The US Citizenship Journey

The US Citizenship Journey

It was a September morning in 2007. Yet another day in our retired life in Bangalore (India) until we got a call from our younger son in California to joyfully announce that he was to become a father soon.

Earlier, thanks to USA's open-arms policy to admit foreign students and offer scholarship or assistantship where possible, both our sons were able to pursue Masters in the US in their chosen fields of engineering, and be gainfully employed with multinational companies. Since then the both have become US citizens.

Thanks again to the US Government's deep commitment to the 'family bond' concept, parents of US citizens could apply for green card without any restrictive annual visa quota. Backed by this, in the next few days of the call, we held frantic to and fro telephone conversations with both sons and their families. A clearer picture emerged: that we would seek permanent residence in the US. Everything has a price. Documentation for this included birth certificates, marriage certificate, police clearance, and pre-emptive affidavits from elders in the families, on the lines of the childhood poem: Solomon Grundy, Born on Monday, Christened on Tuesday, Married on Wednesday...

Six months later, armed with all possible documentation, if not a little more, we boarded a flight to San Francisco with all our earthly belongings, now rolled into two suitcases each, 50 pounds apiece. The flight took off from Bangalore two hours later. Consequently we missed the connecting flight from the hub, and were bundled into a long detour flight that skipped just Alaska to land in San Francisco eight hours later. That didn't bother us so much as the make-do lunch we were served - bananas, cookies and yoghurts for an Asian vegetarian meal. Understandably, they needed 48 or 72 hours notice to arrange for such special meals. However at the airport, on seeing a radiant daughter in law with all features of motherhood, we forgot all about the ordeal, and headed home.

We got the green card even without the customary interview - thanks probably to the thorough documentation - and in a much shorter time than it took in those days.

Time flies faster than you think. More so when you have two cities to alternate for your stay, and three spirited grandsons to give you company, initially - and to stay away from, later. Now it was time to apply for citizenship, or Naturalization. Here too, the more the care and truthfulness with which you fill the form, sure to be able to defend whatever you declare therein, the more it helps the interviewing officer to gauge your eligibility. Another great characteristic of the country is: it operates on TRUST. When you go through the mill successfully, he/she hands you a 'congratulations' letter on the spot that you have passed the interview and test, and asks you to wait for the Oath Ceremony letter. This is the most difficult period - so near yet so far. We received it, for 4 October 2013.  There were 72 citizens-to-be from, guess, 32 countries! If this is less, then what is more? Doesn't it speak volumes for the country as the world's best democracy or a land of opportunities, if not reflect a true miniature world?

Among those who spoke after being bestowed citizenship, some ladies literally broke down. They regained composure and felt happy their children could now hope for the best education, as for a good life. An elderly lady who could speak little or no English walked with difficulty up to the podium to speak. But she couldn't. Seeing her plight the Adjudication Officer who learnt she was from Iran,  suggested her: "Say 'Thank you' in Iranian [Persian]". She promptly said: thank you in Iranian. Everyone took the fiasco in an all in the family spirit, and gave the 79-year old lady, now a fellow American, a thunderous applause.

V.V. Sundaram

17 March 2014