The final step to becoming a naturalized U.
S.
citizen is passing the citizenship interview and taking the Oath of Allegiance.
After filing your Form N-400 "Application for Naturalization", you will be required to attend an in-person interview to determine your eligibility for U.
S.
citizenship.
The interview is approximately twenty minutes long and will be held at your local United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") office.
The interview can be broken down into the following major components: Reviewing your Form N-400; Testing your English reading and writing skills; and Testing your knowledge of U.
S.
government and history ("civics").
The largest portion of your interview will be spent reviewing your Form N-400.
This portion is designed to serve two functions.
First, this portion of your interview will be used to determine your ability to understand and speak English.
Second, your interviewer will be reviewing your Form N-400 to ensure that you are in fact eligible to become a naturalized U.
S.
citizen.
This includes asking you a number questions from your Form N-400 to ensure that you have told the truth (if you ever lie to a USCIS officer you may be disqualified from citizenship for demonstrating "poor moral character" - even many years later.
) Your interviewer will also want to make sure that you qualify for citizenship based on the answers you provided, and may review information related to, for example, your marriage to a U.
S.
citizen, time spent outside of the United States and your affiliation with any organizations.
The interviewer will also seek to determine whether or not any events subsequent to the time you filed your Form N-400 disqualify you from citizenship.
It is highly recommended that you thoroughly review your Form N-400 prior to your interview to ensure that you are familiar with all of the answers you provided on your application, and that you are prepared to answer any questions related to events that occurred after you filed your application (for example, if you had a child since filing your application, be prepared to provide that child's date of birth, Social Security Number, and bring his or her birth certificate with you to the interview.
) If you are not confident in your English language skills, you should also practice answering questions from your Form N-400 with a friend who speaks English well.
After reviewing your Form N-400, you will then be tested on your English reading and writing skills.
Your interviewer will ask you to read a sentence, and also to write another (different) sentence.
For each of the reading and writing portions, you will be given three chances to correctly read or write a sentence.
This means that, if you do not correctly read or write a sentence the first time, you will be given up to two more opportunities to correctly read or write a different sentence.
Each sentence should be primarily made up of words, people, places and phrases provided by the USCIS.
For example, a sentence might read "George Washington is the Father of our Country.
" "George Washington" and "Father of our Country" are all official vocabulary that you can download from the USCIS website.
During the final part of your citizenship interview, you will be required to answer 6 out of 10 civics questions correctly.
The USCIS provides a list of 100 official questions to study from and you do not have to worry about being asked questions which are not on the official list.
In addition, if you are 65 or older and have been a permanent resident for at least 20 years, you are only required to study from a list of 20 questions.
In general, if you have a college education or higher, your interviewer may tend to ask you more difficult questions.
The questions can range in difficulty substantially.
For example, some of the more difficult questions include: "What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?" and "Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?" Very easy questions include: "What is the capital of the United States?" and "When do we celebrate Independence Day?" Average wait times between the day you file your Form N-400 and the day of your interview are in many cases longer than 9 months.
This means you have plenty of time to study.
If you take the time to prepare for your citizenship interview, you should have no problem becoming a naturalized U.
S.
citizen!