U.S. Citizenship and Military Service: Don't forget to file Form G-325B!

U.S. Citizenship and Military Service: Don't forget to file Form G-325B, by Wendy Hess, Filadelfia Ponte al Dia
There is a huge disconnect between the bureaucracy of our immigration laws and our desire to honor and reward those who serve our country. This fact was driven home at a recent naturalization interview held in Philadelphia...

Ciudadan­a estadounidense y servicio militar: No olvide presentar el Formulario G-325B, by Wendy Hess, Filadelfia Ponte al Dia
Existe una enorme desconexión entre la burocracia de nuestras leyes de inmigración y nuestro deseo d...

USCIS 96:21-30

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren

addressing an audience of 3000 new citizens

(San Jose, CA 08/14/08)

USCIS 21-30x.mp3

For the next ten days, we will present 10 of the 96 questions plus two dictation sentences and handout. Today's questions are 96:21-30. Direct download: 21-30x.mp3

The Oath Ceremony Part 5: I'm Proud to Be an American!

After the Oath of Allegiance, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who represents south San Jose and Santa Clara County, spoke to the the new cititzens about her grandfather. She said that she was very proud of her immigrant grandfather and one of her most important possession is her grandfather's citizenship papers.

Her grandfather's pride in his new country inspired Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren to work hard on behalf of immigrants' rights. She is very sympathetic to all immigrant communities, particularly the San Jose Vietnamese-American community and worked towards a just resolution of the Little Saigon controversy. Here she is at the SJ 2008 Tet Parade:

After Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren spoke, we watched a video-taped greeting from President George W. Bush on a stadium screen. (Unfortunately, my photo of the President speaking on the video screen turned out very poorly. Here is a video of a similar speech that President George w. Bush gave on July 4, 2008 at an Oath Ceremony.) People loved the video's song, "I'm Proud to be an American" and I heard several groups of children singing the refrain over and over as we left the building.

After a short wait, the new citizens came out. Presenting Mr & Mrs Champaklal and Savita Nakrani, Citizens of the United States of America!

After this photo, the Nakranis immediately turned in their voter registration cards. Outside of the fairgrounds, they bought display folders for the citizenship papers and immediately slipped them in.

After years living in the shadows, the new citizens walked out into the noonday sun as Americans.

The End, but the story continues!

The Oath Ceremony Part 4: The Oath!

After the Roll Call of Nations, the citizens-to-be raised their right hand and said:

The Oath of Allegiance

I hereby declare, on oath,
that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure
all allegiance and fidelity
to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty
of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen;

that I will support and defend the Constitution
and laws of the United States of America
against all enemies, foreign and domestic;

that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;

that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States
when required by the law;

that I will perform noncombatant service
in the Armed Forces of the United States
when required by the law;

that I will perform work of national importance
under civilian direction
when required by the law;

and that I take this obligation freely
without any mental reservation
or purpose of evasion;

so help me God.

The Oath Ceremony Part 3: Voter Registration

In March 2008, the USCIS changed their policy about giving voter registration forms to citizens-to-be before the Oath Ceremony.

The USCIS said that the county voting officials must wait until the very end of the Oath Ceremony to give voter registration forms to new citizens.

Why? Before the Oath Ceremony, the citizens-to-be are not legally citizens yet and only US citizens can register to vote.

After the change in March 2008, voter registration dropped by about 80 percent. After the Oath Ceremony, many new citizens didn't take the time to register to vote because they were in a hurry to return to work or to celebrate with friends and families.

The San Jose Mercury News (07/19/08) reported the huge drop in voter registration. The USCIS decided to change its policy to allow county voting officials to give voter registration forms to citizens-to-be. They can now fill-out the voter registration cards while waiting for the Oath Ceremony to begin.

Why? Because voting is the most important right and responsibility of a US citizen. The USCIS wants to help new citizens to vote in the upcoming presidential election and all following elections.

So, at the Thursday August 14 Oath Ceremony, citizens-to-be found voter registration cards in their seats. Some citizen-to-be filled the cards out immediately.


Before the actual Oath Ceremony began, officials from the Santa Clara County of Voters spoke in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog--the official "ballot languages" of Santa Clara County. The speakers gave brief instructions about how to fill out the registration card.

Polling places in Santa Clara county are identified in five languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

A voter can fill-out a Preferred Language Survey at the polling place to receive voting info in his or her chosen language.

After the ceremony, the new citizens mobbed the voting officials to hand in their voter registration forms--it was so inspiring!


Kudos to the SJ Mercury News for reporting this story and to the USCIS and Santa Clara County Registar of Voters for immediately addressing and fixing this problem.

To be continued!

The Oath Ceremony Part 2: Countdown!

FINALLY, the doors opened and the citizens-to-be came in.

The first person that the citizens-to-be met was the SF Bay Area USCIS Community Relations Officer, Lucee Rosemarie Fan. She was happily directing people to their seats.


I would expect that such an important government official would assign such a humble task to someone else. I looked around and saw other USCIS officers, supervisors, and directors helping the citizens-to-be with the same pride, respect, and efficiency. The USCIS employees "walked" with the citizens-to-be to the very last "step" of the naturalization process.


When the citizens-to-be came to their seats, they found important US Citizenship "tools": an American flag, a booklet of the Declaration of Independence & the US Constitution, a Voter's Registration packet, and the Citizen's Almanac.


While they waited for the cermony to begin, the citizens-to-be chatted with their neighbors, listened to patriotic music, and read their Almanacs. I was happy to see another student from Milpitas, Shu-Wen Chang.


There were many small children in the visitor's gallery. Parents used the long wait to tell their children stories about the flag, George Washington, and coming to America.


More people came and the hall started to fill up. Finally the hall was filled--we were read to begin the Oath Ceremony!


To be continued!

The Oath Ceremony Part 1: Today's the Day!

The USCIS San Jose office usually interviews one thousand people per month. The Novemeber 2008 Presidential election, combined with the July 2007 USCIS price rise, inspired thousand of permanent residents to apply for citizenship. During Spring and Summer 2008, the San Jose office was interviewing close to 3500 people per month!

By mid-August 2008, so many people have passed their Citizenship interviews, that the USCIS arranged to hold the Oath Ceremony at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds (a very large and convient location), instead of the smaller Campbell Heritage Theater.

Today's goal: US Citizenship for over 5000 people in morning and afternoon ceremony---WELCOME!

The ceremony was scheduled to begin at 10:30am. Because there was such a HUGE traffic jam before the previous ceremony, I decided to arrive at 8am. I easily found the "Citizen-to-be" line and followed to the beginning. who was in front of the line? Mr and Mrs Nakrani--they got there at 6:30am!


I followed the "Citizen-to-be" line to the end and found two more students, Xaiken and Thai, with their son.


As we waited, Hoanh and her husband came. She passed her interview over 30 months ago and FINALLY got her letter for the Oath Ceremony.


No sooner than saying "Hello!" a USCIS representative came by and checked the Citizens-to-be Oath Ceremony letter and paperwork.


The USCIS representative directed us "guests" to another line. Good-bye Citizens-to-be, Hello New Citizens!

To be continued...