Immigration Update

Well, I'm not a citizen yet. That will have to wait until after the 2PM swearing-in ceremony next Monday.

I had the interview, civics test, and English proficiency test this morning. It was all relatively painless. Ms. Li, the Asian-American interviewer was quite pleasant, the questions were easy, and the English proficiency test was a bit of a joke, considering that my English was a lot better than hers.

The civics questions consisted of the following:
-What are the colors of the American flag?
-How many branches of government are there in the US?
-How many justices sit on the Supreme Court?
-What is the most important right of an American citizen?
-Who elects the congress?

The interview questions were the typical bureaucratic nonsense:
-Are you a communist or been a member of the Communist Party?
-Are you a prostitute?
-Are you a drug addict?
-Are you an alcoholic?
-Have you ever registered to vote illegally?
-Have you ever helped a person enter the USA illegally?
-Have you ever been arrested and charged with a crime?
-Have you ever been arrested and not charged with a crime?
-Have you ever committed a crime for which you were not arrested or charged?
-Are you willing to bear arms for the USA?
-Are you willing to provide alternative service for the USA if needed?

There were a bunch more questions, but they were almost all of the kind that it's hard to imagine someone giving the wrong answer. In fairness, they did ask a few questions that only I could have answered about my early employment in the USA and how I came to be here. I was a bit surprised to see correspondence from the 80's in my file. It would have been interesting to see what else was in there.

I only waited about 10 minutes before my name was called, and the whole thing was over in less than a half hour. All-in-all it was not an unpleasant experience.