Application fee for citizenship = $595.00
Fingerprints/background check = $80.00
Gas to citizenship ceremony/oath = $15.00
New US passport = $100.00
Becoming a US Citizen and singing “Proud to be an American” with 250 other people from all over the world…PRICELESS.
With the economy in a recession and people struggling to make ends meeting, I was surprised by how many people were willing to set aside almost $1,000 to become a US citizen.
According to MSN.com, about 7.7 million people applied for different immigration benefits this past year. This number is up 1.4 million from the previous year. The money that is generated from applying for citizenship goes to paying the employees, improved screening/fingerprinting, and other things that are needed to support the whole process.
The application fee alone has increased by $330!! I know that some people have endured hardships and waited a long time to become citizens, but I am still surprised that many would not wait until this fee decreased again, making it more affordable (if this will ever happen).
After applying for citizenship at the beginning of June 2008, my process was pushed through the system extremely quickly, making me a naturalized citizen on September 29th with just enough time to register to vote on November 4th.
But starting this week, people applying for citizenship will have to endure a new citizenship test. I remember in high school our teacher handed us a “pop quiz”…when we received this exam we all stared at it in disbelief knowing maybe 10 answers of about 80 questions. After we had handed them in, she went on to explain that we just took a citizenship exam. All of us were surprised to see how difficult the questions were and that many of us didn’t even come close to passing!
That was the old exam, the new exam that applicants will begin taking on October 3rd has changed quite a lot. Applicants can no longer just memorize the answers; they actually have to understand what terms mean. An example of a question on the old exam would be “What are the 3 branches of the US Government?” and will now be changed to something similar to “Why do we have 3 branches of government?” on the new exam. Not only does this take a lot more understanding of terms and reasoning, but it makes it more difficult for many that English is not their first language.
It is a great privilege to become a US Citizen and is celebrated among many. Although I did not feel any different when I became naturalized this past Monday, I was excited by one fact: I finally get to vote and have a little bit of a say in who becomes the President. This is something that I think many citizens take for granted. MainStreet.com offers a great article which allows people to understand more fully How to Register to Vote and deadlines and requirements that you need to be aware of.
There were several older generations of people at the citizenship ceremony and I realized that some people spend many years of their life saving for that special day. Even in a recession and with many people tightening their belt on their spending, becoming a citizen is not something people are willing to overlook.
Photo: Arker
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