Expat Life Lifestyle

I am now a UK Citizen

As of Tuesday the 11th of June, I am a fully fledged British citizen. It’s been a very long, hard and expensive road and I still can’t quite believe that all my immigration troubles and worries are now behind me. It’s something I’ve been working towards since 2010, when I first came to the UK and it feels so surreal still. (And in case you’re wondering, I get to keep my US citizenship.)

After receiving my Indefinite Leave to Remain in July of last year, I applied for citizenship in February of this year. So I had a time frame of about 4 months from the day the Home Office received all my citizenship paperwork, to actually being sworn in by my local council

The citizenship ceremony as at Mansion House in York, somewhere I had visited previously as a tourist, and I can’t believe we had free roam of such a stunning place for the ceremony. The Sheriff of York oversaw the ceremony and his speech was actually incredible moving; it was all about the importance of community and how diversity and welcoming in new citizens only helps to improve York. I know that I definitely teared up multiple times during his speech.

But it was always going to be an emotional day for me.

I was fortunate enough to have the wonderful Lindsay over from America during the same time as my ceremony so I was so glad that she was there to attend it too. She’s perhaps the only other American that loves England as much as I do so having her there was pure perfection. Now we just need to work on getting Lindsay over to the UK for good.

I applied for my passport almost as soon as the ceremony was over. Well, first we went out for some celebratory drinks! But then I applied for my passport. And with an incredible turn-around time, 10 days later I received it in the post. It was one of the most joyous pieces of mail that I had ever received.

I had also registered to vote immediately after the ceremony. The ability to vote was one of the biggest reasons why I was excited to switch over from Indefinite Leave to Remain to having British citizenship. Now just bring on a snap general election soon! (And seriously, do that. I think it’s only fair to hold one post Theresa May stepping down.)

It still all feels like a dream and it hasn’t sunk in yet, but I keep staring at my new passport in awe. Now I need to plan a trip somewhere so that I can use it.

And only because loads of people asked when I shared photos on instagram my dress is from here.

Have you ever celebrated a day so long in the making?

If you enjoyed this post, you might want to read more about my visa journey:

Visa Heartache (2013)
More Visa Heartache (2013)
The Big News (2013)
I Don’t Like Using the Term ‘Expat’ to Describe Myself (2014)
State of the UK: Family Immigration (2016)
Applying for FLR (M) in Person (2016)
Politics || Women’s March and What’s Next (2017)
An Eventful Anniversary: Applying for ILR in Person (2018)

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