GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Tuesday marked a massive milestone for nearly 100 individuals who came to the United States in search of a better life.
99 people from 32 countries were sworn in as U.S. citizens during a ceremony at Lambeau Field. It’s the final step in the citizenship process.
“I was shaking, I’m still shaking. It was just, woah, my heart is palpitating,” said Mira Venteui, who grew up in the Dominican Republic before coming to Wisconsin.
Many have already been living in the United States for several years before they applied to become an official citizen, like Antoine Boucheron, who is originally from France.
“It’s a great joy and great amazement to belong to these American people,” said Boucheron.
The ceremony comes exactly one week before the November general election — which these new citizens will now be able to vote in.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says these types of ceremonies happen extremely often across the country, regardless of whether it’s an election year or not.
“Each of the applicants has been examined by an officer of the United States Citizenship and immigration services,” said Aimee Ouellette, a supervisory immigration services officer, during the ceremony. “Each has been found to be a person of good moral character.”
If you aren’t born in the U.S., becoming a citizen isn’t something that happens overnight.
You must be at least 18 years or older to fill out a form applying for citizenship. After submitting that information, you’re required to take biometrics, which includes a background check. You will then have a scheduled interview with citizen and immigration services.
During that interview, you’re asked to answer up to 10 of the 100 questions included in the civics naturalization test.
“It makes you nervous. Like, you know, because from all the questions, they ask you only 10 will be asked, and you don’t know which ones are,” said Venteui.
“It’s a lovely place and it’s a great place to stay here with a lot of opportunities. Equally, I’ve never felt discriminated here at any time so that’s the reason I applied for citizenship,” added Vijay Kumar.
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