Today in America

naturalization ceremony Albany Capital Center 2017-03-23

Our country's been going through some rough times politically. It's hard to feel optimistic at the moment.

Then you watch 20 people become American citizens.

We stopped by the Albany Capital Center Thursday afternoon for a naturalization ceremony in which people from 16 different countries around the world took the oath of citizenship. Young and old. Families and individuals. Everyone with a smile, snapping pictures, hugging, excited to make this their country, to be a part of our collective story.

Maybe we'll be OK.

Comments

I went to one last month. My friend took his oath of citizenship. It is a great ceremony. A local school choir sang. There was a moving speech from one of the new citizens who grew up a refugee and at the age of 21 was finally a citizen of a country for the first time in her life. The League of Women Voters give warm welcomes, flags and voter registration cards to all the new citizens. It gave me such warm fuzzies. Everyone should try to go to one of these if they get the chance.

Thank you for posting this! This is heartwarming.

This is a great moment - thank you for sharing it!

Also, I hope they had the giant LED ceiling play that American flag animation you posted from the grand opening :)

when I saw "the best thing we saw last week" I was hoping this was it. It was mine also. Thank you for posting. I hope to get to one of these. I am a naturalized citizen.

Cute story....in a borderless future world not sure the significance of this?

AoA: How can we find out when these are happening? I would love to attend!

@Melissa -- I bet the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (on Broadway in Albany) knows the schedule and locations. 459-1790.

Also, for anyone who wants to help immigrants prepare for the naturalization test, Literacy New York of the Greater Capital Region pairs volunteers with immigrants studying for the test. This is generally done at public libraries in the area. Call -583-1232, or email info@literacynycap.org.

@Melissa: As best I could tell, this service was administered by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which has an Albany field office in Latham. (The field office's director was there.) I'll try to find out if they post a schedule.

@Chris: Thanks for sharing that info.

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