Becoming American

I became a US citizen today, a landmark day that has been 8 years in the making.

A chance conversation in 2014 about hopes and dreams at the top of the Space Needle in Seattle turned into the opportunity of a lifetime for my family and I. The journey has been a front row seat to the struggles faced by immigrants, juxtaposed against the privileges that my British citizenship has entitled me to throughout it. It remains an ongoing challenge to my sense of identity and the concept of ‘home’.

Today feels like a milestone occasion of celebration and reflection.

So, why might this British person might want to become a US citizen?

• Opportunities for the kids. A dependent visa or a green card remains tied to me. A citizenship gets them a lifetime of options on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Participation in democracy. I have found it particularly hard to sit on the sidelines just watching the country I live in battle for international credibility, equity for its citizens and the future of its children. No more.
• Belonging. One of the struggles is immigrant life is never feeling fully connected to the identity of your host country while increasingly disconnecting from the society and culture you’ve left behind.

From this day forward, I am every bit as American as my friends, colleagues and neighbors. Yes, I spelt neighbors like that. Nevertheless, the road has not been an easy one to walk:

• The process. Becoming a US citizen is fraught with paperwork, long wait times and what feels like an assumption of bad intent until you can extensively prove otherwise. It’s also expensive.
• Baggage. Every country has it’s pros and cons. Reconciling acceptance of the elevated risk presented by endemic gun violence remains hard. As does observing the mainstream platforms afforded to those who have tripped over the line of American exceptionalism and fallen into peddling isolationism, ethnocentrism and racial hatred.
• Identity. While whatever nationality I identify with doesn’t change my personality or my beliefs, it can be hard for friends and family not to interpret this process as a change of who I am. It may be incorrectly perceived as a form of rejection of the things they (and I, still) hold dear about the United Kingdom.

The juice remains very much worth the squeeze for me. Despite these tangs of distaste, my citizenship enables me to do more to change them. So, what next, you ask? Eagles as pets?

I am no accidental, circumstantial or part-time American. I have spent the last 8 years immersing myself in US history and culture, including visiting 37 of the 50 states. I feel extremely well-equipped for the cultural expectations of me as a citizen and, as is de rigueur, I am optimistic for my family’s future and all the opportunities and possibilities they have access to here.

What’s that I smell in the air? The American Dream.