14 years, 1 month, and 11 days.
That is how long this journey was for me since I left Bosnia on 08/14/1998 to come to the US. And mountains of papers and thousands of dollars later, here I am - a US citizen!
It was a glorious day. I picked up my sister-in-law and we drove to the Austin Delco center. I was supposed to report there at 11am, but the actual ceremony was not starting until 2PM. The traffic was at a stand still on the access road leading to the location. We were barely moving for about 15 minutes at the stop light. Other candidates who had someone with them in the car, were leaving their vehicle and heading toward the building on foot - in fear of being late. That's the fear that years and years of being in the immigration system has ingrained into the people. This was the last stop on their long journey, and they didn't want to jeopardize their getting to the finish line by getting there later than told. It was almost a comic scene.
I knew that they can't process hundreds of candidates at exactly the same time, so we waited our way through the traffic and were in line at 11.20. They had us divided in four groups, at four entrances of the center, based on the color of the paper we received in the mail. I was in the blue section. It was a beautiful day, sunny and with just enough breeze to make it comfortable. Another friend of mine joined us in line few minutes later, and we slowly made it inside the building, where the line was even longer.
The officers checked our papers, made sure (twice) that we have our green cards with us, and sent the guests to find their seats. I took a picture with and said good buy to my green card, a piece of plastic that I worked so long for. In exchange they gave us a packet with some booklets, a letter from the president, folder for the certificate, and a US flag. I was seated at about 12.30, and again happy that I wasn't first in the line and have been sitting in those small bleachers seats. When everyone was seated, they had us give an oath, something about everything on our application still being true (we didn't recite anything, just said "I do" at the end), and at about 1.15 we were free to take a break.
I met with my friends who arrived in the meantime and we went outside. Emilia and I ate our lunches we brought with us, and took some pictures. In no time, we had to go back in for the ceremony. The entire thing lasted about 40 minutes. It was presided by a judge. There was a "prayer", procession of guards in civil war uniforms with flags, some speeches, most of which were good and inspiring, kids sang 2-3 songs. The immigration office person then gave a report on the candidate: there were 970 of us, from 95 countries (including Yugoslavia - which doesn't exist!). Around me were folks from Guyana, Kenya, India, Pakistan, China, France, Island... They called out all countries one by one and had people from those countries stand up. I didn't see it, but my friends think they saw one other person stand up for Bosnia. Mexico, of course, had the biggest representation, and huge applause echoed afterwards. Russia also got an applause.
Once we were all standing, the judge asked two things: If there is anyone who is not ready or agrees to to take the oath of citizenship as it written and anyone who is not ready to pledge allegiance to this country (or something like that). Of course, no one went forward to disagree! The judge then read the pledge, we had our right hands up, and then responded with "I do". The acoustics and sound system were no that great, so it was hard to hear all he was saying, but I do have a copy of it! And just like that, we were officially US citizens!
It took another 20-30 minutes to shuffle everyone out of the seats and distribute the certificates. I checked it multiple times to make sure all information is correct. Hundreds of people were mulling on the gym floor, smiles all around, taking pictures, and a sense of relieve, and almost disbelief. Out long journey, each with its own story, has converged here on the gym floor and now we are all the same - all US citizens!
Our group was the among the last to receive the papers, so by the time we got done with picture taking in front of the flag, there were barely anyone else around. I also wanted to register to vote there, because it was convenient, and there was no shortage of registration volunteers. The YNN, Austin news TV station was also there. After the ceremony they wanted to talk to some of the new citizens who registered to vote., and my friend volunteered me for an on camera interview. The story aired that evening, and bellow you can find a blur from their
their web site, (I copied it here because I don't know how long their stories stay on the site.)
We finally left the building at 3.45PM, just as the traffic was easing out. I wanted to celebrate with some American deserts, so a few of went to
Chez Zee, an American Bistro. We had American apple pie, pecan pie, key-lime pie, American coffee, and American water (with ice). Of course I had to share with the waiter that I was celebrating becoming an America citizen.
After dropping Emilia home (finally - dear things was with me the whole day!), and a quick hello with my brother, I went home to change and rest a bit before going out to dinner. And in the theme of the day, we went out for some American BBQ at Rudy's. We even had American beer - which I had just a handful of times, if ever, before.
It was such a fun and exciting day!
Thank you all for celebrating it with me.
Emotions run high as 1,000 obtain American citizenship
Tuesday was a day filled with emotion at the Delco Center in East Austin when people from some 80 countries became U.S. citizens.
Federal Judge Lee Yeakel presided over the hour-long ceremony, handing about 1,000 people a certificate stating they were American citizens.
A Bosnian woman by the name of Zvezdana Stojakovic was thrilled about her accomplishment—it took her 14 years, one month and 11 days to obtain citizenship.
"I don't think you can explain it in words, unless you have been through the process, and so many people work and there are so many steps, that it is just such a relief to be at this spot and know that now I am just one of the citizens like everyone else here," she said.
For many of the new Americans, their first act as a U.S. citizen was registering to vote. Various voters’ organizations were on hand to make sure they left as registered voters.
Among the qualifications to become a citizen, they all had to be at least 18 years old, hold a green card and have lived in the United States for at least five years.
They also had to pass a civics test, and many of the questions on that test cover the history of our country.
Click here to check out a sample test.
