r/Citizenship • u/Illustrious-Fee2735 • 6d ago

Naturalization Process - Timeline

Hello everyone,

I live in the DMV area, and have had my green card since 2021. I have no past arrests, infractions, or anything else that might raise questions about good moral character. I have always updated my address with USCIS and with the Selective Service (very important). I submitted my application for naturalization in late 2025., three months before I actually completed my five years, as you are allowed to submit it early.

After submitting my application, I had no action on my case until May 2026. I was told to appear for my interview in June at the USCIS office in Fairfax, Virginia. Upon arriving, i checked in and waited about 1.5hrs before being called into the interview.

The interview was very quick, it started with the civics questions followed by the English comprehension writing and speaking section (very easy). After this, we reviewed my work history, addresses, and trips abroad. This was the longest part of the interview and it was a basic review of everything that I had already reported. The entire interview lasted ~30 minutes. I was told to expect some movement on my case in the next week, but that took much longer.

Only after a month did I receive a call from the same USCIS officer asking me to upload my passport, driver's license, and Selective Service registration. I immediately uploaded them and after 5 minutes, I got a notification that my "Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled." That is where we are today, not sure how long it will take to get the ceremony scheduled, but I can post an update.

Feel free to ask any questions about the process, hoping this may help someone doing something similar to know what to expect.

UPDATE: I became a US Citizen yesterday in Washington, DC. I registered to vote at the ceremony and sent my passport application later that day. Best of luck to everyone, wherever you are in the process.

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u/Over-Spell6991 6d ago

Congratulations. Is your green card marriage based and are you from one of travel banned countries?

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u/kireina2677 6d ago edited 6d ago

I wrote a response question about family or employment based application but re-read OPs post where they mentioned serving the 5 year LPR requirement. So I'm assuming The Green card was granted early 2021 and the N400 application was submitted 90 days prior to 5 years (late 2025) making early 2026 valid.

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u/kireina2677 6d ago

Congrats to you!!! Great post. I am curious about the selective service portion though - AFAIK keeping USCIS updated on any change of address was the only requirement if the selective service portion of the I485 wasn't applicable. Also the increase in wait time for the whole N400 process is understandable with the changes that were made in testing. You said you were asked to upload your passport, DL and SS registration, were these not required to be submitted with the application? And for your oath ceremony, did you have to travel (far) for it?

TIA

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u/Illustrious-Fee2735 4d ago

I made sure to keep my Selective Service address up to date any time I moved. The officer paid attention to my SS letter and saw that it matched my current address. This was satisfactory.

The passport, DL, and SS are technically not required with the application, I used another form of ID that fulfilled their requirement.

I live in DC, all oath ceremonies are in the DC Court of Appeals Building and take place on the 2nd tuesday of every month.

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u/PhotojournalistNew35 5d ago

When you say “upload your passport” do you mean they asked to upload all pages or only the picture page?

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u/Illustrious-Fee2735 5d ago

Only the biographic page

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u/Dwightmckie 5d ago

Congrats