20 teens from 17 different countries received citizenship certificates today.
The ceremony was a part of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Independence Day celebration.
The teens are citizens based on their parents. They were able to obtain their citizenship without taking a test and today their citizenship was formally recognized with the certificates.
16-year-old Liam Sardinha De Lange is from Madeira, which are islands that are a part of Portugal. He then moved to the Netherlands. Later his dad got a job in the U.S. which is when he moved here.
He's excited to finally be recognized as a U.S. citizen.
“I finally get to apply for my U.S. passport so that’s always fun and it’s nice after the long wait of getting the ship to finally be here to be like ‘oh yes you’re now American,’” he said.
He says he's grateful for his family for helping him with the paperwork in order to be a U.S. citizen, and he's excited for what to come in his future with his new citizenship,
"I’m excited to explore the world," he said. "I want to see all of America and go all over the place and I want to hang out with the people I love an care for.”
Iress Manzon, 18 years old from the Philippines, had similar appreciations for his newfound citizenship.
“I’m hoping to get a job and learn here in America,” he said. “It feels great and proud that I have great parents to help me to have a great future.”
John Birdsong, Field Office Director for the Reno Field Office USCIS commented on the teens new citizenship.
“It also will affect their families for generations now they can actually point back to this day as the day that their family became U.S. citizens and it affected the ability for them to live here, work here and to pursue the American Dream,” he said.
He also shared parts of his own citizenship story with us.
“Based on my citizenship I have been able to live the American dream," he said. "I was able to serve in the military, I was able to get the job with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and be able to work my way up to the position that I have now and it’s all due to the fact that when my parents met and my father was a citizen I was able to become a citizen and pursue all the dreams that I had.”
“For new citizens, pursue your dreams,": he said. "Every door is open to you from now on. Go an obtain what it is that you want in life and pursue happiness.”
