it's official OMG
Nov. 19th, 2008 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
floatingleafJust checking in to announce that as of today, I am officially an American citizen. I don't feel any more American now than I did this morning before the oath ceremony, but having taken this final step on the long bureaucratic route that started approximately 15 years ago has pushed a huge weight off my shoulders. Granted, there is still the name change thing and all the hassle that will come with it... but seeing as this was my only opportunity to legally change my name at no extra cost (besides the $675 I had to pay for the citizenship application... lol), I would have been stupid not to use it. I don't even have to make court appointments for it, since the oath ceremony took place before a judge and I received a legal document, proving my name has been changed, along with my citizenship certificate (which, of course, bears the new name). What I need to do now is notify all relevant institutions - starting with Social Security, where I need to update my status from permanent resident to citizen. But it's not terribly urgent and I don't have to do it all at once. I don't suppose any of my documents bearing the 'old' name (driver's license, credit cards etc.) have suddenly become invalid - that would be absurd, wouldn't it?
Btw, the weather was surprisingly nice for November (cold, but sunny & dry) and pretty much everything went very smoothly, though it took forever for all the people taking part in the ceremony to enter the courtroom and get seated. Supposedly there were 143 applicants altogether, representing 37 countries. That does sound impressive, doesn't it? I wonder if that's the approximate number of new citizens being sworn in every day. Anyway, the judge started his introductory speech by saying that his own parents took that very same oath years ago. And the clerk who conducted the whole ceremony, admitting people into the room and pointing them to their seats, spoke with a very distinct Polish accent.:) There were other Polish (and Eastern European) people too, of course, mixed in with the Asians and the Hispanics - and I saw at least one huge Muslim family spreading out their prayer rugs in the lobby. I sort of wondered if they perhaps felt more American than I did.:P And when the judge went on to say that taking an oath of allegiance to the United States did not mean abandoning one's native customs or traditions, but bringing them here to enrich American culture, I was touched more than I had expected to be. Because the one thing I had always liked the most about living here was precisely that - cultural diversity. So if being an American indeed means embracing the world, as it were - then yes, I suppose that's who I am. *ponders*
Btw, the weather was surprisingly nice for November (cold, but sunny & dry) and pretty much everything went very smoothly, though it took forever for all the people taking part in the ceremony to enter the courtroom and get seated. Supposedly there were 143 applicants altogether, representing 37 countries. That does sound impressive, doesn't it? I wonder if that's the approximate number of new citizens being sworn in every day. Anyway, the judge started his introductory speech by saying that his own parents took that very same oath years ago. And the clerk who conducted the whole ceremony, admitting people into the room and pointing them to their seats, spoke with a very distinct Polish accent.:) There were other Polish (and Eastern European) people too, of course, mixed in with the Asians and the Hispanics - and I saw at least one huge Muslim family spreading out their prayer rugs in the lobby. I sort of wondered if they perhaps felt more American than I did.:P And when the judge went on to say that taking an oath of allegiance to the United States did not mean abandoning one's native customs or traditions, but bringing them here to enrich American culture, I was touched more than I had expected to be. Because the one thing I had always liked the most about living here was precisely that - cultural diversity. So if being an American indeed means embracing the world, as it were - then yes, I suppose that's who I am. *ponders*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-20 05:51 am (UTC)Sometimes I boggle over the effort and time and everything that it takes to become a citizen. I commend you for sticking through it. *hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-21 02:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-20 06:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-21 02:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-20 11:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-21 02:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-20 07:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-21 02:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-20 07:26 pm (UTC)taking an oath of allegiance to the United States did not mean abandoning one's native customs or traditions, but bringing them here to enrich American culture
That's a very nice thing!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-21 02:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-20 11:04 pm (UTC)Hugs
Jo
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-21 02:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-24 01:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-24 02:27 am (UTC)