NOTICE, Monday, Nov 8, 2021 – Good News! Naturalization Ceremonies are coming back in the Washington DC area, and in New York. Be sure to check back here occasionally to verify the latest Naturalization Ceremony dates at Faneuil Hall, Boston!
WASHINGTON— U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will honor Veterans Day this year by holding more than 90 ceremonies naturalizing more than 4,440 current and former members of the military and their families. Each year, on Nov. 11, the nation honors members of the U.S. armed forces who have served our country and defended our freedom.
“USCIS is committed to serving the U.S. military community by making sure they have meaningful and efficient access to the immigration benefits they or their families may be entitled to,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou. “USCIS is dedicated to improving policies and procedures that assist service members and their loved ones on their path to U.S. citizenship.”
Additionally, USCIS Director Jaddou will strengthen the agency’s collaborative partnership with the National Park Service (through a memorandum of understanding) to ensure citizenship ceremonies continue to be held at national parks and historic federal landmarks that best represent the strength and spirit of the United States.
Special Events
In honor of Veterans Day, Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary John K. Tien delivered a keynote address today during a naturalization ceremony at the New York City Federal Building, where 78 candidates received U.S. citizenship. Deputy Secretary Tien, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy who spent 24 years in the Army, administered the Oath of Allegiance to several members of the U.S. armed forces.
Tomorrow, USCIS is hosting Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough for a special naturalization ceremony for current and former members of the military at the agency’s headquarters in Maryland. During this ceremony, USCIS Director Jaddou will also present retired Major Gen. Viet Xuan Luong with the Outstanding Americans by Choice award. This initiative recognizes the outstanding achievements of naturalized U.S. citizens. Luong is a native of Vietnam who fled the country with his family at a young age. He had a distinguished career in the U.S. military, having received numerous awards and decorations, and recently retired after 34 years of service.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas will conclude a series of special Veterans Day events at the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House in Baltimore, Maryland, where he’ll administer the Oath of Allegiance to 17 naturalization candidates, all of whom are military veterans or active-duty servicemembers. Additionally, USCIS Director Jaddou will strengthen the agency’s collaborative partnership with the National Park Service to ensure that citizenship ceremonies will continue to be held at national parks and historic federal landmarks that best represent the strength and spirit of the United States.
Policy Initiatives
Recently, USCIS has enacted a number of policy initiatives to facilitate the naturalization process for current and former U.S. service members and their families. These initiatives include:
- Overseas Military Naturalization Video Oath Ceremonies: In December 2020, USCIS began conducting video interviews at overseas DOD facilities for eligible military members and qualifying family members stationed overseas. In March 2021, we began administering the Oath of Allegiance by video at overseas DOD facilities, allowing us to perform the entire naturalization process for eligible military members and qualifying family members stationed overseas. As of today, we have conducted 707 video interviews and administered 501 oaths virtually through this process.
- Military Veterans Residing Abroad Policy Manual Update: In May 2021, USCIS updated guidance to ensure eligible former service members who served honorably during specifically designated periods of hostility and meet all other statutory requirements for naturalization can naturalize and become U.S. citizens in accordance with U.S. immigration laws.
Updated military naturalization statistics can be found on our Military Naturalization Statistics webpage.
Following each naturalization ceremony, we encourage new U.S. citizens and their families and friends to share their naturalization photos on social media using the hashtags #NewUSCitizen.
For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Be sure to check back here occasionally to verify the latest Naturalization Ceremony dates.
Here is the music for the two songs we will be singing:
The National Anthem – music score
America The Beautiful – music score
By the way, you might be interested in this –
What are the forgotten verses of the “Star-Spangled Banner”?
While the first verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is widely known by the American public, the last three verses are generally omitted in performances. Here are all the four verses, as they were written 200 years ago by Key:
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner—O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
October 19, 2017 – Faneuil Hall
New Citizenship Ceremony: June 22, 2017 – Hynes Auditorium, Boston
The Boston Saengerfest Men's Chorus 