Everyone in the building seemed so excited to be there – it really was a fun atmosphere to be in. Once all of the applicants (92 representing 38 countries!) had been checked in and seated, then the families and friends were able to be seated as well. The immigration officers were very excited, and encouraged everyone to cheer and celebrate their new citizen. One of them told the families beforehand in no uncertain terms, that we were required to stand for the pledge of allegiance and for the national anthem – “I don’t care if you don’t say or sing it; but you will stand and show respect, or you can leave.”
The ceremony is pretty simple… an officer reiterates the gravity of becoming a citizen, another talks about your new right to vote, another officer administers the oath, and finally there’s a video welcome.
If you’ve been following along with our citizenship journey (which started almost 4 years ago!), then you know what a big deal this is for us! Josh is now a dual citizen, which means that he did not give up his Belgian citizenship, he just added the USA. Today he went and applied for his US passport. We cannot say thank you enough for your prayers and support during this long process! This is definitely an answer to prayer – and really makes it feel like we’re making progress!
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