N400

It is time. N400 and I have been considering each other for some years already. Year after year, I make promises… It is time to face the challenge.

N400 is the application for American citizenship. Since 1999, I have been an alien – I just love how sci-fi / galactic that sounds!

First I was an alien student, then I became a legal alien, complete with a green card – this white and fascinating plastic card. If you put it under a lamp, you discern holograms on it. It is valid until 2016 but it is time to do this. 2012 will be my American year.

There are good sensible reasons: I intend to keep living in this country and I may lose my residency status if I stay for a long time in France. The laws about aliens may become more restrictive. But my true motive comes from the presidential elections later in the year. I want to vote.

So I dowloaded N400 and started filling it. Some questions are complex: how many days have I spent abroad since I became a resident? I have to write down the precise date for each trip since 2003.

Have I ever been part of, or associated with any associations, foundations, clubs, society? Well, I am a member of Toastmaster International. Should I mention the Presbyterian church? Neither are that subversive, and at the next line, I deny ever belonging to the Communist Party, any totalitarian party or a terrorist organization.

I also deny being a prostitute, a “habitual drunkard” or having worked or associated with any Nazi groups, military or paramilitary unit, extermination or concentration camp. I never had more than one husband at a time. I never committed any crime – even crimes for which I would not have been arrested. I can without hesitation say “no” to all those questions – and I am not making anyone up. I should have the moral character to be American.

I should also demonstrate through an exam that I have a sufficient knowledge of the constitution of the United States. And if everything goes well, I will take the full oath of allegiance to the United States. I will not lose my French nationality thanks to a convention between the two countries.

2012 is going to be a great year…