kwilson

....on Tuesday in a fabulous ceremony in Tampa, FL. I wrote a short article about the experience. You can read it here; http://tinyurl.com/c3pvo8.

Rete

Congratulations on your new citizenship. Hope you are or were doing a happy dance outside of the federal court building and that it will be playing on YouTube later today.

lisa67

Many congratulations

Dan725

Good account; thanks for sharing.

Seems like things have changed a bit since I got mine last July in Tampa - in contrast to your 56 applicants, I was in the Convention Center with 500+ applicants.....and they'd had even more during the morning's session!

I guess the backlog caused by the increase in fee of that time is now well and truly cleared.

Congrats!!

Titchski

Wirelessly posted (SAMSUNG-SGH-I617/1.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.6))

Congrats! I shall be up there in a fortnight to get sworn in myself

Voltore

Congratulations. As soon as our first born is born in August, I'm filing the papers. Have them all ready. I think current load is about 12-14 months right now.

Englishtart

Congrats to you! Reading your story brought back memories of my ceremony last year in Colorado, it was in a university hall, must have been about 150 of us that day. I thought it was quite impersonal, no individual or personal contact with the guy that performed the ceremony and I felt a little let down by the whole experience.

Sounds like you had a great day though, great story

orangemirror

Congratulations and thanks for sharing your experience. I'm looking to do it in a couple of years time so it's very interesting to read about.
Interesting that the oath includes something about renouncing any allegiance to your previous country. I might find that a bit difficult to swear to?

meauxna

Congratulations Citizen kwilson!!!




The Oath can be reviewed from this wiki entry: http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Natura...ship_Resources

I've seen some people here recommend that you cross your fingers when saying it, but that's cheating.
See how you feel in a few years when it is time.

This wiki article is also a useful summary of the pros & cons: http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pros_a...US_Citizenship


Orangepants, based on this + other I-751 mention, you might want to have a scan of these things now; there are documents you can be saving and collecting now that will be useful to you for these applications. Easier to collect now than trying to dig out old stuff.

kwilson

Thanks to all of you for your congratulatory messages. It was indeed a lovely day, and a relief to *finally* get there! I’m one of those that supposedly did it “the easy way” by marrying an American – and it still took 6+ years….

@Dan725; the reason there was only 56 of us, and that it was in the Court House not the convention centre or immigration building is that all 56 of us were doing some kind of name change at the same time. Long story for me, but I am known here in Tampa by my maiden name of Wilson because SSA couldn’t do anything with my Soc Sec card when I got married for some reason. My married name is Smith but I chose to have my NATZ papers in Wilson to save ongoing confusion. That’s why it was small group.

@Titchski; Good luck in 2 weeks! It really is a great thing to do. Would you let me know about your ceremony and how it compares to mine please?

@OrangeMirror; I know what you mean about the renouncing your allegiance thing…..I stressed over it a little to but in the end decided I will always be English/British no matter what I know it’s an “each to their own” type of decision, but to me there were just too many positives to becoming a citizen than not doing. I just wish it had come through quicker and I could have voted in the historic election!

Titchski

My mother in law will be there... Your ceremony is therefore already far superior to mine!

j/k sure I'll pop something up about mine

Sue

Congratulations

gruesome2some

My husband is intending applying in 2010, what was your interview and test like? What it easy?

TonyD

I share your misgivings but I have just discovered a sadly compelling reason to have both a U.K. and a USA passport - getting your U.K. passport renewed is now run by a private company called Abtran. The delays are monstrous and they charge you to find out! The Embassy doesn't get involved . So if you actually need a passport - maybe it is wise to have both a U.K. and a USA one? See the passports and Visa section of this splendid forum for details.
How sad is that ?

made of kent

I feel the same thing! a few months ago just before christmas, I was in a garden center with my 4 yr olds any way, they had a display of coal in pretty tins saying you have been a bad boy/girl and I said to my boys if you ar bad that what father christmas will bring you!
A voice from the counter shouts in an american accent, oh your english! so I go and chat to her she is a few years older than me, and her mum was a GI bride only got her USC the week before but it was a dual one!!! she didn't have to give up her own country! that said her daughter told me she had never been home in 60 years? how do you do that as a young person? or is it reserved for the old? I am proud to be British and English but want to make a life here for my children, but also proud to be in the US but the idea of renouncing my old country I am not sure I can do it?? as in it hard to explain! I am proud to be English but I also want to make the best out of our decision to move to a country I admire, even with its faults! oh its impossable to discribe my feelings!