After seven years, Jaime has finally become a United States citizen. When I first got married I thought Jaime getting citizenship would be as easy as it was portrayed in the movie "Green Card." I think a lot has changed since September 11, 2001. We had to hire an attorney to work on his residency and then had to wait three years in order to apply for citizenship. We applied for Naturalization in July and he had his interview in September. We were expecting to get an answer of approval at the end of the interview and were disappointed when we were told that we might have to wait another 3 months to get an answer if they would approve his citizenship. We just got the letter in the mail last week scheduling his Naturalization Oath Ceremony. Yesterday, October 27th he was sworn in at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
There were 5,298 people that became citizens yesterday with him. They showed a video with the song, "Proud To Be An American." Part way through the song they showed a group of people standing up to take the oath right at the part of the song that says, "So I proudly stand up next to her and defend her still today.." at that point I lost it and started crying.All the people who were in the military were the first ones to receive their certifates of citizenship. All the guests had to leave while the new citizens picked up their certificates. We anxiously waited down in the lobby area for Jaime to walk down the stairs with his certificate in hand. Jaime got a professional picture taken next to the American flag and the seal of Los Angeles.
The ceremony was scheduled to start at 8:00am so Jaime and I and my parents stayed in hotels that were near the Convention Center the night before. We did not want to be late to the Oath Ceremony. We got their at 7:00 am and the ceremony didn't start until 9:00am due to thousands of people that were checking in. Some people dressed in shorts and flip flops which is very disrespectful and some people showed up an hour late to be sworn in.We are excited that this long journey is now over. The hard work has definately paid off. Jaime missed the last day to register to vote by 9 days, but he definately looks forward to voting in the next election.
