Oath Ceremony in San Antonio, May 24, 2018

[Janeg120 9]

I'm a citizen! My ceremony was last Thursday, May 24, in San Antonio. There were 534 of us taking the oath, from 77 countries. Arrival time was 8.02 am which I thought was strange, but it's how they organized such a large group - had us line up by our appointed time, 8am, 8.01am or 8.02am. It was pretty seamless, once we were all seated, they checked we'd filled in the back of the Oath Ceremony letter and had our green cards. Then, row by row, we all went to the back where they had the certificates, they put them in order of how we were seated, so at the end of the ceremony, they were able to hand them out relatively quickly.

 

The actual ceremony didn't start until 10am, but up until then, we were given several bits of information, including our voter registration cards, which we filled in and then handed to voting office staff before we left, and they will handle getting them to the right county office to complete registration. There was an army band of 5 who started playing around 9.30am so that was a nice distraction.

 

At first I was kind of annoyed it would take so long with all that people (selfish, I know), but the more I took it all in, and started chatting to the people either side of me, and realizing how many people from such different backgrounds were there, I really took it all in and realized the magnitude of the occasion. I'm from the UK, so it's not like I left any hardship to come here, but hearing, for example, Syria and Iraq, it made me realize that this is potentially life saving for them and their families. It was pretty emotional once my perspective shifted just that little. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't taking it lightly, I was just in my own bubble looking at it from my own point of view up until then.

The judge who presided the ceremony was really nice and, as it was just before Memorial Day, the video we watched was a tribute to the fallen. 

 

The ceremony was finished at 11am, and as previously mentioned, they were quickly able to distribute certificates because of their organization prior to the ceremony. The little group I was sat in congratulated each other and I set out to find my husband and father-in-law who had come with me. I was very happy that an aunt and cousin had also come to surprise me, that was the cherry on top

 

Such a relief that it's done, passport application is all filled out to complete the next steps.

 

Good luck to anyone about to have their ceremony - enjoy every minute of it. I don't think I'll ever forget how it felt.

 

Best of luck, Jane

[KazuriSana 324]

Hehe, feels pretty good, doesn't it?

Every time you look at an american flag, that's YOUR flag now!

[little immigrant 801]

Thank you Jane for sharing your experience and congratulations!

 

My experience was quite similar and my ceremony was a day after July 4th. We "only" had 147 new citizens but that didn't make it less magnificent. I was amazed at how quickly they were able to distribute the certificates. How did they find everybody? Haha. 

 

Did they take passport applications right there too? They did at my ceremony but I wasn't ready to separate myself from my new certificate yet. I went a couple days later so I could take copies and get my driver's license updated (had a name change). 

 

Time to update your profile since your naturalization is no longer pending 😊

[Janeg120 9]

Thank you. No, they didn't take passport applications, I've filled mine in and plan to go to a local office with it shortly. That will be surreal, having a US Passport

[Name O Boy 511]

@Janeg120 Congratulations. Now you need to have a party  Thanks for sharing your experience.