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“My husband’s American Spouse Visa is NOT Valid?!” My husband was born in the UK, and I was born in America. We lived in the UK together for many years, and eventually, we decided to move to America… So, we did his American Spouse Visa application. Everything was fine, it was fairly easy, and we were approved.At least, I thought we were approved… When we got his passport back, there was a big stamp in it that said it was his American Spouse Visa, and a packet of information explaining that his visa Wouldn’t Be Valid until he arrived in America, and the immigration officers reviewed, and Approved It.I was like, ‘What? We just gave them all of our paperwork, and paid for this.’ I didn't understand. I thought we were approved… We had sold our house in the UK… We had quit our jobs in the UK… My British cats were already in America… They can still turn us away?!Turns us away to… WHERE?! We had just signed a one year lease on an apartment in America… We shipped all of our belonging to that address. We are basically flying to America, like… Now!I made sure to gather every bit of our application documents, a copy of the actual form we filed, receipts for payment, our marriage license, all of our proof that we provided, every form of ID I could find, and anything else that I thought might be required, A HUGE PILE OF DOCUMENTS, and I took it with me, all 50 pounds of it, as my carry on luggage. We got on our flight to America, we landed, we walked up to the desk, and we presented our respective passports: mine American, and his British.The agent asked my husband, ‘How long are you visiting?’ and we explained we were moving to America, and this was our first entry with his American Spouse Visa. The agent flipped to his visa, raised his eyebrows, made a call and said a bunch of number codes, and typed into his computer, and then, very quickly, two extremely serious looking, unsmiling men in suits arrived, and said, ‘This way’, and we both almost died…We followed them, silently. We were both too afraid to ask them any questions.They took us into a small, locked room, and we sat in there, alone and panicking… I got all of the documents out, so that I would be ready to fight for my husband’s American spouse visa approval… I organized them… I triple checked them…That was when we realized that they had kept our passports… We started to worry, because we didn't have our own passports… We didn't even know who had them!My hands are shaking… He is sweating… Someone else has our passports.After a while, a huge, extremely stern looking, uniformed officer unexpectedly comes into the room, slamming the huge, locked door behind him. He is wearing a gun holster, with a huge gun in it, and he barks my husband’s name… We both stand up… Terrified… My husband somehow manages to say, ‘Yes, sir.’He steps toward us… He moves really fast… He gets closer and closer… until he is towering over us… and then, he suddenly flashes a big, Hollywood smile, holds out both of our passports, and he says:‘Hey there, buddy! Welcome to America! As a Permanent Green Card holder, it’s your responsibility to eat as much American food as you possibly can! You're going to love our pizza! In three years, you can apply for American Citizenship! Make sure you do that, so that you vote!’We both just stood there for about 20 seconds, staring at him, and then, I hear my darling, English husband say, ‘Awesome, thanks mate, I love pizza!’And, they High-Five each other.(Yay, America? So weird!)

Something I've done in the past year so here's my experience...Once you've completed your interview and your citizenship application has been approved, you'll either attend the naturalization ceremony the same day or be scheduled for one in the future. Mine was the same day.You arrive at the ceremony and are presented with a form asking about certain activities you may have performed since your application was approved. Things like "Have you engaged in or solicited prostitution?", "Have you engaged in the sale or distribution of illegal drugs?", "Have you left the country?", "Have you gotten separated, married, divorced or become widowed?", "Have you helped an illegal alien enter the United States?", "Have you been arrested, fined, cited, charged, indicted, convicted or imprisoned since your interview for any offense other than a traffic violation?" and so on.Fill in the form and hopefully answer "No" to all of the questions presented. I had only three hours so its kind of hard to leave the country, pick up and sell a drug shipment, engage in human trafficking and go to prison in that time.Once you return the signed form, you take a seat in the room where the ceremony will take place. A citizenship packet will be handed out to everyone which includes a passport application, voter registration for your state, a "Welcome to United States Citizenship!" booklet, a welcome letter from the President and a small American flag.A USCIS representative will take the podium and proceed to explain the details of the ceremony. They will cover checking your Certificate of Naturalization for errors to ensure any are corrected before you leave (it's $400 to fix later on), process for registering to vote, visiting the Social Security Administration to update their records, applying for a passport and a welcome presentation. They'll provide some details on the number of people naturalizing and the number of countries represented.Then they'll start the process in earnest. Everyone will be called up to a table to turn in their Green Cards and validate their form from earlier. Then each person will be called by name to receive their Certificate of Naturalization. Once everyone has their certificates, everyone rises and the new citizens take the Oath of Citizenship followed by the playing of the National Anthem. Those moments can be very emotional.At the end, you are congratulated and you have an opportunity to take photos with the flag and/or USCIS staff. Then you gather up your guests, head out the door and enjoy your first day as a new citizen of the United States.The whole ceremony will take around two hours. Most of that will be explanations of various processes, explaining things to do as a new citizen and making sure paperwork is correct. The actual swearing in process only take a few minutes at the end. From there, you just leave and lead your life as normal. Just with the title of "US citizen".For me, after the emotional part of the taking the Oath (it does hit you hard) was the profound relief that when I left that USCIS office, I'd never have to set foot in one again, never have to file a single USCIS form, pay another fee or ever have to worry about my status again.

I recently became a US citizen on January 18th, 2018.Let me give you a rundown on how the naturalization ceremony - that is, the ceremony to celebrate American patriotism meant specifically for foreigners who are now at the final step in their immigration journey to become American - went.We received a packet with various documents, including a pocket sized Constitution, the texts we were expected to repeat during the ceremony, voter registration forms, and a tiny American flag, because ‘Murica.Cheering crowds during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Torch RelayWe listened to short speeches by various USCIS officials, as well as a welcome speech by a first generation American citizen (of Chinese ethnicity) congratulating us on making it this far and welcoming us into the American family.56 ethnicities, one homelandWe watched a video about America’s natural beauty, and its triumphs, and how we were all part of it now.Spacious skies, amber waves of grain, purple mountains majesty…We watched President Donald J. Trump’s address to newly minted citizens about how we were now Americans, and that we not only enjoy the rights and privileges of our newfound status, “very very special”, but also should shoulder the responsibilities that come with it, and work to help others assimilate into the American way of life.Xi Jnping visits a local elementary schoolWe then sang the national anthem.March of the Volunteers, which I remember was broadcast every dayFollowed by swearing the oath of citizenship, which curiously enough shares the following line with the oath sworn by all US military personnel upon enlisting: “[I solemnly swear to] support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;” do note that natural born US citizens do not swear this line at any point during their lives unless they enter a career that requires it.Flag raising ceremony in Tiananmen SquareFollowed by the Pledge of Allegiance: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.[No corresponding image here because China doesn’t actually have an equivalent to this]And then, after that, we became American citizens, and there was much rejoicing.The final scene of Wolf Warrior 2 - the Chinese passport may not get you wherever you want to go, but it will always bring you home wherever you might be.So ask yourself: why does one country doing these things feel right and proper, while another country doing thing constitute brainwashing? All great nations have this kind of “patriotic education”. If you want to say that China doesn’t have anything to be proud of, that the Chinese people’s patriotism is undeserved…The China of today is as you hopedI am and will, of course, always be proud of America. Unlike many who swore the oath merely for the citizenship status and the passport, I truly believe that having sworn to uphold and defend the US Constitution, then if my number is called, I must answer. That America truly is an exceptional country that does a lot of things right, and hit upon many correct policies where other countries go wrong. That, for all its short history, it has accomplished more things and done more good than many other countries have in millenia. That the ideals it was founded upon are an irreplaceable part of human heritage.I love America. It’s a good land, one that has treated me well and allowed me many opportunities.My celebration dinner upon receiving my citizenshipAnd at the same time, China is also a good land, one with thousands of years of culture and tradition, many unique aspects that are worth preserving and worth celebrating, undergoing a historic undertaking to merge the old with the new and restore its previous status as a great power, as any country with its size, natural resources, population, and talent pool is capable of.Every bunny has a dream to make their garden great again.