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After a stressful drive to the USCIS office (did they really need to remove an overpass and gum up the interstate??), followed by difficulty in locating the room once there, the actual Naturalization Interview was entirely anti-climatic. The civics / history test was a doddle, in fact I'm certain up to a half of the country could pass. The very pleasant officer has recommended my naturalization to US citizen (which should happen within the next couple of months). I am amazed given the gruffness of the typical immigrations officer at the airport how polite and cordial all the USCIS staff are at the regional office, and not just towards a native English speaking Brit like me.
In other news: The recent purchase of a bright red growley V8 muscle car at age 38 has led Mrs MidwestLimey to conclude I'm having a midlife crisis. I've told her to hold off on that comment until I start with the tight jeans, hair dye and hitting on 20 year olds.
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Just tell her you're going to trade her in on a pair of twenty-five year olds...
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After I got my Green Card my immigration lawyer said I should go for US citizenship. I asked him, "why?" He couldn't really give me a good answer.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Jury duty. You know you wanna.
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I have been called three times for jury duty across the two different states I have lived in so far (which was a duty I was quite prepared to do) and had to explain each time that I did not qualify.
The biggest difference for me is Security Clearance. In the UK I had one of the highest clearances (both UK and NATO) while I was on jet fighter development, the Tornado and the Eurofighter and yet I could not visit the Aberdeen Proving Grounds for a meeting (as part of my job at the time) because I was a "damned foreigner", obviously a spy (guilty until proven innocent appears to be the standard in the US now) and had to delegate the task to my colleague who was an ex-KGB Russian immigrant who had just got his US citizenship a few months earlier. I always thought NATO meant something, but apparently not. Since I now work in healthcare there isn't any military stuff for me to spy on.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Lawyer: You see, now you got your green card, you should go for US citizenship
Forogar: Why?
Lawyer: Hmmm.... you know... I mean.... it is good
Forogar: what good?
Lawyer: you know... good for me.... BTW do you know I charge for US citizenship process as well. 
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Actually I got an offer from the lawyer to do the whole thing for only $1,200. Is that good? Not that I took him up on it of course!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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So you can collect at least ten dollars of the social security the stole from invested for you. Yeah, that's what they did, they invested that money.
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You don't need to be a US citizen to collect social security.
/ravi
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Hey, I learned something new.
Seems the main advantages of being a US citizen over permanent residency is voting and preventing problems of losing residency status if you go abroad.
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IMHO, the most important advantage of becoming a citizen is the right to vote.
/ravi
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Really!? How about the right to vote in the country in which you reside? You don't need to be an immigration lawyer to know that. 
/ravi
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...and this is good how? I have the right to vote in my own country (the UK) but I don't want to.
Remember, no politics in the Lounge!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Forogar wrote: ...and this is good how?
If you're planning to spend the rest of your life in a new country, would you not like to be able to have some say in how it's governed?
/ravi
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The US runs fifth in my "countries I have lived" popularity ratings (out of five). The only way I expect to live the rest of my life here is for me to get murdered before I leave.
The chance of my vote having any influence on the way America is governed is far less than the chance I will win the lottery for several million, twice! It's a pointless exercise.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Then in your case, I suggest you don't apply to become a citizen. I expect you've already come to that decision.
/ravi
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Yes.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Congratulations! ![Rose | [Rose]](https://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
/ravi
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Yes, my wife did that about 2 years ago. She was scared out of her wits, because her English isn't all that great. I think she studied harder for her citizenship interview than I did for my PhD qualifying exams. The actual exam and interview was very anti-climatic and the USCIS interviewer was very nice and cordial.
As for why to get citizenship, my wife and I can now travel without a problem of being outside the country too long. While she just had the green card, we had to get back every 180 days or file for approval so her green card wouldn't be revoked. There are also lots of places it's easier for her to travel to on a US passport, rather than a Bolivian passport.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Quote: can now travel without a problem of being outside the country too long.
Unless I win the lottery big time I cannot afford to be away from my job for more than 2 or 3 weeks at most anyway.
If I won the lottery I would be leaving the US permanently anyway (along with my US wife who is very happy about this idea). Once I have enough money I plan on living somewhere more pleasant, more free and less dangerous.
Quote: lots of places it's easier for her to travel to on a US passport
Not for me with my UK passport.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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I guess it depends on your situation. My job paid me to stay in South America for 12 years, so we had to come back periodically on account of her green card. It always happened at inconvenient times, so it would have been much more convenient if she had her citizenship back then.
Whether we'll work outside the US again in the future, I don't know. I do have some offers, but I don't know how serious they are, since I'm not in a position to take any extended work assignments for another year or so.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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MidwestLimey wrote: USCIS staff are at the regional office
They probably get to deal with enthusiastic and polite people all the time.
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MidwestLimey wrote: am amazed given the gruffness of the typical immigrations officer at the airport
That was my experience in 2007 when we went there. Dealing with them could not have created a worse impression. Not just gruff, but utterly bored and perhaps full of self-importance and the world owes me a living. One bloke was hung over the counter like he'd been binge drinking, maybe he had. Once we got past them the rest of the vacation was nothing but a happy time.
Don't worry about your mid-life crisis. I've passed that age and I never had one. For sure, I'd love another BMW R90S and miles of open road to ride on but they don't make 'em anymore, the R90S that is, then again, the roads aren't exactly open like they used to be either.
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
modified 14-Sep-13 6:22am.
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It appears that the formal job forum is no more, so where do we post strong job leads?
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