Becoming a U.S. Citizen

Today, on November 7, 2014 I became a U.S. citizen. I'm very happy and proud of it. However, it took a long time, lots of paperwork, money, patience  and the help of other people to become a citizen.

I have been in the U.S. for over 13 years now, and this country does not make it easy for someone to legally stay here and become a citizen. There are a lot of bumps (and even hills) in the way in order to get a U.S. passport. Now, you must know that it was never my intent  to become a U.S. citizen or even stay longer than a year when I came to the States in 2001, but God had a plan for me and I just followed along as I best as I could.

Between tons of paperwork and money, different visas, working permits and lots of help from friends and motivated bosses, I was finally able to apply for my citizenship this summer. And I have to say, that it didn't happen because I married a U.S. citizen. No, I wanted to achieve that on my own. And I was on my way there, when I married my loving husband and we were able to speed up the process of naturalization (process of becoming a U.S. citizen).

On the other hand, once I applied for the U.S. citizenship, I also had to apply for a certificate from the German authorities in order to keep my German citizenship. Unfortunately, Germany has the law that if you voluntarily (i.e not by birth) become a citizen of another country (except in the EU or Switzerland), you automatically forgo/ loose your German citizenship. I wasn't even aware of that law until I already applied for the U.S. citizenship. By coincidence I read about that law when I prepared the paperwork to apply for my kids' German passports (by birth they are dual citizens), and had to move fast to make sure that my certificate is approved before I become an American.  I  didn't just had to fill out some forms, but I also had to submit a write-up of why I needed to keep my German citizenship and why I needed the U.S. citizenship. It was quite cumbersome and a bit annoying as I am a German citizen by birth and I felt offended that I had to come up with several reasons why I wanted to keep my German citizenship. Luckily, all my paperwork was correct and I received my certificate a couple of weeks ago.

Once I qualified to apply for naturalization, there were 3 more steps. First, I had my biometrics appointment, where I was once again fingerprinted for analysis and my picture was taken (both is send to the FBI for record keeping).

Secondly, I received an appointment for my naturalization test, which was on Monday. This appointment consisted of an interview with an immigration officer and  an English and Civic Test. In order to be eligible for naturalization, one must be able to read, write and speak basic English and one must have a basic knowledge of U.S. history and government. There are 100 questions to study for but for the test you must answer 6 out of 10 correctly. These are not tough questions at all, more common knowledge and some are really easy. Here are some of the questions:

1) If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?   - Speaker of the House
2) What did the Declaration of Independence do? - Declared our independence from GB
3) How many justices are on the supreme court? - 9
4) What are 2 rights in the Declaration of Independence? -life, liberty and pursuit of happiness
5) How many amendments does the constitution have? - 27
6) What do we call the first 10 amendments to the constitution? - Bill of Rights
7)Who was the first president? - George Washington
8)When do we celebrate Independence Day? - July 4th
9)What did the Emancipation Proclamation do? - Freed the slaves
10) Name 3 original States. - New York, New Jersey, Georgia
For the reading part I had to read one simple question: When is Columbus Day?
And for the writing part, I had to write down: Columbus day is in October. As I said, not hard at all.
And lastly, once I was approved to become a citizen, I had to be sworn in. So today, I took the Oath of Allegiance and received my naturalization certificate. 

Amelia occupied herself by feeding her Sheep during the ceremony

At the ceremony, we were 150 people from 29 different countries (2 Germans but 63 Cubans) ready to become Americans. It is a formal event, and today was a special ceremony as they also held their Veterans Day Ceremony at the same time. Since Derrick had to work, it was just me and the kids. They did very well for the entire hour of speeches, video clips, national anthem, pledge of allegiance and the oath of allegiance. In the end, everyone received their naturalization certificate and is now a proud U.S. citizen. I must say, my eyes did get kind of watery during the song "Proud to be an American" and I can't believe how others must have felt that escaped their home country to be free.

I'm proud to call myself an American now. It sums up all those years of living in a country far away from home and my family and friends, all the tough times, struggles and tears that came with it but also the laughter, new friends and good things it brought me. But I'm also proud to be a German citizen (especially during soccer season) as I will always have my roots and my heritage there. I can say though that I found my life and liberty here and that we, as a family, are continuing in our pursuit of happiness.