These questions are not normally a problem. However, there are occasions when these questions can create problems for the applicant. One such situation would be where the applicant immigrated on the basis of a labor certification, but left his or her sponsoring employer after a very short time. Since the N-400 application asks the applicant to list all employment during the five years immediately preceding the filing of the application for naturalization, if such a person were to file on the fifth anniversary of receiving his or her green card, leaving the sponsoring employer would be shown. An applicant in this position should probably wait another year before filing to avoid possible problems.
Preliminary hearings are usually quite short - generally lasting about ten to fifteen minutes.
Of course, some INS officers work more slowly than others, so an applicant should not become concerned if an interview take twenty or thirty minutes. The final interview is usually held as a group swearing-in ceremony. This is where the oath of allegiance is taken and the actual certificate of naturalization is given to the applicant. After the final hearing, the applicant is a United States citizen. If an in-person inquiry does not provide the applicant with the information needed, the applicant should contact his or her local Congressman for further action.