The One Where Apple Becomes an American Citizen
Well, long time no post. I see I’ve been neglectful in my site maintenance again. Which is really idiotic, because a lot of things happened this past week. Perhaps the most monumental occurrence of all took place on Monday, when Apple and I once again made one of our ceremonial pilgrimages to a strange and foreign land, otherwise known as Miami.
My wife Apple (who, as you know, immigrated to the United States from Thailand some seven years ago) has been required to report to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services routinely ever since. She’s affirmed her status as a permanent resident, applied to remove conditions from her residency, applied for a 10-year green card, verified that we’re still happily married, had her fingerprints and photos taken, and so on. This lengthy ongoing process has, in fact, seen the name of that government agency change three times — from INS, to BCIS, to USCIS. (I guess they figure more letters = better service?)
But it all came down to this. On Monday, Apple was scheduled to have her fabled naturalization interview. Last fall, she applied to become a United States citizen, and — after another round of fingerprinting — was called to attend the big showdown on April 9th. (We lucked out, in fact, that her interview was not scheduled for a date on which we were still in Thailand.) The interview consists of a written exam, wherein you’re asked 10 questions about American history and government; an English speaking test; and an English writing test. So, after a weekend of last-minute studying, on Monday we headed east.
