From the time of CIS receiving your application to the time where you become a US Citizen, right now the process may
take about 6 to 18 months or more. Be patient!
*** 1. You come to my classes and I will guide you through the process of completing the N-400. Or you may complete
your own CIS Form N-400.
*** 2. Once your N-400 is complete and you have the required $675 and the 2 passport photos, I will send it to the CIS via
certified mail with a return receipt. I like to send as many applications together as possible. That way it is easier to track
the progress of their status. So if you complete your own form and wish to have me send it with my students' forms, that
is perfectly fine with me. Start studying your 100 questions.
*** 3. Now that your N-400 is in the CIS' hands, you will receive a receipt from CIS within 30 days of my sending your
application to them. If you don't receive a receipt then contact me via email (dgengoux@uusd.net )or call: (707)463-5217
and leave a message for me. Make sure to give me a phone number which works and your name. If I don't
know who you are and where to contact you, you will not get a call from me.
***4. The next letter from CIS will be your Biometrics (fingerprints) appointment, in Santa Rosa and make sure that you get
a receipt. Do not miss it! If you do, contact me as soon as possible.
***5. Roughly two (2) months (or more) after your biometrics appointment you will receive another letter from CIS. This
time you will have to go to San Francisco for your interview. Do not miss your interview! If you do, contact me as soon
as possible.
Now, that you went to your interview you have a gray envelope. Inside, you will find a letter (form M-652) with the name of
the officer who interviewed you) confirming that you, either, passed or failed the interview and a US Passport Application
(form DS-11). DO NOT COMPLETE THE PASSPORT APPLICATION YET! Once you receive your Oath Ceremony
invitation/notification, set up an appointment with me and then I can help you with your passport application.
REMEMBER, YOU SHOULD NEVER TRAVEL WITH YOUR CERTIFICATE OF CITIZENSHIP! YOU SHOULD TRAVEL
ONLY WITH YOUR PASSPORT. That is why CIS gave you this application. You will complete that application and if you
want me to I'll take your photos ($5). Then you will add a check for $100. All this will go back in the gray envelope which
you will take with you to your Oath Ceremony. If you fail your interview, contact me, and I can help you study. You have
two chances. If you fail the first time then you have one more chance to pass in a couple of months. CIS will schedule
your next interview. To find out more about passport fees click here!
***6. Sometimes at your interview, you will get an invitation to your Oath Ceremony. Sometimes you'll have to go home
and wait for a couple of weeks or a month before you'll receive the last letter from CIS. This is your invitation to the Oath
Ceremony at the Paramount Theater in Oakland (until June or July then it will go back to the Masonic Temple/Auditorium).
Make sure to fill out the back of that letter. Do not lose that letter! It is your pass to get in the Oath Ceremony and
become a US Citizen. At the ceremony you will give back your Legal Permanent Resident card to CIS. You will receive
your Certificate of Citizenship (check it and sign it!) Then put it inside the gray envelope with your passport application,
your check for $100, and your two passport photos. Seal the envelope, and give it to Department of State officials. In
four weeks, or so, you will receive your passport and your Certificate of Citizenship. You will go home without your Green
Card or your Certificate of Citizenship, you will just have your drivers' license. Do not fall for those outdoor card vendors,
their cards are not official and therefore prove nothing except that you fell for their trap and paid $20 for a 10 cent plastic
card with your name on it.
********** CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE NOW A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!*********
If you can't attend your Oath Ceremony then you need to contact me as soon as possible that way someone else may
have a chance to take your place.
Now, you should register to vote. You can do so at the Registrar of Voters office located at 501 Low Gap Rd
in Ukiah ((707) 463-4371).
You, also, will need to change your social security status. The Social Security office is located at 521 Orchard
Avenue in Ukiah and is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm ((707) 462-0225).
If you have children who were born in your native country and they are under the age of 18. They have a Legal
Permanent Resident card. You should see me. Remember that a US passport is proof of US citizenship!
The child must:
1. Have a parent (father/mother) who is a US citizen (so, for example, if you, the parent, became a US citizen recently)
2. Be under the age of 18
3. Have a valid Legal Permanent Resident Card
4. Have a valid birth certificate
If your child meets the above stated requirements then you should apply for a US passport for your child.
For more information go to Frequently asked questions and warnings.
Once your child has a US passport, you will need to go to the Social Security office to change your child's
social security status.
If your child has a Legal Permanent Resident card and is over the age of 18, then he or she will have to meet the
requirements to apply for citizenship.
If the mother is a US citizen and gives birth to a child in a foreign country, that child may become a US citizen if the mother
applies for her child to be a US citizen. It is not automatic!
If the father is a US citizen and his non US citizen partner gives birth in a foreign country, the father will have to apply for
his child to become a US citizen and that process can be bit more complicated. It is not automatic!
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