Today, having abjured all allegiance to foreign potentates, I became an American citizen.

And, because Americans like me are efficient, I instantly did all the various paperwork updates required. So, in the short passage of a few weeks, I shall be able to wave around things like a fresh new American passport.

The process was actually astonishingly simple. Having gotten a Green card (which was not simple), and waited around for the requisite time, one fills out the paperwork and sends it in. I did this the end of April. Then about a month later, I was given an appointment for "biometrics" (basically fingerprinting). Then by early August, I got an appointment for an interview. I waited about an hour, was asked a few Americana questions, plus puzzlers like my name and date of birth, and then told it could be up to 120 days for a decision. Instead, in three weeks, I got a letter inviting me to the ceremony to become an American citizen.

I'm not 100% sure what that is called: the Oath Ceremony, maybe? Anyway, it was in lower Manhattan, at the building known to all cab drivers as simply "the immigration building" (though this time I managed to leave enough time to take the subway, as per my eco-want). There were 148 people from 48 countries, dressed in various permutations of finery. A collection of very decent and civil people from USCIS and a few other government agencies addressed us, gave us different forms and packages (including a nice little booklet with quotes from various notables from the Pilgrims onward). We were taken through the Pledge and then the Oath (not sure which was which actually). We promised to bear arms, to abjure foreign potentates and the like. At a suitable number of points, there were pauses for clapping and flag waving (small flag supplied), and friends and family who had come were allowed to wander around at different points and take pictures.

Initially, they asked us to stand as our country names were read. This was sort of interesting, with appropriately broad representation. The initial "stander" was from Aruba (and very enthusiastic in his singing and flag waving, in a friendly, Aruban-American sort of way); the final from, I think, Venezuela. There was one other Canadian, fifty two Dominican Republicans. The guy in front of me was from The Gambia.

The staff did a nice job of balancing seriousness and humor, telling attendees that one of the perks of the day was that their friends and families had to do whatever we new Americans wanted for the day, and if they didn't, we should call up the agency and they'd sort it out, while at the same time being appropriately congratulatory. My process was very smooth, but I imagine for many, it wasn't at all smooth, and the result of the day gave them permanence in a new country, the ability to come and go, and the ability to bring family over. Interestingly, the USCIS guy made that point a few times and it was in the docs they gave us: "Now you can bring your family!". Not saying thats bad - just a funny thing to emphasize!

The final speech was from the woman who runs voter registration for the City of New York. They enjoined us to register to vote on the way out the door. The woman next to mean turned and asked (in halting English): "Is this one really important?" I wasn't quite sure how to explain that part to her, so I just said "Yeah, if you want to vote!"

And that was it! Nice N-550 forms with fancy print and our photos were handed out at the end, and post voter registration we were told to go and get our social security numbers updated to say "Citizen!" (done!) and to apply for our passports (done!).

Now the only complexity: do I keep flying a Canadian flag on the boat (its registered as a Canadian flag vessel), or switch it to American? The boat is on the hard right now, so no rush. I like the way the Canadian flag looks with the boat's color scheme, and it gets one recognized on the way into the harbor.

But… the annual paperwork is a pain.

And America has a much bigger Navy.