It all started back in December of 1995 when Sev arrived in the US for the first time. Citizens of Poland needed a visa to enter to the US back then and still do today (even though Poland is part of the European Union and most other EU countries do not need a visa to visit the US - argh).
Anyway, he came over on a fiancee visa- meaning we had 90 days to get married or he gets deported. So, we figured what the heck, and we tied the knot in March of 1996- on the 89th day of his visa validity! Sev was then granted permanent residency status- a green card. What this means is that he was entitled to all the same rights as a US citizen except the right to vote & serve on a jury. From his point of view, why take it any further? Who wants to do jury duty anyway? And so it went for the next 12 years and all was well until we moved to China. That's where the trouble began. You see, you cannot keep your green card and live outside of the US for more than 6 months a year. Beginning in 2007 when we moved to China, traveling to the US become a huge problem for Sev. Depending on the mood of the immigration officer, he was often sent to a special room for questioning since he had no visa and technically, his green card was invalid since he had been outside the US for more than 6 months. They always let him in but the stress and unpleasantness of the interrogations finally forced Sev to realize that it was time for the inevitable- apply for citizenship. My own personal reason for pushing Sev for his citizenship was that should we ever find ourselves in trouble overseas, I could go to the US embassy for help and evacuation if necessary, while he would have to go through the Polish embassy. And once you get kids involved, you can see how this can be sticky. I had visions of being stuck in some foreign country during a natural disaster and being helicoptered out as the kids and I waved to Sev through the windows...
So after a year long application process, full of typical government screw ups (lost fingerprints, moving his case to Indiana for no apparent reason, rescheduled interviews, etc) he was granted citizenship on April 8th!
No matter what it says on paper, Sev will always be Polish and proud of it. And so in his honor, I threw him a surprise party at Bubba's Texas BBQ here in Shanghai, complete with our international group of friends- most of whom wore red, white, and blue for the occasion (except our friends from Ireland who claimed they didn't own any red/white/blue clothing!). He was completely shocked and in the end, admitted he doesn't mind being an American after all :)
The cake- tacky, but perfectly suited to the occasion!
The group- the USA basketball outfit Sev was wearing was a gift which he immediately (after a few beers) changed into!
Ah yes, the deer head wall plaque- felt just like we were back in Minnesota!
The youngest American guest in his NY tee. You may have noted the absence of our own kids at the party. I made the last minute decision to leave them at home w/ the sitter so I could enjoy a few beers...does that make me a bad mom? Wait, don't answer that.
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