Former Green card holder now Citizen as of a few days ago.

Submitted an online form 4 months ago, received an interview date two months ago, had my interview last week.

Interview was at 8:30am Oath ceremony was at 9am Registered to vote at 9.15am Back at work at 10am!

Submitted passport application the day after.

Interview was straightforward and most of the time was double checking all the information I had previously submitted was accurate. Learning the answers to the civics test was fun.

I think there is a cliche of a stern interviewer who is looking for any excuse to say no, but this officer was kind and encouraging.

The oath ceremony was actually quite moving. I often see most displays of patriotism as some kind of pseudo mental illness but the patriotism shown by the officiant was actually rational, inclusive and inspiring.

All that to say, am lucky and pleased to have such a smooth journey to citizenship and am happy to be able to vote!

I remember my wife going through all stages of visas. Student visa, H1B, green card, then citizen. If you've never gone through it, it's complicated and involves a lot of waiting. Green card was the most complex out of all of them. We had less paperwork getting a mortgage and buying a house. It's very bureaucratic, and could use with some simplification. But once you're a citizen, it's smooth sailing.

Original article, not the msn.com repost:

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-09-26/with-an-el...

As with everything in the us immigration system. It’s not fast enough!

If only Green Card processing was as efficient.

> the uptick in new citizens is due to efforts to reduce a backlog of applications that began during the Trump administration and exploded amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the article they just brought it back to 2014 levels.

As much I like the points based system, I feel the family-based approach to which US pivoted to in 60s was the correct approach - you really cannot predict where the next einstein is going to be show up, and I always tell my wife we already lost her in Iran or Afghansitan

It's a long process and people who have been vetted and through it don't deserve to be held up unless there is a good reason. I can understand if there is something amiss but to just put the entire thing on hold for "theater" is wrong.

Still from what I understand the US takes in more immigrants every year than any other country.

Worldwide, the United States is home to more international migrants than any other country, and more than the next four countries—Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United Kingdom—combined

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested...

yay

Immigration is an economic geopolitical weapon against Russia and China.

Extending the franchise devalues the franchise.

Australia, on both sides of the house, also understands the importance of Immigration.

However we just neglected to build anywhere for them to live...

We are in a cost-of-living crisis, a per-capita recession.

One of the reasons we are not in a full-blown recessions is the wealth that immigrants brought with them!

Building firms are going under, and we gutted the trade schools years ago. So the housing crisis isn't going to resolve anytime soon...

[flagged]

Probably because if Trump gets elected they'll crawl to a halt again.

I’ve known many people that immigrated to the US. I grew up in a neighborhood that was 98% southeast Asian immigrants. The 1990’s and 2000’s were a better time in a lot of ways. But in 2024 with the recession still on and housing costing a fortune where are they going to go??? I mean especially considering the overwhelmingly high record numbers too. I mean this in the most practical and sincere way.

As long as my social security checks do not bounce starting in ten years, let as many people in as you want.

Burning a bit of karma never hurts now and then.