Word: citizenships
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Naturalization is in all respects a civil court procedure; a justice department attorney must present a petition to a District Court Judge, requesting that U.S. citizenship be granted. But the Judges and clerks involved with the process do not begrudge the time they devote to it; rather, they see it as perhaps the happiest of all their tasks. A ceremony for more than 400 new citizens in the Faneuil Hall courtroom reveals a happy atmosphere of bustle and excitement...
...through the strait of naturalization tables lining the entrance to the courtroom. Many of them refuse to answer questions, saying the procedure means nothing to them but an afternoon off from work. But many describe with relish their new lives in the United States and their reasons for seeking citizenship. For most, it is merely a matter of an inevitable but minor formality put off for years by vain hopes of returning someday to their native country. Still, a few say they feel the ceremony is a deliberate statement that they want to join American life and fit into...
...eligible for citizenship resident aliens must usually live in the United States for five years and pass an examination demonstrating literacy, knowledge of simple spoken English and the rudiments of U.S. history. Hernandez describes the exam as very easy. "It's hard not to pass the test. Maybe for young people it's hard...
...immigrants say they came to the United States because they already had family living here. Yaacob Liebel, who met and married his wife seven years ago while she was visiting Israel, came to the United States three years later. He seems unconcerned about naturalization, saying he seeks citizenship only "because I live here. In a sense it's not different. But it's different with my wife and kids...
Although many immigrants have mixed feelings about dropping citizenship from their homelands, Joseph Sernvski, an electrician, has no regrets at all. He refuses even to name his native land. "No country. I have no country," he says. He, too, knew no English when he arrived here eight years ago; he has learned it since, mostly from watching television. He glows about his naturalization: "It has given me freedom, opportunity to travel. it has given me a country...