Small talk. It’s a strange, yet fun thing. I rotate topics to minimize being repetitive but enjoy talking about my citizenship journey the most. In a few weeks, it will be 8 months since I was sworn in. Beyond that one day, it was a huge process. Interested in a summary?
I moved here January 24, 1999. I was sworn in October 30, 2008. Start to finish, that’s 3,567 days. I received my green card on June 23, 2003. That date is key. Before then, I had no permanent standing. It was the first step to becoming a citizen. Many people stop here. It gives them many of the same benefits as a citizen and lasts for 10 years. But where’s the fun in that? After the required 5-year waiting period, I formally applied for citizenship on July 16, 2008. That’s only 106 days from application to oath. When you consider it’s a government program, it was incredibly fast.
The cost, time, and commitment required was mind numbing, yet I knew I wanted to be a citizen. Even if I still don’t know exactly why.
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It really is a cool thing to hear about. So many of us that were born here take a lot of things for granted. I remember when the election came around for Mayor in Racine, you wanted to vote so bad.
ReplyDeleteIn respect to it taking a short period of time for a government program, imagine if the DMV handled it.
If only more of us were as excited as you are to be a citizen, even if we don't know exactly why. Your defiantly an asset to the country!
ReplyDelete-RR
No DMV! It's bad enough with Homeland Security in charge. Especially when compared to my mom, I think I just got lucky.
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I would be happy if more people simply tried to be a better citizen. As excited as I am, I still struggle with recognising patriotism, but that's a whole other thing...