconvenient as I do not drive and there is no easy public transportation available. I was scheduled to appear for the Oath Ceremony in Central Islip, NY, 46 miles away, and I will have to take 2 subways, train and a cab.
Do anyone know why I was not scheduled closer to my ZIP code?
Is is possible to change the location?

[saint_usa]

You can Reschedule your Oath cermony, but its upto the service center when and where they'll reschedule. and also it might add more time to the process. I would suggest that you make arrangements and attend the oath. You've waited all this time for this big day. may be take off from work(day or two), get to the place day early stay with friends or a near by hotel ( where the oath cermony is held ). you don't wanna miss this date.

You can certainly reschedule by returning the oath letter to service center and request for later date. Think before you do it. Good luck.

[ritivan]

Thanks for the advice.
You were totally right.
Even it was more than 45 miles away, finally, I managed to arrive 10 minutes before the time scheduled for the Oath Ceremony.
This is why I want to add this answer to my original worry: It took nearly 2 hours until everyone (around 200 people) returned the greencard and signed the Certificate of Naturalization before the Oath Ceremony really started.
Please, do not understand me wrong, this is not an invitation to arrive late but to encourage you to try hard not to miss your appointment.

[saint_usa]

Congratulations ! on becoming an proud American. Just an advice, one shall never forget where he/she is from and always hold on to the values and tradition that we all grew up with. ( these were the words from officiating Federal Judge when he performed my Oath ceremony ).

Once again CONGRATULATIONS.

[Rino Voga]

Finally a happy citizen ! Oath ceremony overview, long island, central islip.

Hello everyone! Ok, here we go. My ceremony was today, thursday, oct 16, 2014. I was scheduled for 8:30am. Since I live in queens without the car i've had a headache how to get there. I took a babylon line for Islip. I knew there would be plenty of taxis as i counted on them and was right. The taxi needed less then 10 mins to get me to the 100 federal plaza us eastern district court. Once there, it turned out no one can bring any camera or a cell into the building. They take it away from you and give you the number. They told us later that even though attorneys are allowed to bring their cellphones, they are not allowed to bring them to the courtroom! But, don't worry, picking them up at the end takes seconds, not a big deal. Once inside, they make sure everyone has a green card, their letter (fill it out at home, sign it, date it - they want them filled out !) and then people start line up and one by one we approach the immigration personnel. This means if you are late even 1 hour, it's ok, the whole procedure lasts about 90 mins. It's a casual, friendly atmosphere of course. Then each person finally sees hers or his certificate, checks it out for any possible mistakes, signs the certificate, gives away a green card and RETURNS the certificate. Yes, first we have to say the oath of allegiance, then put our hands over our hearts and turn to flag; listen to a great story by the judge....After all that they call us to finally pick up the certificates, which is fast. The ceremony itself, with the judge started around 11:15 and lasted only 15 mins. Everything was finished by 11:35. There were about 150 people. A small courtroom without a TV. The anthem wasn't played. Visitors simply sit in the chairs behind the new citizens and can see and hear everything. In a case there are too many visitors, they have a separate waiting room where visitors can watch everything on a TV. They also have post office with photo taking in a case someone wants to apply for a passport right there after the ceremony.
Hope I helped a little bit! Good luck all !