Waiting for oath ceremony scheduling (San Jose field office)

[Dx134]

Hi everyone,

I'm very grateful for all the good advice offered on this forum, and I greatly enjoy reading about others' immigration experiences! As for me, I passed my N-400 interview (5-year rule) at the San Jose field office about 3.5 weeks ago, and my online status immediately changed to "oath ceremony will be scheduled". There has been no movement since then, i.e. no notifications of any kind either online or by mail. Is this normal or should I start making inquiries?

Thanks!
Dx134

[okccanary]

Not advise on making enquires but have you checked the document part on your online account. You might find the letter there for Oath Ceremony. I use to check that religiously and it definitely appeared a week before getting the letter in the mail there. If I hadn't heard anything after the 6 week mark I would deffo begin to make enquiries.

[okccanary]

ok so just checked my case history. I had my interview on Jan 27th and my oath notice was available online on Jan 31st. From a quick google search it says it should take 3-6 weeks to hear about ceremony while another said 30 days. Its up to you if you want to start making enquires now as the 30 days have passed or wait for the 6 weeks mark

[kirankapoor_7]

I am in the same boat. How do we even inquire about this? Calling USCIS or chat with Emma yields copy paste of the status that we see online. How else we can inquire?

[Dx134]

Thank you for your responses! One thing I forgot to add is that I didn't request a name change (which I know is a common cause of delays with the oath ceremony).
I've been checking the "Documents" tab online every day for the last few weeks but the latest thing there is still the interview appointment letter.
As for the question of where to inquire... I tried calling the USCIS contact center but couldn't get past the robot lady. I think it's utterly impossible to get through to a live person unless one has an online inquiry that has been pending for a while. FWIW, the online inquiry form that was texted to me states that "we are actively processing your case if, in the past 60 days, you

• received a notice from us about your case,
• responded to a request for evidence, or
• received an online update to your case status".

Nonetheless, I'll probably submit an inquiry if I don't receive anything by the 45-day mark.

[Dx134]

Today (still short of 45 calendar days after the interview) I decided that I had enough with waiting and filled out the online inquiry form in the category "Case outside normal processing time". This amount of delay apparently doesn't qualify as an extraordinarily long processing time because the system didn't even let me open the ticket:
"Your application or petition is currently within the posted processing times. An inquiry may not be created at this time. Further information about recent processing times can be viewed on the uscis.gov webpage."
I don't mind waiting if it's for legitimate reasons; I just hope the USCIS' computers are as smart as they make themselves out to be...

[okccanary]

Thanks for keeping everyone updated!! this will be helpful for others!

[Dx134]

I'm happy to be of help in that regard!

I'm in a similar boat as you, also San Jose. I was stitching together information based on people's timelines, and came to the following conclusions about the Oath Ceremonies in the USCIS San Jose Field Office:
Ceremonies happen on the parking lot, most of the time people are in the car being approached to finish the paperwork, stepping outside only to take the actual oath, then driving away to free the space for the next row of cars.
It seems like ceremonies happen every 2 weeks on Fridays. There was one on Jan 14 and today on Jan 28. There were cancellations in Dec due to the rainy weather.
Because of possible ceremony cancellations, they seem to avoid scheduling people for a ceremony in advance. If ceremony happens and no massive re-scheduling is needed, they schedule the next bulk of cases for the ceremony in 2 weeks.
Hence people get their case status changed to "Oath Ceremony scheduled" on Fridays when they're put for ceremony in 2 weeks.
There are seem to be two kinds of timelines:
People who got their ceremony scheduled about 3 weeks after their interview (that's the majority of stories out there)
People who are waiting for 2+ months.
[...]

I don't know the poster's sources or methodology, so definitely take all this with a grain of salt! This was also posted ~5 months ago, so things can have changed quite a bit since then. Nonetheless, parking lot ceremonies sound about as ceremonial as an assembly line in a factory - but I'll take what I can get.

[TDF]

3 weeks after a successful interview I got the Oath ceremony notice at my old address , I did not change my address assuming the US Post office would forward me the letter. my mistake as the US Post office does not forward USCIS mail . My question is :would the notice be posted on my account online also ?

[Dx134]

Yes, it will be posted to your online account - I've just got mine there! Just two more weeks to go... It seems I'll also get the McDonald's drive thru-style ceremony experience, just like the recent Bay Area applicants whose stories I read. The scheduling of the ceremony took a fair amount longer than what I had expected but I'm so glad the oath letter is finally on its way!
BTW, I think you are always required to change your address using the AR-11 form when you move, up until the point you become a citizen. I hope they won't give you any grief over this... In any case, congratulations! Almost there!

[aashraffali]

Great to know, My wife attended today and the officer said you are passed but the higher officer will review/give final approvals. you will recieve letter for oath ceremony in 2 weeks...is that all OK?

[Dx134]

Yes, this should be fine. It seems to me that a higher-level officer always takes a second glance at the application but they most likely won't cause any problems for your wife. In my case, that second glance didn't even take more than a few hours... She'll be fine.

[KPGC2014]

What's the timelines currently for San Jose interview after Bio-metrics appointment? my mother had Biometric appointment done 2 weeks back, but didn't see any update online yet if biometric cleared etc.. please post if any forum thread on N-400 timelines to track our application..